2013年9月上海中级口译听力真题及解析

Spot dictation

Next, let’s talk about earthquakes on our planet. Some countries have large numbers of earthquakes. Japan is one of them. Others do not have many. For example, there are few earthquakes in Britain. There is often a great noise during an earthquake. The ground vibrates. Houses fall down. Trains run off the lines. Sometimes, there is a heavy loss of human lives.

Earthquakes often happen near volcanoes, but this is not always true. The centers of some earthquakes are under the sea. The bottom of the sea suddenly moves. The powerful forces inside the earth break the rocks. The coast is shaken and great waves appear. These waves, also known as seismic waves, or tsunamis can travel long distances and rush over the land when they reach it. They are strong enough to break down houses and other buildings. Very often fires follow the most serious earthquakes. In 1906, the great earthquake at San Francisco broke the gas pipes. The gas escaped, and soon large numbers of fires were burning in the city. The water pipes were also shaken and broken, so it was not possible to put the fires out. There was no water. The Tokyo Earthquake of 1923 happened just before noon. People were cooking meals on their fires at that time. When the ground shook, the fires shook, too. Hot materials were thrown on the different parts of the houses, some of which were made of wood. Soon 134 fires were burning in the city.

What kind of building stands up best in an earthquake? A building with concrete walls is perhaps the best. A steel frame will make it even stronger. The frame holds the different parts together and the walls do not easily fall. There is less chance of fire because concrete and steel do not burn. Over the years, scientists carefully studied the results of the earthquake in different parts of the world, and they are convinced that this kind of building is the safest.

【解析】

根据文意，本文类似一段关于地震的讲座。说话者开篇就讲述了地震的危害，并在之后的段落中相继介绍了地震形成的原因，以及用1906年旧金山大地震1923年的东京大地震举例说明了地震也会伴随着大火。最后，通过这些生动的例子，说话者又利用一个问句引出科学家们通过研究发现，钢筋水泥房是最安全的。

整篇文章没有出现特别难的生词，而且地震也是大家较为熟悉的，所以总体难度并不大。

Statement：

1. George started his new job with King Brothers only a month ago and he wants to invite his boss, the sales manager to dinner.

2. I got some bad news today. The store with which I work is laying off stuff. I'm worried that they are going to let me go.

3. You are not supposed to see Gary tonight. He plans to finish his financial report this week and he is too busy for parties these days.

4. I hope our first supply will induce your customers to place regular orders in the future. And we both can make big profits.

5. These books are two weeks overdue. But luckily for me, there's a moratorium this week on fines. They are trying to encourage returns.

6. May is a time for green grass, picnics, and unfortunately, examinations. In the United States, high school students take their final examinations at the end of every school year.

7. China is now the third largest producer of films in the world. However, most of the revenue came from a handful of the movies produced.

8. Let me explain why I questioned the feasibility of the project. We don't appear to have enough time. If we were to push our people, the quality of the product becomes questionable.

9. While some species of whales are nearing extinction, many countries refuse to accept even a partial ban on whale hunting.

10. In 1950, New York City was the only city with a population of ten million. Now, in 2010, worldwide we have 38 cities with populations of over ten million people.

【解析】

statements总体难度不高，但是对于lay off，induce，overdue，moratorium，revenue，feasibility 等词还是需要同学们平时的多多积累。另外，做题过程中还要注意对数字的敏感度，如statement 10就出现了包括年份、人口数量、城市数量在内的多个数字，千万不要一定到数字就犯晕。其实做statement 还有一个要点是听出一些包含转折、递进、让步等含义的信号词，本次的statement中出现了不少but，however，while，利用这些关键词准确把握句意是做题的关键。

Talks and Conversations 1

Questions 11 ~ 14 are based on the following conversation.

M: I’m going to Boston next week and I’d like to make some reservations. Can you fix that for me?