现代大学英语听力三Unit11-15

1、task 8in many countries the status of women has improved considerably over the last 50 years. although there are still relatively few women in senoir business positions, many women pursue their career in much the same way that men do. in the uk, mens behaviour torwards women has had to change. for e

2、xample , men must be carefull when they talk about a womans appearrance; some women may find a complimentary remark sexist. many women prefer not to be referred to as “ladies”; they prefer the more neutral “women”. many women are naturally sensitive about typically male joker. there are areas of soc

3、ial interaction where men now feel uncertain how to behave. twenty years ago men would always open doors for women; nowdays some women might find this action patronizing.unit 11task 1edmund: what advice would you give a young person leaving school or university? so the aim is to have fivebruce: oh t

4、hat is right. five. edmund: five things, five bits of advice that you would give. would you like to?bruce: yeah, okay, ill read mine out and see how many of them you have. “pay carefull attention to dress”appearrance you know, generally speakiny at the interview. i think that is very important. eliz

5、abeth: yeah, ive got that as my number one as well.edmund: yes. yes. i hadnt put that one, but i do agree with you. but i think theres also“you need to be yourself.”bruce: yes. you mean natural, rather than putting on some sort of an act.edmund: yes. yes.bruce: id certainly agree with that.edmund: i

6、ts be very difficult to go through your working life living up to the image that you gave at your interview, if it isnt you.bruce: yeah. yeah.elizabeth: right.bruce: yes. “have a clear idea of the”if its a university one“have a clear idea of the subjects you wish to take and then of your possible ca

7、reer.” and if its a job interview, “show that you are interested in the company itself before you actually get to the interview.”edmund: yes, find out a little about the organization, so you can make a comment.bruce: yeah. that amounts to the same thing really.edmund: so, yes, it looks as if youre i

8、nterested. and also its very flattering to the organization.bruce: of course, indeed.elizabeth: there always comes that moment when they say, “well you know, mr. jones, thats the job as we see it. would you like to ask us anything about it?” if you just sit there in absolute silence, you dont get th

9、e job.bruce: thats it, exactly, yes. third, “have at least one topic or hobby which you can really talk about, and show that you know a lot about.” i think that is important because, you know, if you get stuck, this is the sort of question which can be asked, and if you have no interests or hobbies

10、or whatever you like to call them, then it shows you are a pretty dull sort of person. and i think it would go rather badly for you.edmund: yes. bruce: em. i have one or two examples of that. my son went for a interview. he builds model planes. and in the course of the last few years hes become a re

11、al expert on them. so apparently, his interview lasted about thirty minutes and twenty-nine and a half were spent talking about model planes.edmund: did he get the job?bruce: oh, yes, he got the position in university. so it worked very well for him.edmund: yes. im sure theres an elment of luckthat

12、the interviewer was interested in model planes.bruce: i don't he was really lucky, no, i think he was trying to find out about thingsbe was picking up imformation all the time.edmund: have you got any others?bruce: yes. “don't tell lies.”elizabeth: em. that's a good one.bruce: youre sure

13、 to be found out. and you know, its something to avoid i would think.edmund: yes. i think, something to include in that one is not to try and cover up when you don't know something, which isnt quite the same as telling a lie. ive found in interviews that ist actually better to say, id like a mom

14、ent to think about that; i hadnt thought of that before, or id like a minute to digest the information and think of an answer.bruce: and finally“be on time.”edmund: yes.elizabeth: yes. ive got that one, too.edmund: yes. i put “ do allow plenty of time make the journey and find where you are going.”

15、nerves, i think can make you miss street signs.bruce: indeed, yes. thats true.edmund: ive noticed that weve all been putting dos rather than donts.elizabeth: well ive got a dont here. er, which is “dont gush too much” , which is like, you know, i think you can have, or be tempted to have a sort of v

16、erba dirrhoea really. you know, in your interview, because you think the more i say the more theyre think imi think theres a danger of saying too much as well as too little.edmund: yes. and “keep to the point.”bruce: thats right.edmund: i mean gushing can include getting right away from the subject

17、that youu are meant to be talking about.elizabeth: right.bruce: thats true enough that, yes.edmund: so we could almost sum up a lot of our points as being self-discipline.bruce: yes. yes. i would agree with that, certainly. have you any others?elizabeth: well no. i mean three of mine were exactly th

18、e same as yours. i put “sound motivated for the job”, but that pretty obvious really, isnt it? i mean weve included that any way. they all fall into the same sort of general category really.bruce: thats interesting, yeah.task 2manager:oh,kim!do you have a minute?id like to discuss a few things with

19、you.as you know, sales have been failing off over the past few months and; between you and me, things arent looking very good. kim: wellmanager:look,before you say anything,im not pointing the finger at you.i know youve suggested several times that we need to go in for better equipment,if were going

