问答题Shadowed by peril as we are, you would think we'd get pretty good at distinguishing the risks likeliest to do us in from the ones that are statistical long shots. But you would be wrong. We agonize over avian flu, which to date has killed precisely no one in the U.S. , but have to be cajoled into getting vaccinated for the common flu, which contributes to the deaths of 36,000 Americans each year. We wring our hands over the mad cow pathogen that might be in our hamburger and worry far less about the cholesterol that contributes to the heart disease that kills 700,000 of us annually.
We pride ourselves on being the only species that understands the concept of risk, yet we have a confounding habit of worrying about mere possibilities while ignoring probabilities, building barricades against perceived dangers while leaving ourselves exposed to real ones.
At present, 20% of all adults still smoke; nearly 20% of drivers and more than 30% of backseat passengers don't use seat belts; two-thirds of us are overweight or obese. We dash across the street against the light and build our homes in hurricane-prone areas, and when they're demolished by a storm, we rebuild in the same spot. Sensible calculation of real-world risks is a multidimensional math problem that sometimes seems entirely beyond us. And while it may be true that it's something we'll never do exceptionally well, it's almost certainly something we can learn to do better.
问答题
问答题
上海外语口译考试
上海外语口译考试，是顺应上海改革开放需要，经上海市政府主管部门批准的高层次继续教育项目，由上海市高校浦东继续教育中心组织开发和实施，上海外语口译考试委员会进行指导和监督。中心特聘来自上海名校的外语教授组成专家组，全面负责考试的命题、阅卷、口试等各项工作，以及全套培训教材的编撰和修订。
项目于1994年正式启动，次年举办了首次英语高级口译考试。自1995年以来已形成英语、日语两个语种，基础、中级、高级三个等级的考试。“上海外语口译”的商标SIA，业已在国家商标局注册。
上海外语口译项目始于上海，经过18年平稳发展，现已辐射至9个省15个大中城市，有22所高等院校参与合作。项目以其特有的培训和考试模式，激发起人们学习英语和口译的兴趣，吸引了越来越多的考生，尤其是在校大学生。考生人数逐年稳步增长，截至2011年年底，累计已超过100万。
上海外语口译考试每年举行两次，分为笔试和口试两个阶段，笔试安排在3月和9月，口试则在5月和11月。考生只有先通过笔试，才有资格参加口试。通过笔试和口试的考生可获得相应等级的证书。
英语高级口译笔试包括听力、阅读和翻译三大部分，含六个单元，考试时间为180分钟。口试包括口语和口译两个部分，时间为20分钟。英语中级口译笔试包括听力、阅读、英译汉和汉译英四部分，考试时间为150分钟。口试也包括口语和口译两个部分，时间约15分钟。
上海外语口译的实用性和专业性，以及获证人员所达到翻译水准，已使其成为社会上广泛认可、口碑良好的非学历继续教育项目，深受莘莘学子的青睐。项目还多次获得重要的科研成果奖、教材奖，赢得学界的普遍赞誉。
问答题1.Passage 1
问答题燕子去了，有再来的时候；杨柳枯了，有再青的时候；桃花谢了，有再开的时候。但是，聪明的你告诉我，我们的日子为什么一去不复返呢?——是有人偷了他们吧：那是谁?又藏在何处呢?是他们自己逃走了吧：现在又到了哪里呢?
在逃去如飞的日子里，在千门万户的世界里的我能做些什么呢?只有徘徊罢了，只有匆匆罢了；在八千多日的匆匆里，除徘徊外，又剩些什么呢?过去的日子如轻烟，被微风吹散了，如薄雾，被初阳蒸融了；我留着些什么痕迹呢?我何曾留着像游丝样的痕迹呢?我赤裸裸来到这世界，转眼间也将赤裸裸的回去罢?但不能平的，为什么偏要白白走这一遭啊?
你聪明的，告诉我，我们的日子为什么一去不复返呢?
问答题 At the end of "Spirited Away", Hayao Miyazaki's animated
masterpiece, ten-year-old Chihiro uses her wits and her courage to escape from a
nightmarish world of ogres and witches. Japan enjoyed a similar deliverance last
week, when its central bank turned its back on an interest rate of zero for the
first time in almost six years. The quarter-point increase marked an end to the
rich world's longest economic stagnation since the Great Depression.
