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. W: This crazy bus schedule has got me completely confused.

I can’t figure out when my bus to Cleveland leaves?

M: Why don’t you just go to the ticket window and ask?

Q: What does the man suggest the woman do?

2.W: I really enjoyed the TV Special about giraffes last night.

Did you get home intime to see it?

M: Oh, yes. But I wish I could have stayed awake long

enough to see the whole thing.

Q: What does the man mean?

3.W: Airport, please. I’m running a little late,

so just take the fastest way even if it’s not the most direct.

M: Sure, but there’s a lot of traffic everywhere today

because of the football game.

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

4.W: May I make a recommendation, sir?

Our sea food with this special sauce is very good.

M: Thank you. But I don’t eat shellfish,

I’m allergic to it.

W: Where does this conversation most probably take place?

5.W: Now one more question if you don’t mind,

what position in a company appeals to you most?

M: Well, I’d like the position of sales manager

if that position is still vacant.

Q: What do we learn about the man?

6.M: I don’t think I want to live in the dormitory next year.

I need more privacy.

W: I know what you mean

but check out the cost of renting an apartment first,

I won’t be surprised if you change your mind.

Q: What does the woman imply?

7.M: You’re on the right track.

I just think you need to narrow the topic down.

W: Yeah, you’re right.

I always start by choosing too broad a topic

when I’m doing your research paper.

Q: What do we learn from the conversation?

8.W: This picnic sure beats the last one we went to, doesn’t it?

M: Oh, yeah. We had to spendthe whole time inside.

Good thing the weather was cooperative this time.

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

Now you'll hear the two long conversations.

Conversation One

M:  When I say I live in Sweden,

people always want to know about the seasons.

W:  The seasons?

M:  Yeah, you know, how cold it is in winter?

What it’s like when the days are so short?

W: So what is it like?

M: Well, it is cold, very cold in winter.

Sometimes, as cold as 26 degrees below centigrade.

And of course, when you go out, you wrap up warm,

but inside, in the houses,

it’s always very warm, much warmer than at home.

Swedish people always complain that when they visit England,

the houses are cold even in a good winter.

W: And what about the darkness?

M: Well, yeah, around Christmas time,

there is only one hour of daylight,

so you really look forward to the spring.

It is sometimes a bit depressing,

but you see the summers are amazing.

From May to July in the north of Sweden, the sun never sets.

It’s stilllight at midnight.

You can walk in the mountains and read a newspaper.

W: Oh, yeah, the land of the midnight sun.

M: That’s right, but it’s wonderful.

You want to stay up all night.

And the Swedes make the most of it.

Often, they start work earlier in summer

and then leave at about two or three in the afternoon

so that they can really enjoy the long summer evenings.

They like to work hard but play hard, too.

I think Londoners work longer hours,

but I’m not sure this is a good thing.

Questions 9 to 12 are based on the conversation you have just heard.

9. What do we learn about the man from the conversation?

10: What do Swedish people complain about

when they visit England in winter?

11: How does the man describe the short hour of daylight

around Christmas in Sweden?

12: What does the man say about the Swedish people?

Conversation Two

W: What kind of training does

one need to go into this type of job?

M: That’s a very good question.

I don’t think there is any, specifically.

W: For example, in your case,

what was your educational background?

M: Well, I did a degree in French, in Nottingham.

After that, I did careers work in secondary schools,

like the careers guidance people here in the university.

Then I went into local government,

because I found I was more interested in the administrative side,

then progressed on to universities.

So there wasn’t any plan,

and there was no specific training.

There are plenty of training courses in management techniques

and committee work which you can attend now.

W: But in the first place, you did a French degree.

M: In my time,

there wasn’t a degree you can do for administration.

I think most of the administrators

I’ve come across have degrees in all sorts of things.

W: Well, I know in my case,

I did an English literature degree.

And I didn’t really expect to end up doing what I’m doing now.

M:  Quite.

W: But you’re local to Nottingham actually.

Is there any reason why you went to Nottingham University?

M: No, no, I come from the north of England, from west Yorkshire.

Nottingham was one of the universities I put on my list,

and I liked the look of it.

The campus is just beautiful.

W: Yes, indeed, let’s see.

Were you from the industrial part of Yorkshire?

M: Yes, from the Woolen District.

Questions 13 to 15 are based on the conversation you have just heard.

13: What was the man’s major at university?

14: What was the man’s job in secondary schools?

15: What attracted the man to Nottingham University?

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

While Gale Obcamp, an American artist,

was giving a speech on the art of Japanese brush painting

to an audience that included visitors from Japan,

she was confused to see

that many of her Japanese listeners had their eyes closed.

Were they turned off because an American

had the nerve to instruct Japanese in their own art form

or they deliberately trying to signal their rejection of her?

Obcamp later found out that her listeners were not being disrespectful.

Japanese listeners sometimes close their eyes to enhance concentration.

Her listeners were showing their respect for her by chewing on her words.

Someday, you may be either a speaker or a listener

in a situation involving people from other countries or members

of a minority group in North America.

Learning how different cultures signal respect

can help you avoid misunderstandings.

Here are some examples.

In the Deaf Culture of North American,

many listeners show applause not by clapping their hands

but by waving them in the air.

In some cultures,

both overseas and in some minority groups in North America,

listeners are considered disrespectful

if they look directly at the speaker.

Respect is shown by looking in the general direction

but avoiding direct eye contact.

In some countries,

whistling by listeners is a sign of approval

while in other countries it is a form of insult.

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

16. What did Obcamp’s speech focus on?

17. Why do Japanese listeners sometimes

close their eyes while listening to a speech?

