professional path seemed set. （然而，离开大学后她学的是会计，一个平淡无奇的职业道路似乎已经铺就。 ）. ... . However, her unplanned career began in 1985, when she returned to Edinburgh and discovered that the takeaway she had worked in was up for sale. On impulse, she bought it, but admits that at the time she knew nothing about catering. (8).... D 'It was a dramatic learning curve and very small amounts of money were earned at first,’says Robertson. .....It was a difficult time, but essential in terms of gaining the experience she needed. The late 1980s boom was good for business, with large numbers of office workers wanting takeaway food for their lunches. (9)... C But this demand was short-lived, and before long, increasing competition made it harder to make a profit.
.....'At one point (在某处；在某一时刻/一度(adv))there were 26 food outlets within a 5-kilometre radius,' Robertson recalls. As the economy changed and the once packed (林立的，群集)office blocks（商务区） started to become vacant, it became clear that Robertson would need to diversify.(10)... E She decided that the solution, since many companies required working lunches for meetings with clients, was to prepare and deliver meals to business premises（商务楼）. .....It changed the direction of the company for good.
As Robertson began to win catering contracts, she decided that the company would have to move to larger premises. In 1994, the
move was made when she bought another catering business that already had a number of profitable contracts for boardroom lunches. Meanwhile, Robertson's main competitor, the oldest catering company in Edinburgh, was causing her some anxiety. 'Customer loyalty is not to be underestimated,（低估，看轻）' she warns. But Robertson is not someone who is easily put off.(11).... B Her way round （完成，使圆满结束）this particular problem was to recruit the catering manager of the rival company.
....Partly as a result of this, turnover doubled, and having outgrown another site, Robertson bought a city-centre location for the group's headquarters.
By now, Grapevine's main competitor was a new catering company called Towngates. Although Robertson tried to raise enough money to buy Towngates, she did not succeed.Then luck intervened （运气成分(v)）and Towngates went bankrupt. (12).... F On hearing this, Robertson immediately contacted all of their clients and offered the services of Grapevine Caterers.
....Many accepted and the company's turnover went from ￡700,000 to ￡l .5 million almost overnight.
However, the company's growth was not as smooth as it sounds //in retrospect（回顾
）. Robertson admits, 'We were close to the edge during the growth
period. Like many under-capitalised companies trying to grow, it might easily have collapsed.' But that, she feels, is the challenge of developing your own business.
人邮第二辑真题TEST 2 READING PART 2 Finding the right people
When a small company grows, managers must take on many new roles. Besides the day-to-day running of the business, they find themselves responsible for, among other things, relations with outside investors, increased levels of cashflow and, hardest of all, recruitment. For most managers of small and medium-sized enterprises, the job of searching for, interviewing and selecting staff is difficult and time-consuming. (0) . G Yet few are trained and competent for all aspects of the task.... . Interviewing, for example, is a highly skilled activity in itself.
'We have found the whole process very hard,' says Dan Baker, founding partner of a PR company. 'In seven years we have grown from five to eighteen staff, but we have not found it easy to locate and recruit the right people.' (8)... C Recruitment would seem an obvious task to outsource（外包形式）, but the company's experience of recruitment agencies(职介所) was not encouraging.......As Dan Baker explains, 'We went to one for our first recruitment drive, but they
took a lot of money in advance and didn't put forward（推荐） anybody suitable. In the end we had to do it ourselves.'
Most recruitment decisions are based on a pile of（一堆；很多(n)） CVs, a couple of short interviews and two cautious references. David Rowe, a business psychologist, studied how appointments were made in five small companies. He claims that selection was rarely based on clear criteria. (9)... B More often than not（经常，往往）, the people making the choice prioritised（按其重要性将一系列事物进行排列） different qualities in candidates or relied on guesswork.
......This kind of approach to recruitment often has unhappy consequences for both employers and new recruits.
Small companies often know what kind of person they are looking for. (10).. E They are usually in very specific markets and the problem they face is that recruitment agencies may not really understand the sector.
..... According to David Rowe, this means that small company managers themselves have to devote more time and energy to recruitment. It shouldn't be something that is left to the evenings or weekends.
Many companies start the recruitment process with
over-optimistic ideas about the type of person that will fit into their team. 'It's very easy to say you must have the best people in the top
positions,' says Alex Jones, managing partner of an executive recruitment company. 'But someone who is excellent in one company may not do so well in another environment.(11)... A finance director in a big company, for example, will often make a terrible small company finance director because he or she is used to having a team doing the day-to-day jobs.
......You can never guarantee a successful transfer of skills.'
★Whatever the candidate's qualifications, their personal qualities are just as important since they will have to integrate with（使合并，使….成为整体） existing members of staff. This is where, the recruitment industry argues, they can really help.
According to Alex Jones, 'A good recruitment agency will visit your company and ask a lot of questions. (12)... D They need paying for that, of course, but you will have them working for you and not for the candidate.
......They can ask applicants all sorts of questions you don't like to ask and★ present you with a shortlist（精选） of people who not only have the skills, but who are likely to fit in with your company's way of doing things.'
人邮第二辑真题TEST 3 READING PART 2
《SELL,SELL,SELL》（《Sell,Sell,Sell》，听名字像是跟销售有关，