剑桥商务英语高级考试历年真题阅读精讲(5)

人邮第二辑真题TEST4READINGPART3Inthelastfewyears,managersthroughoutindustryhaveseenmorechangesthanmanyofthemcouldhaveexpectedtoseeintheirentireworkingliveshavingtocommunicateinformationwhichoftenleadstofeelingsofinsecurityhasbecomeakeyactivity.Frombeingregardedasrelativelyunimportantinmanycompanies,managementemployeecommunicationhasbecomeacentralcorporateneed.

ConcordiaInternationalprovidesagoodexampleofacompanythathasadjustedwelltothechangingneedsforcommunication.since1995,Concordiahasbeenturned

inside-outandupside-down,toensurethatitisamarketing?Cled,customer-responsivebusiness,onethatlooksoutwardsatcustomersandcompetitors,ratherthaninwardsatitsownprocessesandthewaythingsweredoneinthepast.Inthelasteightyears,Concordiahasreduceditsworkforcebymorethan80.000people-or35%-onavoluntarybasis,withfurtherdownsizinganticipated.

Frombeinganengineeringcompany,Concordiaisnowremakingitselfasaservicecompany.Theroleofemployeecommunicationinsuchacontextistobuildpeople’sself-confidence,topersuadethemthat,althoughitisinevitablethatthechangeswillgoahead,theyalsobringwiththemnewopportunitiesforemployees.However,thisisnotaneasytask.Peopletendtobeskepticaloftheseclaimsandtofeelthattheyarelosingtouchwiththecompanytheyhaveworkedforovermanyyears.Thisisunderstandable,sincemanyoftheoldcertaintiesarebeingsweptaway,includingthecoreactivitiesofthecompanytheyworkfor.Aboveall,theyhavehadtofaceuptothefactthattheynolongerhaveajobforlife.

Researchindicatesthatpeoplerespondtothis

predicamentinavarietyofways.Thebulkofemployeesfallintotwomaincategoriesintermsoftheirresponsetothenewsituation:ontheonehandtherearethe“pragmatists”andontheother“thehighlyanxious”theformerseetheirjobasameanstoanendandhavearelativelyshort-termperspective,withstrongloyaltytotheirlocalterm,ratherthanthecompanyasawhole.Thesecondcategory,usuallythemajority,mayrespondtothreatenedchangeswithafeelingofhavingbeenletdown,andevenfeelangeratthecompanyforwhattheyseeaschangingthetermsoftheiremployment.

Theemployeecommunicationprocessneedstobecapableofaccuratelydirectingitsmessagesatavarietyofemployeegroupsanddepartmentswithintheworkforce.thisiswhymiddlemanagersandlinemanagersaresokeytocommunication.Theyarethepeoplewhoknowaboutthefullrageofconcernsamongtheworkforce.Theprobleminthepastwasthatthiscrucialareawasoftentheresponsibilityofaseparate,relativelyisolatedunit.Concordiaputsresponsibilityforcommunicationfirmlyonlinemanagers.Alltheirresearchpointstothesameconclusion:peopleprefertogettheirinformationface-to-facefromtheirlinemanagers.Thatisthekeyrelationshipandwhereargumentsandheartsandminds?Carelost.

Thegeneralruleincompanycommunicationistotellemployeesasmuchasyoucanassoonasyoucan.Ifyoucan’tprovidedetails,thenatleastputthenewsincontextandcommityourselftoprovidinggreaterdetailwhenitbecomesavailableanotherruleofcompanycommunicationisthattheremustbeafitbetweenwhatthecompanyistellingitsemployeesandwhatitistellingitsshareholders.

15Inthelasteightyears,ConcordiahasAmadeover80.000employeesreduncdant

Bcompletedaperiodofdownsizing

Creduceditsworkforceof80.000by35%

Dgiven35%ofdepartingemployeesvoluntaryredundancy

16FromConcordia’spointofview,theroleofcommunicationistoAwinemployeesupportbeforegoingaheadwiththechanges

Bchangethecompany’scoreactivities.

