TOEIC Listening Part 4: Short Talks - Exercise 7

Questions 1-3

Narrator: Questions 1 through 3 refer to the following talk and chart.

Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us for our end-of-year financial review. I'd like to walk you through our revenue breakdown by division. As you can see from the chart in your packets, our software division continues to be our strongest performer, generating the largest share of our total revenue. However, I do want to draw your attention to an area of concern. The division that brings in approximately one-quarter of our revenue has seen sales flatten over the past two quarters. We're not losing ground, but we're not growing either, and in today's market, standing still is the same as falling behind. I'd like to propose we allocate additional resources to revitalize this segment in the coming year. I'll open the floor to discussion after we review the remaining slides.

Questions 4-6

Narrator: Questions 4 through 6 refer to the following announcement.

Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining this company-wide broadcast on such short notice. I have some very exciting news to share with you today. After months of negotiations, I am pleased to announce that we have reached an agreement to merge with OmniCorp Industries. This is a historic moment for our company. By joining forces with OmniCorp, we will become one of the largest players in our industry, with a combined workforce of over fifteen thousand employees. Now, I know many of you may be concerned about what this means for your jobs. Let me be clear: there will be no layoffs as a result of this merger. In fact, we anticipate significant growth, and we will actually be hiring additional staff in several departments over the coming months. More details will be shared in the weeks ahead. Thank you for your continued dedication.

Questions 7-9

Narrator: Questions 7 through 9 refer to the following introduction.

Good evening, and welcome to tonight's seminar on personal finance and retirement planning. My name is Sandra Chen, and I'll be your presenter this evening. Over the next two hours, we'll be discussing strategies for building a diversified investment portfolio that can help secure your financial future. Whether you're just starting to save or you're approaching retirement, the principles we cover tonight will be relevant to your situation. Before we begin, I'd like to ask everyone to please silence your mobile phones or switch them to airplane mode. Also, you'll find a packet of materials under your chair, including worksheets and a list of recommended reading. Feel free to take notes throughout the presentation, and we'll have a question-and-answer session at the end. Now, let's get started with the basics of asset allocation.

Questions 10-12

Narrator: Questions 10 through 12 refer to the following voicemail message.

Hi Jennifer, this is Robert from the finance department. I'm calling about the project proposal you submitted last week for the new customer outreach initiative. First of all, I want to say that overall, it's a solid plan, and the objectives are well defined. However, I've had a chance to review the budget breakdown, and I'm afraid the total cost is higher than what we can approve at this time. Specifically, the marketing expenditure seems quite high compared to similar projects we've funded in the past. I'd like you to take another look at that section and see if you can reduce the marketing spend by about ten percent. If you can make those adjustments and resubmit the proposal by Friday, we should be able to move forward with approval. Give me a call if you have any questions. Thanks.