课文听力文本-Unit-7-Fame-and-Fortune

1、课 文 听 力 文 本-Un it-7-Fame-a nd-Fort uneUnit 7 Fame and Fort unePart I Gett ing readyExercise B.Keys:1. magazine2. newspaper3. MicrosoftCompa ny4. successful 5. richest6. 3rd719558. Wputers10. 1311. baseball12. football13. computer programs14.perform15. high 16. computer Ian guage17. Bas

2、ic18. valuable19. office20.home21.established22. 197523. three24. computer software25.established26. Intern ati onal27. Bus in ess28.Machi nes29.198130. pers onal computer31. operat ingsystem32 . 12933. computer compa nies34. Win dows35. easier36. officials37.4000000038. thousands of millions of dol

3、lars 39. 1600040. 4841. 3042. 100Tapescript:In the past few years, hundreds of magazine and newspaper stories have been written about Bill Gates and his company, the reason the Microsoft Company is extremely successful. It has made Bill Gate one of the richest men in the world. William Gates the 3rd

4、 was born in 1955, in a western city of Seattle, Wash ington. He became in terested in computers when he was 13 years old. When most young boys his age were playing baseball or football, young Bill Gates was lear ning to write computer programs. These programs tell computers how to perform useful ta

5、sks. Bill Gate attended Harvard Un iversity after high school. At Harvard, he began developing the computer Ianguage called Basic. He began to think that the computer would someday become a valuable tool that could be used in every office and home. Bill Gate returned to Seattle where he established

6、the Microsoft Company in 1975. It employed only three workers. Microsoft developed computer software for established American companies, like General Electric and Citiba nk. Soon Microsoft was worki ng with the In ter nati onal Bus in ess Machi nes Compa ny known as IBM. In 1981, IBM began selling a

7、 pers onal computer that used Microsoft products as part of its operating system. By then, Microsoft had 129 workers. Today IBM still uses Microsofts computer operating system. So do many other computer companies. One of the most famous Microsoft products is a program called Win dows. Win dows makes

8、 it much easier to use a computer. Company officials say Microsoft has sold about 40,000,000 copies of the Windows program around the world. Microsoft does thousands of millions of dollars in bus in ess each year. It now has more tha n 16,000 workers in more than 48 countries. Microsoft today produc

9、es computer programs in 30 Ianguages and sells them in more than 100 coun tries.Part II Bill Gates new rulesExercise A.Keys:1980s - quality1990s - re-e ngin eeri ng2000s - velocityExercise B.Keys:1. comm uni cati on, e-mail2. sales data on li ne, i nsights3. kno wledge workers, high-level thi nking4

10、. create virtual teams5. paper process, digital process6. elimi nate sin gle-task jobs7. digital feedback loop8. route customer compla ints9. redefi ne the boun daries10. bus in ess process, just-i n-time delivery11. elimi nate the middle man12. help customers solve problemsTapescript:If the 1980s w

11、ere about quality and the 1990s were about re-e ngin eeri ng, the n the 2000s will be about velocity. About how quickly bus in ess itself will be tran sacted. About how information access will alter the life-style of con sumers and their expectati ons of bus in ess. Quality improveme ntsand bus in e

12、ss-processimprovements will occur far faster. When the in crease in velocity is great eno ugh, the very n ature of bus in ess cha nges.To function in the digital age, we have developed a new digital infrastructure. Its like the human nervous system. Companies need to have that same kind of nervous s

13、ystem the ability to run smoothly and efficiently, to resp ond quicklyto emerge ncies andopport un ities toquickly get valuableinformation to the people in the company who n eed it, the ability to quickly make decisi ons and in teract with customers.The successful companies of the next decade will b

14、e the ones that use digital tools to reinvent the way they work. To make digital in formati on flow an in tri nsic part of your compa ny, here are 12 key steps.1. In sist that comm uni cati on flow through e-mail.2. Study sales data on li ne to share in sights easily.3. Shift knowledge workers into

15、high-level thi nki ng.4. Use digital tools to create virtual teams.5. Con vert every paper process to a digital process.6. Use digital tools to eliminate single-task jobs.7. Create a digital feedback loop.8. Use digital systems to route customer complai nts immediately.9. Use digital comm uni cati o

16、n to redefi ne the boun daries.10. Tran sform every bus in ess process into just-i n-time delivery.11. Use digital delivery to eliminate the middle man.12. Use digital tools to help customers solve problems for themselves.As I said in The Road Ahead, we always overestimate the change that will occur

17、 in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next 10. Dont let yourself be lulled into in acti on.You know you have built an excellent digital nervous system when information flows through your organization as quickly and n aturally as thought in a huma n being and when

