2014春季高级口译Listening Comprehension真题+解析
真题：Listening comprehension 1W: Professor White, I hope I'm not interrupting, but you wanted to see me?
M: Oh, hello, Susan. Yes, yes. Come right in. Well, the reason I wanted to talk to you was that while you're presenting your linguistics project in class the other day, I was thinking you're a perfect candidate for the Deans Undergraduate Research Fund.
W: Emm... Professor, I am really not sure what that is.
M: Undergraduate Research Fundis... It is a mouth for…, I suppose... OK, here is the thing. Every year the school has a pool of money to fund a number of research projects of undergraduate students, because as you can imagine, in-depth research often requires monetary support.
W: I would like to expand on my research.
M: Good. First, a panel of professors reviews the applicants for the grant, and then they decide which project should be funded. A lot of money could be used for travel expenses to attend a conference for example, or things like supplies, research equipment, resources that are necessary to conduct the research.
W: I see.
M: Right. And I think you should apply for this grant. Your project is definitely eligible and you can expand it if you haven't necessary resources. So does it sound like something you would be interested in?
W: Oh, yeah, sounds great! I thought the topic I work on was very interesting and it is certainly relevant to my linguistics major. I assume it we'll also look good when I try to get into a graduate school, but how do I apply for the grant?
M: It is pretty straightforward. A brief description of your proposed project and an estimated budget —how much you need to spend and what you intend to spend it on. Also a glowing letter of recommendation from our linguistics professor wouldn't hurt, which I've been more than happy to write up for you.
W: OK, cool! I’m pretty clear on how to carry out my project, but I'm not sure where I can find more information on the subject.
M: Well, I've already thought of that. There is this private library at university in Boston. By the way, because I graduated from that school, I can get you access to it, no problem. You see, the library houseslots of unpublished documents that are relevant to your topic.
W: So I can put that on the application for the grant that I plan on using material from that library for my research and figure a trip to Boston into my budget?
M: Exactly. I really think judging from your work in class and the relevance and clarity of this project, you really have a good chance of getting the funding.
W: OK, I'll definitely apply then.
M: The sooner, the better. It is due in a few of weeks. And I'll get that letter written up right away.
Q1: What is Susan most probably?
Q2: What is Susan talking about with Professor White?
Q3: Who will decide which project should be funded?
Q4: Which of the following cannot be covered by the research fund?
Q5: Apart from a brief description of the proposed project and a letter of recommendation, what else is needed for a plan for the grant?
解析：
第一篇是教授与学生的对话，关于语言学研究项目的拨款申请，具体涉及所需的申请材料，如研究项目的介绍、大致的经费预算、教授的推荐信等等，教授甚至推荐学生去自己在波士顿的母校图书馆搜索所需的资料。所问的问题涉及身份题、主题题、排异题和两道细节题。
真题：Listening comprehension 2
Brussels, Belgium
Negotiators in Brussels have clinched a deal on the 2014 EU budget after a night of hard talks, cutting spending by about 6% compared to 2013. Spending will total 135.5bn euros, or 0.5bn less than the Commission sought and 0.9bn short of the European Parliament's target. It reflects stricter new terms agreed by EU leaders in February. The deal was reached after 16 hours of negotiation, and still requires final approval from the parliament and EU ministers next week.
Dubai, Reuters
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Zarif rejected U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's pinning of blame on Iran for the lack of a deal on its nuclear program last week, saying splits between Western powers prevented a breakthrough. Kerry’s remarks only served to undermine confidence in the Geneva negotiations. The United States, European Union powers and Iran worked hard for months on a proposal to help end the 10-year standoff over Iran's nuclear activity. Hopes for a deal rose so high that foreign ministers of six world powers traveled to Geneva to put their weight behind the talks. But by Saturday, the unscheduled third day of negotiations, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Paris could not accept a "fool's game", and the negotiations broke off without agreement. Diplomats from other Western nations at first reacted angrily and accused the French of trying to upstage the other powers and causing unnecessary trouble for the talks. On Monday though, Kerry said the major powers were unified on Saturday when they presented a proposal to the Iranians. Everybody agreed it was a fair proposal. There was unity, but Iran couldn't take it at that particular moment.
