Part II Listening Comprehension (30
minutes) Section A Conversation One
1.
A) He invented the refrigerator. B) He patented his first invention. C) He was admitted to a university. D) He got a degree in
Mathematics. 2. A) He started to work on refrigeration. B) He became a professor of
Mathematics. C) He fell in love with Natasha Willoughby. D) He
distinguished himself in low temperature physics. 3. A) Discovering the true nature of subatomic particles. B) Their
explanation of the laws of cause and effect. C) Their work on very high
frequency radio waves. D) Laying the foundations of modern mathematics. 4. A) To have a three-week holiday. B) To spend his remaining years. C) To patent his inventions. D) To teach at a university.
Conversation Two 5. A) The injury of some students.
B) A school bus crash on the
way. C) The collapse of a school building. D) A fire that broke out on a
school campus. 6. A) Teaching. B) On vacation. C) Having lunch. D) Holding a
meeting. 7. A) A malfunctioning stove. B) Cigarettes butts left by workers. C) Violation of traffic rules. D) Negligence in school
maintenance. 8. A) Sent a story to the local newspaper. B) Threw a small Thanksgiving
party. C) Baked some cookies as a present. D) Wrote a personal letter of
thanks.
Section B Passage One
9. A) It is a trait of a generous character.
B) It is a reflection of self-esteem. C) It is an indicator of high intelligence. D) It is a sign of
happiness and confidence. 10. A) It was self-defeating. B) It was aggressive. C) It was the essence of comedy. D) It was something
admirable. 11. A) It is a double-edged sword. B) It is a feature of a given culture. C) It is a unique gift of human beings. D) It is a result
of both nature and nurture.
Passage Two 12. A) She is a tourist guide.
B) She is an interpreter. C) She is a domestic servant. D) She is from the
royal family. 13. A) It is situated at the foot of a beautiful mountain. B) It was used
by the family to hold dinner parties. C) It was frequently visited by heads
of state. D) It is furnished like one in a royal palace. 14. A) It is elaborately decorated. B) It has survived some 2,000 years. C) It is very big, with only six slim legs. D) It is shaped
like an ancient Spanish boat. 15. A) They are interesting to look at. B) They have lost some of their
legs. C) They do not match the oval table at all. D) They are
uncomfortable to sit in for long.
Section C 16.
A) They investigate the retirement homes in America.
B) They are on
issues facing senior citizens in America. C) They describe the great
pleasures of the golden years. D) They are filled with fond memories of his
grandparents. 17. A) The loss of the ability to take care of himself. B) The feeling of
not being important any more. C) Being unable to find a good retirement
home. D) Leaving the home he had lived in for 60 years. 18. A) The loss of identity and self-worth. B) Fear of being replaced or
discarded. C) Freedom from pressure and worldly cares. D) The possession
of wealth and high respect. 19. A) The urgency of pension reform. B) Medical care for senior
citizens. C) Finding meaningful roles for the elderly in society. D) The
development of public facilities for senior citizens.
20.
A) It seriously impacts their physical and mental development. B) It
has become a problem affecting global economic growth. C) It is a common
problem found in underdeveloped countries. D) It is an issue often overlooked
by parents in many countries. 21. A) They will live longer. B) They get better pay. C) They get along well with people. D) They develop
much higher IQs.
22. A) Appropriated funds to promote research of nutrient-rich foods. B)
Encouraged breastfeeding for the first six months of a child’s life. C)
Recruited volunteers to teach rural people about health and nutrition. D)
Targeted hunger-relief programs at pregnant women and young children.
23.
A) The guaranteed quality of its goods. B) The huge volume of its
annual sales. C) The service it provides to its customers. D) The high
value-to-weight ratio of its goods. 24. A) Those having a taste or smell component. B) Products potentially
embarrassing to buy. C) Those that require very careful handling. D)
Services involving a personal element. 25. A) Those who live in the virtual world. B) Those who have to work
long hours. C) Those who are used to online transactions. D) Those who
don’t mind paying a little more.
