2022-2023学年江苏省南京市外国语学校四校高三上学期12月联考英语试题（word版）

这是一份2022-2023学年江苏省南京市外国语学校四校高三上学期12月联考英语试题（word版），共14页。试卷主要包含了5 分，满分 7，15， Where is Mr等内容，欢迎下载使用。
南京市四校2022-2023学年高三上学期12月联考
英语试卷
第一部分：听力（共两节，满分 30 分）
第一节 (共 5 小题；每小题 1.5 分，满分 7.5 分)
听下面 5 段对话。每段对话后有一个小题，从题中所给的 A、B、C 三个 选项中选出最佳选项。听完每段对话后，你都有 10 秒钟的时间来回答有关小题 和阅读下一小题。每段对话仅读一遍。
例：How much is the shirt?
A. £19.15. B. £9.18. C. £9.15.
答案是C。
1. What will the man do next?
A. Finish his drink. B. Prepare for the party. C. Talk with the woman.
2. Where is Mr. Davies now?
A. At home. B. In his office. C. On his way to office.
3. Why does the girl feel worried?
A. She failed the exam.
B. She didn’t achieve her goal.
C. Her mother will punish her.
4. Where does the conversation most probably take place?
A. In a library. B. In a classroom. C. In a bookstore.
5. What are the speakers mainly talking about?
A. High labor costs in America.
B. A way of life in America.
C. Living conditions in America.
第二节 (共 15 小题；每小题 1.5 分，满分 22.5 分)
听下面 5 段对话或独白。每段对话或独白后有几个小题，从题中所给的 A、B、C 三个选项中选出最佳选项。听每段对话或独白前，你将有时间阅读各个小 题，每小题 5 秒钟；听完后，各小题将给出 5 秒钟的作答时间。每段对话或独 白读两遍。
听第 6 段材料，回答第 6、7 题。
6. What are the speakers talking about?
A. Whether to have lunch.
B. What to have for lunch.
C. Where to have lunch.
7. What do we know about the man?
A. He prefers expensive restaurants.
B. He wants to eat fast food today.
C. His neighborhood is a bit far from the market.
听第 7 段材料，回答第 8、9 题。
8. Why does the man like traveling by train?
A. He thinks it is safe.
B. He can meet different people.
C. He can enjoy the scene outside.
9. What does the woman dislike about traveling by train?
A. The noise. B. The speed. C. The platform.
听第 8 段材料，回答第 10 至 12 题。
10. What is the relationship between the speakers?
A. Boss and secretary. B. Husband and wife. C. Guide and tourist.
11. How long is the speakers’ trip?
A. Two days. B. Five days. C. Seven days.
12. What will the speakers visit tomorrow?
A. A museum. B. A church. C. A tower.
听第 9 段材料，回答第 13 至 16 题。
13. What is the man probably?
A. A host. B. A pianist. C. A reporter.
14. How much does the ticket for the jazz performance cost on Thursday night?
A. £8. B. £10. C. £12.
15. When will the heavy metal kings Megablitz perform?
A. On Thursday. B. On Friday. C. On Saturday.
16. Where will the new seventies soul night be held?
A. At the Jazz Cafe. B. At the Sound Club. C. At the Queen’s Hall.
听第 10 段材料，回答第 17 至 20 题。
17. When did the consultants do the survey?
A. Several months ago. B. Several weeks ago. C. Several days ago.
18. What was the company’s score for friendliness as a whole?
A. 8 out of 10. B. 7 out of 10. C. 6 out of 10.
19. How did the consultants suggest the company improve their friendliness?
A. By using classic music.
B. By answering the calls cheerfully.
C. By using some good phrases on the phone.
20. What did the company staff do well in?
A. How quickly they answered the calls.
B. How efficiently they dealt with inquiries.
C. How exactly they remembered the callers’ names.
第二部分 阅读(共两节，满分50分)
第一节 (共15小题；每小题2.5分，满分37.5分)
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的 A、B、C 和 D 四个选项中，选出最佳选项。
A
DIRECTOR GENERALC
WWF INTERNATIONAL
WWF is an independent conservation organization active in nearly 100 countries, working to sustain the natural world for the benefit of people and nature.
