高职新编商务英语(第二版)阅读教程1 课件目录chapter1

Contents

1

Contents

Part A Text /

1 Text A Business and Your Life / 1

Text B Competition in Business / 9Part B Fast Reading /

18

Unit 1

Part A Text /

23 Text A Marketing Is All Around Us / 23 Text B How Marketing Serves Us / 32Part B Fast Reading /

39

Unit 2

Part A Text /

45 Text A Buying Motives / 45

Text B How and Where People Buy / 53Part B Fast Reading /

Unit 3

Part A Text /

71 Text A Selling / 71 Text B “I ’ve Never Been Able to Bargain, Even with an

Armenian Rug Dealer ” / 79Part B Fast Reading /

88

Unit 4

Part A Text /

94 Text A American Business Heroes / 94

Text B Bill Gates / 102Part B Fast Reading /

110Unit 5

Test 1 /

117

2

新编商务英语(第二版)阅读教程1

Part A Text /

Text A Types of Business Organizations Text B The Trouble with Being a Tycoon Part B Fast Reading Unit 6

Part A Text /

Text A Other Types of Business Organizations Text B Franchising in China: A Dead Duck?Part B Fast Reading Unit 7

Part A Text /

172 Text A The Coca-Cola Company ’s First Hundred Years (Ⅰ) / 172 Text B The Coca-Cola Company ’s First Hundred Years (Ⅱ) /

179Part B Fast Reading /

187Unit 8

Part A Text /

195 Text A Brand and Brand Names (Ⅰ) / 195 Text B Brand and Brand Names (Ⅱ) /

205Part B Fast Reading /

213Unit 9

Part A Text /

220 Text A Reaching China ’s Digital Consumers /

220 Text B Environmentally Friendly Consumers Emerge /

231Part B Fast Reading /

241Unit 10

Test 2 /

248Some Important Reading Strategies and Skills /

256Vocabulary /

269Key / 284

Unit 1

1

Text A

Business and Your Life

You Depend on Business

1 M odern business is well organized and operates

smoothly. We often accept business services, therefore, without much thought of their importance to us. Have you ever considered the many ways in which you depend on business? Business supplies the food you eat, the clothes you wear, the home you live in, and the many other goods and services used in satisfying your wants.

2 M any times a week most of us are affected by business. During a certain week, for example,

you may make telephone calls, have your eyeglasses repaired, ride in a taxi, consult your doctor, deposit money in your savings account, buy a new bicycle tire, or advertise for your lost dog.3 Y our home, too, depends on business in obtaining the goods and services your family

needs. One family reported these business activities for a certain day: issued checks to pay

2automobile insurance and electric bill; bought a rug and chairs; mailed a letter to order some books; paid the newsboy; hired a carpenter to repair a window frame; bought a United States savings bond at the bank; left a roll of film at the camera shop; had dinner at a restaurant.

What Is Business?

4Y ou frequently hear the word business in everyday conversations. Here are some expressions using the word:“How is business this month?”“What line of business is he in?”“Our firm does

a cash business.”“Business hours are 9 to 5.”“John is taking a business course.” Although you

may have a general understanding of the meaning of each statement, at this time you probably would have difficulty in giving a clear-cut explanation of business.

5B usiness means different things to different people. To one person it means producing goods through farming, manufacturing, or some other industry. To another it means buying and selling merchandise.

To a third person it means providing services. To a fourth it means engaging in an occupation to earn

a living. Each of these instances — making goods, buying and selling goods, providing services,

engaging in an occupation — illustrates the meaning of business. In this article, business means the work or activities by which goods and services are provided and obtained for money payment.

Some Activities Are Not Business

6E nterprises such as the grocery store, the bus line, the newspaper, the electric company, and the bank are readily identified as being in business. They supply goods and services for payment.

What about the laundry, the television repairman, the plumber? They, too, work for payment and are therefore engaged in business.

7N ot all activities in which work is involved are classed as business. If you help a friend repair a car or paint his house, you would be working. Unless you receive payment, however, you are not taking part in business in the true sense of the word. Here is the test of whether or not an activity can be classed as business: Is payment made for the goods supplied or service performed? If money payment is required, the activity is business.

Business Transactions

8P roducer and consumer. To carry on business, whether it consists of producing goods, distributing goods, or providing services, three factors — people, goods, and money — are necessary.

9P eople refers to both producers and consumers. Producers are the firms and workers who produce

and distribute goods or services. Consumers are those who buy and use goods or services.