Tape ScriptSection A Conversation One
W: Hello. M: Hello, is that the reference library? W: Yes. Can I help
you? M: I hope so. I rang earlier and asked for some information about Denys
Hawtin, the scientist. You asked me to ring back. W: Oh, yes. I have
found something. M: Good. I’ve got a pencil and paper. Perhaps you could
read out what it says. W: Certainly. Hawtin, Denys. Born: Darlington 1836;
died New York 1920. M: Yes. Got that. W: Inventor and physicist. The son
of a farm worker, he was admitted to the University of London at the age of
fifteen. M: Yes. W: He graduated at seventeen with a first class degree
in Physics and Mathematics. All right? M: Yes, all right. W: He made his
first notable achievement at the age of eighteen. It was a method of
refrigeration which arose from his work in low temperature physics. He became
professor of Mathematics at the University of Manchester at twenty-four, where
he remained for twelve years. During that time he married one of his students,
Natasha Willoughby. M: Yes. Go on. W: Later, working together in London,
they laid the foundation of modern Physics by showing that normal laws of cause
and effect do not apply at the level of subatomic particles. For this he and his
wife received the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1910, and did so again in 1912 for
their work on very high frequency radio waves. In his lifetime Hawtin patented
244 inventions. Do you want any more? M: Yes. When did he go to
America? W: Let me see. In 1920 he went to teach in New York, and died there
suddenly after only three weeks. Still, he was a good age. M: Yes. I suppose
so. Well, thanks.
Q1. What do we learn about Denys Hawtin when he was 15? Q2. What did Denys
Hawtin do at the age of 24? Q3. For what were Denys Hawtin and his wife
awarded the Nobel Prize a second time? Q4. Why did Denys Hawtin go to New
York?
Conversation Two W: This is Lisa Meyer in the WBZ newsroom, talking with Mike Bassichis, who
is the director of the Gifford School, about the cleanup from last week’s fire
and what the possible cause of that blaze may have been. M: We’re getting
ready for our entire staff to return early from vacation tomorrow whereupon we
are going to move into temporary classrooms. And the other buildings that did
not burn are being de-smoked. As to the cause of the fire, all we know is that
we were having trouble with the pilot lights since we bought the stove in July
and it had been serviced three times. Well, as a matter of fact, we think it was
a malfunctioning stove that may have caused the fire. Nothing definite yet has
been determined. W: Have you heard from other schools or other institutional
users of this stove that have had the same problem? M: No. I wouldn’t know
anything more about the stove itself. All I know is that this fire went up so
quickly that there’s been a suspicion about why it went up so quickly. And it
may be that there was a gas blast. But, again, this has not been determined
officially by anybody. W: I got you. When do kids come back to school? M:
Next Monday, and we will be ready for them. Monday January 4. We’re just
extremely thrilled that no one was hurt and that’s because of the fire fighters
that were here, nine of them. They’re wonderful. W: And I’m sure you send
your thanks out to them, uh? M: Well, we’re sending out thanks to them in a
letter or in any other way we can. I heard a story today where one of our kids
actually baked some cookies and is taking it to the fire department, to give it
to them.
Q5. What were the speakers talking about?
Q6. What were the school staff
doing at the time of the accident? Q7. What was supposed to be the cause of
the accident? Q8. What did one of the kids do to show gratitude?
Section B Passage One
In today’s personality stakes, nothing is more highly valued than a sense of
humor. We seek it out in others and are proud to claim it in ourselves, perhaps
even more than good looks or intelligence. If someone has a great sense of
humor, we reason, it means that they are happy, socially confident and have a
healthy perspective on life. This attitude would have surprised the ancient
Greeks, who believed humor to be essentially aggressive. And in fact, our
admiration for the comically gifted is relatively new, and not very
well-founded, says Rod Martin, a psychologist at the University of Western
Ontario. Being funny isn’t necessarily an indicator of good social skills and
well-being, his research has shown. It may just as likely be a sign of
personality flaws. He has found that humor is a double-edged sword. It can
forge better relationships and help you cope with life, or it can be corrosive,
eating away at self-esteem and irritating others. “It’s a form of communication,
like speech, and we all use it differently,” says Martin. We use bonding humor
to enhance our social connections, but we also may employ it as a way of
excluding or rejecting an outsider. Though humor is essentially social, how
you use it says a lot about your sense of self. Those who use self-defeating
humor, making fun of themselves for the enjoyment of others, tend to maintain
that hostility toward themselves even when alone. Similarly, those who are able
to view the world with amused tolerance are often equally forgiving of their own
shortcomings.
