The increase in global trade means that international companies cannot afford to make costly advertising mistakes if they want to be competitive.Understanding the language and culture of target markets in foreign countries is one of the keys to successful international marketing.Too many companies,however,have jumped into foreign markets with embarrassing results.Translation mistakes are at the heart of many blunders in international advertising.
General Motors,the US auto manufacturer, got a costly lesson when it introduced its Chevrolet Nova to the Puerto Rican market. “Nova”is Latin for “new (star)”and means “star” in many languages,but in spoken Spanish it can sound like “no va”, meaning “it doesn’t go”.Few people wanted to buy a car with that cursed meaning. When GM changed the name to Caribe,sales picked up dramatically.
Marketing blunders have also been made by food and beverage companies. One American food company’s friendly “Jolly Green Giant” (for advertising vegetables) became something quite different when it was translated into Arabic as “Intimidating Green ogre(吃人妖魔)”.
When translated into German,Pepsi’s popular slogan,“Come Alive with Pepsi” came out implying “Come Alive from the Grave”.No wonder customers in Germany didn’t rush out to buy Pepsi.
Even a company with an excellent international track record like Kentucky Fried Chicken is not immune to the perils of faulty translation.Many sales were lost when the catch phrase “finger licking food” became “eat with your fingers off” in Chinese translation.
A manufacturer of one laundry detergent also made an expensive mistake in the Middle East. Its advertisements showed a picture of a pile of dirty clothes on the left, a box of the company’s detergent in the middle, and clean clothes on the right.Unfortunately,the message was incorrectly interpreted because most people looked at it from right to left, the way Arabic is read.
Having awakened to the special nature of foreign advertising,companies are becoming much more conscientious in their translation and more sensitive to cultural distinctions.The best way to prevent errors is to hire professional translators who understand the target language and its idiomatic usage, or to use a technique called “back translation” to reduce the possibility of blunders. The process uses one person to translate a message into the target language and another to translate it back. Effective translators aim to capture the overall message of an advertisement because a word-for-word duplication of the original rarely conveys the intended meaning and often causes misunderstandings.
1.The underlined word “blunder” in paragraph 1 has the closest meaning to _____________.
A. dispute B. issue C.obvious error D.ignorance
2.Paragraphs 2 to 6 are developed primarily by means of ______________.
A. descriptions B.analysis
C.contrasts D.giving examples
3.Which of the following statements BEST explains the failure of the laundry detergent ad in the Middle East?
A.The advertisement is offensive to the Arabic religious belief.
B.The advertiser is ignorant of the reading habit of the Arabs.
C.The advertisement is mistakenly translated by the Arabs.
D. The advertisement is poorly designed regardless of Arabic social customs.
4.It can be inferred from the passage that _______________.
A.Jolly Green Giant didn’t attract many customers in Arabic countries
B. advertisements must avoid jokes since what is considered funny in one part of the world may not be so humorous in another
C.marketers do not have to appreciate the values of a culture in order to capture the target market
D. word-for-word translation should be abandoned in advertisement translation
5.What is the best title for this article?
A.Cultural Importance in Advertising.
B.How to Translate Advertisement.
C. Avoidance of Culture Oversights.
D. Prevention of Translation Blunders.
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题
The increase in global trade means that international companies cannot afford to make costly advertising mistakes if they want to be competitive.Understanding the language and culture of target markets in foreign countries is one of the keys to successful international marketing.Too many companies,however,have jumped into foreign markets with embarrassing results.Translation mistakes are at the heart of many blunders in international advertising.
General Motors,the US auto manufacturer, got a costly lesson when it introduced its Chevrolet Nova to the Puerto Rican market. “Nova”is Latin for “new (star)”and means “star” in many languages,but in spoken Spanish it can sound like “no va”, meaning “it doesn’t go”.Few people wanted to buy a car with that cursed meaning. When GM changed the name to Caribe,sales picked up dramatically.