10I ndividual wants and community wants. Goods means the products that persons or communities buy to satisfy their wants. Individual wants consist of the necessities, comforts, and luxuries of life. Goods that everyone must have, such as food, clothes, and shelter, are called necessities. Goods and services, such as books, telephones, electricity, and gas, which make life easier and more enjoyable, are called comforts. Nonessential high-quality goods, such as expensive jewelry, yachts, and custom-built cars, are called luxuries.

11T he needs that arise when people live in groups are referred to as community wants. Communities must have police and fire protection, water system, highways, stores, schools, and banks.

12M oney is exchanged for goods and services. Many years ago trade was carried on by barter, which is exchanging one article for another — for example, trading a knife for a pair of shoes. Today we usually pay money for what we want. The exchange of money for goods or services is a business transaction.

13W e need business. Business provides us with the things we use — food, clothes, and many other products and services. Any interruption of essential activities in your community would create much hardship. Few families keep on hand enough food and other essentials for more than a brief period, and any stoppage in the flow of products would result in considerable suffering. Imagine the situation if no railroads or trucks were operating; if there were no deliveries of bread, milk, or other goods; no electricity and gas; no store, bank, factory, or restaurant open!

14I f just one phase of business, such as transportation, were to suspend operations, factories would not ship their products. Soon workers would be laid off because of shutdowns; and with the loss in wages, families would have to curtail their buying. The resulting chain of events could easily bring on a condition of business paralysis. Only when the business activities of the community, the state, and the nation are functioning smoothly can there be prosperity for everyone.

15F or the consumer, business supplies the goods and services he must have to live and take care of his affairs properly. For the worker business provides employment and thereby a means of earning a living. For the business owner business activities offer the opportunity to render a service and to make a profit. For the investor business provides ways to put his funds to work.

16B ecause it furnishes the things we use, gives us useful work to do, offers opportunities for saving

3

and investing, and aids the national defense, business is truly the backbone of modern life. In fact, business is the foundation on which the existence and welfare of our people depend.

(1,029 words) New Words

1deposit /dI5pCzIt/vt./n. 存款

2laundry /5lR:ndrI/n.洗衣店

3transaction /trAn5zAkF E n/ n. 交易

4 yacht /jCt/n.快艇

5 suspend /sE5spend/vt.暂停

6 custom-built a.(汽车、机器等)按买主的要

求制造的

Useful Expressions

1 electric bill 电费账单

2 business hours 营业时间

3 engage in 从事；忙于

4 grocery store 小卖部；食品杂货店

5 be classed as 被归类为

6 exchange sth. for sth. 用……换取

7 trade sth. for sth. 拿……交换

8 keep on hand 在手头保留

9 put sth. to work 开始使用，投入使用

10 lay off 临时裁员

11 savings account (可获利息的)储蓄帐户

12 savings bond (美国发行的)储蓄公债

4

Exercises

1

1Which of the following is the best definition of

2

3The three essentials necessary to do business are

4Which of the following is a necessity for life?

5Community wants include

6Barter is different from modern business transaction in that 7A

8W

operations?

9In the author

10 1

1 O automobile insurance and electric bill; bought a rug and chairs; mailed a letter to order

2 What line of business is he in?

3 A time you probably would have difficulty in giving a clear-cut explanation of business.

4 E meaning of business.Vocabulary

5F

and any stoppage in the flow of products would result in considerable suffering.

6I

would not ship their products.

7S

would have to curtail their buying.

8O

functioning smoothly can there be prosperity for everyone.

9F

make a profit.

10

1

1 Can modern people survive without business? Why?

2 What kind of business do you find most profitable? Give reasons

3 What are the three kinds of individual wants? Give examples of each kind Discussion

and demand.

How Competition Operates

3I f you set out to sell a product or service in today’s society, chances are that someone else not too far away is selling something similar. And since potential customers are free to shop where they please, you will have to compete with your rival for their business. How can you go about this?

One obvious strategy is to charge lower prices.

Competition Keeps Prices Down

4I f your rival is selling blue jeans, say, for $28 a pair, you may try offering them for $25. The catch, of course, is that you’ll get $3 less for each pair you sell and you’ll still have to cover the same expenses —buying the jeans from the manufacturer, paying rent on your store, and so forth. How, then, can you charge less and still make a worthwhile profit? The answer — you hope — is that the lower price will attract more customers. Thus even though you make less money on each pair of jeans, you’ll sell more of them and so come out with a good overall profit. In real life, needless to say, things do not always work out so logically. But more often than not, the choices offered by the free-market system do benefit both the customer and the business owner — just as they’re supposed to in theory. This basic head-on type of competition tends to keep prices down, which is obviously good for the buying public. At the same time, it holds out the promise of great profits to the business that can sell more units of whatever its product or service happens to be.

