2023年劍橋商務英語考試閱讀題高級備考

Inthelastfewyears,managersthroughoutindustryhave

seenmorechangesthanmanyofthemcouldhaveexpectedtosee

intheirentireworkingliveshavingtocommunicateinformation

whichoftenleadstofeelingsofinsecurityhasbecomea

keyactivity.Frombeingregardedasrelativelyunimportantin

manycompanies,mcinagementemployeecommunicationhasbecome

acentralcorporateneed.

ConcordiaInternationalprovidesagoodexampleof

acompanythathasadjustedwelltothechangingneedsfor

communication.since1995,Concordiahasbeenturned

inside-outandupside-down,toensurethatitisamarketing

led,customer-responsivebusiness,onethatlooksoutwardsat

customersandcompetitors,ratherthaninwardsatitsown

processesandthewaythingsweredoneinthepast.Inthelast

eightyears,Concordiahasreduceditsworkforcebymorethan

80.000people-or35%-onavoluntarybasis,withfurther

downsizinganticipated.

Frombeinganengineeringcompany,Concordiaisnow

remakingitself&saservicecompany.Theroleofemployee

communicationinsuchacontextistobuildpeoples

千里之行，始于足下。

self-confidence,topersuadethemthat,althoughitis

inevitablethatthechangeswillgoahead,theyalsobringwith

themnewopportunitiesforemployees.However,thisisnotan

easytask.Peopletendtobeskepticaloftheseclaimsandto

feelthattheyarelosingtouchwiththecompanytheyhaveworked

forovermanyyears.Thisisunderstandable,sincemanyofthe

oldcertaintiesarebeingsweptaway,includingthecore

activitiesofthecompanytheyworkfor.Aboveall,theyhave

hadtofaceuptothefactthattheynolongerhaveajobfor

life.

Researchindicatesthatpeoplerespondtothispredicament

inavarietyofways.Thebulkofemployeesfallintotwomain

categoriesintermsoftheirresponsetothenewsituation:on

theonehandtherearethe〃pragmatists*andontheother〃the

highlyanxious'theformerseetheirjobasameanstoanend

andhavearelativelyshort-termperspective,with

strongloyaltytotheirlocalterm,ratherthanthecompanyas

awhole.Thesecondcategory,usual1ythemajority,mayrespond

tothreatenedchangeswithafeelingofhavingbeenletdcwn,

andevenfeelangeratthecompanyforwhattheyseeaschanging

thetermsoftheiremployment.

Theemployeecommunicationprocessneedstobecapable

ofaccuratelydirectingitsmessagesatavarietyofemployee

groupsanddepartmentswithintheworkforce.thisiswhymiddle

managersandlinemanagersaresokeytocommunication.They

arethepeoplewhoknowaboutthefullrageofconcernsamong

theworkforce.Theprobleminthepastwasthatthiscrucialarea

wasoftentheresponsibilityofaseparate,relativelyisolated

unit.Concordiaputsresponsibilityforcommunicationfirmlyon

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linemanagers.Alltheirresearchpointstothesameconclusion:

peopleprefertogettheirinformationface-to-facefromtheir

linemanagers.Thatisthekeyrelationshipandwherearguments

andheartsandmindsarelost.

Thegeneralruleincompanycommunicationistotell

employeesasmuchasyoucanassoonasyoucan.Ifyoucant

providedetails,thenatleastputthenewsincontextand

coininityourselftoprovidinggreaterdetailwhenitbecomes

availableanotherruleofcompanyconur.unicationisthatthere

mustbeafitbetweenwhatthecompanyistellingits

employeesandwhatitistellingitsshareholders.15Inthelast

eightyears,Concordiahas

Amadeover80.000employeesreduncdant

Bcompleted￡periodofdownsizing

Creduceditsworkforceof80.000by35%

Dgiven35%ofdepartingemployeesvoluntaryredundancy

16FromConcordiaspointofview,theroleofcommunication

isto

Awinemployeesupportbeforegoingaheadwiththechanges

Bchangethecompanyscoreactivities.

Cemphasisethepositiveaspectsofthechanges

千里之行，始于足下。

Dexplaintheneedforthechanges

17whatdoesresearchshowaboutmostemployeesresponse

tochange?

Atheyexpectittohaveabadeffectonthecompany

Btheyfeelcompletelypowerless

Ctheybecomelessloyal

Dtheyfelltheyhavebeentreatedunfairly

18Concordiascommunicationprocessmainlyrelieson

Aprintedcommunication

Bdepartmentciheads

Cpersonalcommunication

Daseparate,specializedunit

19Accordingtothewriter,whatistheguidingprinciple

aboutgivinginformationwithinanorganization?

ANevermakepromisesaboutfuturedevelopments

BGivepeopleanoverallviewattheearliestpossiblestage

Calwaysincludeplentyofhardinformation

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DHoldbackuntilallthedetailscanbeprovided

20whichofthefollowingwouldbethemostsuitabletitle

forthearticle?

Aemployeeattitudestocompanycommunication

Bmakingcompanycommunicationmoreeffective

CResearchingcompanycommmucation

DMakingemployeesfeellesspowerless

文章取材自一本管理手冊，說的是一個組織里的有效溝通問題。

這套題目有些特殊，不像之前的閱讀的第三部分，六道題目分別依次

對應文章的六個段落，這題的答案略微分散了些。

15題，答案很明顯，但是選項很有迷惑性。答案是其次段的最

終一句：Inthelasteightyears,Concordiahasreducedits

workforcebymorethan80.000people-or35%-onavoluntary

basis,withfurtherdownsizinganticipated.削減了80000員工(或

者說削減了35%的員工)，預期還會削減更多。A選項是對的，made

redundant是前面某套題目閱讀的第五部分考過的詞組;B不對，沒有

完成(completed),由于預期還會裁減更多(withfurtherdownsizing

anticipated);C也不對，迷惑性最大，reduceditsworkforceof

80.000,用了介詞of,所以這句的意思是一共就80000員工，而實

際狀況是削減了80000員工;D不對，35%的員工被裁減，都是在自愿

的基礎上的，而不是離開的人中有35%是自愿的。

16題，問依據(jù)此人的觀點，溝通的角色是什么。也就是問溝通

千里之行，始于足下。

的目的或者作用是什么。答案在第三段。溝通是為了幫忙人樹立自信，

說服他們雖然要面臨一些變化，但是同樣也會擁有一些新的機會。說

白了，就是鼓舞這些被裁的人。答案選C,強調變化的樂觀方面。這

里的positiveaspects是對前面說的bringwiththem

newopportunities的一個概括。(想起了目影《在云端》，upinthe

air,里面那個老男人的工作就是職業(yè)裁員專家，特地對被裁的人說

些這樣的話。)

17題，問調查顯示大多數(shù)人對change的反應是什么。這題在答

案中也很明顯，但是選項很糾結。都有點似是而非。Thesecond

category,usuallythemajority,mayrespondtothreatened

changeswithafeelingofhavingbeenletdown.,andevenfeel

angeratthecompanyforwhattheyseeaschangingthetermsof

theiremployment.大多數(shù)員工的反應就是很絕望，甚至會很生氣。

個人覺得這題出的不夠嚴謹，沒有哪個選項能嚴格從原文中提煉出來。

對比下D要好點，由于對公司絕望和生氣，就是覺得受到了不公正的

待遇。此題有待高手補充更完善的理由。

18題，問溝通過程主要依靠于什么。答案是第五段的這句：pecple

prefertogetth