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 got two letters this morning with Job Office, one from the Polytechnic,

and the other from the Language School in Pistoia, Italy.

W: So you`re not sure which to go for?

M: That`s it. Of course, the conditions of work are very different:

the Polytechnic is offering a two year contract which could be renewed,

but the Language School is only offering a year`s contract and that`s a different minus.

It could be renewed, but you`ll never know.

W: I see. So it`s much less secure.

But you don`t need to think too much about steady jobs when you`re only 23.

M: That`s true.

W: What about the salaries?

M: Well, the Pistoia job pays much better in the short term.

I`ll be getting equivalent about 22, 000 pounds a year there,

but only 20, 000 pounds at the Polytechnic. But only hours are different.

At the Polytechnic, I`d have to do 35 hours a week,

20 teaching and 15 administration whereas the Pistoia School

is only asking for 13 hours` teaching.

W: Um.

M: Then the type of teaching is so different.

The Polytechnic`s are all adults and mostly preparation for exams,

like the Cambridge certificates. The Language School wants me to do a bit exam preparation,

but also quite a lot of work in companies and factories and a couple of children`s classes.

 Oh, and a bit of literature teaching.

W: Well, that sounds very much more varied and interesting.

And I`d imagine you`d be doing quite a lot of teaching outside the school and moving around quite a bit.

M: Yes, whereas at the Polytechnic`s position,

I`d been stuck in the school all day.

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

Questions 1

What do we learn about the man from the conversation?

Questions 2

What do we learn about the students at the Polytechnic?

Questions 3

What does the woman think of the job at the Language School?

Questions 4

How much will the man get at the Polytechnic?

Conversation Two

W: Good evening, and welcome to the tonight`s edition of Legendary Lives.

Our subject this evening is James Dean—actor and hero for the young people of his time.

Edward Nervy is the author of a new biography of Dean. Good evening, Edward!

M: Hello, Tina!

W: Edward, tell us what you know about Dean`s early life.

M: He was born in Indiana in 1931, but his parents moved to California when he was five.

He wasn`t there long, though, because his mother passed away just four years later.

James` father sent him back to Indiana after that to live with his aunt.

W: So how did he get into acting?

M: Well, first he acted in plays of high school,

then he went to college in California where he got seriously into acting. In 1951,

he moved to New York to do more stage acting.

W: Then when did his movie career really start?

M: 1955. His first starring role was in East of Eden.

It was fabulous. Dean became a huge success.

But the movie that really made him famous was his second one Rebel without Cause.

That was about teenagers who felt like they didn`t fit into the society.

W: So how many more movies did he make?

M: Just one more. Then he died in a car crash in California in 1955.

W: What a tragedy! He only made three movies. So what made him the legend he still is today?

M: Well, I guess is his looks, his acting ability,

his short life and maybe the type of character he played in his movies.

Many young people thought him as a symbol of American youth.

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

Questions 5

What is the woman doing?

Questions 6

Why did James Dean move back to Indiana when he was young?

Questions 7

What does the man say James Dean did at college in California?

Questions 8

What do we learn about James Dean from the conversation?

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

Juan Louis, a junior geology major,

decided to give an informative speech about how earthquakes occur.

From his audience and analysis he learned that only 2 or 3

of his classmates knew much of anything about geology.

Juan realized then that he must present his speech

at an elementary level and with a minimum of scientific language.

As he prepared the speech, Juan kept asking himself,

“How can I make this clear and meaningful to someone

who knows nothing about earthquakes or geological principles?”

Since he was speaking in the Midwest,

he decided to begin by noting that the most severe earthquake

in American history took place not in California or Alaska but at New Madrid,

Missouri in 1811. If such an earthquake happened today,

it would be felt from the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean

and would flatten most of the cities in the Mississippi valley.

That, he figured, should get his classmates` attention.

Throughout the body of the speech, Juan dealt only with the basic mechanics

of the earthquakes, and carefully avoid technical terms.

He also prepared visual aids, diagramming photo line,

so his classmates wouldn`t get confused. To be absolutely safe,

Juan asked his roommate, who was not a geology major, to listen to the speech.

“Stop me,” he said, “any time I say something you don`t understand.”

 Juan`s roommate stopped him four times.

And at each spot, Juan worked out a way to make his point more clearly.

Finally, he had a speech that was interesting

and perfectly understandable to his audience.

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

Questions 9

 What did Juan Louis learn from the analysis of his audience?

Questions 10

 How did Juan Louis start his speech?

Questions 11

What did Juan ask his roommate to do when he was making his trial speech?

Passage Two

The time is 9 o`clock and this is Marian Snow with the news.

The German authorities are sending investigators to discover

the cause of the plane crash late yesterday on the island of Tenerife. The plane,

a Boeing 737, taking German holiday makers to the island crashed into a hillside

as it circled while preparing to land.

The plane was carrying 180 passengers.

It`s thought there are no survivors.

Rescue workers were at the scene.

***

The British industrialist James Louis,

held by kidnapper in central Africa for the past 8 months,

was released unharmed yesterday.

The kidnappers had been demanding 1,000,000 pounds for the release

of Mr. Louis. The London Bank and their agents who had been negotiating

with the kidnappers have not said whether any amount of money has been paid.

***

The 500 UK motors workers who had been on strike in High Town

for the past three weeks went back to work this morning.

This follows successful talks between management and union representatives,

which resulted in a new agreement on working hour and conditions.

A spokesman for the management said they`d hope they could now get back to producing cars,

and that they lost lots of money and orders over this dispute.

