2014年上半年商务英语中级阅读试题12

　　Issues in the recruitment world

　　In the competitive world of investment banking, good senior executives are not easy to find. So what should the industry's hard-pressed directors do when they need to find senior staff? Increasingly, they decide to call in the headhunters. These are busy and profitable times for the recruitment agencies that dominate the world of executive search and selection.

　　(0) .....They needed new people to revitalise their operations, and the result has been a boom in the recruitment market. Pinnacle, a leading recruitment agency, has helped various UK investment banks to rebuild their entire senior management teams. It is hard to overstate the significance of this. (8)............

　　But now everything has changed, and Pinnacle is not the only major player in the field. Some analysts believe that rival recruitment specialists ALT Associates has a larger share of the market. However, there is little doubt that over its 13-year history, Pinnacle and its chairman, Matthew Edwards, have built up an impressive reputation.

　　Edwards estimates that his company controls between 10 and 15 per cent of the headhunting market for senior investment banking jobs in the UK. (9)............Rather, it is the high-calibre jobs and people that Pinnacle deals with that define the company's success. For example, the company was recently commissioned to find a new chairman for NBS Bank, a vacancy that was one of the most talked about in the banking world.

　　Most HR directors recognise that headhunters such as Pinnacle play a valuable role in the recruitment process.(10)............Some are concerned that a few companies, including Pinnacle, have too much power over high-level recruitment.(11)............As Tim Davidson, HR Director at Cawfield Bank, explains, They can be kingmakers. These are the people who decide who gets a future and who doesn't. If Edwards forms a view about an individual, it can affect their ability to get a particular job. That view could just have been formed on a bad day.' (12)............ Final decisions in the selection process are always taken by his clients, he says, whoever they are.

　　The role of headhunters should not be exaggerated. Many companies never use them. But as top executives are hard to find, there will always be a role for people like Matthew Edwards.

　　A Although others may put it lower, it is important to remember that the company's reputation is not based on market share alone.

　　B Their chief worry is that the headhunters can now make or break managerial careers.

　　C According to Edwards, this is a further indication that the way Pinnacle searches for a candidate tends to favour a certain type of manager.

　　D But this acceptance does not mean they are universally happy, either with the state of the market or with Pinnacle's role within it.

　　E Until a few years ago, even the biggest companies were unlikely to use headhunters to fill more than one or two jobs a year.

　　F Edwards objects to this suggestion, claiming that all he does is find candidates and encourage them to apply for a particular post.

　　G A number of big investment banks recently decided to make changes to their management boards after disappointing end-of-year results.

　　《Issues in the recruitment world》，招聘世界里的话题。围绕猎头公司(headhunter)展开，说明了猎头公司的发展和重要性，以及用人单位对猎头公司的一些疑问。第一段引出话题，说现在正是猎头公司占领市场的时候。接下来几段顺序介绍了猎头市场的发展阶段，从起步阶段(第二段的内容)，到逐步发家(第三段)，当中列举了一个猎头公司的情况加以说明(第四段)，然后第五段介绍了用人单位对猎头公司的一些质疑。最后一段是总的概括。做这种题一定要理清文章的逻辑顺序，从整体上把握文章脉络。

　　第八题，第二段的最后一句。第二段是简单引出猎头公司的起步，起步阶段并没有多少公司认识到猎头公司的重要性，就如第八题前面的一句话所说：It is hard to overstate the significance of this。很难高估这个的重要性，也就是说猎头公司的作用并没有被完全的认识到。后面的空格应该相应的填入猎头公司不太被重视的句子。E选项正好满足这个特点：直到几年前，甚至最大的公司都不可能一年利用猎头公司来填补一两个职位。

　　第九题，主要是介绍Pinnacle这个猎头公司的情况。前面说这个公司的市场份额在10%到15%，空格后面一个rather(相反)，说定义公司成功的应该是公司所处理的高质量的工作和客户。中间应填入一个表转折意思的句子，并且可能和公司的市场份额有关。A句满足这个要求：虽然其他人可能把它(指市场份额)估计得更低，但一个公司的名声不仅仅是建立在市场份额基础上的。

　　第五段，集中填入三个句子，所以一定要从意思上进行把握。这一段是用人单位对猎头公司的一些质疑，然后猎头公司Pinnacle的主席Edwards进行了一些反驳。

　　这一段第一句话说人力资源部经理认为Pinnacle发挥了很重要的作用，接着空格后面说的是Some are concerned that…也就是一些人提出了担心，所以中间的第十题应该填入表示转折意思的句子，而且可能是对猎头公司发挥的作用的消极看法。D满足这一要求：但是这种认可不代表他们完全的高兴。BUT是个关键的信号，acceptance是指代前面人力资源经理们对猎头公司发挥作用的认可。

　　第十一题，前面的句子是对猎头公司发挥作用的担心，认为它们权力过大了。这一题后面的句子是引用一个人力资源经理的解释，进一步说明猎头公司的影响力太大。所以十一题也应该与此相关。B符合：他们首要担心的是猎头公司会创造或者破坏管理职业生涯。Worry是关键词，同前面的concern相对应，make or break managerial careers也就是上下文所说的权利过大，简直拥有生杀大权。

　　第十二题，理解了前面的，不难做出选择。这里很明显就是猎头公司为自己辩护。前面指责猎头公司的评价会影响个人的选择。而空格后面是Edwards的解释，说最终的决定权是掌握在客户自己手中。所以这一题很明显应该填入对前面表示反驳的句子，也就是F，object to，非常明显的信号：Edwards反对这种说法，声称他所做的无非就是寻找候选人然后鼓励他们去申请某个特定的职位。