Advanced (Business B2) test

Well done, keep it up!

Fill in the gaps in the text with the appropriate word.

Listen to a meeting between the HR director and the CEO of a company. Choose the correct option a, b or c.

1. What is happening in Singapore?
2. The Office Manager needs HR experience because they
3. Other duties of the Office Manager will include
4. What can’t the speakers agree on at first about the IT post?
5. The Customer Services Manager needs to
6. What do the speakers decide about training?
7. What do they decide to do about Simon Novak?

Fill in the gaps in the text with the appropriate word.

Listen to the speaker and choose the correct response a, b or c.

Question 1
Question 2
Question 3
Question 4
Question 5

Fill in the gaps in the text with the appropriate word.

Listen to the speaker and choose the correct response a, b or c.

Question 1
Question 2
Question 3
Question 4
Question 5

Fill in the gaps in the text with the appropriate word.

Listen to a man calling an entrepreneurs’ advice centre and complete the notes. Use one or two words or a number.

ARDEN ENTREPRENEURS

INVESTMENT REQUEST

Name of applicant Michael
Business name InfaSmooth
Nature of business baby/infant: organic creams
Reason for investment:
increasing
Looking for a
Need more staff
done Yes
Investment required: €
Meetings arranged:
AA Firstinvest:
Appointment 2 pm on
Whatstart
Appointment on Friday

Fill in the gaps in the text with the appropriate word.

Functional language Write one word which best fits each space.

1. This pie shows the percentage of export sales by continent.
2. This line represents domestic sales over the last twelve months.
3. Now, I’d like to hand to my colleague to talk about the new product.
4. Now, let’s look more at the sales figures from last month.
5. I’d also like to you on this chart the potential sales for the coming year.

Fill in the gaps in the text with the appropriate word.

Vocabulary: Choose the correct option a, b or c.

Dear Mr Gregory,

I would like to applythe design position as advertised on your website. Please find my CV .

I worked for a local company during the summer and I am that I have the skills to make a good designer and I feel that I would be a suitablefor your company.

I would therefore very muchthe chance to have an interview.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Fill in the gaps in the text with the appropriate word.

Functional language:Choose the correct option a, b, c or d.

1. I you’re right, but shouldn’t we look at another option first?
2. Good , I like that idea.
3. That makes and I think we should do it.
4. That’s one of looking at the situation, but we also need to consider other factors.
5. I agree with you there.

Fill in the gaps in the text with the appropriate word.

Grammar: Complete the second sentence with reported speech.Make all the necessary changes.

1. ‘What changes will the company make next year?’
He asked .
2. ‘We’ve had a few problems with the new products.’
They said .
3. ‘I don’t understand why we can’t meet tomorrow.’
She told me .
4. ‘We had a meeting with the investor yesterday.’
The partners said .
5. ‘Did you borrow my laptop this morning?’
He asked me .
6. ‘We are going to speak to the staff later today.’
They told us .
7. ‘Will you need to look for further investment?’
She asked him .
8. ‘When are you planning to build the factory?’
He asked us .
9. ‘Revenues from sales are higher than ever before.’
The CEO said that .
10. ‘I won’t be here next week because I’m going on a course.’
She told us .

Fill in the gaps in the text with the appropriate word.

Choose the correct option.

The company has expanded into Australia and sales there have been very promising over the past three months. , the newest product line sold out in the first month. there is a growing demand for more retail outlets in the main cities. we only sold our products in the biggest chain store but it now seems that customers would like to see a wider presence, , in supermarkets online.

I was in Australia last week, I had some very positive meetings with the largest supermarket chain., they have some concerns, I have no doubt that we will reach a mutually satisfactory agreement., this deal is agreed, we will have to increase production. , I mentioned the possibility of moving into a new factory. First we expand our retail presences, we start producing more.

Fill in the gaps in the text with the appropriate word.

Grammar:Put the verbs in brackets into the correct past tense.

Last year we (start) working in cross-cultural teams. This was something we (never do) before and it was very exciting. Our team leader (come) from California while the two software engineers were from Japan and Korea. We first (meet) via a video link and, while we (talk), we discovered that the engineer from Japan (once work) with the team leader on a project in South America. He (not/remember) this before the meeting. There were a few language problems at first, but as the project went on we (form) a successful working relationship. For example, one day when I(have) difficulty meeting a deadline, all the team offered their support and made suggestions based on their way of working and I (manage) to finish on time.

Fill in the gaps in the text with the appropriate word.

Choose the correct answer a, b, c or d.

1. You could pay in
2. What’s your for the financial year?
3. If we give you a discount, do we have a?
4. Does that your concerns?
5. Would the loan be free?

Fill in the gaps in the text with the appropriate word.

Read the article and choose the correct answer a, b, c or d.

How one Chinese rural county spawned four courier empires

For a Chinese village deep in the mountains, Xiatang has a lot of mansions. Luxury cars with $13,000 Shanghai licence plates provide further clues that this is not your typical rural village.

With a population of just 400,000, Tonglu county in eastern China’s Zhejiang province is home to the founders of four separate express delivery and logistics companies, known in Chinese as kuaidi. Over the past 16 months, all four have listed on Chinese or foreign stock exchanges, turning their founders into billionaires.

Zhejiang is famous for its entrepreneurial culture and business communities and developed a thriving light manufacturing industry in the 1990s. By the early 2000s, the city of Wenzhou was the world’s leading producer of cigarette lighters and spectacles. The provincial capital, Hangzhou, is home to Alibaba and other big internet groups.

Tonglu is scenic but its remote location made economic development difficult. What it did have in the early 1990s was poor villagers who were prepared to work very hard. ‘The people of Tonglu were good at travelling on foot. Because transport wasn’t developed, you had to rely on your own two legs to reach the outside world,’ said Sun Kan, author of the book China’s Kuaidi Tonglu Gang. ‘The first kuaidi people drove tricycles or used other simple transport methods. City people couldn’t have done this kind of job.’

The head of the Tonglu gang was Nie Tengfei, who founded STO Express in 1993 aged 20 after moving to Hangzhou and later Shanghai. Staffed by friends and relatives from his home country, STO began by delivering cakes, biscuits and alcohol. But Mr Nie’s breakthrough was the realisation that STO could earn more delivering business documents. While China Post took three days to deliver documents from Hangzhou to Shanghai, STO offered an overnight service.

Others from Tonglu soon followed in the footsteps of Mr Nie, who died in a car accident in 1998. By the mid-2000s, the e-commerce boom led by Alibaba had led to extraordinary growth, as delivery men crossed the country to deliver clothes, homewares, appliances and even, in recent years, fresh-cooked meals. Logistics companies delivered 31 bn parcels in China last year, up 51 per cent from 2015.

Back in Xiatang, an 84-year-old man surnamed Wu takes in the sun from the porch of a large house, dressed smartly in a tweed cap and wearing a gold ring and bracelet. He’s no longer very mobile but he has help – his son, one of 14 relatives who work in the kuaidi business in Shenzhen, hired two maids to cook and clean for him.

‘Sure, I remember the Nie brothers,’ he says. ‘Everyone in this village is related. Those boys used to be really poor. They used to sleep on the floor.’

1. The village of Xiatang
2. We learn that Tonglu county
3. Zhejiang province
4. According to the article, Tonglu county’s success is due to
5. We learn that STO Express
6. In the mid-2000s
7. Mr Wu