18、 you can use tech no logy to marshal and coordi nate teams of people as quickly as you can focus an in dividual on an issue. Its bus in ess at the speed of thought.Part III Great bus in ess deals?Exercise A.Keys: 1933 Seller: NATIONAL STEAMSHIPPlaceProductPricePurchaser20,000Aristotle On assis1923-1

19、925 Seller: Arthur FurgusonPlaceProductPricePurchaserLondon6000America nLondonBig Ben1000touristLondonBuck in ghamPalace2000Wash ingtonThe WhiteHouse100,000New YorkThe Statue of Liberty100,000Australia nExercise B.Keys:Outcome 1: boom, world depressi on, millio naireOutcome 2: identified, fraud, fiv

20、e, California, luxuryTapescript:1. In the er late 1920s, early 1930s, there was a a young Greek bus in essma n who er made quite a lot of money er by importing tobacco into Argentina. Um he then moved up to North America er thi s was in about er 1933, whe n of course the world was in the middle of a

21、 a trade slump.Er he er decided he wan ted to get into shipping, and to get into shipping he needed ships so he he started looking around for some ships to buy with his tobacco fortune and he found ten vesselser which bel on ged tothe Canadian National Steamship Company er the problem being that the

22、y were frozen into the ice in the St Lawre nee River in Can ada.Theyd been rusting away there for two years and were now completely filled up with snow and ice. Er in fact the story goes that when he went aboard to er in spect one of the ships, he fell into a sno wdrift and er en ded up othe deck be

23、low. Well, the ships had cost $2 millio n to build er abeyetatenbefore,and the owners were prepared to let them gojust for a a scrap price of er $30 000 each. He offered $20,000 and the owners accepted.He left them there, stuck in the ice, there was nothing more he could do. Erbut a feweryears later

24、, the the world depressi oncame to an end and er world war seemed to be loomi ng in Europe and, of course, that led in its turn to a bit of a shipp ing boom. So theyoung man, there he was with his ships and er he became one of the rich est men in theworld. His name was Aristotle Onassis.this2. Once

25、upon a time there was an enterprising Scottish actor, called Arthur Furguson, who discovered that he could make a very good liv ing selli ng things that did nt actually bel ong to him, in other words he was a con man. He first got the idea when he was sitting in the middle ofTrafalgar Square (in Lon

26、don that is). Um was in 1923, and he saw an American tourist admiring the stone lions and the fountains and Nelsons Column. He introduced himself as the official guide to the Square and started to explain the history of the place. And while he was doing this he also slipped in a little men ti on tha

27、t as Britain was heavily in debt, the British government was looking for the right kind of person to buy the Square. He said that he was the official government salesman and that the ask ing price was around 6 000. The America n said that this was a good price and offered to pay by cheque right away

28、, so Mr. Furgus on went off to okay this with his superiors in other words he went off for an hour and a half and kept the America n wait ing. Well, he the n came back and said, yes, they were willing to sell to the America n at that price. The America n wrote a check and Furguson gave him a receipt

29、 and the address of a compa ny who would disma ntle the Square and get it ready for shipping it to the States. Then he went off to cash the check.Soo n after that he sold Big Ben for 1 000and took a dow n payme nt on Buck in gham Palace of 2 000. Two years later he went to the Un ited States and lea

30、sed the White House to a Texas cattlema n for 99 years for $100 000 per annum. Later he arranged to sell the Statue of Liberty to an Australian for $100 000, but unfortunately Furguson allowed the buyer to take a photograph of him and the Australian, feeli ng slightly suspicious, showed the photogra

31、ph to the police. Furgus onwasidentified and sent to prison for fraud for five years. When he came out he retired to California, where he lived in luxury until he died in 1938.Part IV More about the topic: Walt Dis ney1. corresp ondence course2. Oswald the Rabbit3. talki ng carto on film4. Walt Dis

32、ney himself5. storyteller6. Ub Iwerks7. 35; feature-length cartoon film; 2,000,000; three8. pote ntial9. 55; 17,000,00010. taste; vulgarity; childre n of all agesTapescript:Presenter: Walt Disney is well known as the creator of Mickey Mouse and the inven tor of Disn eyla nd and Walt Disney World, bu

33、t his creations are better known than his life. Peter Spencer is the author of a new book about Dis ney. What was Walt Disn eys backgro und?andcartooning, you know, by doing a correspondence course. During the First World War he worked as a driver for the American Red Cross but after the war he retu

34、rned to Kansas City where he met a guy called Ub Iwerks. Now they er started to work together on a series of experimental- type films . umafter a while they set off to Califor nia to joi n Walts elder brother Roy who was liv ing there in Los An geles.Prese nter: Whe n did Mickey Mouse first appear?P

