Part 2 Listening Comprehension(25 minutes)

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

Questions 1 and 2 will be based on the following news item.

News Item 1

The American Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has defended US military operations in Afghanistan.

She was responding to criticism from the Afghan President Hamid Karzai, 

who had said that such operations, especially night raids, 

by American special forces should stop as they disrupt daily life.Kim Ghattas reports from Washington.

Hillary Clinton forcefully defended the American military and civilian strategy in Afghanistan.

She said the military operations were having a significant impact on the insurgent leadership and their networks, 

and she said they were also in the best interest of the Afghan people and their government.

She added that the use of intelligencedriven, 

precisiontargeted operations against highvalue insurgents 

and their networks was a key component of the strategy.

She insisted those were conducted in full partnership 

with the government of Afghanistan and pointed out that Afghan forces were included on each operation.

But Mrs Clinton did acknowledge that Washington was sensitive to concerns expressed by President Karzai.

1.How did Hillary Clinton think of US military operation in Afghanistan?

2.Which one is not correct according to the news?

Questions 3 and 4 will be based on the following news item.

News Item 2

Latest figures on the cholera epidemic from the Haitian Ministry of Public Health 

are more than 1,100 deaths and nearly 18,400 hospitalizations.

But, UN aid agencies note these statistics 

are several days old and the true number of deaths and hospitalizations are probably higher.

Cholera is confirmed in seven Haitian regions.

Only three remain free of the disease.

World Health Organization Communications Officer, 

Christian Lindmeier has just returned from two weeks in Haiti.

He said aid workers are trying to inform people their lives could depend upon 

reaching a cholera treatment center quickly.

Unfortunately, he says, civil unrest in Haiti is slowing cholera prevention and 

treatment supplies from reaching affected areas.

Aid agencies say their efforts to control the cholera epidemic are being seriously hampered by riots.

Many Haitians blame Nepalese UN peacekeepers for bringing the cholera epidemic to their country.

The United Nations says vital water, sanitation and hygiene projects are being interrupted.

A World Food Program warehouse was looted and burned.

Another casualty is a choleratraining program for health professionals.

It has had to be halted.

3.What should Haitian people do now,according to WHO officer?

4.Which one is not included in UN programs in Haiti?

Questions 5 and 7 will be based on the following news item.

News Item 3

Farmers know that if you reduce harmful insects and diseases in your crops, 

you have a chance for a better harvest.

Today, many farmers and experts praise Integrated Pest Management, or IPM.

IPM is a series of choices and methods to control insects, diseases and fungi.

The program provides current information on how pests live and act in the environment.

A number of nongovernmental and other organizations in many countries provide education in IPM.

Farmers can get information meant for the needs of their own land.

They can learn to recognize possible problems and how to plan crops to help prevent failures.

Paul Jepson heads the Integrated Plant Protection Center at Oregon State University.

He says farmers who have attended field schools in Asia 

and Africa have increased the use of IPM.And he says this has cut pesticide use.

James Frederick is an IPM expert with Clemson University's Pee Dee Research 

and Educational Center in South Carolina.

He says one basic IPM method is to plant as early in the season as possible 

so that most of the crop will be in by the time a disease or pest arrives.

Not all insects are pests.Some are helpful.

IPM programs help farmers learn to identify different kinds.

5.What is IPM mainly about?

6.Which kinds of farmers use IPM more in Asia and Africa?

7.What is the basic IPM method?

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.

Now you will haer the two long conversations

Conversation 1

W: So John, I hear you and Arthur share a job, don't you?

M: Yes. We've shared a sales job at Sonatech for about two years now.

W: Well, how do you divide up your schedule?

M: You know we are both sales representatives, and we take orders over the phone. 

When we started job sharing it was difficult, because we both worked all day Monday. 

I worked Tuesday and Thursday and Arthur worked Wednesday and Friday. 

The problem was that when I was in the office on Tuesday. 

I would talk to people, then they would call back on Wednesday with a question. 

But Arthur couldn't answer the question and he couldn't ask me about it 

because I wasn't in the office. 

So he had to ask the people to call me back the next day, Thursday. 

Of course,they didn't like to wait until the next day to have their question answered.

W: Yes, that sounds like a problem.

M: So, finally we decided that Arthur would work in the mornings and I would work in the afternoons. 

Now if someone calls with the question for me in the morning, 

Arthur tells them to call me in the afternoon. 

This way, people get their questions answered the same day.

W: What do you do about vacations?

M: Well, Sonatech gives the usual two weeks of vacation to fulltime employees,

 I take a week and Arthur takes a week.

W: It sounds like job sharing has worked out well for you.

M: Yes, it has. We are both happy with it.

Q 8:What do John and Arthur do at Sonatech?

Q 9:What problem did John and Arthur have when they started job sharing?

Q 10:What does John say about their annual vacation?

Q 11:Which is not correct according to the conversation?

Conversation 2

W: May I see your license, please?

M: But officer, did I do something wrong?

W: Do you mean to say you didn't see the speed limit sign back there? 

M: Um, no, madam, I guess I didn't.

