Unit 2

　　First Contact

　　Social English 1

　　1. Listening When you meet someone for the first time and start up a conversation, it is important to find points of common interest so that the conversation can run smoothly. Listen to the five dialogues on the tape.

　　Decide if you think they are successful (Y) or not (N) in making initial contact.

　　Dialogue 1 ( )

　　Dialogue 2 ( )

　　Dialogue 3 ( )

　　Dialogue 4 ( )

　　Dialogue 5 ( )

　　Now listen again and note down the answers to these questions.

　　Dialogue 1: Has the visitor been to Japan before?

　　Dialogue 2: Which hotel is the visitor staying in?

　　Dialogue 3: What topic of common interest do they find?

　　Dialogue 4: What topic of common interest do they find?

　　Dialogue 5: What topic of common interest do they find?

　　Listening task

　　Dialogue 1

　　A: Is this your first trip to Japan?

　　B: Yes, it is.

　　A: Do you like it here?

　　B: yes, it seems interesting.

　　A: Would you like another drink?

　　B: Thank you.

　　Dialogue 2

　　A: How was your trip?

　　B: Fine, thanks.

　　A: How do you find Tokyo?

　　B: Very interesting.

　　A: Which hotel are you staying in?

　　B: The Sheraton.

　　Dialogue 3

　　A: Is this your first trip to Japan?

　　B: Yes, but hopefully not my last.

　　A: I'm pleased to hear that. Have you found time to see much?

　　B: Well, I visited the gardens.

　　A: Oh, are you interested in gardens?

　　B: Actually, yes, it's my hobby.

　　A: Mine too…

　　Dialogue 4

　　A: Are you staying long?

　　B: No, unfortunately only a couple of weeks.

　　A: Business or pleasure?

　　B: Business, I'm afraid. My company is setting up an office here in Tokyo.

　　A: Really? Where is your company based?

　　B: In Detroit, sort of north mid-west of the States.

　　A: Yes, I know it. I visited it two years ago.

　　B: Ah, really?…

　　Dialogue 5

　　A: I believe you're in fashion.

　　B: Yes that's right- on the design side.

　　A: That's a coincidence. My wife's a fashion designer.

　　B: Oh, I'd like to meet her.

　　A: You must come round to dinner one evening.

　　B: That would be nice.

　　A: Good, I'll fix it up later this week.

　　2. Presentation Successful conversation depends on finding a topic both people can easily talk about. One-way of reaching this point is to follow a number of steps until a topic of common interest is found. A typical sequence might be:

　　1. opening question

　　2. immediate answer

　　3. follow-up question

　　4. immediate answer + additional comment

　　5. next question or comment on topic of common interest

　　6. Answer or further comment on topic of common interest

　　Now look more closely at the typical sequence of conversation.

　　2.1 Opening question

　　Is this your first trip to________________?

　　How was your trip?

　　2.2 Immediate answer

　　Yes, it is.

　　Fine, thanks.

　　2.3 Follow-up question

　　Are you staying long?

　　Business or pleasure?

　　2.4 Immediate answer

　　No.

　　Business.

　　Note: These answers are not helpful in finding a common interest. You need to make an additional comment.

　　2.5 Additional comment

　　But hopefully not my last.

　　Unfortunately only a couple of weeks.

　　Business, I'm afraid. My company is setting up an office here in Tokyo.

　　2.6 Next question

　　Have you found time to see much?

　　Really? Where is your company based?

　　2.7 Establishing topic of common interest

　　Are you interested in gardens?

　　Oh, I visited Detroit a couple of years ago.

　　That's a coincidence. My wife is in fashion, too.

　　3. Controlled practice

　　The following four dialogues are in the wrong order. Rearrange them to make a natural flow of conversation.

　　Dialogue 1

　　( ) Really? What did you expect?

　　( ) No, I've been to the States before, but this is the first time in Atlanta.

　　( ) So, what do you think of Atlanta?

　　( ) Fine, I'll see what I can arrange.

　　( ) Well, it's not what I expected.

　　( ) There is a part like that. You must let me show you around.

　　( ) Well, I suppose I thought it would be more traditional.

　　( ) That would be interesting.

　　( ) Is this your first trip over here?

　　Dialogue 2

　　( ) I'm sure. I hope to get back here again

　　( ) That's a pity. There's a lot to see.

　　( ) Good. Are you here on business then?

　　( ) Are you staying long?

　　( ) Really? That's interesting. What line are you in?

　　( ) No, just a couple of days.

　　) Yes, we're thinking of setting up an office here.

　　Dialogue 3

　　( ) That would be nice.

　　( ) That's interesting. My son is an editor on the local paper.

　　( ) I believe you're in journalism.

　　( ) Really? I expect I'll meet him.

　　( ) Yes, that's right -on the editorial side.

