The language barrier presents itself in stark form to firms who wish to market their products in other countries. British industry, in particular, has in recent decades often been criticized for its linguistic insularity---for its assumption that foreign buyers will be happy to communicate in English, and that awareness of other languages is not therefore s priority. In the 1960s, over two- thirds of British firms dealing with non-English-speaking customers were using English for outgoing correspondence; many had their sales literature only in English; and as many as 40 percent employed no-one able to communicate in the customer's languages. A similar problem was identified in other English-speaking countries, notably the USA, Australia and New Zealand. And non-English speaking countries were by no means exempt--although the widespread use of English as an alternative language made them less open to the charge of insularity.

　　The criticism and publicity given to this problem since the 1960s seems to have greatly improved the situation. Industrial training schemes have promoted an increase in linguistic and cultural awareness. Many firms now have their own translation services. Some firms run part-time language courses in the languages of the countries with which they are most involved; some produce their own technical glossaries, to ensure consistency when material is being translated. It is now much more readily appreciated that marketing efforts can be delayed, damaged or disrupted by a failure to take account of the linguistic needs of the customer.

　　47. Language problems may come to the attention of the public when they have ______ such as fatal accidents or social problems.

　　48. What can we infer about American doctors from the case of the poisonous mushrooms?

　　49. Evidence of the extent of the language barrier can be gained from ______ of materials used by scientists such as books and periodicals.

　　50. An example of British linguistic insularity is the use of English for materials such as ______.

　　51. What ways have been used by the British companies to solve the problem of language barrier since the 1960s?

　　47. major consequences

　　48. They probably only read reports written in English.

　　49. surveys/ studies

　　50. sales literature outgoing correspondence

　　51. Industrial training schemes, translation services, part-time language courses and technical glossaries.

　　答案及解析

　　47.第二段第二句“Publicity comes only when a failure to communicate has major consequences， such as strikes，lost orders，legal problems or fatal accidents—even，at times，war.”中的“Publicity”就是題目中的“come to the attention of the public”，由此可見，當語言障礙導致“重大后果(major consequences)”，如罷工等等社會問題或者致命的事故時，才會引起關注。因此，答案為“major consequences”。

　　48.毒蘑菇事件是作者在第二段關于語言問題導致致命事故所舉的例子。第二段最后一句作者講道“Presumably because the report of the treatment had been published only in journals written in European languages other than English.”，由此我們可以推斷美國醫生大概很少讀用英語以外的語言所寫的報道或論著。故答案為“They probably only read reports written in English”。

　　49.第三段第二句“But isolated examples do not give an impression of the size of the problem- something that can come only from studies of the use or avoidance of foreign-language materials and contacts in different communicative situations.”中的“size of the problem”就是指問題的嚴重程度，即題目中的“extent of the language barrier”。可見“研究”外語材料的使用情況可以幫助了解語言障礙問題的程度。由此，答案可以是“studies”。第三段第三句“In the English-speaking scientific world，for example，surveys of books and documents consulted in libraries and other information agencies have shown that very little foreign-language material is ever cnsulted.”指出調查信息機構中書和文件的查閱情況可以知道對外語材料的查閱很少。可見“調查”這些材料的查閱情況可以獲得證據。由此，答案也可以是“surveys”。

　　50.由第四段第三句“In the 1960s，over two-thirds of British firms dealing with non-English- speaking customers were using English for out going correspondence;many had their sales literature only in English”可見他們用英語來寫往來函件和產品說明、銷售宣傳這樣的一些材料。由于題目只要求寫出一個例子，所以答案可以是“sales literature”或者“outgoing correspondence”。

　　51.文章最后一段提到了20世紀60年代以來英國的各家公司用于解決語言障礙問題的四種方法：“Industrial training schemes have promoted an increase in linguistic and cultural awareness.Many firms now have their own translation services.Some firms run part-time language courses in the languages of the countries with which they are most involved;some produce their own technical glossaries，to ensure consistency when material is being translated.”，因此，答案為“Industrial training schemes，translation services，part-time language courses and technical glossaries.”。

　　Mobile office is the mutual product of economic，scientific，and social progress.Mobile office has become a solution that provides users with convenient，prompt，safe，reliable，and reasonably priced communications and office faculty anywhere anytime via the sup port of mobile interconnection platform(MIP)and its applications systems.