35、eter: Ah, well, Disney and Iwerks first inven ted a character called Oswald the Rabbit but the n in 1928 a new character was born:cheerful, sometimes rathernaughty, energetic mouse with large funny ears. Yes, it was Mickey and he appeared for the first time in the first talk ingcarto onfilm, calledb

36、y thisSteamboat Willie. Er not many people know this but Walt Disney actually provided the voice for Mickey. By the way, he was almost called Mortimer Mouse, which does nt have the same kind of ring to it, or does it? Well, Roy and Walt gathered a team of artists er illustrators together um time Ub

37、Iwerks had left them and started his own compa ny, this was in 1930, and Disney Studios, as they called themselves, starting started to produce the famous short carto ons with starring Mickey and Minnie and Donald Duck and Pluto and Goofy. Er Roy was the bus in ess man ager and driv ing force beh in

38、d the company er making it very profitable and Walt was more the - er imaginative, creative part of the part nership.Prese nter: What ki nd of man was Walt Disn ey? Peter: Well, accord ing to the artists who worked for him Walt actually could nt draw very well er most of the characters were actually

39、 drawn by Iwerks, but apparently he was an amaz ing storyteller. He would act out the stories of films doing all the voices and actions to show the illustrators what he wan ted them to do and the n they had to go off and try to recreate his visualizati ons.Presenter: The most famous cartoon of all w

40、as Snow White and the best I still thi nk.Peter: Mm, yeah, it was the first feature-le ngth cartoon and it was released in er 1935. Now, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs required two million draw ings and took three years work to make. Um obviously it was er very expensive, particularly for those tim

41、es. By the way, the British film cen sor gave it an Adult certificate because he thought that it would be too frightening for little children to see on their own. Er that was followed by Pinocchio and Fantasia in 1940, Dumbo in 1941. And er the Disney Studios also started making um some rather low-b

42、udget live action feature films for childre n er someth ing which the other studios did nt dare risk doing. Er some dhis films mixed live action with cartoons er m thi nking about Mary Popp ins, which I thi nk weve probably all see n, made in 1964, where cartoon characters and and the real life acto

43、rs appeared together on screen and talked and dan ced and sang together. Disney was one of the first to see the potential of television, all the otherstudios were afraid of this medium.Um so he started to produce films directly for televisi on andand nowof course theres a Disney Channel show ing onl

44、y Disney films.Presenter: And then he dreamt up Disneyland,did nt he?Peter: Ah, dreamt is the right word.Disn eyla nd was a creati on of the land of his dreams: safe, happy, clean, fairy-tale world with its own Magic Kingdom. The original Disneyland was opened in Los Angeles in 1955 and it cost $17

45、million. Walt died in 1966 but he was already working on pla ns for the Disney World in Orlando, Florida, which opened in 1971, and the EPCOT Center near Walt Disney World thats the Experime ntal Prototype Commu nity Of Tomorrow, by the way. And theres als o a a Tokyo Disneyland,which was opened in

46、um 1983Prese nter: Andand now theres eve n an EuroDisn eyla nd n ear Paris, I think.Peter: Yes, thats right. Um and the Disneyumof taste and they say but Disney said, Ive this art. Its showStudios still continue to produce films in the the house style, the Walt Disney style and presumably it always

47、will. Disn eys films appealed and still do appeal to children of all ages, but people often criticize them for their lack theyre vulgar,n ever calledbus in ess andm a showma n. Well, can you imagine a world without Mickey Mouse?Prese nter: Peter Spe ncer, tha nk you.Part V Do you know ？1. $24 worth

48、of kettles, axes and cloth.2. $80,000,000.3. $27,000,000.4. About 12 cents.5. About 800,000 square miles.6. About 1,600,000 square miles.7. $7,200,000.8. About 5 cen ts.9. $750,000,000 worth.10. An estimated 100,000,000,000 tons.Tapescript:1. The best real estate deal in historyEve n in the days whe

49、 n America was known as the New World, it was a country with a reputation for its spirit of enterprise and the ability of its people to make a good deal.When the settlers started negotiating, the natives hardly knew what had hit them and in the summer of 1626, probably the most spectacular real esta

50、te coup in history took place.Governor Peter Minuit of the Dutch West In dia Compa ny had the job of buying Man hatta n Isla nd from the In dia ns.After some haggli ng with Chief Man hasset, the price was agreed at 24 dollars worth of kettles, axes and cloth.Today, $24 would not buy one square foot of office space in New York City, and an office block in central Manhattan changes hands for around $80 milli on. Eve n allowi ng for in flati on, Min uit got himself a real barga in.2. Not aga in, Joseph ine!You would think that the