年9月中級口譯考試真題,答案與解析

Spot Dictation:

We all have problems and barriers that block our progress, or prevent us from moving into new areas. Our problems might include the fear of speaking in front of a group, anxiety about math problems, or the reluctance to sound silly trying to speak a foreign language. It's natural to have problems and barriers, but sometimes they limit our experience so much, we get bored with life. When that happens, consider the following three ways of dealing with the problem or barrier.

One way is to pretend it doesn't exist. Avoid it, deny it, and lie about it. It's like turning your head the other way, putting on a fake grin, and saying, "See, there's really no problem at all. Everything is fine."

In addition to looking foolish, this approach leaves the barrier intact, and we keep bumping into it. So, a second approach is to fight the barrier, to struggle against it. This usually makes the barrier grow. It increases the barrier's magnitude. A person who is obsessed with weight might constantly worry about being fat. He might struggle with it every day, trying diet after diet. And the more he struggles, the bigger the problem gets.

The third alternative is to love the barrier. Accept it. Totally experience it. Tell the truth about it. Describe it in detail.

Applying this process is easier if you remember two ideas. First, loving a problem is not necessarily the same as enjoying it. Love in this sense means total and unconditional acceptance. Second, unconditional acceptance is not the same as unconditional surrender. Accepting a problem is different than giving up or escaping from it. Rather, this process involves escaping into the problem, diving into it headfirst, and getting to know it in detail.

Often the most effective solutions come, when we face a problem squarely, with eyes wide open, then we can move through the problem, instead of around it. When you are willing to love your problems, you drain them of much of their energy.

【評析】

本文選自Dave Ellis 的著作Becoming a Master Student其中的一個章節：Love your problems and experience your barriers，本文主要介紹瞭解決問題的三種辦法，第一種是直接無視它，就當不存在；第二種是正視它，挑戰它，第三種則是愛上困難，充分體驗。然後又 給出兩個觀點，教你更容易地應用這些辦法。

總體而言，難度不大，文章選材方面還是比較中規中矩的，關於問題和困難的相關話題也是考生比較熟悉的部分。詞彙方面也沒有什麼難詞偏僻詞，考生應該不會感到太難。Statements:

Question1:

Obviously Kell has been unhappy with her present job. She works as a nurse but she would drop a teacher at a primary or secondary school.

Question2:

We don't have enough information for our financial plan, but it's due tomorrow. I'm afraid we'll just have to make do with what we have got.

Question3:

There is more pressure than ever in the competitive job market to stand out from the crowd. Continuing your education is one way to get that extra edge.

Question4:

Our production supervisor warned John to punch in on time, dress appropriately for the job and stop taking extra breaks.

Question5:

The ability to work effectively with people from other countries is especially important if you plan a career in MMC management where international experience is an essential prerequisite.

Question6:

Now it is common to find fast food restaurants everywhere. These restaurants serve people who are too rushed to find time to eat a proper meal.

Question7:

Makinen hit what appeared to be oil on the road,and his car slammedinto a concrete barrier, tearing the right rear wheel almost completely off his Mitsubishi Lancer.

Question8:

One of the greatest public health successes has been the massive decline in smoking rates, which are now translating into reduced deaths from cancer and heart disease.

Question9:

In modern society, private houses are not just places for people to live in. Rich people have long-viewed real-estate as a suitable vehicle for their earnings.

Question10:

You need to draw a vertical line two inches from the left edge of your note-taking page. With this line, you still have six inches of space on the right to write down you notes.

【評析】

1. 此題描述對現在工作的不滿和寧願做的工作。重點在but後面。

2. 此題描述利用現在資源做經濟計劃的事。考生應注意due（到期）以及make do with（勉強應對）便可知題意。

3. 此題描述如何應對就業壓力大的一種方法。難點在extra edge (額外的獎勵或優勢)。

4. 此題描述主管對John的要求。找準三個並列動詞就易於理解。

5. 此題描述什麼情況下同外國人有效地工作很必要。題中有個從句，where，修飾MMC。

6. 此題描述快餐店服務的人羣。重點在第二句，fast restaurant 應爲熟知單詞，根據意思也能理解題意。

7. 此題描述Makinen 撞車的原因和結果。難點是單詞，concrete barrier (水泥欄杆)，rear wheel(後輪)。

8. 此題描述公衆健康取得的一大成就。難點是要了解一些普通疾病的說法以及death rate(死亡率)，decline(下降)。

9. 此題描述私人住宅不僅是用來居住的現狀。real-estate(不動產)，vehicle (工具，媒介)。

10. 此題描述劃線的問題。掌握單詞vertical (垂直的)，考生還應注意具體數字。Talks and Conversations 1

W: Ah, Bill, have you got a minute?
M: Yes, but can you make it fast? I’m pretty busy.
W: OK. Ah, I’m sorry about this, Bill. I know you’re busy but I’ve got to go somewhere this afternoon. Can I take the afternoon off?
M: Oh, come on, Helen!
W: But it’s really important. I mean it is really something urgent.
M: Look, I’m sorry Helen but I can’t. I’ve got two people off sick.
W: Well, how about a couple...
M: Look, we’ve got to finish this report today. The boss has been waiting in the office.
W: I know that, Bill. How about just an hour?
M: Yes, all right. I suppose so. But next time I want a bit more warning.

Questions:

11. Why did Helen want to talk to Bill?
12. What is the relationship between the man and the woman?
13. At last, how long was Helen permitted to take her leave?
14. What did Bill want Helen to do next time?

