Use of English (2023)

Here’s a common scenario that any number of entrepreneurs face today: you’re the CEO of a small business, and though you’re making a nice [1], you need to find a way to take it to the next level. What you need to do is [2] growth by establishing a growth team. A growth team is made up of members from different departments within your company, and it harnesses the power of collaboration to focus [3] on finding ways to grow.

Let’s look at a real-world [4]. Prior to forming a growth team, the software company BitTorrent had 50 employees working in the [5] departments of engineering, marketing and product development. This brought them good results until 2012, when their growth plateaued. The [6] was that too many customers were using the basic, free version of their product. And [7] improvements to the premium, paid version, few people were making the upgrade.

Things changed, [8], when an innovative project-marketing manager came aboard, [9] a growth team and sparked the kind of [10] perspective they needed. By looking at engineering issues from a marketing point of view, it became clear that the [11] of upgrades wasn’t due to a quality issue. Most customers were simply unaware of the premium version and what it offered.

Armed with this [12], the marketing and engineering teams joined forces to raise awareness by prominently [13] the premium version to users of the free version. [14], upgrades skyrocketed, and revenue increased by 92 percent.

But in order for your growth team to succeed, it needs to have a strong leader. It needs someone who can [15] the interdisciplinary team and keep them on course for improvement. This leader will [16] the target area, set clear goals and establish a time frame for the [17] of these goals.

The growth leader is also [18] for keeping the team focused on moving forward and steering them clear of distractions. [19] attractive, new ideas can be distracting; the team leader must recognize when these ideas don’t [20] the current goal and need to be put on the back burner.

[A]purchase

[B]profit

[C]connection

[D]bet

[A]define

[B]predict

[C]prioritize

[D]appreciate

[A]exclusively

[B]temporarily

[C]potentially

[D]initially

[A]experiment

[B]proposal

[C]debate

[D]example

[A]identical

[B]marginal

[C]provisional

[D]traditional

[A]rumor

[B]secret

[C]myth

[D]problem

[A]despite

[B]unlike

[C]through

[D]besides

[A]moreover

[B]however

[C]therefore

[D]again

[A]inspected

[B]created

[C]expanded

[D]reformed

10.

[A]cultural

[B]objective

[C]fresh

[D]personal

11.

[A]end

[B]burden

[C]lack

[D]decrease

12.

[A]policy

[B]suggestion

[C]purpose

[D]insight

13.

[A]contributing

[B]allocating

[C]promoting

[D]transferring

14.

[A]As a result

[B]At any rate

[C]By the way

[D]In a sense

15.

[A]unite

[B]finance

[C]follow

[D]choose

16.

[A]share

[B]identify

[C]divide

[D]broaden

17.

[A]announcement

[B]assessment

[C]adjustment

[D]accomplishment

18.

[A]famous

[B]responsible

[C]available

[D]respectable

19.

[A]Before

[B]Once

[C]While

[D]Unless

20.

[A]serve

[B]limit

[C]summarize

[D]alter

深度解析 (Answers & Logic)

1. [B] profit. 动宾搭配题。前文说你是小企业的CEO，后面说“虽然你正在赚取可观的____”，显然这里指的是赚取“利润（profit）”（make a profit 是固定搭配）。
2. [C] prioritize. 语义衔接题。为了将企业提升到下一个阶段，你需要通过建立增长团队来“优先考虑（prioritize）”增长。
3. [A] exclusively. 词义辨析题。增长团队汇聚各部门力量，目的是“专门地/专心致志地（exclusively）”专注于寻找增长的方法。
4. [D] example. 宏观结构题。上文讲了理论，这里用 BitTorrent 公司的真实案例来说明，因此是看一个现实世界的“例子（example）”。
5. [D] traditional. 语义对照题。在成立跨部门的增长团队之前，员工们在工程、营销等“传统的（traditional）”部门独立工作。这与后文的跨部门团队形成对比。
6. [D] problem. 逻辑推理题。上文提到2012年增长停滞，接着解释其原因：“问题（problem）”在于太多客户只用免费版。
7. [A] despite. 逻辑关系题。后文说很少有人升级，前文说对付费版进行了改进，两者形成明显的让步转折：“尽管（despite）”对高级版进行了改进，还是没人买。
8. [B] however. 逻辑副词题。前文说增长停滞，这里说情况改变了，因此构成了转折，选“然而（however）”。
9. [B] created. 动宾搭配题。这位创新的经理加入了公司，并“创建（created）”了一个增长团队。
10. [C] fresh. 词汇搭配题。他从营销角度看工程问题，这种跨界的思维激发了公司需要的“新鲜的/全新的（fresh）”视角。
11. [C] lack. 语义衔接题。因为前文说很少有人升级（few people were making the upgrade），所以这里指出：升级的“缺乏（lack）”并不是因为质量问题，而是因为顾客不知道。
12. [D] insight. 语境推断题。凭借着上述发现（即顾客不知道高级版存在），营销和工程团队联合起来。这种深入的发现被称为“深刻见解/洞察力（insight）”。
13. [C] promoting. 动宾搭配题。两个团队联手，通过向免费用户显著地“推广/推销（promoting）”高级版本来提高知名度。
14. [A] As a result. 逻辑关系题。因为进行了大力推广，所以“结果（As a result）”，升级量猛增，收入增长了92%。
15. [A] unite. 动词辨析题。对于这种由多个不同部门成员组成的团队，领导者需要能够“团结/联合（unite）”这支跨学科的队伍。
16. [B] identify. 动宾搭配题。这位领导者将会“确定/识别（identify）”目标区域，设定目标并制定时间表。
17. [D] accomplishment. 词义辨析题。制定时间表的目的是为了这些目标的“完成/实现（accomplishment）”。
18. [B] responsible. 固定搭配题。be responsible for... 意为“对……负责（responsible）”，即增长领导者还负责让团队保持专注。
19. [C] While. 逻辑关系题。句意为：“虽然（While）吸引人的新想法可能会分散注意力，但团队领导者必须认识到它们不符合当前目标”。引导让步状语从句。
20. [A] serve. 词义辨析题。领导必须识别出这些新想法何时不“服务于/符合（serve）”当前的目标，需要被搁置（put on the back burner）。

核心长难句精解 (High-Light)

1. 关系代词与同位语从句结构：
"Here’s a common scenario that any number of entrepreneurs face today: you’re the CEO of a small business, and though you’re making a nice profit, you need to find a way to take it to the next level."
 【解析】`that` 引导定语从句，修饰 `scenario`。冒号后面的部分是对 `scenario` 的具体解释说明。在冒号后的复合句中，`though` 引导让步状语从句，点明了企业发展中典型的“好但不强”的瓶颈期。 
2. 介词短语作方式状语及主语从句：
"By looking at engineering issues from a marketing point of view, it became clear that the lack of upgrades wasn’t due to a quality issue."
 【解析】`By...` 引导方式状语。主句中使用了 `it` 作形式主语，真正的真正主语是 `that` 引导的主语从句，清晰地说明了跨部门视角带来的新洞察：卖不出去不是因为做得不好，而是营销没到位。 
3. While 引导让步状语及宾语从句：
"While attractive, new ideas can be distracting; the team leader must recognize when these ideas don’t serve the current goal and need to be put on the back burner."
 【解析】`While` 在此引导让步状语从句（虽然有吸引力……）。分号后的主句中，`when` 引导了 `recognize` 的宾语从句。句末使用了极其地道的习语 `put on the back burner`（把某事放在后炉上 $\rightarrow$ 搁置/推迟），非常具有商业英语特色。 