Host: John, come and sit in the sofa. Dinner will be ready in a minute. Could I get you so
A.as
B.that
C.and
D.but
A、Pocahontas
B、Grandma Willow
C、John Smith
D、Pocahontas' dad
A.iam very happy
B.Bob,this is Jack
C.Nice to meet you
D.It's my pleasure
A.Emily Bronte’s Withering Heights
B.Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre
C.John Galsworthy′s The Forsyte Saga
D.Thomas Hardy′s Tess of the D′Urbervilles
John: Hurry up! We don’t have much time left.
Peter: ________ We still have two hours.
Jone: Come on! This is my first time ever to take a plane. I don ’t want anything to go wrong.
A: Go on.
B: Look out.
C: All right.
D: Take it easy.
less popular airports was a much cheaper alternative to the major city airports and supported Airtite’s low cost service,
modelled on existing low cost competitors. These providers had effectively transformed air travel in Europe and, in so
doing, contributed to an unparalleled expansion in airline travel by both business and leisure passengers. Airtite used
one type of aircraft, tightly controlled staffing levels and costs, relied entirely on online bookings and achieved high
levels of capacity utilisation and punctuality. Its route network had grown each year and included new routes to some
of the 15 countries that had joined the EU in 2004. Airtite’s founder and Chief Executive, John Sykes, was an
aggressive businessman ever willing to challenge governments and competitors wherever they impeded his airline and
looking to generate positive publicity whenever possible.
John is now looking to develop a strategy which will secure Airtite’s growth and development over the next 10 years.
He can see a number of environmental trends emerging which could significantly affect the success or otherwise of
any developed strategy. 2006 had seen fuel costs continue to rise reflecting the continuing uncertainty over global
fuel supplies. Fuel costs currently account for 25% of Airtite’s operating costs. Conversely, the improving efficiency of
aircraft engines and the next generation of larger aircraft are increasing the operating efficiency of newer aircraft and
reducing harmful emissions. Concern with fuel also extends to pollution effects on global warming and climate
change. Co-ordinated global action on aircraft emissions cannot be ruled out, either in the form. of higher taxes on
pollution or limits on the growth in air travel. On the positive side European governments are anxious to continue to
support increased competition in air travel and to encourage low cost operators competing against the over-staffed
and loss-making national flag carriers.
The signals for future passenger demand are also confused. Much of the increased demand for low cost air travel to
date has come from increased leisure travel by families and retired people. However families are predicted to become
smaller and the population increasingly aged. In addition there are concerns over the ability of countries to support
the increasing number of one-parent families with limited incomes and an ageing population dependent on state
pensions. There is a distinct possibility of the retirement age being increased and governments demanding a higher
level of personal contribution towards an individual’s retirement pension. Such a change will have a significant impact
on an individual’s disposable income and with people working longer reduce the numbers able to enjoy leisure travel.
Finally, air travel will continue to reflect global economic activity and associated economic booms and slumps together
with global political instability in the shape of wars, terrorism and natural disasters.
John is uncertain as to how to take account of these conflicting trends in the development of Airtite’s 10-year strategy
and has asked for your advice.
Required:
(a) Using models where appropriate, provide John with an environmental analysis of the conditions affecting the
low cost air travel industry. (12 marks)
Evolution is mostly to blame. It has designed mankind to cope with deprivation, not plenty. People are perfectly tuned to store energy in good years to see them through lean ones. But when bad times never come, they are stuck with that energy, stored around their expanding bellies.
Thanks to rising agricultural productivity, lean years are rarer all over the globe. Modernday Malthusians, who used to draw graphs proving that the world was shortly going to run out of food, have gone rather quiet lately. According to the UN, the number of people short of food fell from 920m in 1980 to 799m 20 years later, even though the world's population increased by 1.6 billion over the period. This is mostly a cause for celebration. Mankind has won what was, for most of his time on this planet, his biggest battle: to ensure that he and his offspring had enough to eat. But every silver lining has a cloud, and the consequence of prosperity is a new plague that brings with it a
host of interesting policy dilemmas.
As a scourge of the modern world, obesity has an image problem. It is easier to associate with Father Christmas than with the four horses of the apocalypse. But it has a good claim to lumber along beside them, for it is the world's biggest public-health issue today—the main cause of heart disease, which kills more people these days than AIDS, malaria, war; the principal risk factor in diabetes; heavily implicated in cancer and other diseases. Since the World Health Organisation labelled obesity an "epidemic" in 2000, reports on its fearful consequences have come thick and fast.
Will public-health warnings, combined with media pressure, persuade people to get thinner, just as they finally put them off tobacco? Possibly. In the rich world, sales of healthier foods are booming (see survey) and new figures suggest that over the past year Americans got very slightly thinner for the first time in recorded history. But even if Americans are losing a few ounces, it will be many years before the country solves the health problems caused by half a century's dining to excess. And, everywhere else in the world, people are still piling on the pounds. That's why there is now a consensus among doctors that governments should do something to stop them.
The author write this passage mainly to ______.
A.bring up some warnings.
B.tell the reader some new facts.
C.discuss a solution to a problem.
D.persuade the reader to keep fit.
Today, Americans are still fond of trying their hand at becoming small business people, even though only one out of two survives the first two years. Many of these people start their businesses for the wrong reasons: to get away from the paper work of their present jobs or to exchange the responsibility of their present jobs for freer life styles. But more, not less, paper work and responsibility come with ownership of a small business. John Shuttleworth, owner of the recently successful life-ecology news magazine Mother Earth, reports having had to work sixty hours straight in order to bring out the first issue.
John Shuttleworth waited years after conceiving the idea for Mother Earth before he attempted to put out the first issue. During that time, he collected as much information as he could about his proposed venture. He borrowed books about business from the library; he talked to people already established in the field; and he began planning in detail the amount of money and the kinds and numbers of supplies he would need. When he finally opened with a capital of $1,500, he set up his office in the kitchen of his home and his printing press in the garage. Due to his devotion to business his managerial skill, and his talent, Mother Earth now has a circulation of 300,000:
Not all small business succeed as well as Mother Earth has. Fifty percent of the 450,000 that start in the United States every year fail. Still, ninety-five percent businesses in the States can be described as small. Combined, these businesses account for forty percent of America's gross national product.
According to this passage, many people start their own businesses for the wrong reasons. The reasons are wrong because they do not realize that ______.
A.their own businesses will provide large income but less responsibility
B.their own businesses will not relieve them from paper work and responsibility
C.their own businesses will require longer working hours but less paper work
D.their own businesses could easily fail