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中级英语听力lesson 31

时间:2005-06-14 16:00:00

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(单词翻译)

Denise: On the contrary, I don't agree at all with people who say graphology is all nonsense. I think that at last it is beginning to be taken seriously as a proper science and not as some kind of fairground entertainment.
Leo: How did you start to become interested in graphology?
Denise: I've always been fascinated by people and what they are like, and then one day I was just looking at a book about different styles of handwriting and I got to thinking that it must all mean something, because we all have a different and individual style of our own. So that's how I began.
Leo: What exactly is the connection between the way we write and the way we are?
Denise: If you think about it, our handwriting, and our doodling too, are all products of our brain—a kind of extension of ourselves on paper, so, consciously or unconsciously, we are giving a kind of 'computer printout' of what we think or feel when we write. As the brain is where our thoughts and feelings lie, there is every reason to assume that our character is transmitted into our handwriting.
Leo: Now I know that a number of European firms have used graphology to evaluate potential employees for some time now, but I believe it's catching2 on in America too.
Denise: I'm now running my own San Francisco-based consultancy firm, which I started a decade ago, and now over two hundred firms come to me for advice on would-be employees.
Leo: How does it work out, then? Do they show you samples of an applicant's handwriting?
Denise: Yes, most companies nowadays require their new job applicants3 to provide at least a one-page writing sample which is then passed over to me for interpretation4.
Leo: How long does it take you to analyse a sample?
Denise: Oh, anything from three to eight hours, depending on the amount of detail required by the client.
Leo: And what can you tell from the sample you get?
Denise: A whole range of personality traits can be assessed, such as enthusiasm, ambition, imagination, diligence, sincerity5, secretiveness—just about everything, in fact.
Leo: Can you give us some tell-tale clues about the way we write? I'm sure our listeners will all be dying to hear something.
Denise: OK, you just write the letter 't', not a capital but an ordinary 't', please, Leo.
Leo: All right. There you are. Now what can you tell me from that?
Denise: Mmm ... well, the 't' you've written, which is more or less straight up and crossed with a diagonal stroke from south-west to north-east, as it were, indicates an optimistic kind of character to me. Would you describe yourself in that way?
Leo: Mmm, yes, I think so. Can you describe any other kinds of 't' for the benefit of our listeners?
Denise: Yes, of course. If, for example, you had written a 't' but crossed it only with a stroke on the left of the vertical6 stem, which didn't even reach it in fact, that would indicate a procrastinating7 character, someone who puts things off until tomorrow. Inefficiency8 can be identified by a 't' where there are two vertical strokes in the stem, reaching up to a rounded point, and then crossed right through. Mmm, what else can I say? A thick cross on the left of the stem, tapering9 to a point on the right of the stem, tells me that the writer is a sarcastic10 kind of person. Another thing is that a very practical sort of person always crosses his 't' halfway11 down the letter, whereas a 't' crossed high up the stem shows a dreamer. The letters 'm' and 'n' are also indicative of personality, depending on whether they are rounded or wedge-shaped.
Leo: I see. That's most interesting.
Denise: One little success story of mine, which I must tell you about, concerns Royal Office Products of New York. They once took a big chance on my analysis of an applicant's writing. His name was Harry12 Benson, in fact, and he was after an executive job, and he was a person they would never have taken on otherwise ... because he came across very badly orally and in his appearance. However, on the strength of my interpretation of his writing they took him on, and now, only a few years later, he's already President of the company.
Leo: I'd like now to turn to doodling because most of us doodle away merrily, quite absentmindedly, and hear what you have to say about that.
Denise: Oh, you can tell a great deal about people from their doodles as well as their handwriting. The doodle, to my mind, is a message straight from the subconscious13. The reason you are feeling the way you are is always written in your doodles.
Leo: Can you give us some indication of what you mean?
