www.kouyi.ys168.com 口译资料无限网 试卷十六 (2004年9月)
上海市英语中级口译资格证书第一阶段考试
SECTION 2: STUDY SKILLS (50 minutes)
Directions: In this section, you will read several passages. Each passage is followed by several questions based on its content. You are to choose ONE best answer, (A), (B), (C) or (D), to each question. Answer all the questions following each passage on the basis of what is stated or implied in that passage and write the letter of the answer you have chosen in the corresponding space in your ANSWER BOOKLET. Questions 1-5
Last year more than a million and a half foreign tourists visited the United States. In order to understand intercultural problems better, and perhaps to find ways to improve the American image abroad, a reporter recently interviewed some of these visitors as they were leaving to return home. He especially wanted to find out their first impressions of the United States, what places they most enjoyed visiting, and some of their likes and dislikes.
As far as first impressions are concerned, almost all of the foreigners were impressed by the tremendous size of the country. The United States, of course, is a large country. The distance between San Francisco and New York is about the same as that between Gibraltar and Baghdad. Indeed, the entire Mediterranean Sea could easily fit within the country's borders. Even expecting this, foreigners who visit the United States for the first time are overwhelmed by the vast distances. Apparently to be believed, such distances have to be traveld.
The foreign visitors were also impressed by the range of climate and the variety of scenery in the country. Many were amazed to discover that, in the same day, they could travel from the snowy cold of New England winter to the sunny warmth of Florida sunshine. Even in the single state of California, they could find sandy beaches, rocky shores, tropical vegetation, hot dry deserts, redwood forests, and towering snow-capped mountains.
They were also impressed by the informal friendliness of Americans. Whether on buses, trains, planes, or at vacation or scenic resorts, there visitors generally agreed that they had been greeted warmly. On the other hand, some reported that hotel clerks, waiters, and taxi drivers were often unsympathetic, impatient, and rude. The most common complaint of all was that so few Americans can speak any language but English, and some foreign visitors claimed that they had difficulty understanding the American accent.
1. What does \…\ (A) The distance between San Francisco and New York. (B) The vastness of the country.
(C) The size of the Mediterranean Sea. (D) The country's borders.
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www.kouyi.ys168.com 口译资料无限网 2. 3. 4. 5.
Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage? (A) New England winters are cold. (B) Some taxi drivers are impolite.
(C) The U.S.A is a popular place for tourists. (D) Hotel staff are often sympathetic. New England is located _______. (A) in the south west of the US (B) to the south of California (C) in the northeast of the US (D) to the west of Florida
What made the most negative impression on foreign visitors? (A) The country's vastness.
(B) The informal friendliness of Americans.
(C) The fact that the American accent is hard to understand.
(D) The fact that not many Americans can speak a foreign language. The overall purpose of this passage is to _______.
(A) demonstrate the cultural differences between America and Europe (B) indicate ways to improve the American image abroad
(C) describe the general impression of foreign visitors on America (D) criticize some behaviors of American taxi drivers
Questions 6-10
A million motorists leave their cars full up with petrol and with the keys in the ignition every day. The vehicles are sitting in petrol stations while drivers pay for their fuel. The Automobile Association (AA) has discovered that cars are left unattended for an average three minutes — and sometimes considerably longer — as drivers buy drinks, sweets, cigarettes and other consumer items — and then pay at the cash till. With payment by the credit card more and more common, it is not unusually for a driver to be out of his car for as long as six minutes, providing the car thief with a golden opportunity.
In an exclusive AA survey, carried out at a busy garage on a main road out of London, 300 motorists were questioned over three days of the holiday period. Twenty four percent admitted that they 'always' or 'sometimes' leave the keys in their car. This means that nationwide, a million cars daily become easy targets for the opportunist thief.
For more than ten years there has been a bigger rise in car crime than in most other types of crime. An average of more than two cars a minute are broken into, vandalized or stolen in the UK. Car crime accounts for almost a third of all reported offences with no signs that the trend is slowing down.
Although there are highly professional criminals involved in car theft, almost 90 percent of car crime is committed by the opportunist. Amateur thieves are aided by our own carelessness. When AA engineers surveyed on town center car park last year, ten percent of the cars checked were unlocked, a figure backed by a Home Office national survey that found 12 percent of drivers sometimes left their cars unlocked. The AA recommends locking up whenever you leave
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the car — and for however short a period. A partially open sun-roof or window is a further come-on to thieves.
There are many other traps to avoid. The Home Office has found little awareness among drives about safe parking. Most motorists questioned made no efforts to avoid among drives about safe parking. Most motorists questioned made no efforts to avoid parking in quiet spots away from street lights — just the places thieves love. The AA advises drivers to park in places with people around — thieves don't like audiences. Leaving valuables in view is an invitation to the criminals. A Manchester Probationary Service research project, which interviewed almost 100 car thieves last year, found many would investigate a coat thrown on a seat. Never leave any documents showing your home address in the car. If you have a garage, use it and lock it — a garage car is at substantially less risk.
6. Which of the following statements is NOT true?
(A) The use of credit cards may increase the risk of car theft. (B) It is advised that the drivers take car keys with them. (C) Most cars are stolen by professional thieves.
(D) The AA advises that motorists leave their cars locked.
7. Where in the passage does the author mention leaving valuables in view is an invitation to
the criminals?
(A) The first paragraph. (B) The second paragraph. (C) The third paragraph. (D) The last paragraph.
