Part 1 Listen for Missing Information

Unit Nine

Part 1 Listen for Missing Information

Task 1

Directions : You will hear eight fractional numbers. Listen carefully and write them down in the blanks.

1. one third 2. four fifths 3.thirteen over twenty-three 4.one half

5. two and two sevenths 6. nine sixteenths 7. eleven and oneeighth 8.one hundredth

Task 2

Directions : You will hear ten sentences. Listen carefully and fill in the blanks with what you hear.

1.He usually gets up at 8:00, but today he got up at 7:15 in the morning .

2.As many as 283 students signed up for the e-business course , but only two thirds were accepted.

3.Asia has a population of 3,400 million; that's about 9/16 of the whole world population.

4.The towers of the WorldTradeCenter were 405 meters high and each had 110 floors .

5.In Jan. 1972 the Open University began its first class over the radio and on TV.

6.To reserve seats , call the Student Union at 624-5783.

7.The train to Shanghai leaves from Platform 4 at 12:34.

8.I just bought this coat at a sale; I paid only $ 248.37.

9.Australia is a country in the South Pacific with an area of 7, 682,300 square kilometers .

10.Miss Nancy lives in Room 1209, Beijing Hotel ,extension 3864.

Task 3

Directions : Listen carefully to the following passage and fill in the blanks with what you hear on the tape. You will listen to the passage twice.

Late Payers Can Kill a Business

Managing cash-flow in the everyday sense is about making sure you have money coming in to finance the costs of the goods and services you are producing .

If you're a small business , the chances are that for every $100 you owe ,others owe you $155 . What's more , you're probably waiting up to 12 weeks to get paid , It's not right , some business people have very definite ideas about what should be done to make things fairer .

Improving credit control can make a world of difference to your business protects. Profit is good , but It's cash that pays the wages.

So here are 5 tips to help you get what's due to you

1.ASSESS the credit risk of every customer and assign a credit limit to them before any goods are supplied . Trade and bank references should always be taken up before accepting a customer on credit terms ,

2.STATE the credit terms clearly on each invoice .

3.ASK for a percentage of the involve value in advance as protection against bad debt .

4.TRY credit insurance if credit checks do not come up to standard , It's not always available , but it can provide up to 100 per cent cover on approved debts , guaranteeing payment by a specified date .

5.THINK about using debt collection agencies for smaller debts . Agency fees , usually based on a percentage , are only payable if the debt is successfully recovered.

Part 2 Listen for Main Ideas

Directions : You will hear a weather report . Before you listen , quickly to over the list of statements , four of which are summaries of some of the facts in the report , Then listen carefully and match the statements (a-f) with the regions , There are two extra statements that you don't need to use , You will hear the report twice .

Weather Report

West :

A very strong ridge of high pressure aloft will allow much of the West to babe in extreme heat . Many places in California's Sacramento and San JoaquinValleys may exceed 110 degrees ! Even the san FranciscoBay area will see temperatures around 90 degrees . Thunderstorms may again blossom in portions of the Southwest , mainly over the mountains

Midwest :

Resident s of the Midwest will have to deal with a variety of weather on Wednesday. A disturbance aloft will keep scattered thunderstorms in the forecast from the Northern Plains through Missouri , On the other hand , folks from the Great Lakes to the Ohio River will feel cooler and less humid conditions .

South:

A cold front will sweep through the Northeast overnight and it will only sag slowly southward . The result will be showers and thunderstorms on Wednesday from Kentucky and Tennessee to southern Virginia and North Carolina , Some of these thunderstorms may produce heavy rain and gusty winds.Elsewhere, scattered showers and thunderstorms will linger over southern Teas and Florida

Northeast :

Residents of the Northeast will enjoy some of the best weather in the nation on Wednesday . The heat and rain of Tuesday will be replaced by cooler temperatures and less humid conditions. Highs will only reach the 60s in Northern New England . This pleasant spell of weather will last right through Friday.

Part 3 Listen for Facts

Directions : ——Look at the eight statements for this part

——You will hear a passage about credit card history . You will listen to the passage twice .

——Decide whether you think each statement is right . wrong , or not mentioned .

Credit Card History

The concept of credit cards began just before World War I ,in 1914 , when Western Union provided a deferred-payment service to its most sound customers , It wasn't until 1980 that Diners Clubissued the first real “card” .This card could be used in a number of different locations .

Quickly the idea caught on and within about a year , banks began providing cards to their customers ,and merchants began accepting them for payment . These early cards required payment in full within a short period of time , usually less than 90 days The income possibilities soon became apparent to the bankers ,The financial institutions could simply extend the repayment time , attach an interest rate and overnight , a new profit center for New York's Franklin National Bank, in 1951, had introduced the first modern credit card to its customers .

Before 1970, the concept was being quickly accepted , Consumers and the issuing banks were feeling that one bank , one card was not enough , Bank of America solved this by entering into licensing agreements with banks outside California allowing them to issue Bank Americard and inter change transactions among the licensees ,

In order to increase usage , a bank card association was started which would change the name to one which was not linked with any one bank , In 1977 , the Visa name was adopted , a member ship corporation was formed , and Visa , USA was started , At the same time , three different groups of banks that were not franchisees of Bank of America began activities that would later merge to become today's MasterCard International .

Part 4 Listen for Details

Directions : Listen to a passage about tariff barrier and finish the following two tasks , You will listen to the passage twice .

Task 1 Indicate which of the alternatives , A , B, or C , is the most appropriate response .

Task 2 Choose from A-E the correct answer for each of the items (1-4). Use the letters only once .There is one extra letter that you do not need to use .

Tariff Barriers

In today's world , trade barriers in international trade are still widespread . Trade barriers usually consist of tariff barriers and non-tariff barriers , Tariffs are sometimes justified on the grounds that they protect domestic employment and wages , help create the competition to domestic products in the world market ,and protect domestic industries

A tariff is simply a tax or duty levied on a product when it crosses national boundaries , In general , tariffs can be divided into an import tariff and an export tariff , The most widespread tariff is the import tariff , which is a tax levied on an imported product . Ales common tariff is an export tariff, which is a tax imposed on an exported product , For example , oil exports have been taxed by organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in order to raise revenue by controlling the Supply and increasing the price of oil in the world market.

There are three types of, specific tariff, ad valor tariff and compound tariff, A specific tariff is of a faced amount of money per physical unit of the imported product. An ad valor tariff is expressed as a raced percentage of the value of the imported product. A compound ratify is a combination of a specific and an ad Valier Tariff.

Specific tariff is relatively easy to apply and administer, particularly to standardized commodities and staple products. Ad valor tariff can he applier to products with a wide range of grade variations. Compound tariff is compound duties that are applied to manufactured products embodying raw materials that are subject to tariffs.