Marketing blunders have also been made by food and beverage companies. One American food company’s friendly “Jolly Green Giant” (for advertising vegetables) became something quite different when it was translated into Arabic as “Intimidating Green ogre(吃人妖魔)”.
When translated into German,Pepsi’s popular slogan,“Come Alive with Pepsi” came out implying “Come Alive from the Grave”.No wonder customers in Germany didn’t rush out to buy Pepsi.
Even a company with an excellent international track record like Kentucky Fried Chicken is not immune to the perils of faulty translation.Many sales were lost when the catch phrase “finger licking food” became “eat with your fingers off” in Chinese translation.
A manufacturer of one laundry detergent also made an expensive mistake in the Middle East. Its advertisements showed a picture of a pile of dirty clothes on the left, a box of the company’s detergent in the middle, and clean clothes on the right.Unfortunately,the message was incorrectly interpreted because most people looked at it from right to left, the way Arabic is read.
Having awakened to the special nature of foreign advertising,companies are becoming much more conscientious in their translation and more sensitive to cultural distinctions.The best way to prevent errors is to hire professional translators who understand the target language and its idiomatic usage, or to use a technique called “back translation” to reduce the possibility of blunders. The process uses one person to translate a message into the target language and another to translate it back. Effective translators aim to capture the overall message of an advertisement because a word-for-word duplication of the original rarely conveys the intended meaning and often causes misunderstandings.
1.The underlined word “blunder” in paragraph 1 has the closest meaning to _____________.
A. dispute B. issue C.obvious error D.ignorance
2.Paragraphs 2 to 6 are developed primarily by means of ______________.
A. descriptions B.analysis
C.contrasts D.giving examples
3.Which of the following statements BEST explains the failure of the laundry detergent ad in the Middle East?
A.The advertisement is offensive to the Arabic religious belief.
B.The advertiser is ignorant of the reading habit of the Arabs.
C.The advertisement is mistakenly translated by the Arabs.
D. The advertisement is poorly designed regardless of Arabic social customs.
4.It can be inferred from the passage that _______________.
A.Jolly Green Giant didn’t attract many customers in Arabic countries
B. advertisements must avoid jokes since what is considered funny in one part of the world may not be so humorous in another
C.marketers do not have to appreciate the values of a culture in order to capture the target market
D. word-for-word translation should be abandoned in advertisement translation
5.What is the best title for this article?
A.Cultural Importance in Advertising.
B.How to Translate Advertisement.
C. Avoidance of Culture Oversights.
D. Prevention of Translation Blunders.
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
1.
You might think that “global warming” means nothing more than a raise in the world’s temperature. But rising sea levels causing by it have resulted from the first evacuation(撤离)of an island nation—the citizens of Tuvalu will have to leave for their homeland.
During 20th century, sea level rose 8-12 inches. As a result, Tuvalu has experiencing lowland flooding of salt water which has polluted the country’s drink water.
Paani Laupepa, a Tuvaluan government official, reported to the Earth Policy Institute that the nation suffered an unusual high number of fierce storm in the past ten years. Many scientists connect higher surface water temperatures resulting from global warming to greater and much damaging storms.
高三英语短文改错困难题查看答案及解析
You might think that “global warming” means nothing more than a rise in the world’s temperature But rising sea levels caused by it have resulted in the first evacuation(撤离)of an island nation—the citizens of Tuvalu will have to leave their homeland.
During the 20th century, sea level rose 8—12 inches. As a result .Tuvalu has experienced lowland flooding of salt water which has polluted the country’s drinking water.
Paani Laupepa , a Tuvaluan government official ,reported to the Earth Policy Institute that the nation suffered an unusually high number of fierce storms in the past ten years .Many scientists connect higher surface water temperatures resulting from global warming to greater and more damaging storms.
