口试必备：BEC中级口语素材（1）
A: Well, you see, our company is going to attend a trade fair in the US.
B: Yeah, sounds exciting. Since we've never done that before, we need to have good advance preparations for the trip.
A: You're right. The first thing to do is of course to make travel and accommodation arrangements, such as choosing an airline offering good services and the flight of the right time so that we can arrange things well and in an effective way.
B: This can be done by making several phone calls. And we have to make advance reservation with a local hotel so that the people for the trade fair can have a place to stay immediately after they arrive in the country.
A: With early booking, we may even enjoy some discounts. And it's better to choose a hotel near the trade fair. That can save the time traveling there.
B: Or we can arrange beforehand to hire a car from a local car rental company.
A: In addition, it would be useful to know about some business customs in the US, including commonly accepted business practices, ways of doing business, and laws and regulations, etc.
B: Yeah, especially those different from ours. Say, different ideas about punctuality. I heard that in the United States, people tend to be very time-conscious. Being late would be considered poor etiquette.
A: Also in China, business transactions are often concluded by treating business partners to lavish dinners and giving them expensive gifts, I'm afraid they seldom do it this way in the West or in the US.
B: I was told that in Western countries, people attach much importance to formal agreement and contracts with detailed terms and conditions. They never feel comfortable with verbal agreements. In China, however, business is often concluded simply by verbal agreement.
A: We should also learn about business customs such as the different systems of measurement. For instance, we use the day/ month/ year system for dating while the US use month/ day/ year system. And there are many other differences including topics acceptable in conversation.
B: Also, Chinese businessmen tend to have business negotiations in a rather indirect manner, while American businessmen have a more direct style. Our people should be made to understand all these differences.
A: But how to find out about all this?
B: I think there are many ways to find out about these before the trip, say, we can go to the Internet, read some reference books or get tips from experienced colleagues and clients.
A: They could be effective ways. Let's do them.
这是由剑桥大学考试委员会和教育部考试中心推荐，英国Summertown出版社出版《新编剑桥商务英语》是目前惟一一套专为剑桥商务英语证书考试而编写的教材。
该练习册每四面一个单元，分为语法和词汇部分。语法：第一部分均以对教材中出现的语法的准确、完整的解释开始，随后是大量的练习，以扩展学生所掌握的知识。词汇：每一部分均围绕教材中的重点词汇入手，并提供更多的扩展内容。复习——书中提供两部分复习内容，每一部分均由教材中出现的一百个语法问题和五十个词汇问题组成。写作方面对学生如何撰写电子邮件、正式信函、传真和简短的报告提供指导，所包括的内容将不仅有利于考试，而且将对考生的职业生活有帮助。