Part II Listening Comprehension

Section A

Directions:

In this section, you will hear two long conversations.

At the end of each conversation, you will hear some questions.

Both the conversation and the questions will be spoken only once.

After you hear a question,

you must choose the best answer from the four choices marked A. B. C.and D.

Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer

 Sheet 1 with a single line through the centre.

Now you will hear two long conversation.

Conversation One

M: I`m really sorry, Professor Irwin. I was sick yesterday.

W: Look, Im not upset that you couldn`t keep the appointment,

but it is common courtesy to call. You know that.

M: Yes, I do.

W: During registration I have to see all my students,

and sometimes they have to wait several days to get in.

When someone doesn`t show and doesn`t call,

that deprives someone else of an appointment time.

M: You`re right. I apologize. I didn`t feel well,

and I guess I just wasn`t thinking straight at the time.

W: Okay. Apology accepted. Now, I suppose you need to set up another appointment.

M: Yes, I do. Can you see me now if I wait?

W: No. I can see you at three o`clock this afternoon,

or during my office hour on Tuesday or Thursday.

M: Great, Your office hour is best.

That`s two o`clock, right?

W: That`s right. Which day do you prefer?

M: Tuesday.

W: Okay. Be there this time.

M: I will be. Thanks a lot.

Questions 1 to 4 are based on the conversation you have just heard.

Questions 1

What is the main subject of the conversation?

Questions 2

When is the man`s new appointment scheduled?

Questions 3

What should the man have done about his first appointment?

Questions 4

What word best describes Professor Irwin`s attitude toward the student?

Conversation Two

M: Hello, Mrs. Kelly. I`d like to pick up my test, please.

W: Sure. Whose class are you in?

M: Dr. Purcell`s math class.

W: And your name?

M: My last name is Raleigh. RALEIGH.

W: That`s right. Jim Raleigh. Here it is.

M: Thank you. And Terry Young`s test too, please.

W: Oh, I`m sorry. I can`t let you take someone else`s test.

M: He`s sick, and he can`t come in to get it. He`s my roommate.

W: I understand. But the privacy act won`t permit it.

M: Really? Maybe you could tell him.

W: Not even then. I can only give a test to the student whose name appears on it.

I can`t even give it to a family member.

M: That` s weird.

W: I think so, too, frankly,but that`s the law.

M: Okay. I`ll tell Terry, thanks anyway.

W: You` re welcome.

Tell him I`ll just keep his test here until he feels better and can come in for it himself.

M: Okay. I`ll do that.

W: Have a nice day, Jim.

M: You too, Mrs. Kelly.

Questions 5 to 8 are based on the conversation you have just heard.

Questions 5

What do the speakers mainly discuss?

Questions 6

Why can`t the woman give Terry Young`s test to the man?

Questions 7

What is the man`s last name?

Questions 8

Who is Terry Young?

Section B

Directions:

In this section, you will hear two passages.

At the end of each passage, you will hear some questions.

Both the passage and the questions will be spoken only once.

After you hear a question, you must choose the best answer

from the four choices marked A. B. C.and D.

Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 1 with a single line through the centre.

Passage One

Most people picture sharks as huge,

powerful, frightening predators,

 ready at any moments to use their sharp teeth

to attack careless swimmers without provocation.

But, people may have some wrong ideas on the conception of sharks.

First, there are 350 species of shark, and not all of them are large.

They range in size from the dwarf shark,

which can be only 6 inches long and can be held in the palm of the hand,

 to the whale shark, which can be more than 55 feet long.

Second, the different species of shark vary tremendously

in the number and type of teeth.

A shark can have from one to seven sets of teeth at the same time,

 and some types of shark can have several hundred teeth in each jaw.

It is true that the fierce and predatory species do possess extremely sharp

and brutal teeth used to rip their prey apart:

many other types of shark, however,

 have teeth more adapted to grabbing and holding than to cutting and slashing.

Finally, not all sharks are predatory animals ready to strike out at humans.

In fact, only 12 of the 350 species of shark have been known to attack humans,

and a shark needs to be provoked in order to attack.

The types of shark that

 have the worst record with humans are the tiger shark,

the bull shark, and the great white shark.