Throughout this 15-year ordeal, Japan has struggled with the difficult
issue of what to jettison and what to cling on to. On the face of it, it looks
as though the nation has preserved much of what made it different: it has, for
instance, held on to its preference for consensus and gradual change, to the
dominance of the Liberal Democratic Party and to a business culture that
shelters jobs. On closer examination, however, it becomes clear that the country
has come a long way. The economic and human cost of the lost
years was huge. Before the 1990 collapse of its property and stock-market
bubbles, Japan was the envy—and the fear—of the West. But the combination of
success and cheap capital that fuelled asset prices tempted companies into
impetuous investment and ill-judged diversification. They were backed by
reckless banks ready to lend to just about anyone with the right calling-card.
Complacent and corrupt politicians failed to reform the system. Deflation and
financial distress stifled growth. If Japan had grown at its trend rate
throughout those years, its economy would now be a quarter bigger in real terms
than it is. That was the price Japan paid for rejecting the
"shock therapy" with which America, Sweden and indeed neighboring South Korea
treated their own banking crises. Yet its failure to take radical action does
not mean it has remained completely unchanged. Gradually and reluctantly,
Japanese commerce has cleaned itself up. The banking regulator has at last
forced the country's banks to acknowledge the shocking extent of their dud loans
and is now more independent of its charges than it used to be. Companies have
unwound most of the cross-shareholdings that sheltered them from the discipline
of the capital markets. Though staff jobs in big companies are still for life,
there are fewer of them now because flexible temporary employment has caught on,
especially among women. This slow but steady reform is one
reason why the economy looks healthier than it has done in a long time. In
its latest survey of the Japanese economy this week, the OECD forecast growth of
more than 2%. That's hardly stunning (and pales beside China's
announcement this week that it grew at an annual rate of 11.3%, its fastest pace
for a decade, in the second quarter of this year); but it's respectable and
probably conservative. Yet the job is only half-finished, There
is a series of urgent tasks for the country. Monetary policy is at the top of
the list. Last time the central bank raised rates, in 2000, a disastrous
recession ensued. This time the increase is justified, because the economy
is fundamentally stronger; but the bank's inflation range of 0—2% is too wide
for comfort in a country still shaking off deflation. It needs to be closer to 2
%. And there is much else to do. At more than 170% of GDP
(less on a net basis) government debt is too high. Banks are still banned from
dealing in securities, which makes them weaker than they otherwise would be.
Foreigners are waiting for Japan to open the market for corporate control by
honoring its promise that they will, in effect, be able to issue shares to
finance a takeover. There is little competition, and therefore low productivity,
in the service sector. Japan's recovery has been slower and more
painful than it need have been; but failure to embrace radicalism in a recession
is understandable. Now that the nightmare is over, it is time for the government
to show some courage and for reform to pick up speed.
问答题The mechanism for facilitating the purchase and sale of goods，services，commodities， and securities abroad is known as the foreign exchange market．The actual purchase and sale of foreign exchange generally is accomplished through the international departments of large commercial banks．
The demand for foreign exchange can be either transaction or speculative based. The transactions demand for foreign exchange comes from those who wish to make payment to a foreign country for the purchase of a good，a service，or a security purchased from a resident of，or a company located in a foreign country．A resident of the United States wishing to make a remittance to a relative in the United Kingdom would also affect the demand for sterling. The same would be true if the resident of one country wished to make a contribution to a charity located in another country．Speculative demand for a currency is generated by the confidence speculators have in that currency vis-à-vis other world currencies．This demand could be based on political and/ or economic factors，as demonstrated during the 1970s．For example，when the mark was strong and the sterling weak，speculators would sell sterling to buy marks．
The supply of foreign exchange is provided by those who are willing to sell a currency they hold．This may include those who will receive payments in a foreign currency for the export of goods and services，the sale of securities to foreign residents，or the receipt of foreign exchange resulting from gifts or contributions made by foreign countries．International speculators arc also sources of supply when they feel the currency they hold is weak relative to other world currencies．
问答题No one can say exactly what it looks like when a planet looks ill, but it probably looks a lot like Earth. Never mind what you"ve heard about global warming as a slow-motion emergency that would take decades to play out. Suddenly and unexpectedly, the crisis is upon us.