【解析】

本篇屬於情景對話，首先應當抓住關鍵詞組take off（請假），接下來就很好理解了。對話中女士因爲下午緊急要去某地向男士請假，但是男士一開始因爲手上的報告必須要在今日之內完成交給老闆而沒有準假。之後女士告知實在佷重要，能否請一個小時的假，男士最終答應了。

關鍵詞：take off：請假 urgent：adj. 緊急的 warning：adj. 警告的；引以爲戒的

Talks and Conversations 2

Hi, welcome, today I am going to talk about how children learn social behaviors. Especially how they learn lessons from the family, which is the most basic unit of our social structure. There is a lot of discussion these days about how families are changing and whether non-traditional families have a good or bad effect on children. But it is important to remember that the type of family a child comes from is not nearly as important as the kind of love and support that exist in a home. There are three ways by which children acquire their behavior through rewards, punishments and finally modeling. In today’s lecture, let‘s first discuss rewards. A reward can be defined as a positive reinforcement for good behavior. An example of a reward is when a parent says, “If you eat your vegetables, you can have ice cream for dessert”. Or a parent might say, “Finish your homework first, then you can watch TV.” Most parents use rewards unconsciously because they want their children to behave well. For example, a parent might give a gift to a child, because the child behaved well. Or parents may give a child money for doing what the parents asked.

Questions:

15. What is discussed in the lecture?
16. According to the talk , what is more important for children to learn good social behaviors?
17. There are three ways by which children acquire their behavior. Which one is discussed in detail in the talk?
18. Which of the following is not a positive reinforcement for good behavior?

【評析】

本篇文章內容難度適中。雖然其中穿插長句子。但是問題答案都是文章中可以直接聽出來的。舉例說明能幫助大家很好的理解內容。因此在聽的時候，要有上下文的概念，前面如有長句沒聽懂，注意後面的例子說明。全文的意思就一目瞭然了。

本篇話題是“孩子如何學習社會行爲”。主要集中的講的是家庭這個社會單元對孩子行爲的影響。並且提到孩子學習社會行爲的三種方式：獎勵、懲罰、模範。本課中主要講的是“獎勵”這種方式。

關鍵詞：Social behavior 社會行爲，社交行爲 Social structure 社會結構

Talks and Conversations 3

John: Good morning, Betty. Do you know what the assignment is for our term paper in history?
Betty: Sure John. But weren’t you in class on Monday? That’s when it was given out.
John: No, I missed that class. Was there a handout?
Betty: No, the instructor just wrote the assignment on the board.
John: Could I copy the assignment from your notes?
Betty: You could if I had copied it all down, but I just wrote down the part that I wanted.
John: Oh no...
Betty: You see, there were four choices of topics for the term paper, but when I saw them, I knew which one I wanted, so I didn’t copy the others down.
John: Can you remember any of the others?
Betty: Let’s see... There was one about World War I, something about it, but I don’t remember what. And there was one called the idea of progress in the 19th century.
John: And what was the last one?
Betty: I can’t remember. My mind is a complete blank. Maybe you could ask someone else.
John: Yes, I will. Anyway, those are certainly broad topics.
Betty: Yes, but you can focus on a special area within them. Which one would you take?
John: Of course, I don’t know what the last one is, but of these three, I think I’d take the idea of progress.
Betty: That’s very abstract.
John: Yes, but it is one of my interests and I’ve read a lot on the subject. I’ve never written a term paper on it though.
Betty: Me neither. I haven’t even read about it. Are you going to class on Wednesday?
John: Yes.
Betty: Maybe he’ll write it on the board again.
John: I hope so. Good luck with your paper.
Betty: Same to you.

Questions:

19. How many topics did the teacher give for the term paper?
20. How was the assignment given out by the instructor?
21. Why can’t John copy the assignment from Betty’s notes?
22. Why does John choose to write on the idea of progress in the 19th century?

【評析】

本段聽力講述的是男同學週一沒有去上課，來詢問女同學老師給出的期末論文題目是什麼。恰巧老師給出的是4個話題以供挑選，女同學沒有記下所有的話題，只是憑 記憶講述了兩個話題給男同學聽。男同學在已知的話題中傾向於寫“the idea of progress in the 19th century”，因爲他喜歡這方面知識，而且之前也有閱讀。問題都是常見細節題，涉及所給話題數目、話題告知方式等，難度不大，只要認真聽不難得出答 案。

Talks and Conversations 4

Welcome to my lecture on interpreting. Interpreting is a relatively new area of research. It is all too often subsumed under the heading of translation. For example, many translators associations include interpreters. Many books on translation include a section on interpreting. Many translators do some interpreting work and vice versa. Of course, there is an overlap between the two areas that are so alike and yet so different. All of this means that interpreting is still in the process of establishing itself as a discipline in its own right.

My aim in this lecture is to provide an overview of interpreting to anyone interested in interpreting in general, or indeed in becoming an interpreter. For years, I have been collecting information about international and regional organizations in this field. I was quite surprised about some of the results of the questionnaire.

Firstly, with the exceptions of the European Union and the United nations, the actual number of interpreters employed by many organizations is quite small.

Secondly, I have not found any support for the common notion that interpreters do not have a lifelong career that they work solidly for five years or so, earning quite a lot of money, and then disappear into the sunset. On the contrary, they continue to work as interpreters until retirement age, and in some cases, beyond it.