London, the United Kingdom
UK researchers have been awarded an emergency grant to track a vast iceberg in Antarctica that could enter shipping lanes. Latest images show several kilometers of water between the iceberg, estimated to be about 270 square miles, and the glacier that spawned the block. The £50,000 award will fund a six-month project that will also predict its movement through the Southern Ocean. The icy giant broke away from the Pine Island Glacier (PIG) in July. “It often takes a while for bergs from this area to get out of Pine Island Bay, but once they do that they can either go eastwards along the coast or they can circle out into the main part of the Southern Ocean”, explained principal investigator Grant Bigg from the University of Sheffield. If the iceberg did follow this trajectory, it would bring the Singapore-size ice island into busy international shipping lanes.
Manila, the Philippines
Typhoon Haiyan has killed too many people to count so far and pushed to the brink of survival thousands more who have lost everything, have no food or medical care and are drinking filthy water to stay alive. By Tuesday, officials had counted 1,774 of the bodies, but say that number may just be scratching the surface. They fear Haiyan may have taken as many as 10,000 lives. The storm has injured 2,487 more since it made landfall six times last Friday, the government said. It has displaced at least 800,000 people. Rescue work is continuing.
New York, the United States
A 1969 painting by Francis Bacon set a world record for most expensive artwork ever sold at auction. "Three Studies of Lucian Freud" was purchased for $142,405,000 at Christie's postwar and contemporary art sale on Tuesday night. The work sold after "6 minutes of fierce bidding in the room and on the phone," Christie's said in a statement. The price includes the buyer's premium. Christie's did not say who bought the painting. The price surpassed nearly $120 million paid for Edvard Munch's "The Scream," which set a world record when it was sold at Sotheby's in a 2012 sale. In May 2012, Christie's sold Rothko's "Orange, Red, Yellow" for $86.8 million, a record for any contemporary artwork at auction. Christie's also has an iconic Andy Warhol, "Coca-Cola (3)," estimated to sell for $40 million to $60 million.
Q6: What can we know from the news about the 2014 EU Budget?
Q7: According to Iranian Foreign Minister, why was the agreement not reached over Iran’s nuclear activity last week?
Q8: For what purpose has an emergency grant been awarded to some UK researchers?
Q9: How many lives do Philippine officials fear Typhoon Haiyan may have taken?
Q10: A painting set a world record for most expensive artwork sold at auction on Tuesday. Who painted this work?
解析：
第二篇新闻题第一段讲经过超过16个小时的谈判，欧盟委员会、欧洲议会和欧洲理事会在布鲁塞尔终于就2014年欧盟预算案达成一致;第二段讲六国与伊朗共同参与的伊朗核问题新一轮对话在瑞士日内瓦结束，会谈最终未能如外界预期的那样取得实质性进展，达成任何相关协议;第三段讲如新加坡大小的南极冰山断裂后漂离或威胁船运安全，英国科学家获得5万英镑的紧急补助款，将协助预测冰山移动路径;第四段讲超级台风“海燕”重创菲律宾，导致当地上万人死亡，最后问的是遇难人数;第五段讲的是英国画家弗兰西斯•培根(FrancisBacon)的一幅作品近日在纽约拍卖出1.42亿美元的天价，创下世界艺术品拍卖的最高价格。
真题：Listening comprehension 3
M: Now I'll take some questions.
W: Well, Mr. Brown, I have a question. Isn't it true that the public supports the death penalty? I read that according to recent statistics, 67% of Americans favor the death penalty in cases of murder. That's two thirds of the population.
M: It's true that there is a support for the death penalty. But it's also true that people's moods and opinions are difficult to understand through statistics. I think this figure might reflect people's concern about violent crime in general. United States is by far the most violent industrialized nation. In the United States, there're about 9 murders a year per 100,000 people. In Japan, for example, that figure is 0.5. In France, it's 1.1. So Americans are understandably concerned about violence.
W: Excuse me, Mr. Brown. What did you say the figure was in the United States?
M: It's about 9 murders per year per 100,000 people.
W: I'd like to make a comment. I mean, if someone commits a really bad crime, don't they deserve to be punished just severely?
