中国科学院大学外语学院博士学位英语样卷

中国科学院大学外语学院博士学位英语样卷 中国科学院大学英语B考试样题 声明:北京理工大学出版社出版的《中国科学院博士学位英语考试应试指南》依 据的是旧的大纲，实际考试形式以本样题为准。 This exam paper includes two parts: PAPER ONE (100 minutes, 75 points) and PAPER TWO (50 minutes, 25 points). (第100分钟时收Answer sheet I) A Sample Test PAPER ONE Part I Listening Comprehension Section A (10 points) Directions: In this part, you will hear 10 short conversations. At the end of each conversation, a question will be asked about what is said. Each conversation and the question will be spoken only once. When you hear the question, read the four choices of the answer given and choose the best one by marking the corresponding letter A, B, C, or D on your Answer Sheet I. 1. A. Go back home. B. Mail a letter. C. Do the shopping. D. Ask the way. 2. A. Dennis always alters his idea about an outing. B. Dennis has no choice but to come with them. C. It’s surprising that Dennis would come with them. D. Dennis has at last agreed to go out. 3. A. Go out for fun with the girl. B. Travel with the girl to Holland. C. Try not to spend so much money. D. Let the girl pay her own bill. 4. A. The man should reschedule the trip. B. She has no idea when the semester ends. C. She’ll call the travel agency to confirm the date. D. The man should spend his holidays somewhere else. 5. A. He forgot to mail the letter. 1 B. He left the letter in his office. C. The letter slipped off his desk. D. He should have put the letter in his bag. 6. A. He was exhausted. B. He was drunk. C. He was worried. D. He was late for work. 7. A. In a mall. B. In a pharmacy. C. In the cleaner’s. D. In a department store. 8. A. The woman argued for her innocence at court. B. The woman complained that she was forced to pay the fine. C. The woman has got away with many violations of traffic law. D. The woman pleaded ignorance this time of her violation of the traffic law. 9. A. Jack has to meet a tight deadline. B. Jack has completed his assignment C. Jack got himself burnt last night. D. Professor David is a pleasant figure. 10(A. He does not like Beth. B. He thinks the world is too crowded. C. He is too excited to do anything about the party. D. He will not help arrange for the party. Section B (10 points) Directions: In this part, you will hear three mini-talks and each of them will be spoken only once. While listening to them, read the questions that follow each talk. You will be asked to write down your answer on your Answer Sheet II, using one sentence only, either complete or incomplete. Your answer should be concise and to the point. Questions 11 to 13 are based on Mini-talk One: Mini-talk One 11: How much grain do rats destroy each year in India? 12: Where do rats live? 13: How do rats spread diseases indirectly? Questions 14 to 16 are based on Mini-talk Two: Mini-talk Two 14: What education does the vast majority of US Postal Service jobs require? 15: When can one know the special requirements for some postal jobs? 2 16: In addition to the variety of paid leave, what other benefits are provided for a postal employee? (List at least two.) Questions 17 to 20 are based on Mini-talk Three: Mini-talk Three 17: Why is popular art said to be primarily entertainment? 18: What is the distinction in art between a professional and an amateur? 19: How does high art differ from popular art financially? 20: What are people interested in high art often required to do? Part II Use of English and Reading Comprehension Section A (15 points) Directions: There are 15 blanks in the following passage. Read the passage carefully and fill in each of the blanks by choosing the right word or phrase from the list given below. Write your answer on the Answer Sheet II. Capitalize the word when it is necessary. The words and phrases listed are twice as many as the blanks. Once a word or phrase is chosen, it must be used only once. adversely, accompanying, as, balanced, challenged, continue, continuous, destroyed, discern, estimated, ever, exceeded, feasible, following, fortunately, in case, instantaneously, like, once, overcome, precede, regrettably, separated, simultaneously, than, that, therefore, transforming, when, while Many of the most damaging and life-threatening types of weather—torrential rains, severe thunderstorm, and tornadoes—began quickly, strike suddenly, and dissipate rapidly, devastating small regions 21 leaving neighboring areas untouched. One such event, a tornado, struck the northeastern section of Edmonton, Alberta, in July 1987. Total damages from the tornado 22 $ 250 million, the highest 23 for any Canadian storm. Conventional computer models of the atmosphere have limited value in predicting short-lived local storms 24 the Edmonton tornado, because the available weather data are generally not detailed enough to allow computers to discern the subtle atmospheric changes that 25 these storms. In most nations, for example, weather-balloon observations are taken just 26 every twelve hours at locations typically 27 by hundreds of miles. With such limited data, conventional forecasting models do a much better job predicting general weather conditions over large regions 28 they do forecasting specific local events. Until recently, the observation—intensive approach needed for accurate, very short-range forecasts, or “Nowcast”, was not 29 . The cost of equipping and operating many thousands of conventional weather stations was prohibitively high, and the difficulties involved in rapidly collecting and processing the raw weather data from such a network were insurmountable. 