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Look at the statements below and at the definitions of five frequently-talked terms in most recent years, which have reflected the current global concerns.
Which definition(A, B, Cj, D or E)does each statement(1-8)refer to?
For each statement(1-8), mark one letter(A, B, C, D or E)on your Answer Sheet.
You will need to use some of these letters more than once.
There is an example at the beginning(0).
Example:
0 This company has sold off some of its brands.
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A
Globalisation is an umbrella term for a complex series of economic, social, technological, cultural and political changes seen as increasing interdependence, integration and interaction between people and companies in disparate locations. As a term, “globalisation“ has been used as early as 1944 but economists began applying it around 1982. Theodore Levitt is usually credited with its coining through the article he wrote in 1983 for the Harvard Business Review entitled “Globalisation of Markets“. The more encompassing phenomenon has been perceived in the context of sociological study on a worldwide scale.
B
Inflation risk is whether a rate of return or an investment keeps up with the rate of inflation. For example, if there is 4 percent inflation over the year, you must have 4 percent more money at the end of the year than at the beginning of the year to buy the same amount of goods and services. That means your stock need to go up in value more than 4 percent to earn a return on your investment. Stocks have generally done very well in this category.
C
A Low-Carbon Economy(LCE)is an economy which has a minimal output of greenhouse gas(GHG)emissions into the biosphere, but specifically refers to the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. Recently, most of scientific and public opinion has come to the conclusion that there is such an accumulation of GHGs(especially CO2)in the atmosphere due to anthropogenic causes, that the climate is changing. The over-concentrations of these gases is producing global warming that affects long-term climate, with negative impacts on humanity in the foreseeable future. Gobally implemented LCE’s therefore, are proposed as a means to avoid catastrophic climate change, and as a precursor to the more advanced, zero-carbon society and renewable-energy economy.
D
A web search engine, which is commonly named as “a search engine“, is designed to search for information on the World Wide Web. The search results are usually presented in a list of results and are commonly called hits. The information may consist of web pages, images, information and other types of files. Some search engines also mine data available in databases or open directories. Unlike Web directories, which are maintained by human editors, search engines operate algorithmically or are a mixture of algorithmic and human input.
E
Cultural tourism(also called culture tourism or cultural heritage tourism)is the subset of tourism concerned with a country or region’s culture, specifically the lifestyle of the people in those geographical areas, the history of those peoples, their art, architecture, religion, and other elements that help shape their way of life. Cultural tourism includes tourism in urban areas, particularly historic or large cities and their cultural facilities such as museums and theatres. It can also include tourism in rural areas showcasing the traditions of indigenous cultural communities(i.e. festivals, rituals), and their values and lifestyle.
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Read this text about effective banking supervision.
Choose the best sentence from the opposite page to fill each of the gaps.
For each gap(9-14), mark one letter(A-H)on your Answer Sheet.
Do not use any letter more than once.
There is an example at the beginning(0).
Effective Banking Supervision
Effective supervision of banking organisations is an essential component of a strong economic environment in that the banking system plays a central role in making payments and mobilising and distributing savings. The task of supervision is to ensure that banks operate in a safe and sound manner and that they hold capital and reserves sufficient to support the risks that arise in their business. Strong and effective banking supervision provides a public good that may not be fully provided in the marketplace and, along with effective macro-economic policy, is critical to financial stability in any country.(0).G....
Banking supervision should foster an efficient and competitive banking system that is responsive to the public’s need for good-quality financial services at a reasonable cost. Generally, it should be recognised that there is a trade-off between the level of protection that supervision provides and the cost of financial intermediation.【P1】______
Supervision cannot, and should not, provide an assurance that banks will not fail. In a market economy, failures are a part of risk-taking. 【P2】______Such matters cannot therefore always be entirely the responsibility of banking supervisors; however, supervisors should have in place adequate arrangements for resolving problem bank situations.
1. Providing sound and sustainable macro-economic policies are not within the competence of banking supervisors. Supervisors, however, will need to react if they perceive that existing policies are undermining the safety and soundness of the banking system.【P3】______ Therefore, sound macro-economic policies must be the foundation of a stable financial system.
2. A well-developed public infrastructure needs to cover the following facilities, which, if not adequately provided, can significantly contribute to the destabilization of financial systems: A system of business laws including corporate, bankruptcy, contract, consumer protection and private property laws; Comprehensive and well-defined accounting principles and rules that command wide international acceptance; A system of independent audits for companies of significant size.
