Part 2 Listening Comprehension

Section A

Directions: In this section,  you will hear three news reports.

At the end of each news report, you will hear two or three questions.

Both the news report 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 letteron Answer Sheet 1

with a single line through the centre.

News Report One

A waiter has returned a check  worth nearly $424,000

to the retired social worker who lost it.

The waiter found a bank envelope

while cleaning off a table last Saturday at a restaurant.

He ran outsidebut the customer was gone.

He opened the envelope and got a shock.

After an unsuccessful search,

the restaurant s owner called the Daily News for help.

The  relieved  customer was reunited with her check on Wednesday.

It contained money  from her apartment sale,

already planned for a down payment on a new home.

The customer did not tip the waiter after her meal.

She tried to give him money later on, but he graciously declined.

The waiter,   who s working his way through school,

did accept the customer s apology and gratitude

and said he was happy to have helped her.

Questions 1 to 2 are based on the news report you have just heard.

1. What does the news report say about the waiter?

2. What did the customer try to do when she got her check back?

News Report Two

The village of Maref in Alaska voted on Tuesday to move to the state s mainland.

The move is due to global warming and rising sea levels.

Most of the village s 169 registered voters

took part in the town hall meeting.

They decided in a vote of 89 to 78

to move from their land on Sarichef Island, near the Arctic Circle.

Maref Council Secretary Donna Barr said the vote was largely symbolic.

It will be costly financially to the community.

 About 15 years ago,  they estimated the cost at $180 million.

I would figure it s much higher now,   Barr said.

 We don t see the move happening

in our lifetime because of the funding. 

The village s roughly 650 residents

have seen warming temperatures

melt sea ice and permanently frozen land.

This has resulted in houses falling into the water.

At least 31 villages in Alaska

face  immediate threats  due to climate change,

the Government Accountability Office reported in 2009.

Questions 3 and 4 are based on the news report you have just heard.

3. What is Maref s vote on Tuesday about?

4. Why did Donna Barr say they wouldn t see the plan

carried out any time soon?

News Report Three

A man in Halifax, Canada,

wanted to find out if people were thankful

for someone holding the door open for them.

The social experiment showed that 99 out of 100 people expressed gratitude.

 I didn t think we were going to get 99.

I don t know why,

but I was pleasantly surprised because it went beyond just  thank you. 

People got into conversations with us,   said Steve Foran,

CEO of Gratitude at Work.

 What we know from research is that from grateful people

come good things,  he said.

 A simple way to induce gratitude in people

is opening doors and so we went to six places

and opened the doors for people. 

For the experiment,   Foran s team went to a shopping center,

a mall, two office buildings,  and a coffee shop.

The door was held for 15 to 20 people

at a time at each location.

 We did have one that didn t say thank you.

We re not here to judge them  because on any given day,

that could be me or you.

I suspect out of the 100 people,

there were probably a bunch of them  having a bad day,

but grateful people make people grateful,  said Foran.

Questions 5 to 7 are based on the news report you have just heard.

5. What is the purpose of the social experiment?

6. What did Steve Foran and his team do in the experiment?

7. What do we learn from the news report?

Section B

Directions: In this section,  you will hear two long conversations.

At the end of each conversation,  you will hear four 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.

Conversation One

W: Rays Solar. Lisa s speaking. How can I help?

M: Hi, my name is Winston.

I wish to enquire about solar panel installations.

W: Yes. What would you like to know?

M: Well. My neighbor installed panels

on his roof about a year ago in order to power his hot water.

He tells me it has saved him over $500 thus far.

Does that sound about right to you?

W: Well. I m not familiar with your neighbor

or his particular setup,

but that amount is definitely possible.

I can tell you that the average four-bedroom house

may typically have a roof with 50 square meters of surface area.

Four panels on one side of that roof

could save a family of four around $300 a year.

M: OK. That sounds about right then.

My house is about the size you described,

but my neighbor s is bigger.

I m not sure how many panels  he has up there,

but he does have a large family of six.

W: Are you interested in installing

some solar panels on your roof, sir?

M: Yes, I m considering it.

W: If you wish to come into our office,

we could show you the different solutions we offer.

M: OK. I might do that.

But just quickly, if you don t mind,

could you tell me approximately how much

a typical installation costs,

like, say, four panels?

W: Prices do vary  depending on different factors,

but as a rough estimate, it s around $2,000.

But you know a typical household

will make back that initial investment in about five years.

M: OK. I see. Thank you.

Questions 8 to 11 are based on the conversation you have just heard.

8. What is the man s purpose for calling the woman?

9. What do we learn about the man s neighbor

from the conversation?

10. What is one of the man s chief concerns?

11. How long will it take a typical household

to make back the initial investment?

Conversation Two

M: Good afternoon.

Sorry to have kept you waiting.

How can I help you?

W: Oh, no problem.

I m interested in booking a holiday to Australia and wonder

if you could tell me what deals you have.

M: Sure.

Are you only looking for flights or a package holiday

with everything included?

W: When you say  everything,   what do you mean?

M: Well,

a package holiday would include your flights,

hotels, meals, day trips

to different places of interest

and transport to and from the airport.