Laupepa expressed dissatisfaction with the United States for refusing to sign the Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement calling for industrialized nations to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions(导致温室效应的气体排放),which are a main cause of global warming . “By refusing to sign the agreement, the US has effectively taken away the freedom of future generations of Tuvaluans to live where their forefathers have lived for thousands of years,” Laupepa told the BBC.
Tuvalu has asked Australia and New Zealand to allow the gradual move of its people to both countries .
Tuvalu is not the only country that is vulnerable (易受影响的)to rising sea levels .Maumoon Gayoon ,president of the Maldives ,told the United Nations that global warming has made his country of 311,000 an “endangered nation”.
1.The text is mainly about ________.
A.rapid changes in earth’s temperature
B.bad effects of global warming
C.moving of a country to a new place
D.reasons for lowland flooding
2.According to scientists, the DIRECT cause of more and fiercer storms is ________.
A.greenhouse gas emissions in industrialized nations
B.higher surface water temperatures of the sea
C.continuous global warming
D.rising sea levels
3.Laupepa was not satisfied with the United States because it did not ________.
A.agree to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions
B.sign an agreement with Tuvalu
C.allow Tuvaluans to move to the US
D.believe the problems facing Tuvalu were real
4.The country whose situation is similar to that of Tuvalu is ________.
A.Australia B.New Zealand C.the Maldives D.the United States
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
The increase in home computers means that families have much easier ________ to information.
A. measure B. access C. way D. method
高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
What is Bay? The simple answer is that it is a global trading platform where nearly anyone can trade practically anything. People can sell and buy all kinds of products and goods. Including cars, movies and DVDs, sporting goods, travel tickets, musical instruments, clothes and shoes- the list goes on and on
The idea came from Peter Omidyar, who was born in Paris and moved to Washington when he was still a child, At high school, be became very interested in computer programming and after graduating from Tuft University in 1988, He worked for the next few years as a computer engineer. In his free time he started Bay as a kind of hobby, at first offering the service free by word of mouth. By 1996 there was so much traffic on the website that he had to upgrade(升级) and he began charging a fee to members. Joined by a friend, Peter Skill. and in 1998 by his capable CEO, Meg Whitman, he has never looked back. . Even in the great. com crashes of the late 1990s,abay has gone from strength to strength ,. It is now one of the ten most visited online shopping websites on the Internet
eBay sells connections, not goods, putting buyer and seller into contact with each other. All you have to do is lake an e-photo, write a description, fill out a sales form and you are in business: the world is your market place. Of course for each item (商品)sold eBay gets a percentage and that is great deal of money. Every day there are more than sixteen million items listed on eBay and eighty percent of the items are sold
1.We learn from the text that eBay provides people with__
A. a way of buying and selling goods
B. a website for them to upgrade
C. a place to exhibit their own photos
D. a chance to buy things at low prices
2.Why did Peter create eBay after graduating from university?
A. For fun
B. To make money
C. For gathering the engineers
D. To fulfill a task of his company
3.From “he has never looked back “in Paragraph 2 we learn that peter_
A. did not feel lonely
B. was always hopeful
C. did not think about the past
D. became more and more successful
4.How does eBay make money from its website7?
A. By bringing callers together.
B. By charging for each sale
C. By listing items online
D. By making e-photos.
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
Trade, industrialization and especially globalization in the past few decades many languages to disappear.
A.had caused B.caused C.have caused D.causes
高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
—________ when has the country been open to international trade?
—1978,I suppose.
A.Since B.In C.From D.After
高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
An increase in students applying to study economics at university is being attributed to the global economic crisis awakening a public 36 for knowledge about how the financial system 37 .
Applications for degree courses beginning this autumn were up by 15% this January, 38 UCAS, the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service. A spokesman for the Royal Economic Society said applications to do economics at A-level were 39 up.
Professor John Beath, the president of the society, and a 40 lecturer at St Andrews University, said his first-year lectures—which are open to students from all departments—were 41 crowds of 400, rather than the42 250.
