新世纪大学英语视听说教程5听力原文(部分)1

Track 5-1-3

C. Now listen to the whole interview. Circle the correct words or phrases to complete each sentence according to what each speaker says.

Cynthia: And welcome back to "Book Talk" on WKRZ. I'm your host Cynthia Marques, and this morning we'll be reviewing Corinne Maier's French bestseller Bonjour Paresse --

which translates into English as Hello Laziness. Maier's book, Hello Laziness, takes a

humorous look at the corporate workplace, and encourages readers to do as little as

possible when they're at work. Joining me to discuss the book are David Sorenson, a

journalist for City Tithes magazine, and Marc Pryce, a professor of social psychology

at Bower University So, let's start with Maier's opinion in Hello Laziness that we work

because we have to -- because we need the money, not because most of us love out'

jobs. David, what are your thoughts about this?

David: I completely agree with that .... I mean, the fact is, most of us do go to work for the paycheck ... not because we love our jobs ... we need money to live. yntbia: Are you

speaking from personal experience?

David: Oh absolutely! Who hasn't felt this way -- especially if you've worked in a boring job with little chance of advancement? ... Anyway, I thought that Maier dealt with the

subject of office work in a very witty, amusing way in her book. 1 laughed out loud

several times while reading it.

Cynthia: Can you give us an example?

David: Of what made me laugh? Well, for instance, she gives all of these wonderful tips for doing as little as possible at work -- things like pretending to be a smoker so that you

can take frequent five-minute breaks.

Cynthia: That's a good one.

David: ... Or ... um ... hiding a magazine inside a large work manual.

Cynthia: Right, her tips were funny ... So what about you, Marc? What did you think of the book?

Marc: Well, in places, it was humorous, no question. But overall, I found it to be rather negative -- in spite of the humor.

Cynthia: What bothered you about the book? Can you think of a specific example?

Marc: Well, one thing Maier says in her book is to be nice to temporary workers. Why?

Because they are the only ones who do any real work. In other words, the other

people in the company are all just modern-day slaves ...They aren't doing anything

meaningful.

David: Now I think that's pretty funny.

Marc: And then there's another tip from the author: Never accept a position of responsibility.

She says that you'll just have to work extra hard for little money. Instead of encouraging people to figure out what else they could be doing with their lives, she tells them it's better to just goof off at work. 1 didn't really find that very funny, 1 guess.

David: Yes, but Maier is being ironic, Marc ...

Marc: I know what you're saying, David, but what I'm getting at is that Maier's book encourages people to just give up. She claims that it's pointless to try to change things in the workplace ... you know, that you can be replaced by another person at any time.

Her message is that you can't get ahead in today's workplace, and you'll probably be laid off eventually, so why bother.

David: Yes, but Maier wasn't trying to write a self-help book, Marc. When she tells us to go for the most useless position in the company so that you won't have to work too hard ... well, she's not being entirely serious. It's kind of a joke.

Cynthia: Well, I can see that our listeners are going to have to read the book and decide for themselves. Thank you both for joining us today.

Track 5-1-8

C. Pair work. Now listen to the whole interview. Pay special attention to what Resende said towards the end of the interview. Who do you think may have said each statement below7 Write the person's name. Then compare your answers with a partner and give your reasons.

Interviewer: Why don't we start off by talking a little about how you developed your interest in food and cooking?

Resende: We!l, food has always been my passion. As a child, ! used to love preparing meals with my grandmother, who was from Brazil. And as I got older, I spent a lot of time

in the kitchen, experimenting with different dishes Thai soups, German tortes,

Italian pastas.

Interviewer: But you never considered a career in the culinary arts7

Resende: Not at all. You know, as a kid, I grew up learning that a person went to college and got a job in business, law, or something like that. Telling my parents that !

wanted to "study food" would’ve been impossible. They never would have agreed.

