2010年秋季高级口译考试下半场听力完整文本及答案.doc

沪江网校2010 年秋季高级口译考试下半场听力完整文本+答案解析Note-taking and Gap-fillingToday my topic is cultures and traditional holidays. Holiday are special times of respite from work and other routines. In some cases, they are legal holidays when stores, businesses and government offices are officially closed. In other cases, they are celebrated without taking time off from work. Holidays are often times for celebration, revelry, eating, drinking, travel, and family gatherings, but they may also be times of rest and reflection. The current trend is away from rest and reflection, Even Mardi Gras, the day before the traditionally reflective period of Lent, has turned into an entire week of parties, parades and merry-making for those who make the annual pilgrimage to New Orleans, for example. In most cultures the scheduling of holidays originally was related to the seasons, the lunar cycle, and religion, Christmas (December 25) celebrates the birth of Jesus, but it is not actually known whether Jesus was born in the wintertime. The first Roman emperor to espouse Christianity decided to have Christmas when the days are shortest to bring a spirit of optimism to the long winter months. It also helped bring Christianity to the pagans, who were accustomed to having festivals at the winter solstice, encouraging warmth and sunshine to return. Over the years Christmas has come to symbolize goodwill and generosity for both Christians and non-Christians through the personification of Santa Claus, originally a Christian saint, known as St,Nicholas. Nowadays Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer is almost as important a global symbol of Christmas as Jesus or Santa 沪江网校and the commercialization of Christmas threatens to replace generosity with greed. Many people forget that the original Christmas gifts were given by the Three Wise Men, all pagans, to Jesus, a Jewish child born in a manger. All they think of are the gifts they will give or receive, and all the money they have spent. One reason for the increasing popularity of Christmas is its proximity to New Years Day, encouraging a long holiday to evolve out of both. In the U,S., the holiday has turned into an extended holiday season, lasting from Thanksgiving Day in late November until New Years Day, with a seemingly endless array of parties, dinners, concerts, parades, and vacation trips. The schools and colleges are closed from mid-December through early January while many people eat too much, drink too much, and watch too much American football on TV. Many gifts, cards, and annual newsletters are exchanged, and the various festivities are not always very restful. Then the same people make New Years Resolutions to eat less, drink less, spend less, and work harder in the coming year. Christmas is by far the most important holiday in English-speaking countries. Other important holidays in addition to Thanksgiving and New Years Day are Valentines Day, St,Patricks Day, April Fools Day, and Easter. On Valentines Day, celebrated on February 14, people give cards, chocolates, flowers, and kisses to their spouses and sweethearts. On St,Patricks Day, March 17, people wear green to celebrate the luck of the Irish, and eat corned beef and cabbage washed down with green beer. During Easter Week in late March or early April, Christians remember the death and resurrection of Jesus while Jews celebrate Passover, in memory of the escape of the Jews from ancient Egypt, where they had been slaves. Although it is not 沪江网校actually a holiday and has no religious connotation, April Fools Day, celebrated on April 1, is a day when people play embarrassing tricks on their friends and colleagues and even on their teachers. Another holiday with some similarity to April Fools Day is Halloween on October 31,when children wear funny or scary costumes and ask their neighbors for, “tricks or treats”, The name Halloween means, hallowed evening”, the night before All Saints Day when Christian saints are honored. On the following day, All Souls Day, services and prayers are said for the dead. In many countries, it is a day when families visit cemeteries and place flowers on the tombs of their relatives. In Europe, Labor Day is celebrated on May 1, whereas in Canada and the United States, labor and laborers are honored by a legal holiday on the first Monday in September. Listening and Translation Sentence Translation 1 The biggest challenge facing us now is to improve the quality of life in cities, because sadly, cities dont always offer the economic security, the safety or the comfort they promise.现在我们面临的最大挑战是提高城市生活质量,因为令人遗憾的是，城市并不总能提供所允诺的经济保障，安全或者舒适。2. With divorce rates rising, delinquency is also becoming more of a problem than before. In single parent families, parents spend less time with children. Teachers and police often help, but can not replace the role of child guardian. 随着离婚率的增长，家长的失职问题变得日益严重。在单亲家庭里，父母和孩子相处的时间变得越来越少。虽然老师和警察常常会提供帮助，但他们无法替代家长的角色。 沪江网校3. Wal-Mart, the nations largest grocer announce plans recently to donate 2 billion dollars over 5 years to Food Bank and hunger -relief organizations. This has been one of the largest charitable efforts that Wal-Mart has undertaken.全国最大的食品商沃尔玛近期宣布计划在 5 年内捐赠 20 亿美元给世界粮食银行和缓解饥饿的慈善组织。这是沃尔玛几次最大慈善举措之一。4. I personally think that too much conservatism defeats the object of the clothes industry. So I cant really say that I go along wholeheartedly with this trend. 我个人认为过多的保守主义会阻碍制衣工业目标的实现。所以我很难完全同意这种趋势。5. According to a recent report, economic growth in Latin-America this year is expected to reach 4% - far above the 1% of the International Monetary Fund forecasts for the 27-nations EU.根据一项最新的报告，今年拉丁美洲的经济增长有望达到 4%，远远超过国际货币基金组织对欧盟 27 个国家预计的 1%的增长值。 Passage Translation1Owing to the over population in urban areas and the lack of employment opportunity, the crime rate is also a huge problem we are faced with. The problem of delinquency is increasingly more serious in this area. Also the lack of the traditional family structure and weakened bounds of kinship, lower the moral of these children growing up in the urban areas. These children grow up in poverty and usually look at crimes as a quick and easy way out. The 沪江网校problems in urban areas are far more than can be handled in any short-term efforts. We can only hope to contain them, and attempt to make sure that no more problems arise from the already existing ones. 由于城市地区人口过多和就业机会不足，犯罪率也是我们面临的一个巨大问题。在这些地区，青少年犯罪行为正变得日益严重。此外，传统家庭结构的缺失和亲属联系的弱化，导致了在城市长大的孩子道德水准的下降。这些在贫穷中长大的孩子，常常把犯罪看成是一条致富脱困的捷径。城市地区的这些问题远非短期努力所能解决。我们只能寄希望于容忍这些问题，并努力确保不再有新的问题从原有问题滋生出来。解析：本段讲的是城市的犯罪率高和道德水准下降的问题，是典型的对社会问题的考察，一直以来社会问题都是高口考察的重点对象，所以，在今后的复习中考生应当继续多学习关于社会问题方面的文章。本段听力不算太难，需要注意的是delinquency 和 weakened bounds of kinship 两处。2The problem of childhood obesity is proportional to the number of environmental factors, such as the location of a grocery store, relative to a home. Poor diet and physical inactivity are the two major contributors to obesity in the city and the most preventable causes of death. Women are more likely to be obese than men, 25 percent versus 19 percent. Residents with