20、 to hold our own in the industry.and i have to go along with you now;its time to bite the bullet and invest in some better technology. kim:thats great news.im sure its the right move.manager:well,as youve pointed out,were up against some strong competition in the printing industry and a lot of small

21、 business are folding,if we dont jump on the andwagon now,we could very likely go under as well. kim:i agree,absolutely.the thing is,you have to be at the cutting edge of change,if you want to stay in business these days.manager:thats for sure.you know,ive been putting off making the changes because

22、 i know itll be costly,not only in equipment,but in training too.but the bottom line is if we dont spend money,we wont make any. kim:thats very true.so when do you think well start the changeover?manager:the sooner the better,i suppose.therere some big changes to make and im not really looking forwa

23、rd to them.you know,i wonder whether all this new technology is really making our lives easier.it seems to me weve created a vicious circle kim:what do you want?manager:well,technologys supposed to have given us more time and freedom but it seems weve become slaves to technology. kim:mm.i hadnt thou

24、ght of it that way.manager:but then maybe i just dont like changeits mind-boggling the way technology is changing !no sooner do i get my head around something new,than it changes again! kim:well,i know what you mean but i think we think we have to go with the flow,whether we like it or not.manager:i

25、 suppose so.well,id better get the ball rolling.ill start making some phone calls now.task 3the worlds largest indoor facility is owned by the usas no.1 exporting company.its boeingcompany,washington,just outside seattle.the manufacturer of commercial aircraft has been identified with the state of w

26、ashington for 85 years and is the states largest private employer.robin ruthley visited the boeing plant and has more on”seattles city within a city.the dimensions of the boeing commercial aiecraft factory are so vast.they are almost hard to imagine.the rectangular building sits on 86 hectares of la

27、nd.the building alone takes up almost 40 hectares,or if you can imagine,more than 80 soccer fields.inside,there are airplanes in various stages of production.kenya airways,continental,thai aieways-companies that have all commissioned boeing to make an airplane designed to fit their specific needs.“a

28、ll these parts come from all over the world and they arrive here and they are put together into one airplane.so amazing to watch it.”tom ryan is boeings media representative for its commercial airplane factory.he says that because aviation is a global business,boeing works with many international pa

29、rtners,who providedifferent services in the construction of the planes.”we work strongly with all our partners from all across the globe,whether they are over in the far east or over in the uk or down under,because we need to bring everybody together to make this one boeing really,because you can”t

30、exclude partners,otherwise they”ll take their business elsewhere.” inside the factory,which operates 24 hours a day,seven days a week,employees get around on bicycles,there are named streets and the plant even has its own fire department.in the middle of the floor is an apparatus that resembles a gi

31、ant spool,which holds the center of an aircraft and rotates,so workers can operate without having to stand on top of it.in washington,dc recently,boeing completed another first in the design of its latest military warplane.the x-32b joint strike fighter is the first supersonic jet to zoom over an ai

32、rfield,show to a stop in the air and land straight down like a helicopter.the first vertical-landing aircraft is part of a competition that boeing has entered for a pentagon contract worth 200 billion dollars,the biggest pentagon contract in history.task4hello everyone.today our lecture is going to

33、be about business management.specifically,im describe a work situation for you,and then ill explain one important technique. okay,lets begin.first,lets consider an office an office situation in the united states.lets say that we have a company called the abc company.okay?a new manager named mr.thoma

34、s.she was having some problems with her work,and she wanted to talk to her manager about these problems.her problem was this:mr.thomas had organized the office work in a new and different way,and it was becoming more difficult for her to do her job.and she also felt that mr.thomas wasnt very clear a

35、bout what she was supposed to do.she wanted to know more clearly,”what am i supposed to do?what do you expect of me?”all right,so lets think about this.ms.jones goes to mr.thomas to talk about the work situation.now for most employees,asking a manager question like this is hard.in this case,it was h

36、ard for linda to talk to mr.thomas,but she felt she had to do it.she had worked in the office for five years,and of course,she didnt want to lose her job because she couldnt get her job done.she also didnt want to quit her job because of the problems.she just wasnt content with the way the office wa

37、s being run,and she needed to talk about it.now lets think about the managers position.in this case,mr.thomas was very surprised when he first heard that she was having problems.he was surprised,and irritated.there was too much work to do,right?he didnt really want to deal with a personal problem.he

38、 didnt think this is a work problem,and he felt he was too busy to think about problem people might be having.but later.mr.thomas thought about what linda said,he thought,”aha,this is a work problem.”and he realized he needed to find out from the other people in the office,from her co-workers,if the