Thirdly, English is the international language of business, and it’s used in boardrooms and business meetings throughout the world. English is also the international language of science. In the 1960s and 1970s of the last century when foreign languages were not like widely taught, many international conferences needed interpreters. Nowadays, most educated people learn foreign languages. And as a result, the need for interpreters at this type of meeting has diminished.

Questions:

23. Who are most likely to be interested in the lecture?
24. Which of the following is not true about interpreting?
25. What is the common notion about interpreters?
26. What accounts for the smaller number of conference interpreters today?

【評析】

本 文節選自美國作家費倫的The Interpreter's Resource（口譯員的資源），屬於“外教社翻譯碩士專業系列教材”口譯實踐指南叢書。內容上，先是講口譯與翻譯的一些區別，然後說明是要對口譯做概 述，最後提出在調查研究中發現的一些比較奇怪的現象，包括：①公司錄用口譯者很少；②並沒有任何證據表明口譯者 的工作是吃青春飯的；③現在社會對商務和科學方面的口譯者的需求正在減少。文章介紹的都是口譯翻譯相關的詞彙，這些詞本身並沒有太大的難度，屬於考生比較 熟悉的詞彙範圍之內。

Talks and Conversations 5

W:David Macdonald is best known for his work with watercolor painting. His work has been included in over 36 exhibitions. He is also renowned as an art teacher with work in a summer watercolor painting intensive program for high school students. David, how did you start making art?

M: Initially, it was a way to create some private space. As the third in a family of nine children, I always shared a bedroom with at least three of my brothers. I would help my parents unpack the groceries and unfold the paper bags that I could use inside as drawing paper. Through hours of drawing, I was able to create my own little world. I was introduced to watercolor painting during my second year in college. And ever since then, I’ve been fascinated by it.

W: What is the source of your ideas?

M: Anything can become a conscious or unconscious inspiration. I can get lost in the country or in the city streets or in the supermarket. Even the shapes and colors of the vegetables give me all sorts of ideas. On a more scholarly level, I was influenced by Chinese and Japanese painters during college.

W: Is there any advice you would like to give to our students?

M: An artist has to believe in him or herself. The dedication, courage and energy my students bring to classroom are more important than anything I can offer. If you want to stand above the crowd, your passion for your art must be manifest through a willingness to work harder than anyone else. The students who succeed see their art as a way of life and not simply as a way of earning a living. My job as a teacher is to help my students realize their potential and bring eloquence to their unique voice.

Questions:

27. What is the topic of the interview?
28. How did the man start to learn watercolor painting?
29. Why did the man talk about the vegetables in the supermarket?
30. Which of the following is not true about the successful art students?

【評析】

此篇是對水彩畫家David Macdonald的一篇採訪。涉及到David如何開始學畫畫，他什麼時候開始畫油畫，怎麼樣獲得靈感以及對學生們的建議。一個採訪問題，相應的回答，中等難度，沒有生僻詞，採訪對話也較易於理解。

掌握單詞：watercolor painting 水彩畫；grocery n. 食品雜貨；inspiration n. 靈感；conscious adj. 有意識的；unconscious adj. 無意識的；dedication n. 奉獻，獻身；potential n. 潛力；eloquence n. 雄辯，口才；Sentence Translation:

1. Courses for adults students may be vocational or recreational, that is, they may be related to a person’s job or taken purely for interest and pleasure.
參考譯文：針對成年學生的課程可能是職業性的或者是娛樂性的，即課程可能與一個人的工作相關或者純粹的是出於興趣娛 樂而上課。

【解析】

本句話難度不大，如果考生一時沒有反映出vocational和recreational的意思，也不必慌張，因爲之後就是對這兩個單詞的解釋，如果記下來，完全可以倒推出這兩個單詞的意思。

關鍵詞：

vocational：adj. 職業的，行業的

recreational：adj. 娛樂的，消遣的

2. To overcome their fear of unknown attackers on the cities’ streets, many Americans now take instruction in Sun Swordof Oriental Self Defense such as karate and martial arts, commonly known as Gongfu or Wushu.
參考譯文：爲了克服對城市街道上陌生的攻擊者的恐懼，很多美國人採取《太陽之劍》中的東方自衛術，諸如空手道和技擊，它們 通常又被成爲功夫或者武術。

【解析】

本句話稍有難度，sword, karate等詞需要考生平時的積累，但是通過attackers，Gongfu，Wushu這樣的詞語，考生應該能判斷出句子的大意。

instruction：n. 指令，教導

sword：n. 劍

karate：n. 空手道

martial arts：武術，技擊

3. Drinking tea has been a long tradition of a typical British family. Recent studies suggest that tea can cut the risk of cancer and heart disease and retard the aging process.
參考譯文：喝茶一直以來都是典型英國家庭的傳統。近期的研究顯示，茶能夠降低罹患癌症和心臟病的風險，還能延緩衰老。

【解析】

本句帶有科普性質，但是內容並不陌生，也沒有太多的難詞、生詞，唯一的難點可能是retard，解釋爲“減慢，延遲”。

關鍵詞：

retard：v. 延遲，減慢

aging process：衰老

4. I’ve been looking into the question of having the goods sent by air. It’s quick. The goods are less liable to damage than by sea and there’s less risk of hold-ups.
參考譯文：我一直在研究空運貨物的問題。它很快，而且相比海運，空運的貨物不宜損壞，延誤的風險也較小。