Denise: Take, for example, very angular or tangled14 horizontal lines ... Now, if a person when doodling does a lot of them, it is very indicative of hidden anger and frustration15. Arrows, when drawn16, stand for ambition, and when they are aimed in a lot of different directions, this will mean confusion in reaching goals.
Leo: Before we started the programme, I happened to be doodling on this pad here. What does that tell you about me? —that's if you can repeat it! (Laughs).
Denise: Well, let me see. You have drawn a very detailed17 and symmetrical design which tells me, superficially at any rate, that you are a very orderly and rather precise person—a conformist, if you like—who doesn't like chaos18 and has to have everything planned.
Leo: Yes, well, you're right to some extent. I've got one or two others here done by people in the studio. What can you say about them?
Denise: This one here, which has lots of little stars on it—now, they generally represent hope. And here, on this one, somebody has drawn a human eye, which is indicative of a suspicious or distrustful nature.
Leo: I'd better not tell you who is the artist, then!
Denise: Now, in this one, somebody has drawn a little human figure, which probably means they make friends very easily—and enemies too, incidentally.
Leo: Does everybody doodle?
Denise: Most people do it because they are bored, but some do it more than others. Creative people like architects or fashion designers do a great deal of aimless doodling, whereas writers, on the other hand, do very little because they have a way of expressing themselves in words. I think probably people with disabilities are the best doodlers, because their normal outlets19 are blocked.
Leo: What about actual writing implements20, does it make any difference what you choose to write with?
Denise: Indeed, yes. If you give people a choice of writing implements—say a pencil, a felt tip or an ordinary pen—the middle-of-the-roaders will go for the ordinary pen, those who want to leave the biggest impression with the least amount of work will take the felt tip. As for pencils, I won't say it's true in every case, some pencil users aren't very honest; pencils can be erased21, you see, so it's a way of leaving no traces. Criminals will almost always choose a pencil, although of course I'm not suggesting that all pencil users are criminals, of course.
Leo: Well, thank you very much, Denise. That was very interesting, and I'm sure from now on we'll all be careful not to leave our doodles lying around.

    The number of adult smokers22 in the United States keeps going down, down, down, almost twenty percent in the past decade, according to a new survey by the American Cancer Society. Their report based on the government's statistics shows that, while more and more women are taking up the smoking habit, more than enough men are quitting to make up for it. But that news about the women troubles Dr Ervin Mann, an obstetrician at Paxtang, Pennsylvania and he decided23 to do something about it. If you are a pregnant woman and if you smoke cigarettes, then Dr Mann will make you an offer that he hopes you can't refuse.
    "What we will do is, if you will not smoke throughout your pregnancy24, then we'll offer you one hundred dollars off the obstetric bill."
    "And how much is the typical bill, so how big is this discount going to be?"
    "Basically the obstetric bill is one thousand two hundred dollars. So it's a little less than ten percent."
    "What inspired you to try this hundred-dollar rebate25?"
    "We know that smoking during pregnancy results in lower birthrate incense26. In other words because of smoking babies are small at birth. And that's the one thing we really know. There have been other things that've been implicated27 that there is increasing birth defects in smoking women."
    "You should explain to me, explain to our listeners why that is of a concern to a doctor, or to a mother and her baby?"
    "We know that smaller weight babies have more difficulty in thriving in an early life, so that it takes both babies who are light in weight at the time of birth, will take at least a year of good care before they will come up to the standards."
    "So what are the results, does money talk in this case, or are women in your practice buying the idea?"
    "Well, money partially28 talks. We have had seventy-five women who have completed their pregnancy who have previously29 smoked. And of these seventy-five women, thirty-five of them have gone without smoking during the pregnancy."
    "Ah, so they're getting the hundred dollars."
    "They are getting the hundred dollars back. Certainly we haven't had any low birth weight children in that group of patients."
    "How do you know for sure that those thirty-five women have indeed not smoked at all? Maybe they're misleading you."
