¥: Well, as I've said, think i's a very powerful way of helping staff to develop. But yes, of course it can be used asa weapon. So if you are working in an organisation ‘where there's a lot of mistrust and bad feeling, then no, it isn't suitable, And you shouldn’¢ use tata time when there are big changes going on like a merger or something, What you have to do is to work on the culture of your institution and try to create the sort of atmosphere ‘where 360 degree feedback will be used to everyone's benetit, see. Y¥: And funnily enough, the process of preparing for 360 degree is often more beneficial than the feedback itself ve seen many cases where the culture of an institution thas realy changed, not because of the feedback, Dut because of what was done in preparation for it. When it ‘was time for the feedback, most of the important changes had already happened. Interesting, Exam skills and Exam practice Listening Paper Part 1, Skills Exercise 1 -M = Man; W = Woman 1 Do you want to meet sometime to discuss the market research survey? [could do next Monday morning. We Yes, Icould as well, but [was hoping we could meet earlier than that. How about Thursday this week or Friday morning? Sorry, [can't make either of those. I'm in meetings both days, f: OK, then, next week itis. we 2 Me Has there been much interest in the new post? w: ‘Yes, we've had about 60 applicants, some very good ‘ones, 100. 'm choosing them for interview at the ‘moment and it looks like I'll be seeing about 30 of them, M: So probably we should always advertise n that paper from now on. When we put the advert online, only about 10 people contacted us Listening Paper Part 1, Skills Exercise 2 1 A: Tid ike to Book a room for Friday the 23rd of May, please, B: That's £90 fora standard room and £130 fora suite. ‘A: Ijust want the standard room. And I'm from Mason's We usually get a discount 8: Oh, sorry. That will be £75 then. ‘Where are you taking Mr Sullivan for lunch? 8: Wel, it would be nice to take him to that new Greek restaurant but ... [just don’t think there's going to be time. He has to catch the early afternoon train. It will have to be the staff canteen, ‘A: You could take him to the steak bar. That's very near the station, BB No, he has to go back tothe hotel and pick up his bag, istening Paper Part 1, Skills Exercise 3 1 A: Sohave they finalised all these changes to the packaging for our chocolate drops? B: Well, they've decided not to go ahead with alot of the changes. The design for the square tube was rejected, 0 ts still going to be round and they're still going to hhave plastic lids. The lettering on the packet will be the same as well, but we're losing the blue background. ‘A Alter all that discussion! 2 We What did you think ofthe presentation? Me I didn’t think it was very interesting at all, actualy. ’ve heard that sort of thing so many times before We Oh, it was quite new for me, The only thing was, he spoke a bit too fast Me Yes, [couldn't always eateh what he sai either, stening Paper Part 1, Exam practice A= Announcer; M = Mans W = Woman ‘A: You will hear an introduction to each part ofthe test and you'll have time to look at the questions before you listen. You'll hear each piece twice. While you're listening, you should write your answers on the question paper. You'll have time at the end of the test ta copy your answers onto the separate answer sheet. ‘There will now be a pause. Please ask any questions how, because you must not speak during the est. Now open your question paper and look at Pat Part 1: questions 1-8, For questions 1-8 you will hear eight short recordings. For each question, mark one letter (4, B oF ©) for the correct answer Here is an example: Who is Emily going to write to? ‘M: Emily, that supplier we use has become very unreliable, and we've decided to look for another one, Ws Seems a good idea, ‘M: We don’t need to inform our clients, but could you send note round to all our departments when we've decided ‘who to replace the supplier with? W: Yes, of course, Transcripts‘A: The answer is A. Now we are ready to start, You will hear the eight recordings twice. ‘A: One. When will the meeting be? ‘M: Sarah, can you fix a date for us to discuss the new advertising campaign with Nick Bradshaw? It'll have to be next week, Ican manage the 12th, 14th or 15th, as Jong as it’s after 3.30, We Right, but Nick said he'd be away until the 14th, so i'l have to be the following day, ‘M: That'll be fin. Two, Which office suppliers are they going to use? We This latest order from Office Network is very expensive. Have