【解析】

本句稍有難度，諸如be liable to...和hold-up可能對不少考生有點陌生。

關鍵詞：

be less liable to：不易……

hold-up：n. 停頓，耽誤

5. If you lost two percent of your body weight in water, your brain power and performance level may start to weaken. Another four to seven percent may leave youfeeling dizzy.
參考譯文：如果你身體中的水份減少2%，你的頭腦開始遲鈍，表現力開始下降。如果再減少4-7%，你會感到眩暈。

【解析】

這句話難度適中，但是考生要注意聽的同時，快速反應所提及的數字，好在這句話中的數字比較簡單。另外諸如dizzy這樣的詞也需要平時的積累。

關鍵詞：

weaken：v. 減少，衰弱

dizzy：adj. 眩暈的Passage 1：

【原文】

While the rest of the world played soccer or the British football, Americans played basketball and baseball. But now soccer is rapidly becoming a major sport in the United States for reasons as simple as the game itself. School officials like it and kids like it. For the school authorities, it’s much cheaper to set up a soccer team. And for the kids, they don’t need to be big or tall to play soccer. All they need is the desire to run.

【參考譯文】

當世界其他地方都在踢足球或英式足球的時候，美國人在打籃球和棒球。但是現在，足球已經快速成爲美國一個主要的運動項目，其中的緣由和這項運動本身一樣簡 單。校領導喜歡足球，孩子們也喜歡足球。對於校方來說，成立一個足球隊成本更少。而對孩子們來說，踢足球並不要求他們長得高高壯壯。他們所需要的就是對奔 跑的渴望。

【評析】

這篇文章還是很容易的。話題是我們非常熟悉的體育。平時注意體育話題相關詞彙積累。

翻譯的時候，注意表達。本篇語氣篇口語化。因此翻譯一篇文章弄清楚文章的風格也很重要，這樣表達時，就知道到底是正式語氣表達還是非正式語氣表達。有時也有必要了解文章的體材：議論性、說明性還是描述性，從整體把握譯文的風格。

1.“as simple as …itself”一般譯爲“正如…本身一樣簡單或純粹”

2.“big or tall”。在這裏我們形象地譯爲“高高壯壯”或“高高大大”

Passage 2：

【原文】

What really makes me mad is the attitude towards morals. Some people are really shocked because actors are allowed to walk about the stage with little clothes on these days. But these same people are not shocked by advertisements which persuade the public to buy things which can do real harm to people, like cigarettes and alcohol for example. I think a lot of advertisements are much more immoral than so-called pornographic or dirty plays and books because they lie or at least disguise the truth.

【參考譯文】

真正讓我發狂的是人們對道德的態度。演員可以着裝暴露，在臺上走來走去，這讓一些人感到驚訝，然而同樣是這批人，卻不會因爲廣告勸說公衆購買如菸酒等對他 們有害的產品而震驚。我認爲比起那些所謂的色情或黃色節目和書刊，很多廣告更不道德，因爲它們在說謊，至少在掩蓋真相。

【評析】

本段話共由4句話組成，後三個句子都略微偏長，但是並不複雜，所以難度一般。較難把握的幾個詞組如下：

1. little clothes連用。little如果作爲“少”修飾的是不可數名詞，很明顯這裏不合適，可以考慮little表示“短的”意思，意譯爲“着裝暴露”。

2. pornographic對學生詞彙量要求較高。這個單詞表示“色情的、黃色的”。同時，dirty這裏不能直譯爲“髒的”，而應該採用它的引申義“下流的、色情的”。

3. disguise較難，表示“掩飾、掩蓋”，disguise the truth也就可以翻譯爲“掩蓋真相”。閱讀理解第一篇：

閱讀理解第一篇選自口譯閱讀教程 Unit 5 Reading B “artificial waterways”

Today, most countries in the world have canals. Even in the twentieth century, goods can be moved more cheaply by boat than by any other means of transport. Some canals, such as the Suez or the Panama, save ships weeks of time by making their voyage a thousand miles shorter. Other canals permit boats to reach cities that are not located on the coast. Still other canals drain lands where there is too much water, help to irrigate fields where there is not enough water, and furnish water power for factories and mills.

3. The size of a canal depends on the kind of boats going through it. The canal must be wide enough to permit two of the largest boat using it to pass each other easily. It must be deep enough to leave about two feet of water beneath the keel of the largest boat using the canal.

4. Some canals have sloping sides, while others have sides that are nearly vertical. Canals that are cut through rock can have nearly vertical sides. However, canals with earth banks may crumble if the angle of their sides is too steep.

5. Some canals are lined with brick, stone, or concrete to keep the water from soaking into the mud. This also permits ships to go at greater speeds, since they cannot make the banks fall in by stirring up the water. In small canals with mud banks, ships and barges must limit their speed.

6. When the canal goes through different levels of water, the ships must be raised or lowered from one level to the other. This is generally done up by means of locks. If a ship wants to go up to higher water, the lower end of the lock opens to let the boat in. Then this gate closes, and the water is let into the lock chamber from the upper level. This raises the level of the water in the lock until it is the same as the upper level of water. Now the upper gates can be opened to release the ship into the higher water. Of course there must always be enough water on the upper level to allow for the flooding of the times a canal contains a series of locks when the difference in levels is very great.