We are part of a growing group calling on world leaders to set nature on the path to recovery by 2030. Working with many others—from individuals and communities to business and government—WWF urgently seeks to protect and restore natural habitats, stop the mass extinction of wildlife, and make the way we produce and consume sustainable.
WWF seeks a new Director General to succeed the retiring incumbent(现任者). The Director General leads the WWF organization globally and is accountable for ensuring that the WWF Network is in line with the delivery of global organizational goals to support our mission and achieve tangible conservation impact.
This is a demanding and high-profile role. The ideal candidate:
• Is an inspiring and influential leader with a significant track record of leading complex global organizations;
• Has a deep and broad understanding of conservation, environmental and development issues;
• Possesses strong political wisdom and excellent understanding of and experience in environmental and sustainability issues at the international policy level;
• Has the ability to skillfully influence externally through vision, effective communication, political strategies and networking;
• Demonstrates a genuine commitment to the WWF mission and values.
Egon Zehnder has been retained as our exclusive partner in this search. Please
register your interest at WWFInternationalDG2022@EgonZehnder.com.
The submission deadline is 31 July 2022.

21. Which of the following is NOT a mission of WWF?
A. To protect and restore natural habitats.
B. To save wildlife from mass extinction.
C. To achieve conservation support financially.
D. To promote and pursue sustainable development.
22. What should an ideal director general be like?
A. An aggressive and proud leader.
B. An excellent and tricky politician.
C. An inspiring and visionary communicator.
D. An ambitious and committed conservationist.
23. What is probably the text?
A. A book review. B. A recruitment advertisement.
C. A news report. D. A personnel application.
B
Paul O’Sullivan lounged around his Baltimore apartment one evening in 2014, feeling bored. So, like many others, he logged on to Facebook to find out just how many others on the social network shared his name. Moments later, dozens of name twins from around the world filled his screen. On a whim, he decided to send friend requests to them all.
Many of his fellow Paul O’Sullivans ignored him, but a few felt too curious to pass up his invitation. As Baltimore Paul scrolled through the other Paul O’Sullivans’ profiles, he noticed something four of them had in common: They were all musicians. Like Baltimore Paul, Rotterdam Paul sang and played guitar. Another Paul in Manchester, England, played bass. And Paul from Pennsylvania was a drummer. Baltimore Paul had an idea. Wouldn’t it be funny, he asked the other musical Pauls, if they formed a band called The Paul O’Sullivans? Yes, they all agreed.
Starting a band across multiple time zones proved to be tricky. Shaky Wi-Fi and other technical difficulties meant they were often out of sync. And being even half a second off from one another wrecked their sound. To fix this, they created a sort of
musical assembly line. Baltimore Paul and Rotterdam Paul wrote and recorded a basic track, then e-mailed it to Manchester Paul.
“I listen to the song over a few days,” says Manchester Paul, “to get a feel for what bass arrangement seems most appropriate.” Once he recorded a bass track, he e-mailed it back to Baltimore Paul, who then built it into the main song. Later, Pennsylvania Paul added the drumbeat. Round and round the track went, with each member adding on his own layer until they achieved the sound they want.
The Paul O’Sullivan Band released its first original song, “Namesake”, in March 2016, which was about long-distance relationships. And when COVID-19 slowly shut down the world, the Pauls didn’t miss a beat. After all, the band had already got the hang of remote work. They used their time during the pandemic to record their first EP. Titled Internet Famous: A Retrospective, it was released last April.
“What are the odds,” says Baltimore Paul, “that a random Facebook request would lead not only to new music but to lasting friendships as well?” “Some things are just meant to be.”
24. How can the four Paul O’Sullivans be distinguished?
A. By the musical instruments they play.
B. By their e-mail addresses.
C. By the musical styles they like.
D. By the place they come from.
25. What does “this” refer to in paragraph three?
A. The inaccessibility of Wi-Fi.
B. The existence of technical barriers.
C. Their being in different time zones.
D. Their lack of experience.
26.What can we infer from the underlined sentence in paragraph five?
