SECTION B INTERVIEW
Directions: In this section you will hear everything ONCE ONLY. Listen carefully and then answer the questions that follow. Questions 1 to 5 are based on an interview. At the end of the interview you will be given 10 seconds to answer each of the following five questions.
Now listen to the interview.
听力原文: (W= Williams; P= Pitt)
Mr W: Good morning, Mr Pitt. Do sit down.
Mr P: Thank you.
Mr W: First of all, Mr Pitt, I'd like you to tell me a bit about what you've been doing.
Mr P: Well, I left school after I'd done my A-levels.
Mr W: Ah, yes, A-levels. What subjects did you take?
Mr P: I took four subjects: French, German, chemistry and, uh, art. Chemistry wasn't my cup of tea but art has always been.
Mr W: Art?
Mr P: Well, I really wanted to study art. It didn't turn out like that because a friend of my father's offered me a job -- he's an accountant in London. A quite big firm, you know.
Mr W: I see. A firm of accountants. Interesting! In your application, you say that you only spent nine months with this firm of accountants. Why was that?
Mr P: It was nearly a year actually. Well, to be quite honest, I didn't like it. I just couldn't seem to get interested in the job although there were fairly good prospects. So I got a place at the Art College to do a three-year diploma course.
Mr W: I see. Now, Mr Pitt, what about hobbies and interests? Uh, what do you do in your spare time?
Mr P: I like jazz, traditional and folk music. I don't play, of course, but I go to quite a lot of concerts, and I go to the theatre occasionally and act a bit myself. I'm in the local dramatic society. I read quite a lot and I've done a bit of photography. Also, I've travelled a lot -- hitchhiked all over Europe -- last year, that was.
Mr W:Very interesting, Mr Pitt. I think that's all I wanted to ask about your background. Now, let's talk about the management trainee scheme. What exactly do you think a manager does?
Mr P: I don't know a great deal about the work.
Mr W: But have you got any ideas about it? You must have thought about it.
Mr P: Well, er, I suppose he has a lot of, er, what is called, policy-making to do. And, mm, he'd have to know how to work with people and all about the company.
Mr W: Mmm.
Mr P: Yes, I, I, er, should think a manager must know, er, something about all aspects of the work.
Mr W: Yes, that's right. We like our executive staff to undergo a thorough training. Young men on our trainee scheme have to work through every branch in the company.
Mr P: Oh?
Mr W: And one of them is accountancy. Presumably you wouldn't like that.
Mr P: Well, if I had to do it, I suppose. But I was thinking that my French and German would mean that I could specialise in overseas work. I'd like to be some sort of an export salesman and travel abroad.
Mr W: You know the glamour of travelling abroad disappears when you've got a hard job of work to do. It's not all fun and game.
Mr P: Oh, yes, I realise that. It's just that my knowledge of languages would be useful.
Mr W: Now, Mr Pitt, is there anything you want to ask me?
Mr P: Well, there's one or two things. I'd like to know if I'd have to sign a contract and what the salary and prospects are.
Mr W: With our scheme, Mr Pitt, there is no contract involved. Your progress is kept under constant review. If we, at any time, decide we don't like you, then that's that! We reserve the right to dismiss you.
Mr P: I see.
Mr W: Of course, you have the same choice about us.
Mr P: Fair enough. And what about the salary?
Mr W: As for salary, you'd be on our fixed scale starting at 870 pounds. For the successful trainee, the prospects are very good.
Mr P: I see. Thank you very much.
Mr W: That's all, Mr Pitt. You should hear from us in a couple of weeks, one way or the other, or we may ask you to come back for another chat. Thank you.
Mr P: Goodbye, Mr Williams.
SXB##11##
Art.
B. French.
C. German.
D. Chemistry.
听力原文: The University of Michigan carries out a survey of the drug habits among young people every year. And this year it's concluded that teenage drug use is rapidly getting worse. 25 percent of teenagers surveyed said they'd used an illegal drug at some time in their lives, an increase of 3 percent from the figures for 1993. Marijuana use is climbing back towards levels not seen since the late 1970s. And today's marijuana is up to ten times more potent than in the past. Cocaine use, which levelled off in the early 1990s, is also making a comeback among 13- to 15-year-olds. And LSD, which had dropped considerably in the 1980s, is also on the rise. Officials involved in the survey say the results indicate that young people no longer see drugs as dangerous; instead, the researchers say, they are viewed as glamorous or trendy. The Health Secretary said it was time to Sound the alarm. And the Secretary calls for a powerful anti-drug message to be sent to children, with parents leading the way.