Q9. How do people today view humor according to the speaker?
Q10. What did
the ancient Greeks think of humor? Q11. What has psychologist Rod Martin found
about humor?
Passage Two And now, if you’ll walk this way, ladies and gentlemen, the next room
we’re going to see is the room in which the family used to hold their formal
dinner parties and even occasionally entertain heads of state and royalty.
However, they managed to keep this room friendly and intimate and I think you’ll
agree it has a very informal atmosphere, quite unlike some grand houses you
visit. The curtains were never drawn, even at night, so guests got a view of the
lake and fountains outside, which were lit up at night. A very attractive
sight. As you can see, ladies and gentlemen, the guests were seated very
informally around this oval table, which would add to the relaxed atmosphere.
The table dates from the eighteenth century and is made of Spanish oak. It’s
rather remarkable for the fact that although it is extremely big, it’s supported
by just six rather slim legs. However, it seems to have survived like that for
two hundred years, so it’s probably going to last a bit longer. The chairs which
go with the table are not a complete set—there were originally six of them. They
are interesting for the fact that they are very plain and undecorated for the
time, with only one plain central panel at the back and no arm-rests. I myself
find them rather uncomfortable to sit in for very long, but people were used to
more discomfort in the past. And now, ladies and gentlemen, if you’d like to
follow me into the Great Hall …
Q12. What do we learn about the speaker? Q13. What does the speaker say
about the room they are visiting? Q14. What is said about the oval table in
the room? Q15. What does the speaker say about the chairs?
Section C
Now listen to the following recording and answer questions 16 to
19. Moderator:
Hello Ladies and Gentlemen, it gives me great pleasure
to introduce our keynote speaker for today’s session, Dr. Howard Miller. Dr.
Miller, Professor of Sociology at Washington University, has written numerous
articles and books on the issues facing older Americans in our graying society
for the past 15 years. Dr. Miller:
Dr. Miller: Thank you for that introduction. Today, I’d like to
preface my remarks with a story from my own life which I feel highlights the
common concerns that bring us here together. Several years ago when my
grandparents were well into their eighties, they were faced with the reality of
no longer being able to adequately care for themselves. My grandfather spoke of
his greatest fear, that of leaving the only home they had known for the past 60
years. Fighting back the tears, he spoke proudly of the fact that he had built
their home from the ground up, and that he had pounded every nail and laid every
brick in the process. The prospect of having to sell their home and give up
their independence, and move into a retirement home was an extremely painful
experience for them. It was, in my grandfather’s own words, like having a limb cut off. He exclaimed
in a forceful manner that he felt he wasn’t important anymore. For them and
some older Americans, their so-called “golden years” are at times not so
pleasant, for this period can mean the decline of not only one’s health but the
loss of identity and self-worth. In many societies, this self-identity is
closely related with our social status, occupation, material possessions, or
independence. Furthermore, we often live in societies that value what is “new”
or in fashion, and our own usage of words in the English
language is often a sign of bad news for older Americans. I mean how would your
family react if you came home tonight exclaiming, “Hey, come to the living room
and see the OLD black and white TV I brought!” Unfortunately, the word “old”
calls to mind images of the need to replace or discard. Now, many of
the lectures given at this conference have focused on the issues of pension
reform, medical care, and the development of public facilities for senior
citizens. And while these are vital issues that must be addressed, I’d like to
focus my comments on an important issue that will affect the overall success of
the other programs mentioned. This has to do with changing our perspectives on
what it means to be a part of this group, and finding meaningful roles the
elderly can play and should play in our societies. First of all, I’d like to
talk about . . .
Q16. What does the introduction say about Dr. Howard Miller’s articles and
books? Q17. What is the greatest fear of Dr. Miller’s grandfather? Q18. What
does Dr. Miller say the “golden years” can often mean? Q19. What is the focus
of Dr. Miller’s speech?
