Now listen to the recording again. [Pause]
Conversation Three. Questions 9 to 12. Look at the note below.
You will hear a woman calling about the arrangements for a meeting. You have 15 seconds to read through the note. [Pause]
Now listen, and fill in the spaces.
Man: Good morning. Marketing Department. Peter Menzies speaking. Woman: Hello. Could I speak to John Fitzgerald, please? Man: I'm afraid he's not in the office at the moment.
Woman: Well, this is Elizabeth Parnell calling. I wanted to talk to John about the meeting next
week. You see, I only get back on Tuesday night from a trade fair in the States.
Man: So, would you like me to give him a message?
Woman: Yes, could you ask him if we can postpone Wednesday's meeting? Till after lunch.
That would be easier. It was originally going to be at ten .
Man: OK. I'll ask him to change it. I'll get back to you with a time.
Woman: Thanks. And could you also ask him to add another item for discussion at the meeting?
I thought we were going to talk about the revised budgets - but I can't see this on the agenda.
Man: OK. I'd better ask him to call you...
Woman: Yes, please. I'm at Head Office at the moment. Can he phone me here today - I won't
be back at my own desk until tomorrow afternoon.
Man: Right, I'll give him the message. Woman: Thanks. Man: Bye.
Woman: Goodbye. [Pause]
Now listen to the recording again. [Pause]
That is the end of Part One. You now have 20 seconds to check your answers. [Pause]
Part Two. Questions 13 to 22.
Section One.
Questions 13 to 17.
You will hear five short recordings. Five people are talking about different business books they have read.
For each recording, decide which book the speaker is talking about. Write one letter (A-H) next to the number of the recording. Do not use any letter more than once.
After you have listened once, replay the recordings. You have 15 seconds to read the list A-H. [Pause]
Now listen, and decide which book each speaker is talking about. [Pause]
Thirteen
Woman: Yes, it was interesting... some of it was rather obvious, of course, like dressing
smartly, making sure you arrive on time, that sort of thing... but there was also quite a lot I'd never really considered... like ways to interpret what the advertisement is really asking for, reading between the lines... and a section which lists some of the harder questions they tend to ask you, with effective answers you can give.
[Pause]
Fourteen Man: Invaluable, I'd say... certainly helps prevent you making some of the more
embarrassing mistakes. It gives you a kind of timescale to follow through. For example, they stress that you need to get publicity up and running a good six months before you want to stage the event. And get your main speakers booked earlier than that. They say you must make sure you've got a good assistant to support you, check the details.
[Pause]
Fifteen
Woman: Actually, although it was a bit long, it was definitely useful. The trouble often is,
when the management take on new staff, they don't necessarily really know what skills or qualities are needed. I want someone who's more than just a secretary typing out letters every day... I'm looking for a right hand, someone to do everything... and this book spells out what that means... it's helped me to draw up a job description.
[Pause]
Sixteen Man: Well, I wish I'd read it years ago! That would have saved me from some of my worst
inefficiencies. I'd recommend it to anyone. It shows you how to produce a perfect schedule for getting through your workload... Once you've got yourself organised, made lists of tasks and priorities, you can make best use of each and every day... otherwise you're just constantly confusing your PA with endless requests, all terribly urgent. . .
[Pause]
Seventeen
Woman: Certainly, a lot of the book was very specialised... but it did give me an idea of how
the agencies do the job. Of course, they're the people with the creative ideas, the expertise, so I'm happy to trust the image development work to them... but I read the book so I could talk to them on equal terms about what we're trying to do, and how it fits in with our overall business strategy.
[Pause]
Now listen to the recordings again.
Section Two.
Questions 18 to 22.
You will hear another five recordings. Five people are talking about why they decided to use a particular company to supply their office equipment.
For each recording, decide what reason each person gives. Write one letter (A—H) next to the number of the recording. Do not use any letter more than once.
After you have listened once, replay the recordings.
You have 15 seconds to read the list A-H. [Pause]
Now listen, and decide what reason each person gives. [Pause]
Eighteen Man: We were having problems with the company we normally use so we looked at a
number of other companies and decided to give this one a try. They're just new in the business and we were impressed as they promised they would deliver the goods we wanted within two days and they did. We had to pay more than we would have liked but the results were worth it. Since then, I've told a lot of other people about them.
