Listening task
I’d like to spend a few minutes of your time looking back over the year. I’m going to divide my review into three areas: firstly, financial, secondly, personnel and finally technology.

On the financial front, the results have been very pleasing. Turnover has increased by 14%, costs have dropped by 3%and profits are up by 16%. So the company as a whole has performed well. Some business areas have done better than others. Export sales have done very well-especially in America, our largest export market. The domestic consumer market has been very competitive and will continue to be so-our results in this market have been rather disappointing-just 1% up compared with last year.

Right, let’s move on to personnel. Our policy of personnel development through training and promotion opportunities has continued to be a great success. We have actually recruited 72 new staff, while 20 have retired-so there’s a net balance of 52. The training department has expanded considerably and moved into new areas such as quality assurance and sales training.

Finally, technology. I thought you would be interested to have an update since this vital for out future growth. Over the last year, our Research Department has thoroughly tested a new prototype engine. Results so far have looked promising. We have also invested heavily in a European technology programme which links industry with the universities.

Right, those are the three main areas- finance, personnel and technology. Are there any questions, personnel and technology. Are there any questions, before I go on?...

2. Presentation
In his presentation, the chairman used the present perfect tense(has/have + past participle).
e.g. The results have been very pleasing.
The company has performed well.

He uses this tense because:
1. He is probably talking at the end of December-the year is not quite finished.
2. He doesn’t specifically refer to time periods. Contrast the present perfect and the past simple in the following sentences:
The company has performed well.(present perfect)
The company performed well at the beginning of the year.(past simple)
3. Many of the events have a present impact.
e.g. We have invested heavily in the European technology programme.
So, we can contrast the present perfect with the past simple, as follows:
请见附图14-2

3. Controlled practice
A. Put the verbs in brackets into an appropriate tense-present perfect or past simple.
1. Turnover __________________________by 14% last year. (increase)
2. The company ______________________ disappointing results recently. (have)
3. Two years ago we ___________________ very competitive. (be)
4. Two years ago we ___________________ an updated product. (launch)
5. We _______________________________ 20 junior managers. (recruit)
6. _____________you ever ______________ Australia? (visit)
7. We _______________________________ there last June. (go)
8. We ______________ not _____________ the results of the tests yet. (receive)
9. _________________ you _____________ the report? (see)
Yes, it was interesting.
10. There senior managers _______________ this year. (retire)

B. Complete the chart below
Irregular verbs
请见附图14-3

课文注释及词汇讲解：
* an end-of-year presentation 年终讲话
* chairman董事长，总裁，（会议）主席
* spend 花费（时间，金钱）
spend ... in doing sth.
spend ... on sth.
e.g. I’d like to spend a few minutes of your time looking back over the year.
我想花大家几分钟时间回顾一下本年度的情况。
A lot of money has been spent on promotion.
在促销方面花了许多财力。
* on ... front 在……阵线上，在……方面
e.g. On the financial front, the results have been very pleasing.
在财务方面，成果令人欣慰。
* as a whole 作为一个整体， 整体上，总的说来
e.g. The company as a whole has performed well.
公司整体上经营得很好。
Market situation as a whole is favourable to us.