According to the article, what do some worry the Illuminated Solutions project will do?
Passage 7 ● Read the article below about the importance of hiring right people.
● Choose the correct word to fill each gap from A, B or C on the opposite page.
● For each question 29-40, mark one letter (A, B, or C) on your Answer Sheet.
Hiring: Do You Know How Important to Pick Them? Your small business is growing, the market has a need (29)______ your product, and you’re recruiting employees to expand your business. What could possibly (30)______ wrong? The answer is, a lot, (31)______ you don’t hire the right people.
One of the differences between businesses that boom and (32)______ that limp along is good employees. Obviously, your talent as an entrepreneur has a lot to do (33)______ the success of your business, but you (34)______ only go so far by yourself. You must find good employees, figure out (35)______ motivates them, and then place them into the right position.
Hiring employees is (36)______ and requires a lot of patience and energy. You have to resist the temptation to fill the job quickly with one of the first few (37)______ who come along or (38)______ someone who is only sufficient (39)______ you want to stop (40)______ and get back to your business.
29. A for B to C in
30. A leave B come C go
31. A Although B if C but
32. A these B those C they
33. A on B in C with
34. A can B ought C shall
35. A what B that C which
36. A time-consume B time-consumed C time-consuming
37. A person B people C peoples
38. A hire B hires C hiring
39. A so B because C while
40. A interviews B interview C interviewing
In the article,the word “raised” in paragraph 2.line 4.is closest in meaning to
The extract below comes from an article which appeared in a magazine called Society Today. You read the extract and have strong feelings about its contents, and decide to write an article, in which you respond to the points made and express your own views. You should write the article in no fewer than 120 words. Now write your letter on the answer sheet.
Selon l’article, laquelle des descriptions suivantes n’est pas correcte?
What is the main topic of the article?
You _____ read that article if you don’t want to.
Passage 10Questions 8—12
● Read the article about corporation merger.
● Choose the best sentence to fill each of the blanks.
● For each blank 8—12 mark one letter (A—G) on your Answer Sheet.
● Do not use any letter more than once.
● There is an example at the beginning.
Corporation Merger The most common kind of consolidation today is the merger. A merger occurs (0)______.
With the deregulation of natural gas, the nation’s 20 interstate pipeline companies became fearful of cutthroat competition. Some felt that they could increase their efficiency and improve their market flexibility by merging. In l985 Internorth of Omaha paid $2.3 billion for Houston Natural Gas Corporation, (8)______. The system connected markets from coast to coast and raised sales to $10 billion.
On occasion, mergers have occurred between smaller companies in an industry dominated by a few giant firms. These smaller companies claim that (9)______. They maintain that such action increases competition instead of reducing it. The Antitrust Division of the Justice Department has not always agreed with them.
Four major waves of mergers have taken place in this country. The first started in l887, just prior to the passage of the Sherman Antitrust Act, and ended in l904. It involved such giants as United States Steel and Standard Oil trying to create monopolies in their industries. From the end of World War I until the l930s, large firms swallowed smaller firms to create oligopolies. The monopoly has no chance and the oligopoly little chance of succeeding today under present antitrust policy.
The third major merger movement began in the l960s, reached a peak in l969, (10)______. Many of the acquisitions involved giant firms in one industry buying up large companies in totally unrelated industries. Such mergers are called conglomerate mergers. A classic example is Mobil Oil Corporation’s purchase of the huge retail chain Montgomery Ward& Company.
Mergers in the last ten years were in the thousands. More important is the value of the transactions, which has risen sharply. The number of mergers and acquisitions apply (11)______. The petroleum industry had mergers and acquisitions valued at closed to $80 billion between l981 and l984. Other industries (12)______ were banking and finance, insurance, mining and mineral, and processed foods.
Example:
A. there by gaining control of the world’s longest pipeline
B. and then gradually declined
C. experiencing large takeovers
D. resulting in combinations of small firms
E. only to those valued at $100 million or more
F. when two or more companies get together to form one company
G. they need to merge to become more efficient and effective
Passage 4Questions 8—12
● Read the article about supermarket.
● Choose the best sentence to fill each of the gaps.
● For each gap 8—12, 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).
Supermarket Supermarket is (0)______that has a moderately broad product assortment spanning groceries and some nonfood lines, that ordinarily emphasizes price in either an offensive or defensive way. As a method, supermarket retailing features several related product lines, a high degree of self-service, largely centralized checkout, and competitive prices. The supermarket approach to retailing is used to sell various kinds of merchandise, (8)______.
The term supermarket usually refers to an institution in the grocery retailing field. Most supermarkets emphasize price. Some use price offensively by featuring low prices in order to attract customers. Other supermarkets use price more defensively by relying on leader pricing to avoid a price disadvantage. Since supermarkets typically have very thin gross margins, they need high levels of inventory turnover to achieve satisfactory returns on invested capital.
Supermarkets originated in the early 1930s. They were established by independents (9)______.. Supermarkets were an immediate success, and the innovation was soon adopted by chain stores. In recent decades supermarkets have added various nonfood lines to provide customers with one-stop shopping convenience and to improve overall gross margins.
Today stores using the supermarket method of retailing are dominant in grocery retailing. However, different names are used to distinguish these institutions (10)______.
A superstore is a larger version of the supermarket. It offers more grocery and nonfood items (11)______. Many supermarket chains are emphasizing superstores in their new construction.
Combination stores are usually even larger than superstore. They, too, offer more groceries and nonfoods than a supermarket but also most product lines found in a large drugstore. Some combination stores are joint ventures between supermarkets and drug chains such as Kroger and Sav-On.
For many years the supermarket has been under attack from numerous competitors. For example, a grocery shopper can choose among not only many brands of supermarkets but also various types of institutions (warehouse stores, gourmet shops, meat and fish markets, and convenience stores). Supermarkets have reacted to competitive pressures (12)______. Some cut costs and stressed low prices by offering more private brands and generic products and few customer services. Others expanded their store size and assortments by adding more nonfood lines (especially products found in drugstores), groceries attuned to a particular market area (foods that appeal to a specific ethnic group, for example), and various service departments (including video rentals, restaurants, delicatessens, financial institutions, and pharmacies).
Example
A. including building materials, office products, and, of course, groceries
B. attracting more customers with their low prices
C. primarily in either of two ways
D. to compete with grocery chains
E. a type of retailing institution
F. by size and assortment
G. than a conventional supermarket does
Where is the article most likely taken from?