you thought about changing suppliers? ‘Me Mm, well, did think about it. But Excel Products wouldn't give us any discount and A-Grade Service want cash on delivery, so lets just leave things as they are ‘A: Three, Which line shows productivity correctly? IM: These figures are interesting aren’t they? I expected to see the highest productivity in the earliest part ofthe day, and the lowest atthe end. W. But... in fact the peak time’ just before midday, isn't it? IM: And performance is better atthe end of the day than itis after lunch. I imagined itd be the other way round. ‘A: Four. What is the correct length? M: Hello, I'm calling from Brent Hardware, There's an error in our catalogue, and we missed it when we were proofreading. I's on page 26. W: Oh. IM: It says the fength is five forty but it should be four twenty millimetres. ‘We Right... Um, oh yes, I see .. The height is still 452, isn’t iw M: That’s right We OK, we'll eto that page, ‘A: Five, What does the woman want to do about the meeting? Ws Ben... hello, Emily Jones here. I'm calling about the project meeting. ‘on the fifteenth of May? Yes... | think that date’s going to be too soon ~ I still haven't got the figures I need from the contractor. M: Do you want fo put it off then? Ws Please. I'l get back to you about alternative dates, ‘: Six. What time will Mr Johnstone arrive? IM: It's Peter here from Executive Cars. 'm collecting a Mr Johnstone from the States. His flight arrived at 14.45, but he still hasn't come through customs, We Sorry, yes. We've had a message to say he took a different flight. He gets in at 16,50. Can you wait? M: OK. The next flight Pim meeting isn’t until 21.10. i get something to eat and then I'l be Transcripts ‘A: Seven, Which chart shows where the company’s goods are made? ‘Mz ... and the majority of our parts are made outside the US with 60 per cent manufactured in Asia, a smaller amount, ust 10 per cent, made in Eastern Europe and a further 5 per cent in Scandinavia; the remaining quarter are produced here in the US and we have Eight. Which task is urgent? Sarah, are you busy? Not very. Have you signed the leters I put on your desk? t: They're in the post. Um, the thing is, there's a problem at the Barcelona office. We've got several faxes from them that need answering at once. Could you do that? No problem. After that, shall we check our diaries for this week? 00d idea. That is the end of Part 1 zee? = | Listening Paper Part 2, Skills Exercise 1 Good morning, I'm going to talk to you today chiefly about DHL's propased new investments in North America, but before I do, 1’ just like to give you a few facts and figures about DHL I think it’s pretty much beyond doubt that we are the most widely known express delivery service. DHL was founded in 1969 but it expanded very quickly and in 1973 we already had over 300 staff. The expansion continued and there was an especially rapid spurt of growth in 1982, when we added 30 new countries to our lst of possible destinations. In 2003, we merged with two other companies, Danzas and Deutsche Post Euro Express and in that year our total revenue was somewhere in the region of €22 billion ‘We emplay over 160,000 people worldwide and we have around 5,000 offices. We make 4 million collections and deliveries a week in the UK alone, and globally, we make over one billion shipments each year. We own 75,000 vehicles and operate from over 450 warehouses and terminals, We also own a fleet of some 250 aeroplanes. ‘They're of different types, but our European network is based in Brussels and uses chiefly Boeing 757F and Airbus A30B¢4 aircraft Listening Paper Part 2, Skills Exercise 2 LAR ES,CJ,6 Listening Paper Part 2, Skills Exercise 3 1 Ws Can Ihave your name please? M: Yes, it's Keith Caraballo, You spell that CARABALLO, And the address? 34, Harries Close, That's H Your name please? ‘Wall, it’s an Italian name, Ciro Romano. You spell that CHRO then RO-M-AN-O, RES, Croyden, zee‘And the address please? 62, Leigh Hunt Drive. That's L-E--G-H new word H-ULN-T. London, And the postcode is NW14 SEC. Can I just check the spelling of your company? Harrow Wells. That's H-A-R-R-O-W then new word WELLS. ‘And what isthe contact name for the order? You can use my name, Jariya Kroksamrang, That's FARTYA and surname KRO-KS-AM-RAN-G, Listening Paper Part 2, Skills Exercise 4 1 As Can {just check the phone number? The one I've got Js 029 3491582. Bs No, I think it’s better if you use my direct line, That's 3491483. 2. A: What time is Mr Fenton coming? '& He was going to catch the train that gets in at 10.30, Dut now he says he can’t make it. He should be arviving at 12.45. 