30 , scientific and technological advances have 31 most of these problems. Radar systems, automated weather instruments, and satellites are all capable of making detailed, nearly 32 observations over large regions at a relatively low cost. Communications satellites can transmit data around the world cheaply and 33 , and modern computers can quickly compile and analyze this large volume of weather information. Meteorologists and computer scientists now work 3 together to design computer programs and video equipment capable of 34 raw weather data into words, symbols, and vivid graphic displays that forecasters can interpret easily and quickly. 35 meteorologists have begun using these new technologies in weather forecasting offices, nowcasting is becoming a reality. Section B (20 questions×1.5 points= 30 points) Directions: Read the following passages carefully and then select the best answer from the four choices given to answer each of the questions or complete each of the statements that follow each passage. Mark the letter of your choice on your Answer Sheet I. Passage 1 For centuries, the gravel and sand of Georges Bank and the great canyons, muddy basins, and shallow ledges of the Gulf of Maine have supported one of the world’s most productive fishing regions. But big boulders have historically protected a 1050-square-kilometer region at the bank’s northeastern tip from dredging boats in search of scallops and trawlers hunting down groundfish. However, those boulders are becoming less of a deterrent against improved and sturdier gear. So when geologist Page Valentine of the U.S. Geological Survey in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, stood before his colleagues last month and defended his proposal to safeguard this rare, undisturbed gravel bed, he knew that he was also standing at the crossroads of science and politics. Valentine’s presentation was part of a 2-day workshop held at the New England Aquarium here to build support for Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), a controversial concept aimed at preserving biodiversity in coastal waters. The meeting, organized by Elliott Norse, founder of the Marine Conservation Biology Institute in Redmond, Washington, featured talks by 21 experts across a range of marine habitats and species and represented the marine community’s biggest push for MPAs. The discussion generated a map that nominated 29% of the ocean floor off the coast of New England and Canada’s Maritime Province for protection, as well as 25% of pelagic (open-ocean) waters. The next step will come in the fall, when the scientists discuss the plan with government officials, commercial stakeholders, and environmental activists—meetings that are likely to be contentious. “The conservation groups will want to see if various species are covered. And various fishermen will be convinced that their livelihood is threatened,” says Mike Pentony, an analyst for the New England Fishery Management Council, who was an observer at last month’s workshop. The areas could be established by the National Marine Fisheries Service or under existing U.S. and Canadian laws to protect endangered species and habitats. 36. Which of the following can be the best title of the passage? A. Fishery Industry in New England. B. Plan to Protect Coastal waters of New England. C. Restoration of Marine Life in the Gulf of Maine. D. Problems Critical to Ecological Balance in Georges Bank. 37. The abundance of fish in the area has been a result of ________. A. the perpetual fishery closure B. the stringent ban on overfishing C. the effective fishery management 4 D. its unique geographic features 38. Boulders used to be a deterrent to ________. A. scallop B. groundfish C. fishing boats D. improved gear 39. At the two-day workshop, the scientists reached an agreement on ______. A. the marine areas to be preserved B. how to rescue the endangered species C. the guarantee of the fishermen’s livelihood D. what to discuss with the government officials 40. Which of the following CANNOT be concluded from the last paragraph? A. The fishermen will be worried about their livelihood. B. A decision is soon to be made on the protected areas. C. Commercial stakeholders may be at odds with scientists. D. Conflicting interests will arise between fishermen and scientists. Passage 2 Some people are accustomed to thinking that facts must either be believed or they must