Unit 12
Sales review
Describing graphs
1. Listening
Listen to the sales review. As you listen, match the model number of the product to the graph.
Models: A1456, B2456, C3456
Graph 1
Sales performance: Model ______________
请见附图1-1
Graph 2
Sales performance: Model _______________
请见附图1-2
Graph 3
Sales performance: Model _______________
请见附图1-3
Listening Task
Before I go on to talk about the sales targets for this year, let’s have a look at the performance of our three main products over the last six years. Now, as you know, we launched three models the same year, in order to capture the full range of the market.
This graph, here, shows the progress of our top-of-the-range model-the A1456. As you can see, sales reached a peak just one year after launch. The following two years sales leveled off at around 400,000. Then sales decreased to a figure of 330,000 by the end of year five. Finally, last year sales fell to only 250,000 units.
OK, let’s turn to the middle-of-the-range product, the B2456. As I said, this model was launched in the same year as the A1456, but sales progress has been somewhat different. In the first three years, sales rose steadily to a peak of 550,000 at the end of year three. The following year sales fell badly to 450,000. Then in year 5 they picked up again to settle around 500,000. They remained constant at this figure in year 6.
Finally, our cheapest model, the C3456. If we look at the figures for years 1 and 2, we see that sales increased rapidly in the second year to reach 250,000, then in third year they rose again by 200,000 to reach 450,000. Fourth year sales were also good- the end-of-year figure went up to 580,000. Year 5 sales dropped slightly-they were down to 550,000 and this figure was maintained last year. I’m sure you’ll agree, these results are excellent.
2. Presentation
In the Listening section you heard a presentation which included:
# graph description
# past tenses
Now look at the language that the presenter used.
2.1 Describing graphs
请见附图2
2.2 The past tense
The past tense is used throughout the extract because the time is finished and is marked by expressions like:
# 10 years ago
# in 1992
# by the end of 1991
# last year
Regular verbs end in ed:
reachedreach
remainedremain
increasedincrease
droppeddrop
levelledlevel
Irregular verbs:
roserise
fellfall
wentgo
was/werebe
3. Controlled practice
Use the three graphs in the Listening section and the language in the Presentation section to complete the sentences.
A1456
1. Sales _________ a peak just one year after launch.
2. The following two years sales ____________ _________ at 400,000.
3. Then sales ___________ to a figure of 330,000 by the end of year five.
4. Last year sales _________ to only 250,000 units.
B2456
5. In the first three year, sales _________ steadily.
6. The following year sales ________ badly.
7. Then in year five they _________ ______ again.
8. They ________ ___________ at this figure in year six.
C3456
9. Sales ________ rapidly in the second year to reach 250,000.
10. In year three they ____________ to 450,000.
11. year four figures ___________ ___________ to 580,000.
12. In year five sales _______________ slightly.
课文注释及词汇讲解：
* target 目标
eg. sales target 销售目标[各公司往往以一定的销售额为目标]
target market 目标市场[产品适合的消费者群体]
We must set reasonable sales targets, otherwise we may not achieve them.
必须定出合理的销售目标，否则我们可能实现不了。
* performance 成绩，行为，表现，性能
eg. Let’s have a look at the performance of our three main products over the last six years.
我们来看一下过去六年中三种主要产品的销售情况。
I’m not satisfied with the performance of my new car.
我对自己的这部新车的性能不太满意。
* capture 夺得，赢得
eg. capture the full range of the market 占领整个市场系列[一个市场系列可以包括高、中、低档各类产品]
We’ve captured 70% of the domestic market.
我们已占有了国内市场的70%
