II. Listening In Task 1: How to Avoid Bankruptcy Manager: Adam! Have you any suggestions about how we can avoid bankruptcy? Adam: Downsizing would certainly reduce our operating costs. You know, make us lean and mean, the way you have to be in today 's market Manager: Where do you suggest we start making these staff cuts? Adam: The logical place to start would be in administration. They usually overstate Manager: That's not going to go over very well with our employees. Some of them have been with the company for years Adam: It's painful process, but there's no choice. They 'll just have to get used to the id Manager: We can give them a fairly decent severance package when they 're fired Adam: I know. And I think that if we computerize the office, we could reduce office staff by about 20 percent just by eliminat ing a lot of paperwork Manager: OK. If we lay off 20 percent of the administrative staff, will that be enough to get the company back on its feet? Adam: Unfortunately not. We'll also need to make some cuts in the serv ice Manager: How can we do that and maintain the level of serv ice that we offer our Adam: Well, we'll have to retrain the serv ice staff and streamline our operations, o we wont need as many people to run things smoothly Manager: Well, this is serious, but I really dont think we have any other choice. If we keep losing money like this, we'll have to shut everything down 1. What is the dialog mainly concerned with? 2. What does the man mean by"make us lean and mean"? 3. What is the difficulty in cutting the administrative staff? 4. What will happen as a result of firing the administrators? 5. What does the man think will happen after they cut 20 percent of the administrators? Keys: IB 2.D3.A4.C5.C For Reference 1. He suggests retaining the service staff and streaming their operations, so they wont leed as many people to run things smoothly2 III. Listening In Task 1: How to Avoid Bankruptcy Manager: Adam! Have you any suggestions about how we can avoid bankruptcy? Adam: Downsizing would certainly reduce our operating costs. You know, make us lean and mean, the way you have to be in today’s market. Manager: Where do you suggest we start making these staff cuts? Adam: The logical place to start would be in administration. They usually overstaffed. Manager: That’s not going to go over very well with our employees. Some of them have been with the company for years. Adam: It’s painful process, but there’s no choice. They’ll just have to get used to the idea. Manager: We can give them a fairly decent severance package when they’re fired. Adam: I know. And I think that if we computerize the office, we could reduce office staff by about 20 percent just by eliminating a lot of paperwork. Manager: OK. If we lay off 20 percent of the administrative staff, will that be enough to get the company back on its feet? Adam: Unfortunately not. We’ll also need to make some cuts in the service department. Manager: How can we do that and maintain the level of service that we offer our passengers? Adam: Well, we’ll have to retrain the service staff and streamline our operations, so we won’t need as many people to run things smoothly. Manager: Well, this is serious, but I really don’t think we have any other choice. If we keep losing money like this, we’ll have to shut everything down. 1. What is the dialog mainly concerned with? 2. What does the man mean by “make us lean and mean”? 3. What is the difficulty in cutting the administrative staff? 4. What will happen as a result of firing the administrators? 5. What does the man think will happen after they cut 20 percent of the administrators? Keys: 1B 2.D 3.A 4.C 5.C For Reference 1. He suggests retaining the service staff and streaming their operations, so they won’t need as many people to run things smoothly