    "It's all an honor system. Each time they come for an examination they reaffirm their refusal to smoke. And certainly we trust those patients and feel that they are following it. Other patients, of course, have stated they have started smoking again. So I think it's a pretty good cross section."
    "And just one more thing. When, if we come back to you in a year from now, how much do you think..."
    "I can improve those figures."
    "Let me ask you this though, How much do you think you will be paying women to stop smoking?"
    "Well, we'll probably be raising it up to two-hundred or two-hundred-fifty-dollar range, I would think."
    Ervin Mann is an obstetrician at Paxtang, Pennsylvania.

Marriage Customs
    Today we are going to look at the social custom of marriage from a sociological point of view. All societies make provisions for who may mate with whom. The benefits of the social recognition of marriage for children are obvious. It gives them an identity, membership of a socially recognized group and some indication of who must support them and their mother.
    Now almost all societies have marriage, but there are wide variations in marriage systems. I will give three of the important areas of variation, and some details of each area. The three areas I shall deal with are: firstly, the number of mates each marriage partner may have; secondly30, the locality of the marriage (that is, where do the newly married partners set up home?); and thirdly, what arrangements there are for the transfer of wealth after the marriage. Let me deal with each of these in turn.
    First, how many mates? In existing human societies there are three possibilities. Most societies recognize POLYGYNY, and that's spelt P-O-L-Y-G-Y-N-Y, POLYGYNY, or the right of a man to take more than one wife. In a few societies (not in Africa) there is POLYANDRY, and that's spelt P-O-L-Y-A-N-D-R-Y, POLYANDRY, in which a woman is married to two or more men at the same time. Finally, especially in Europe and societies of European origin, there is MONOGAMY, and that's spelt M-O-N-O-G-A-M-Y, MONOGAMY. Monogamy limits one man to one wife and vice-versa.
    The second area of variation is, as we have said, the locality of the marriage. Here there seem to be three possibilities: at the husband's home, at the wife's home, or in some new place. The old term for the arrangement when a wife moves to her husband's family's household is a PATRILOCAL marriage, and that's spelt P-A-T-R-I-L-O-C-A-L, PATRILOCAL; a more modern term is VIRILOCAL, and we spell that V-I-R-I-L-O-C-A-L, VIRILOCAL. The opposite, when the man moves, is termed MATRILOCAL, and we spell that M-A-T-R-I-L-O-C-A-L, MATRILOCAL, or UXORILOCAL, and that's spelt U-X-O-R-I-L-O-C-A-L, UXORILOCAL marriage. The third possibility when they set up a new household somewhere else is called NEOLOCAL marriage, and that's spelt N-E-O-L-O-C-A-L, NEOLOCAL.
    The last area of variation is transfer of wealth on marriage. Here, once more, we seem to have three possibilities. Firstly we have BRIDEWEALTH, and that's spelt B-R-I-D-E-W-E-A-L-T-H, BRIDEWEALTH. In this system wealth is transferred by the husband or his relatives to the bride's family.
    This, of course, is the system familiar in Africa. We should remember that the bridewealth may take the form of the husband's labour services to his father-in-law rather than giving cattle or money. In some other societies the opposite system prevails and the wife brings with her a portion or DOWRY, and that's spelt D-O-W-R-Y, DOWRY, in the form of money or other wealth such as land. This was the system of, for example, traditional European societies, and is still practised in the Irish countryside. The third possibility is for the transfer of wealth to take the form of gifts to help the young couple set up the new household. This system is associated with the neolocal type of marriage. In England, these gifts are called wedding-presents. The near kin1, that is, the near relatives, of both bride and groom31 contribute and so do friends, neighbours and workmates. The presents customarily take the form of useful household goods, such as saucepans, tea sets or blankets.

