上海市中级口译资格认证实考试卷录音2003年9月

　　Part A: Spot Dictation

The Internet is regarded by many as the flagship of global English. According to a survey conducted by the International English Language Association, English is the medium for more than 80% of the information stored in the world’s computers. In many countries, computers have become extensively networked and the networks themselves linked into the globe structure of the Internet. The electronic to media, such as the Internet, that binds 1 the world together need a common standard to insure speed and proficiency 2. So the English language becomes the operating standard for global communication. But is it true that the Internet will remain a major driver of the English language? At present, the language most widely used is English. But this only reflects the fact in the last century, i.e. 90% of the world’s computers connected to the internet fire based in English-speaking countries. We may well predict that, in the 21st, the overall shift in Internet use will be similar to that outlined for the economy and the number of computer hosts in Asia will eventually outstrip 3 those in English-speaking countries. Furthermore, the Internet, which used to be a tool for international communication between a global scientific and academic elite 4, has been increasingly serving local, cultural, commercial educational purposes. And as the Internet becomes more and more widely used, it is natural to expect that wide range languages will be employed.

Nowadays, Internet users may have a choice of “language preference” information when they contact a website. If a website page is available in that language it can be re retrieved 5 preference one in English. This means, for example, that the Web will appear to be in Spanish to Spanish speaker and in Chinese to a Chinese speaker, provided, of course, the hosts contacted can maintain pages in these languages.

Part B: Listening Comprehension

1. Betty said she was hoping to be promoted to assistant manager of the company, but when she had the chance, she turned it down.

2. As far as I know, Ellen’s father was not happy when she decided 6 to quit her job and study abroad.

3. At the end of the two-day meeting, the chairman of the committee declared that the motion was carried by a majority of 6 to 1.

4. Sorry, I can’t talk to you about your investment scheme, I’m having a meeting in a few minutes. What about tomorrow morning at 10 o’clock?

5. This type of video camera that used to cost 700 dollars in 1999 now costs 350 dollars or less on Christmas when it is on sale.

6. I think we should put everyone in our office overtime 7 or we have to rearrange the schedule to make up the lost time.

7. Since so many people want to use the terminals and only twenty computers are available, we are limiting everybody to a maximum of 5 hours per week.

8. The expansion of trade has widened the gap between the rich who live on the cutting edge of the economy and the poor who live on the knives edge of survivors 8.

9. We will try our best to reach the target set by the top management, come what may, we will double our sales figure this year.

10. Because airliners 9 often sell too many tickets for flight and are routinely overbooked, some unlucky passengers are bumped and asked to reschedule on a later flight.

2. Talks and conversations

Question 11~14

M: I’m nearly ready for Christmas now, I’ve sent off all my Christmas cards except one and I bought all my presents apart from yours. Have you sent out the invitations to our party yet?

W: Not yet, I’ll sent them out tomorrow, just look at the list again to make sure we haven’t forgotten anyone.

M: We are inviting 10 just about everybody in the neighborhood except for Mr. Joan’s and his wife. It seems a bit rude, but to tell the truth, I can’t stand that woman.

W: Well, she is so ill mannered. Last time she came here, she left without saying a word and apart from that she tells such a lies about hers. She never stops running us down to neighbors.

M: Let’s settled then, we won’t invite them. By the way, I met Pete O’Dow last night, he told me he’d be leaving for island for weeks. He said he was sorry he would miss our party, but he might see us at the Rushton’s New Year Party.

W: What a pity, he is so lively at the party. Oh, I saw some gorgeous Christmas tree on sale in the High Street, but I didn’t have time to ask how much they were.

　　M: I’m sure they are much too expensive.

W: Well, we’ve got to have a tree, if you don’t want to buy one, you’ll have to go out and dig one up. Oh, we need a few gifts for the tree, apart from the Holy and the mistletoe, that’s about everything.

M: It’s the same every year. You end up with everything you want and I end up with a headache from worrying about the balance of my bank account.