W: In other words, you drove by too fast to read it. The sign says 35m/h. 

A school is just nearby,  you know?

M: Don't get me wrong, but my speedometer didn't read much faster than that.

W: Then, why is it that my radar showed you are going 45? Let me put it in another way. 

I'm going to give you a ticket. Again, may I see your license, please?

M: Here it is, officer. But let me explain. 

I was late for an important appointment and I was worried that I wouldn't make it on time. So...

W: Uha, just a minute, here. Your license is no longer valid.  

You should have renewed it two weeks ago. I'm going to have to write you up for that, too.

M: What? Really?

W: Your license becomes invalid on your birthday and that was two weeks ago according to the date here. 

You are in violation of the law—driving without a valid license.

M: I'm sorry, madam. I hadn't realized that.

W:Here's the ticket for not having a valid license.  

But I'm only going to give you a warning about exceeding the speed limit. 

Be careful next time.

M: Yes, madam, officer, I will. Thank you.

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

Q 12:Where was the man stopped by the police officer?

Q 13:What did the man claim about the speed limit sign?

Q 14:What did the woman say about the man's driving license?

Q 15:What was the man's penalty?

Section C. Directions:

In this section, you will hear three 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 

Since I started working parttime at a grocery store, 

I have learned that a customer is more than someone who buys something. 

To me, a customer is a person whose memory fails entirely  once he or she starts to push a shopping cart.

One of the first things customers forget is how to count. 

There is no other way to explain how so many people get in their express line,  

which is clearly marked 15 items or less,  with 20, 25 or even a cart load of items. 

Customers also forget why they came to the store in the first place. 

Just as I finish ringing up an order, a customer will say, 

“Oops, I forgot to pick up a fresh loaf of bread. I hope you don't mind waiting while I go get it.” 

Five minutes later, he is back with the bread, a bottle of milk, and three rolls of paper towels.  

Strange as it seems, customers also seem to forget that they have to pay for their groceries. 

Instead of writing a check or looking for a credit card while I am ringing up the groceries, 

my customers will wait until I announce the total. 

Then, in surprise, she says, “Oh no, what did I do with my check book?” 

After 5 minutes of digging through her purse, she borrows my pen because she's forgotten hers. 

But I have to be tolerant  of customers because they pay my salary, 

and that's something I can't afford to forget.

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

Q 16:What does the speaker say about customer's entering the grocery store?

Q 17:Which customers are supposed to be in the express line?

Q 18:What does the speaker say some customers do when they arrive at the checkout counter?

Q 19:What does the speaker say about his job at the end of the talk?

Passage 2

The speech delivery style of Europeans and Asians tends to be very formal. 

Speakers of these cultures often read oral presentations from carefully written manuscripts. 

On the other hand, American speakers are generally more informal relative to speakers in other cultures. 

American audiences prefer natural, spontaneous delivery  

that conveys a lively sense of communication. 

They don't relate well to speakers who read from a manuscript. 

If you use an outline of your ideas instead of a prepared text, 

your speech will not only sound more natural, 

but you will also be able to establish better relationship with your listeners and keep their attention. 

The language and style you use when making an oral presentation should 

not be the same as the language and style you use when writing.  

Wellwritten information, that is meant to be read, does not work as well when it is heard. 

It is, therefore, important for you to adapt written texts or outlines for presentations. 

Good speakers are much more informal when speaking than when writing. 

They also use their own words and develop their own speaking styles. 

Whenever possible, they use short words. 

Listeners appreciate it when speakers use simple, everyday words in a presentation.  

One advantage is that it's much easier for speakers to pronounce short words correctly. 

Another is that long and sophisticated vocabulary choices make listening more difficult.

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

Q 20:What does the speaker say American audiences prefer?

Q 21:What should one pay attention to when making an oral presentation?

Q 22:What does the speaker focus on in the talk?

Passage 3

Let children learn to judge their own work. 

A child learning to talk does not learn by being corrected all the time. 

If corrected too much, he will stop talking. 

He compares a thousand times a day the difference between language 

as he uses it and language as those around him use it. 

Bit by bit, he makes the necessary changes to make his language like other peoples. 

In the same way, kids learning to do all the other things they learn without adult teachers, 

to walk, run, climb, ride a bike, play games, 

compare their own performance with what more skilled people do, 

and slowly make the needed changes. 

But in school we never give a child a chance to detect his mistakes.   

We do it all for him. 

We act as if we thought he would never notice a mistake unless it was pointed out to him. 

Soon he becomes dependent on the expert. 

We should let him do it himself. 

Let him figure out, with the help of other children if he wants it, 

what this word says, what is the answer to that problem, 

whether this is a good way of saying or doing this or that. 

If right answers need to be given, as in mathematics or science, give him the answer book. 

Let him correct his own papers. 

Why should we teachers waste time on such tedious work? 

Our job should be to help children when they tell us 

that they can't find a way to get the right answer.

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

Q 23:How does a child learn to do something according to the speaker?

Q 24:What belief do teachers commonly hold according to the speaker?

Q 25:What does the speaker imply about the current way of teaching?