商务英语BEC中级考试阅读资料最新
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商务英语BEC中级考试阅读资料一
贝尔斯登(Bear Stearns)与中国券商中信证券(Citic Securities)正在就去年达成的股份互换协议重新展开谈判，以更好地反映协议达成后双方股价的下跌。
Bear Stearns and Citic Securities, China’s largest securities firm, are renegotiating the share swap agreement they reached last year to better reflect a subsequent fall in their stock prices.
一位知情人士称，两家公司的高管正在讨论一项“对等调整”，这将增加双方终持有的对方股份。
Senior executives from both firms are discussing a “reciprocal adjustment” that would increase the amount they eventually hold in each other, according to a person familiar with the matter.
根据去年10月达成的交易条款，中信证券同意支付10亿美元购入终将转换为贝尔斯登约6%股份的证券，而美国投行贝尔斯登终将支付同等金额，购得中信证券约2%股份。
Under the terms of the deal struck last October, Citic agreed to pay $1bn for securities that would convert to about 6 per cent of Bear Stearns and the US investment bank would eventually pay the same amount for about 2 per cent of Citic.
这宗交易仍需获得中国监管机构批准，若交易成功，作为中国国务院控制的中国中信集团(Citic Group)旗下证券交易子公司的中信证券将成为贝尔斯登的单一股东。
The deal still needs regulatory approval in China, but if successful, Citic Securities, the brokerage arm of China Citic Group, which is controlled by China’s cabinet, would BECome the biggest single shareholder of the US investment bank.
由外国投资者持有一家美国银行如此大规模的股份，可能会在美国引发批评。美国某些议员已对亚洲和中东主权财富基金的直接投资感到不安。
Such a large stake by a foreign investor in a US bank could attract criticism in the US, where some lawmakers have been unnerved by direct investments by sovereign wealth funds from Asia and the Middle East.
美国联合经济委员会(Joint Economic Committee)主席、参议员查尔斯?舒默(Charles Schumer)本周暗示，可能会推动对此类投资实行更严格的监管。
Senator Charles Schumer, chairman of the joint economic committee, this week signalled a possible push for greater regulation of such investments.
根据中国官方新华社的报道，中信证券在贝尔斯登的持股比例可能增至9.9%，而贝尔斯登所持中信证券的股份终可能增至7.5%。
Citic’s stake is likely to be increased to 9.9 per cent of Bear Stearns. The US investment bank’s stake in Citic could eventually be lifted to as much as 7.5 per cent, according to a report from China’s official Xinhua news agency.
10亿美元的投资规模将保持不变，只是仍需得到中国监管机构的批准。
The $1bn investment scale will remain the same, subject to approval from Chinese regulators.
自去年10月达成交易以来，贝尔斯登的股价已从当时的大约120美元跌至约80美元。中信证券的股价已下滑40%，至大约71元人民币。
Bear’s shares have fallen from about $120 when the deal was signed in October to about $80 now. Citic’s shares have dropped 40 per cent to about Rmb71.
据知情人士介绍，去年11月，在贝尔斯登股价出现骤跌后，中信证券首先提出重新讨论它将在这家美国投行持有的股份。
Citic first broached the subject of renegotiating the stake it would take in Bear last November following a precipitous drop in the US bank’s shares, according to people familiar with the matter.
中信一位发言人表示，他不知道有任何谈判正在进行。记者无法联系上贝尔斯登驻日本的一位发言人置评。
A Citic spokesman said he had no knowledge of any ongoing negotiations and a Bear spokeswoman in Japan could not be reached for comment.
一名了解谈判情况的人士称，双方增持对方股份是“合理的”，反映了双方股价的下跌。 For the two sides to take larger shares in each other was “reasonable” and reflected their lower share prices, according to one person close to the negotiations.
另一位知情人士则持更为怀疑的态度。他表示：“这些都是猜测，是我们的竞争引起监管机构担忧造成的。双方的股价都下跌了，但这并不意味着需要重新谈判，除非这么做符合双方股东的利益。”
Another source familiar with the matter was more sceptical, saying: “It is all speculation driven by our competition which is causing the regulators to become concerned. The prices on both sides have come down but that doesn’t mean that the deal will be renegotiated unless it is in the interest of shareholders on both sides.”
商务英语BEC中级考试阅读资料二
Read the following text.
? Choose the best sentence from the list on page 52 to fill each of the gaps.
? For each gap 8 – 12 mark one letter A – I on your Answer Sheet.
? Do not mark any letter twice.
The Cash-free Society
Imagine a society in which cash no longer exists, Instead, “ cash ” is electronic, as in bank-card Systems. Currency and coin are abandoned.
____ example ____ . Theft of cash would BECome impossible. Bank robberies and cash-register robberies would simply cease to occur ____ ( 8 ) ____ . Purse snatchings would become a thing of the past. Urban streets would become safer ____ ( 9 ) ____ . Security costs and insurance rates would fall. Property values would rise. Neighbourhoods would improve.