Competition Encourages Efficiency

5I n addition, the nature of the free market is to encourage other forms of competition that serve the interests of both the business community and the society at large. A business owner may be able to lower prices without having to settle for a smaller profit per unit if ways can be found to improve efficiency and reduce operating costs. The merchant selling blue jeans, for example, may find that rearranging the store’s layout makes it possible to display more items in the same amount of space or that a new lighting system cuts the electric bills. Likewise, someone who refinishes furniture for a living may discover that dipping a table or chair in a large vat of chemical solvents removes the old finish faster — and thus more economically — than doing the same job by hand.

Competition Promotes Quality

6I nstead of cutting prices, a business may decide to compete for customers by offering higher-quality goods or services than its rivals. The price may also be higher, but those customers

who can afford it will probably be willing to pay the extra amount. Thus although a business that deals in luxury goods will not attract as many customers as, say, an average discount store, it will make more money per item and may well end up with an equal or even greater total profit. A particular benefit of this competitive approach is that it provides a practical incentive for businesses to maintain high standards of quality and increases the choices available to customers of different income levels.

Competition Encourages Variety

7 T he free-market system not only encourages variety in the price range for a given category of

products or services but also encourages an immense variety in the types of goods and services offered to the public. Changes in popular taste, technology, and the like are constantly creating new business opportunities. The possibility of profit — however remote it may be — almost invariably attracts entrepreneurs willing to risk their time or money. The result is an astonishing diversity of businesses: virtually anything you might want to buy — any product or service, no matter how obscure — is probably sold somewhere.

Competition and Advertising Are Interdependent

8F inally, the free-market system includes another major competitive tool, one that confronts us every day: advertising. The business that can attract more public attention or create a more favorable image for its products or services will gain a valuable edge over its competitors. To be sure, advertising does not itself improve the quality of the product being offered, and it may, in fact, add to the price. But it can spur people to buy more, and this, in turn, can help keep business operating at high capacity — and employing more workers.

Supply and Demand

9A s we have seen, prices in a free-market system are influenced by the competitive strategies of rival businesses. Price levels are not determined solely by the decisions of business managers, however. Price levels often respond to forces of supply and demand. In economic terms supply is the quantity of a product or service that producers are willing to provide; demand is the quantity of a product or service that consumers are willing to buy at that time.

10I n basic terms, the theory of supply and demand holds that the supply of a product will tend to rise when demand is great— when people are willing to pay more for it —and fall when demand is low. By the same token, people will usually pay more for something they want that’s in short supply

(as anyone who’s tried to buy a shovel immediately after a heavy snowfall knows); but if the product is widely available, people won’t be willing to pay as much and the sellers will have to settle for lower prices. In other words, supply and demand are continuously reacting to one another, and the balance between them at any given moment is reflected by the current price on the open market. Thus the price of a product may drop, not because a businessperson is trying to lure customers away from the competition, but because consumer demand for the product has fallen off.

11I n broad terms, the forces of supply and demand combine with the profit motive in a free-market system to regulate what is produced and in what amounts. For example, a farmer in Maine might increase the amount of potatoes he plants in response to reports that a drought had damaged the potato crop in Idaho. Or a mining company, reacting to reports of increased demand for jet aircraft (which require large amounts of titanium), might decide to increase production of titanium or to open a second mine. Conversely, if reports indicated that the airlines weren’t spending much on new equipment, the mine owner might delay developing more capacity and might even lay off workers. And the potato farmer in Maine might decide to plant some of his land to parsnips if the news from Idaho was that a bumper potato crop was expected.

The result of all this — in theory, at least — is that the consumers will get what they want and the producers will earn a profit by keeping tabs on public demand.