W: Yeah, that sounds pretty good.

I m going with my family,

so it would be nice to have everything taken care of.

So, what sort of deals do you have  for package holidays then?

M: All sorts, really.

How long do you want to go for and what dates?

W: Two weeks around Christmas time would be great.

M: Okay, let me check that for you.

Here s one,  14 nights in southeastern Australia.

Five nights in Sydney  and five nights in Melbourne,

and then for the other four nights

you can choose from a list of trips to other places nearby.

You could visit Canberra, for example,

or the Blue Mountains,  or you could go for a drive down

the Great Ocean Road.

Also, if you re interested in wine,

you could go on a tour of the places

where they grow grapes and make wine.

W: That sounds great.

It s good we can choose some activities ourselves.

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

12. Where is the conversation taking place?

13. Why is the woman interested in package holidays?

14. How long does the woman want to go for the holiday?

15. What does the woman say she likes about the holiday package?

Section C

Directions: In this section,  you will hear three passages.

At the end of each passage,

you will hear three or four 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

Tourists taking a holiday in the Indonesian island of Bali

are facing a new $14-per-person tax

when they arrive on the holiday island from next year.

But this is a green tax,

which Bali Governor Wayan Koster  has been working on for months,

and which is designed to help clean up

the island s natural environment,

and with good reason, too.

Indonesia is drowning in plastics.

Recycling is not one of the country s strong points.

It s not uncommon to be offered many more plastic bags

than one could ever need when visiting supermarkets and shopping malls.

But, slowly, things are starting to change for the better.

Back in 2016, the medium-sized city of Banjarmasin

banned single-use plastic bags.

The city of Bogor followed suit in 2018.

A few months ago,  Koster announced a plan

that would not only ban single-use plastic bags

from supermarkets and convenience stores,

but plastic bags and straws across the island.

The regulation will come into full effect next month.

 We received a fast and quick response from the Balinese people.

Not only positive responses from the Balinese,

we received good responses  from the central government,

other local governments and even from overseas. 

Koster told the Sydney Morning Herald this week during an interview.

The governor is a determined environmentalist

and he has more laws planned  to protect the island s waterways,

in particular,  and to support the introduction of electric vehicles too.

Questions 16 to 18 are based on the passage you have just heard.

16. What would tourists have to do when they visit Indonesia s Bali Island?

17. What does the passage say about Indonesia?

18. What is the new plan Governor Koster recently announced?

Passage Two

An endangered species of whale is experiencing a small-baby boom

off the coast of America.

The North Atlantic right whale is one of the rarest species

of whale on the planet,  numbering only about 411.

But the Center for Coastal Studies said Friday

that its aerial survey team spotted a mum

with two babies in Cape Cod Bay a day earlier.

That brings the number seen in nearby waters alone this year to three.

That s big news  because the whale population has been falling,

and no baby whales were seen last year.

In all,  seven baby whales have been spotted so far this year.

The whale population has become endangered

due to commercial whaling activities in recent years.

This is because they are sometimes hunted for their meat or their skin.

Over-hunting could lead to  the disappearance of the whale population,

possibly causing major problems to the global food chain.

The whales give birth off the Southeast Coast

of America in the winter and travel to feeding grounds

off the Northeast Coast in the early spring.

The Northeast Coast is a critically important source of food.

The animals often feed close to shore.

This provides watchers on land with  unbeatable views

of one of the rarest of marine mammals. 

It s illegal  to get within 1,500 feet of the animals

without a federal research permit,

so whale watchers are discouraged

from attempting to get close to the whales.

Questions 19 to 21 are based on the passage you have just heard.

19. What do we learn from the passage about the North Atlantic right whale?

20. What has caused the decline of the whale population in recent years?

21. Why do the whales travel to the Northeast Coast of America

in the early spring?

Passage Three

An average person  consumes 144 pints of milk a year,

but 40% of that is poured onto cereal.

And 60% of those people are children.

But what was once advertised as nutritious is becoming unpopular.

Americans drink 37% less milk than they did in the 1970s.

And in the UK,  dairy consumption overall

has fallen by a third in the past 20 years.

Milk is increasingly being described in a negative light.

A recent blog suggested maybe people are drinking less milk

because it is poisonous to many of us.

Lactose is the sugar found in milk and dairy products.

It needs a series of complex proteins to break it down.

Without enough of these proteins,

the lactose is broken down by bacteria in the human body.

This can cause physical pain and produce gas in the stomach.

However, after we have finished breast

or formula feeding,  most of us don t continue producing

the complex proteins in our body,

which are necessary to break down the lactose.

Despite the problems in digesting milk,

it does provide many benefits. Milk is nutritious.

It contains vitamins A and D,

as well as protein and isn t full of calories.

You can test yourself by drinking a large glass of milk.

If you get sick in your stomach  within the next 24 hours,

you are lacking in the proteins to digest milk.

Questions 22 to 25 are based on the passage you have just heard.

22. What does the passage say about Americans?

23. How do Americans and British people think of milk nowadays?

24. Why does drinking milk cause pain in some people?

25. What does the passage say is a benefit of milk?