“There are a large number of students who are not economics43 who would like to learn something about it. One of the things I have done this year is to 44 my teaching to contemporary events in a way that one hasn’t 45 done.” He added.
University applications 46 7% last year. But there were rises 47 average in several subjects. Nursing saw a 15% jump, with people’s renewed48 in careers in the public sector, which are seen as more secure in economic crisis.
A 49 study showed almost two thirds of parents believed schools should do more to teach pupils about financial 50 and almost half said their children had asked them what was51 , although a minority of parents felt they did not understand it themselves well enough to explain.
Zack Hocking, the head of Child Trust Funds, said: “It’s possible that one good thing to arise from the52 will be a generation that’s financially53 and better equipped to 54 their money through times of economic 55 .”
1.A.concern B.thirst C.sense D.taste
2.A.works B.performs C.serves D.affects
3.A.in terms of B.according to C.on account of D.in spite of
4.A.yet B.once C.also D.still
5.A.outstanding B.inspiring C.convincing D.leading
6.A.catching B.appealing C.drawing D.covering
7.A.usual B.regular C. average D.common
8.A.majors B.interests C.preferences D.standards
9.A.attach B.adapt C.approach D.relate
10.A.generally B.frequently C.traditionally D.originally
11.A.raised B.rose C.fell D.struck
12.A.by B.in C.over D.above
13.A.effect B.focus C.interest D.benefit
14.A.recent B.late C.present D.unique
15.A.matters B.affairs C. events D.issues
16.A.taking up B.going on C.calling up D.keeping on
17.A.overturn B.downturn C.breakthrough D.breakout
18.A.cleverer B.smarter C.brighter D.wiser
19.A.strugglt B.measure C.manage D.earn
20.A.stability B.puzzle C.uncertainty D.recovery
高三英语完型填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
An increase in students applying to study economics at university is being attributed to the global economic crisis awakening a public thirst for knowledge about how the financial system works.
Applications for degree courses beginning this autumn were up by 15% this January, according to UCAS, the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service. A spokesman for the Royal Economic Society said applications to do economics at A-level were also up.
Professor John Beath, the president of the society, and a leading lecturer at St Andrews University, said his first-year lectures—which are open to students from all departments—were drawing crowds of 400, rather than the usual 250.
“There are a large number of students who are not economics majors, who would like to learn something about it. One of the things I have done this year is to relate my teaching to contemporary events in a way that one hasn’t traditionally done.” He added.
University applications rose 7% last year. But there were rises above average in several subjects. Nursing saw a 15% jump, with people’s renewed interest in careers in the public sector, which are seen as more secure in economic crisis.
A recent study showed almost two thirds of parents believed schools should do more to teach pupils about financial matters, and almost half said their children had asked them what was going on, although a minority of parents felt they did not understand it themselves well enough to explain.
Zack Hocking, the head of Child Trust Funds, said: “It’s possible that one good thing to arise from the downturn will be a generation that’s financially wiser and better equipped to manage their money through times of economic uncertainty.”
1.Professor John Beath’s lectures are ________.
A.given in a traditional way
B.open to both students and their parents
C.connected with the present situation
D.warmly received by economics
2.Incomes in the public sector are more attractive because of their ________.
A.greater stability B.higher pay
C.fewer applications D.better reputation
3.In the opinion of most parents ________.
A.economics should be the focus of school teaching
B.more students should be admitted to universities
C.children should solve financial problems themselves
D.the teaching of financial matters should be strengthened
4.According to Hocking, the global economic crisis might make the youngsters ________.
A.have access to better equipment B.wiser in money management
C.confident about their future careers D.get jobs in Child Trust Funds
5.What’s the main idea of the text?
A.Universities have received more applications.
B.College students benefit a lot from economic uncertainty.
C.Economics is attracting an increasing numbers students.
D.Parents are concerned with children’s subject selection.
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
______rise in carbon dioxide is causing _______ steady increase in global warming.
A. The; a B.不填; a C. The;不填 D.A;the
高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析