摘要:目前在英語系高年級學生中開設的劍橋商務英語，使用由劍橋大學考試委員會和教育部考試中心推薦，經濟科學出版社出版的《新編劍橋商務英語》教材。這套教材是以現代商務活動為素材，為考試而編寫的，內容與考試聯系緊密。本文是作者在使用過程中對教材及考試相關內容作了一些分析，感到商務英語的考試是對考生商務知識及語言能力的雙重考察，深刻體會到它同其他商科之間的緊密聯系和在教學過程中補充相關背景知識的重要性。 劍橋商務英語證書考試是教育部考試中心和英國劍橋大學考試委員會合作舉辦的考試。該考試根據商務工作的實際需要，從聽、說、讀、寫四個方面對考生在商務和一般生活環境下使用英語的能力進行全面考察。目前在英語系高年級學生中開設的劍橋商務英語，使用由劍橋大學考試委員會和教育部考試中心推薦，經濟科學出版社出版的《新編劍橋商務英語》教材。這套教材是以現代商務活動為素材，為考試而編寫的，內容與考試聯系緊密。筆者在使用過程中對教材及考試相關內容作了一些分析，感到商務英語的考試是對考生商務知識及語言能力的雙重考察，深刻體會到它同其他商科之間的緊密聯系和在教學過程中補充相關背景知識的重要性。Traditionally，business simply meant exchange ortrade for things people wanted or needed.Today it hasa more technical definition.One definition of businessis the production，distribution，and sale of goods andservices for a profit.First，production is the creation ofservices or the changing of materials into products.Next，these products need to be moved from the facto-ry to the marketplace.This is known as distribution.Third is the sale of goods and services.Sale is the ex-change of a product or service for money.Business is acombination of all these activities:production，distri-bution，and sale.However，there is one other importantfactor.This factor is the creation of profit or economicsurplus.A major goal in the functioning of a businesscompany is making a profit.International businessrefers to any business activity that crosses nationalboundaries.從以上Business的定義看，商務所涉及的范圍實在是非常廣的，教學過程中遇到挑戰是正常的，毫不奇怪。以《新編劍橋商務英語》教材為例，10個單元中的7個單元的議題都可以在不同的學科中找到:Unit 1a討論的是團隊問題，組織行為學中有以下一些相關問題，如組織的有效性，組織有效性的元素，組織和團隊的環境，獎勵系統，溝通系統的探討。Issues in Organizational Behavior(OB)What are Teams?Groups of two or more people who interact andinfluence each other，are mutually accountable forachieving common objectives，and perceive themselvesas a social entity within an organizationModel of Team EffectivenessTeam effectiveness--extent that the group:a.fulfills organizational(or other system)objec-tivesb.fulfills needs of inpidual membersc.is able to survive(i.e.，maintain member com-Topics in Pass Cambridge BEC2 Relavant subjectUnit 1a TeamworkUnit 1b CommunicationOrganization behaviorOrganization behaviorUnit 3a Ordering goodsUnit 3b Cash flowInternational tradeAccountingUnit 4a Brand powerUnit 4b Public relationMarketingMarketingUnit 5a RelocationUnit 5b New premisesOperation managementOperation managementUnit 7a Health and safetyUnit 7b Rights at workOrganization behaviornOrganization behaviorUnit 9a Flexible benefitsUnit 9b Staff appraisalHuman resource managementHuman resource managementUnit 10a Marketing disastersUnit 10b Going globalMarketingInternational businessmitment)Elements of team effectiveness modelOrganizational and Team EnvironmentTeam designTeam processesTeam outcomes(effectiveness)Organizational and Team Environment1.Reward systems———Team-based rewards support team dynamics2.Communication systems———Need right combination of channels3.Physical space———Affects efficiency，coordination，perceptions4.Organizational environment———Need resources，demand for output5.Organizational structure———Design around processes，autonomy，interde-pendence6.Organizational leadership———Need supportive leader，team-oriented cul-tureConsequences of Team Cohesiveness1.More motivated to maintain membership2.More information sharing3.Stronger interpersonal bonds4.Conflict resolved more swiftly and effectively5.Members more satisfied，less stressTypes of Team Building1.Role definition———clarifies obligations，norms2.Interpersonal process——————building trust and open communications———e.g.wilderness team building activities———dialogue———learning different mental mod-els among members，then forming common model3.Goal setting———clarify goals，increase goalmotivation，establish feedback4.Problem-solving———improve team's decisionprocessUnit1b討論的是溝通的問題，組織行為學中也有以下一些相關問題的探討。Good communications are essential within a busi-ness if it is to prosper.In any business，the communication of informa-tion is an essential part of three key business activi-ties:(1)Management decision-making(without rele-vant，timely and accurate information，decision-makingat any level becomes quite tricky!)