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】

本篇属于情景对话，首先应当抓住关键词组take off（请假），接下来就很好理解了。对话中女士因为下午紧急要去某地向男士请假，但是男士一开始因为手上的报告必须要在今日之内完成交给老板而没有准假。之后女士告知实在佷重要，能否请一个小时的假，男士最终答应了。

关键词：take off：请假 urgent：adj. 紧急的 warning：adj. 警告的；引以为戒的

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?

【评析】

本篇文章内容难度适中。虽然其中穿插长句子。但是问题答案都是文章中可以直接听出来的。举例说明能帮助大家很好的理解内容。因此在听的时候，要有上下文的概念，前面如有长句没听懂，注意后面的例子说明。全文的意思就一目了然了。

本篇话题是“孩子如何学习社会行为”。主要集中的讲的是家庭这个社会单元对孩子行为的影响。并且提到孩子学习社会行为的三种方式：奖励、惩罚、模范。本课中主要讲的是“奖励”这种方式。

关键词：Social behavior  社会行为，社交行为 Social structure 社会结构

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?

【评析】

本段听力讲述的是男同学周一没有去上课，来询问女同学老师给出的期末论文题目是什么。恰巧老师给出的是4个话题以供挑选，女同学没有记下所有的话题，只是凭 记忆讲述了两个话题给男同学听。男同学在已知的话题中倾向于写“the idea of progress in the 19th century”，因为他喜欢这方面知识，而且之前也有阅读。问题都是常见细节题，涉及所给话题数目、话题告知方式等，难度不大，只要认真听不难得出答 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?

【评析】

本 文节选自美国作家费伦的The Interpreter's Resource（口译员的资源），属于“外教社翻译硕士专业系列教材”口译实践指南丛书。内容上，先是讲口译与翻译的一些区别，然后说明是要对口译做概 述，最后提出在调查研究中发现的一些比较奇怪的现象，包括：①公司录用口译者很少；②并没有任何证据表明口译者 的工作是吃青春饭的；③现在社会对商务和科学方面的口译者的需求正在减少。文章介绍的都是口译翻译相关的词汇，这些词本身并没有太大的难度，属于考生比较 熟悉的词汇范围之内。

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?

【评析】

此篇是对水彩画家David Macdonald的一篇采访。涉及到David如何开始学画画，他什么时候开始画油画，怎么样获得灵感以及对学生们的建议。一个采访问题，相应的回答，中等难度，没有生僻词，采访对话也较易于理解。

掌握单词：watercolor painting  水彩画；grocery  n. 食品杂货；inspiration  n. 灵感；conscious  adj. 有意识的；unconscious  adj. 无意识的；dedication  n. 奉献，献身；potential  n. 潜力；eloquence  n. 雄辩，口才；