3 A: What discount did you agree on? 1B Well, we finally fixed on 8%. They wanted 12% at first, but I said we couldn't accept that. know we don’t usually give more than 5%, but think we're likely 10 get a lot more orders from them. 4A: Sohow many members of staff do you have in total? 1B Well che current figure is about 220, sorry, I mean 320. ‘We took on another 40 people ot so this year. Listening Paper Part 2, Exam practice A= Announcer; M = Man; W = Woman ‘A: Part 2: questions 9-15. Look atthe notes below. Some information is missing, You will hear an engineering manager giving a secretary some information about a quotation For each question, 9-15, fillin the missing information in the numbered space using a word, numbers or letters. ‘You will hear the conversation twice, You have 10 seconds to read through the notes. ‘Now listen, and fill inthe missing information Jim Morgan’s office Sally, Jim here. Hello, How was the vist to that company interested in a service contract? Good. Could you do a quote to send them today? sure, 1's to goto Alfords International. ‘Aha. Is that double-L? one, AL-FO-R-D'S. Theit address is on my desk, Right, thanks. Have you got a reference number? Br, oh, GE-24-6-0-1 ‘What equipment do they have for servicing? Does it Include their oftice machines? 238 SeS88255 wLister Well, they’ve got nearly 500, so another company is looking after those. They want us to service the 37 ‘machines in the packing department. OK, Now, I've worked out an annual charge .. cheaper than, their current supplier. We're quoting £1,978, that’s including tax. Then there's charges for emergency work, Is that the usual £45 call-out charge? Mm, I didn’t reduce the price on that ~ it's standard, Fine. Also, I gave them a guaranteed response time - at the ‘moment they have to wait up to 24 hours for an engineer to visit. I promised they wouldn't have to walt more than eight hours if they chose us. OK. Isthat everything? Er, almost, Payment terms - | didn’t negotiate on these. ‘Their current supplier only gives 20 days, so our usual 29 is already much better Right, I'l get allthis together and Now you will hear the conversation again. ‘That isthe end of Part 2 Re BERS we Ms: \g Paper Part 3, Skills Exercise 1b Good afternoon and welcome to today’s business news. ‘The Chinese manufacturer of motor vehicles, Lin Ro, has continued to enjoy a rapid rise in profits. When the company. ‘was founded in 1997, the consumer base was relatively small, but low interest rates have made it possible for growing ‘numbers of people to invest in private cars. Last year, however, the greatest inerease was in the sale of trucks, which saw a rise of 68%, This is clearly a result ofthe booming economy. Now in response to this increased demand the company have put forward plans to relocate to new premises Listening Paper Part 3, Skills Exercise 3b ‘The insurance firm, Morton and Campbell, have announced that they intend to sell their life insurance division. In future they will concentrate only on their general insurance business. This is because of low profits. The company were hi last year especially by arse in the number of claims from, the USA, According to the press, an investment company has offered to buy their life insurance unit in a deal worth £600 million, However, Morton and Campbell have not named the company. sz Listening Paper Part 3, Exam practice A= Announcer; MD = Managing Director ‘A: Part 3: questions 16-22 Look at the notes about the launch of a new clothing company. Some information is missing. You will hear part ofa welcoming talk by the company's Managing Director. Transcripts 181Foreach question 16-22, illin the missing information in the numbered space using one or two words You will hear the talk twice. You have 10 seconds to read through the notes. Now listen, and fil in the missing information. Mo: Good morning, everyone, and welcome tothe launch of ‘our new company. Thisis a special day for us, now we hhave merged with Sinclaits to become Riverside Clothing Limited and we're confident that our success at selling our own brand of clothing will continue There have been some important saff changes. Our previous Chief Executive, Simon Marsh, has moved on to become MD of another company, so congratulations to our Sales Manager, David Shaw, who will become Chief Executive. We wish him every success in his new role The postion of the new premises here was carefully chosen so that we would be near the airport, instead of being in the city