be disbelieved—as if beliefs were like a light switch with only two positions, on or off. My use of the bathtub hoax is intended to illustrate that belief does not have to operate as a simple yes or no choice, all or nothing. Belief can be more conditional; it can be something that we decide to have “up to a point.” And so, the question we might ask ourselves while reading does not have to be “Should I believe it or not?” but instead can be “How much should I believe it?” This later question implies that the belief we have in any given fact, or in any given idea, is not determined by whether it sounds right or whether the source is an authority. It means that our beliefs are determined by the reasons that justify them. Belief is not a mechanical action, brought about by invariable rules of nature. It is a human activity, the exercise of judgment. With this in mind, we might say that we perform this action better when we know what the reasons are that have led to our belief, and why they are good reasons. These observations do not deprive us of our ability to believe in what we read. They are not intended to transform you from credulous believers into stubborn doubters. The process of weighing beliefs against the quality of reasons is one that you already go through all the time, whether you are aware of it or not. We all do. The practice of critical reading is the exercise of this kind of judgment on purpose. By doing it, we protect ourselves from being led into belief for inadequate reasons, but at the same time we open up our minds to the possibility of arriving at belief for adequate ones. If we decide to grant or withhold consent based on the quality of the reasons that we are given we admit at the same time that two things are possible: We admit that we might consent less in the future if we discover that the reasons are not so good after all; and we admit that we might consent more if we are ever presented with better reasons than we had formerly known. This attitude is not pure skepticism any more than it is pure credulity. It is somewhere in between. It is the attitude of an open-minded thinker, of someone who wishes to be responsible for deciding for herself or himself what to believe. 5 41. The author’s use of the bathtub hoax is meant to suggest that __________. A. facts must be believed unconditionally B. belief is more than a simple yes or no choice C. nothing should be believed or disbelieved D. belief is nothing but a light switch 42. To believe or disbelieve what you read should be based on ________. A. the facts that you are given B. whether the author is an open-minded authority C. the quality of reasons provided by the material D. the assumption that you know everything about it 43. As a human activity, weighing the facts about something is actually _______. A. determined by the rules of nature B. a performance C. brought about even at birth D. experienced by everyone 44. According to the author, which of the following is true? A. Our attitude toward what we read may change if we are given better reasons. B. An open-minded thinker is responsible for what he or she says. C. Critical reading can make us believe more in what we read. D. We ought to question the value of what we read if its source is not authoritative. 45. What is the topic of this passage? A. Judgment and Responsibility. B. Reading and Belief. C. Trust and Faith. D. Reading and Human Activity. Passage 3 Things don’t come easily to Matteo, a 4-year-old New Yorker with brown bangs and cowboy bandanna. Afflicted by cerebral palsy, he moves awkwardly. He thinks slowly and doesn’t talk much. Small frustrations upset him terribly. But when Matteo visits Clive Robbins, his music therapist, he bangs gleefully on a snare drum, placing one hand on the rim to steady himself, he uses the other to rap in tempo to Robbins’s improvised song. As the tune progresses, Matteo moves his act to the piano, banging along with one or two fingers and laughing excitedly. By following the rhythm, he is learning to balance his body and coordinate the movement of his limbs. He’s also learning to communicate. “He is grown much more motivated and intent,” says Robbins, the co-founder of New York University’s Nordoff-Robbins Center for Music Therapy. Disabled children aren’t the only ones feeling the therapeutic power of music. A 79-year-old stroke survivor listens to Viennese waltzes on his headphones to help him to relearn to walk. A woman in labor had LeAnn Rimes’ country tunes blaring from a stereo to help her keep in step with her contraction. And, yes, ostensibly healthy people are listening to airy New Age discs, and maybe lighting a candle or two, to lessen stress and promote well-being. They may all be on to something. Mounting evidence suggests 6 that almost any musical stimulus, from Shostakovich to the Spice Girls can have therapeutic effects. Music therapy isn’t mainstream health care, but recent studies suggest it can have a wide