背景導(dǎo)讀

當(dāng)今的社會(huì)隨著科學(xué)技術(shù)的發(fā)展，犯罪的手段也日益高明，各種高智商的犯罪層出不窮，讓人防不勝防。如今比較猖獗的如:手機(jī)短信詐騙，電話詐騙，銀行卡詐騙等等，種類繁多，因此我們要時(shí)刻保持清醒的頭腦，時(shí)刻存著防備的心理，這樣就可以極大地降低被騙的幾率，那么要是有一天你突然收到一封來(lái)自國(guó)外的郵件，要求你去繼承一筆可觀的遺產(chǎn)，你會(huì)作何感想?詐騙?天降橫財(cái)?究竟是真是假，讓我們一探究竟:

Ｆｒｏｍ：＜ｊｏｓｅｐｈ＿ｙａｎａ＠ｏｒａｎｇｅ．ｎｅｔ＞

ＩＰ Ａｄｄｒｅｓｓ：１９３．２５２．２２．１１８ （ｏｒｉｇｉｎａｔｅｓ ｆｒｏｍ Ｆｒａｎｃｅ）

Ｄａｔｅ：Ｍｏｎ， ０２-Ｆｅｂ-２００９，０９：３７：０４ａｍ

Ａｔｔａｃｈｍｅｎｔ：（Ｎｏ ａｔｔａｃｈｍｅｎｔ）

Ｓｕｂｊｅｃｔ：［Ｇ-Ｓｐａｍ］ ＰＬＥＡＳＥ ＲＥＰＬＹ ＢＡＣＫ．

Ｍｅｓｓａｇｅ：

CONFIDENTIAL BUSINESS PROPOSAL.

FROM THE DESK OF: MR. JOSEPH YANA.

AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK (ADB)

BURKINA-FASO.

Dear Sir / Madam，

I am the Bill and Exchange (assistant) Manager of the African Development Bank， MR. JOSEPH YANA.

In my department I discovered an abandoned sum of USD￥9，900，000 in an account① that belongs to one of our foreign customer who died along with his wife and two children in July 2000 in a plane crash. Since we got information about his death， we have been expecting his next of kin(近親) to come over and claim his money， but unfortunately we learnt that all his supposed next of kin or relation died alongside with him in the plane crash leaving nobody behind for the claim②.

It is therefore upon this discovery that I in my department now decided to make this business proposal③ to you and release the money to you as next of kin or relation since nobody is coming for it and we don’t want this money to go into the bank treasury as unclaimed fund. The banking law and guidelines here says that if such money remains unclaimed after ten years， the money will be transferred into④ the bank treasury as unclaimed fund.

The request of foreigner in this transaction⑤ is necessary because our late customer was a foreigner. We agree that 30% of this money will be for you as foreigner partner， 5% will be set aside⑥ for expenses incurred during the business and 65% would be for me， after which I shall visit your country for disbursement(開(kāi)支) according to the percentages indicated. Therefore to enable the immediate transfer of this fund to you as arranged， you must apply first to the bank， and send your account number， your private telephone and fax number for easy and effective communication and location where the money will be sent.

Upon receiving your reply， I will send to you by fax or e-mail the text of the application which you shall retype and fax to us. Trusting to receive your urgent reply through my alternative E-mail: jyana96 @ yahoo. co. id

Best regards.

MR. JOSEPH YANA.

閱讀點(diǎn)撥

這篇文章的題材是我們常見(jiàn)的英文郵件。郵件屬于實(shí)用文體，郵件閱讀一般要求讀者能從郵件中獲取真實(shí)、有用、確切的信息，以完成交流的過(guò)程。比如，比較常見(jiàn)的貿(mào)易往來(lái)的郵件，就要求讀者準(zhǔn)確讀懂對(duì)方的要求，這樣雙方的貿(mào)易才能順利進(jìn)行，因此郵件閱讀類試題常以細(xì)節(jié)題為主，有時(shí)也有揣摩作者意圖的試題，該類試題的特征是實(shí)用性較強(qiáng)，那么，本文是否也是一篇比較正規(guī)的商務(wù)往來(lái)的郵件呢?從表面上來(lái)看，這是一封來(lái)自于非洲開(kāi)發(fā)銀行一位助理經(jīng)理的郵件，格式以及稱謂等均十分正規(guī)，符合商務(wù)郵件的規(guī)范，但是我們不能被它正規(guī)的外表迷惑了，更不能受它內(nèi)容的蠱惑，那看似誠(chéng)懇的描述和看似合理的金錢分配，其實(shí)，無(wú)非是給你挖下一個(gè)大大的陷阱，它引誘的就是貪財(cái)?shù)娜藗儯嘈盘焐蠒?huì)掉下餡餅的人就是它要誘騙的對(duì)象，所以我們要記住天下沒(méi)有免費(fèi)的午餐，真正要致富，靠的是你勤勞的雙手和辛勤的付出。

