It was an international drug dealing case, one that involved a lot of money and a lot of violence. Agents who had entered the organization had worn wires and collected evidence for years. A conviction(法庭判决) depended on an accurate translation of their tape recordings. “Five languages were involved, “says Liz Elting, 44, one of the owners of TransPerfect, the translation company chosen for the job. “The slightest mistake could mean the criminals would go free.”
When Elting started her business 18 years ago with Phil Shawe, both were attending New York University’s Stern School of Business. Neither realized just how many situations would require their services. TransPerfect’s 4,000 linguists(通晓外语的人) cover more than 100 languages.
Getting Ahead with Liz Elting
What inspired you to start TransPerfect?
When I was eight, my dad bought a KFC in Portugal. Unfortunately, the Portuguese didn’t want anything American. They thought my dad was a CIA spy! That taught me how fast things can change. I’ve studied in Spain and worked in Venezuela. This business is the perfect combination of my love for languages, cultures and business.
Is the staff multilingual?
Many are. I speak French and Spanish. My partner, Phil, who is American, likes to say he speaks English on a good day.
What languages are requested most often?
Spanish and Japanese. Chinese, Middle Eastern, Indic(South Asia), and Eastern Europeans are on the rise.
How difficult is it to manage such a diverse workforce（员工团队）?
Our challenge is to be culturally appropriate in every country. When we hand our year-end bonuses in the US, for example, we have to remember that in India, bonuses are given in the fall.
Any advice for someone starting a business?
Get started before you have kids. In the beginning, I didn’t know how to do this business on the side. I wasn’t married, didn’t have kids, and wasn’t concerned about balancing my work and personal life. Now, with strong managers in place, I can spend more time with my family (husband Michael Burlant and sons Zachary, nine and Jacob, seven), traveling and playing baseball.What is the purpose of the first paragraph?
| A．To report on an international drug dealing case. |
| B．To encourage people to start a business before they have kids. |
| C．To present the importance of learning foreign languages. |
| D．To introduce Liz Elting and her company TransPerfect. |
What does the underlined word “wires” mean in the passage?
| A．A type of clothes costing a lot of money. |
| B．A piece of equipment designed to record messages. |
| C．Thin metal worn to protect yourself against violence. |
| D．A organization symbol made of thin metal. |
Neither realized just how many situations would require their services. is ______________.
| A．a company that offers international legal services |
| B．one which has branches in countries all over the world |
| C．one whose staff all have to speak several languages. |
| D．a company whose services are in great demand. |
It can be inferred that _______________.
| A．Liz learned that love is the answer to problems of cultural misunderstanding |
| B．Liz started her company with a schoolmate at the age of 18. |
| C．The success is simply a little beyond Liz and her partner’s expectations |
| D．Liz and Phil are now strong managers with rich experience. |
Life gets noisier every day and very few people can be free from noise of some sort or another. It doesn’t matter where you live—in the middle of a modern city, or a faraway village—the chances that you will be disturbed by jet aero planes, transistor radios, oil-powered engines, etc. are almost everywhere.We seem to be getting used to noise, too. Some people feel quite lonely without background music while they are working.
Scientific tests have shown that total silence can be very frightening experience for human beings. However, some people enjoy listening to pop music which is very loud, and this can do harm to their eardrums(耳鼓).The noise level in some disco is far above the usual safety level for heavy industrial areas.
One recent report about noise and concentration(专心) suggested that although a lot of people say that any noise disturbs their concentration, what really affects their ability to concentrate is a change in the level of noise. It goes on to say that a background noise, which doesn’t change too much (music, for example) may even help people to concentrate.The best title for this passage is __________.
| A．Noisy Life | B．Background Noise | C．Disturbed Concentration | D．Changeable Noise |
From this passage, the pollution of noise __________.
| A．doesn’t matter much | B．has become worse everywhere |
| C．has become better in big cities | D．has become better in villages |
“Background music” in the passage means __________.
| A．music played in the concert | B．a kind of noise coming into your ears |
| C．music helps people to concentrate | D．music played while people are working |
Some people may have their hearing hurt __________.
