AA6. The following appeared as part of an article in a magazine devoted to regional life.

“Corporations should look to the city of Helios when seeking new business opportunities or a new location. Even in the recent recession, Helios’s unemployment rate was lower than the regional average. It is the industrial center of the region, and historically it has provided more than its share of the region’s manufacturing jobs. In addition, Helios is attempting to expand its economic base by attracting companies that focus on research and development of innovative technologies.”

B3. The following appeared in a memorandum from the information technology department of a major advertising firm:

“The more efficient a firm’s employees are, the more profitable that firm will be. Improvements in a firm’s information technology hardware and software are a proven way to increase the efficiency of employees who do the majority of their work on computers. Therefore, if our firm invests in the most powerful and advanced information technology available, employee productivity will be maximized. This strategy ensures that every dollar spent on enhanced information technology will help to increase our firm’s profit margins.”

AA32. The following appeared in the editorial section of a West Cambria newspaper.

“A recent review of the West Cambria volunteer ambulance service revealed a longer average response time to accidents than was reported by a commercial ambulance squad located in East Cambria. In order to provide better patient care for accident victims and to raise revenue for our town by collecting service fees for ambulance use, we should disband our volunteer service and hire a commercial ambulance service.”

Due to the decline demand of the mining technology, all the realted corporations are sufferring form decline of profit and sales this year, including Blastcom Corporation. Blastcom Corporation is considering adopting one growth strategy: to shift some of the researchers from mining technology to the renewable energy technology, the demand for the renewable enenergy such as solar energy. Some of the prominent companies which markets the renewable energy are successful in recent years. Therefore, it is garanteed that company X will also be successful in the furture by providing renewable energy.(未找到原题)

说有一个P航空公司，利润下降，这期间油价上涨了，而且它增加了飞机数量，进行了expansion。在这期间其他航空公司也经历了油价上涨，但是有一些还是提高了利润，所以P利润下降跟油价上涨没有关系，而应该是增加了飞机导致的，因此作者得出结论说应该取消那些增加的飞机。（找不到……）

（已出现两次）AA124. The following appeared in a memorandum from the owner of Carlo’s Clothing to the staff.

“Since Disc Depot, the music store on the next block, began a new radio advertising campaign last year, its business has grown dramatically, as evidenced by the large increase in foot traffic into the store. While the Disc Depot’s owners have apparently become wealthy enough to retire, profits at Carlo’s Clothing have remained stagnant for the past three years. In order to boost our sales and profits, we should therefore switch from newspaper advertising to frequent radio advertisements like those for Disc Depot.”

AA110. The following appeared as part of a memorandum from the loan department of the Frostbite National Bank.

“We should not approve the business loan application of the local group that wants to open a franchise outlet for the Kool Kone chain of ice cream parlors. Frostbite is known for its cold winters, and cold weather can mean slow ice cream sales. For example, even though Frostbite is a town of 10,000 people, it has only one ice cream spot — the Frigid Cow. Despite the lack of competition, the Frigid Cow’s net revenues fell by 10 percent last winter.”

(已出现两次)version1说一家什么cereal公司觉得自己的商品含的Vitamin K高25%，然后一项调查又说超过75%的消费者多说他们公司的口味比别家的好，但是销量却不佳，得出结论是消费者对于该公司产品的优点不清楚，于是决定改变产品包装，让这两个优点出现在包装上

version2某个Cereal Manufacture公司的研究表明，该公司的Breakfast Cereal里含有75%的vitamine K，比市场上同类产品的多。另外通过公司对regular consumers的survey发现大部分消费者更加偏好这种Breakfast Cereal的口味。But the sales of the cereal is decreasing. The ad department of the company conclude that, many people are not aware of the two features(vitamine k & taste). In order to spread the advantages of the cereal, the company should redesign the front box of the cereal(未找到)

(已出现两次)AA44. The following is part of a business plan created by the management of the Megamart grocery store.

“Our total sales have increased this year by 20 percent since we added a pharmacy section to our grocery store. Clearly, the customer’s main concern is the convenience afforded by one-stop shopping. The surest way to increase our profits over the next couple of years, therefore, is to add a clothing department along with an automotive supplies and repair shop. We should also plan to continue adding new departments and services, such as a restaurant and a garden shop, in subsequent years. Being the only store in the area that offers such a range of services will give us a competitive advantage over other local stores.”