Cemphasisethepositiveaspectsofthechanges

Dexplaintheneedforthechanges

17whatdoesresearchshowaboutmostemployees’responsetochangeAtheyexpectittohaveabadeffectonthecompany

Btheyfeelcompletelypowerless

Ctheybecomelessloyal

Dtheyfelltheyhavebeentreatedunfairly

18Concordia’scommunicationprocessmainlyreliesonAprintedcommunication

Bdepartmentalheads

Cpersonalcommunication

Daseparate,specializedunit

19Accordingtothewriter,whatistheguidingprincipleaboutgivinginformationwithinanorganizationANevermakepromisesaboutfuturedevelopments

BGivepeopleanoverallviewattheearliestpossiblestage

Calwaysincludeplentyofhardinformation

DHoldbackuntilallthedetailscanbeprovided

20whichofthefollowingwouldbethemostsuitabletitleforthearticleAemployeeattitudestocompanycommunication

Bmakingcompanycommunicationmoreeffective

CResearchingcompanycommmucation

DMakingemployeesfeellesspowerless

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。这套题目有些特别，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，这题的答案稍微分散了些。

15题，答案很明显，但是选项很有迷惑性。答案是第二段的最后一句：Inthelasteightyears,Concordiahasreduceditsworkforcebymorethan80.000people-or35%-onavoluntarybasis,withfurtherdownsizinganticipated.减少了80000员工（或者说减少了35%的员工），预期还会减少更多。A选项是对的，maderedundant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），因为预期还会裁减更多（withfurtherdownsizinganticipated）；C也不对，迷惑性最大，reduceditsworkforceof80.000，用了介词of，所以这句的意思是一共就80000员工，而实际情况是减少了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。

16题，问根据此人的观点，沟通的角色是什么。也就是问沟通的目的或者作用是什么。答案在第三段。沟通是为了帮助人树立自信，涡街流量计说服他们虽然要面临一些变化，但是同样也会拥有一些新的机会。说白了，就是鼓励这些被裁的人。答案选C，强调变化的积极方面。这里的positiveaspects是对前面说的bringwiththemnewopportunities的一个概括。（想起了电影《在云端》，upintheair，里面那个老男人的工作就是职业裁员专家，专门对被裁的人说些这样的话。）

17题，问调查显示大多数人对change的反应是什么。这题在答案中也很明显，但是选项很纠结。都有点似是而非。Thesecondcategory,usuallythemajority,mayrespondtothreatenedchangeswithafeelingofhavingbeenletdown.,andevenfeelangeratthecompanyforwhattheyseeaschangingthetermsoftheiremployment.大多数员工的反应就是很失望，甚至会很愤怒。个人觉得这题出的不够严谨，没有哪个选项能严格从原文中提炼出来。对比下D要好点，因为对公司失望和愤怒，就是觉得受到了不公正的待遇。此题有待高手补充更完美的理由。

18题，问沟通过程主要依赖于什么。答案是第五段的这句：peopleprefertogettheirinformationface-to-facefromtheirlinemanagers。喜欢面对面的从直属经理那里获取信息。所以选C，个人的交流。

19题，问组织内部提供信息的指导准则是什么。最后一段的第一句就是：Thegeneralruleincompanycommunicationistotellemployeesasmuchasyoucanassoonasyoucan。尽可能的快，尽可能的多。不能提供细节的，至少给个大致的背景消息（putthenewsincontext）。时机成熟了，再告知更多。选B：在可能的最早的阶段让人有个总体的印象。

20题，给文章选标题。这种题在BEC的阅读里还真不多见。选标题，就是要挑选文章的最主要意思，从整体上把握文章的mainideas。这篇文章通篇说的就是communication，前面介绍了沟通的背景：裁员；接着说了员工对裁员的反应；然后最后两段，一段说员工喜欢什么样的沟通方式，一段说沟通的原则是什么。综合起来，就是关于怎样进行有效沟通的问题。选B。A不对，片面了，只是文中某部分的内容，并且这部分内容是为后面做背景介绍，不是主要的；C不对，不是简单的research，research仅仅是介绍状况，文章还有关于实现措施的。