11. What has the man just done for Christmas?

12. Why didn’t they invite Mrs. Joans and her husband?

13. According to the man, where would them meet Pete O’Dow?

14. What is man most likely to be concerned about?

Question 15 to 18

As we have learned in our previous lectures, our country generally has an excellent system of transportation. There are efficient airlines, railway systems as well as motorways 11 all across the country, however, if you have been to an airport recently, you’ve probably noticed that it is becoming more and more crowded. although airplanes provide the fastest way to travel hundreds or thousands of miles, I don’t think that our air industry can do a good job of transporting people between cities that only a short distance apart. A person who travels between London and Burminham, the so called strip cities, may spend only relatively 12 a short time in the air while spending several hours getting to and from the airport. This situation makes flying almost as time consuming as driving and of course more expensive, moreover, planes use a lot of fuel in taking off and landing down. So they are simply not fuel efficient on short flights. In my opinion, high speed train may be an answer to that problem. By the end of last century, a proposal for such a train was put forwarded. This new type of train is called meglev, meaning magnetic levitated 13 train. Like conventional trains, it has got cars and tracks. But unlike conventional train, the meglev train will not ride on the tracks, but will make use of the magnetic repulsion to glide 14 or float above the tracks. Since the train and tracks do not touch and rub against each other, a lot of maintenance work can be saved. These trains will be able to travel at a speed about 300 million per hour. Undoubtedly 15, at this speed, conventional trains will have trouble staying on the tracks. At present, the operation of meglev trains is still on the experimental stage, for example, Germany and China. However, I’m sure this new type of train on the horizon will revolutionize transportation of the 21 century, the way airplane did in a 20th century.

15. Which of the following is the best definition for the so-called strip cities?

16. How does a meg-lev train operate?

17. According to the speaker, what is one advantage of meglev trains?

18. Which of the following is true about the meglev trains?

Question 19 to 22

W: Our newspapers often referred to trade gap and balance of payments, what exactly did these terms mean?

M: Britain is an industrial nation, it’s also a trading nation. We export mainly manufactured goods in exchange for other goods. We own our prosperity to our export, however, if we import more than we export, then the trade gap widens and the balance of payment gets worse.

W: I see. But why do you have to import so many goods. Can’t you produce your own?

M: We’re primarily an industrial nation, and we don’t produce enough food to feed our large population. For every one person working in agriculture, there are ten working in manufacturing industry. We are also a very densely 16 populated country. Over 55 million in an area of about 93,000 square miles.

W: Is your population evenly distributed?

M: No, it isn’t. The main areas of population are the industrial areas of the Lowland of Scotland, New Castle, Southwest of Yorkshire, Lankeshire, the Milddleland, South Wales and the London areas

W: Ship building must be one of your most important industry, I believe Britain had built more ships than any other nation.

M: Yes, but we are losing ground to other countries now. Our motorcar is very important. We mass produce some of the best cars in the world for export and home market. We make a wide variety of motor vehicles as you know.

W: Your aircraft industry is very important too, isn’t? We imported quite a lot of British aircraft in the past.

M: Yes, our aircrafts sell very well abroad.

W: By the way, so do your woolen 17 goods. In my country, we think very highly of British textiles. British made materials for men suits and English woolen wear generally are very much admired.

　　19. According to the man, what causes the widening the trade gap and the worsening of the payment balance?

20. Which of the following is not a reason why Britain has to import so much from abroad?

21. According to the man, which industry in Britain is losing ground to other countries?

22. Which of the following can be concluded from the conversation?

Question 23 ~ 26

Thank you Mr. Chairman for giving me the opportunity to speak at this parent teacher committee. I think in this country teachers in some secondary school are worried that their job may become impossible in the near future unless something can be done to restore school discipline in the classrooms. In the problem schools, some teenager students are so naughty and mischievous 18 that they purposely disrupt lessons to such an extent that the teachers can no longer teach their class effectively. As the teacher loses the control of the pupils, the classroom become worse than a playground. And the lessons are anything but instructive or enjoyable. What has become of our children, you may ask, how could they behave in such a way. There may several reasons. First, some people within the teachers’ unions think that the permissive nature of modern society is responsible. In our community, small children are continually encouraged to express their individuality without restriction 19. Naturally, when they grow older, they are reluctant to accept school discipline and possibly become even more rebellious 20. Secondly 21, modern teaching techniques appear to stress personal enjoyments 22 and individual pleasure at the expense of serious academic work. As a result, both teaching technique might instead teach the child to put his own selfish interest before his duties to the communities in which he lives. Perhaps, this problems can be solved by improving facilities for the psychological guidance of these difficult children or by better cooperation between the school and parents. Since, the parents may be mainly responsible for the aggressive behaviors of their children. But some of us believe there ought to a return to more old fashioned or the so-called traditional methods. At present, in some school, teachers may not even slap a child who misbehaves, but I personally feel that canning as kind of corporate 23 punishment should be reintroduced and this might produced the desired results.

