2012级剑桥商务英语考试题.doc

I. Match these word partnerships to their meanings. (10%)1. brand loyalty 2. product lifecycle 3. product placement 4. brand stretching 5. product launch 6. brand name7. brand awareness 8. product range 9. product endorsement 10. brand imagea) the name given to a product by the company that makes itb) using an existing name on another type of productc) the ideas and beliefs people have about a brandd) the tendency to always buy a particular brande) how familiar people are with a brandf) the set of products made by a companyg) the use of a well-known person to advertise productsh) when products are used in films or TV programsi) the introduction of a product to the marketj) the length of time people continue to buy a productII. Complete sentences 1-6 with answers A, B or C. (15%)1. Viacom Outdoor is an advertising company that specialises in placing adverts on _ such as buses.A. billboards B. public transport C. television2. Some perfume companies provide _ so that customers can try the perfume on their skin before they buy.A. leaflets B. commercials C. free samples 3. Advertising companies spend a lot of money on creating clever _ that are short and memorable such as the message for the credit card, Access: Your flexible friend.A. slogans B. directories C. mailshots 4. Celebrity _ is a technique that is very popular in advertising at the moment.A. exhibition B. research C. endorsement5. If news about a product comes to you by _, someone tells you about it rather than you seeing an advert.A. word of mouth B. press C. Internet6. If you have something to sell, you can _ an advert in the local newspaper.A. target B. place C. launch7. I was thrown in at the deep _ when my company sent me to run the German office. I was only given two days notice to prepare.A. water B. end C. fire8. We dont see eye to _ about relocating our factory. The Finance Director wants to move production to the Far East, but I want it to remain in Spain.A. eye B. ear C. mouth 9. I got into hot _ with my boss for wearing casual clothes to the meeting with our Milanese customers.A. fire B. water C. end10. Small talk is one way to break the _ when meeting someone for the first time.A. snow B. end C. ice11. I really put my _ in it when I met our Japanese partner. Because I was nervous, I said Who are you? rather than How are you?A. feet B. foot A. leg 12. I get on like a house on _ with our Polish agent; we like the same things and have the same sense of humor.A. fire B. water C. ice13. When I visited China for the first time I was like a fish out of _. Everything was so different, and I couldnt read any of signs! A. sea B. ocean C. water 14. My first meeting with our overseas clients was a real _-opener. I had not seen that style of negotiation before.A. ear B. eye C. mouth 15. If your data projector is still under _, we will repair it for free.A. insuranceB. deposit C. guaranteeIII. Make comments on the following quotations. (20%)1. Truly great brands are more than just labels for products.2. A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove that you dont need it.3. Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted. The trouble is I dont know which half.4. Share our similarities, celebrate our differences.IV. Cloze (15%) Who Benefits Most from Company Training?According to recent research, the better educated and the higher up the socioeconomic scale you are, the more likely you are to be offered workplace training. And, incidentally, the more likely you are to then turn (1) _ the offer, pleading family and personal commitments or (2) _ of work. Less qualified staff, on the other hand, are offered fewer training opportunities, but are more eager to (3) _ them up. In fact, people with few or no educational qualifications are three times more likely to accept training when it is offered.In the majority of companies, more (4) _ are allocated to management training than to other areas. Employers (5) _ their better qualified staff as more important to the business, so they pay them accordingly and invest more in them in (6) _ of training. This is (7) _ by the fact that organizations are dependent on properly (8) _ managers making the right decisions. But this (9) _ may mean that companies are (10) _ other parts of the workforce down.The researchers found a growing demand for training among the lower-skilled. Unfortunately this demand is not being (11) _ by employers, even though there are strong indications that companies would benefit from doing so. They also discovered that, despite the substantial (12) _ between the training provided for managers and that offered to other staff, there was still widespread endorsement of training.For the purposes of the research, training was defined as any (13) _ of planned instruction or tuition provided by an employer with the aim of helping employees do their work better. It therefore included a wide variety of approaches. On-the-job and classroom training (14) _ to be used equally by employers. But learning on the job, which involved observing a certain procedure and then practicing it, was easily the most popular method for all categories of employee. While many felt that learning from colleagues was best, very few (15) _ the internet as an effective way to train. 1. A. back B. over C. down D. off2. A. force B. pressure C. strain D. load3. A. pick B. keep C. take D. put4. A. means B. reserves C. finances D. resources5. A. imagine B. regard C. suppose D. know6. A. requirements B. specifications C. states D. terms7. A. allowed B. approved C. justified D. accepted8. A. understanding B. intelligent C. informed D. knowledgeable9. A. stress B. emphasis C. weight D. strength10. A. letting B. cutting C. breaking D. setting11. A. reached B. achieved C. gained D. met12. A. space B. gap C. hole D. room13. A. frame B. structure C. form D. order14. A. showed B. appeared C. demonstrated D. presented15. A. rated B. thought C. marked D. believedV. Reading (15%)Part OneQuestions 1-5Read the article below about the importance of human resource (HR) management.Choose the best sentence from the opposite page to fill each of the gaps.For each gap (1-5), mark one letter (A-G) on your Answer Sheet.Do not use any letter more than once.There is an example at the beginning, (0).Human Resource ManagementIt is nearly a century since the car manufacturer Henry Ford said, You can destroy my factories and offices, but give me my people and I will build the business the business right back up again. (0) _G_. But a few business theorists are beginning to argue that managing people well can add more to the bottom line than anything else.Mike Manzotti, a leading American author in this area, has strong views about the growing importance of human resources in todays business world. (1) _. A company with high staff commitment, for example, has an asset that its rivals find hard to copy.Research in Britain would appear to support this notion. A recent business school survey into the performance of eight multinationals found that people management could be the most decisive factor in a companys performance. Another study indicated the same thing in medium-sized manufacturing form. (2) _. After all, how can an organization evaluate the commitment of its staff?For this reason, the researcher George Hessenberg argues that a scientific approach is needed. He feels that when HR professionals suggest changing an organizations compensation structure or being more selective in recruiting, they are asking for things that require resources. (3) _.Some new approaches are emerging that attempt to do just that, including the scheme devised by consultants Couze Jordan. The scheme, which covers communication, recruitment, and use of resources, predicts that significant improvements in these areas achieve an increase in shareholder value of up to 30 percent.Another programme, launched by James Lester, an independent human resources expert, approaches the problem from a perspective that is designed to appeal to a wide range of managers. (4) _. Both, he argues, involve appropriate decisions being made about the allocation of resources within a particular budget.Lesters expertise enables him to carry out an organizational audit for his clients to identify which areas of HR are in most need of improvement. This is because there is no point in business spending large amounts without knowing if the investment is worthwhile. (5) _. Lesters advice, however, is for companies to think twice before hiring people, since it is vital they assess whether they are getting value for money.A. But the findings are inconclusive because of the difficulty of collecting reliable evidence.B. He argues that the role of a skilled, motivated and flexible workplace has become more significant as traditional sources of competitive advantage diminish.C. For example, a common mistake is to spend a fortune on recruitment to cover up for deficiencies in training.D. However, most leading experts in the field believe that there is sufficient evidence to support this model of workplace dynamics.E. He compares the positive use of human resources to effective fund management, as this is something that senior execu