2013年3月中级口译听力真题Spot Dictation（含解析）

Spot Dictation

Good afternoon, folks. Today's discussion topic is online shopping. With only 2 weeks to go before Christmas, buying presents is a high priority for a lot of people. However, this year not so many people are leaving their homes to browse around the shops. These days, lots of people can do their shopping in the comfort of their own home with the help of the Internet. Online shopping is becoming more and more popular for a number of reasons. Prices are often lower online. You don’t have to queue up in busy shops. And you can buy almost any product imaginable with just a few clicks of your mouse. Computer trends are often male-dominated, but this year, women are expected to do more shopping on the Internet than men. It seems women are now more attracted to the convenience of online shopping than they used to be. Average spending online these Christmas by women will rise to £240 compared to the slightly lower average £233 for men. While the average spend per person on the high street is only £197. 17% of Internet users, mainland female are not buying their Christmas gifts online. In the past, a lot of people were reluctant to shop online. Many were worried about the security of entering their card details on the Internet and reliability of the Internet. But as shopping online has become more widespread, these worries have begun to disappear. 45% of Internet users still do have security worries but it hasn’t slowed down the ever increasing numbers of online shoppers. One victim of the online shopping boom is the UK high street. Christmas trading can represent up to 60% of turnover for some stores. Many companies are concerned not enough shoppers are coming through their doors in the run-up to Christmas. As a result there are lots of special offers in the shops.

【点评】

本篇文章主要是在讲网上购物越来越受到人们的青睐。以即将到来的圣诞节为例，更多的人，特别是女性选择在网上购物。过去人们曾担心网上购物可能会泄露隐私，但是现在这种疑虑正在消失。如果说网络购物一定有受害者的话，那只能是英国的购物街了。那里的生意非常不景气。老板们为了吸引顾客，不得不提供很多促销活动。

总体来说这篇文章不难，没有出现特别难的生词，或者是特别复杂的句式。只要能在遇到数字的时候稍加留意，不会出现特别大的困难。