Because of its potential for cutting costs, the distribution step in the marketing process is receiving more attention. Distribution involves warehousing, transporting and keeping inventory of manufactured products. Take an everyday product like fabric softener. After it comes off the assembly line, it"s packed in cartons and trucked to warehouses around the country. When orders come in from retailers, the fabric softener is delivered to supermarket shelves. This is distribution. Probably the most crucial area for controlling costs is inventory. Companies don"t want to overproduce and have unsold stock of their product piled up in warehouses. Wholesale companies and large retail chains employ several techniques for inventory control. This is where the computer revolution really had an impact. Computerized information systems give precise and up-to-date accounts of inventory on hand. And the field of distribution offers good entry-level jobs for persons with training in computer programming or data processing. Overseeing the whole area of distribution is the distribution manager. This job is becoming increasingly important and can lead to an executive position.
Husband: Tell you what, dear. I just got promoted. Wife: Really? ______.
A Poster Just as the sun is starting to shine and the days are getting longer, the examination period begins! I"d like to wish all students the very best luck in your exams and with your dissertations. For those of you who will be leaving us this summer, I hope that you will take with you fond memories of Birmingham and that you keep in touch. If you are staying in Birmingham over the summer, do try to come along to our summer garden party on 18 June. Spouses and children are very welcome to join us too. Summer Garden Party Wednesday 18, June 2007 From 2 p. m.—5 p. m. Celebrate the end of exams and the end of term with a summer garden party in the beautiful grounds of Westmere on Edgbaston Park Road. All international students, their spouses and children are welcome to join us. We"ll have lots of party games as well as food and drink. What better way to mark the end of the academic year? If you would like to come along, please contact Mal Graham, international Student Assistant: 0121 414 2894 M. M. Graham@bham. ac. uk. We look forward to seeing many of you there. Have a great summer.
Theme-park-hound bargain seekers would be wise to spend some time surfing online before they get in line at the parks this summer. A growing number of these attractions now allow customers to print e-tickets at home with large discounts off the gate price, in part to spur attendance that has declined in recent years. After boom times in the late 1990s, theme park attendance began to decrease, with an overall decline of about 400% over the past few years at North America"s 50 most-visited establishments, says James Zoltak, editor of Amusement Business. "The boom was off the rose as we turned the comer into 2000, so there"s more discounting now", he says. Discounting isn"t new to an industry that has longer partnered with other commercial enterprises, such as soft drink companies, to offer deals. But e-ticketing adds a new opportunity that not only brings savings but convenience as well, since it allows visitors to avoid the line at the gate. "If you can get in early before the lines fill up, you"re getting more for your money", says Robert Niles of the website Theme Park Insider.
About one million tourists go to Barcelona every year, just to visit the Gaudi"s Church. This unusual church has a strange history. Gaudi was born in Spain in 1852. He had to work and study at the same time. He often missed classes because he had to work, but one day he designed a very unusual show-case for an exhibition in Paris. People began to give him work. He designed houses, offices and gardens. They were all very unusual. He was soon rich and famous. Then a rich bookseller said, "Will you build a church for the poor people of Barcelona? I will pay. I will build schools and workshops, too. They will help the people". "I will do it", said Guadi. He worked for forty years, but he could not finish the church. It was too big. He needed $10,000,000. He gave all his money to the church. He was poor again when he died in 1926, and only the front part of the church was finished. Now, architects, engineers and tourists from all over the world like to come and see the church, which is very strange, very modem and very revolutionary.
A: Let me introduce myself. I am Henry. B: Henry. I am Peter Browr. ______ Call me Peter or Mr. Brown.
Most of the people who appear most often and most gloriously in the history books are great conquerors and generals and soldiers, whereas the people who really helped civilization forward are often never mentioned at all. We do not know who first set a broken leg, or launched a seaworthy boat, or calculated the【31】of the year, or manured a field; but we know【32】about the killers and destroyers. People think a great deal of them, so【33】so that on all the highest pillars in the great cities of the world you will find the figure of a conqueror or a general or a soldier. And I think most people believe that the greatest countries are【34】that have beaten in battle the greatest number of other countries and ruled over them as conquerors. It is just possible they are,【35】they are not the most civilized. Animals fight; so do savages; hence to be good at fighting is to be good in the way in【36】an animal or a savage is good, but it is not to be civilized. Even being good at getting other people to fight for you and【37】them how to do it most efficiently -- this, after all, is【38】conquerors and generals have done -- is not being civilized. People fight to settle quarrels. Fighting means killing, and civilized peoples ought to be able to find some way of settling their disputes other【39】by seeing which side can kill off the greater number of other side, and then【40】that that side which has killed most has won.
The growth of population during the past few centuries is no proof that population will continue to grow straight upward toward infinity and doom. On the contrary, demographic history offers evidence that population growth has not been at all constant. According to paleo-ecologist Edward Deevey, the past million years show three momentous changes. The first, a rapid increase in population around one million B.C., followed the innovations of tool-making and tool-using. But when the new power from the use of tools had been exploited, the rate of world population growth fell and became almost stable. The next rapid jump in population started perhaps 10,000 years ago, when men began to keep herds, plow and plant the earth. Once again when initial productivity gains had been absorbed, the rate of population growth abated. These two episodes suggest that the third great change, the present rapid growth, which began in the West between 250 and 350 years ago, may also slow down when, or if technology begins to yield fewer innovations. Of course, the current knowledge revolution may continue without foreseeable end. Either way contrary to popular belief in constant geometric growth—population can be expected in the long mn to adjust to productivity.
