Part II Listening Comprehension

Section A

Directions:

In this section, you will hear 8 short conversations

and 2 long conversations.

At the end of each conversation, one or more questions

will be asked about what was said.

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

After each question there will be a pause.

During the pause, you must read the four choices marked

A), B), C) and D), and decide which is the best answer.

Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 1

with a single line through the centre.

Now let's begin with the eight short Conversations.

1. M: Oh my god! The heat is simply unbearable here.

I wish we've gone to the beach instead.

W: Well, with the museums and restaurants in Washington

I'll be happy here no matter what the temperature.

Q：What does the woman mean?

2.M: How's the new job going?

W: Well, I'm learning a lot of new things,

but I wish the director would give me some feedback.

Q：What does the woman want to know?

3.M: Can you help me work out a physical training program John?

W: Sure, but whatever you do be careful not to overdo it.

Last time I had two weeks' worth of weight-lifting in three days

and I hurt myself.

Q: What does the man suggest the woman do?

4. M: I have an elderly mother

and I'm worried about her going on a plane.

Is there any risk?

W: Not if her heart is all right.

If she has a heart condition, I'd recommend against it.

Q: What does the man want to know about his mother?

5.M: Why didn't you stop

when we first signaled you at the crossroads?

W: Sorry, I was just a bit absent-minded.

Anyway, do I have to pay a fine?

Q: what do we learn from the conversation?

6.M: I'm no expert,

but that noise in your refrigerator doesn't sound right.

Maybe you should have it fixed.

W: You're right. And I suppose I've put it off long enough.

Q: What will the woman probably do?

7.M: I did extremely well on the sale of my downtown apartment.

Now, I have enough money to buy that piece of land

I've had my eye on and build a house on it.

W: Congratulations! Does that mean you'll be moving soon?

Q: What do we learn about the man from the conversation?

8.W: My hand still hurts from the fall on the ice yesterday.

I wonder if I broke something.

M: I'm no doctor, but it's not black and blue or anything.

Maybe you just need to rest it for a few days.

Q: what do we learn about the woman from the conversation?

Now you'll hear the two long conversations.

Conversation One

M: Mrs. Dawson, thanks very much for coming down to the station.

I just like to go over some of the things

that you told police officer Parmer at the bank.

W: All right.

M: Well, could you describe the man

who robbed the bank for this report that we're filling out here?

Now, anything at all that

you can remember would be extremely helpful to us.

W: Well, just, I can only remember basically what I said before.

M: That's all right.

W: The man was tall, six foot,

and he had dark hair, and he had moustache.

M: Very good.

All right, did he have any other distinguishing marks?

W: Um, no, none that I can remember.

M: Do you remember how old he was by any chance?

W: Well, I guess around 30, maybe younger,

give or take a few years.

M: Mm, all right.

Do you remember anything about what he was wearing?

W: Yes, yes, he had on a dark sweater, a solid color.

M: OK. Um, anything else that strikes you at the moment?

W: I remember he was wearing a light shirt under the sweater. Yes, yes.

M: All right. Mrs. Dawson,

I really appreciate what you've been through today.

I'm just going to ask you to look at some photographs

before you leave if you don't mind.

It won't take very long. Can you do that for me?

W: Oh, of course.

M: Would you like to step this way with me, please?

W: OK, sure.

M: Thank you.

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

9. What do we learn about the woman?

10. What did the suspect look like?

11. What did the man finally asked the woman to do?

Conversation Two

W: Good morning, I'm calling about the job that was in the paper last night.

M: Well, could you tell me your name?

W: Candidate Foreset.

M: Oh yes. What exactly is it that interests you about the job?

W: Well, I thought it was just right for me.

M: Really? Um… Could you tell me a little about yourself?

W: Yes. I'm 23. I've been working abroad.

M: Where exactly have you been working?

W: In Geneva.

M: Oh, Geneva. And what were you doing there?

W: Secretarial work.

Previous to that, I was at university.

M: Which university was that?

W: The University of Manchester.

I've got a degree in English.

M: You said you've been working in Geneva.

Do you have any special reason for wanting to come back?

W: I thought it would be nice to be near to the family.

M: I see, and how do you see yourself developing in this job?