閱讀思考

1. The person who received this e-mail message was probably______.

A. me

B. just one of MILLIONS of lucky e-mail users world-wide

C. you

D. all of the above

2. A foreigner who receives this letter should ________.

A. be a close relative of the dead

B. send hundreds of dollars to Africa

C. go to African Development Bank for the wealth

D. not take it seriously

3. Which of the following is true according to the text?

A. Many millionaires died in the plane crash.

B. Any money unclaimed will be given to a poor foreigner.

C. The division of the money seems quite reasonable.

D. AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK doesn’t exist at all.

4. A person who believes “_________” will fall into it.

A. Nothing ventured， nothing gained.

B. There’s no such thing as a free lunch.

C. All rivers run into the sea.

D. A short cut is often a wrong cut.

答案與解析

1. D。文章讀到最后我們要能判定出這是一封詐騙性質(zhì)的郵件，因此該郵件的發(fā)送對(duì)象必然是隨機(jī)的，因此收到該郵件的可能是任何人。

2. D。本題正確解答的關(guān)鍵還是建立在對(duì)這封郵件性質(zhì)的判定上，確認(rèn)郵件的詐騙性質(zhì)后我們可以知道，收到該郵件的人，應(yīng)該不要太當(dāng)真，否則就很容易上當(dāng)受騙。

3. C。文章中間有一段對(duì)財(cái)產(chǎn)分割的描寫，郵件的發(fā)送者是這樣給出分割比例的:收到本郵件的人得30%，5%作為額外的各項(xiàng)開(kāi)支，65%歸郵件發(fā)送者，即所謂的“非洲開(kāi)發(fā)銀行助理經(jīng)理”所得，這樣的分配比例從表面上看起來(lái)是十分合理的，這也是誘騙人上當(dāng)?shù)囊粋€(gè)陷阱。

4. A。本題要求選擇一個(gè)恰當(dāng)?shù)闹V語(yǔ)，試題要求考生判斷信奉選項(xiàng)中哪一諺語(yǔ)的人會(huì)上當(dāng)，根據(jù)含義分析，我們可以知道信奉A(yù)項(xiàng)“不入虎穴，焉得虎子”的人很容易會(huì)去冒險(xiǎn)上當(dāng);B項(xiàng)意為“天下沒(méi)有免費(fèi)的午餐”，信奉這一格言的人比較理性;C項(xiàng)意為“海納百川”;D項(xiàng)意為:“欲速則不達(dá)”。

讀有所得

一、有用的詞匯和短語(yǔ)

①account (n.) 此處意為“(銀行)賬戶”，例如:

(1) open an account開(kāi)一個(gè)銀行賬戶

(2) draw money out of an account從一賬戶中取錢

此外，account還可以表示“描述，敘述”，如:

She gave the police a full account of the incident.

她把事件向警方作了詳細(xì)的敘述。

●短語(yǔ)拓展:

(1) take...into account/consideration把……考慮在內(nèi)

When judging his performance， don’t take his age into account.

評(píng)定他表現(xiàn)時(shí)，不必考慮他的年齡。

(2) on no account絕不可以，切莫

My name must on no account be mentioned to anyone.

我的名字絕不能向任何人提及。

(3) on account of由于

I was thinking of going down to the countryside for a fortnight， on account of my health.

由于我的健康狀況，我正在考慮去鄉(xiāng)下待兩周。

②claim (n.) 索款(作為保險(xiǎn)金、賠償、增薪等)

make a claim for damages/a pay rise 提出損害賠償/增薪水要求

此外，claim還可以作動(dòng)詞用，表示“聲稱，宣稱;索要，索賠;奪去(生命)，如:

The man claimed to have been badly treated when he was shopping in that supermarket yesterday.

那人聲稱當(dāng)他昨天在超市購(gòu)物的時(shí)候受到了不好的待遇。

Have you claimed the insurance yet?

