单选题

单选题 What is the probable relationship between the two speakers?

A、 Professor and postgraduate student.
B、 Interviewer and analyst.
C、 Customer and businessman.
D、 Parent and child.

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】[听力原文]
W: Today in our series on. corn businesses, we"ll be talking about the infamous collapse of boo.com. Marlene, who is a retail analyst, would you say that it was inevitable that boo.com got into trouble?
M: Absolutely. Even by Christmas 1999 it was becoming clear that the company had big financial problems. Sales were much lower than anticipated at that stage.
W: How did they get into that situation?
M: I"d say it was caused by poor management decisions. They were over-ambitious and I think they made a big mistake when they decided to launch the site in eighteen countries. It increased their start-up costs enormously.
W: How did they deal with these problems?
M: Well, after Christmas the site was totally redesigned to make it easier to use. They also reduced prices by as much as 40 percent on some products. The strategy seemed to work and sales began to recover in the spring.
W: So how come everything went wrong in May?
M: They ran out of money. By then they"d used up all the initial $80 million funding and were looking for an additional $20 million to survive. They didn"t get it. The original investors lost confidence in the company and refused to put in extra money.
W: Do you think a company like Boo would attract that level of investment in today"s business climate?
M: I doubt it. The collapse of Boo made investors very nervous. Today"s investors are only interested in high quality businesses with experienced people, and a really good business plan. Boo had a great idea and some very talented people, but they really hadn"t thought it through.

[解析] 由对话开头女士的介绍可知，女士正在就collapse of boo.com.问题采访一位叫Marlene的分析师。

单选题 What was the result of the changes boo.com made after Christmas 1999?

A、 Their website was much expanded.
B、 Their spending was cut by 40 percent.
C、 Their sales improved slightly.
D、 Their profits dropped.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】[解析] 根据The strategy seemed to work and sales began to recover in the spring.可知boo.com在圣诞节后作出的改变使产品销量有所恢复。

单选题 How much more money did boo.com try to raise in May?

A、 $80 million
B、 $100 million
C、 $20 million
D、 $120 million

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】[解析] 由By then they"d used up all the initial $80 million funding and were looking for an additional $20 million to survive.可知boo.com不仅用光了最初的$80 million，还在寻求更多的资本($20 million)来维持生存。

单选题 According to Marlene, what was the biggest financial mistake boo.com made?

A、 They spent too much money launching their site in other countries.
B、 Their products were too expensive.
C、 They wasted a lot of money on advertising.
D、 They wasted a lot of time on promotion.

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】[解析] 由They were over-ambitious and I think they made a big mistake when they decided to launch the site in eighteen countries. It increased their start-up costs enormously.可知，分析师认为boo.com犯的最大的错误是启动经费过于庞大。

单选题 Why didn"t investors want to risk any more money by investing in boo. corn?

A、 Because it didn"t have the right kind of staff.
B、 Because it didn"t have a good business strategy.
C、 Because it didn"t have high quality products.
D、 Because it didn"t have advanced corporation culture.

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】[解析] 根据对话最后结尾Today"s investors are...and a really good business plan. Boo had a great idea and some very talented people, but they really hadn"t thought it through.可知，boo.com虽然有人才，但没有好的商业策略，故选项B正确。