2022-2023年考博英语-复旦大学模拟考试题（含答案解析）1. 单选题If there is one thing interpreters working for the European Union dread, it is attempts at humour. It is not just that jokes are hard to translate; because of the time needed for interpretation, they can prompt laughter at the wrong moment. A speaker once began with an anecdote, and then mourned a dead colleague to be met by a gale of giggles, as listeners got his joke.The time-lags have grown worse with the expansion of the EU, to make a total of 25 countries. Finding interpreters who can translate directly from Estonian to Portuguese is well-nigh impossible. So now speeches are translated in relays, first into English and then into a third language. If only everybody would agree to speak one or two official tongues, it would be easier. Or would it? In fact, misunderstandings can abound even when all parties speak fluent English or French. Cultural differences mean that a literal understanding of what someone says is often a world away from real understanding. For example, how many non-Brits could decode the irony (and literary allusion) which lies behind the expression “up to a point”, which is used to mean “no, not in the slightest”?The problem is now so widely recognized that informal guides to what the French or the English really mean, when they are speaking their mother tongues, have been drawn up by other nationalities.One has written for the Dutch, trying to do business with British. Another was written by British diplomats, as a guide to the language used by their French counterparts. The fact that the Dutch so eerily fluent in English should need a guide to Brit-speak is particularly striking. But the problem to judge by the guide, which was spotted on an office wall in the European Court of Justice is that Brits make their points in an indirect manner that the plain-speaking Nederlanders find baffling.Hence the guides warning that when a Briton says “I hear what you say”, the foreign listener may understand: “He accepts my point of view.” In fact, the British speaker means: “I disagree and I do not want to discuss it any further.” Similarly the phrase “with the greatest respect ” when used by an Englishman is recognizable to a compatriot as an icy put-down, correctly translated by the guide as meaning “I think you are wrong, or a fool.”The British, the French and the Dutch are old sparring partners who know each others little ways. So the capacity for misunderstanding is amplified when nationalities that are less familiar with each other come into contact. Often the problems are less to do with the meaning of words than their unexpected impact on an audience. Take the European summit last December, when it fell to Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister, to try to wrap up sensitive negotiations over a proposed constitution for the European Union.When EU leaders filed into lunch, they were braced for tough negotiation; so they were startled when Mr. Berlusconi suggested that they discuss “football and women” and that Gerhard Schroder, the German chancellor, should lead the discuss, as he has been married four times. Some European diplomats conclude that Mr. Berlusconi must have been deliberately bating Mr. Schroder. But when the Italian leader was questioned about his chairmanship at a press conference, he grew hot under the collar, pointing out that he would hardly have become a billionaire unless he were fully capable of chairing a meeting. And indeed his defenders say that in Italian business circles it can be perfectly normal to set a jocular and relaxed tone before a difficult meeting, by discussing last nights football, or even teasing your colleagues about their love lives.These sorts of misunderstandings are unlikely to be erased even if all Europes political leaders and bureaucrats were both willing and able to speak English. But ever-inventive Brussels is coming up with a solution of sorts through the emergence of “Euro-speak” a form of dead, bureaucratic English.1.According to Paragraphs 1 and 2, which statement is TRUE?2.Why do the Dutch need a guide to Brit-speak?3.What does “they were braced for tough negotiation” probably mean in Paragraph 7?4.What can we infer from Paragraph 8?5.Select a title for this article: （ ）.问题1选项A.Interpreters dread jokes because they take more time to translate.B.Despite a little difficulty，translators between any two languages spoken in the EU countries can still be found.C.The problems between EU countries can be solved if they can decide on one or two official languages.D.The statement “I understand, up to a point” means “I dont understand at all”.问题2选项A.The Dutch dont speak English very well.B.A precise understanding of the English language is required in a court of law.C.Literal understanding of Brit-speak can often be misleading.D.Compared with Dutch Brit-speak is more complicated in terms of sentenc