TOEIC 聽力 Part 4 — 題目
段落
Hello everyone, and thank you for tuning in to "Business Insights Today." I'm your host, Alex Thompson. Our top story this week concerns the immediate closure of all retail locations for "Evergreen Home Goods." In a surprising announcement yesterday, the company cited significant, insurmountable financial headwinds as the driving force behind this drastic decision. Evergreen Home Goods, a staple in the home furnishings market for over two decades, will cease operations effective next Sunday. This impacts hundreds of employees and leaves a considerable gap in the retail landscape. While the specifics remain undisclosed, the company's press release mentioned a prolonged period of declining sales and escalating operational costs that ultimately proved unmanageable. This situation underscores the challenges many brick-and-mortar businesses face in the current economic climate. We'll be examining the broader implications for the retail sector and exploring potential alternative marketing campaign strategy approaches that businesses might adopt to mitigate such risks in the future. Stay tuned for more details after the break.
題目
What is mentioned as a reason for the company's difficulties?
選項
- A. A poorly conceived marketing campaign strategy
- B. Increased competition from online retailers
- C. Rising operational costs and declining sales ✓
- D. A lack of innovation in product offerings
正確答案
C. Rising operational costs and declining sales
解析
📖 文章翻譯 — 各位聽眾朋友大家好，感謝收聽「商業洞察今日」。我是主持人 Alex Thompson。本週我們的頭條新聞是「Evergreen Home Goods」所有零售店的即時關閉。公司昨日發布的一項意外聲明中，將這次劇烈決定的主因歸咎於顯著且無法克服的財務逆風。Evergreen Home Goods 作為家居用品市場二十多年的常青樹，將於下週日停止營運。這影響了數百名員工，並在零售業版圖中留下一個相當大的空缺。
📝 答案解析 — 正確答案是 C) 營運成本上升及銷售下滑。文章中提到公司因「significant, insurmountable financial headwinds」（顯著、無法克服的財務逆風）而關閉。這直接呼應了營運成本上升（financial headwinds）和銷售下滑（implied by financial difficulties leading to closure）這兩個因素。
💡 應試技巧 — 聽到表示困難、挑戰或負面情況的詞語（如 "difficulties", "challenges", "headwinds", "declining", "loss"）時，要特別留意它們是否與財務狀況（cost, sales, profit）或公司營運（operations, performance）相關，這通常是 Part 4 考題的關鍵線索。
📊 錯誤選項分析 — A) 一個構思不良的行銷策略 — 文章並未提及任何關於行銷策略的細節。B) 來自線上零售商的競爭加劇 — 文章沒有提到競爭對手，特別是線上零售商。D) 產品供應缺乏創新 — 文章沒有討論產品是否有創新。