Most of us use the telephone several times a day to talk with friends or make social arrangements(安排). These calls are usually quite easy and require little planning.
Using the telephone for business purpose is different. In any organization the person on the telephone represents the company and gives an impression of the firm to the outside world.
If you want to ensure good public relations, you need to master effective telephone techniques.
You should try to give an impression of an efficient, friendly, progressive company eager to give good service.
Before calling
Choose the right time. Consider the cost, urgency and convenience. When calling overseas, you need to consider the time difference.
Check the number. A great deal of money is wasted each year on dialing wrong numbers.
Plan your call. Make a list of points and questions to be raised.
Be prepared. Gather any files, papers or information that may be needed during the call. It is unprofessional to have to say “Hold on while I look for that.”
If you have to ask a caller to hold on, keep going back and assuring him/her that you will be as quick as possible.
Avoid interruptions. Call at a time when you are unlikely to be distracted(分心).
During the call
Be courteous, polite. Make time for suitable greetings like “How are you today, Jim?” and “Did you enjoy your holiday”?
Put a smile in your voice. Remember, your caller can not see you, so use intonation to good effect and try to sound confident, decisive, helpful, and interested.
Check your notes. Look back at your notes to ensure that you have covered everything and quote figures and other data correctly.
Get feedback. Make sure the caller understands the message correctly, especially deadlines and actions that are involved.
Be courteous. Finish by thanking the caller for his or her time and trouble.
After the call
Make notes. Let it become a habit to make notes of the call and place them in an appropriate file.
Take actions. If you need to send a letter of confirmation or inform someone in your organization about any details of the call, do it immediately so that you do not forget important points.This passage is mainly about _____.
| A．how to become a dependable company |
| B．how to ensure public relations |
| C．some service a company should have |
| D．some telephone techniques for business purpose |
Before calling, you have to _____.
| A．stay at your company only |
| B．learn important data and figures by heart |
| C．get things ready for the communication |
| D．choose the right time and place |
During the call, it is unsuitable to _____.
| A．be heard in low spirits | B．be decisive |
| C．check your notes | D．get feedback |
What does the underlined word “courteous” in the passage mean?
| A．Polite. | B．Active. | C．Effective. | D．Correct. |
Not many years ago, a wealthy and rather strange old man named Johnson lived alone in a village in the south of England. He had made a lot of money in trading with foreign countries. When he was seventy-five, he gave £ 12，000 to the village school to buy land and equipment (设备) for a children’s play ground.
As a result of his kindness, many people came to visit him. Among them was a newspaperman, During their talk, Johnson remarked that he was seventy-five and expected to live to be a hundred. The newspaperman asked him how he managed to be healthy at seventy-five, Johnson had a sense of humor (幽默). He liked whisky (威士忌酒) and drank some each day. “I have an injection (注射) in my neck each evening.” He told the newspaperman, thinking of evening glass of whisky.
The newspaperman did not understand what Johnson meant. In his newspaper he reported that Johnson was seventy-five and has a daily injection in his neck. Within a week Johnson received thousands of letters from all over Britain, asking him for the secret of his daily injection.Johnson became a rich man through .
| A．doing business | B．making whisky |
| C．cheating | D．buying and selling land |
The gift of money to the school suggests that Johnson .
| A．had no children. | B．was a strange man. |
| C．was very fond of children. | |
| D．wanted people to know how rich he was. |
The newspaperman .
| A．should have reported what Johnson had told him. |
| B．shouldn’t have asked Johnson what injection he had. |
| C．was eager to live a long life. |
| D．should have found out what Johnson really meant. |
When Johnson said he had an injection in his neck each evening, he really meant that .
| A．he liked drinking a glass of whisky in the evening. |
| B．he needed an injection in the neck. |
| C．a daily injection in the evening would make him sleep well. |
| D．there was something wrong with his neck. |
Many people who work in London prefer to live outside it, and to go in to their offices or schools every day by train, car or bus, even though this means they have to get up early in the morning and reach home late in the evening.