(1,219 words) New Words

1 refi nish/ri:5fInIF/vt.重新修光，整修……的表面

2 dip /dIp/vt. 浸泡

3 vat/vAt/n.大桶

4 solvent/5sClvEnt/n.溶剂

5 incentive/In5sentIv/n.刺激，鼓励

6 category/5kAtIgErI/n.种类；范畴

7 invariably/In5veErIEblI/ad.不变地，一定地

8 entrepreneur/7CntrEprE5n\\:/n.企业家

9 diversity/daI5v\\:sItI/n.差异；多样性

10 edge/edV/n.边缘，优势

11 shovel/5FQvl/n.铁铲

12 motive/5mEUtIv/n.动机；目的

13 Maine/meIn/n. 缅因州［美国州名］

14 drought /draUt/n.干旱

15 Idaho/5aIdEhEU/n.爱达荷州［美国州名］

16 titanium/taI5teInIEm/n.钛

17 parsnip/5pB:snIp/n.欧洲防风草

18 bumper /5bQmpE/ a.丰盛的，特大的Useful Expressions

1 be based on 根据，以……为基础

2 in essence 本质上，基本上

3 set out to do sth. 开始干某事

4 in practice 在实践中，实际上

5 chances are... 很有可能

6 compete with sb.（ for sth.）与……竞争

7 go about 处理，做，忙于

8 in addition 另外，加之

9 overall profi t 总利润

10 work out 产生结果；发展

11 more often than not 通常；多半

12 add to 增加

13 at large 全部，整个

Exercises

Comprehension

1

14 deal in 经营，买卖

15 end up 最后成为（处于）16 gain an edge over （稍微）胜过17 operating cost 经营成本18 discount store 打折店19 in short supply 供应不足20 fall off 跌落, 滚落下21 in response to 作为对……的反应

22 partial payment

分批(部分)付款

1 What is a free-market system like in real life?

2 According to Para. 4, why is a seller willing to lower a price?

3 W

without having to settle for a smaller profit?

4The author uses the example of luxury goods to illustrate that __________. 5What role does advertising play in competition?

6According to the text, what does the price of a product reflect?

7W

demand most.

8W

Vocabulary 1

1C

whomever you choose.

2T

cover the same expenses.

3T

for the buying public.

4B

high capacity

5 Price levels often respond to forces of supply and demand.

6 B

7 I will have to settle for lower prices.

8 T and the producers will earn a profit by keeping tabs on public demand.

1

Discussion

1 W And of all these, which one would be the most effective? Why?

2W

If yes, what are they?

3

under what condition would that be possible? 1

1Who determines the value of art?

A. Artists, art dealers, or critics.

B. The public, art dealers, or museum directors.

C. Investors, critics, or museum directors.

D. Critics, art dealers, or museum directors.

New Words and Expressions

1 napkin /5nApkIn/ n.餐巾

2 reputation /7repjU5teIF E n/ n.名声

3 rectangle /5rek7tANgl/n.长方形

4 art dealer 艺术经纪人

Exercises

Choose the right answer.

1

2People buy art in order __________.

3Who make the greatest profits out of art?

4The

5We can conclude from the passage that __________.

Passage Two

1W e described business as all the work involved in providing people with goods and services for a profit. The last three words are important. Profit, simply put, is the money left over from all sums received from sales after expenses have been deducted. If it costs you $1.00 to produce one of

your mousetraps and you sell it for $1.50, your profit is fifty cents (before taxes, of course).

2T he element of profit is the foundation of our economic system. It is, indeed, the whole point — the “bottom line” for most business activities and enterprises. The American economic system is based on the idea that the owner of a business is entitled to keep whatever profits the business produces. It takes effort, after all, to put a desirable product or service into a useful form and then sell it to people.

Furthermore, the owner may have to take a considerable financial risk. Most businesses need a substantial investment to get started, and if a new venture doesn’t succeed (and most don’t), whoever financed it stands to lose a great deal of money. It seems only fair, therefore, that someone who makes the effort and takes the financial risk should be rewarded with the profits.

3 S uch an arrangement, moreover, is not only logical in theory; it has also proved extremely

effective in practice. Most people simply do not work five days a week for the sheer fun of it: they work in exchange for compensation, usually money. Furthermore, they tend to work harder or take greater risks if they feel that their extra efforts may produce greater rewards. It is this basic human incentive, the profit motive, that lies at the heart of the American business system.

4 A t this point we must note that not all businesses exist to make a profit. As we’ll see, it is the

nature of the American system to provide goods and services for which there is a sizeable demand or for which a relatively small number of people are willing to spend a large sum of money. But some small segments of society have needs that profit-oriented businesses can’t afford to supply at prices that these markets can pay. Therefore, our society supports a number of nonprofit businesses, such as Underwriters Laboratories and Goodwill Industries. In other respects, these enterprises are much like profit-directed businesses.

(390 words, 3‘50”) New Words and Expressions

1 deduct/dI5dQkt/vt. 扣除

2 mousetrap/5maUstrAp/n.捕鼠机

3 entitle/In5taItl/vt.给……权利(或资格)

Exercises

Ⅰ Decide whether the following statements are true (T) or false (F).

Ⅱ with one word.

4 substantial /sEb5stAnFEl/

a. 大量的，可观的5 compensation /7kRmpen5seIFEn/

n. 补偿，薪资6 segment /5segmEnt/ n. 部分；部门