97.9b上海英语高级口译资格证书第一阶段考试

SECTION 4: LISTENING TEST (30 minutes)
Part A: Note-taking and Gap-filling
Directions: In this part of the test you will hear a short talk. You will hear the talk only once.
While listening to the talk, you may take notes on the important points so that you can have
enough information to complete a gap-filling task on a separate ANSWER BOOKLET. You are
required to write ONE word or figure only in each blank. You will not get your ANSWER
BOOKLET until after you have listened to the talk.
I want to discuss problems of ___________(1) and three possible policies which could stop
________(2) urbanization in developing countries.
Certain urban problems are ____________(3) to both developed and developing countries,
for example, poor housing, __________(4), traffic congestion and pollution. But there are
problems which are __________(5) to developing countries and this is due to the need of these
countries to provide a basic infrastructure necessary for ____________(6). The provision of this
infrastructure is the urbanization process itself.
There are five main _____________(7) of this uncontrolled urbanization: Firstly, people
__________(8) from the country to the city because they see the city as a more __________(9)
place to live. Secondly, rural areas thus become less ______________(10) and this causes a
decrease in the production of food. Thirdly, There is a high urban population growth rate.
Fourthly, There is a dramatic __________(11) on the supply of social services, especially those
services related to education and ___________(12), and finally uncontrolled urbanization leads
to an ___________(13) of labour supply in the cities.
There are three policies which could __________(14) this kind of uncontrolled
urbanization in ____________(15) countries. Firstly, to promote a more equal _________(16)
distribution. In this way farmers would be more __________(17) to stay on the land. Secondly,
to improve the supply of social services in the __________(18) areas, particularly in the field of
health and education. And thirdly, to give _________(19) assistance to agriculture, especially to
the small _________(20).
Part B: Listening and Translation
Ⅰ. Sentence Translation
Directions: In this part of the test, your will hear 5 English sentences. You will hear the
sentences only once. After you have heard each sentence, translate is into Chinese and write your
version in the corresponding space in your ANSWER BOOKLET.
(1)___________________________________________________________________________
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(1)___________________________________________________________________________
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(2)___________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
(3)___________________________________________________________________________
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(4)___________________________________________________________________________
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(5)___________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
Ⅱ. Passage Translation
Directions: In this part of the test, you will hear 2 English passages. You will hear the passages
only once. After you have heard each passage, translate it into Chinese and write your version in
the corresponding space in your ANSWER BOOKLET. You may take notes while you are
listening.
(1)___________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
(2)___________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
SECTION 5: READING TEST (30 minutes)
Directions: Read the following passages and then answer IN COMPLETE SENTENCES the
questions which follow each passage. Use only information from the passage you have just read
and write your answer in the corresponding space in your ANSWER BOOKLET.
Questions 1~4
A judge condemned European Union laws against corporal punishment and the rise in
single-parent families as he sent two young arsonists to a secure unit yesterday.
Sentencing the boys, aged ten and 13, to two and a half years, Judge Rodwell QC said in
Luton Crown Court that the abolition of corporal punishment in schools had left teachers unable
to discipline unruly youngsters, leading to an increase in delinquency.
The boys, who cannot be named for legal reasons, set fire to a neighbour's house as they
roamed the streets of a council estate after being expelled from school.
Judge Rodwell said: "With the best intention in the world corporal punishment has been
abolished and indeed that is a requirement of the EU".
"But this has resulted in an extremely unsatisfactory situation. Nobody wants children to be
flogged but it is no longer possible for a teacher to deal with even a minor incident by a cuff
round the ear or a smack on the hand, which is swift and and something the child entirely
understands and stops minor incidents escalating.
"If the child does not respond to being told not to bring gin into school or beat his mates up
the teacher has to go through discipline procedures. If the correct procedures are followed a great
deal of verbiage comes out which may satisfy the intelligent niceties of educationists but has no
impact on a great number of children. Suspension is hardly a sanction."
The judge expressed concern over single-parent families, and said that children needed two
parents. The boys had both come from broken homes. He said:"Both children come from homes
where a father for a lot of the time was not present. It is often said that in single-parent homes
children can be given as much love as they need but that is not the entire answer."
During their trial last month the court was told that the two boys were among a gang of
children who harassed the Smith family on the Downside estate, Dunstable, Bedfordshire.
One day, the boys put paper through the letter box and tried to set light to it, but failed.
Then a woman neighbour, described by the judge as "the neighbour from hell". lent them a
lighter so they kicked the door in and started a fire a on a hall table.
The blaze left the house uninhabitable, causing ￡4,000 damage to the building and
destroying virtually everything the family owned. The boys denied arson.
1. Why were the two boys sent to a secure unit?
2. What is corporal punishment referred to in this passage? Cite examples of corporal
punishment from the passage.
3. What are the advantages of corporal punishment, according to Judge Rodwell?
4. Explain in your own words the statement "suspension is hardly a sanction" (para. 6)?
Question 5~7
Five train companies will have to ask for more cash from the next government to run
services, according to a report out yesterday.