***

And finally the weather. After a code start, most of the country should be warm and sunny.

But towards late afternoon, rain will spread from Scotland to cover most parts by midnight.

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

Questions 12

What does the news say about the Boeing 737 plane?

Questions 13

What happened to British industrialist James Louis?

Questions 14

 How did the 3week strike in High Town end?

Questions 15

What kind of weather will be expected by midnight in most parts of the country?

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.

Like many young people around the world,

Emmanuel dreamed of getting a university education in the United States.

The 26 year old only told VOA his first name because he is an undocumented immigrant.

This means he does not have the official documents needed to enter,

live in, or work in the U.S. legally. Emmanuel came to the U.S.

from Mexico five years ago. But,

when he arrived, he discovered that his dream was much more difficult to achieve than he thought.

Undocumented immigrant Emmanuel studies at the tuition free University of the People

“First I had to learn English and realized that there were very few opportunities for me

to really study into formal education in the United States.”

But then Emmanuel read about University of the People.

University of the People is a university that has no tuition costs.

The university`s classes and teaching materials are all free online.

Also, all of the teachers are volunteers.

Federal laws in the U.S. do not prevent undocumented immigrants from going to college.

But laws do ban undocumented immigrants from receiving government financial aid.

Shai Reshef is the president of University of the People.

Reshef decided to create a tuition free university after visiting several poor countries.

People in those countries had limited higher education opportunities.

“We built a model to show universities,

to show governments that the issue of higher education can be solved.

Higher education can be accessible, can be affordable,

can be high quality and shouldn`t leave anyone behind.”

Currently, the University of the People only offers degrees in computer science and business administration.

Though tuition is free,

the university does require students to pay a $50 application fee. Also,

 the university requires students to pay a $100 test fee when they complete a class.

The total cost for a four year degree is $4,000.

 But the university does offer scholarships.

Emmanuel said he misses seeing and working with other students in a classroom.

 But he does love working with students in many countries online.

There are more than 2,500 students studying with the University of the People.

 The university expects that number to double next year.

Massive Open Online Courses or MOOCs are free online classes that universities all over the world provide.

Stanford University began offering free MOOCs in 2006.

Oxford University began offering free online classes in 2009.

 But, these classes are not part of a degree program.

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

Good morning everyone, today we`ll look at culture or rather classifications of cultures.

Usually when we deal with different people,

 we deal with them as if we were all members of the same culture.

However, it`s possible that people from different cultures have different assumptions about the world,

regarding such important and basic ideas as time,

personal space. And this is the view of Edward Hall.

And Edward Hall is an anthropologist who spent a large part of his life studying American Indians,

their culture, their language, but he was different from a lot

of other anthropologists who just study one culture.

He was interested in the relations between cultures,

how cultures interact, what Hall believes is that cultures can be

classified by placing them on a continuing, ranging from what he called high context to lowcontext.

OK, what is a high context culture? A high context culture is a culture in which the context

of the message or the action or an event carries a large part of its meaning and significance.

 What this means is that in a high context culture more attention is paid to

what`s happening in and around the message than to the message itself.

Now let me give you examples. First in terms of personal space,

generally speaking in a high context culture, if you go into that culture,

people might stand closer when they`re talking to you.

They might touch more and if they`re hustled in a crowd, they won`t feel violated.

And also people from a high context culture pay attention to body language.

Now, let`s move on to low context culture. A lower context culture is just the opposite.

A low context culture is one in which the message,

the event or the action is a separate entity,

 having meaning onto itself,

regardless of the surroundings or the context.

That the message, the event, the action has meaning in itself.

Ok, today, we`ll take a brief look at Edward Hall`s view of culture,

mainly his classification of high or low context culture with some examples. Next week,

we`ll look at some more examples of cultures on the continuing

 between high context and low context cultures.

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

Americans can eat eggs without feeling guilty,

according to new nutritional guidelines issued by the U.S. government.

order guidelines restricted cholesterol intake to 300 milligrams a day.

Two eggs would be more than the daily limit.

The guidelines were issued by the U.S. Department of

Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services.

The government guidelines are issued every five years.

It is designed to help set nutritional standards for school lunch programs and federal food aid.

The new guidelines cautioned that “individuals should eat

as little dietary cholesterol as possible.”

In the past, guidelines have led to reduced sales and hurt agricultural markets.

 In 1977, the guidelines recommended avoiding cholesterol.

That recommendation led to a decline in egg sales.

Other tips to stay healthy included advice to limit intake of sugars to 10 percent.

Saturated fat calories found in red meat, butter, cheese, whole milk

and ice cream should be limited each day to 10 percent.

The guidelines also suggested Americans move away from a diet full

of animal protein and sodium. The guidelines promoted eating more fruits, vegetables and nuts.

The government has long recommended eating breakfast each day as a way to stay fit.

The latest guidelines do not recommend that breakfast is necessary.

Some are critical of the new guidelines. Mayo Clinic`s Dr. Donald Hensrud told Time magazine

that the new recommendations do not address weight management.

Hensrud also mentioned that the recommendations failed to note the positive reports

of how coffee decreases the risks of diabetes and Parkinson`s disease.

Harvard professor and physician Walter Willett was candid in his observations.

“This is a loss for the American public, and a win for big beef and big soda,” Willett said.

“The problem isn`t just that the public gets misleading, censored information,

 but that these guidelines get translated into national food programs. ...

This then gets directly translated into unnecessary premature deaths,

diabetes, and suffering...

of course this goes on to mean greater health care costs for all.

It is all connected.”