　　( ) Yes, what about coming round for a drink? I could introduce you to him.

　　Dialogue 4

　　( ) Scotland. This time of year it's pretty cold.

　　( ) A bit warmer than back home.

　　( ) Well, if you do come across, you must visit us.

　　( ) Oh, so where do you come from?

　　( ) Yes, that's right. The best time to visit is in the summer.

　　( ) I can imagine. I've never been but people tell me it's very beautiful.

　　( ) How do you find the weather here?

　　( ) Maybe I'll get across next year.

　　課文注釋及詞匯講解

　　* try 試圖

　　try to do sth. 盡力做某事

　　eg. We'll try to meet the customers' demands

　　我們將盡力滿足客戶的需求。

　　* common interest 共同興趣

　　eg. Two strangers are trying to find topics of common interest.

　　兩個陌生人正在盡量尋找雙方都感興趣的話題。

　　* trip 旅行

　　eg. This is my second trip to the United States.

　　這是我第二次來美國。

　　* Do you like it here?

　　你喜歡這兒嗎?

　　注意：

　　代詞"it"在這里沒有什么實際意義，但必不可少。因為here為副詞，like為及物動詞，所以需要有it做賓語。

　　* How do you find Tokyo?

　　你覺得東京怎么樣?

　　也可以說成 "What do you think of Tokyo?"或 "How do you like Tokyo?"

　　* interesting 令人感興趣的

　　eg. The film is interesting.

　　這部電影很有趣。

　　Interested (人對某事或某物)感受到有興趣的

　　Eg. I'm interested in the film.

　　我對這部影片感興趣。

　　* another 另一(個，件…)

　　eg. Would you like another cup of tea?

　　你還要一杯茶嗎?

　　I need another day to finish the work..

　　我還需要一天才能完成工作。

　　* stay 停留，暫住

　　eg. Are you staying long?

　　你逗留的時間長嗎?

　　Which hotel are you staying in?

　　你住在哪家旅館?

　　注意：

　　stay為不及物動詞，所以在第二個例句中一定要接介詞in ,這樣才能帶賓語。

　　* unfortunately 令人遺憾，運氣不好地

　　eg. Unfortunately, I can only stay for a week.

　　真遺憾，我只能呆一周。

　　* Business or pleasure?

　　出差還是度假?

　　本句為 "Do you come here for business or for pleasure?"的省略句。在口語中經(jīng)常用省略句。

　　* I'm afraid… 我恐怕……，恐怕是……[有時可以不直譯]

　　該句式用于緩和語氣或婉轉地表達想法，也可以用于表示不肯定的語氣。

　　Eg. I'm afraid I can't come on Friday afternoon, because I will be having a meeting then.

　　因為要開個會，周五下午我恐怕不能來。

　　* set up 建立，設立

　　eg. We are going to set up a new plant in this area.

　　我們打算在這個地區(qū)建一座新工廠。

　　* be based 總部設在……

　　eg. Where is your company based?

　　你們公司的總部設在哪兒?

　　* sort of 有點，稍微 [多用于口語]

　　eg. I'm sort of surprised.

　　* north mid-west of the States 美國中西部的北部

　　mid-west 中西部

　　注意：

　　在英語中東北、東南、西北、西南分別為northeast, southeast, northwest, southwest, 與漢語習慣不同。

　　* be in fashion [在本課指]從事時裝行業(yè);(通常指)時髦，流行

　　eg. I'm in fashion-on the design side.

　　我從事時裝行業(yè)-搞設計的。

　　Mini-skirts were in fashion last summer.

　　去年夏天流行迷你裙。

　　* coincidence 巧合

　　eg. You are also from New York? That's really a coincidence.

　　你也從紐約來?真是太巧了。

　　* fix up 安排，定好(時間、地點等)

　　eg. Let's fix up a date to have dinner together.

　　我們定個日子一起吃飯吧。

　　* traditional 傳統(tǒng)的

　　eg. I thought Atlanta world be more traditional.

　　我原以為亞特蘭大會更加傳統(tǒng)一點兒。

　　注意：

　　這里 I thought 為過去時，表明"我原以為，現(xiàn)在不這樣認為了"。若用了 I think則意味著"我一直這樣認為，現(xiàn)在也是"。

　　* show sb. around 帶某人參觀

　　eg. The visitors are shown around the new plant by the director himself.

　　來訪者由廠長親自帶著參觀新工廠。

　　* That's a pity.

　　真可惜。

　　* line (一般在商務英語中)行業(yè)

　　eg. What line are you in ?

　　你從事什么行業(yè)?

　　* local papers 當?shù)氐膱蠹?/P>

　　paper是newspaper的省略說法。Paper當"報紙"的意思講時是可數(shù)名詞，此處的復數(shù)形式表明是"各種各樣的報紙"。