你索取保險(xiǎn)金了嗎?

The earthquake claimed thousands of lives.

地震奪去了數(shù)以千計(jì)人的生命。

③proposal (n.) 提議，建議

I’ve decided to accept their proposal and spend my vacation on the farm.

我已經(jīng)決定接受他們的建議去農(nóng)場(chǎng)度假。

proposal的動(dòng)詞形式為propose，該詞的用法主要如下:

After I had finished eating， he proposed to set off immediately.

我吃完后，他就建議立即出發(fā)。

I propose resting for half an hour.

我建議休息半個(gè)小時(shí)。

The chairman proposed that they should stop the meeting.

主席建議他們停止開(kāi)會(huì)。(propose后接從句時(shí)，從句中需使用虛擬語(yǔ)氣，虛擬的構(gòu)成是should+動(dòng)詞原形，should可以省略)

It was proposed that this matter be considered at the next meeting.

建議這件事情下次會(huì)議再討論。

④be transferred into (phr.)該短語(yǔ)表示“被轉(zhuǎn)變成……”，如:

In the past ten years， Suzhou has been transferred into an advanced industrial city.

在過(guò)去十年里，蘇州已經(jīng)變成了一個(gè)先進(jìn)的工業(yè)城市。

⑤transaction (n.) 業(yè)務(wù)，交易

Payments by cheque easily outnumber cash transactions.

用支票付款在數(shù)量上大大超過(guò)了現(xiàn)金交易。

⑥set aside (phr.)

該短語(yǔ)表示“把……置于一旁，留出”的含義，如:

He set aside his book and lit a cigarette.

他把書放在一邊，點(diǎn)了一支香煙。

I try to set aside a few minutes each day to do some exercises.

我每天盡量騰出一些時(shí)間鍛煉一下身體。

二、有用的語(yǔ)法和句型結(jié)構(gòu)

1. It is therefore upon this discovery that I in my department now decided to make this business proposal③ to you and release the money to you as next of kin or relation since nobody is coming for it and we don’t want this money to go into the bank treasury as unclaimed fund.

本句是一個(gè)強(qiáng)調(diào)句型，強(qiáng)調(diào)句的判斷依據(jù)為:去掉it is和引導(dǎo)詞that之后，所剩部分仍然是一個(gè)完整的句子。再如:

It is I who am to blame. (強(qiáng)調(diào)主語(yǔ))

該受譴責(zé)的是我。(強(qiáng)調(diào)句的引導(dǎo)詞通常為that，但若被強(qiáng)調(diào)部分是表示人的名詞或代詞，引導(dǎo)詞也可以使用who)

It is for this reason that the clear sky over the mountain appears blue. (強(qiáng)調(diào)原因狀語(yǔ))

是因?yàn)檫@個(gè)原因山頂上的天空才顯得那么藍(lán)。

It was when she was about to leave for work that the telephone rang. (強(qiáng)調(diào)時(shí)間狀語(yǔ))

那是在她正準(zhǔn)備出發(fā)去工作時(shí)電話鈴響了。

It was in the bookstore that I met your brother the other day. (強(qiáng)調(diào)地點(diǎn)狀語(yǔ))

那是在書店我前幾天碰見(jiàn)了你的哥哥。

It was how the young man had learned five foreign languages that attracted the audience’s interest. (強(qiáng)調(diào)主語(yǔ)從句)

吸引讀者的是那個(gè)年輕人是怎樣學(xué)會(huì)五種外語(yǔ)的。

It is/was not until...that...表示“直到……時(shí)候才”，也是一個(gè)強(qiáng)調(diào)句型。

It was not until 1920 that regular radio broadcasts began.

那是直到1920年， 定期的廣播播音才開(kāi)始。

It was not until quite recently that they knew the secret about Jack’s failure.

那是直到最近他們才知道杰克失敗的秘密。

2. Upon receiving your reply， I will send to you by fax or e-mail the text of the application which you shall retype and fax to us.

Upon/on doing sth...表示“一……就”這一含義，再如:

On entering the room， she found the man lying dead on the floor.

一進(jìn)入屋子， 她就發(fā)現(xiàn)那個(gè)男的躺在地上死了。

On reaching the town， he went directly to the hotel.

一到那個(gè)鎮(zhèn)， 他就直接去了旅館。

編輯/梁宇清