7. In places where it does not rain very often, irrigation canals drain water from rivers or lakes and carry it to fields. Sometimes artificial lakes, such as the lake behind the Aswan Dam on the Nile River, provide the irrigation water.

8. In places where there is too much water, canals can drain the water off the land for use in farming. In Holland, acres and acres of land have been drained in this way. Since much of this drained land is below sea level, the water in the canals has to be pumped up to sea level. Dikes have been built in Holland to keep the sea from covering the land, as it did in the past.

9. Sometimes canals have to be built across deep valleys. Bridges or aqueducts are constructed for this purpose. The Romans often brought water to cities from great distances by building such bridges, at the top of which were canals. Some canals go through mountains by means of tunnels. One such tunnel, near Marseille, France, is over four miles long.

10. Canals existed in Egypt thousands of years ago. The great canal at Babylon, between the Tigris and Euphrates, was built about 2000 B. C.. The Grand Canal of China, which is over 900 miles long, was begun about 2,500 years ago, and took centuries to finish. During the seventeenth century, France built many canals that are still in use today. However, they are not so heavily traveled as they were a hundred years ago, before railways were built. One such canal is a short-cut between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean. In Russia, there are canals reaching from Leningrad to the Caspian Sea. Canals in Germany permit boats to go from the Black Sea to the North Sea. The Kiel Canal provides a passageway between the North Sea and the Baltic. In America, the Great Lakes are all connected by canals, enabling ships to go from the Atlantic Ocean and the St. Lawrence River to Lake Superior. Since the lakes are at different levels, they are connected by locks.

11. Many countries have built canals near the coast, and parallel to the coast. These waterways make it possible for boats to travel between ports along the coast without being exposed to the dangers of the open sea.

【簡析】歷年中級口譯考試沒有出現過的現象出現了，閱讀部分，沒有直接採用過《閱讀教程》上的篇章，而這次就這樣被搬到了考場上，一方面，我們意識到出題 老師越來越 漿糊意外，也瞭解，隨着中級口譯低齡化的出現，出題老師對考生也越來越仁慈了，不管怎麼樣，我們老師都有要求同學回家完成教程，所以，看過書的同學一定很 開心，因爲開篇，我們就撿了個大便宜。Passage Translation C-E:

【原文】

近代以來，亞洲經歷了曲折和艱難的發展歷程。亞洲人們爲改變自己的命運，始終以不屈的意志和艱辛的奮鬥開闢前進道路。今天，人們所看到的亞洲發展成就，是勤勞智慧的亞洲人民不屈不撓、鍥而不捨奮鬥的結果。

亞洲人民深知，世界上沒有放之四海而皆準的發展模式，也沒有一成不變的發展道路，亞洲人民勇於變革創新，不斷開拓進取，探索和開闢適應時代潮流，符合自身實際的發展道路，爲經濟社會發展打開了廣闊前景。

【譯文】

In modern times, Asia experienced twists and turns in its development. To change their destiny, the people of Asia have been forging ahead in an indomitable spirit and with hard struggle. Asia's development achievements today are the result of the persistent efforts of the industrious and talented Asian people.

The people of Asia are fully aware that there is no ready model or unchanging path of development that is universally applicable. They never shy away from reform and innovation. Instead, they are committed to exploring and finding development paths that are in line with the trend of the times and their own situations, and have opened up bright prospects for economic and social development.

【評析】

文中較難處理的句子有：“亞洲人們爲改變自己的命運，始終以不屈的意志和艱辛的奮鬥開闢前進道路。”其中“亞洲人們……開闢前進道路”是主幹結構，“爲改 變自己的命運”表示目的，可以譯成不定式to change their destiny放在句子前面，“以不同的意志和艱辛的奮鬥”譯成介詞短語放在句尾。“放之四海而皆準的發展模式”的中心詞是“模式”，修飾語“放之四海而 皆準的”意爲“普遍適用的”，可譯爲定語從句放在中心詞後。最後一個句子較長，可根據句意進行拆分，確定主幹詞，對語序進行調整，以流暢的英文表達出來。

Squeezed Into Smaller Spaces, Koalas Now Face Deadly Disease（出自：）

The koala, one of Australia's most treasured creatures, is in trouble.

Faced with habitat loss, climate change and bacterial disease, koalas are being pushed into smaller and smaller regions of the country. In Queensland, the vast state in Australia's northeastern corner, surveys suggest that from 2001 to 2008, their numbers dropped as much as 45 percent in urban areas and 15 percent in bushland.

And while climate change and habitat loss are affecting many other uniquely Australian animals, too -- from birds and frogs to marsupials like wombats, wallabies and bandicoots -- it is a bacterial infection that is worrying many scientists about the fate of the koala.

''Disease is a somewhat silent killer and has the very real potential to finish koala populations in Queensland,'' said Dr. Amber Gillett, a veterinarian at the Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital in Beerwah, Queensland.

The killer is chlamydia, a class of bacteria far better known for causing venereal disease in humans than for devastating koala populations. Recent surveys in Queensland show that chlamydia has caused symptoms in up to 50 percent of the state's wild koalas, with probably even more infected but not showing symptoms.

The bacteria -- transmitted during birth, through mating and possibly through fighting -- come in two different strains, neither the same as the human form. The first, Chlamydia pecorum, is causing a vast majority of health problems in Queensland's koalas; the second, C. pneumoniae, is less common.

Unlike C. pecorum, the pneumoniae strain can jump to other species, but so far there is no evidence that it has spread from koalas to humans or vice versa.