It certainly looked that way last week as the atmospheric bomb that was Cyclone Larry—a Category 5 storm with wind bursts that reached 180 m.p.h.—exploded through northeastern Australia. It certainly looked that way last year as curtains of fire and dust turned the skies of Indonesia orange, thanks to drought-fueled blazes sweeping the island nation. It certainly looks that way as the sodden wreckage of New Orleans continues to molder, while the waters of the Atlantic gather themselves for a new hurricane season just two months away. Disasters have always been with us and surely always will be. But when they hit this hard and come this fast— when the emergency becomes commonplace—something has gone grievously wrong. That something is global warming.
问答题Questions 4～6
When Dana Hale adopted her son four years ago, she says she had to "play hardball" with her boss to get the same paid leave granted colleagues who give birth. The Washington employment lawyer knew then that if she and her self-employed husband adopted again, it would be under new management. So Hale began researching adoption-friendly workplaces, and soon focused on Capital One. The big financial-services company, headquartered in McLean, Va., offers $ 5,000 in assistance per adopted child, plus six weeks of paid leave. More important to Hale, the company fosters a supportive culture for adoptive parents, who network through a corporate intranet site. "I specifically chose Capital One so I could adopt more children," says Hale, 44, on the eve of a trip to Ukraine to bring home two teenage sisters.
Adoption has become an employment issue. Because more women delay parenthood to pursue careers during their prime childbearing years, some seek alternative avenues to build their families. With each adoption costing up to $ 30,000 and often demanding mounds of paperwork and weeks of travel, workers are asking their employers for help. They"re getting it, mainly from companies in competitive industries hungry to attract and keep talent. Google, JPMorgan Chase, Abbott Laboratories, Avon and Motorola have all added adoption assistance to their buffet of benefits. In 1990, only 12% of 1,000 companies surveyed by Hewitt Associates offered financial assistance for adoption. By 2006, 45% of companies did. Rita Sorensen, executive director of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, estimates that in 2007 fully half of employers provide adoption benefits and that within five years those offerings will be considered standard.
Dave Thomas, founder of Wendy"s, may have kicked off the trend 15 years ago when he began urging other CEOs to assist employees with adoption. Himself an adoptee, Thomas started his foundation to help find permanent homes for children in the US foster-care system. (More than 140,000 currently await adoption, according to Sorensen.) This year the foundation began tracking corporations and ranking them according to the generosity of their benefits. Of companies that provide adoption assistance, it found that $ 4,700 is offered on average per adoption and about double that if a child has special needs or is from foster care. Companies are also giving workers an average of five weeks of paid parental leave.
Even as employers retreat from providing expensive benefits like lifetime health coverage, they are finding that adoption assistance is relatively inexpensive—and yields disproportionately high rewards in employee loyalty, community goodwill and solid-gold p. r. Unlike maternity benefits, adoption assistance isn"t covered by medical or disability insurance, meaning the entire cost must come directly from an employer"s pocket. Still, only 0.5% of employees tap adoption benefits, but the assistance is so appreciated that workers gush about it to colleagues, spreading the warm, fuzzy corporate feelings. "Not to cheapen it, but it"s cost-effective goodwill," says Sorensen, "one that doesn"t hit the bottom line very hard. " Greg Rasin, a partner with Proskauer Rose who advises employers on benefits, points out that at the very least, the Families and Medical Leave Act compels employers with more than 50 workers to provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave. Legal bonus: offering adoption benefits might shield them from lawsuits by workers seeking parity with those who receive maternity leave.
Offering adoption assistance was an easy call for Steve Steinour, CEO of Citizens Financial Group and the father of two adopted children. "We knew from experience that for most Americans, adoption is an unaffordable option," he says. Citizens—a bank based in Providence, R. I. , with 25,000 employees—provides up to $ 21,000 in aid, a sum that helped put it at the top of the Dave Thomas Foundation"s list of adoption-friendly workplaces. Though Steinour says retention is much greater among the 100 or so workers who have used the benefits, he admits that this impact is hard to quantify for shareholders. "You can"t translate everything into a direct payback," he says.