3. Effective market discipline depends on an adequate flow of information to market participants, appropriate financial incentives to reward well-managed institutions and arrangements that ensure that investors are not insulated from the consequences of their decisions.【P4】______
4. Sufficiently flexible powers are necessary in order to effect an efficient resolution of problems in banks.【P5】______Where they are not, the prompt and orderly exit of institutions that are no longer able to meet supervisory requirements is a necessary part of an efficient financial system. Forbearance, whether or not the result of political pressure, normally leads to worsening problems and higher resolution costs.
5. Deciding on the appropriate level of systemic protection is by and large a policy question to be taken by the relevant authorities, particularly where it may result in a commitment of public funds.【P6】______In order to preserve the operational independence of supervisors, it is important to draw a clear distinction between this systemic protection role and day-to-day supervision of solvent institutions.
Example:[*]
A In the absence of sound macro-economic policies, banking supervisors will be faced with a virtually impossible task.
B The way in which failures are handled, and their costs borne, is in large part a political matter involving decisions on whether, and the extent to which, public funds should be committed to supporting the banking system.
C Where problems are remediable, supervisors will normally seek to identify and implement solutions that fully address their concerns.
D Supervisors will also normally have a role to play because of their in-depth knowledge of the institutions involved.
E The lower the tolerance of risk to banks and the financial system, the more intrusive and costly supervision is likely to be, eventually having an adverse effect on innovation and resource allocation.
F Off-site monitoring can often identify potential problems, particularly in the interval between on-site inspections.
G While thecost of banking supervision is indeed high, the cost of poor supervision has proved to be even higher.
H Among the issues to be addressed are corporate governance and ensuring that accurate, meaningful, transparent and timely information is provided by borrowers to investors and creditors.
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Read the following article about team building in negotiation and the questions on the opposite page.
For each question(15-20), mark one letter(A, B, C or D)on your Answer Sheet.
Build Your Team in Negotiation
You are leading a negotiating team for your company, facing off with a major client to work out a price increase. You think you’re on solid footing— you’ve done your homework, and you know the terms you’re looking for. But after some opening niceties, one of your team members blurts out: “Just tell us what do we need to do to get more of your business?“ And at that moment, you know you’ve lost the upper hand.
Gaffes like this are more common than most businesspeople would care to admit. Team members, often unwittingly, routinely undermine one another and thus their team’s across-the-table strategies. We studied 45 negotiating teams from a wide array of organisations, including ones in the finance, health care, publishing, manufacturing, telecom, and nonprofit sectors. And they told us their biggest challenges came from their own side of the table.
Drawing on the lessons learned from the experiences of these teams, we offer advice on how to manage the two major obstacles to a negotiating team’s success: aligning the conflicting interests held by members of your own team and implementing a disciplined strategy at the bargaining table.
Align Your Own Team’s Interests
It’s not surprising that negotiating teams wrestle with internal conflicts. After all, companies send teams to the negotiating table only when issues are political or complex and require input from various technical experts, functional groups, or geographic regions. Even though team members are all technically on the same side, they often have different priorities and imagine different ideal outcomes: Business development just wants to close the deal. Finance is most concerned about costs. The legal department focuses on patents and intellectual property. Teams that ignore or fail to resolve their differences over negotiation targets, tradeoffs, concessions, and tactics will not come to the table with a coherent negotiation strategy. They risk ending up with an agreement that’s good for one part of the company but bad for another. On the basis of cur research, we recommend four techniques for managing conflicts of interest within the team, internal tradeoffs they must make before they can coalesce around the highest-margin proposal.
Work with constituents
Underlying many conflicts of interest is the simple fact that members represent different constituencies within the organisation. People don’t want to let their departments down, so they dig in on an issue important to their constituents that might not be in the best interest of the whole company. If constituents are presented with all the facts, however, they might be willing to concede more ground because they’ll also see the bigger picture.
To help get everyone on board with a single negotiation strategy, some leaders deliberately assemble teams that contain only individuals good at forming relationships across constituencies. Managers who don’t have the luxury of choosing their team members, though, might have to go an extra mile to engage those constituencies themselves. One way is to invite important opinion leaders or decision makers to attend team planning sessions. Alternatively, team managers might have to embark on multiple rounds of bargaining with constituent departments. One manager described many times he went back and forth between the customer service department, the programme managers, and the engineers. He’d say, “OK, we need you to move a little bit more and get your number down a little bit more. We are close—just come this little extra bit.“
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Read the article below about company structure.