According to a survey, which was based on the responses of over 188,000 students, today"s traditional-age college freshmen are "more materialistic and less altruistic(利他主义的)"than at any time in the 17 years of the poll. Not surprising in these hard times, the student"s major objective "is to be financially well off. Less important than ever is developing a meaningful philosophy of life". It follows then that today the most popular course is not literature or history but accounting. Interest in teaching, social service and the "altruistic" fields is at a low. On the other hand, enrollment in business programs, engineering and computer science is way up. That"s no surprise either. A friend of mine (a sales representative for a chemical company) was making twice the salary of her college instructors her first year on the job—even before she completed her two-year associate degree. While it"s true that we all need a career, it is equally true that our civilization has accumulated an incredible amount of knowledge in fields far removed from our own and that we are better for our understanding of these other contributions- be they scientific or artistic. It is equally true that, in studying the diverse wisdom of others, we learn how to think. More important, perhaps, education teaches us to see the connections between things, as well as to see beyond our immediate needs. Weekly we read of unions who went on strike for higher wages, only to drive their employer out of business. No company; no job. How shortsighted in the long run! But the most important argument for a broad education is that in studying the accumulated wisdom of the ages, we improve our moral sense. I saw a cartoon recently which shows a group of businessmen looking puzzled as they sit around a conference table; one of them is talking on the intercom(对讲机): "Miss Baxter", he says, "could you please send in someone who can distinguish right from wrong?" From the long-term point of view, that"s what education really ought to be about.
Directions:In this section, you are asked to write an essay based on the following information. Make comments and express your own opinion. You should write at least 150 words on the ANSWER SHEET. 以往许多人报考成人高校，是为圆文凭梦。如今，手持本科、硕士文凭，回头重新考大学的大有人在。据报道，今年报名全国成人高考的上海考生中，有390名本科毕业生，15名硕士生。
I really appreciate______to help me, but I am sure that I can manage it myself.
Could you ______ reasons and examples for your answer?
Problems common to most countries include the social, economic ______ problems.
A: Good morning. I"d like to book a table for two for 8:30 on Friday, please. B: ______
8分钟的发言，4次被掌声打断，这是出现在3月7日政协全体会议上的一幕。直陈当前房地产弊端的政协委员梁季阳，收获了在场几千人的掌声，而掌声背后，是人们的敬意。 这格外热烈的掌声，再次说明：代表委员只有敢讲话、会讲话，才能切实履行好参政议政职能，也才能真正赢得信任和尊重。 敢讲话，意味着正视现实、直面问题。经过30余年改革开放，中国进入了发展的重要战略机遇期和社会矛盾凸显期，出现了一系列新情况新问题，前进中所面对的困难和风险“世所罕见”。“逆水行舟，不进则退”，我们必须正视问题，努力改进，方能不断前行。 要直面这些问题，需要深入地思考，更需要担当的勇气。发现问题，建言献策，是代表委员的职责所系。这更需要代表委员们放下“情面”的包袱，本着对国家和人民负责的态度，积极议政建言。 敢讲话的同时，还要会讲话。好的提案，直面问题只是一方面，提出有针对性的建议才是关键。很多问题并不难发现，人人都能谈两句，但两会不是摆“龙门阵”，不能停留于夸夸其谈，博取公众眼球。 会讲话，不是擅辩论术、懂修辞学，而要建立在深入思考、广泛调研的基础上。在利益结构多元、利益诉求多样的今天，任何一个社会问题的背后，都会涉及不同群体利益的协调与平衡。因此，代表委员要保持良好的工作作风，时时深入到社会生活一线，广泛取证调研，在充分考虑不同群体利益的基础上，进行深入全面的分析，提出建设性的改进方案，推动问题的实质性改善。 良药苦口，忠言逆耳。对于代表委员的意见建议，各级政府和相关部门应该充分重视，发扬民主作风，虚心听取。唯有这样，背负着亿万人民殷切期望的代表委员们，才能够最终履行好自己的职责，造福国家，造福人民。 中文摘要：在3月7日政协全体会议上，热烈的掌声说明了代表委员只有敢讲话、会讲话，才能真正赢得信任和尊重。经过30余年改革开放，中国进入了发展的重要战略机遇期和社会矛盾凸显期，出现了一系列新情况新问题，直面这些问题，需要深入的思考，发现问题，建言献策，这是代表委员的职责所系。对于代表委员的意见建议，各级政府和相关部门应该充分重视，虚心听取。唯有这样，背负着亿万人民殷切期望的代表委员们，才能够最终履行好自己的职责，造福国家，造福人民。
Man: Do you know Jason"s phone number? Woman: ______ Man: OK. I might as well look it up in the phone book.
Host: John, come and sit in the sofa. Dinner will be ready in a minute. Could I get you something to drink? Guest: ______.
AB
Working women haven"t left the family role behind: now they are______to work even harder to do both.
Most people who travel long distance complain of jetlag. Jetlag makes business travelers less productive and more prone【B1】making mistakes. It is actually caused by【B2】of your "body clock"—a small cluster of brain cells that controls the timing of biological【B3】. The body clock is designed for a【B4】rhythm of daylight and darkness, so that it is thrown out of balance when it【B5】daylight and darkness at the "wrong" times in a new time zone. The【B6】of jetlag persist for days【B7】the internal body clock slowly adjusts to the new time zone. Now a new anti-jetlag system is【B8】that is based on proven【B9】pioneering scientific research. Dr. Martin Mooreede had【B10】a practical strategy to adjust the body clock much sooner to the new time zone through controlled exposure to bright light.