Now listen to the following recording and answer questions 20 to
22. The 2010 Global Hunger Index report was released today by the International
Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). It notes that, in recent years, experts
have come to the conclusion that undernourishment between conception and a
child’s second birthday can have serious and long-lasting impacts.
Undernourishment during this approximately 1,000-day window can seriously
check the growth and development of children and render them more likely to get
sick and die than well-fed children. Preventing hunger allows children to
develop both physically and mentally. Says IFPRI’s Marie Ruel, “They will be
more likely to perform well in school. They will stay in school longer. And then
at adulthood, IFPRI has actually demonstrated that children who were better
nourished have higher wages, by a pretty large margin, by 46 percent.” Ruel
says that means the productivity of a nation’s future generations depends in a
large part on the first 1,000 days of life. “This is why we’re all on board
in focusing on those thousand days to improve nutrition. After that, the damage
is done and is highly irreversible.” The data on nutrition and childhood
development has been slowly coming together for decades. But Ruel says
scientific consensus alone will not solve the problem. “It’s not enough that
nutritionists know you have to intervene then, if we don’t have the politicians
on board, and also the...people that implement [programs] in the field.” Ruel
says there are encouraging signs that politicians and implementers are beginning
to get on board. Many major donors and the United Nations are targeting
hunger-relief programs at pregnant women and young children. They focus on
improving diets or providing micro-food supplements. They improve access to
pre-birth care and encourage exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of
a child’s life. Ruel says in the 1980s Thailand was able to reduce child
undernourishment by recruiting a large number of volunteers to travel the
countryside teaching about health and nutrition. “They really did very active
promotion of diversity in the diet and good eating habits. So they were
providing more food to people, but also educating people on how to use them, and
also educating people on how to feed their young children.” Ruel says
countries may take different approaches to reducing child undernutrition. But
she says nations will not make progress fighting hunger and poverty until they
begin to focus on those critical first thousand days.
Q20. What is the experts’ conclusion regarding children’s undernourishment in
their earliest days of life? Q21. What does IFPRI’s Marie Ruel say about
well-fed children in their adult life? Q22. What did Thailand do to reduce
child undernourishment in the 1980s?
Now listen to the following recording and answer questions 23 to
25. I’d like to look at a vital aspect of e-commerce, and that is the nature of
the product or service. There are certain products and services that are very
suitable for selling online, and others that simply don’t work. Suitable
products generally have a high value-to-weight ratio. Items such as CDs and DVDs
are obvious examples. Books, although heavier and so more expensive to post,
still have a high enough value-to-weight ratio, as the success of Amazon, which
started off selling only books, shows. Laptop computers are another good product
for selling online. Digital products, such as software, films and music, can
be sold in a purely virtual environment. The goods are paid for by online
transactions, and then downloaded onto the buyer’s computer. There are no
postage or delivery costs, so prices can be kept low. Many successful virtual
companies provide digital services, such as financial transactions, in the case
of Paypal, or means of communication, as Skype does. The key to success here is
providing an easy-to-use, reliable service. Do this and you can easily become
the market leader, as Skype has proved. Products which are potentially
embarrassing to buy also do well in the virtual environment. Some of the most
profitable e-commerce companies are those selling sex-related products or
services. For a similar reason, online gambling is highly popular. Products
which are usually considered unsuitable for selling online include those that
have a taste or smell component. Food, especially fresh food, falls into this
category, along with perfume. Clothes and other items that need to be tried on
such as diamond rings and gold necklaces are generally not suited to virtual
retailing, and, of course, items with a low value-to-weight ratio. There are
exceptions, though. Online grocery shopping has really taken off, with most
major supermarkets offering the service. The inconvenience of not being able to
see the food you are buying is outweighed by the time saved and convenience of
having the goods delivered. Typical users of online supermarkets include the
elderly, people who work long hours and those without their own transport.
Q23. What is important to the success of an online store? Q24. What products
are unsuitable for selling online? Q25. Who are more likely to buy groceries
online?
参 考 答 案 1-5 CBCDD 6-10 BACDB 11-15 AABCD16-20 BDACA 21-25 BCDAB
|