Chlamydia causes a host of symptoms in koalas, including eye infections, which can lead to blindness, making it difficult for them to find scarce eucalyptus leaves, their primary food source. The bacteria can also lead to respiratory infections, along with cysts that can make female koalas infertile.

The epidemic has been particularly severe in Queensland, where nearly all koalas are infected with koala retrovirus, said Dr. Gillett. This retrovirus is an H.I.V.-like infection that suppresses the koala's immune system and interferes with its ability to fight off chlamydia.

''In southern koala populations, where koala retrovirus is much less prevalent, normal immune functions tend to result in fewer cases of chlamydia,'' Dr. Gillett said.

Treating chlamydia in wild koalas is a challenge, she said. The disease is so devastating that only a small percentage of the animals can be treated successfully and returned to the wild. And infected females often become infertile -- a condition that cannot be reversed, so future population growth is affected as well.

There is no treatment available for koala retrovirus, but researchers are working to test a vaccine that would help prevent further spread of chlamydia infection in Queensland's koalas.

A study published in 2010 in The American Journal of Reproductive Immunology found that this vaccine is both safe and effective in healthy female koalas. Further work is being done to test it in koalas that are already infected.

Peter Timms, a professor of microbiology at the Queensland University of Technology who is leading the effort to test the chlamydia vaccine in koalas, is hopeful that there will be another trial this year to test the vaccine in captive male koalas, followed by wild koalas. If all goes well, plans can be set in motion to distribute the vaccine more widely.

''It's going to be impossible to vaccinate all wild koalas,'' he said.

In Australia, there is no national plan to save the koala; it is up to each region to establish management plans for its koala population. Therefore, once the vaccine is shown to be completely safe and effective, Dr. Timms suggests targeting specific, threatened populations where capturing and releasing koalas would be practical, like those bordered on all sides by housing developments and roads.

Dr. Timms is also working on a single-dose form. of the vaccine to make it more feasible to vaccinate wild her possibility would be to make vaccine distribution a routine part of treatment for the thousands of koalas brought into care centers every year after they are injured by cars or dogs, Dr. Timms said.

While it is a combination of problems that are affecting the wild koala population, many experts believe this vaccine would be an important step in helping koalas survive longer. It may buy enough time to give researchers a chance to solve some of the other problems facing Australia's koalas.

''In situations where you combine habitat pressure, domestic dog attacks and car hits with severe chlamydial disease, the outcome for koalas is devastating,'' Dr. Gillett said.

【簡析】本文主要討論的是由於種種因素的影響，澳大利亞的考拉現在可棲息活動的地方也越來越小，這些原因包括氣候變化，疾病病毒等。考拉的死亡率也不斷上升，主要因素是病毒引起的，之後作者具體分析了這種病毒，並提出了各種可行的解決方案解救考拉。閱讀理解第四篇：

Mysteries of pillow time（出自：）

When a study released earlier this year linked sleeping pills to an increase in cancer and death rates, more than a few insomniacs probably had an even harder time getting to sleep.

Though the findings, published online in the journal BMJ, indicated only that there was a correlation between sleep aids, mortality and disease, that was little solace for Americans who filled some 60 million prescriptions for the medications last year.

"The risks of sleeping pills are real," Gayle Greene, who has been taking sleeping pills for three decades, wrote in The Times. "But so are the risks of chronic sleep loss. As the pioneering sleep scientist William Dement has argued, 'sleep is the most important predictor of how long you will live - perhaps more important than smoking, exercise or high blood pressure.'"

Ten to 20 percent of the world's population uses sleeping pills or tranquilizers, according to Global Industry Analysts, a worldwide market research firm. It estimates the global market for sleep aids will be worth $9 billion by 2015.

"It's difficult to go to a Manhattan cocktail party these days and not get roped into a discussion of someone's insomnia or the relative merits of melatonin and 'snore absorption rooms,'" Henry Alford wrote in The Times. And he recounts "a slightly defensive diatribe called 'Why I Have Recently Purchased a $60,000 Mattress.'"

Mr. Alford's mission for better slumber took him to the Benjamin Hotel in Midtown Manhattan, which has a sleep concierge and lets guests choose from 12 pillows like Buckwheat, Maternity, Lullaby, Swedish Memory and Satin Beauty. It also offers massages, snacks, white-noise machines and masks.

Parents tire their children out by getting them outside and having them run around, and maybe that's what people really need, especially as they get older. American health statistics show that more than half of adults ages 60 and over have trouble sleeping.

A 2011 study at the University of Massachusetts of 22 adults ages 65 to 81 found a strong link between physical activity and the quality of sleep, The Times reported. Better sleep did not take much, Jane Kent-Braun, a professor and physiologist who oversaw the study, told The Times. "These were people who were just out there moving around, gardening, walking the dog."

Some experts believe that the recent spike in diagnoses of attention hyperactivity disorder among children is the result of overlooked sleep disorders.

"Lack of sleep is an insult to a child's developing body and mind that can have a huge impact," Karen Bonuck, a professor of family medicine in New York and author of a study on children and sleep disorders, told The Times. "It's incredible that we don't screen for sleep problems the way we screen for vision and hearing problems."

Some believe that building mattresses out of metal with elaborate spring systems is part of the problem. Coco-Mat, which has 60 stores in 11 countries and opened a shop in Manhattan in late March, sells mattresses that are handmade in Greece, from natural materials like seaweed, horsehair, goose down, wool and coconut or cactus fibers.