(2)Co-ordination of departments，teams andgroups-e.g.making sure that marketing，productionand administration know what each other is doing，when and why(3)Motivation of inpidualsCommunication-barriersInevitably，most businesses(perhaps all)suffer fromfailures in communication.Poor businesses suffer frompersistently poor communications.Perhaps the best way to think about the way inwhich communication can go wrong is to think aboutwhat good communication would be like:-It would use appropriate language(e.g.no pooruse of jargon;written so that the intended recipientcan understand)-It would go only to who should receive it-noteveryone-It would use the right medium to communicatethe information-The information would get to the recipient ingood time for it to be usedUnit 3a討論的是定貨問題，補充學習國際貿易中的價格術語及交易條件是必要的。Incoterms(In-ternational Commercial Terms)are pided into fourbasic groups.Group E:Departure term.啟運Where the sellermakes the goods available to the buyer at the seller'sown premises，(EXW).EXW-Ex Works工廠交貨Group F:Shipment terms-Main carriage unpaid.主運費未付Where the seller is called on to deliverthe goods to a carrier named by the buyer，(FCA，FASand FOB).These are shipment contracts with the ship-ment point named，and carriage unpaid by the seller.FCA-Free Carrier貨交承運人FAS-Free Alongside Ship裝運港船邊交貨FOB-Free On Board裝運港船上交貨Group C:Shipment terms-Main carriage paid.主運費已付Where the seller has to contract for car-riage，but without assuming the risk of loss of or dam-age to the goods or additional costs due to events oc-curring after shipment and dispatch，(CFR，CIF，CPTand CIP).These are shipment contracts with the desti-nation point named，and carriage paid by the seller.There are two critical pision points，one for the pi-sion of costs，the other for the pision of risk.Costsbeing assumed by the seller until the destination point;risk being transferred to the buyer at the point ofshipment.CIF and CIP are the only Incoterms relateddirectly to insurance cover.In these the seller arrangesthe contract of carriage and payment of freight and isregarded as being in a better position than the buyerto arrange insurance.CFR-Cost and Freight成本加運費CIF-Cost，Insurance and Freight成本加保險費，運費CPT-Carriage Paid To運費付至CIP-Carriage and Insurance Paid To運費，保險費付至Group D:Arrival Terms.Where the seller has tobear all costs and risk needed to bring the goods tothe country of destination，(DAF，DES，DEQ，DDU andDDP).These are arrival contracts.DAF-Delivered At Frontier邊境交貨DES-Delivered Ex Ship目的港船上交貨DEQ-Delivered Ex Quay目的港碼頭交貨DDU-Delivered Duty Unpaid未完稅交貨DDP-Delivered Duty Paid完稅后交貨Unit 3b討論的是現金流問題，不難發現它與Accounting及Financial Management有關，在教學過程中可以介紹一些會計報表的內容，這樣有助于對相關文章的理解。Financial Statements record the performance ofyour business and allow you to diagnose its strengthsand weaknesses by providing a written summary of fi-nancial activities.The Balance Sheet provides a picture of the fi-nancial health of a business at a given moment，usual-ly at the close of an accounting period.It lists in detailthose material and intangible items the business owns(known as its assets)and what money the businessowes，either to its creditors(liabilities)or to its owners(shareholders'equity or net worth of the business).Assets=Liabilities+Net worthAssets include not only cash，merchandise inven-tory，land，buildings，equipment，machinery，furniture，patents，trademarks，and the like，but also money duefrom inpiduals or other businesses(known as ac-counts or notes receivable).Liabilities are funds acquired for a businessthrough loans or the sale of property or services to thebusiness on credit.Creditors do not acquire businessownership，but promissory notes to be paid at a desig-nated future date.Shareholders’equity(or net worth or capital)ismoney put into a business by its owners for use by thebusiness in acquiring assets.This formula is a basic premise of accounting.Ifa business owes more money to creditors than it pos-sesses in value of assets owned，the net worth or owner's equity of the business will be a negative number.Unit 4a談論的是品牌力量，在市場營銷中可以看到Brands are a means of differentiating a company's products and services from those of its competi-tors.There is plenty of evidence to prove that cus-tomers will pay a substantial