　　When you leave your office to attend meetings or travel on business，what would happen to your business routine?Of course，faxes and e-mails would be still sent to your fax machine or e-mail box，but you cannot read them and make prompt reaction timely.When your clients need you to make some urgent modifications on your work and you are neither in the office nor carrying relevant documents，what can you do?Maybe you have to say“sorry”to the clients.But，your business will be affected，the clients will be unhappy and disappointed because of your delay，and you will lose a lot of business opportunities.

　　In fact，very frequently，you need to check，reply，distribute，display，modify，or read some materials when you are not in your office.You must get out of this dilemma.The best solution to normally handle your business anywhere anytime and not to disappoint your clients is to let your office“move”with you.Thus，you can have convenient，prompt，safe，reliable，and reasonably priced communications and office faculty anywhere anytime.With the development of communications technology，network application，and wireless interconnection，mobile office has become simpler and smaller，and even can be realized via one mobile phone with data communications function.Thus，mobile office has already been put into your pocket，and office mobility has been realized.

　　Mobile office has provided people with convenient，casual working environment，but at the same time it still has some unsatisfactory aspects such as mismatching equipment interface(接口，界面) and inadequate battery. Nevertheless，we believe that with technical progress，people can certainly overcome all kinds of difficulties.Mobile office will make your career unimpeded，and will realize the dream of completely free communication.Users will enjoy more colorful life and better working environment，and users' living standard，working efficiency，and even enterprises' production efficiency will certainly be immensely raised.

　　Questions 1 to 5 are based on the passage above.

　　1.It can be inferred from the passage that_____.

　　A.mobile office is the only way by which people could enjoy prompt and safe working environment

　　B.with the development of science,mobile office comes to our life inevitably

　　C.people had no convenient and reliable communications and office faculty before

　　D.mobile interconnection platform and its application systems is the core of mobile office

　　2.We learn from the passage that without mobile office,_____.

　　A.you cannot put your business routine aside or attend meetings

　　B.you cannot read faxes and e-mails when you travel on business

　　C.you cannot make apologies to the clients for your delay

　　D.you cannot catch any business opportunities because of bad working condition

　　3.The passage suggests that mobile office is neccessary,especially when_____.

　　A.you need to make some urgent modification on your work

　　B.you need to read and reply faxes and e-mails

　　C.you are out of the office to attend meetings

　　D.you can put the mobile office into your pocket

　　4.Which of the following statement best expresses the main idea of the second paragraph?

　　A.When you leave your office,you should not forget your business routine.

　　B.You will lose a lot of business opportunities if you always delay your work.

　　C.When you leave your office,your business routine would be harmed.

　　D.When you cannot meet the need of your clients,you should say"sorry".

　　5.In the eyes of the author,mobile office_____.

　　A.has some fatal shortcomings

　　B.is too expensive to afford

　　C.would be realized in the future

　　D.has both advantages and disadvantages

　　參考答案：

　　1.選D.本題為主要細節正誤題。第一段第一句說明移動辦公室是經濟，社會和科技三者發展共同的產物，并非B選項所說的是科技進步的必然產物;A選項中用了“only”，太片面;C選項在文中并無相應論述。

　　2.選B.本題為主要細節正誤題。原文第二段第二句說“faxes and e-mails would be still sent to your fax machine or e-mail box，but you cannot read them……”B選項與其意思一致。

　　3.選C.本題為主要細節正誤題。A選項和B選項表述正確，但都缺少一個前提：當你不在辦公室的時候。D選項和題干毫無關系。

　　4.選C.本題為主旨歸納題。A選項與原文意思不符;B選項沒有概括出整個段落的意思;D選項在文中沒有提及。

　　5.選D.本題為觀點態度推斷題。從原文最后一段“people can certainly overcome all kinds of difficulties”可推斷，移動辦公室的缺點不是致命的，排除A選項;B、C選項在文中無相應論述;最后一段第一句說“it still has some unsatisfactory aspects such as mismatching equipment interface”，由此可知，移動辦公室除了有很多優點外也有其缺點。