Talks and Conversations 1

W: Ah, Bill, have you got a minute?
M: Yes, but can you make it fast? I’m pretty busy.
W: OK. Ah, I’m sorry about this, Bill. I know you’re busy but I’ve got to go somewhere this afternoon. Can I take the afternoon off?
M: Oh, come on, Helen!
W: But it’s really important. I mean it is really something urgent.
M: Look, I’m sorry Helen but I can’t. I’ve got two people off sick.
W: Well, how about a couple...
M: Look, we’ve got to finish this report today. The boss has been waiting in the office.
W: I know that, Bill. How about just an hour?
M: Yes, all right. I suppose so. But next time I want a bit more warning.

Questions:

11. Why did Helen want to talk to Bill?
12. What is the relationship between the man and the woman?
13. At last, how long was Helen permitted to take her leave?
14. What did Bill want Helen to do next time?

【解析】

本篇屬于情景對話，首先應當抓住關鍵詞組take off（請假），接下來就很好理解了。對話中女士因為下午緊急要去某地向男士請假，但是男士一開始因為手上的報告必須要在今日之內完成交給老板而沒有準假。之后女士告知實在佷重要，能否請一個小時的假，男士最終答應了。

關鍵詞：take off：請假 urgent：adj. 緊急的 warning：adj. 警告的；引以為戒的

Talks and Conversations 2

Hi, welcome, today I am going to talk about how children learn social behaviors. Especially how they learn lessons from the family, which is the most basic unit of our social structure. There is a lot of discussion these days about how families are changing and whether non-traditional families have a good or bad effect on children. But it is important to remember that the type of family a child comes from is not nearly as important as the kind of love and support that exist in a home. There are three ways by which children acquire their behavior through rewards, punishments and finally modeling. In today’s lecture, let‘s first discuss rewards. A reward can be defined as a positive reinforcement for good behavior. An example of a reward is when a parent says, “If you eat your vegetables, you can have ice cream for dessert”. Or a parent might say, “Finish your homework first, then you can watch TV.” Most parents use rewards unconsciously because they want their children to behave well. For example, a parent might give a gift to a child, because the child behaved well. Or parents may give a child money for doing what the parents asked.

Questions:

15. What is discussed in the lecture?
16. According to the talk , what is more important for children to learn good social behaviors?
17. There are three ways by which children acquire their behavior. Which one is discussed in detail in the talk?
18. Which of the following is not a positive reinforcement for good behavior?

【評析】

本篇文章內容難度適中。雖然其中穿插長句子。但是問題答案都是文章中可以直接聽出來的。舉例說明能幫助大家很好的理解內容。因此在聽的時候，要有上下文的概念，前面如有長句沒聽懂，注意后面的例子說明。全文的意思就一目了然了。

本篇話題是“孩子如何學習社會行為”。主要集中的講的是家庭這個社會單元對孩子行為的影響。并且提到孩子學習社會行為的三種方式：獎勵、懲罰、模范。本課中主要講的是“獎勵”這種方式。

關鍵詞：Social behavior? 社會行為，社交行為 Social structure 社會結構

Talks and Conversations 3

John: Good morning, Betty. Do you know what the assignment is for our term paper in history?
Betty: Sure John. But weren’t you in class on Monday? That’s when it was given out.
John: No, I missed that class. Was there a handout?
Betty: No, the instructor just wrote the assignment on the board.
John: Could I copy the assignment from your notes?
Betty: You could if I had copied it all down, but I just wrote down the part that I wanted.
John: Oh no...
Betty: You see, there were four choices of topics for the term paper, but when I saw them, I knew which one I wanted, so I didn’t copy the others down.
John: Can you remember any of the others?
Betty: Let’s see... There was one about World War I, something about it, but I don’t remember what. And there was one called the idea of progress in the 19th century.
John: And what was the last one?
Betty: I can’t remember. My mind is a complete blank. Maybe you could ask someone else.
John: Yes, I will. Anyway, those are certainly broad topics.
Betty: Yes, but you can focus on a special area within them. Which one would you take?
John: Of course, I don’t know what the last one is, but of these three, I think I’d take the idea of progress.
Betty: That’s very abstract.
John: Yes, but it is one of my interests and I’ve read a lot on the subject. I’ve never written a term paper on it though.
Betty: Me neither. I haven’t even read about it. Are you going to class on Wednesday?
John: Yes.
Betty: Maybe he’ll write it on the board again.
John: I hope so. Good luck with your paper.
Betty: Same to you.

Questions:

19. How many topics did the teacher give for the term paper?
20. How was the assignment given out by the instructor?
21. Why can’t John copy the assignment from Betty’s notes?
22. Why does John choose to write on the idea of progress in the 19th century?