Payback comes in the form of loyalty and gratitude from employees like Paula Cavallaro, a Citizens trust administrator. Already the parents of Amanda, 12, Cavallaro and her husband had "talked and talked" about adopting another child. The Cavallaros received $10,000 from Citizens to adopt Anny, 13, from Colombia last summer (employees receive more for special-needs adoptions). "We would still have done it, but having the benefit just made it so much easier," says Cavallaro, 48. "I will always, always, always be grateful for the help. "
问答题Directions:
In this part of the test, you will hear 2 passages in English. You will hear the passages ONLY ONCE. After you have heard each passage, translate it into Chinese and write your version in the corresponding space in your ANSWER BOOKLET. You may take notes while you are listening.
问答题
问答题"New Price"; "Just Reduced"; "Priced to Sell". Once unheard of, these tags are cropping up ever more often in the property sections of America's newspapers. They denote a shift that is becoming clearer in the national statistics, too: the fizz is going out of the once-bubbly housing market. Compared with last year, inventories of unsold houses are up and the pace of sales is down. Prices have slowed and in some areas have even fallen.
Residential construction now makes up more than 6% of GDP. This suggests that a 10% drop would shave some 0.6 percentage points off economic growth. A bigger question, however, is how slower prices might affect consumer spending. Experts expect that America's house prices will have stopped rising by the end of the year. Mainly because a flat market will put a brake on residential building, this is expected to reduce GDP growth by about 1.5 percentage points. "Just Reduced" might soon be a fitting label for the whole economy.
问答题[此试题无题干]
问答题中国赢得2010年世界博览会的举办权，靠的是国际社会对中国改革开放的支持和信心。这次博览会将是自1851年在英国伦敦第一次举办以来，首次在发展中国家举办的世界博览会，它表达了全世界人民对中国未来发展的期望。
2010年上海世博会的主题是“城市，让生活更美好”。未来的城市生活是全球关注的话题，与每一个国家及其人民息息相关。第一次以“城市”作为主题的2010世界博览会将吸引全球约 200个国家和国际组织参与盛会，国内外参访人数预计达7000万。
问答题Directions:
In this part of the test, you will hear 2 passages in English. After you have heard each sentence or paragraph, interpret it into Chinese. Start interpreting at the signal...and stop it at the signal... You may take notes while you are listening. Remember you will hear the passages ONLY ONCE. Now, let us begin Part A with the first passage.
问答题The task of writing a history of our nation from Rome's earliest days fills me, I confess, with some misgivings, and even were I confident in the value of my work, I should hesitate to say so. I am aware that for historians to make extravagant claims is, and always has been, all too common, every writer on history tends to look down his nose at his less cultivated predecessors, happily persuaded that he will better them in point of style, or bring new facts to light. Countless others have written on this theme and it may be that I shall pass unnoticed amongst them; if so, I must comfort myself with the greatness and splendor of my rivals, whose work will rob my own of recognition. My task, moreover, is an immensely laborious one. I shall have to go back more than 700 years, and trace my story from its small beginnings up to these recent times when its ramifications are so vast that any adequate treatment is hardly possible. I shall find antiquity a rewarding study, if only because, while I am absorbed in it, I shall be able to turn my eyes from the troubles which for so long have tormented the modern world, and to write without any of that over-anxious consideration which may well plague a writer on contemporary life, even if it does not lead him to conceal the truth.
问答题If you"ve ever been on a jury, you might have noticed that a funny thing happens the minute you get behind closed doors. Everybody starts talking about themselves. They say what they would have done if they had been the plaintiff or the defendant. Being on a jury reminds me why I can"t tolerate talk radio. We Americans seem to have lost the ability to talk about anything but our own experiences. We can"t seem to generalize without stereotyping or to consider evidence that goes against our own experience.
I heard a doctor on a radio show talking about a study that found that exercise reduces the incidence of Alzheimer"s. And caller after caller couldn"t wait to make essentially the opposite point: "Well, my grandmother never exercised and she lived to 95." We are in an age summed up by the saying: "I experience, therefore I"m right." Historically, the hallmarks of an uneducated person were the lack of ability to think critically, to use deductive reasoning to distinguish the personal from the universal. Now that seems an apt description of many Americans.