Drug traffickers and their clients, burglars and receives of stolen property, arsonists for hire, and bribe-takers would no longer have the advantage of using untraceable currency. ____ ( 10 ) ____ These prosecutions, in turn, would inhibit further crimes.
In a society devoid of physical money, a change from cash to recorded electronic money would be accompanied by a flow of previously unpaid income-tax revenues running in the tens of billions of dollars. ____ (11) ____
Cash has been the root of much social and economic evil. ____ (12)____ Eighty percent of Americans regularly use credit cards. The development of a federal system to handle the country’s 300 billion annual cash transactions in the United States electronically is within reach.
Example: H.
A. A national electronic-money system would operate as a debit-card system.
B. Retail shops in once dangerous areas could operate in safety.
C. As a result, income tax rates could be lowered or the national debt reduced.
D. The use of cash has diminished substantially since World War II.
E. Attacks on shopkeepers, taxi drivers, and cashiers would all end.
F. The emergence of electronic funds-transfer technology makes it possible to change the nature of money and to divorce it from evil.
G. Almost every present-day cash transaction can be duplicated electronically.
H. The immediate benefits would be profound and fundamental.
I. Electronic “money” would leave incriminating trails of data, resulting in more arrests and convictions.
答案：Questions 8 – 12: E, B, I, C, F
商务英语BEC中级考试阅读资料三
Owning a cat can reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes by more than a third, researchers have found.
Scientists said that having a cat helped to relieve stress and anxiety, which is known to help protect against heart disease by lowering blood pressure and reducing the heart rate.
The 10-year study looked at 4,435 adults aged between 30 and 75, about half of whom owned a cat.
The findings, presented at a stroke conference in America, showed that 3.4 per cent of the cat owners died from a heart attack over 10 years. Among the group who had never owned a cat the rate was 5.8 per cent.
Cat owners still had a much reduced chance of developing strokes or heart attacks when researchers took account of other factors known to trigger heart disease, including high cholesterol levels, smoking and diabetes.
Prof Adnan Qureshi, from the Minnesota University, who carried out the study, said he was surprised by the strength of the effect that owning a cat appeared to have.
"The logical explanation may be that cat ownership relieves stress and anxiety and subsequently reduces the risk of heart disease."
He believes one reason could be that stroking the pet could cut the level of stress-related hormones in the blood. Reducing stress is known to help protect against heart disease by lowering blood pressure and reducing the heart rate.
商务英语BEC中级考试阅读资料四 But Prof Qureshi added that the type of person who owned a cat was usually already fairly stress-free and at low risk of heart disease.
研究人员发现，养猫能使患心脏病和中风的风险降低三分之一以上。
科研人员称，养猫有助于缓解压力、减轻焦虑，而减轻压力可以降低血压和心律，因此有助于预防心脏病。
研究人员对4435名年龄在30岁至75岁之间的成年人进行了为期十年的调查，其中有一半的人养猫。
研究结果显示，在这十年中，仅有3.4%的养猫人士死于心脏病，而从未养过猫的人死于心脏病的比例为5.8%。该结果在美国召开的一个中风研讨会上公布。
研究人员还综合考虑了高胆固醇、吸烟和糖尿病等可能引发心脏病的其它一些因素，结果发现，养猫人士患中风或心脏病的几率还是要小很多。
开展该研究的明尼苏达大学教授阿德南?库勒什说，他很惊讶养猫有这么大的好处。
“合理的解释应该是，养猫能够缓解压力和焦虑，从而降低患心脏病的风险。”
他认为其中一个原因是，爱抚小猫能够降低血液中的应激激素水平。而减轻压力则能够降低血压和心率，从而有助于预防心脏病。
但库勒什教授说，喜欢养猫的人往往自身就没什么压力，患心脏病的几率也较小。
商务英语BEC中级考试阅读资料四
中国银行业监管机构昨日表示，随着各银行扩大产品种类，2007年后一个季度中国个人理财产品销售额大幅飙升。
Sales of individual wealth management products in China shot up in the last quarter of 2007 as banks expanded their product offerings, the banking regulator said yesterday.
截至9月底，60家银行业金融机构推出了个人理财服务，如共同基金、保险产品和离岸投资产品。
By the end of September there were 60 banking institutions in China offering individual wealth management services such as mutual funds, insurance products and offshore investments.
2007年前三个季度，各银行此类产品销售总额为6000亿元人民币(合820亿美元)。
Together China’s banks sold Rmb600bn ($82bn) worth of such products in the first three quarters of 2007.
但中国银监会(CBRC)表示，预计2007年全年销售总量将达1万亿元人民币，原因是有更多的理财产品面世，同时客户将资金从生息的定期存款中转出。
But the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) said it expected that figure had jumped to Rmb1,000bn by the end of the year as more products BECame available and customers shifted money out of interest-bearing time deposits.
2007年11月份，中国通货膨胀率创下6.9%的11年高点，而一年期存款利率仅为4.14%，中国投资者面临着实际利率为负的局面，他们一直在寻求银行存款的替代品。
With inflation hitting an 11-year high of 6.9 per cent in November and the one-year deposit rate at only 4.14 per cent, Chinese investors are faced with negative real interest rates and have been looking for alternatives to bank deposits.
