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Conversation One
W: Now, could you tell me where the idea for the business first came from?
M: Well, the original shop was opened by a retired printer by the name of Gruby. Mr Gruby being left-handed himself, thought of the idea to try to promote a few products for left-handers.
W: And how did he then go about actually setting up the business?
M: Well, he looked for any left-handed products that might already be on the market which were very few. And then contacted the manufactures with the idea of having products produced for him, mainly in the scissors range to start with.
W: Right. So you do commission some part of your stock.
M: Yes, very much so. About 75 percent of our stock is specially made for us.
W: And the rest of it?
M: Hmm, the rest of it now, some 25, 30 years after Mr. Gruby’s initial efforts, there are more left-handed product actually on the market. Manufactures are now beginning to see that there is a market for left-handed products.
W: And what’s the range of your stock?
M: The range consists of a variety of scissors from children scissors to scissors for tailors, hairdressers etc. We also have a large range of kitchen ware.
W: What’s the competition like? Do you have quite a lot of competition?
M: There are other people in the business now in specialists, but only as mail-order outlets. But we have a shop here in central London plus a mail-order outlet. And we are without any doubt the largest supplier of the left-handed items.
这是一篇采访一名专为左撇子们提供产品的供应商的文章。文中分别谈到了创业理念的来源、产业如何创始、产业日前发展状况以及这家产品供应商所面对的行业现状。具体细节为：创业理念开始于一名名叫Gruby的退休印刷工，他本人是一名左撇子，所以想到找生产商帮他实现自己所想的专门为左撇子设计产品的理念。而这家供应商目前面对的行业现状为：市面上已有的左撇子产品比最初创业之时，增加了许多；但销售渠道来源主要是网络订单。而这些，并不对这家供应商公司构成竞争威胁，因为他们在伦敦有门店和网络销售的双重渠道。因此他们是这种左撇子产品的最大供应商。
本篇文章为考查细节信息抓取能力题。难度较大主要因为考生可能对产品制造加工行业涉及到的manufacture、stock、mail-order outlet 、supplier等专业术语不太熟悉，而形成困扰。但考生只要能听出这是一篇采访类型的文章，每次都能听到女士（采访者）的问题非常简短，应该立即警惕答案应该是针对男士（被访者）的回答提问。而女士（采访者）的问题中本身就已经暗示出接下来的回答中的关键词。如：女士问的“And what’s the range of your stock?”一句中，stock即为关键信息词。因此，这篇文章同时也提醒考生平时应该注意商务用语和商业常识方面的积累。
Q19: What kind of business does the man engaged in?
Q20: What does the man say about his stock of products?
Q21: What does the man say about other people in his line of business?