A. The band had to pause because of the pandemic.
B. They got inspired and composed original songs.
C. The whole world was badly destroyed by COVID-19.
D. The band continued to work in spite of the pandemic.
27. What can be the best title for the article?
A. Banding Together B. A Random Facebook Request
C. Long-distance Friendships D. A Pure Coincidence
C
When some people hear self-discipline, they think that it’s boring. They equate a disciplined life to feelings of entrapment. Allow me to tell you a story.
On a hot sunny day, Bertha is buzzing by her hive with some other bees, just relaxing and having a good time. Suddenly a bear starts to approach her hive for some honey and bee eggs. To save her hive, Bertha stings the bear. But its skin is so thick that once she tries to pull her sting out she dismembers(肢解) herself and dies.
The sad part is that Bertha has no choice. Through years of evolution she has developed a biological reaction to dangers—to sting threats. If she had known she would die, she might have flown away and saved her own life.
Bees are prisoners of their own biology, but humans can override their biology. Through self-discipline. Most people have long-term desires for lasting relationships, meaningful careers or healthy bodies but are constantly tempted by short term pleasures, such as junk food or video games. Deep down they really want the life that comes in the long term. Yet they keep giving in to short-term pleasures.
The only difference is self-discipline. Luckily, humans have the ability to practice self-discipline. It gives us the freedom to achieve what we truly want in life and allow us to break free of the biological or societal cages around us. But it’s not that simple.
Companies are aware of our natural, biological reactions and use this against us by using supernormal stimuli. An example is junk food. Our ancestors were wired to seek out and enjoy fat and salty food because it was so rare at the time. But now companies have genetically engineered food to include more fats and salts than ever before in order to make us desire it even more.
Social media and the Internet as a whole is another form of supernormal stimuli. Humans are biologically wired to seek out novelty. For our ancestors novelty could lead to more knowledge about the world, which could lead to more wisdom that helped us thrive as a species. It has its usefulness. However, the Internet has been designed to take advantage of this desire for novelty by showing you more novelty than you can ever dream of. Every page links out more pages. And every video to a video with even more novelty. Videogames do the same thing.
On the plus side, however, you and I are not like the bee, because we are not cased by our own biology. With self-discipline, we can live the life we truly want. We have the choice to be free.
28. Why is the story of Bertha mentioned in paragraph two?
A. To illustrate what evolution is.
B. To arouse readers’ sympathy for Bertha.
C. To draw readers’ attention to self-discipline.
D. To offer a perfect example of self-discipline.
29. What does the underlined word “stimuli” in paragraph seven most probably mean?
A. Something that encourages certain reactions.
B. Something that is unhealthy for people to eat.
C. Something that does good to our mental health.
D. Something that discourages people from taking action.
30. What is the author’s attitude towards social media and the Internet?
A. Approving. B. Objective. C. Critical. D. Cautious.
31. What makes the author think humans are lucky compared with bees?
A. Humans’ blessing of an advanced biological system.
B. Humans’ desires to live an ideal life.
C. Humans’ eagerness to overcome inborn disadvantages.
D. Humans’ ability to practice self-discipline.
D
A robotic game of cat and mouse playing out in a lab provides a peek at future possibilities of robots carrying out search-and-rescue missions or wildlife surveys without much human guidance.
The Tianjicat robot developed by researchers at Tsinghua University in China uses a brain-inspired computing chip called TianjicX. The so-called neuromorphic(神经形态 的) chip can run multiple artificial intelligence techniques at once in an energy-efficient manner. It is one example of experiments with neuromorphic systems that could allow small robots to make decisions using limited computing resources and power.
The researchers challenged the Tianjicat robot to chase another robot that was set to move randomly in a room filled with obstacles. This required Tianjicat to track the mouse robot by using both visual recognition and sound detection, and to figure out the best path to chase down its pretend prey without crashing anything. The team says that the TianjicX chip reduced the amount of power required for the robot cat to make decisions during the chase by about half compared with an NVIDIA chip designed for AI computing.