The study, conducted by a former transport analyst with City accountants Coopers and
Lybrand for Save Our Railways, the pressure group, claimed that many private operators bid so
aggressively for train services they will be unable to meet the ambitious targets they have set
themselves.
Another four franchises are likely to run into financial difficulties, making losses even if
they manage to increase revenues by 16 per cent over seven years.
The loss-making franchises--Cardiff Railways, West Anglia and Great Northern and South
Wales and West, Thameslink and Thames Trains--are likely to require more than ￡500m in
extra subsidy in order to keep trains running.
"There has been concern in the rail industry for some time about the way that some of the
later franchises were let to bidders who were taking a gamble," said Keith Bill, national secretary
of Save Our Railways.
The City's initial concerns about rail privatisation have meant that many early bids were
"given away". South West Trains, which introduced an emergency timetable after cutting driver
numbers, is predicted to make nearly ￡480m if it grows at 3 per cent a year.
Also likely to make bumper profits are Great Western, which runs express InterCity
services from London to the west country and could make ￡462m, and French-based company
CGEA, in line for more than ￡600m from its two commuter services. Campaigners point out
that Opraf, the government body which let out franchises, realised that some would make money
and others would run into difficulties.
Train companies said that the growth forecasts were too low. "In two years we have
increased our takings by 50 per cent," said a spokesman for Thames Trains. "So we expect to
grow for faster than this report estimates."
The analysis should jolt Labour's rail policy into life. The speed sell-off of British Rail has
caught the party off-guard and forced its transport team into a series of embarrassing
U-turns--which has culminated in a decision not to take any bankrupt train service into public
hands.
"We will consider all the options and as a last resort we will offer a bankrupt train srvice to
private bidders in order to secure the best deal for the taxpayer," said a sopkeswoman for
Andrew Smith, the shadow Secretary of State of Transport.
Senior railway managers point out that this would mean that the Labour party would be
forced into paying more subsidy.
5. Why are some train companies likely to make losses even if they manage to increase revenue?
6. What does the sentence "many early bids were `given away'" (para. 6) mean?
7. According to the passage, what are the impacts of the speed privatisation of British Rail on the
Labour Party?
Question 8~10
The message in London's singles flat market is clear if you can find anything you like then
buy now, Dixie Nichols writes.
London is seeing "a vibrant and wealthy singles flat market" according to David Salvi of
the Clerkenwell agents Hurford, Salvi and Carr. The middle market flat agents Douglas &
Gordon and Chestertons both say prices in the sector are up 20 per cent on a year ago, both say
this sector has improved by 20 per cent in the past 12 months, and both have a backlog of
buyers.
Melissa Carter, of Douglas & Gordon's Battersea office, says: "What was a good offer two
months ago looks about right now. the deals are holding and valuers (who had been acting as a
brake) are now prepared to follow."
Buyers in the singles market come wielding big deposits (up to a third of the price is not
unusual), and frequently leapfrog the studio and one-bed flats starting in at two beds. Often the
second bed is let to a friend to take the sting out of the mortgage.
Although agents complain of there not being enough stock, there is a steady influx from the
commercial block conversions. The new wave of developments is hitting the market now.
The market is hungry and snaps up anything well priced. The Ziggurat Building in
Clerkenwell, north London, sold all 34 units in its first phase within an hour of opening its doors,
but the price was exceptional--￡140 a sq ft when most schemes hover at ￡200 to ￡250.
The developers' headline price may not have shot up in the past year but the amount of
space you get for your money has been shaved, When Sapcote's Beauchamp Building in Hatton
Garden, central London, was introduced last September the shell sizes of 1,200 to 1,400 sq ft
were said to be far too small. When launched in January the market was impressed by their size.
London flat agents have no problem in forecasting a 10 per cent rise over the next 12
months despite election wobbles. It may be better than that: Simon Agace of Winkworth, says:
"The top of the flat market has already followed the house market's summer spring and the
middle range will follow."
8. What is implied in the message "If you can find anything you like then buy now."?
9. Why do buyers often choose the two-bed flats?
10. What does the example of "Sapcote's Beauchamp Building in Hatton Gardon, central
London" tell us?
SECTION 6: TRANSLATION TEST (30 minutes)
Directions: Translate the following passage into English and write your version in the
corresponding space in your ANSWER BOOKLET.
太湖明珠无锡，位于江苏省南部，地处美丽富饶的长江三角洲中心地带。这里气候宜
人，物产丰富，风景优美，是中国重点风景旅游城市。与万里长城齐名的古京杭大运河纵
贯市区，泛舟河上，能领略水乡的民俗风情。
距市区七公里的太湖梅梁景区是太湖风景之精华，碧波万顷，渔帆点点，湖光山色令
人陶醉。其中的鼋头渚巨石状如鼋头，远眺烟波浩渺的太湖，被诗人郭沫若誉为“太湖佳
绝处”。