[Pause]
Nineteen
Woman: Apparently they're an established company in Scotland with an excellent reputation,
but I didn't know that at the time. I found them through the internet. I was just browsing through the list of suppliers one day and I noticed their name. I looked them up and found that they had this fantastic discount available that particular month. We ordered various things and the quality was so good we've continued using them.
[Pause]
Twenty Man: We like to try out different suppliers to make sure we're always getting the best deal.
This particular company was running a big publicity campaign. I'd seen the ads on TV and they really put me off. I just couldn't see the appeal. But then someone I met at a training day told me we should use them. His company had used their service for years with no complaints so we followed his advice.
[Pause]
Twenty-one
Woman: We'd looked round the market to find the cheapest deal possible but to be honest there
wasn't much to choose, in terms of cost, between any of the local suppliers. However, we had a visit from a sales representative from one company and we asked him to make up some complimentary printed letterheads for us. They were exactly what we wanted so that was the deciding factor. I think that personal touch gives a company far better results than advertising ever can.
[Pause]
Twenty-two Man: Obviously there are many different factors to consider when you choose a new
supplier. We always used a local company because they were relatively near and we could even pick things up ourselves if necessary. But unfortunately they just became too expensive. Now that express delivery services are widely available, distance is no longer a consideration and we've been able to choose someone who can give us the best package for the lowest cost.
[Pause]
Now listen to the recordings again. [Pause]
That is the end of Part Two. [Pause]
Part Three. Questions 23 to 30.
You will hear a radio report about the London stock market.
For each question 23-30, mark one letter (A, B or C) for the correct answer. After you have listened once, replay the recording. You have 45 seconds to read through the questions. [Pause]
Now listen, and mark A, B or C. [Pause]
Woman: Hello. I'm Jane Bowen with our regular Friday look at the week just finished on the
London stock market. The general picture is pretty mixed. Shares in the major banks are trading down, while mining companies have surprised analysts with a small rise. Overall, it's been a week of considerable movement, with the highest level reached at the close two days ago and a sharp fall yesterday. A strong recovery saw most of those losses being made up today, but the closing figure still fell short of Wednesday's. Now here's Charles Wrighton with some company news.
Man: Thanks Jane. And first, clothing retailer, Brownlow. Having finally found a buyer for
their loss-making sports footwear subsidiary, Hi-form, they've rejected a take-over bid from a leading French retail chain which has been looking to buy into the British market for some time. This activity has moved Brownlow's shares up by twenty per cent to ninety-six pence. There's a lot of interest in the Lek energy group, which recently bought Westwales Electricity. To the relief of Westwales managers, Lek haven't brought in their own people to run the company. Despite predicted job cuts of something like a third of the engineering staff, no announcement has been made, and indeed, Lek's comprehensive training scheme has been opened to all grades of staff in Westwales. Back to you, Jane.
Woman: We've had a number of emails from investors asking what to do with their shares in
gas and electricity companies after their consistently poor performance recently. Many of you might be thinking of getting rid of yours as quickly as possible. But financial experts are fairly optimistic about the outlook for the power sector, and investors may do better to see what happens over the next few months. With so many other investors deciding to cut their losses and sell now, interest in this sector may increase, and that, of course, would push share prices up. Pharmaceutical companies have done well today. Recently we've seen several periods of rapid expansion in this sector, only for it to be overtaken a short time later by the strong financial institutions. But I actually think the recent performances of pharmaceuticals companies has hidden a steep drop in the share prices of many other companies. All other sectors have lost considerable amounts, but this simply has not been reflected in the overall value of the market, because pharmaceuticals companies are keeping the value high. Looking next at the sectors whose troubles have been in the news recently: supermarkets, having suffered a downturn in business for over a year, at last have some reason for optimism. The leisure industry, which has suffered even more than supermarkets, is also showing signs of a turnaround. The same cannot be said of the building sector, though, which expects little relief for at least another six months. Charles...
Man: One company in the news is Freewaves, which owns a chain in internet cafes. Like
other new companies, Freewaves has tended to pay low dividends to investors, preferring to re-invest profits in research and development. Although Freewaves was able to turn in a healthy profit in the first quarter, taking everyone by surprise, the company has now declared operating losses close to a million pounds. This, of course, will make shareholders think about whether to keep their shares. And news from Simpson's, the big retail group. For years Simpson's have been acquiring other chains,