8. The car theft is due to all of the following EXCEPT _______. (A) people's carelessness
(B) unawareness of safe parking (C) coat left on the car seat (D) poor quality of a car lock
9. In order to prevent car theft, people are recommended to _______. (A) park cars in quiet places (B) use a garage and lock it
(C) leave a spare car key at home (D) become a member of AA
10. The main purpose of this passage is to _______. (A) analyse the car theft rise in Britain (B) report the survey results by AA
(C) suggest the ways to investigate car theft (D) compare car crime with other types of crime
Questions 11-15
Travellers arriving at Heathrow airport this year have been met by the smell of freshly-cut grass, pumped from a discreet corner via an 'aroma box', a machine which blows warm, scented
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air into the environment. It can scent the area of an average high street shop with the smell of the chocolate, freshly-cut grass, or sea breezes, in fact any synthetic odours that can be made to smell like the real thing.
Heathrow's move into 'sensory' marketing is the latest in a long line of attempts by businesses to use sensory psychology — the scientific study of the effects of the senses on our behaviour to help sell products. Marketing people call this 'atmospherics' — using sounds or smells to manipulate consumer behaviour. On Valentine's Day two years ago the chain of chemist's Superdog scented one of its London shops with chocolate. The smell of chocolate is supposed to have the effect of reducing concentration and making customers relax. 'Chocolate is associated with love', said a marketing spokeswoman, 'we thought it would get people in the mood for romance.' She did not reveal, though, whether the smell actually made people spend more money.
However, research into customer satisfaction with certain scented products has clearly shown that small does have a commercial effect, though of course it must be an appropriate smell. In a survey, customers considered a lemon-scented detergent more effective than another scented with coconut despite the fact that the detergent used in both was identical. On the other hand, a coconut-scented suntan lotion was rated more effective that a lemon-scented one. A research group from Washington University reported that the smell of mint or orange sprayed in a store resulted in customers rating the store as more modern and more pleasant for shopping than other stores without the smell. Customers also rated the goods on sale as better, and expressed a stronger intention to visit the store again in the future.
Music too has long been used in supermarkets for marketing purposes. Supermarkets are aware, for example, that slow music causes customers to stay longer in the shop (and hopefully buy more things). At Leicester University psychologists have found that a specific kind of music can influence consumer behaviour. In a supermarket French wine sold at the rate of 76% compared to 20% German wine when French accordion music was played. The same thing happened in reverse when German Bierkeller music was played. In one American study people even bought more expensive wines when classical music was played instead of country music.
Writers and poets have often described the powerful effects of smell on our emotions, and smell is often considered to be the sense most likely to evoke emotion-filled memories. Research suggests however that this is a myth and that a photography or a voice is just as likely to evoke a memory as a smell. Perhaps the reason for this myth is because smells, as opposed to sights and sounds, are very difficult to give a name to. The fact that smell is invisible, and thus somehow more mysterious, may partly explain its reputation as our most emotional sense.
11. What is the use of \
(A) It can scent a lot of synthetic fragrance into the environment.
(B) It is a machine which blows warm and fresh air into the environment. (C) It often pumps the smell of freshly-cut grass from a high-street shop. (D) It is a box which sends out not only aroma but also music.
12. Who might benefits most from \ (A) Psychologists. (B) Customers.
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www.kouyi.ys168.com 口译资料无限网 (C) Shop owners.
(D) The research groups.
13. Research into customer satisfaction showed that _______. (A) the right smell made people think a product was better (B) people preferred the smell of lemon to coconut (C) certain smells could make people dislike a shop (D) customers rated the goods on sale as more inviting 14. The use of music in supermarkets _______.
(A) may lead customers to pay more of a product (B) can increase sales of a specific product (C) makes people buy more foreign wine
(D) causes customers to buy more from in the shop
15. According to the passage, which of the following statements is NOT true? (A) Smell is the most emotional of the senses.
(B) Smell stimulates our memory more than the other senses. (C) Smell is considered to be mysterious, as it is untouchable. (D) Smell is the most difficult sense to identify. Questions 16-20
The danger of misinterpretation is greatest, of course, among speakers who actually speak different native tongues, or come from different cultural backgrounds, because cultural difference necessarily implies different assumptions about natural and obvious ways to be polite.
Anthropologist Thomas Kochman gives the example of a white office worker who appeared with a bandaged arm and felt rejected because her black fellow worker didn't mention it. The doubly wounded worker assumed that her silent colleague didn't notice or didn't care. But the co-worker was purposely not calling attention to something her colleague might not want to talk about. She let her decide whether or not to mention it, being considerate by not imposing. Kochman says, based on his research, that these differences reflect recognizable black and white styles.
An American woman visiting England was repeatedly offended — even, on bad days, enraged — when the British ignored her in setting in which she thought they should pay attention. For example, she was sitting at a booth in a railway-station cafeteria. A couple began to settle into the opposite seat in the same booth. They unloaded their luggage; they laid their coats on the seat; he asked what she would like to eat and went off to get it; she slid into the booth facing the American. And throughout all this, they showed no sign of having noticed that someone was already sitting in the booth.
When the British woman lit up a cigarette, the American had a concrete object for her anger. She began ostentatiously looking around for another table to move to. Of course there was none; that's why the British couple had sat in her booth in the first place. The smoker immediately crushed out her cigarette and apologized. This showed that she had noticed that someone else was sitting in the booth, and that she was not inclined to disturb her. But then she went back to pretending the American wasn't there, a ruse in which her husband collaborated when he returned with their food and they ate it.
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