centre, ike alot of other factories. ‘These premises ae far bigger. Although our sales area has remained about the same and we have slightly ‘more room for design workshops, its the ‘manufacturing area that we have expanded the most [As you can see this is avery exciting time for us and ‘we will continue to improve our facilities for staf. There will now be plenty of space to build a new stat car park, as parking has always been a problem, That'll bbe completed in the spring. However, the staff eanteen Js now open and [hope you'll be joining us for lunch there later. [Now that we have moved, we intend to expand into two new areas of the clothing industry. In addition to our existing adults range, we're ready to start ona range of children’s clothes. These wll be in production by next ‘month, followed later in the yearby a new range of sportswear, We already have a strong market forthe range — in ‘America and Japan, but we'llbe targeting Australia next which is an unknown export market fr us. Now if Imay. Now you will hear the talk again, ‘A: Thatis the end of Pat, 11 Listening Paper Part 4, Skills Exercise 1a ‘x: 0 tellus something about Fexiwork 8: Well, we're a recruitment agency but we specialise in finding employment for people who want to work flexible hours. ‘x And who are your clients? Ist mainly working mothers ‘who need 1 organise their workaround childcare? ®: No, not really. A great many men these days want more Alexbility in their working hours, either to spend more ‘Transcripts time with their children or just because they want more control over when and where they work. Actually we the most common reason for needing mote flexibility is that the person has an old person at home, like a parent or a grandparent that they are looking after. ‘A: And how difficult sit for companies to offer flexible hours? B: I's becoming easier and easier really. Why do you need to do everything at your desk at work if you have a computer at home? You still need to go into work for some things, but even then, you won't be forced to go during the rush hour. And that’s a big saving of time. Just think ofall those "unproductive hours you spend on the train normally ‘A: Are there any benefits for companies? B: Yes, certainly. Staff turnover among flexible workers tends tobe much lower than among other employees, partly because it may not be easy to find this balance between ‘work and family needs somewhere else. And if companies can hang on to their best workers by saying ‘OK, because of your situation, we'll offer you flexible hours’, then they're more likely (0 meet their targets, nd asListening Paper Part 4, Exam practice A= Announcer; M = Man; W = Woman ‘A: Part 4: questions 23-30, You will hear a radio interview with George Johnson, ‘managing director of Media-X, an organisation which invests in Internet companies For each question, 23-30, mark one letier (A, B or C) for the correct answer. You will hear the conversation twice. You have 45 seconds to read through the questions. Now listen and mark A, Bor C Ws Good afternoon and welcome to Working Day. Today we're going to meot George Johnson, managing director ‘of Media-X, an investment company always in the news these days, Hello, George, welcome to the programme. M: Hello, Sarah, Wé First of all, a question I'm sure you're often asked. Why is the company called Media-X? Has it got anything to do ‘with film or television? M: Not really, But we wanted to get away from the serious image of money and banking, and wanted something. that people wouldn't forget. We also considered names connected with e-commerce and the Internet, but in the cend we decided we wanted something more general. And ‘Media-X seemed a good choice, Ws Interesting, Now let's get onto what Media-X actually does. You were one of the first in the business to provide financial as well as technical advice, weren't you, for new Internet and software companies? M: Well, I wasn't as farsighted as alot of people, especially in America. When I first heard about the Internet in 1991Bs ss f: So business runs in the fami [thought it would be only used for education! But actually decided to set up Media-X the following year, when I realised that new software was already making it easier to use, $a I suppose that was quite early on ~ compared to most other Europeans, that is. But what about before that? Tell us something about your early career, studied economics at university and then joined a large international bank asa trainee manager, eventually ‘becoming vice-president, Towards the end of that period. Lalso