range of benefits. In 1996, researchers at Colorado State University tried giving 10 stroke victims 30 minutes of rhythmic stimulation each day for three weeks. Compared with untreated patients, they shared significant improvements in their ability to walk steadily. People with Parkinson’s disease enjoyed similar benefits. A musical beat from any genre seemed to provide a rhythmic cue, stimulating the brain’s motor systems. Other body systems seem equally responsive. Scottish researchers have found, for example, that a daily dose of Mozart or Mendelssohn significantly brightens the moods of institutionalized stroke victims. Using psychological tests, the Scottish team showed that patients receiving 12 weeks of daily music therapy were less depressed and anxious, and more stable and sociable, than other patients in the same facility. Music therapy has also proved useful in the management of Alzheimer’s and other neurological diseases. And Deforia Lane, a music therapist at University Hospitals in Cleveland, has shown that music can boost immune function in children. That’s consistent with a 1995 finding by Louisiana researchers that preemies exposed to lullabies in the hospital went home earlier. 46. Which of the following would be the best title for this passage? A. Why Music is Powerful B. Music and Pain Medication C. Music and Disabled Children D. The Medical Power of Music 47. What does the passage say about Matteo? A. He is suffering a paralysis of the brain. B. He is late in his ability to walk and talk. C. He plays music better by taking the advice. D. He’s ambitious to become a professional drummer. 48. Paragraph 2 mainly tells that ________________. A. music helps pregnant women undergo contractions B. music stimulates promotion of people’s well-being C. music seems to have therapeutic effects on all people D. sick people benefit a lot from listening to music 49. By mentioning the Spice Girls, the author gives an example of music A. which is popular among children. B. which is good for health. C. which may harm one’s health. D. which is losing popularity. 50. According to the context, the word “preemies” probably means________. A. sick children coming to see a doctor B. children with infectious diseases C. newly recovered young patients 7 D. premature babies Passage 4 In terms of lives lost and property destroyed, the Civil War was the most terrible armed conflict Americans have ever known, but that has not prevented them from remembering it with enduring fondness. The Civil War remains the most written-about period in American history, and it provides boundless entertainment in the United States and around the world. Instead of an object lesson in the dangers of political polarization, racial inequality, and human cruelty, fans consider their favorite war an exercise in nobility—a bloodbath that somehow forged the unbreakable bonds of American national identity. Most Civil War historians were reared in this romantic tradition, and they have yet to fully free themselves from it. They still view the struggle through rose-colored glasses, making excuses for flawed heroes who have the reputations they never deserved. With the publication of While in the Hands of the Enemy: Military Prisons of the Civil War, Charles W. Sanders has distinguished himself as one of the few scholars capable of addressing the Civil War with utter frankness. His brilliantly researched book is a ringing indictment of the prisoner-of-war (POW) systems maintained by both sides of that war, as well as the politicians and soldiers who deliberately sent thousands of men to needless suffering and death. There are no heroes in this study, just too many unnecessary victims. Sanders sets his study in context by first tracing the evolution of POW policy during the American Revolution, War of 1812, and Mexican War. Americans knew that POWs were vulnerable to mistreatment, and the quickest way to improve their lot was to negotiate exchanges with the enemy. At the outset of the Civil War, neither side was prepared to cope with the many foes their armies captured, and prisoners inevitably suffered from inadequate housing, food, medical care, and other necessities. Abraham Lincoln delayed the implementation of general exchanges until July 1862 for fear it would allow rebellious southerners to claim de facto recognition of the Southern sovereignty. Once implemented, the exchange system quickly emptied prisons in the North and South, but it began breaking down by the end of the year. 51. Most Civil War historians would agree that the Civil War may have A. taught a useful lesson about human nature. B. started political struggles in America. C. raised the awareness of the race issue. D. strengthened American national identity. 52. Civil War historians usually believe that “flawed heroes” A. should be forgiven. B. should be criticized. C. should be studied further. D. should be evaluated objectively. 