Choose the correct word or words to fill each gap from A, B, C or D on the opposite page.
For each question(21-30), mark one letter(A, B, C or D)on your Answer Sheet.
There is an example at the beginning(0].
Company Structure
Most organisations have hierarchical or pyramidal structure, with one person or a group of people at the top, and an increasing number of people below them at each(0). D----- level. There is a clear line or chain of command running down the【C1】______All the people in the organisation know what decisions they are able to【C2】______, who their superior is.
Some people in an organisation have colleagues who help them: for example, there might be an Assistant to the Marketing Manager. This is known as a staff position: its holder has no line【C3】______, and is not integrated into the chain of command, unlike, for example, the Assistant Marketing Manager, who is number two in the marketing department.
Yet the activities of most companies are too complicated to be【C4】______in a single hierarchy. Shortly before the First World War, the French industrialist Henry Fayol organised his coal-mining business according to the【C5】______that it had to carry out. He is generally credited with【C6】______ functional organisation. Today, most large manufacturing organisations have a functional structure, including production, finance, marketing, sales, and personnel or human resources department. This means, for example, that the production and marketing departments cannot make financial decisions【C7】______consulting the finance department.
Functional organisation is efficient, but there are two standard criticisms. Firstly, people are usually more【C8】______with the success of their department than that of the company, so there are permanent battles between, for example, finance and marketing, or marketing and production, which have【C9】______goals. Secondly, separating functions is 【C10】______to encourage innovation.
Example:
A different B continuous C sequential D successive
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Read the article below about human resources management.
For each question(31-40), write one word in CAPITAL LETTERS on your Answer Sheet.
There is an example at the beginning(0).
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Some Knowledge about Human Resources Management
The Human Resources Management(HRM)function includes a variety of activities, and the key(0). them is deciding what staffing needs you have and whether to use independent contractors or hire employees to fill these needs, recruiting and training the best employees, ensuring they are high performers, dealing【B1】______ performance issues, and ensuring that your personnel and management practices conform【B2】______ various regulations. Activities also include managing your approach【B3】______ employee benefits and compensation, employee records and personnel policies. Usually small businesses(for-profit or nonprofit)have to carry out these activities themselves because they can’t yet afford part-time or full-time help.【B4】______, they should always ensure that employees have and are aware【B5】______personnel policies which conform to current regulations. These policies are often in the【B6】______ of employee manuals, which all employees have.
Note【B7】______some people distinguish a difference between HRM(a major management activity)and HRD(Human Resource Development). Those people might include HRM in HRD, explaining that HRD includes a broader 【B8】______ of activities to develop personnel inside of organisations, including career development, training, organisation development, etc. There is a long-standing argument about where HR-related functions should be organised over large organisations.
The HRM function and HRD profession have undergone tremendous change【B9】______ the past 20-30 years. Many years ago, large organisations looked to the Personnel Department, mostly to manage the paperwork around hiring and paying people. More recently, organisations consider the HR Department【B10】______playing a major role in staffing, training and helping to manage people so that people and the organisation are performing at maximum capability in a highly fulfilling manner.
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Read the text below about salary raise.
In most of the lines(41-52), there is one extra word. It either is grammatically incorrect or does not fit in with the sense of the text. Some lines, however, are correct.
If a line is correct, write CORRECT on your Answer Sheet.
If there is an extra word in the line, write the extra word in CAPITAL LETTERS on your Answer Sheet.
The exercise begins with one example(0).
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Do you want your salary up?
0 If you are currently employed and want a raise, start from by being prepared.
【M1】______Gather up your salary survey information, recent performance appraisals that document the
【M2】______job you’re doing, and any other relevant information. Be aware of company policy
【M3】______regarding of compensation. Some employers are limited by budget constraints and
【M4】______can only give the raises at certain times of the year, regardless of the circumstances.
【M5】______Have a clear idea of what you want. Determine on the salary range you’re looking for and
【M6】______justification for the increase and have both ready to review with your supervisor. Be flexible.
【M7】______Would you consider for an extra couple of weeks vacation instead of a raise? I know someone
【M8】______who’s regularly taken time-off instead of money and now has six vacation weeks a year.
【M9】______Then, ask your supervisor for a meeting to discuss about salary.
【M10】______Present him your request, supported by documentation, calmly and rationally.
【M11】______Don’t ask for an immediate answer. Your boss is mostly be likely going to
【M12】______have to discuss it with Human Resources and/or other company managers.
