recently? Questions 23 to 26 are based on the following interview. (Woman) Hello and welcome to this week’s edition of “Consumers’ Rights”. Today we’ve brought you out of the city center and into Mr. Nick Marshfield’s office which overlooks the Armlay International Airport. Mr. Nick Marshfield is the assistant manager of the Atlantic Airlines. And he is going to tell us something about the changes, if any, taking place in our airline companies. Nick? (Man) Hello. A few months ago four airline companies decided to create what you could call a third-class section by separating their discount passengers and giving them less service than the regular full-fare fliers. (Woman) I should think that would make things more complicated for the crew, with another group of passengers to take care of. (Man) Well, the plan turned out to be rather unpopular with some people anyway. One airline has completely dropped the idea after using it for about a month, saying “nobody liked it”. Another company doesn’t know whether it will go on with it or not. Two other companies say they will continue the service only on their overseas flights. One thing about it—it’s competition. The airline companies have been freed from federal government, and can now make their policies to please the customers. I suppose there is some advantage for the regular flight passengers because under this plan they get better service than the discount passengers. At any rate, the good part about it is that the customers will be the ones to decide what they want rather than the federal government. If the airline companies get more customers with the three-class system they may let it stay that way. If flights with only two classes are more popular overall, that is the way it will turn out. Question No.23. Initially, how many passenger classes were approved by the federal government? Question No.24. What does the man tell us about the new plan being tried out by the airline companies? Question No.25. How did the airline companies respond to the new idea? Question No.26. Who would be expected to benefit most from the new plan? Questions 27 to 30 are based on the following conversation. (Man) Do you know what day it is tomorrow? (Woman) Yes, it’s Wednesday, the eleventh of March. Why? What’s special about that? (Man) The eleventh of March. It’s my anniversary. I will have been here for two years tomorrow. (Woman) Really? It can’t have been that long! It seems like just a couple of weeks ago. (Man) I must have seemed like a green kid when I walked in that door. (Woman) It was your first job, wasn’t it? (Man) My first job, and the only job I’ve ever had. (Woman) But you’ve been promoted and transferred. You’ve done pretty well, I think. (Man) Yes, I suppose I have, but I should have kept on in night school. I should have gone ahead and taken some courses in Business Administration. (Woman) Are you thinking about going back and doing it now? (Man) I may. The work in the accounting department is getting to be pretty routine. And I feel that I can do with some change. Don’t you ever feel that way about your job? (woman) All the traveling I do keeps it interesting. I get to see a lot of different places. (Man) You must have visited just about every big city in the country. (Woman) Most of them, and quite a few in Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean too. (Man) While I just stay in the same old office day after day. (Woman) You do sound restless! You’d really better look into the business administration course. (Man) Yes, I guess I should. I’ll talk with Joyce and see what she has to say bout it. (Woman) You mean Joyce Carter, the Accounting Manager? I’m sure she’d encourage you to go ahead. (Man) I was so afraid of her when I first walked in. And now I just think of her as a friend. I wonder what the next two years are going to bring. Question No.27. When is the conversation taking place? Question No.28. How long will the man have worked there by the eleventh of March? Question No.29. According to the woman, why does she find her job interesting? Question No.30. Why does the man want to take the business administration course? Part C: Listening and Translation Ⅰ. Sentence Translation Directions: In this part of the test, you will hear 5 English sentences. You will hear the sentences ONLY ONCE. After you have heard each sentence, translate it into Chinese and write your version in the corresponding space in your ANSWER BOOKLET. Now let’s begin Sentence Translation with Sentence No. 1. Sentence No.1. There’s one other place you shouldn’t miss while you are in Hong Kong. It’s an absolute must for the kids. They would certainly enjoy going there. Sentence No.2. Considering the favourable financial and political support and investment environment we now have, I think we ought to go ahead with the project. Sentence No.3. In this country, about 1.5 million people are employed in tourism, and every year the tourist industry contributes 300 million dollars to the national economy. Sentence No.4. His failure to get the promotion was a real blow to Peter Brown, who had been an assistant manager in the company for more than five years. Sentence No.5. You’ll earn a 5 percent interest on this type of deposit account, which is higher than the average interest rate, but there’ll be a penalty for early withdrawal. Ⅱ. Passage Translation Directions: In this part of the test, you will hear 2 passages. 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 BOOLLET. You may take notes while you are listening. Now, let’s begin Passage Translation with the first passage. Passage 1 The trouble with living in the country is that it’s much too quiet. There aren’t enough things to do, and there are so few buses that you cannot get into town easily in the evening if you haven’t got a car. Shops and services are not near enough, either. And when it rains, some of the roads get too muddy to walk on. Yesterday it rained so much that I got covered in mud up to my knees just walking home from work. Passage 2 A common misconception about suicide is that most people who take their own lives are old and near death. The truth is that those under 50 are more likely to commit suicide than those over 50. Suicide, or taking one’s own life, usually results from severe depression or inability to cope with failure in one’s study and career. It is now the third leading cause of death among young people between age 15 and 25, and it is the second leading cause of death among university and college students.