Performing a cat-and-mouse chase would be a step up in difficulty for most commercialised robots, which usually follow very predictable routines in warehouses or factories. Many robots that interact with more complex and unpredictable environments rely on remote control by human operators, or else must maintain wireless connections with distant data centres that have the computing power necessary for more intensive decision-making.
Neuromorphic systems haven’t yet been commercialised in a big way, but their relatively low size, weight and power requirements could provide practical advantages.
“For robotics, this is very important because it allows the system to operate for longer durations in hard-to-reach environments with greater autonomy.” says Jeffrey Krichmar at the University of California, Irvine.
32. Why did researchers do the experiment in a room with obstacles?
A. To apply visual recognition to Tianjicat.
B. To explore the best path for Tianjicat.
C. To test the integrated performance of Tianjicat chip.
D. To reduce the amount of power for Tianjicat.
33. What advantage does Tianjicat have over other commercialized robots?
A. It follows predictable routines.
B. It can operate without humans involved.
C. It has access to distant data centers.
D. It is used in warehouses and factories more often.
34. Which of the following can best describe neuromorphic systems?
A. User-friendly. B. Heavy to carry.
C. Energy-consuming. D. Complex to operate.
35. What is the passage mainly about?
A. Search-and-Rescue missions. B. Commercialized robots.
C. NVIDIA chips for AI computing. D. A robot cat chasing a robot mouse.
第二节(共5小题；每小题2.5分，满分12.5分)
阅读下面短文，从短文后的选项中选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中 有两项为多余选项。
As the cooler days of autumn arrive in the northern part of the world, people are clearing out old plants and planning new gardens for next year. 36
If the plants have gotten larger than their original containers during their time outside, you can replant them into larger ones. 37 And replant them with fresh potting soil, and then water.
You can always divide plants like spider plants and flamingo flowers into two or more individual plants. Look for plants with root systems that clump together. They divide more easily.
If you are having trouble removing the plants from their containers, or pots, check to see if the roots have come through the drainage(排水) holes at the bottom of the pot. 38
39 Firstly, shake off any extra soil carefully. Secondly, find the connection between the root system and the plant’s top growth and pull apart the roots gently. Or you could cut through them with a sharp knife. Lastly, place each new plant in its container. Be sure to use fresh soil mix. Water the plants well until new plants form.
All houseplants that spent time outside should be moved to a shady area for a week before going inside for the winter season. 40 Continue to water regularly during this time.
After a week, look for insects on the plant, especially under the leaves. If you are still worried about insects, you can spray the plants with Neem oil mixed with water. And complete the move inside before temperatures drop below 12.7 degrees Celsius.
A. You can then divide the plants.
B. This helps the plant get used to lower light levels.
C. Houseplants that have stayed inside all summer still need care.
D. Choose one that is no more than 5 cm wider than the original.
E. If so, gently pull or cut the extra roots to help remove the plant.
F. Leave the plants as they are and wait for flowers to bloom.
G. However, outside plants in summer days will also return to the inside environment.
第三部分 语言运用(共两节，满分 30 分)
第一节(共 15 小题；每小题 1 分，满分 15 分)
阅读下面短文，从每题所给的 A、B、C、D 四个选项中选出可以填入空白处 的最佳选项。
The other day, my friend Sara was telling me about a relationship with her colleague that was broken beyond repair. The two of them had been close enough and then one day, Sara had, with the best 41 , done something that her colleague had completely misunderstood and had taken 42 at.
Things went 43 and became worse. Sara didn’t know how to repair the relationship. She began to get angry at her colleague for misunderstanding her and judging her. She felt 44 in her anger. The two of them still were not really speaking and certainly weren’t collaborating.
It was time to do something to 45 the situation. I asked Sara what she needed. After much thought, she told me that she needed her colleague to be willing to listen to her with an open mind, to consider that she hadn’t 46 any harm by what she’d done and to apologize for taking things so 47 and making things so bad.
