Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Stevenson’s, one of the country’s major manufacturers of metal goods. Thank you for choosing us for your two weeks of work experience. My name is Julia Simmons, and since the beginning of this year I’ve been the managing director.
Stevenson’s is quite an old company. Like me, the founder, Ronald Stevenson, went into the steel industry when he left school – that was in 1923. He set up this company when he finished his apprenticeship, in 1926 【Q11】, although he actually started making plans two years earlier, in 1924. He was a very determined young man!
Stevenson’s long-term plan was to manufacture components for the machine tools industry – although in fact that never came about – and for the automotive industry, that is, cars and lorries. However, there was a delay of five years before that happened, because shortly before the company went into production, Stevenson was given the opportunity to make goods for hospitals and other players in the healthcare industry, so that’s what we did for the first five years 【Q12】.
Over the years, we’ve expanded the premises considerably – we were lucky that the site is big enough, so moving to a new location has never been necessary 【Q13】. However, the layout is far from ideal for modern machinery and production methods, so we intend to carry out major refurbishment of this site 【Q13】 over the next five years.
I’d better give you some idea of what you’ll be doing during your two weeks with us, so you know what to expect. Most mornings you’ll have a presentation from one of the managers 【Q14】, to learn about their department, starting this morning with research and development. And you’ll all spend some time in each department, observing what’s going on and talking to people – as long as you don’t stop them from doing their work altogether! In the past, a teacher from your school has come in at the end of each week to find out how the group were getting on, but your school isn’t able to arrange that this year.
OK, now I’ll briefly help you to orientate yourselves around the site. As you can see, we’re in the reception area, which we try to make attractive and welcoming to visitors. There’s a corridor running left from here, and if you go along that, the door facing you at the end is the entrance to the coffee room. This looks out onto the main road on one side, and some trees on the other 【Q15】, and that’ll be where you meet each morning.
The factory is the very big room on the far side of the site. Next to it is the warehouse, which can be accessed by lorries going up the road to the turning area at the end. You can get to the warehouse by crossing to the far side of the courtyard, and then the door is on your right 【Q16】.
Somewhere you’ll be keen to find is the staff canteen. This is right next to reception 【Q17】. I can confidently say that the food’s very good, but the view isn’t. The windows on one side look onto a corridor and courtyard, which aren’t very attractive at all, and on the other onto the access road, which isn’t much better.
You’ll be using the meeting room quite often, and you’ll find it by walking along the corridor to the left of the courtyard, and continuing along it to the end. The meeting room is the last one on the right 【Q18】, and I’m afraid there’s no natural daylight in the room.
Then you’ll need to know where some of the offices are. The human resources department is all the front of this building, so you head to the left along the corridor from reception, and it’s the second room you come to. It looks out onto the main road 【Q19】.
And finally, the boardroom 【Q20】, where you’ll be meeting sometimes. That has quite a pleasant view, as it looks out on to the trees. Go along the corridor past the courtyard, right to the end. The boardroom is on the left, next to the factory.
OK, now are there any questions before we …
Choose the correct letter, A, B or C.
听前预测：定位词为 Stevenson’s；限定词为 founded。
题目解析：录音一开始就提及定位词，但是整篇独白都与 Stevenson’s 这一企业有关，仅根据 Stevenson’s 较难精准定位，故要结合限定词 founded（成立，创立）判断答案。但是该词容易被同义替换，因此听的时候要注意抓取其同义表达。本题的选项不太可能被替换，但是容易出现干扰信息。录音中先出现 A 选项的 1923， 解释说明 went into the steel industry（进入钢铁制造业）的时间，不符合题干的要求，故 A 不能选；然后听到 C 选项的 1926，解释说明 set up this company 的时间，set up 对应题干的 founded，意为“创建”，故 C 正确；最后听到 B 选项 的 1924，解释说明 started making plans two years earlier（两年前开始制订计划） 的时间，不符合题干要求。因此答案为 C。
听前预测：定位词为 manufactured goods；限定词为 Originally。
题目解析：定位词 manufactured goods 是录音中 manufacturing components（制造零配件）的同义替换。在定位词出现后，首先听到 C 选项的 machine tools industry，但后面说 never came about，直接否定了，故 C 不能选。然后听到 B 选项的 automotive industry，但是下一句出现了转折“however, there was a delay of five years before that happened,”（但是公司推迟了 5 年才开始生产），与限定词 Originally 相矛盾，故 B 不能选。最后听到 A 选项的 healthcare industry，答案句 “… so that’s what we did for the first five years.”中的 first five years（最初的 5 年）为限定词 Originally 的同义表达，因此答案为 A。
听前预测：定位词为 company premises。
题目解析：定位词 premises 原词出现，随后出现答案句 a new location has never been necessary, 否定搬迁的必要性，紧接着听到“we intend to carry out major refurbishment of this site”（我们打算就地进行大规模翻新），因此答案为 B。碰到选项讨论的是同一件事的单选题，审题时注意区分选项的不同点，相同点可以作为要抓取的关键信息。
听前预测：定位词为 work experience group。
题目解析：审题时判断定位词为 work experience group，实际上这是整个独白的主题词，在录音的第 2 句话就可以听到 work experience，本题很难精准定位，只能通过选项以及录音内容来判断。so you know what to expect 后出现答案句“Most mornings you’ll have a presentation from one of the managers …”，其中 presentation from one of the managers 对应 talks by staff，因此答案为 C。接着听到 A 选项的关键词 research，但是录音中说的是 learn about their department, starting this morning with research and development（了解他们所在的部门，今天上午先从研发部门开始），与题干 time to do research（有时间做研究）意思不符，这属于偷换概念，故 A 选项不能选。最后听到“In the past, a teacher … but your school isn’t able to … this year”，其中提到了 teacher 一词，根据 In the past、isn’t、this year 可知 B 选项的 语义信息不完整，故 B 不能选。