Interviewer: So, fast forward to the present. You're now a business development manager for an international technology company. !t doesn't exactly sound like the career you

dreamed of. Tell us, how did The Mediterranean came into your life? Resende: About three years ago, I moved into an apartment around the corner from this store it's a lovely little place that specializes in imported food from Greece, Spain,

and Italy. There's a deli as well. Anyway, i'd drop in there once a week or so to

pick up different items. But the next thing you knew, i was talking with the owner,

Alex Kanellos, about a cheese or a certain wine. Then one day, he jokingly

suggested that i work in the deli since I had all of these ideas. I just laughed when

he said it, but when I got home, ! couldn't stop thinking that maybe this part-time

job was an opportunity in disguise.

interviewer: So you took the job?

Resende: Oh yeah. ! went to the deli the next morning. I had butterflies in my stomach. !

kept thinking ... I'm thirty years old and I'm taking a part-time job in a deli. What

am I doing? When I asked Mr. Kanellos if he was serious about letting me work

there part-time, he looked a little surprised at first. But then, Mr. Kanellos handed

me an apron, and the rest is history, so to speak, i've been working there every

Saturday for the last couple of years.

Interviewer: What led to your decision to buy the deli?

Resende: About eight months ago, Mr. Kanellos mentioned that he was getting ready to retire, and was going to sell the place. So, l started thinking ... lf he's going to sell

it to someone, why not me? When l approached Mr. Kanellos with the idea, he

was very open to it. l also think he was pleased to turn over the place to someone

he knew.

Interviewer: And what about your job with the tech company?

Resende: I'm going to stay for another three months, until Mr. Kanellos retires. Interviewer: How are your family and friends reacting to the news?

Resende: My friends are really happy for me. A lot of them have jobs they can't stand -- especially my friend Suki -- and most would love to make a change in their lives.

My boyfriend has been pretty supportive, too, though at first, he thought I was

crazy to work part-time at the deli. My mom isn't thrilled, though. She's worried

about me leaving a "good job" to run the store, but I know that as a small

businesswoman, 1 can be successful, too. I'm sure she'll come around!

Unit 1, Lesson B

Forced to outsource

TV reporter: Silicon Valley software developer S. Atlantic makes no apologies for the fact that most of its work is done by engineers in India. Much of its business involves

helping start-up software companies launch their products. Without India's cost

savings, those companies wouldn't exist, because venture capital firms now

require software start-ups to offshore before they'll invest.

O'Brian: It is now a table stake for a software start-up to do a pretty large percentage of their product development with an outsourcing and offshore model. And I would

say the majority of that work is done in India today, with China starting to grow

quickly, and other areas as well: Eastern Europe, Latin America, other parts of

South Asia.

TV reporter: S. Atlantic's founders are Indian immigrants, as are most of its 70 U.S. employees.

It's Hyderabad, India, software developers make about a quarter of what U.S.

workers would. That translates to 50% overall cost savings for its clients. The

CEO of software start-up Kommendio says he had no other option.

Gil: Not in Silicon Valley during one of the most -- the toughest economic periods in history. Because capital is very, very tight.

TV reporter: (;il says the lower costs will also speed up Kommendio's development cycle by at least a year. S. Atlantic's offshoring business is growing faster than it expected.

The company plans to add a total of about a thousand jobs in India this year and

next. S. Atlantic says hiring in the United States will be proportional, so that's less

than a hundred jobs. Nationwide, information technology employment continues

to struggle. At the end of the first quarter, it was 2% higher than last year, and

that's expected to slow because tech companies plan to hire fewer than half the

number of workers they did last year.

O'Brian: It's clear that there is a lot of creative destruction in capitalist societies and economies, and nowhere more so than in Silicon Valley. And the benefits of that

sort of creative destruction, at the bottom line, are fundamentally, economic

growth and more jobs in the long run.

TV reporter: In the near term, however, most ofS. Atlantic's jobs will be created in India.

Your reporter, Fremont, California.