23. Who is this speaker addressing?

24. Which of the following is not held responsible for the behavior of difficult children in the speech?

25. What is the man attitude toward corporate punishment?

26. What inference can we draw from the man’s speech?

W: Hello, I haven’t seen you for some time. Have you been away?

M: I’ve just returned from holiday, France and Spain.

W: Sounds good, did you travel around much?

M: A lot, I had a month holiday, so there was plenty of time.

W: How did you get around?

M: Oh, all sorts of ways, bus, boat, train, car and plane. I caught the train from London to Dover and then got the boat across the channel to Kalley. I met a friend who was going to Pairs too, so I had company on the train journey from Kalley. In fact, she had friend in Pairs so stayed at home for a few evenings instead of in a hotel. It saved me a lot of money.

W: That was lucky. What did you do there?

M: Oh, the normal things. I went to the Louver, and Notherdam and Effel Tower and so on. It was my first visit to Pairs, so it was interesting to visit them.

W: Where did you go next, to Avernue in the south France. I went there by bus, so I see a lot of the villages. I really like some of the buildings and Avernue is a beautiful place. I stayed in a small hotel that was really comfortable and pleasant, after that, I went by bus to Barcelona, it’s a fascinating city. I stayed there a long time, nearly two weeks.

W: What did you do there?

M: Well, there are several art galleries and museums, so I spent a lot of time there. There are also a lot of restaurants and bars, and as I really like Spanish food and wine, I spent many happy hours there. I stayed in a hotel in a center of the old quarter.

W: It sounds interesting, perhaps I’ll go there next year. Where did you go next?

M: I traveled south along the coast. I hired a car and visited the seaside resort. But I didn’t like them, so I didn’t stay very long. Then I arrived in Vilancer, I left the coast and drove to Madrid. I stayed with some of the friends who lives there, it was very hot, so I didn’t do much just talked and went out to bars. Although I did visit the famous Prague Museum and I went to a bullfight one afternoon.

W: Bullfight, did you enjoy it?

M: It was interesting, but I didn’t really enjoyed, too much blood.

W: Yes, I can imagine. And from Madrid, where next?

M: well I had only three days left, so I went on a bus trip to Salamanca, it’s a very beautiful old city, after that, I returned to Madrid and finally I flew home. I felt a bit tired, I thought taking a flight home was the fastest and the most convenient. I only got back yesterday.

W: It certainly sounds that you had a good time. Would you do it again.

M: Yes. In fact, I’m hoping to get a job Barcelona, I can live there, I really like it.

27. Where did the man stay when he was in Paris?

28. For how long did man stay in Barcelona?

29. What did the man do in Madrid?

30. On which trip did the man travel by plane.

Part C Listening and Translation

Sentence Translations

1.       You will be staying at the Hilton, right across from the street of the Exhibition Center. I’m at the Queen Hotel, a few blocks away.

2.       Presumably, you worked for a Chinese company before, and here you are working for a British company, do you find many differences in management style at all?

3.       Over 65% of the people I talked to are aware of the need for population control, while the rest don’t consider it problem that concerns them.

4.       I have been working for this company non-stop for almost 8 years by the end of October, and reckon that I deserved a promotion 24.

5.       The global economy is giving more of our own people and billions around the world the chance to work and live and raise their family with dignity.

Passage Translation

1.       In Tokyo, Japan, most people still work six day a week. A typical businessman’s day might begin the lengthy 25 journey from the suburbs followed by long hours at his desk. In the evening, he might visit one of the city’s 500,000 thousand with a few colleagues. Very little of his is actually spent at home. But people are happy to live like this, because it means it will do well in their job.

2.       I think patients are human beings not numbers. I remembered before my father died in 1993, he went to see a doctor that has taken over the practice his long time physician, and he got into the waiting and there was not person there. And he had to push a button, and automatic voice came on asked him who he was. My father said, “none of your business, I’m leaving.” And walked out of the door. Well, I think a lot of people have that feeling that we don’t want to be treated like numbers. And we especially don’t want our family members to be treated like numbers in American Hospitals.