“Ah …” I said to her. “You want a(n) 48 .” She looked at me and then looked away. She’d known me long enough that she knew what was 49 . “What do you think your colleague might want?” I asked.
She didn’t have to 50 . We both knew that she knew what my 51 was. “Did you ever apologize?” I asked her. She shook her head no. “Do you think you might want to apologize?” I asked her. She shrugged her shoulders … then shook her head yes.
Sometimes we take so long to apologize. We justify our 52 , saying it won’t really make a difference. Or they should apologize first. Or they simply misunderstood us. 53 , I’ve found and realized that an apology– a true, heartfelt apology– can 54 wonders. It can repair the 55 . It can fix just about anything.
41.A. options
B. ideas
C. errors
D. intentions
42.A. surprise
B. offense
C. chance
D. time
43.A. satisfactory
B. sour
C. mad
D. cheerful
44.A. justified
B. qualified
C. identified
D. modified
45.A. anticipate
B. correct
C. defeat
D. bend
46.A. warned
B. caused
C. assumed
D. meant
47.A. frequently
B. seriously
C. critically
D. logically
48.A. reason
B. explanation
C. clarification
D. apology
49.A. coming
B. going
C. happening
D. starting
50.A. admit
B. interrupt
C. answer
D. swear
51.A. purpose
B. point
C. advice
D. meaning
52.A. mistake
B. reluctance
C. impression
D. denial
53.A. Therefore
B. Meanwhile
C. However
D. Furthermore
54.A. get
B. raise
C. work
D. form
55.A. unbelievable
B. incomparable
C. inaccessible
D. unrepairable
第二节(共 10 小题；每小题 1.5 分，满分 15 分)
阅读下面短文，在空白处填入 1 个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。
The seventh day of the seventh lunar month is Qixi, widely 56 (regard) as China's Valentine’s Day. But do you know the origin of the festival?
Legend has it 57 the Weaver Girl met and fell in love with a cowherd. The Jade Emperor strongly objected 58 the couple’s union and forcibly separated them by the Milky Way, leaving them 59 (tear) apart by the galaxy and only allowing them to meet once a year. 60 that, the distance could not stop their love for one another and they look forward to meeting once a year on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month.
However, with the development of high speed railways, the tragedy of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl could not happen in modern China.
A ride between Beijing and Shanghai on the high-speed rail only takes four hours. The convenience and 61 (efficient) of modern travel have shortened the “galactic distance” between couples.
On Qixi, more and more young people 62 (go) on dates and exchanging gifts to express their affection. Long queues are also often formed at the gate of the Civil Affairs Bureau 63 couples rush to register for marriage when love is in the air. This is because Qixi carries with 64 a symbolic meaning: choose your own love and remain 65 (faith) for life.
第四部分 写作(共两节，满分 40 分)
第一节(满分 15 分)
假如你是李华，你的朋友 Caroline 发来邮件向你求助，她近来因考试成绩不佳，深受打击，逐渐对学习失去信心，请你给她写一封回信，帮助她重拾信心。具体内容如下：
1.给予安慰；
2.提出建议；
3.加以鼓励。
注意：1. 词数 80 左右；
2. 可适当增加细节以使行文连贯。
Dear Caroline, ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________
Yours,
Li Hua
第二节(满分 25 分)
阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整 的短文。
I tried not to be biased(有偏见的), but I had my doubts about hiring Stevie because I had never had a mentally challenged employee. He was short, a little fat with the smooth facial features and thick-tongued speech of Down’s Syndrome(唐氏综合症).
I shouldn’t have worried. After the first week, Stevie had my staff wrapped around his fat little finger, and within a month my regular truck customers had adopted him as their official truck stop mascot(吉祥物). He was eager to laugh and to please, but fierce in his attention to his duties. Every salt and pepper shaker was exactly in its place, not a coffee spill was visible when Stevie got done with the table. Our only problem was persuading him to wait to clean a table until after the customers were finished.