We can infer from the news that ______ of teenagers under survey in 1993 were drug users.
A. 28%
B. 22%
C. 25%
D. 21%
Many of Uncle Geoff's letters-to-the-editor have fortunately been preserved in a privately printed volume called Writings of a Rebel. Of the collection, one letter best sums up his views on the relationship between manure and freedom. He wrote:
Collating old records shows that our greatness rises and falls with the living fertility of our soil. And now, many years of exhausted and chemically murdered soil, and of devitalized food from it, has softened our bodies and still worse, softened our national character. It is an actual fact that character is largely a product of the soil. Many years of murdered food from deadened soil has made us too tame. Chemicals have had their poisonous day. It is now the worm's turn to reform. the manhood of England. The only way to regain our punch, our character, our lost virtues, and with them the freedom natural to islanders, is to compost our land so as to allow moulds, bacteria and earthworms to remake living soil to nourish Englishmen 's bodies and spirits.
The law requiring pasteurization of milk in England was a particular target of Uncle Geoff's. Fond of alliteration, he dubbed it "Murdered Milk Measure", and established the Liberty Restoration League, with headquarters at his house in London, for the specific purpose of organizing a counteroffensive. "Freedom not Doctordom" was the League's proud slogan. A subsidiary, but nevertheless important, activity of the League was advocacy of a return to the "unsplit, slowly smoked fish" and bread made with "English stone-ground flour, yeast, milk, sea salt and raw cane-sugar."
According to Uncle Geoff, national strength could only be regained by
A. reforming the manhood of England.
B. using natural manure as fertilizer.
C. eating more bacteria-free food.
D. granting more freedom to Englishmen.
So what have they taught you at college about interviews? Some courses go to town on it, others do very little. You may get conflicting advice. Only one thing is certain: the key to success is preparation.
There follow some useful suggestions from a teacher training course coordinator, a head of department and a headteacher. As they appear to be in complete harmony with one another despite never having met, we may take their advice seriously.
Oxford Brookes University's approach to the business of application and interview focuses on research and rehearsal. Training course coordinator Brenda Stevens speaks of the value of getting students "to deconstruct the advertisement, see what they can offer to that school, and that situation, and then write the letter, do their CVs and criticize each other's." Finally, they role-play interviewer and interviewee.
This is sterling stuff, and Brookes students spend a couple of weeks on it. "The better prepared students won't be thrown by nerves on the day," says Ms Stevens. "They'll have their strategies and questions worked out." She also says, a trifle disconcertingly, "the better the student, the worse the interviewee". She believes the most capable students are less able to put themselves forward. Even if this were true, says Ms Stevens, you must still make your own case.
"Beware of informality," she advises. One aspirant teacher, now a head of department at a smart secondary school, failed his first job interview because he took his jacket off while waiting for his appointment. It was hot and everyone in the staffroom was in shirtsleeves but at the end of the day they criticized his casual attitude, which they had deduced from the fact that he took his jacket off in the staffroom, even though he put it back on for the interview.
Incidentally, men really do have to wear a suit to the interview and women really cannot wear jeans, even if men never wear the suit again and women teach most days in jeans. Panels respond instantly to these indicators. But beware: it will not please them any better if you are too smart.
Find out about the people who will talk to you. In the early meetings they are likely to be heads of departments or heads of year. Often they may be concerned with pastoral matters. It makes sense to know their priorities and let them hear the things about you that they want to hear.
During preliminary meetings you may be seen in groups with two or three other applicants and you must demonstrate that you know your stuff without putting your companions down. The interviewers will be watching how you work with a team.
But remember the warning about informality: however friendly and co-operative the other participants are, do not give way to the idea that you are there just to be friends.
Routine questions can be rehearsed, but "don't go on too long," advises the department head. They may well ask. "What have been your worst/best moments when teaching?", or want you to "talk about some good teaching you have done". The experts agree you should recognize your weaknesses and offer a strategy for overcoming them. "I know I've got to work on classroom management -- I would hope for some help," perhaps. No one expects a new teacher to know it all, but they hope for an objective appraisal of capabilities.
Be warned against inexpert questioning. You may be asked questions in such a way that it seems impossible to present your best features. Some questions may be plain silly, asked perhaps by people on the panel who are from outside the situation. Do not be thrown, have ways of circumnavigating it, and never ever let them see that you think they have said something foolish.
You will almost certainly be asked how you see the future and it is important to have a good answer prepared. Some people are put off by being asked what
A. go through each other's CVs.
B. rehearse their answers to questions.
C. understand thoroughly the situations.
D. go to town to attend training courses.