premium for a good brandand remain loyal to that brand.It is important，there-fore，to understand what brands are and why they areimportant."Brand equity"refers to the value of a brand.Brand equity is based on the extent to which the brandhas high brand loyalty，name awareness，perceivedquality and strong product associations.Brand equityalso includes other"intangible"assets such as patents，trademarks and channel relationships."Brand image"refers to the set of beliefs thatcustomers hold about a particular brand.These are im-portant to develop well since a negative brand imagecan be very difficult to shake off.Professor David Jobber identifies seven main fac-tors in building successful brands，as illustrated in thediagram below:Unit 4b Public relations討論了公共關系問題，這在市場營銷中也有詳細的探討。It is not enough tohave good products sold at attractive prices.To gener-ate sales and profits，the benefits of products have tobe communicated to customers.Promotion is，therefore，about companies commu-nicating with customers.A business'total marketing communicationsprogramme is called the promotion and consists of ablend of:●Advertising●Direct marketing●Personal selling●Sales promotion●Public relations toolsPublic relations is the communication of a prod-uct，brand or business by placing information about itin the media without paying for the time or mediaspace directly.The Institute of Public Relations defines publicrelations as follows:"The planned and sustained effort to establishand maintain goodwill and mutual understanding be-tween an organisation and its publics"What is meant by the term"publics"in the abovedefinition?A business may have many"publics"with whichit needs to maintain good relations and build goodwill.For example，consider the relevant"publics"for apublicly-quoted business engaged in medical research:●Employees●Shareholders●Trade unions●Members of the"general public"●Customers(past and present)Quality PositioningRepositiongingLong-termPerspectiveCredibilityWell-blendedcommunicationslnternalmarketingBrandbuilding●Pressure groups●The medical profession●Charities funding medical research●Professional research bodies and policy-form-ing organisations●The media●Government and politiciansThe role of public relations is to:●Identify the relevant publics●Influence the opinions of those publics by:●Reinforcing favourable opinions●Transforming perhaps neutral opinions intopositive ones●Changing or neutralising hostile opinionsUnit 7a Health and safety(健康和安全)是更為有意思的例子，選取的是英國衛生安全局關于風險評估的小冊子中的一部分。而在小冊子原文中還給出了Hazard and risk的定義:危害事物(hazard)是指能夠引起傷害的任何事物(例如化學品、電、使用梯子工作等等)，風險(risk)是指某人被危害事物傷害的可能性，不論屬于高或低的可能性。此外，有關健康和安全，英國衛生安全局還有許多出版物如:“認識衛生和安全”(An Introduction toHealth and Safety)、“衛生和安全要點及工作場所衛生和安全的管理”(Essentials of Health and Safety andManagement of Health and Safety at Work)、“認可的工作守則”(Approved Code of Practice)的小冊子有說明更多關于法律的規定和標準。更為具體的有Getting to grips with MANUALHANDLING-A short guide人力處理:搬運操作指引，指引中指出，在英國每年衛生安全局和各地方當局接到需要休息三天以上的受傷事件，超過三分之一是因人力處理引起，所謂的人力處理，就是用手或體力運送或支持重物。以下是2001/02年期間各種需要休息三天以上的受傷類別:跌倒Falls 4%，絆倒Trips 23%，被移動的車子碰撞Hit by moving vehicle 2%，被移動、墜下的物件擊中Hit by moving，falling objects 13%，搬運方式Handling 38%，其他Other 20%。The most recent survey of self-reported work-re-lated illness estimated that in 2001/02，1.1 million peo-ple in Great Britain suffered from musculoskeletal dis-orders(MSDs)caused or made worse by their currentor past work.An estimated 12.3 million working dayswere lost due to these work-related MSDs.On averageeach sufferer took about 20 days off in that 12-monthperiod.在最近進行的一項關于自填報與工作有關病痛的調查，估計在2001/02年期間在英國有110萬人患肌骨骼失調(簡稱MSD)，是因他們現時或過去的工作引起。由于這些與工作有關的肌骨骼失調，估計喪失了1，230萬個工作日。在該段12個月期間內，平均每一名患者請了大約20天的病假。原版的資料還有《人力搬運:你能夠處理的解決辦法》(Manual handling:Solutions you can handle)HSG115 HSE Books 1994 ISBN 0 7176 0693 7以及《在工作場所的疼痛?工作環境改造的問題和解決辦法》(A pain in your workplace?Ergonomic problemsand solutions)HSG121 HSE Books 1994 ISBN 0 71760668 6，《預防滑倒和絆倒》(Preventing slips and tripsat work)等等。以上筆者分別以《新編劍橋商務英語》中第1單元、第3單元、第4單元以及第7單元為例，說明商務英語與各相關學科間的緊密聯系，海量的背景知識。在教學過程中鼓勵學生大膽閱讀英文原版的各學科的書籍，這些書籍中也有一些典型案例可供分析，讀來頗有趣，能使得讀者對各位理論界的gurus(大師們)的Theory framework(理論)有一個大致的認識，對應對考試和就業相信都有一定的幫助。