中国国内银行传统上依赖存贷款利差，目前政府正鼓励它们进行多样化调整。中国存贷款利率由央行制定，以确保国有银行能够盈利。
The government is actively encouraging Chinese banks to diversify from their traditional reliance on the spread between deposit and loan interest rates, which are set by the central bank to ensure profitability at the state-owned lenders.
去年6月份，银监会为大中型国有银行制定了目标，力争在未来5年至10年，中间收入在总收入中所占比重从目前的17 %左右升至40%-50%。
In June last year the CBRC set a target for large and medium-sized state-owned banks to increase their fee-based income from about 17 per cent of their total now to 40-50 per cent within the next five to 10 years.
多数全球规模的银行都在中国设立了业务，而去年，包括渣打银行(Standard Chartered)、瑞银(UBS)和汇丰(HSBC)在内的许多银行，已开始为拥有100万美元以上的客户提供私人银行服务。
Most of the world’s largest banks have set up operations in China and many, including Standard Chartered, UBS and HSBC, began offering private banking services available to clients with $1m or more to invest, last year.
德意志银行(Deutsche Bank)昨日宣布，已在北京注册理财业务，从而可以提供包括人民币存款和贷款在内的更多服务。
Deutsche Bank yesterday announced it had incorporated locally in Beijing, allowing it to offer more services, including renminbi deposit and lending services.
中国银监会昨日警告称，伴随着理财服务的增长，瞄准无知个人的欺诈案件数量也有所上升，此类案件的社会影响恶劣。
The CBRC warned yesterday that the growth in wealth management services had been accompanied。
商务英语BEC中级考试阅读资料五
昨日公布的一项调查显示，尽管去年英国初创企业的融资额增长了27%，达到约14亿英镑，但中国仍取代英国，成为世界第二大风险投资目的国。
China overtook the UK as the world's second-biggest destination for venture capital investments last year, in spite of a 27 per cent rise in British early-stage company funding to about ￡1.4bn, a survey revealed yesterday.
总部位于剑桥的创业研究中心Library House表示，如果印度的风险资本投资延续2006年90%的增速，到2009年，印度的排名也将超过英国。
Library House, the Cambridge-based entrepreneurship research centre, said India was also due to overtake the UK by 2009 if Indian venture capital investments continued to grow at the 90 per cent rate seen in 2006.
这项调查是由瑞银财富管理(UBS Wealth Management)委托进行的。调查预计，英国今年的风险资本投资可能降至10亿至12亿英镑，相当于2003年的水平。
The report, commissioned by UBS Wealth Management, forecast that UK venture capital could decline to ￡1bn-￡1.2bn this year, equivalent to 2003 levels.
培育创业文化一直是“新工党(New Labour)”的宏伟蓝图之一，但此项调查将引发人们担忧英国的创业活动不仅落后于美国，还落后于以更快速度增长的亚洲经济体。
Fostering an entrepreneurial culture has been one of New Labour's main ambitions and the report will raise concerns that the country is falling behind not only the US but also faster growing Asian economies.
调查报告指出，中国和印度的崛起分流了英国初创企业的资金。这与英国风险投资家所谓该领域正在强劲复苏的说法大相径庭。
By arguing that funding for British start-up companies is being cannibalised by the rise of China and India, the report clashes with claims from British venture capitalists that their sector is recovering strongly.
英国领先风险投资公司DFJ Esprit的首席执行官西蒙?库克(Simon Cook)表示：“风险资本已走向全球。美国资金向印度和中国进行了大量投资，我预计欧洲资金
Simon Cook, chief executive of DFJ Esprit, a leading UK-based venture capitalist, said: "Venture capital has gone global. There has been a lot of capital invested in India and China by US funds and I expect that to come to Europe next year."
近年来，大规模杠杆收购基金的快速兴起令风险资本相形见绌。英国风险投资家在互联网泡沫破裂后遭受严重亏损，他们一直未能摆脱人们的这种观念：他们的回报比大型杠杆收购基金低。
Venture capital has been overshadowed in recent years by the rapid rise of big leveraged buy-out funds. Haunted by losses suffered after the bursting of the dotcom bubble, venture capitalists in Britain have struggled to escape the idea they make lower returns than their bigger LBO cousins.
Library House高级分析师罗杰?弗兰克林(Roger Franklin)表示，从今年上半年的风险资本投资水平推断，英国2007年的风险资本投资可能会减少10%至20%。这可能直接源自中国和印度风险投资活动的快速增长。中国去年的风险资本投资增长了50%至60%。
Roger Franklin, senior analyst at Library House, said extrapolations from venture capital investment levels in the first half of 2007 suggested the UK was on track to see a decline of 10 to 20 per cent this year. This could be a direct result of the rapid growth in Chinese and Indian venture capitalist activity. Chinese VC investments rose by 50 to 60 per cent last year.
弗兰克林表示：“中国和印度的增长水平如此之高，可能会从更成熟的市场吸引部分资金。特别是美国的风险投资，也许已经将资金从欧洲转向了亚洲。”