53. According to Charles W. Sanders, the Civil War A. created various heroes. B. brought pointless misery. C. started the first POW system. 8 D. was brutal but inevitable. 54. In the early days of the Civil War, A. the POWs were in difficult situations. B. the number of the POWs was small. C. the POW exchanges were frequent. D. both sides used the POWs for political purposes. 55. What does the passage say about the POW exchange system of 1862? A. It had been postponed deliberately. B. It put the South at a political advantage. C. It became a successful model for later time. D. It raised the public awareness of the POW problem. Section C (10 points) Directions: There are two passages in this section. In each of the passages, five sentences have been removed from the original text. They are listed from A to F and put below the passage. Choose the most suitable sentence from the list to fill in each of the blanks numbered 56 to 60 and 61 to 65. There is one sentence that does not fit in any of the blanks. Mark your answers on your Answer Sheet I. Passage 1 China’s growth is not uniformly high. Like every other economy in the world, China’s is shaped by its geography, in this case an east-west divide and a north-south divide. ___56___ China’s east coast is the Pacific Ocean, and some of the most important port cities in the world can be found there, including (from north to south) the ports of Tianjin, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, and Hainan Island. The coastal provinces have the advantage of proximity, both in time and transport costs, to major world markets by sea-based trade. ___57___ Both are forbidding borders, with enormous transport costs and great distances to major world trading centers. It is not surprising that the western provinces have been growing much less rapidly than the eastern provinces, and that foreign investors focus their investments almost entirely on the eastern coastal provinces ____58____ This is economic geography, and the east-west growth divide is natural. It won’t go away. It will be addressed partly through an internal migration of job seekers leaving the west and heading east. This trend has already produced the largest migration occurring in the world today, with perhaps 150 million people having moved either permanently or seasonally between the interior and the coastal provinces. ___59___ These investments will help improve infrastructure, industrial development, and social development, through better schools and better health services. The Chinese north-south divide is a little bit less conspicuous, but it is also very significant. The north is dry compared to the south. ___60___ Already China is talking about spending tens of billions of dollars to divert rivers from the south to the north in three great canals whose costs, effectiveness, and ecological effects are hard to assess with precision, but the risks are very large. 9 A. The east-west divide is striking. B. Water scarcity in the north of China will take on increasing economic and social significance in the years ahead. C. It will also be addressed in part through investments from the coastal provinces into the interior. D. China’s western border is the Tibetan plateau, at 4,500 meters above sea level, and the deserts of Central Asia. E. There is no easy answer to this divide. F. China already experiences profound costs of environmental stress, including enormous natural disasters such as flooding, and massive costs to health from massive urban air pollution. Passage 2 Doctors have long known that lung cancer, which kills 160,000 Americans each year, takes a heavier toll among black Americans, particularly black men, than among whites. ___61___ It also has to do with differences in income and access to medical care. But there has always been a lingering suspicion that some of the gap might be due to either overt or subconscious discrimination. A study in last week’s New England Journal of Medicine appears to support that disturbing conclusion. ___62___ Even so, about 20% of lung-cancer patients are found to have a tumor whose biological characteristics and small size give them a good chance of being cured if the malignant growth is surgically removed. Researchers at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City and the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Md., looked at data from more than 10,000 white and black Medicare patients whose tumors were found early enough to make them candidates for surgery. About 77% of the white patients underwent the procedure, compared with 64% of blacks. The difference was sufficiently large to reduce the overall survival rate for black patients to 26% after five years, compared with 34% for whites. ___63___ “People are dying needlessly,” says Dr. Peter Bach of Memorial Sloan-Kettering, who led the study. He suspects “some combination of the procedure not being offered or pushed by doctors, and patients not accepting it.” ___64___ So getting the word out that