became a director of a small software company my brother was setting up. , then? a well-established office ‘That's right. My father has a supplies company, so, apart from the financial side, he also knows a lot about warehouses, storage and delivery systems, which are very important in the e-commerce business, rely on his opinion a lot when I'm trying to decide whether or not to invest in new ventures. So tell us about the companies you help. I'm sure you get lots of requests for funding sent to you. ‘Um, yes, we receive about three hundred proposals a year. We examine them all, discuss them, then decide which to go with, About 200 are worth considering in detail, with maybe 100 being finally selected. ‘What would you say makes a successful proposal? Well, we look for a number of things. But, before anything else, we have to be sure there's a clear demand for what the company intends to provide, Of course, then we have to consider other things like a strong business plan behind the proposal and, of course, the people at the top ~ they've got to be worth Investing in You mentioned before that you don’t only provide the money for starting new businesses. What other services do you provide? We're notin a position to provide software programs, technical details, things like that, or information about possible markets, Where we can help Is by making sure that companies know what to charge for their goods and services, so that everything is on a healthy basis. ‘And you've certainly enjoyed some recent successes, haven't yout Wel, yes, some of the British companies we've supported have been doing rather well - TravelDeals-dot- ‘com is now one of the leading travel companies here in Britain f And OrderFree-dot-com is also doing well. I's gone into tlie American market, hasn’tit? ‘Thats right. I's very promising, And then there's NetTrade-dot-com, another of the UK. companies you funded, Do you think they'll follow Orderfree's example and set up abroad? t: Idoubs that very much, Only time will ell, of course \W. That seems a good point on which to end. Thank you ‘very much, George Johnson, for a very interesting ‘4: Now you will hear the conversation again. That isthe ‘end of Part 4, 15 Speaking Test Part 1, Skills Exercise 1c Examiner: Where are you from? Examiner: What work do you do? Examiner: What do yout like about your job? Examiner: Now I'm going to ask some questions about your place of work. Do you have a comfortable office at ‘work? Is itimportant for you to have your own office? ‘And would you like ta have a bigger office? Examiner: Examiner: Speaking Test Part 2, Skills Exercise 1b Well, I've decided to talk about what is important when, siving a presentation. Firstly, I think it’s important to use visuals like PowerPoint slides or things written on a flip chart because it’s easier for the audience to concentrate ‘when they have something ¢o look at. Of course, there are some things which you can explain more clearly if you use visuals. For example, if you're talking about figures, you really need to show them to your audience om a graph. Secondly, think i's very important to give the people who are listening time to ask you questions atthe end. This means that you can explain something to them again if it wasn't clear the first time. I also means that the audience can find ‘out mare about any part ofthe talk which interested them, People usually give handouts, like copies of the PowerPoint slides, to the audience. This is nice, but | don’t think it's essential. People often prefer to make their own notes. 1 sometimes wonder if many people look atthe handouts again after the talk, So to conclude, think the most important things are using visuals and allowing the audience to ask questions atthe end, Speaking Test Part 3, Skills Exercise 2c ‘A: [think the best place to advertise is in a business magazine. it’s something that business people buy, there's more chance that the right sort of person will see iI" probably cheaper than advertising in a national newspaper (00. B: Maybe but I'm not sure how many people read business magazines, How about the Internet? A lot of people look for jobs online these days. ‘A Yes, that’s true. Websites reach alot of people. We might even get candidates from other countries. 'B: What do you think about using a recruitment agency? ‘Ex, no, I don’t think that’s the best way. I'm not sure the best people usually go to agencies. £: I¢ depends on the post but [think you're right. t's not a {good idea for a post like this. So it's the Internet then? A Yes, I think so Transcripts 183,