Over time, we learned that he lived with his mother, a widow who was disabled after repeated surgeries for cancer. Money was tight, and what I paid him was probably the difference between them being able to live together and Stevie being sent to a group home.
One morning last August, Stevie missed work for the first time in three years. He was at a clinic getting a heart surgery. People with Down’s Syndrome often have heart problems at an early age so this wasn’t unexpected.
Later that morning, Frannie, the head waitress, did a little dance when she heard the good news that Stevie had come through the surgery in good shape and would be back at work in a few months. Belle Ringer, one of our regular trucker customers, stared at her and asked, “Frannie, what was that all about?”
Frannie quickly told Belle Ringer and the other two drivers about Stevie’s surgery and the trouble his mother had handling all the bills. Belle Ringer nodded thoughtfully. After the morning rush, Frannie walked into my office. She had a couple of paper napkins(餐巾纸) in her hand.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“I cleared off that table where Belle Ringer and his friends were sitting, and I found this was folded and put under a coffee cup.”
She handed the napkin to me, and three $20 bills fell onto my desk when I opened it. On the outside, in big, bold letters, was printed “Something For Stevie”. That was three months ago. Then came Thanksgiving, the first day Stevie was supposed to be back, and I had arranged to have his mother bring him to work. Leading them toward a large corner booth(包间), I could feel and hear the rest of the staff following behind.
注意：
1. 续写词数应为 150 词左右；
2. 请按如下格式在相应位置作答。
We stopped in front of the big table covered with coffee cups, all sitting on dozens of folded paper napkins. __________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________
I turned to Stevie and his mother, saying “Happy Thanksgiving!”
______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________



















英语学科测试试卷
听力
1-5ACBAB 6-10CCAAB 11-15CBACB16-20BACCB
阅读理解
21-23 CCB 24-27 DBDA 28-31 CACD 32-35 CBAD
七选五
36-40 GDEAB
完形填空
41-55DBBAB DBDAC BBCCD
短文填空
56.regarded 57. that 58. to 59. torn 60. Despite
61. efficiency 62. are going 63. where 64. it 65. faithful
应用文写作
Dear Caroline,
I am terribly sorry to hear that you have trouble in study and lose confidence. I am writing to express my genuine concern and share with you some suggestions that might be of some help on it.
First of all, it is wise of you to work on positive thinking because a positive thinking will lead to positive results. Don’t worry about letting yourself or others down. Additionally, it is strongly advised that you’d better set realistic goals and break the overall goal into smaller ones, which makes it easy for you to get a sense of accomplishment.
I am firmly convinced that you will regain confidence with your efforts. Please contact me with any other questions. Looking forward to your reply.
Yours,
Li Hua
读后续写
We stopped in front of the big table covered with coffee cups, all sitting on dozens of folded paper napkins. “First thing you have to do, Stevie, is clean up this mess,” I said in a calm tone, gesturing toward the tableware. Stevie looked at me, and then his mother, then pulled out one of the napkins. It had “something for Stevie” printed in big, bold letters. As he picked it up, two $10 bills fell onto the table. With an I-don’t-get-it look on his face, Stevie stared at the money, then at all the napkins peeking from beneath the coffee cups, each with his name on it.
I turned to Stevie and his mother, saying “Happy Thanksgiving!” Stevie put on an innocent smile, while his mother opened her mouth as if to say something but was choked and speechless. I told them that the $10,000 in cash and checks on that table were all coming from truck drivers and trucking companies that heard about their problems. Soon, it got really noisy, with everybody cheering and shouting, and there were a few tears too. But you know what’s funny? While everybody else was busy shaking hands and hugging each other, Stevie, with a big smile on his face, was busy clearing all the coffee cups from the table.

录音稿
第一节
(Text 1)
W: Do you want to talk about what we’re going to do for the Halloween party?
M: Yeah, just give me a second. Let me finish my coffee.
(Text 2)
W: Good morning, I have an appointment with Mr. Davies at 11 o’clock.