However, for most species of shark,

even some of the largest types,

 there are no known instances of attacks on humans.

Questions 9 to 11 are based on the passage you have just heard.

Questions 9

What is the main purpose of this passage?

Questions 10

Which of the following is NOT true about a shark`s teeth?

Questions 11

What can we infer from the passage?

Passage Two

There are two kinds of memory:short term and long term.

Information in long term memory can be recalled at a later time when it is needed.

 The information may be kept for days and weeks.

 In contrast, information in short term memory is kept for only a few seconds,

 usually by repeating the information over and over.

The following experiment shows how short term memory has been studied.

Henning studied how students who are learning English as second language remember vocabulary.

The subjects in his experiment were 75 college students.

They represented all levels of ability in English:beginning,

intermediate, advanced, and native speaking students.

 To begin with, the subjects listened to a recording

of a native speaker reading a paragraph in English.

 Following the recording,

the subjects took a 15 question test to see which words they remembered.

Each question had four choices.

 The subjects had to circle the word they had heard in the recording.

 Some of the questions had four choices that sounded alike.

 For example, weather, whether, wither, and wether are four words sound alike.

 Some of the questions had four choices that have the same meaning.

 Method, way, manner, and system would be four words with the same meaning.

 Finally the subjects took a language proficiency test.

Henning found that students with a lower proficiency in English made more

of their mistakes on words that sound alike;

students with a higher proficiency made more of

their mistakes on words that have the same meaning.

Henning`s results suggest that beginning students

hold the sound of words in their short term memory,

and the advanced students hold the meaning of words in their short term memory.

Questions 12 to 15 are based on the passage you have just heard.

Questions 12

Why did Henning made the experiment?

Questions 13

Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?

Questions 14

 What can we see from Henning`s result?

Questions 15

What does the passage center on?

Section C

Directions:

In this section, you will hear recordings of lectures or talks followed by some questions.

The recordings will be played only once.After you hear a question,

you must choose the best answer from the four choices marked A. B. C.and D.

Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 1 with a single line through the centre.

Now listen to the following recording and answer questions 16 to 19.

I`m 150 feet down an illegal mine shaft in Ghana.

The air is thick with heat and dust, and it`s hard to breathe.

I can feel the brush of sweaty bodies passing me in the darkness,

 but I can`t see much else. I hear voices talking,

but mostly the shaft is this cacophony of men coughing,

and stone being broken with primitive tools.

Like the others, I wear a flickering,

 cheap flashlight tied to my head with this elastic, tattered band,

and I can barely make out the slick tree limbs holding up the walls

 of the three foot square hole dropping hundreds of feet into the earth.

 When my hand slips, I suddenly remember a miner,

I had met days before who had lost his grip,

and fell countless feet down that shaft.

As I stand talking to you today,

these men are still deep in that hole,

risking their lives without payment or compensation,

and often dying.I got to climb out of that hole,

and I got to go home, but they likely never will,

 because they`re trapped in slavery. For the last 28 years,

 I`ve been documenting indigenous cultures in more than 70 countries on six continents,

and in 2009 I had the great honor，

of being the sole exhibitor at the Vancouver Peace Summit.

Amongst all the astonishing people I met there,

 I met a supporter of Free the Slaves, an NGO，

dedicated to eradicating modern day slavery.

We started talking about slavery, and really,

I started learning about slavery,

for I had certainly known it existed in the world, but not to such a degree.

After we finished talking,

I felt so horrible and honestly ashamed at my own lack

 of knowledge of this atrocity in my own lifetime,

and I thought,if I don`t know, how many other people don`t know?

It started burning a hole in my stomach, so within weeks,

I flew down to Los Angeles to meet

with the director of Free the Slaves and offer them my help.

Thus began my journey into modern day slavery.

Oddly, I had been to many of these places before.

Some I even considered like my second home.

But this time, I would see the skeletons hidden in the closet.

 A conservative estimate tells us

there are more than 27 million people enslaved in the world today.

That`s double the amount of people taken from Africa

during the entire trans Atlantic slave trade.

 A hundred and fifty years ago,

an agricultural slave cost about three times the annual salary of an American worker.

That equates to about $50,000 in today`s money.

