1 . Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. literally       B. barrier       C. Eventually       D. find E. examines       F. features       G. innovations       H. mean I. professional       J. striking       K. well-positioned

The Best Company to Work For

Every year, Fortune magazine published a list of the ‘100 Best Companies to Work For’. How does the magazine choose the companies? Firstly, it uses a survey: 350 employees answer 57 questions about their company. Secondly, Fortune looks at important     1     of companies: for example, pay, benefits, and communication between workers and management. Finally, the magazine     2     the results to find its Top 100.

Wegmans Food Markets, which ranks No. 1 on the list, has a motto (座右铭), ‘Employees first, customers second’, and it is also one of the 50 largest private companies in the US, with annual sales of $3.6 billion, according to Forbes magazine. Apparently, being good to your employees is no     3     to making money.

How much of Wegmans’ success is due to the company’s policies? ‘Up to a point, the success is because of the freedom they give us,’ says one employee. ‘On the other hand, no company gets rich just by not being     4     to its employees. Wegmans has great marketing strategies and it’s     5     within the community. I’ve been here for 15 years. Looking back, I’d say that the company’s     6     for customers, such as the Shoppers’ Club electronic discount programme in the 1990s, have been just as important as the benefits to staff. ’

But the employee benefits are     7    . Fundamentally, Wegmans believes in     8     development. As well as scholarships, the company gives its employees business opportunities. For years, one employee made delicious cookies for her colleagues.     9    , she started selling the cookies in Wegmans. ‘I just asked the manager,’ she says. ‘While looking back, I think should have asked earlier. I could have made more money!’

The staff’s freedom to make decisions is another thing you won’t     10     everywhere. Essentially, Wegmans wants its workers to do almost anything to please the customers. Believe it or not, an employee once cooked a Thanksgiving turkey in the store for a customer because the woman’s turkey, bought in Wegmans, was too big for her oven.

2 . Directions: Fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can be used only once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. empowers B. hands   C. innovative   D. mean   E. prints F. notes   G. shaving   H. store   I. tip   J. traceable   K. uneconomic

The health food chain Tossed has just opened the UK’s firstcashless cafe. It’s another step towards the death of cash.

This is nothing     1    . Money is tech. The casting of coins made shells, whales’ teeth and other such primitive forms of money redundant (多余的). The printing press did the same for precious metals: we started using paper     2     instead. Electronic banking put paid to the cheque. Contactless payment is now doing the same to cash, which is becoming less and less convenient. In the marketplace convenience usually wins.

In a world without cash, every payment you make will be     3    . Do you want governments (which are not always benevolent), banks or payment processors to have potential access to that information? The power this _    4     them is enormous and the potential scope for Orwellian levels of surveillance is terrifying.

Cash, on the other hand,     5     its users. It enables them to buy and sell, and     6     their wealth, without being dependent on anyone else. They can stay outside the financial system, if so desired.

Cash has its uses for small transactions- a chocolate bar, a newspaper, a pint of milk -which, in the UK, are still     7     to process by other means. It will always be the fastest and most direct form of payment there is. I like to     8     waiters, for example, in cash, knowing they will receive that money, without it being siphoned (转移) off by some     9     employer,knowing they will receive the money. I also like to shop in markets, where I can buy directly from the producer, without middle men     10     off their percentages.

Cash means total financial inclusion, a luxury the better-off take for granted. Without financial inclusion - and there will always be some who, for whatever reason, won’t have it - you are trapped in poverty. So beware the war on cash.

3 . Just five one-hundredths of an inch thick, light golden in color and with a perfect “saddle curl,” the Lay’s potato chip seems an unlikely weapon for global domination. But its maker, Frito-Lay, thinks otherwise. “Potato chips are a snack food for the world,” said Salman Amin, the company’s head of global marketing. Amin believes there is no corner of the world that can resist the charms of a Frito-Lay potato chip.

Frito-Lay is the biggest snack maker in America, owned by PepsiCo. and accounts for over half of the parent company’s $3 billion annual profits. But the U.S. snack food market is largely saturated, and to grow, the company has to look overseas.

Its strategy rests on two beliefs: first a global product offers economies of scale with which local brands cannot compete. And second, consumers in the 21st century are drawn to “global” as a concept. “Global” does not mean products that are consciously identified as American, but ones that consumers-especially young people-see as part of a modern, innovative world in which people are linked across cultures by shared beliefs and tastes. Potato chips are an American invention, but most Chinese, for instance, do not know that Frito-Lay is an American company. Instead, Riskey, the company’s research and development head, would hope they associate the brand with the new world of global communications and business.

With brand perception a crucial factor, Riskey ordered a redesign of the Frito-Lay logo. The logo, along with the company’s long-held marketing image of the “irresistibility” of its chips, would help facilitate the company’s global expansion.

The executives acknowledge that they try to swing national eating habits to a food created in America, but they deny that amounts to economic imperialism. Rather, they see Frito-Lay as spreading the benefits of free enterprise across the world. “We’re making products in those countries, we’re adapting them to the tastes of those countries, building businesses and employing people and changing lives.” said Steve Reinemund, PepsiCo’s chief executive.

1. It is the belief of Frito-Lay’s head of global marking that ________.

A．potato chips can hardly be used as a weapon to dominate the world market

B．their company must find new ways to promote domestic sales

C．the light golden color enhances the charm of their company’s potato chips

D．people the world over enjoy eating their company’s potato chips

2. One of the assumptions on which Frito-Lay bases its development strategy is that ________.

A．consumers worldwide today are attracted by global brands

B．local brands cannot compete successfully with American brands

C．products suiting Chinese consumers’ needs bring more profits

D．products identified as American will have promising market value

3. Why did Riskey have the Frito-Lay logo redesigned?

A．To suit changing tastes of young consumers.

B．To promote the company’s strategy of globalization.

C．To change the company’s long-held marketing image.

D．To compete with other American chip producers.

4. Frito-Lay’s executives claim that the promoting of American food in the international market ________.

A．won’t affect the eating habits of the local people

B．will lead to economic imperialism

C．will be in the interest of the local people

D．won’t spoil the taste of their chips

4 . Directions: Read the following passage. Summarize the main idea and the main point(s) of the passage in no more than 60 words. Use your own words as far as possible.

Seniority in Promotion Is Not a Wise Business Practice

It's not always an easy decision for companies when it comes to filling managerial spots. In the past promoting an employee has been popularly handled by means of basic analysis of the employees' past performance nod seniority, In some cases, the individual's performance has been considered more important while in others the amount of time they have been with the company has been the deciding factor. Nevertheless, seniority is a standard that has never been left out, However, in the contemporary business world, the importance of seniority in promotion is being destroyed as a growing number of companies look outside of their organizations when trying to fill top managerial spots.

Unlike experienced employees who have been with the company for a long time, new people are mare likely generate creative ideas. In rapidly changing markets, innovative and creative talents are sought by many companies in order to adapt to the market. To meet their needs, companies have more to gain by selecting outside employees since they are more willing to try new techniques and less afraid of breaking tradition when introducing new ideas. Thus, rather than promoting existing employees, it might be a wiser management decision to bring in outside talent.

An additional advantage to this new system is that it prevents employees from feeling that they only need to wait for their seniority to provide them with a promotion. Simply put no matter how long they have been with the company, employees have to contribute diligently to the organization if they want to move up the career ladder, As soon as people realize that the company could just as easily bring in a new person, employees will stop judging themselves against each other because they are no longer competing against their colleagues but everyone in the entire industry. As a result, they will begin to show more effort to bring the level of their work up to what they imagine is a much higher standard.

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