One advantage of living outside London is that houses are cheaper. Even a small flat in London without a garden costs quite a lot to rent. With the same money, one can get a little house in the country with a garden of one’s own.
Then, in the country one can rest from the noise and hurry of the town. Even though one has to get up earlier and spend more time in trains or buses, one can sleep better at night and during weekends and on summer evenings, one can enjoy the fresh, clean air of the country. If one likes gardens, one can spend one’s free time digging, planting, watering and doing other jobs which are needed in a garden. Then, when the flowers and vegetables come up, one has the reward of one who has shared the secret of Nature.
Some people, however, take no interest in country things: for them, happiness lies in the town, with its cinemas and theatres, beautiful shops and busy streets, dance-halls and restaurants. Such people would feel that their life was not worth living if they had to live it outside London. An occasional walk in one of the parks and a fortnight’s (two weeks) visit to the sea every summer is all the country they want: the rest they are quite prepared to leave to those who are glad to get away from London every night.Which of the following statements is NOT true?
| A．People who like country things prefer to live outside the city. |
| B．People who work in London prefer to live in the country. |
| C．Because of certain disadvantages of living outside London, some people who work in London prefer to live inside London. |
| D．Because of certain advantages of living outside London, many people who work in London prefer to live outside London. |
One can use the same money for ________ to buy a little house with a garden in the country.
| A．getting a small flat with a garden |
| B．having a small flat with a garden |
| C．renting a small flat without a garden |
| D．buying a small flat without a garden |
When the flowers and vegetables in the garden come up, those _______ have the reward of one who has shared the secret of Nature.
| A．who live in the country |
| B．who have spent time working in the garden |
| C．who have a garden of their own |
| D．who have been digging, planting and watering |
People who think happiness lies in the town would feel that _______ if they had to live outside London.
| A．their life was meaningless |
| B．their life was invaluable |
| C．they didn’t deserve a happy life |
| D．they were not worthy of their happy life |
Tom arrived at the bus station quite early for the London bus. The bus for London would not leave until five to twelve. He saw a lot of people waiting in the station. Some were standing in lines, others were walking about. There was a group of school-girls. Their teacher was trying to keep them in order. Tom looked around but there was nowhere for him to sit.
He walked into the station café. He looked up at the clock there. It was only twenty to twelve. He found a seat and sat down, facing a large mirror on the wall. Just then, John, one of Tom’s friends, came in and sat with Tom.
“What time is your bus?” asked John.
“Oh, there is plenty of time yet,” answered Tom.
“Oh, I’ll get you some more tea then,” said John.
They talked while drinking. Then Tom looked at the clock again.
“Good heavens! It’s going back-ward!” he cried. “A few minutes ago it was twenty to twelve and now it’s half past eleven.” “You are looking at the clock in the mirror,” said John.
Tom wanted to kick himself for being so foolish. The next bus was not to leave for another hour. He has never liked mirror since then.Tom went into the station café because _______.
| A．John asked him to have a cup of tea |
| B．he wanted a drink there |
| C．he would meet a friend of his |
| D．it was early yet and he could find a place to sit |
What time was it in fact when he looked at the clock in the mirror?
| A．Half past twelve. | B．Half past eleven. |
| C．Twenty to twelve. | D．Half past one. |
When we look at a clock in the mirror we’ll see _______.
| A．the right time | B．it is going slower |
| C．it is going backward | D．it is going fast |
Which of the following is true?
| A．Tom missed his bus. |
| B．He liked mirror even before. |
| C．The next bus would leave soon. |
| D．Tom arrived in London on time. |
His first fight was for the equal rights of black people in South Africa. Then, as the first black president he fought to unite the country and organize the government. Now Nelson Mandela has set his sights on a new enemy, AIDS.
On March 19 the 82-year-old, former president, hosted his second AIDS-awareness concert. He warned that 25 million people in Africa were already infected with the fatal disease.