18. What does the speaker try to explain?

Passage Two

Chris is in charge of purchasing

and maintaining equipment in his division at Taxlong company.

He’s soon going to have an evaluation interview

with his supervisor and personnel director

to discuss the work he has done in the past year.

Salary, promotion and plans for the coming year

will also be discussed at the meeting.

Chris has made several changes

for his division in his past year.

Firstly, he bought new equipment for one of the departments.

He’s been particularly happy about new equipment

because many of the employees

have told him how much it has helped them.

Along with improving the equipment,

Chris began a program to train employees to use equipment better

and to do simple maintenance themselves.

The training saved time for the employees

and money for the Company.

Unfortunately, one serious problem developed during the year.

Two employees that Chris hired were stealing,

and he had to fire them.

Chris knows that a new job for a purchasing

and maintenance manager for the whole company

will be open in a few months

and he would like to be promoted to the job.

Chris knows, however,

that someone else wants the new job, too.

Kim is in charge of purchasing

and maintenance in another division of the company.

She has also made several changes over the year.

Chris knows that his boss likes Kim’s work,

and expects that his work will be compared with hers.

Questions 19 to 22 are based on the passage you have just heard.

19. What is Chris’ main responsibility at Taxlong company?

20. What problem did Chris encounter in his division?

21. What does Chris hope for in the near future?

22. What do we learn about Kim from the passage?

Passage Three

Proverbs,sometimes called sayings,

are examples of folk wisdom.

They are little lessons which older people of the culture

pass down to the younger people to teach them about life.

Many proverbs remind the people of values

that are important in the culture.

Values teach people how to act,

what is right and what is wrong,

because the values of each culture are different.

Understanding the valuesof another culture,

helps to explain how people think and act.

Understanding your own culture values is important,too.

If you can accept that people from other cultures act

according to their values not yours,

getting along with them will be much easier.

Many proverbs are very old.

So some of the values

they teach may not be as important in the culture as they once were.

For example, Americans today donot pay much attention to the proverbs

“haste makes waste”,

because patience is not important to them.

But if you know about past values,

it helps you to understand the present.

And many of the old values are still strong today.

Benjamin Franklin, a famous American diplomat, writer,

and scientist died in 1790.

But his proverb “Time is money”

is taken more seriously

by Americans of today than ever before.

A study of proverbs from around the world shows

that some values are shared by many cultures.

In many casesthough,the same idea is expressed differently.

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

23. Why are proverbs so important?

24. According to the speakers,

what happens to some proverbswith the passage oftime?

25. What do we learn from the study of proverbs from around the world?

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.

Our lives are woven together.

As much as I enjoy my own company,

I no longer imagine I can get through a single day,

much less all my life, completely on my own.

Even if I am on vacation in the mountains,

I am eating foods someone else has grown,

living in the house someone else has built,

wearing clothes someone else has sewn

from cloth woven by others,

using electricity someone else is distributing to my house.

Evidence of interdependence is everywhere.

We are on this journey together.

As I was growing up,

I remember being carefully taught that independence,

not interdependence, was everything.

Make your own way,

stand on your own two feet,

or my mother’s favorite remark

when I was face to face with the consequences of some action:

now that you’ve made your bed, lie on it.

Total independence is a dominant theme in our culture.

I imagine that what my parents were trying to teach me

was to take responsibility for my actions and my choices,

but the teaching was shaped by our cultural images and instead,

I grew up,

believing that I was supposed to be totally independent

and consequently became very reluctant to ask for help.

I would do almost anything not to be a burden

and not require any help from anybody.

Now the passage will be read again.

Our lives are woven together.

As much as I enjoy my own company,

I no longer imagine I can get through a single day,

much less all my life, completely on my own.

Even if I am on vacation in the mountains,

I am eating foods someone else has grown,

living in the house someone else has built,

wearing clothes someone else has sewn

from cloth woven by others,

using electricity someone else is distributing to my house.

Evidence of interdependence is everywhere.

We are on this journey together.

As I was growing up,

I remember being carefully taught that independence,

not interdependence, was everything.

Make your own way,

stand on your own two feet,

or my mother’s favorite remark

when I was face to face with the consequences of some action:

now that you’ve made your bed, lie on it.

Total independence is a dominant theme in our culture.

I imagine that what my parents were trying to teach me

was to take responsibility for my actions and my choices,

but the teaching was shaped by our cultural images and instead,

I grew up,

believing that I was supposed to be totally independent

and consequently became very reluctant to ask for help.

I would do almost anything not to be a burden

and not require any help from anybody.

Now the passage will be read for the third time.

Our lives are woven together.

As much as I enjoy my own company,

I no longer imagine I can get through a single day,

much less all my life, completely on my own.

Even if I am on vacation in the mountains,

I am eating foods someone else has grown,

living in the house someone else has built,

wearing clothes someone else has sewn

from cloth woven by others,

using electricity someone else is distributing to my house.

Evidence of interdependence is everywhere.

We are on this journey together.

As I was growing up,

I remember being carefully taught that independence,

not interdependence, was everything.

Make your own way,

stand on your own two feet,

or my mother’s favorite remark

when I was face to face with the consequences of some action:

now that you’ve made your bed, lie on it.

Total independence is a dominant theme in our culture.

I imagine that what my parents were trying to teach me

was to take responsibility for my actions and my choices,

but the teaching was shaped by our cultural images and instead,

I grew up,

believing that I was supposed to be totally independent

and consequently became very reluctant to ask for help.

I would do almost anything not to be a burden

and not require any help from anybody.

This is the end of listening comprehension.