 


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1 kin 22Zxv     
n.家族,亲属,血缘关系;adj.亲属关系的,同类的
参考例句:
  • He comes of good kin.他出身好。
  • She has gone to live with her husband's kin.她住到丈夫的亲戚家里去了。
2 catching cwVztY     
adj.易传染的,有魅力的,迷人的,接住
参考例句:
  • There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
  • Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。
3 applicants aaea8e805a118b90e86f7044ecfb6d59     
申请人,求职人( applicant的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • There were over 500 applicants for the job. 有500多人申请这份工作。
  • He was impressed by the high calibre of applicants for the job. 求职人员出色的能力给他留下了深刻印象。
4 interpretation P5jxQ     
n.解释,说明,描述;艺术处理
参考例句:
  • His statement admits of one interpretation only.他的话只有一种解释。
  • Analysis and interpretation is a very personal thing.分析与说明是个很主观的事情。
5 sincerity zyZwY     
n.真诚,诚意;真实
参考例句:
  • His sincerity added much more authority to the story.他的真诚更增加了故事的说服力。
  • He tried hard to satisfy me of his sincerity.他竭力让我了解他的诚意。
6 vertical ZiywU     
adj.垂直的,顶点的,纵向的;n.垂直物,垂直的位置
参考例句:
  • The northern side of the mountain is almost vertical.这座山的北坡几乎是垂直的。
  • Vertical air motions are not measured by this system.垂直气流的运动不用这种系统来测量。
7 procrastinating 071016597ffad9d4396b4a6abff1d0c5     
拖延,耽搁( procrastinate的现在分词 ); 拖拉
参考例句:
  • Begin while others are procrastinating. Save while others are wasting. 当别人拖延时你开始。当别人浪费时你节约。
  • Before adjourning, councillors must stop procrastinating and revisit this controversial issue. 在休会之前,参议员必须停止拖延,重新讨论这个引起争议的问题。
8 inefficiency N7Xxn     
n.无效率,无能;无效率事例
参考例句:
  • Conflict between management and workers makes for inefficiency in the workplace. 资方与工人之间的冲突使得工厂生产效率很低。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • This type of inefficiency arises because workers and management are ill-equipped. 出现此种低效率是因为工人与管理层都能力不足。 来自《简明英汉词典》
9 tapering pq5wC     
adj.尖端细的
参考例句:
  • Interest in the scandal seems to be tapering off. 人们对那件丑闻的兴趣似乎越来越小了。
  • Nonproductive expenditures keep tapering down. 非生产性开支一直在下降。
10 sarcastic jCIzJ     
adj.讥讽的,讽刺的,嘲弄的
参考例句:
  • I squashed him with a sarcastic remark.我说了一句讽刺的话把他给镇住了。
  • She poked fun at people's shortcomings with sarcastic remarks.她冷嘲热讽地拿别人的缺点开玩笑。
11 halfway Xrvzdq     
adj.中途的,不彻底的,部分的;adv.半路地,在中途,在半途
参考例句:
  • We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路,天就黑了。
  • In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上,最忌讳的是有始无终。
12 harry heBxS     
vt.掠夺,蹂躏,使苦恼
参考例句:
  • Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天,人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
  • Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。
13 subconscious Oqryw     
n./adj.潜意识(的),下意识(的)
参考例句:
  • Nail biting is often a subconscious reaction to tension.咬指甲通常是紧张时的下意识反映。
  • My answer seemed to come from the subconscious.我的回答似乎出自下意识。
14 tangled e487ee1bc1477d6c2828d91e94c01c6e     
adj. 纠缠的,紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词
参考例句:
  • Your hair's so tangled that I can't comb it. 你的头发太乱了,我梳不动。
  • A movement caught his eye in the tangled undergrowth. 乱灌木丛里的晃动引起了他的注意。
15 frustration 4hTxj     
n.挫折,失败,失效,落空
参考例句:
  • He had to fight back tears of frustration.他不得不强忍住失意的泪水。
  • He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。
16 drawn MuXzIi     
v.拖,拉,拔出;adj.憔悴的,紧张的
参考例句:
  • All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
  • Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。
17 detailed xuNzms     
adj.详细的,详尽的,极注意细节的,完全的
参考例句:
  • He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