Mandela was born in a small village in South Africa in 1918. He was adopted (收养) by the chief of his tribe (部族) and could have been a chief himself and lived a happy country life.
But he refused to be a chief when his people lived under racial discrimination ( 种族歧视). He decided to fight for equal rights for all the people in South Africa. Before 1990, under the country’s Racial Segregation Law (种族隔离法), colored and white people lived separately. Black people were treated unfairly even when taking a bus. Blacks had to stand at the back of the bus to make room for white people even when there were only a few of them on board.
For his opposition (反对) to the system Mandela was arrested (被捕) and spent 27 years in prison. He was freed in 1990 and become the president of the country after the first elections were held in which everyone could vote.
Mandela was not only a political fighter who attacked with speeches. He was also a trained boxer (拳击手) and fought in the ring when he was young.
“ Although I did not enjoy the violence of boxing, I was interested in how one moved one’s body to protect oneself, how one used a strategy both to attack and retreat (撤退),” he wrote in his autobiography.
As a skilful fighter, he chose music as his weapon against AIDS. He hopes to win another victory against AIDS.Nelson Mandela succeeded in doing the following except _____.
| A．winning the equal rights for the black people in South Africa |
| B．uniting South Africa |
| C．organizing a government in South Africa |
| D．controlling the spread of AIDS |
If Nelson Mandela hadn’t fought against racial discrimination, he _____.
| A．could easily have been the president of South Africa |
| B．could still have lived a happy life |
| C．could have been in a difficult situation |
| D．would have been an excellent boxer |
It can be inferred that Nelson Mandela _____.
| A．continues to help the black people with the political struggle |
| B．is taking a position in a music group |
| C．is taking on the world’s greatest fight against AIDS |
| D．is preparing for the next election of president |
Which statement can best describe the life of Nelson Mandela?
| A．Struggle is his life. | B．Sports make his fame. |
| C．Fight for equal rights. | D．Great fighter against government. |
Everyone has got two personalities(性格)—the one that is shown to the world and the other that is secret and real . You don’t show your secret personality when you’re awake because you can control your behavior , but when you’re asleep , your sleeping position shows the real you . In a normal night , of course , people frequently change their position . The important position is the one that you go to sleep in .
If you go to sleep in your back , you’re a very open person ,. You normally trust people and you are easily influenced by fashion or new ideas . You don’t like to upset people , so you never express your real feeling .
If you sleep on your stomach , you are a rather secretive person . You worry a lot and you’re always easily upset . You’re very stubborn(顽固的)， but you aren’t very ambitious . You usually live for today not for tomorrow . This means that you enjoy having a good time .
If you sleep curled up (卷曲), you are probably a very nervous person . You have a low opinion of yourself so you’re often defensive . You’re shy and you don’t normally like meeting people. You prefer to be on your own . you’re easily hurt .
If you sleep on your side , you have usually got a well-balanced personality . You know your strengths and weakness . You’re usually careful . You have a confident personality . You sometimes feel anxious, but you don’t often get depressed . You always say what you think even if it makes people angry .According to the writer, you naturally show your secret and real personality only when you .
| A．in a normal night |
| B．go to sleep |
| C．refuse to show yourself to the world |
| D．change sleeping position |
Point out which sentence is used to show the personality of a person who is used sleeping on his or her stomach ? He or she.
| A．is always cheerful |
| B．lives for tomorrow |
| C．can’t be successful in business |
| D．worries about nothing |
Maybe you don’t want to make friends with a person who sleeps cured up. Why? He or she____
| A．would rather be alone than communicate with you |
| B．is rarely ready to help |
| C．always makes people angry |
| D．wouldn’t like to |
It appears that the writer tends to think highly of the person who sleeps on one side because he or she___________.
| A．always shows sympathy for people |
| B．is confident, but not stubborn |
| C．is healthier than others |
| D．often thinks of making people angry |