问答题After years of fierce lobbying and months of secrecy, Beijing unveiled five mascots for the 2008 Olympics on Friday, opening a marketing blitz that is expected to reap record profits. In an elaborate, nationally televised gala at a Beijing sports arena to mark the 1,000-day countdown until the Games, senior Chinese leaders introduced the mascots—cartoon renditions of a panda, fish, Tibetan antelope, swallow and the Olympic flame, each one the color of one of the Olympic rings. The animals were introduced as Bei Bei, Jing Jing, Huan Huan, Ying Ying and Ni Ni—which, put together, translates to "Beijing welcomes you!"
A plethora of real and mythic creatures were among the candidates considered by Chinese leaders, Olympic officials and design specialists over the past year. Among those that didn't make the cut were the dragon and a magical monkey out of Chinese folklore. The choice, the subject of lively media speculation for months, has been a secret since it was finalized three months ago.
问答题Short messages have already become a prevailing way to send greetings which make us smile and eager to resend them to other friends. But many of us have been taken aback by some unintelligible short messages or some lottery messages from various service suppliers. Whether we need it or not, they come to our mobile phones frequently.
Topic: Advantages and disadvantages of short messages
Questions for Reference:
1. Do you mind receiving short messages from people you don"t know?
2. Sometimes we receive the messages which are regarded as " warming greetings" And we usually resend them. Sometimes we receive the messages which are "rubbish". What do you think of these unsolicited messages?
3. In the competitive field of telecommunication, what do you think the service suppliers should do to meet the needs of the consumers?
问答题Graduates from under-privileged backgrounds are to challenge the elitism of the barristers' profession, under plans outlined today. Reforms aimed at challenging the dominance of the rich and privileged classes which are disproportionately represented among the membership of the Bar will tackle the decline in students from poorer backgrounds joining the profession. They include financial assistance as well as measures to end the "intimidating environment" of the barristers' chambers which young lawyers must join if they want to train as advocates. The increasing cost of the Bar and a perception that it is run by a social elite has halted progress in the greater inclusion of barristers from different backgrounds. A number of high- profile barristers, including the prime minister's wife, Cherie Booth QC, have warned that without changes, the Bar will continue to be dominated by white, middle-class male lawyers. In a speech to the Social Mobility Foundation think tank in London this afternoon, Geoffrey Vos QC, Bar Council chairman, will say. The Bar is a professional elite, by which I mean that the Bar's membership includes the best-quality lawyers practicing advocacy and offering specialist legal advice in many specialist areas. That kind of elitism is meritocratic, and hence desirable. "Unfortunately, however, the elitism which fosters the high-quality services that the Bar stands for has also encouraged another form of elitism. That is elitism in the sense of exclusivity, exclusion, and in the creation of a profession which is barely accessible to equally talented people from less privileged backgrounds." Last month, Mr. Vos warned that the future of the barristers' profession was threatened by an overemphasis on posh accents and public school education. Mr. Vos said then that people from ordinary backgrounds were often overlooked in favour of those who were from a "snobby" background. People from a privileged background were sometimes recruited even though they were not up to the job intellectually, he added. In his speech today, Mr. Vos will outline the "barriers to entry," to a career at the Bar and some of the ways in which these may be overcome. The Bar Council has asked the law lord, Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury, to examine how these barriers can be overcome, and he will publish his interim report and consultation paper before Easter. He is expected to propose a placement programme to enable gifted children from state schools to learn about the Bar, the courts and barristers at first hand. The Bar Council is also working towards putting together a new package of bank loans on favourable terms to allow young, aspiring barristers from poorer backgrounds to finance the Bar vocational course year and then have the financial ability to establish themselves in practice before they need to repay. These loans would be available alongside the Inns of Court's scholarship and awards programmes. Mr. Vos will say today: "I passionately believe that the professions in general, and the Bar in particular, must be accessible to the most able candidates from any background, whatever their race, gender, or socioeconomic group. The Bar has done well in attracting good proportions of women and racial minorities and we must be as positive in attracting people from all socioeconomic backgrounds./