"People have slept on springs for only about 50 years," Paul Elfmorfidis, Coco-Mat's founder, told The Times. "But for thousands of years before that, humanity slept on nonmetal beds."

【簡析】第四篇文章是典型的醫療健康類，結合藥物濫用和失眠問題。文章結構與我們老師在課堂上與同學們總結的結構基本吻合：提出問題（過度使用安眠藥會引 發更嚴重的問題）--分析問題（失眠問題與身體狀況）--解 決問題（安眠藥危險，我們換枕頭，換牀墊），文章難度不大，生僻詞彙不多，基本掌握文章結構應該就能解題。與我們以往在課上講到醫療健康類話題中的“濫用 抗抑鬱藥”有換湯不換藥。而我們的第五篇，又老生常談提到“抑鬱”話題，可見，我們現在的日子真的不好過，看到讀中口的同學，也許下次可以直接問：“今 天，你抑鬱了嗎？”“今天，你吃藥了嗎？”閱讀理解第五篇：

18 And Under: Parents' Mental Health Is Critical to Children's Care（出自：）

Like many other primary care doctors, I sometimes sense the shadow of depression hovering at the edges of the exam room. I am haunted by one mother with severe postnatal depression. Years ago, I took proper care of the baby, but I missed the mother's distress, as did everyone else.

Nowadays it's increasingly clear that pediatricians, obstetrician-gynecologists and internists must be more alert. Research into postnatal depression in particular has underscored the importance of checking up on parents' mental health in the first months of a baby's life.

But a parent's depression, it turns out, can be linked to all kinds of problems, even in the lives of older children.

''Depression is an illness that feeds upon itself,'' said Dr. William Beardslee, professor of child psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, who has spent his career studying depression in children and developing family interventions. ''Very often people who are depressed don't seek the care they need.''

In 2009, the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council issued a report, ''Depression in Parents, Parenting, and Children,'' that summarized a large and growing body of research on the ways that parental depression can affect how people take care of their children, and how those children fare.

One in five Americans will suffer from depression at some point, noted Dr. Beardslee, who was on the committee that issued the report. ''Untreated, unrecognized parental depression can lead to negative consequences for kids,'' he said, ranging from poor school performance to increased visits to the emergency room to poorer peer relationships and adolescent depression.

Moreover, there is plenty of evidence that when depressed parents get treatment and help with their parenting, families are much better off.

Depression is certainly treatable, said Dr. Mary Jane England, a psychiatrist and professor of health policy and management at Boston University School of Public Health, who led the Institute of Medicine committee.

But, she added, ''because of stigma and lack of training of some of our primary care practitioners, we don't pick it up.''

Depression damages the interactions between parents and children, and disrupts family routines and rituals. Children with a depressed parent are themselves more likely to manifest symptoms of depression, research shows, along with other psychiatric problems and behavior. issues. They are more likely to make visits to the emergency room and more likely to be injured.

A depressed parent may have trouble following a plan of preventive care if a child has a medical problem like asthma. But higher rates of depression in parents whose children have chronic medical problems may also reflect the stress of dealing with those problems, especially for psychologically vulnerable parents.

Depression may become part of a vicious cycle in these families: An overwhelmed and depressed parent is less able to follow a complex medical regimen, and a child ends up in the emergency room or the hospital, creating more pressure and more stress for the family.

''There is a high burden of maternal depression, anxiety,'' among mothers bringing children to an emergency room, said Dr. Jacqueline M. Grupp-Phelan, a pediatric emergency room specialist at Cincinnati Children's Hospital. ''It influences their own perception of how well they can deal with their kids' problems.''

It's also become clear that there may be genetic propensities to depression. Its appearance in parent and child may in part reflect inherited vulnerabilities.

And all of that reaffirms how critical it is for primary care doctors to ask the right questions and offer diagnosis without stigma.

''Moms appreciate being asked,'' said Dr. Grupp-Phelan, who has done research on the acceptability of mental health screening. ''It may be the only time they've been asked about their depression.''

I often find myself urging mothers to pay more attention to their own medical problems and mental health. Pediatric colleagues tell stories of depressed parents who break down and cry during a child's visit, but then say they're too busy taking care of the family to get help for themselves.

I don't love the ''do it for your child's sake'' argument; I worry it suggests that the parent isn't important in her own right. But to be honest, I make that argument anyway, because it works.

''They are open to doing something about their own issues because it could help their kid, and that's a very strong hook for mothers,'' Dr. Grupp-Phelan said. And when the ''doing something'' includes a focus on the whole family, those routines and rituals and routines can be rebuilt, and there's plenty of research to show that children are resilient.

So if parents are open to being asked, and if we know that identifying depression has important benefits for our patients and their parents, why aren't we better at asking?

As a pediatrician, I tend to focus on the child, of course. Asking mental health questions of the parent can sometimes feel intrusive or invasive.

And there's the worry that even if you identify a problem, there may not be good help available. When poverty and lack of access are combined with parental depression, not surprisingly, the risks are that much greater.

And in looking for parental depression, in asking about it and discussing the risks, there may be a sense that doctors are placing blame. I think we fear that parents who are struggling with these shadows will feel accused and inadequate.

''The last thing in the world we should be doing is blaming parents,'' Dr. Beardslee said. ''We should be reaching out and offering hope.''