W: Well, I'm ambitious.

I do hope that my career as a secretary

will lead me eventually into management.

M: I see. You have foreign languages?

W: French and Italian.

M: Well, I think the best thing for you to do

is do reply a writing to the advertisement.

W: Can't I arrange for an interview now?

M: Well, I'm afraid we must wait until all the applications are in,

in writing, and then decide on the short list.

If you are on the short list,

of course we should see you.

W: Oh, I see.

M: I look forward to receiving your application in writing in a day or two.

W: Oh, yes, yes, certainly.

M: Ok, thank you very much. Goodbye.

W: Thank you. Goodbye.

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

12. How did the woman get to know about the job vacancy?

13. Why did the woman find the job appealing?

14. What had the woman been doing in Geneva?

15. What was the woman asked to do in the end?

Section B

Directions:

In this section, you will hear 3 short 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

One of the greatest heartbreaks for fire fighters

occurs when they fail to rescue a child

from a burning building because the child,

frightened by smoke and noise,

hides under a bed or in a closet and is later found dead.

Saddest of all is when children catch a glimpse

of the masked the fire fighter

but hide because they think they have seen a monster.

To prevent such tragedies,

fire fighter Eric Velez gives talks to children in his community,

explaining that they should never hide during a fire.

He displays fire fighters' equipment,

including the oxygen mask,

which he encourages his listeners to play with and put on.

“If you see us,” Velez tells them,

“don't hide! We are not monsters.

We have come to rescue you.”

Velez gives his presentations in English and Spanish.

Growing up in San Francisco,

he learnt Spanish from his immigrant parents.

Velez and other fire fighters throughout North America,

who give similar presentations,

will never know how many lives they save through their talks.

But it's a fact that informative speaking saves lives.

For example, several months after listening to an informative speech,

Pete Gentry in North Carolina

rescued his brother who is choking on food,

by using the method taught by student speaker, Julie Paris.

In addition to saving lives,

informative speakers help people learn new skills,

solve problems and acquire fascinating facts

about the exciting world in which they live.

Questions 16 to 19 are based on the passage you have just heard.

16. Why do some children trapped in a burning building

hide from masked fire fighters?

17. What does the passage tell us about fire fighter Eric Velez?

18. What do we learn about Pete Gentry?

19. What message is the speaker trying to convey?

Passage Two

Some people want to make and save a lot of money

in order to retire early.

I see people pursuing higher paying

and increasingly demanding careers to accomplish this goal.

They make many personal sacrifices in exchange for income today.

The problem is that tomorrow might not come.

Even if it all goes according to plan,

will you know how to be happy when you are not working

if you spend your entire life making money?

More importantly,

who will be around for you to share your leisure time with?

At the other extreme are people who live only for today.

Why bother saving when I might not be here tomorrow, they argue.

The danger of this approach is that tomorrow may come after all.

And most people don't want to spend

all their tomorrows working for a living.

The earlier neglect of saving, however,

makes it difficult not to work when you are older.

You maybe surprise to hear me say

that if you must pick an extreme

I think it's better to pick the spend-all approach.

As long as you don't mind continuing to work,

assuming your health allows, you should be OK.

At least, you are making use of your money,

and hopefully deriving value and pleasure from it.

Postponing doing what you love

and being with people you love

until retirement can be a mistake.

It may never come.

Retirement can be a great time for some people.

For others, it is a time of boredom,

loneliness and poor health.

Questions 20 to 22 are based on the passage you have just heard.

20. Why do some people pursue higher paying but demanding careers?

21. What is the danger facing people who live only for today?

22. What does the speaker seem to advocate?

Passage Three

Imagine that someone in your neighborhood broke the law,

and the judge put the whole neighborhood under suspicion.

How fair will that be?

Well, it happens everyday to high schoolers.

Just because some students have stolen things in shops,

all of us are treated like thieves.

Even though I'd never steal.

Store employees looked at me like

I'm some kind of hardened criminal.

For example, during one lunch period,

my friend Denny and I

went to the Graben Gore Restaurant to have a hot dog.

We arrived to find a line of students waiting outside.

A new sign in the window told the story.

“No more than two students at a time”.