  • A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。
18 chaos 7bZyz     
n.混乱,无秩序
参考例句:
  • After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后,城市一片混乱。
  • The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。
19 outlets a899f2669c499f26df428cf3d18a06c3     
n.出口( outlet的名词复数 );经销店;插座;廉价经销店
参考例句:
  • The dumping of foreign cotton blocked outlets for locally grown cotton. 外国棉花的倾销阻滞了当地生产的棉花的销路。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • They must find outlets for their products. 他们必须为自己的产品寻找出路。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
20 implements 37371cb8af481bf82a7ea3324d81affc     
n.工具( implement的名词复数 );家具;手段;[法律]履行(契约等)v.实现( implement的第三人称单数 );执行;贯彻;使生效
参考例句:
  • Primitive man hunted wild animals with crude stone implements. 原始社会的人用粗糙的石器猎取野兽。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • They ordered quantities of farm implements. 他们订购了大量农具。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
21 erased f4adee3fff79c6ddad5b2e45f730006a     
v.擦掉( erase的过去式和过去分词 );抹去;清除
参考例句:
  • He erased the wrong answer and wrote in the right one. 他擦去了错误答案,写上了正确答案。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • He removed the dogmatism from politics; he erased the party line. 他根除了政治中的教条主义,消除了政党界限。 来自《简明英汉词典》
22 smokers d3e72c6ca3bac844ba5aa381bd66edba     
吸烟者( smoker的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • Many smokers who are chemically addicted to nicotine cannot cut down easily. 许多有尼古丁瘾的抽烟人不容易把烟戒掉。
  • Chain smokers don't care about the dangers of smoking. 烟鬼似乎不在乎吸烟带来的种种危害。
23 decided lvqzZd     
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的
参考例句:
  • This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
  • There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。
24 pregnancy lPwxP     
n.怀孕,怀孕期
参考例句:
  • Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
  • Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。
25 rebate GTIxY     
v./n.折扣,回扣,退款;vt.给...回扣,给...打折扣
参考例句:
  • You can claim a rebate on your tax.你可以要求退回部分税款。
  • Customers are to benefit from a rebate on their electricity bills.顾客将从他们的电费退费中得到实惠。
26 incense dcLzU     
v.激怒;n.香,焚香时的烟,香气
参考例句:
  • This proposal will incense conservation campaigners.这项提议会激怒环保人士。
  • In summer,they usually burn some coil incense to keep away the mosquitoes.夏天他们通常点香驱蚊。
27 implicated 8443a53107b44913ed0a3f12cadfa423     
adj.密切关联的;牵涉其中的
参考例句:
  • These groups are very strongly implicated in the violence. 这些组织与这起暴力事件有着极大的关联。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Having the stolen goods in his possession implicated him in the robbery. 因藏有赃物使他涉有偷盗的嫌疑。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
28 partially yL7xm     
adv.部分地,从某些方面讲
参考例句:
  • The door was partially concealed by the drapes.门有一部分被门帘遮住了。
  • The police managed to restore calm and the curfew was partially lifted.警方设法恢复了平静,宵禁部分解除。
29 previously bkzzzC     
adv.以前,先前(地)
参考例句:
  • The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
  • Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿,解释原先发生了什么。
30 secondly cjazXx     
adv.第二,其次
参考例句:
  • Secondly,use your own head and present your point of view.第二,动脑筋提出自己的见解。
  • Secondly it is necessary to define the applied load.其次,需要确定所作用的载荷。
31 groom 0fHxW     
vt.给(马、狗等)梳毛,照料,使...整洁
参考例句:
  • His father was a groom.他父亲曾是个马夫。
  • George was already being groomed for the top job.为承担这份高级工作,乔治已在接受专门的培训。

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