高级口译0709听力原文汇总合集（6）

2010-09-08 00:00:00来源：网络

　　凌凌教你学口语：每日一句系列
　　备战口译：原创双语时事汇总
　　2010秋季上海口译考试报名通知

　　上海中高级口译考试分为笔试和口试，在笔试考试通过后会颁发笔试证书，通过一次笔试可以获得四次口试的机会。中高级口译的笔试和口试虽然是分开进行的，但其笔试的证书在社会上却有很高的认可度。

　　高级口译0709听力原文汇总合集（6）

　　This is the end of SECTION 1, listening test.

　　SECTION 4: LISTENING TEST

　　Part A: Note-taking And Gap-filling

　　Directions: In this part of the test you will hear a short talk. You will hear the talk ONLY ONCE. While listening to the talk, you may take notes on the important points so that you can have enough information to complete a gap-filling task on a separate ANSWER BOOKLET. You will not get your ANSWER BOOKLET until after you have listened to the talk.

　　Now listen to the talk carefully.

　　Good morning, and welcome to today’s lecture.Today we’re going to discuss the mass urbanization of the world’s population, which is an unprecedented trend worldwide. First, I’ll focus on two major reasons why people are moving to cities. Well, the first reason is economic. People are moving to the cities because that’s where they can find jobs and earn money. Until the 20th century, the major source of employment, full and part-time, was farming. Now, no more than 15% of all jobs are connected to farming. Jobs now are being created in information technology, manufacturing, and service areas, such as tourism and financing. And all of these new jobs are in or around major cities. The second reason for the move to cities has to do with the quality of life issues, comfort and convenience. For example, most of us would like our children to receive a good education. And cities often offer better schools. And then for many, city life is just more comfortable. There are transportation networks, shops, and places of entertainment. An interesting consequence of urbanization is that the average age of people in the countryside is increasing, while that of the cities is falling. More old people stay in the countryside than young people. And the opposite is true in the cities. This is of course connected to the fact that it’s the young people who want jobs Now I’d like to identify three key changes in our cities. First of all, they are getting bigger and bigger. For the first time in history, there will soon be more people living in urban areas than in rural environments. Most cities are bigger now than ever before. In 1950, New York City was the only city with a population of 10 million. For the first time in the history of society, we now have many cities with populations of over 10 million people, where we call “mega cities”. Tokyo, Mexico City, Shanghai, New York City and Sao Paulo are just a few examples of today’s mega cities. And experts say that the number of mega cities will increase in the future.Cities are not just getting bigger. They’re also changing shape. They’re getting taller, because land is getting more and more expensive. So instead of having a few big houses on a piece of land, we can have a tall apartment building that a thousand people can live in. All of you can probably think of buildings or parks or stores that have been torn down to make room for bigger, taller or more modern buildings. Skyscrapers have become a symbol of modern cities. Cities are also changing shape in other ways. The concentric zone model represents the structure of some cities built at the beginning of the 20th century. The business district is in the center, surrounded by the other zones. But the sector model and the multiple nuclei model are probably more typical of the cities we know today. They show the urban sprawl that’s occurring in contemporary cities. Urban Sprawl basically means that cities are spreading out, often in an uncontrolled way. Notice that in these two models, the business district is close to all the other districts. This sprawl often occurs in random and unpredictable ways, and has a huge impact on the quality of life of city residents. The third change is that our cities are breaking up into smaller communities, often by ethnic group or income level. Of course, many cities do have a kind of identity or personality. But the city is not homogeneous. For example, migrants to the cities often want to live in their own communities or with people from a similar cultural background. Another example is that if you’re moving from a smaller community to a city, you’ll be most likely to move close to friends or family members, who will help you get a job or give you support.However, this often means that people stay within their community and do not come into contact with others from different backgrounds. The biggest challenge facing us now is to improve the quality of life in cities. Because sadly, they don’t always offer the economic security, the safety, or the comfort they promise. Many cities have slum areas or ghettos, where people live in dangerous or destitute conditions. The beautiful architecture and vibrant night life are one face of the city. But cities also have problems of inequality, crowding and poverty.

　　本文选自新东方口译名师裴晓栋的blog,blog链接地址：http://blog.hjenglish.com/peixiaodong