| A．while they are in completely silence | B．while they are dancing violently |
| C．while they are listening to pop music | D．while they are listening to soft music |
Scientists have discovered that what prevents people from concentrating is ______.
| A．any kind of noise | B．great changes in level of noise |
| C．background noise | D．various background music |
Britain’s symbolic red phone boxes have become out of date in the age of the mobile, but villages across the country are stepping in to save them, with creative intelligence. Whether as a place to exhibit art, poetry, or even as a tiny library, hundreds of phone boxes have been given a new life by local communities determined to preserve a typical part of British life. In Waterperry, a small village near Oxford, the 120 residents have filled the phone box next to the old house with a pot of flowers, piles of gardening and cooking magazines, and stuck poems on the walls.
They took control of the phone box when telecoms operator BT said it was going to pull it down, an announcement that caused such dissatisfaction that one local woman threatened to chain herself to the box to save it. “I’d have done it, “ insisted Kendall Turner. “It would have been heartbreaking for the village. “ Local councilor Tricia Hallam, who came up with the idea for the phone box’s change, said quite a few people would have joined her, adding, “ We couldn’t let it go because it’s a British symbol.”
Only three feet by three feet wide, and standing 2.51-meter tall, the phone boxes were designed by Giles Gilbert Scott in 1936 for the 25th anniversary of the reign of King George V. Painted in “Post Office red” to match the post boxes, they were once a typical image of England and the backdrop(背景) to millions of tourist photographs.
Eight years ago there were about 17,000 across Britain, but today, in a country where almost everybody has a mobile phone, 58 percent are no longer profitable and ten percent are only used once a month. “On average, maintaining them costs ￡800 a year per phone box-about ￡44 million annually,” said John Lumb, general manager for BT Payphones.Some red phone boxes in Britain have been used for ____.
a. selling flowers b. cooking c. reading d. exhibiting art or poetry
| A．a, b | B．c, d | C．a,b,c | D．b,c,d |
Why do the villagers want to keep the red phone boxes?
| A．Because millions of people visit Britain to see the red phone boxes. |
| B．Because the local people could earn a lot of money from the red phone boxes. |
| C．Because the red phone boxes have already become a symbol of Britain. |
| D．Because the red phone boxes may be useful for some people in emergency. |
What is the color of the British post boxes according to the passage?
| A．Green | B．Red | C．Black | D．Yellow |
What is John Lumb’s attitude towards pulling down the red phone boxes?
| A．supportive | B．Opposed | C．Neutral | D．Indifferent. |
Watercolour is the oldest paints known. It dates back to the early cave men who discovered they could add lifelike qualities to drawings of animals and other figures on the walls of caves by mixing the natural colours found in the earth with water.
Fresco (壁画), one of the greatest of all art forms, is done with watercolour. It is created by mixing paints and water and applying these to wet plaster (灰泥). Of the thousands of people who stand under Michelangelo’s heroic ceiling in the Sistine Chapel, very few know that they are looking at perhaps the greatest watercolour painting in the world.
The invention of oil painting by the Flemish masters in the fifteenth century made fresco painting go down-hill, and for the next several centuries watercolour was used mainly for doing sketches (草图) or as a tool for study. It was not until the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that English painters put back watercolour as a serious art form. The English have a widely-known love for outdoors and also small private pictures. The softness of watercolour had a remarkably strong attraction for them.
The popularity of watercolour continued to grow until the twentieth century. The United States passed England as the center for watercolour, producing such well-known watercolour artists as Thomas Eakins and Andrew Wyeth. The purpose of the passage is to introduce _____.
| A．the gradual weakness of fresco painting |
| B．oils’ power or influence over watercolour |
| C．the discovery of watercolour in England |
| D．the start and development of watercolour |
In the 16th and 17th centuries the artists thought _____.
| A．watercolour was softer, and thus better |
| B．oil painting lasted longer, and was better |
| C．watercolour wasn’t fit for finished works |
| D．watercolour was too hard to use in any works |
According to the passage, watercolour painting was put back in England because ____
| A．it was easy to use outdoors | B．it was a strong medium |
| C．it was extremely bright in colour | D．it was suited to popular tastes |
What would the next paragraph most probably deal with?
| A．The works of famous US watercolour artists | B．Modern American oil painters |
| C．The weakness of oils as popular paints | D．Techniques of producing watercolour |
There are many American expressions about insects--- like bees, for example. Bees are known as very hard workers. They appear to be busy, moving around their homes, or hives (蜂窝). So you might say you were as busy as a bee if you spent your weekend cleaning your house. In fact, you might say your house was a beehive of activity if your whole family was helping you clean. You also might say you made a beeline for something if you went there right away. When we go to see a movie, my friend always makes a beeline for the place where they sell popcorn (爆米花) .
