人邮第二辑真题TEST 3 READING PART 4
　　Should you open a second branch?
　　Choosing to expand your business by opening a second location can be one of the best decisions you’ll ever (0)____, or one of the worst. Before you (21)____ at a decision, there are several things you should check to see if you are ready to take this big step towards expansion.
　　Firstly – your cash flow. Like starting up any business, a second location (22)____ a large initial investment and usually takes a long time to turn a profit. Look at your firm’s accounts carefully. If these (23)____ that you cannot afford a long-term drain on your financial resources, then it is probably better to wait.
　　Secondly – your personnel and systems. If you don’t have a management team (24)____ place already, you should probably think about establishing one before opening a second branch. The same (25)____ in the case of operating systems and controls. The better organized your business now, the better organized your second location will be, too.
　　Also, you need to think about your market. Is your current site doing as much business as it can (26)____, or are there ways you could grow without opening a second branch? Try expanding internally first. Similarly, don’t (27)____ that just because your business is successful in one town, it will immediately succeed in a (28)____ community. Research your potential markets before setting up shop, and (29)____ your new branch to answer the specific needs of these markets.
　　Finally, be realistic about the time you need to invest to make a second location work. You don’t want to take (30)____ so much work that you can’t honour your commitments.
　　21 A arrive B come C reach D approach
　　22 A contains B includes C involves D consists
　　23 A signify B present C indicate D exhibit
　　24 A at B in C by D to
　　25 A applies B refers C concerns D relates
　　26 A deal B hold C handle D cope
　　27 A assume B trust C rely D count
　　28 A connecting B neighbouring C surrounding D matching
　　29 A invent B amend C design D innovate
　　30 A through B up C down D on
　　关于拓展连锁店业务的，expanding a retail business。什么时候该开设一个分支机构，这和很多因素有关。
　　21题，达成一个决定，用arrive at，come to，和reach。
　　22题，新开设一个分支机构(branch)是要钱的，它涉及到大的投资，需要很长时间才能实现盈利。四个选项，首先排除D，意思先不说，用法首先不对，应该是consist of；A、B要看英文意思帮助解释。Contain：to have something inside or include something as a part。Include：to contain something as a part of something else, or to make something part of something else包含的东西属于整体的一部分。看22空的意思，严格来讲不是包含，location这个事物本身是不包含investment的，但是要选择location，肯定涉及到investment的事，所以这题不选A或B，选C。
　　23题，理解了意思是很好选的。如果这些意味着要榨干你的财力，那最好还是等等。用indicate。signify是很formal的说法：if you signify a feeling, opinion etc, you do something that acts as a sign so that other people know your feeling or opinion。这里应该用indicate。
　　24题，表示一个管理团队已经就位。用in place：working or ready to work; established 到位的，就位的；已确定的。
　　25题，是指同样的原理适用于操作系统和管理中。适用，用apply。
　　26题，填入的词表示处理、解决，用deal with，cope with，和handle。
　　27题，这题也是要理解意思然后选择的。不要想当然的认为你在一个地方成功了，在另一个地方就也能成功。用assume，意思是假定。
　　28题，在一个town里面成功了，在邻近的地方也能成功。用neighbouring。surrounding在意思用法上也可以，但是neighbouring，可以和前面的in one town形成对比，用在这里更合适。（in one town,in a neighbouring community）
　　29题，理解前后的意思。事先要调查潜在的市场，新的分支机构要能满足这些市场的特殊需要。A不对，是发明；B不对，是修理，D也不对，innovate是创新，还没到那地步。用design。
　　30题，考查的是词组的含义。知道的就能填对，不知道的就得积累。
　　take up：占用（时间等）；开始从事
　　take on：雇佣（这个意思在BEC里考的很多）；担当重任：undertake a task or responsibility, especially a difficult one