Listening

Situation 1 Introducing British People's Opinions about Accountants

Task 1

Listen to a conversation and tell whether the following statements are true or false.

□ 1.The conversation is mainly about American people's opinion about accountants.

□ 2.Zheng Xin works for a charity in Britain.

□ 3.Julia is a secretary of a company.

□ 4.Both Alex and Julia agree that Britain is run by accountants.

□ 5.Accountants enjoy a good reputation in Britain.

□ 6.Alex thinks that bankers are respected too in Britain.

Task 2

Listen to the conversation again and complete the following sentences.

(Helen is a BBC hostess.She is interviewing some British people about their opinions about accountants.)

Helen: Hello.Welcome to another BBCAsk about Britain program.I'm Helen,and our question today is about accountants.Zheng Xin from Beijing asks,"People say Britain is1,is that true?Do people in Britain have special respect for accountants?"Let's first ask Alex,who works for a charity.

Alex: I wouldn't say we are run by accountants,but they2.

Helen: Julia is a secretary of a company.Let's listen to her opinion.

Julia: Well,3 it's true,because all of the major decisions to do with government and the way that the country's going are governed by affordability these days.So I think that's probably true.Yeah.

Helen: So Julia agrees that accountants are4 the way in which Britain is being run at the moment.Zheng Xin also wants to know if accountants are respected in Britain.

Alex: I think most people would say that accountants are fairly well respected,unlike5 at the moment.Accountants in Britain have sort of carved out a pretty6 for themselves,they are very important,you have to have them.

Julia: I think so,yes,they do play a very important role in actually providing information and7 and keeping business going.

Helen: It seems that accountancy is a fairly8.People do recognize the importance of accountants'work and they're needed to keep businesses going.That's all for today's program,thank you for being with us.Bye-bye.

Situation 2 Introducing Types of Business Entities

Task 3

Listen to a passage and answer the following questions.

1．What are the three kinds of business entities mentioned in the passage?

2．What are the common business fields of a sole proprietorship?

3．Which kind of business entity is the most important in the United States?

4．What are the owners of a corporation called?

5．How many advantages do corporations have?

6．What is the main disadvantage of corporations?

Task 4

Listen to the passage again and fill in the blanks.

There are three main types of profit-making business entities: sole proprietorship,partnership,and corporation.A sole proprietorship is an unincorporated business owned by one person; it usually is1 and is common in the service,retailing,and farming industries.Often the owner is the manager.A partnership is an unincorporated business owned by two or more persons known as2.The agreements between the owners are specified in a partnership3.A corporation is a business4 under the laws of a particular state.The owners are called stockholders or shareholders.The stockholders enjoy5.In terms of economic importance,the corporation is the6 form of business organization in the United States.This dominance is caused by the many advantages of the corporate form: ①limited liability for the stockholders,②continuity of life,③ease in transferring7,and,④opportunities to8 large amounts of money by selling shares to a large number of people.The primary9 of a corporation is that its income may10 double taxation(income is taxed when it is earned and again when it is distributed to stockholders as dividends).