This is a more complete version of the story than the one that appeared in print.

【簡析】 本文屬於醫療類文章，作者作爲一個兒科醫生的角度思考平時大家比較容易忽略的問題，即兒童有病，很多情況下父母也會是一種原因。調查發現父母如果患有抑鬱 症的話，在諸多方面都會對自己的孩子構成負面的影響，所以要解決孩子的問題，就應該先解決父母的問題，不然也是治標不治本，但是由於問題的特殊性，抑鬱症 問題一直是人們的敏感話題可能會涉及到隱私，而且也會讓父母感覺自己有負罪感，所以作者提出這樣的問題，並思考解決方案。Passage Translation E-C:

【原文】

For years, many Asian-Americans have been convinced that it's harder for them to gain admission to the nation's top colleges. Studies show that Asian-Americans meet these colleges' admissions standards far out of proportion to their 6 percent representation in the U.S. population, and that they often need test scores hundreds of points higher than applicants from other ethnic groups to have an equal chance of admission. Critics say these numbers, along with the fact that some top colleges with race-blind admissions have double the Asian percentage of Ivy League schools, prove the existence of discrimination.

The way it works, the critics believe, is that Asian-Americans are evaluated not as individuals, but against the thousands of other ultra-achieving Asians who are stereotyped as boring academic robots.

Of course, not all Asian-Americans fit this stereotype. They are not always obedient hard workers who get top marks. Their economic status, ancestral countries and customs vary. But compared with American society in general, Asian-Americans have developed a much stronger emphasis on intense academic preparation as a path to a handful of the very best schools.

【參考譯文】

多年來，許多美籍亞裔深信在美國要想被頂尖級名校錄取，他們需要付出更加艱辛的努力。研究表明，美籍亞裔中達到這些大學的入學要求的人數的比例與他們所佔 美國總人口的百分之六的比例不相稱，並且要想獲得均等的入學機會，他們往往要考出比其他國家學生高出幾百分的成績。事實表明一些名牌大學在實行無種族歧視 的招生政策之後，使常春藤聯盟亞裔學生的招生比例翻了一番。評論家指出這些數據恰巧反映出歧視依然存在。

評論家們認爲，這種方式之所以行得通，是因爲美籍亞裔學生並非作爲個體被評估，而是被參照了許多做法極端的亞洲人而評估的，這些人爲達到目的，刻板陳腐，像學術機器。

當然，並非每個亞裔學生都是這種類型的。有些人並非寒窗苦讀，名列前茅。他們的家庭條件，血統，風俗習慣都不盡相同。但是總體來說，與一般的美國學生相比，亞裔學生更重視緊張的學業準備，這也是他們擠進那些頂尖名校的必經之路。

【評析】

這篇文章略有難度。整段由三個長句組成。因此翻譯時要理清思路，弄清句子前後的邏輯關係。然後再下筆。

主要是第二個句子，數據進行比較。一方是亞裔美籍能達到這些名校入學標準所佔比例，另一方是亞裔美籍人 佔美國總人口的比例6%，弄清這個關係，這句就不難翻譯了。”far out of”指的是“與…(很)不成比例，與…(很)不相稱”。

第二個句子後半句，比較的是亞裔美籍人入這些名校的分數要比其他國家的人入這些學校要高出很多分，比較的是“不同民族不同分數”這樣一個概念。“higher than”關鍵詞

最後一句話，要注意找準句子主幹，即“Critics say these numbers prove the existence of discrimination.”閱讀理解第六篇：

The invention of banking（出自：）

The invention of banking preceded that of coinage. Banking originated something like 4,000 years ago in Ancient Mesopotamia, in present-day Iraq, where the royal palaces and temples provided secure places for the safekeeping of grain and other commodities. Receipts came to be used for transfers not only to the original depositors but also to third parties. Eventually private houses in Mesopotamia also got involved in these banking operations, and laws regulating them were included in the code of Hammurabi, the legal code developed not long afterwards.

In Ancient Egypt too, the centralisation of harvests in state warehouses led to the development of a system of banking. Written orders for the withdrawal of separate lots of grain by owners whose crops had been deposited there for safety and convenience, or which had been compulsorily deposited to the credit of the king, soon became used as a more general method of payment of debts to other people, including tax gatherers, priests and traders. Even after the introduction of coinage, these Egyptian grain banks served to reduce the need for precious metals, which tended to be reserved for foreign purchases, particularly in connection with military activities.

5. In both Mesopotamia and Egypt the banking systems

A. were initially limited to transactions involving depositors.

B. were created to provide income for the king.

C. required a large staff to administer them.

D. grew out of the provision of storage facilities for food.

6. What does the writer suggest about banking?

A. It can take place without the existence of coins.

B. It is likely to begin when people are in debt.

C. It normally requires precious metals.

D. It was started to provide the state with an income.

【簡析】再次證明出題老師偷懶了，再一次直接用了Cambridge Certificate上面用的閱讀，儘管我們還沒有看到題目，但根據以往的經驗，題目一定是無修改照搬。原文有3個extracts,但現在老師能搜索 到的只有其中一個extract,講的銀行的起源；既然是起源，一定跟古代有關，也一定不會跟錢有關，但文章信息還是很明確：where the royal palaces and temples provided secure places for the safekeeping of grain and other commodities./ the centralization of harvests in state warehouses led to the development of a system of banking.兩道題，一道細節，一道推斷，也符合這種類型文章的出題風格。