(已出现两次)version1 一个luxury，很expensive的食品公司，sales从来都很高，但是profit却逐渐下降，然后speaker认为应该裁掉10个人，然后取消食品展览和free samples。再是跟一个当地的coffee cafe（不明白这两个词怎么会连在一起，还说是英文考试）合作，因为他们提供的产品层次差不多，然后可以利用他们来attract 更多的顾客，使得顾客数量上升。

version2 Greentree Grocers has been experiencing high sales volume but decreasing profit margin. Its customers are wealthy people looking for gourmet food and luxury shopping experience, so it must cut costs without hurting the customers' shopping experience. So it plans to layoff 10 employees per store and eliminate expensive displays and free samples. In addition, it will partner with XX Cafe to have a coffee shop in each store. This is supported by a recent survey that the Grocers and the Cafe attract similar types of customers. The conclusion is that Greentree Grocers will experience high sales volume as well as high profit margin

B9.The following appeared in a memorandum to a team developing accounting software for SmartPro Software, Inc.:

“Currently, more professional accountants use SmartPro accounting software than any other brand. However, in the market for personal accounting software for non-professionals to use in preparing their income tax returns, many of our competitors are outselling us. In surveys, our professional customers repeatedly say that they have chosen SmartPro Software because our most sophisticated software products include more advanced special features than competing brands. Therefore, the most effective way for us to increase sales of our personal accounting software for home users would clearly be to add the advanced special features that our professional software products currently offer.”

AA97. The following appeared as part of an article in a computer magazine.

“A year ago Apex Manufacturing bought its managers computers for their homes and paid for telephone connections so that the managers could access Apex computers and data files from home after normal business hours. Since last year, productivity at Apex has increased by 15 percent. Other companies can learn from the success at Apex: given home computers and access to company resources, employees will work additional hours at home and thereby increase company profits.”

AA52. The following editorial appeared in the Elm City paper.

“The construction last year of a shopping mall in downtown Oak City was a mistake. Since the mall has opened, a number of local businesses have closed, and the downtown area suffers from an acute parking shortage, and arrests for crime and vagrancy have increased in the nearby Oak City Park. Elm City should pay attention to the example of the Oak City mall and deny the application to build a shopping mall in Elm City.”

(已出现两次)AA92. The following is taken from an editorial in a local newspaper.

“Over the past decade, the price per pound of citrus fruit has increased substantially. Eleven years ago, Megamart charged 5 cents apiece for lemons, but today it commonly charges over 30 cents apiece. In only one of these last eleven years was the weather unfavorable for growing citrus crops. Evidently, then, citrus growers have been responsible for the excessive increase in the price of citrus fruit, and strict pricing regulations are needed to prevent them from continuing to inflate prices.”

AA105. The following appeared in an editorial from a newspaper serving the town of Saluda.

“The Saluda Consolidated High School offers over 200 different courses from which its students can choose. A much smaller private school down the street offers a basic curriculum of only 80 different courses, but it consistently sends a higher proportion of its graduating seniors on to college than Consolidated does. By eliminating at least half of the courses offered there and focusing on a basic curriculum, we could improve student performance at Consolidated and also save many tax dollars.”

B1.The following appeared in a memorandum from the head of a human resources department at a major automobile manufacturing company to the company's managers:

“Studies have found that employees of not-for-profit organizations and charities are often more highly motivated than employees of for-profit corporations to perform well at work when their performance is not being monitored or evaluated. Interviews with employees of not-for-profit organizations suggest that the reason for their greater motivation is the belief that their work helps to improve society. Because they believe in the importance of their work, they have personal reasons to perform well, even when no financial reward is present. Thus, if our corporation began donating a significant portion of its profits to humanitarian causes, our employees’ motivation and productivity would increase substantially and our overall profits would increase as well.”

AA34. The following appeared as part of a plan proposed by an executive of the Easy Credit Company to the president.

“The Easy Credit Company would gain an advantage over competing credit card services if we were to donate a portion of the proceeds from the use of our cards to a well-known environmental organization in exchange for the use of its symbol or logo on our card. Since a recent poll shows that a large percentage of the public is concerned about environmental issues, this policy would attract new customers, increase use among existing customers, and enable us to charge interest rates that are higher than the lowest ones available.”

AA39. The following appeared in an Avia Airlines departmental memorandum.

“On average, 9 out of every 1,000 passengers who traveled on Avia Airlines last year filed a complaint about our baggage-handling procedures. This means that although some 1 percent of our passengers were unhappy with those procedures, the overwhelming majority were quite satisfied with them; thus it would appear that a review of the procedures is not important to our goal of maintaining or increasing the number of Avia’s passengers.”

AA72. The following appeared as part of a recommendation from the business manager of a department store.

“Local clothing stores reported that their profits decreased, on average, for the three-month period between August 1 and October 31. Stores that sell products for the home reported that, on average, their profits increased during this same period. Clearly, consumers are choosing to buy products for their homes instead of clothing. To take advantage of this trend, we should reduce the size of our clothing departments and enlarge our home furnishings and household products departments.”

AA14. The following appeared as part of a newspaper editorial.

“Two years ago Nova High School began to use interactive computer instruction in three academic subjects. The school dropout rate declined immediately, and last year’s graduates have reported some impressive achievements in college. In future budgets the school board should use a greater portion of the available funds to buy more computers, and all schools in the district should adopt interactive computer instruction throughout the curriculum.”