【評析】

本段聽力講述的是男同學周一沒有去上課，來詢問女同學老師給出的期末論文題目是什么。恰巧老師給出的是4個話題以供挑選，女同學沒有記下所有的話題，只是憑 記憶講述了兩個話題給男同學聽。男同學在已知的話題中傾向于寫“the idea of progress in the 19th century”，因為他喜歡這方面知識，而且之前也有閱讀。問題都是常見細節(jié)題，涉及所給話題數(shù)目、話題告知方式等，難度不大，只要認真聽不難得出答 案。

Talks and Conversations 4

Welcome to my lecture on interpreting. Interpreting is a relatively new area of research. It is all too often subsumed under the heading of translation. For example, many translators associations include interpreters. Many books on translation include a section on interpreting. Many translators do some interpreting work and vice versa. Of course, there is an overlap between the two areas that are so alike and yet so different. All of this means that interpreting is still in the process of establishing itself as a discipline in its own right.

My aim in this lecture is to provide an overview of interpreting to anyone interested in interpreting in general, or indeed in becoming an interpreter. For years, I have been collecting information about international and regional organizations in this field. I was quite surprised about some of the results of the questionnaire.

Firstly, with the exceptions of the European Union and the United nations, the actual number of interpreters employed by many organizations is quite small.

Secondly, I have not found any support for the common notion that interpreters do not have a lifelong career that they work solidly for five years or so, earning quite a lot of money, and then disappear into the sunset. On the contrary, they continue to work as interpreters until retirement age, and in some cases, beyond it.

Thirdly, English is the international language of business, and it’s used in boardrooms and business meetings throughout the world. English is also the international language of science. In the 1960s and 1970s of the last century when foreign languages were not like widely taught, many international conferences needed interpreters. Nowadays, most educated people learn foreign languages. And as a result, the need for interpreters at this type of meeting has diminished.

Questions:

23. Who are most likely to be interested in the lecture?
24. Which of the following is not true about interpreting?
25. What is the common notion about interpreters?
26. What accounts for the smaller number of conference interpreters today?

【評析】

本 文節(jié)選自美國作家費倫的The Interpreter's Resource（口譯員的資源），屬于“外教社翻譯碩士專業(yè)系列教材”口譯實踐指南叢書。內容上，先是講口譯與翻譯的一些區(qū)別，然后說明是要對口譯做概 述，最后提出在調查研究中發(fā)現(xiàn)的一些比較奇怪的現(xiàn)象，包括：①公司錄用口譯者很少；②并沒有任何證據(jù)表明口譯者 的工作是吃青春飯的；③現(xiàn)在社會對商務和科學方面的口譯者的需求正在減少。文章介紹的都是口譯翻譯相關的詞匯，這些詞本身并沒有太大的難度，屬于考生比較 熟悉的詞匯范圍之內。

Talks and Conversations 5

W:David Macdonald is best known for his work with watercolor painting. His work has been included in over 36 exhibitions. He is also renowned as an art teacher with work in a summer watercolor painting intensive program for high school students. David, how did you start making art?

M: Initially, it was a way to create some private space. As the third in a family of nine children, I always shared a bedroom with at least three of my brothers. I would help my parents unpack the groceries and unfold the paper bags that I could use inside as drawing paper. Through hours of drawing, I was able to create my own little world. I was introduced to watercolor painting during my second year in college. And ever since then, I’ve been fascinated by it.

W: What is the source of your ideas?

M: Anything can become a conscious or unconscious inspiration. I can get lost in the country or in the city streets or in the supermarket. Even the shapes and colors of the vegetables give me all sorts of ideas. On a more scholarly level, I was influenced by Chinese and Japanese painters during college.

W: Is there any advice you would like to give to our students?

M: An artist has to believe in him or herself. The dedication, courage and energy my students bring to classroom are more important than anything I can offer. If you want to stand above the crowd, your passion for your art must be manifest through a willingness to work harder than anyone else. The students who succeed see their art as a way of life and not simply as a way of earning a living. My job as a teacher is to help my students realize their potential and bring eloquence to their unique voice.

Questions:

27. What is the topic of the interview?
28. How did the man start to learn watercolor painting?
29. Why did the man talk about the vegetables in the supermarket?
30. Which of the following is not true about the successful art students?

【評析】

此篇是對水彩畫家David Macdonald的一篇采訪。涉及到David如何開始學畫畫，他什么時候開始畫油畫，怎么樣獲得靈感以及對學生們的建議。一個采訪問題，相應的回答，中等難度，沒有生僻詞，采訪對話也較易于理解。

掌握單詞：watercolor painting? 水彩畫；grocery? n. 食品雜貨；inspiration? n. 靈感；conscious? adj. 有意識的；unconscious? adj. 無意識的；dedication? n. 奉獻，獻身；potential? n. 潛力；eloquence? n. 雄辯，口才；