there is a proven treatment could help close the gap. It’s also vital for doctors and patients to make sure they understand each other. Better communication will be even more important as treatments become more complex. Currently there’s no screening test for finding lung cancer early. (Chest X rays almost always catch it too late.) But Dr. Claudia Henschke of the Weill Medical College at Cornell University in New York City and her colleagues believe they have found a way to identify very small tumors with low-dose CAT scans. ___65___ A. It’s a gap that concerns the doctors. B. In part that’s because 34% of black men in the U.S. smoke cigarettes, compared with 28% of white men. C. If there is a silver lining to this, it’s that those who were operated on had a similar survival rate regardless of race. D. Often it takes only a little extra time and attention to bridge the differences. 10 E. It’s a new approach that all smokers and ex-smokers, regardless of race, should keep an eye on. F. Unlike other cancers, lung cancer is extremely hard to detect in its earliest, most treatable stages. PAPER TWO Section A (10 points) Directions: Read the following article and write a summary of between 120 and 150 words on your Answer Sheet II. You should NOT copy the original sentences This year, like every other year within the past couple of decades, uncountable trillions of mosquitoes will inject malaria parasites into human blood streams billions of times. Some 300 to 500 million full-blown cases of malaria will result, and between 1 and 3 million people will die, most of them pregnant women and children. That’s the official figure, anyway, but it’s likely to be a substantial underestimate, since most malaria deaths are not formally registered, and many are likely to have escaped the estimators. Very roughly, the malaria death toll rivals that of AIDS, which now kills about 3 million people annually. But unlike AIDS, malaria is a low-priority killer. Despite the deaths, and the fact that roughly 2.5 billion people (40 percent of the world’s population) are at risk of contracting the disease, malaria is a relatively low public health priority on the international scene. Malaria rarely makes the news. And international funding for malaria research currently comes to a mere $150 million annually. Just by way of comparison, that’s only about 5 percent of the $2.8 billion that the U.S. government alone is considering for AIDS research in the next fiscal year. The low priority assigned to malaria would be at least easier to understand, though no less mistaken, if the threat were static. Unfortunately it is not. It is true that the geographic range of the disease has contracted substantially since the mid-20th century, but over the past couple of decades, malaria has been gathering strength. Virtually all areas where the disease is prevalent have seen drug-resistant strains of the parasites emerge—a development that is almost certainly boosting death rates. In countries as various as Armenia, Afghanistan, and Sierra Leone, the lack or deterioration of basic infrastructure has created a wealth of new breeding sites for the mosquitoes that spread the disease. The rapidly expanding slums of many tropical cities also lack such infrastructure; poor sanitation and crowding have primed these places as well for outbreaks—even though malaria has up to now been regarded as predominantly a rural disease. What can current policy offer in the face of these threats? The medical arsenal is limited; there are only about a dozen anti-malarial drugs commonly in use, and there is significant malaria resistance to most of them. In the absence of a reliable way to kill the parasites, policy has tended to focus on killing the mosquitoes that bear them. And that has led to an abundant use of synthetic pesticides, including one of the oldest and most dangerous: dichlorodiphenyl trichloroethane, or DDT. 11 Section B (15 points) Direction: Now China has a growing number of old people. How will this trend affect China? Write an English essay of at least 200 words to explain your answer. Use the proper space on Answer Sheet II. ****************************************************************** Reference key to Sample Test Part I Section A 1—10 C D D A A B C C B D Section B Mini-talk One 11: Ten million tons of grain each year. 12: Any place they can get into—homes, shops, farm buildings and farm and home storage areas. 13: By carrying fleas, mites and other organisms that cause sickness. Mini-talk Two 14: Four years of high school or less. 15: Any special requirements will be stated on the announcement of examination. 16: Retirement support, life insurance and health insurance. Mini-talk Three 17: Many of them are hits for a few weeks then they disappear. 18: A professional tries to make a living by working in art, while an amateur does all the artistic work just for pleasure. 19: Popular art usually makes a lot of money, while high art often lacks funds. 