After 15 minutes, we finally got in.

But the store manger laid the evil eye on us.

I asked him about the new sign,

and he said, “You kids are stealing too much stuff.”

You kids? Too much stuff?

We were not only assumed to be thieves,

but brilliant, greedy thieves.

The most annoying thing though,

is the way employees watched my friends and me.

It's horrible.

Once, at a drug store,

I was looking around and found a guy standing on a large box,

stocking the shelves.

He was watching my hands,

more than he was watching his own.

I showed him that my hands were empty.

He got down off his box and rushed off,

as if he was going to get the store manger.

How crazy is that!

Questions 23 to 25 are based on the passage you have just heard.

23. What does the speaker find to be unfair?

24. What measure did the Graben Gore Restaurant take to stop stealing?

25. What happened in a drug store that greatly annoyed the speaker?

Section C

Directions:

In this section,you will hear a passage three times.

When the passage is read for the first time,

you should listen carefully for its general idea.

When the passage is read for the second time,

you are required to fill in the blanks

with the exact words you have just heard.

Finally,when the passage is read for the third time,

you should check what you have written.

Now listen to the passage.

Writing keeps us in touch with other people.

We write to communicate with relatives and friends.

We write to preserve our family histories

so our children and grandchildren

can learn and appreciate their heritage.

With computers and Internet connections in so many households,

colleges, and businesses,

people are e-mailing friends and relatives all the time

-- or talking to them in writing in online chat rooms.

It is cheaper than calling long distance,

and a lot more convenient than waiting until Sunday

for the telephone rates to drop.

Students are e-mailing their professors to receive

and discuss their classroom assignments and to submit them.

They are e-mailing classmates to discuss and collaborate on homework.

They are also sharing information about concerts and sports events,

as well as jokes and their philosophies of life.

Despite the growing importance of computers, however,

there will always be a place

and need for the personal letter.

A hand-written note to a friend or a family member

is the best way to communicate important thoughts.

No matter what the content of the message,

its real point is,

"I want you to know that I care about you."

This writing practice brings rewards

that can't be seen in bank accounts,

but only in the success of human relationships.

Now the passage will be read again.

Writing keeps us in touch with other people.

We write to communicate with relatives and friends.

We write to preserve our family histories

so our children and grandchildren

can learn and appreciate their heritage.

With computers and Internet connections in so many households,

colleges, and businesses,

people are e-mailing friends and relatives all the time

-- or talking to them in writing in online chat rooms.

It is cheaper than calling long distance,

and a lot more convenient than waiting until Sunday

for the telephone rates to drop.

Students are e-mailing their professors to receive

and discuss their classroom assignments and to submit them.

They are e-mailing classmates to discuss and collaborate on homework.

They are also sharing information about concerts and sports events,

as well as jokes and their philosophies of life.

Despite the growing importance of computers, however,

there will always be a place

and need for the personal letter.

A hand-written note to a friend or a family member

is the best way to communicate important thoughts.

No matter what the content of the message,

its real point is,

"I want you to know that I care about you."

This writing practice brings rewards

that can't be seen in bank accounts,

but only in the success of human relationships.

Now the passage will be read for the third time.

Writing keeps us in touch with other people.

We write to communicate with relatives and friends.

We write to preserve our family histories

so our children and grandchildren

can learn and appreciate their heritage.

With computers and Internet connections in so many households,

colleges, and businesses,

people are e-mailing friends and relatives all the time

-- or talking to them in writing in online chat rooms.

It is cheaper than calling long distance,

and a lot more convenient than waiting until Sunday

for the telephone rates to drop.

Students are e-mailing their professors to receive

and discuss their classroom assignments and to submit them.

They are e-mailing classmates to discuss and collaborate on homework.

They are also sharing information about concerts and sports events,

as well as jokes and their philosophies of life.

Despite the growing importance of computers, however,

there will always be a place

and need for the personal letter.

A hand-written note to a friend or a family member

is the best way to communicate important thoughts.

No matter what the content of the message,

its real point is,

"I want you to know that I care about you."

This writing practice brings rewards

that can't be seen in bank accounts,

but only in the success of human relationships.

This is the end of listening comprehension.