M: As I often tell my students at the university, the problem of the death penalty is that on an emotional level. You can understand why people want it. If you suffer the loss of a loved one, your immediate response is to want revenge. It's a normal natural reaction. But I feel that the reason we have laws is that they allow us to rise above our personal emotional response to crime. This form of retribution is not the answer. The idea of having laws in a society is that together as society we're stronger than a sum of our parts, we can rise above our personal emotional response to crime. The legal system is supposed to elevate us. It is set up so that it is better than us. Individually, we are flawed. But as a society, we are strong.
W: I thought it was interesting what you said about the death penalty not being fair, because it was applied to some people but not to others. Could you talk a little bit more about that 12 students?
M: Yes. In many ways, capital punishment is very arbitrary. If you really believed in the death penalty as a principle, as a punishment for a horrific crime, then every single person who has committed this crime would have to be executed. But that would mean that we would have about 50,000 executions a year. That's absurd! Nobody would stand for that. It would mean that the state was some kind of killing machine. The fact is that we do not execute some people, but other people who have committed similar crimes are not executed. So the death penalty is not applied equally to all people.
W: Mr. Brown, I'd like to thank you for your comments today. I'm opposed to the death penalty myself, and I don't think we talk enough about the issues.
Q11: About what issue is Mr. Brown being interviewed?
Q12: What is the approximate number of murders a year per 100,000 people in the United States?
Q13: What is Mr. Brown most probably?
Q14: What does Mr. Brown actually say about the death penalty?
Q15: Which of the following statements is true according to the interview?
解析：
第三篇访谈主要关于死刑——deathpenalty。美国人口三亿，却有将近300多万的犯人。不过，处死刑的却很少，这里的指导思想是对生命特别慎重。全美50个州中，有15个州根本没有死刑。出题思路与第一篇非常雷同，依次是：主题题、数字词、身份题和两道细节题。
真题：Listening comprehension 4
I'm Helen Wartman, Director of the Wartman Sports Academy, a school that helps promising young athletes fulfill their dreams. We coach youngsters who want to swim faster than anyone else in the world and children who dream of running the marathon at the Olympic Games one day. I've coached many athletes in my life, going back to the day when the daughter of a friend announced she had entered for the long jump in an amateur athletics event. I enjoyed coaching her, and that was the start of my career.
I also became interested in sports medicine at about that time, when my nephew fell off his bike and hurt his back. He'd been a keen athlete before his accident, but unfortunately, he never really got over his injury sufficiently to get back into serious training. That's when I realize the importance of sports medicine, and the staff of the academy includes two doctors.
Perhaps at this point I should answer a question often asked by young people when they enroll the academy. How important is an athlete's build? Well, nobody can deny the build does matter, and one cannot hope to be a world-class long distance runner, say, if one is built like a weight-lifter. But other factors also play a vital role. For a start, good general health and fitness. These are important, even in sports where you might not think they are a priority. In shooting for instance, athletes have to be fit to lower their heart rate. This enables them to fire between heart beats and so achieve maximum accuracy.
At the academy, we encourage healthy eating habits. Without a proper diet, young athletes cannot achieve their optimum physic, nor will they have the energy for training. Then there's the role of technology in sports. These days, athletes cannot compete successfully at the highest level without access to state-of-the-art equipment. I've already mentioned sports medicine, and it goes without saying that young athletes need to be able to consult specialists in case of an injury. But above all, at the academy, we stress the importance of attitude. Without the will to succeed, you may as well not bother to take up any sports seriously. In my opinion, it is this that is most important for our successful athlete.
Q16: What's Helen Wartman's job?
Q17: What was the start of her career?
Q18: About what do young people often ask when they enroll at her academy?
Q19: According to the speaker, how does an athlete achieve maximum accuracy in shooting?
Q20: What does the speaker stress in training at the academy?
解析：
第四篇是位体育学校的创始人对她创学理念和初衷的介绍、运动员专用药物的看法、基本功的重要性、科学饮食的作用以及高科技设备的必要性。全篇并无难词，但脉络词并非很清晰，而且处在上半场听力的末尾，考生听时较容易走神。
黄翌老师简介：
上海新东方学校口译研究中心成员，中级口译听力明星教师。新东方论坛超人气版主。思路灵活清晰、语言生动幽默,擅于在良好的课堂气氛中打造寓教于乐的英语学习殿堂,并用轻松愉快的互动课堂模式把知识淋漓尽致的展现给每一位学生。参与编著新东方《中级口译笔试备考精要》及《中级口译全真模拟试卷》。
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