 Yet today, entire families can be enslaved for generations

over a debt as small as $18. Astonishingly,

slavery generates profits of more than $13 billion worldwide each year.

Now listen to the following recording and answer questions 20 to 22.

Hi, everybody.

This Monday, I`m heading to Alaska for a three day tour of the state.

I`ve been looking forward to this for a long time.

Not only because Alaska is one of the most beautiful places

in a country that`s full of beautiful places,

but because I`ll have several opportunities to meet with

everyday Alaskans about what`s going on in their lives.

I`ll travel throughout the state, meeting with Alaskans who live above the Arctic Circle,

 with Alaska natives, and with folks who earn their livelihoods through fishing and tourism.

 And I expect to learn a lot.

One thing I`ve learned so far is that a lot of these conversations begin with climate change.

And that`s because Alaskans are already living with its effects.

More frequent and extensive wildfires.

Bigger storm surges as sea ice melts faster.

Some of the swiftest shoreline erosion in the world—in some places,

more than three feet a year.

Alaska`s glaciers are melting faster too,

threatening tourism and adding to rising seas.

And if we do nothing,

 Alaskan temperatures are projected to rise

between six and twelve degrees by the end of the century,

 changing all sorts of industries forever.

This is all real.This is happening to our fellow Americans right now.In fact,

 Alaska`s governor recently told me that four villages are in “imminent danger”

and have to be relocated. Already,

rising sea levels are beginning to swallow one island community.

Think about that. If another country threatened to wipe out an American town,

we`d do everything in our power to protect ourselves.

 Climate change poses the same threat, right now.

That`s why one of the things I`ll do while I`m in Alaska

is to convene other nations to meet this threat.

Several Arctic nations have already committed to action.

 Since the United States and China worked together

to set ambitious climate targets last year,

leading by example, many of the world`s biggest emitters have come

 forward with new climate plans of their own.

And that`s a good sign as we approach this December`s global

climate negotiations in Paris.

Now, one of the ways America is leading is by transitioning away

from dirty energy sources that threaten our health and our environment,

and by going all in on clean, renewable energy sources like wind and solar.

And Alaska has the natural resources to be a global leader in this effort.

So I`m looking forward to talking with Alaskans about how we can work

together to make America the global leader on climate change around the globe.

And we`re going to offer unique and engaging ways

 for you to join me on this trip all week at White House.gov/Alaska.

 Because what`s happening in Alaska is happening to us.

It`s our wake up call. And as long as I`m President,

 America will lead the world to meet the threat of climate change before it`s too late.

Thanks, and have a great weekend.

Now listen to the following recording and answer questions 23 to 25.

Ladies and gentlemen, our commencement speaker Dr. Tim Cook.

Hello GWer. Thank you very much President Knapp for that kind intro.

 Alex, trustees, faculty and deans of the university, my fellow honorees,

and especially you, the class of 2015.

Yes，congratulations to you, to your family,

to your friends that are attending today`s ceremony.

You made it. It`s a privilege, a rare privilege of a lifetime to be with you today.

And I can`t thank you enough for making me an honorary Colonial.

Before I begin today, they asked me to make a standard announcement.

 You`ve heard this before. About silencing your phones.

So, those of you with an iPhone, just place it in silent mode.

 If you don`t have an iPhone, please pass it to the center aisle.

Apple has a world class recycling program. You know,

 this is really an amazing place. And for a lot of you,

I`m sure that being here in Washington, the very center of our democracy,

was a big draw when you were choosing which school to go to. This place has a powerful pull.

 It was here that Dr. Martin Luther King challenged Americans to make real the promises of democracy,

to make justice a reality for all of God`s children. And it was here

that President Ronald Reagan called on us to believe in ourselves

and to believe in our capacity to perform great deeds.

I`d like to start this morning by telling you about my first visit here.

In the summer of 1977—yes, I`m a little old—I was 16 years old and living in Robertsdale,

the small town in southern Alabama that I grew up in.

 At the end of my junior year of high school

I`d won an essay contest sponsored by the National Rural Electric Association.

I can`t remember what the essay was about,

but what I do remember very clearly is writing it by hand,

 draft after draft after draft.