20: To give money to make future performances possible. Part II Section A 21. while 22. exceeded 23. ever 24. like 25. precede 26.once 27. separated 28. than 29. feasible 30. Fortunately 31.overcome 32.continuous 33.instantaneously 34.transforming 35. As Section B 36. B. 37. D. 38. C. 39. A. 40. B. 41. B. 42. C. 43. D. 44. A. 45. B. 46. D. 47. A. 48. C. 49. B. 50. D 51. D 52. A 53. B 54. A 55. A Section C 56—60. ADECB 61—65. BFACE 12 Summary Sample Malaria will kill 1 to 3 million people in the coming year according to an official estimate. Yet, considering the unregistered cases, the death toll will be much higher. So far, malaria has been given little attention worldwide and the research funding for the disease has been much less than that for AIDS. However, in the places where malaria is prevalent, the situation is no less threatening. Many kinds of malaria parasites have grown drug-resistant thus leading to more deaths. Poor basic infrastructure and bad living conditions have facilitated the breeding of the parasites. With no effective ways to kill those parasites, the problem has tended to be solved by killing mosquitoes that carry the parasites. Hence the plentiful use of pesticides like DDT which likewise threatens people’s health. Script For Listening Comprehension PAPER ONE Part I Listening Comprehension Section A Directions: In this section, you will hear 10 short conversations. At the end of each conversation, a question will be asked about what is said. Each conversation and the question will be spoken only once. When you hear the question, read the four choices of the answer given and choose the best one by marking the corresponding letter A, B, C or D on your Answer Sheet I. 1. W: Hey, don’t forget to mail the letter by air mail for me on your way home. M: Sure, I’ll do that, but I’ll pick up some groceries first. Q: What will the man probably do first? (pause 00’15”) 2 W: Dennis called to say he’d come to the picnic. M: Changed his mind after all, did he? Q: What does the man mean? (pause 00’15”) 3. M: Mom, I got to know a pretty girl last week. I’ve been taking her out. Will you send me a thousand dollars right away? W: You don’t have to pay all the time. Men and women are equal. Why don’t you go Dutch? Q: What is the advice given by the woman? (pause 00’15”) 4. M: I just called the travel agency. It’s all set. On June the first, I’m heading for the mountains and spend a week there. W: You mean tomorrow? Have you checked the academic calendar? Our classes aren’t over till the sixth. Q: What does the woman imply? (pause 00’15”) 5. W: Did you send the letter for me this morning on your way to the office? 13 M: Sorry, it just slipped my mind. Q: What does the man mean? (pause 00’15”) 6. W: How was the party last night? M: It was fantastic. But I seemed to have had one too many. That’s why I still have a hangover this morning. W: Didn’t you say you would limit your drinking? Q: What was the man's problem? (pause 00’15”) 7. M: Can I help you? W: Yes. I’ve got four shirts here and two pairs of pants and a jacket. I’m leaving town in a few days. So, can I pick them up tomorrow? M: We can have the pants ready, but the shirts won’t be back until Wednesday morning. W: Well, that’s Ok. Q: Where did the conversation take place? (pause 00’15”) 8. W: I once got a ticket for running a stop sign, even though I definitely came to a complete stop. M: Did you pay the ticket? W: Yes. M: If you thought you were innocent, why didn’t you contest it? W: Your honor, there have been so many times I didn’t get a ticket for running a stop sign that I figured this evened things out a little. Q: What can we learn from the conversation? (pause 00’15”) 9. W: Hi, Jack. Heading for the library? M: Not today. My cousin has just come from Nebraska. I’ll take him to the baseball Game. W: What about your essay for anthropology that is due tomorrow? Nobody expects to get away with Professor David. M: No worry. That’s why I stayed up last night until I wrapped it up. W: Lucky you. Enjoy your time then. Q: What can we learn from the conversation? (pause 00’15”) 10. W: Guess what? We bumped into Beth at Woolworth. She just moved into the neighborhood only three blocks away. M: It’s a small world, isn’t it? Does she still look as young as she did twelve years ago? W: Sure. The amazing thing is that I can hardly find any changes in her. We’d better throw a welcome party for her. What do you think? M: Not a bad idea. But just don’t count on me for those party details. Q: What can we learn about the man? (pause 00’15”) Section B Directions: In this part, you will hear three mini-talks and each of them will be spoken only once. While listening to them, read the questions that follow each talk. You will be asked to write down your answer on your Answer 14 Sheet II, using one sentence only, either complete or incomplete. Your answer should be concise and to the point. Questions 11 to 13 are based on Mini-talk One: Mini-talk One Rats are one of the world’s most serious threats to public health. These animals eat human food supplies. They destroy crops and damage other property and they spread deadly diseases. Experts say that male and female rat and their babies, born in just one year, eat enough grain to feed five people for a year. And they damage at least five times more food than they eat. In India, rats destroy ten million tons of grain each year. In some African villages, the ugly animals eat ten, twenty, even thirty percent of the food supply. Rats will eat almost any kind of grain, fruit, grass, vegetable and meat. And they will live in any place they can get into—homes, shops, farm buildings and farm and home storage areas. Rats spread disease directly by polluting food with their waste. They often bite people, specially babies. The bites sometimes kill. The animals also spread disease indirectly by carrying fleas, mites and other organisms that cause sickness. Some diseases spread by rats to people include the plague, trichinosis, marine typhus and infectious jaundice. Questions 14 to 16 are based on Mini-talk Two: Mini-talk Two The U.S. Postal Service handles billions of pieces of mail a year, including letters, magazines, and parcels. Close to a million workers are required to process and deliver this mail. The vast majority of Postal Service jobs are open to workers with four years of high school or less. An applicant for a postal service job must pass an examination and meet minimum age requirements. Generally, the minimum age is 18, but a high school graduate may begin work at 16 if the job is not hazardous and does not require use of a motor vehicle. Many postal Service jobs do not require formal education or special training. Applicants for these jobs are hired on the basis of their examination scores. Some postal jobs do have special education or experience requirements, and some are open only to veterans. Any special requirements will be stated on the announcement of examination. Male applicants born after December 31, 1959, unless for some reason they are exempt, must be registered with the Selective Service System. Full-time employees work an 8-hour day, 5 days a week. Both full-time and part-time employees who work more than 8 hours a day or 40 hours a week receive overtime pay of one and a half times their hourly rate. In addition, pay is higher for those on the night shift. Postal employees earn 13 days of annual leave during each of their first 3 years of service, including prior federal civilian and military service; 20 days each year for 3 to 15 years of service; and 26 days after 15 years. In addition they earn 13 days of paid 15 sick leave a year regardless of length of service. Other benefits include retirement support, free group life insurance, and optional participation in health insurance programs supported in part by the Postal Service. Most post office buildings are clean and well lit, but some of the older ones are not. The postal Service is in the process of replacing and remodeling its outmoded buildings, and conditions are expected to improve. Most postal workers are members of unions and are covered by a national agreement between the Postal Service and the unions. Questions 17 to 20 are based on Mini-talk Three: Mini-talk Three Art is sometimes divided into two kinds, high art and popular art. High art appeals to a much smaller proportion of the population than popular art, but the number is large and growing. People who enjoy high art go to the opera and symphony concerts; they read serious books; they go to serious plays; they keep up with the art exhibitions at museums and galleries. Popular art is primarily entertainment. Some TV programs are meant to be watched today and forgotten tomorrow. Many popular songs are hits for a few weeks; then they disappear. Other songs remain popular for such a long time that they became classics. The line between high and popular art is not always clear, however. Many movies are also taken seriously, while others are dismissed as nothing more than entertainment. Another distinction in art is between the professional and the amateur. A professional tries to make a living by working in art, while an amateur paints, makes pottery, or plays the piano just for pleasure. Museums, adult education centers, and private teachers offer a large variety of courses for amateur artists. Successful movies and TV programs make huge amounts of money, and so do the performers who appear in them. A few big hits can make a rock musician a millionaire in a very short time. High art, however, has serious financial problems. It costs more to put on an opera, concert or ballet than the sale of tickets can bring in. Men and women interested in high art are always being asked to give money to make future performances possible. Small government subsidies have also helped to support the arts in the last few years. THIS IS THE END OF LISTENING COMPREHENSION. 16