39、y were having problems,too.all right,lets pause for a moment and look at what mr.thomas,as the manager,and had to consider.first of all,a good manager understands that a hardworking,enthusiastic staff is very important.in fact,we could say it is essential,absolutely essential.all of the employees ne

40、ed to work together.they need to work as a team to make the company successful.and,of course,feeling like part of a team is feeling that what each person does and says is important.well,as in most work situations,we have a problem here with communication.that is most managers do not want to hear peo

41、ple complain,and most employees are afraid to come right out and say what they feel.they usually wont say what they like or dont like.they may complain to each other during lunch or after work,but they do not complain directly to the manager.it is important,however,for a manager to find out if he or

42、 she is doing a good job.one way to do this is to give employees a chance to talk.employeesneed an opportunity to say what is wrong,what they dont like about the work situation,and what they would change to make their work better.however,most employees are afraid to say what they feel.this is why a

43、manager needs to figure out a safe way for people to talk.by safe,imean a way to talk where people arent afraid something will happen to them if they tell the truth.it has to be safe,or else people just wont say what theyre thinking.task5now lets look a little bit more closely at what a manager can

44、do.according to some management consultants,a manager needs to give employees a clear way of assessing himself or herself.by assessing imean a way of telling the manager good and bad points about what he or she is doing,right?tell me my good and bad pointsthats an assessment.one way the manager can

45、have employees do this is to give them questions to answer in writing.okay?not asking them orally, but giving them a chance to write their assessments.then the manager can meet with each employee and discuss what he or she wrote.now asking for an assessment is not so easy.it is important for the man

46、ager to ask the right kindof questions. if the manager asks direct questions like "do you like me?" or "do you like the way i ask you to do things?" the employee probably won't tell the truth. i mean, would you tell tell the truth if you were asked thiis kind of question? the

47、se questions are just too direct and, erm, just too personal. they focus too much on personal feelings.on the other hand, if the manager asks questions like "how would it be easier for you to do your job?" or "how could things be done differently?" it's easier for an employee

48、 to answer honestly. do you see the difference here? it is easier to answer because the question focuses on the work itself. the question doesn't focus on the employee's feelings about the manager. it shows the employee the question is being asked in order to make it easier to get the job do

49、ne well.okay, now i'd like you to have a look at a sample assessment form. follow along as i go over the questions. ready?number 1, "do i give clear directions?" number 2, "do you need help from co-workers to understand what i want?" number 3, "do i change my mind too of

50、ten about what i want you to do?" number 4, "do i listen to new ideas and ways of doing things?" number 5, "do you come to me when you need help?" and number 6, "do i tell you when you have done a good job?"okay, so think about these questions. what are they about?

51、 what's the purpose of these question?i think. i think we have to notice that these questions show certain attitudes about how an american manager should act. they show us what an american manager is supposed to do in his or her job. these questions also tell us-and this is very interesting-they

52、 show us something about the relationship between manager and employees, what the relationship between the employees and the manager is expected to be. management assessment today is based on the idea of solving problems and communicating so that everyone will feel they are part of a team. let me re

53、peat that because this is a key point: management assessment is based on the idea of solving problems and communicating so that everyone will feel they are part of a team.okay, now please note that this is an american moderl or idea for management assessment. of course, business styles and managemen

54、t styles vary from culture to culture. this particular style of management assessment may not work in every culture. for any country or culture, it is important to think about how work is done and how decisions are made. and it's very important to consider how people communicate. all right? well

55、, that's all for today.task 6chairman: now, ladies and gentlemen, you all know why we're meeting the afternoon. we want to decide on a definite advertising campaign for the new product we're received from. tony, i know you want to say something.tony: yes, thank you, mr.chairman. as i'

56、;ve said this is not something that people will want to buy; there are similar products on the market and we need to work out the advertisements very carefully, or we won't sell any at all.chairman: i'm more hopeful, but i agree that we'll have to sell this through good advertising and a

57、ttractive packaging. linda, you've got examples of the packaging ideas with you, haven't you?linda: yes, here you are. we tried two different styles: there's a can, like this; or a bottle, like this. we prefer the bottle, because it looks so clean and clear. what do you think?george: wel

58、l, i like the can. it's more modern and i think it will appeal more to young people as they're used to drinks in cans. and all our competitors put their drinks in bottles.tony: i agree. we've got to be different. a pure white can, with the name "clensip" in blue. that's goo

59、d.lucy: we ought to decide what is special and new and different.tony: there isn't anything new about it, except the can. that's what's going to make it so hard to sell.linda: i don't agree with you. it's a good product. it's healthy; it's pure; it's natural; it's good for you.chairman: yes, that's the idea. we want to sell it to the people because it's healthy.lucy: can we say "it's clensip, naturally it's good for you"?tony: yes, i like that-that means "of course,