4[阅读题,10分] Ask a Swedish Ericsson executive ‘Talar du Svenska?’ and he may well reply ‘Yes. But only at home. At work I speak English.’ Ericsson is one of a growing number of European companies that use English as their official corporate language. These companies recognize and, at the same time, increase the dominance of English as the language of international communication. Soon the number of speakers of English as a second language will exceed that of native English speakers. Although a company might use English as its official language, its employees are unlikely to be bilingual. Language trainer Jacquie Reid thinks we consistently overestimate the fluency of nonnative speakers. ‘We always assume that because their language skills are better than ours, they understand everything we say.’ So how should we adapt our use of language and what are the common problems? ‘Simplify it,’ is Reid’s advice. ‘Don’t over-complicate the message. Reduce what you’re saying to manageable chunks.’ Reid always tells people to limit themselves to one idea per sentence. ‘It’s also important to slow down and not raise your voice.’ Dr Jasmine Patel, a language consultant at Europhone, says different languages also have their own approach to dialogue. ‘The British start with idiomatic expression such as So, should we get down to it? And understate important issues with phrases such as There could be a slight problem. They also say That’s a good idea, but …when they mean No and they repeatedly use the word get with different meanings. And worst of all, they insist on using humour which is so culture-specific that no-one understand it.’ The majority of English native speakers are insensitive to the stress of trying to understand a foreign language in a work environment because they rely on the business world speaking their language. At Ericsson, however, this is not the case. At the UK subsidiary, Ericsson Telecommunications, management training courses include seminars on both language and cross-cultural issues. A frequent comment made in follow-up evaluations is that increased awareness has improved communication and, more importantly, given participants a better understanding of their own language and how others might interpret it. 1.（ ） Why does Ericsson use English as its official language? _____________. A. Because English is spoken the majority of people in the world. B. Because English is the native language of British people. C. Because English is the dominant language of international communication. D. Because English is a useful tool in the business world. 2. （ ）Which of the following ways may not help native English speakers to communicate more effectively? _______________. A. To make their message simple B. To keep one idea per sentence C. To speak more slowly D. To use vogue terms when speaking 3. （ ）Native English speakers are not aware of the difficulties of listening to foreign language as _________________. A. English is preferred by all people at work B. English is the most useful language. C. English is spoken in their work environment. D. they take pride in speaking English at work. 4.（ ）Ericsson makes its employees more aware of the difficulties of listening to foreign language through _______________. A. teaching its employees foreign languages B. sending its employees overseas to learn foreign languages C. more exchanges with overseas companies D. language and cultural awareness seminars 5.（ ）The word “approach” in the second line of the fourth paragraph is closest in meaning to ______________. A. contact B. touch C. way D. appropriate

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