商务英语BEC高级阅读题精讲
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    商务英语BEC高级阅读题精讲(1)
    In the last few years, managers throughout industry have seen more changes than many of them could have expected to see in their entire working lives having to communicate information which often leads to feelings of insecurity has become a key activity. From being regarded as relatively unimportant in many companies , management employee communication has become a central corporate need.
    Concordia International provides a good example of a company that has adjusted well to the changing needs for communication . since 1995 , Concordia has been turned inside-out and upside-down, to ensure that it is a marketing –led, customer-responsive business, one that looks outwards at customers and competitors, rather than inwards at its own processes
and the way things were done in the past. In the last eight years, Concordia has reduced its workforce by more than 80.000 people - or 35% -on a voluntary basis, with further downsizing anticipated.
    From being an engineering company, Concordia is now remaking itself as a service company. The role of employee communication in such a context is to build people’s self-confidence, to persuade them that, although it is inevitable that the changes will go ahead, they also bring with them new opportunities for employees. However, this is not an easy task. People tend to be skeptical of these claims and to feel that they are losing touch with the company they have worked for over many years. This is understandable, since many of the old certainties are being swept away , including the core activities of the company they work for. Above all , they have had to face up to the fact that they no longer have a job for life.
    Research indicates that people respond to this predicament in a variety of ways. The bulk of employees fall into two main categories in terms of their response to the new situa
tion: on the one hand there are the “ pragmatists” and on the other “ the highly anxious” the former see their job as a means to an end and have a relatively short-term perspective, with strong loyalty to their local term , rather than the company as a whole . The second category, usually the majority, may respond to threatened changes with a feeling of having been let down, and even feel anger at the company for what they see as changing the terms of their employment.
    ` The employee communication process needs to be capable of accurately directing its messages at a variety of employee groups and departments within the workforce . this is why middle managers and line managers are so key to communication. They are the people who know about the full rage of concerns among the workforce. The problem in the past was that this crucial area was often the responsibility of a separate, relatively isolated unit. Concordia puts responsibility for communication firmly on line managers. All their research points to the same conclusion: people prefer to get their information face-to-face from their line managers. That is the key relationship and where arguments and hearts and minds –are lost.
    The general rule in company communication is to tell employees as much as you can as soon as you can. If you can’t provide details, then at least put the news in context and commit yourself to providing greater detail when it becomes available another rule of company communication is that there must be a fit between what the company is telling its employees and what it is telling its shareholders.15 In the last eight years, Concordia has
    15 A made over 80.000 employees reduncdant
    B completed a period of downsizing
    C reduced its workforce of 80.000 by 35%
    D given 35% of departing employees voluntary redundancy
    16 From Concordia’s point of view, the role of communication is to
    A win employee support before going ahead with the changes
    B change the company’s core activities.
    C emphasise the positive aspects of the changes
    D explain the need for the changes
    17 what does research show about most employees’ response to change?
    A they expect it to have a bad effect on the company
    B they feel completely powerless
bec商务英语    C they become less loyal
    D they fell they have been treated unfairly
    18 Concordia’s communication process mainly relies on
    A printed communication
    B departmental heads
    C personal communication
    D a separate, specialized unit
    19 According to the writer, what is the guiding principle about giving information within an organization?
    A Never make promises about future developments
    B Give people an overall view at the earliest possible stage
    C always include plenty of hard information
    D Hold back until all the details can be provided
    20 which of the following would be the most suitable title for the article?
    A employee attitudes to company communication
    B making company communication more effective
    C Researching company commmucation
    D Making employees feel less powerless
    文章取材自一本管理手册,说的是一个组织里的有效沟通问题。这套题目有些特殊,不像之前的阅读的第三部分,六道题目分别依次对应文章的六个段落,这题的答案略微分散了些。
    15题,答案很明显,但是选项很有迷惑性。答案是其次段的后一句:In the last eight years, Concordia has reduced its workforce by more than 80.000 people - or 35% -on a voluntary basis, with further downsizing anticipated.削减了80000员工(或者说削减了35%的员工),预期还会削减更多。A选项是对的,made redundant是前面某套题目阅读的第五部分考过的词组;B不对,没有完成(completed),由于预期还会裁减更多(with further downsizing anticipated);C也不对,迷惑性,reduced its workforce of 80.000,用了介词of,所以这句的意思是一共就80000员工,而实际状况是削减了80000员工;D不对,35%的员工被裁减,都是在自愿的基础上的,而不是离开的人中有35%是自愿的。