Here is an expression about bees that is not used much any more, but we like it anyway. We think it was first used in the 1920s. If something was the best of its kind, you might say it was the bee’s knees. Now, we admit that we do not know how this expression developed. In fact, we do not even know if bees have knees!
If your friend cannot stop talking about something because she thinks it is important, you might say she has a bee in her bonnet (女帽). If someone asks you a personal question, you might say “that is none of your beeswax”. This means none of your business.
Speaking of personal questions, there is an expression when their children ask, “Where do babies come from?” Parents who discuss sex and reproduction (生殖) say this is talking about the birds and bees.
Butterflies are beautiful insects, but you would not want to have butterflies in your stomach. That means to be nervous about having to do something, like speaking in front of a crowd. You would also not want to have ants in your trousers. That is, to be unable to sit still. If you make a beeline for something, you _____ .
| A．are as busy as a bee | B．go quickly and directly towards it |
| C．always go to the same place | D．buy something at a certain place |
The underlined expression “ it is the bee’s knees” ______ .
| A．is not used at all now | B．was first used in the 1820s |
| C．reminds us that bees have knees | D．means “it is very good” |
If you ask your American friend Jack “How old is your wife?” he may say “_____.”
| A．It is none of your beeswax | B．You have a bee in your bonnet |
| C．It is the bee’s knees | D．You are talking about the birds and bees |
When you have butterflies in your stomach, you _____ .
| A．are too sick to sit still | B．have ants in your trousers |
| C．are nervous about something | D．have a stomachache |
Friends and Buddies
This program is planned for teenagers who have special needs with the goal of meeting within a community with other peers(同龄人). The purpose of the program is that it will lead to a better understanding of friendships. Gym, Swim, Surprise Guest, and Pizza are included. Ages 12-18, numbers of members are limited. Contact: Gloria Bass. This program is held 2 Fridays per month. Fees: $65/$85
Club Saturday Swim
This program is available to anyone aged 5-14 who is challenged by mental, physical, or emotional trouble. The program will be held each Saturday afternoon, 12:00-12:30 pm or 12:30-1:00 pm. Fees: $136/$260
Sibshops (Ages 10-13)
Sibshops is a program for siblings(兄弟姊妹) of children with challenges. It includes group activities and talk treatment ways with the focus on improving sibling relationships and whole family happiness. Location: Hope Church, Wilton CT. Wednesday: 4:00-5:00 pm. Fees: $50/$65
Banana Splits
Banana Splits is an educational support group for children in family trouble. Children aged 9-13 will have the opportunity to meet other children whose parents have separated or divorced, learn to recognize feelings, think of healthy coping skills and have a place to share their struggles through verbal(语言的), physical, and artistic experiences. Location: Hope Church, Wilton CT. Tuesday:4:30-5:30 pm. Fees: $50/$65 If you have free time only on Saturday, you can go to _____.
| A．Friends and Buddies | B．Club Saturday Swim |
| C．Sibshops (Ages 10-13) | D．Banana Splits |
Activities on how to lead to a better understanding of friendships are held _____.
| A．2 Fridays per month | B．12:00-12:30 or 12:30-1:00, Saturday afternoon |
| C．4:00-5:00 pm, Wednesday | D．4:30-5:30 pm, Tuesday |
If you go to Sibshops (Ages 10-13) , you can _____.
| A．meet with other peers | B．solve your mental problem |
| C．improve sibling relationships | D．think of healthy coping skills |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the four passages?
| A．They are all in the same place. | B．They are all free of charge. |
| C．They all hold activities each week. | D．They are all intended for children. |