M: Yes, he left a message for you saying he’s terribly sorry but he’s stuck in traffic. Please take a seat and he’ll be here as soon as possible.
(Text 3)
M: Why do you look so worried? Only one student has come ahead of you in the exam.
W: But I promised my mum that I’d be the first.
(Text 4)
M: Excuse me. I’m looking for a novel by Hemingway. It’s called The Old Man and the Sea. Do you have it?
W: Yes, we do. You can find it in Section 2.
M: How long can I keep it?
W: For one month.
(Text 5)
M: In America, where labor costs are so high, “do-it-yourself” is a way of life.
W: Really? No wonder many people repair their own cars, build their own garages, even build their own houses there.
第二节
(Text 6)
W: Well, there are some restaurants in the market here.
M: Are they cheap? I don’t have a lot of money with me, so …
W: You know, they’re like fast-food places.
M: Hmm, I don’t really want fast food today. Uh, what about my neighborhood? There’re some cheap restaurants there.
W: But, uh, your neighborhood is 30 minutes from here by bus. And I’m really hungry. It’s 2:30, you know.
M: Right, so, how about, um … Oh, I know! There’s a little French restaurant near here. It’s good and it’s not expensive. It’s about 15 minutes from here.
W: OK. Let’s go there.
(Text 7)
W: We could have flown to Shenzhen. It’s much faster. But I prefer traveling by rail. This gives me a chance to see the countryside more closely. I like to watch the scene from the window.
M: I like traveling by train too. I think it adds something to my sense of safety.
W: Guess what? I always enjoy talking with people on the platform every time the train arrives at a station. You make friends really fast and easily. I can practice my Chinese at the same time. It’s a lot fun, isn’t it?
M: Yeah.
W: I often travel by train. But I can never sleep well at night. Too much noise, you know.
(Text 8)
W: OK, so what are we going to see today? There’s so much I want to do and we’ve only got two days left of our honeymoon!
M: Yeah, we’ve already been here five days and we still haven’t been up to the Eiffel Tower! First, I’d like to visit the Arc de Triomphe today. I’ve seen so many pictures of it. Now I want to see it in person.
W: Yeah, me too. And then we can see the art museum, the Louvre. I’d like to spend a few hours in there.
M: Sure, but that won’t leave much time for Montmartre. We can see the famous church, the Sacre-Couer there.
W: OK, but I don’t think we’ll have time for that today. Let’s do that tomorrow. We’ve got time to climb up the Eiffel Tower, though. Why don’t we go there after the Louvre?
M: Sure, OK.
(Text 9)
M: Jane Adams is here with us in the studio to let us know what’s happening around town this week. Hi, Jane.
W: Hi, Chris.
M: Well, what’ve you got for us?
W: Right, well, a fairly good week this week for music fans, especially if you’re into jazz. If you do like jazz, you really must try to see the legendary American pianist Mo Davison and his band — they’re appearing at the Jazz Cafe in Market Street on Thursday. That starts at 8 p.m., tickets are £10 in advance or £12 on the night. If you’re more into heavy metal, well, the American heavy metal kings Megablitz, they’re in town, and they’re playing at the Queen’s Hall on Friday of this week as part of their European tour. Tickets on sale at the Queen’s Hall and through the usual ticket agencies. And finally for club goers there’s a new seventies soul night at the Sound Club in Prince’s Street — sounds good.
(Text 10)
M: So, if everyone is here, I’ll make a start. As you know, a few months ago we asked some consultants to do a survey of the way we answer the telephone across the group. They telephoned our offices and made inquiries as customers normally would. Now, I’ll begin with what they found out. First of all, they found out that on average we answer the phone after four rings, which isn’t bad, but we can still improve on it. Secondly, friendliness. Now, although some offices scored as high as 8 out of 10 for friendliness, the consultants only gave the company as a whole 6 out of 10. On this point, they suggested that we use some good phrases on the phone. I think we can choose some new hold music as well. And finally, efficiency. Now here, we did quite well. However, there were one or two negative points which we still have to work on, such as always remembering to ask the caller’s name. So, we need to do a lot of work.