Part II 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

American Defense Secretary Robert Gates says history

will judge whether the war in Iraq was

justified.He spoke during a visit

to a military base in western Iraq.

Secretary Gates visited the base

 after President Obama officially declared an

end to American combat operations in Iraq.

The president made the announcement

at the White House earlier this week.

America·s involvement in the armed conflict lasted

more than seven years.

During the most intense fighting,

about 165,000 American soldiers served in Iraq.

About 4,400 of the soldiers died in the war.

An estimated 100,000 Iraqis were killed.

The effort has cost billions of dollars.

The war began in March of 2003.

The United States led an international

coalition against the government of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

At the time,

the American president was

 George W.Bush.His administration received reports

that seemed to show that Iraq had weapons of mass

 destruction.Later, the information proved mistaken.

No such weapons were found.

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

News Item 2

Despite concerns in Estonia about the future

of Europe`s common currency,

banks in the capital city of Tallinn are having trouble

keeping up with demand for euro coin start up sets.

But there is a growing public debate as Estonians prepare

to join the eurozone.

One pensioner calls it pointless.

A new survey in Estonia shows public opinion evenly split,

 with some welcoming the currency conversion,

while others say it will hurt Estonian pocketbooks.

The reluctance by many Estonia`s 1.3 million citizens

to embrace the new currency is a worry for the Estonian government,

 which is also trying to explain a five percent rise in food prices.

But economist Hardo Pajula says the higher prices

have little to do with the euro.

Economists say the most vulnerable period will be the

first two weeks of the new year,

 when the Estonian economy transitions

from the familiar kroon to a currency many here still don`t trust.

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

News Item 3

The Federal Reserve calls America`s economic recovery “disappointingly slow.”

So the Federal Reserve decided Wednesday to add 600 billion dollars

to the financial system by the middle of next year.To do this,

the central bank will buy treasury securities from dealers.

The action is known as quantitative easing.

The goal is to reduce long term interest rates.

The hope is to create conditions where businesses

 will invest more and people will spend more.

Buying longer term treasury securities

will make less government debt available to investors.

This will raise the price.As bond prices rise, their rates fall.

Long term securities affect rates on home mortgages

and other loans.Lower rates on corporate bonds

could lead businesses to invest in more equipment and jobs.

Lowering short term interest rates is the Federal Reserve`s main way

to get banks to increase lending.But those rates are already near zero.

The Fed earlier bought one trillion seven hundred fifty billion dollars

 of treasuries and other securities.That program ended in March.

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 hear two long conversation.

Conversation One

W:Harry, what`s the matter?

You look pale.Are you sick?

M:I just had a terrible experience.

W:Sit down.Let me get you a glass of water.

M:No, thanks.I`ll be fine in a minute.

W:Did you have an accident?

M:Not quite, but almost.

I was crossing the street just now and was almost hit by a car.

Fortunately, I jumped back in time.

W:How awful! I hope you got the license number for the car,

so you can report this man to the police department.

M:Before I realized what had happened,

the car was gone.

W:Drivers like that should have their licenses taken away from them.

M:I agree.I won`t forget this for a long time.

W:I`m sure you won`t.

M:Yes, from now on I won`t cross the street in the middle

of the block reading my newspaper.

I`ll have to watch where I`m going,

 since there are dangerous drivers like that one on the road.

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

8.Which is not correct according to the conversation?

9.Why did the man look pale?

10.What was the man doing when the car almost hit him?

11.What can be inferred from the conversation?

Conversation Two

M:I can`t find my wallet.

W:Oh no! Are you sure?

M:It`s definitely not in any of my pockets.

W:You must have left it in the taxi.

M:Well,you paid the taxi fare.

I don`t remember having it when I was in the taxi.

W:Then when did you last have it?

 Maybe you left it at the bank? Remember?

You took it out when you cashed that check.

You could have left it on the counter.

M:Oh, the teller would have noticed it I`m sure.And anyway,

I remember having it after that, when we were in that coffee shop.

Maybe it slipped out of my pocket while we were having coffee.

W:But you paid for the coffee, remember?

M:That`s right.And what did I do after that?

I must have had it when I left the coffee shop

because I remember feeling it in my pocket as we walked out.

W:Well, I wonder if someone stole it.

M:You mean a pickpocket?

W:Yes.Do you think someone could have stolen

 it without you noticing it?

M:I doubt it.I`m sure I would have noticed.No.

Do you know where I think it could be?

W:Where?

M:Remember that little bookshop we stopped

in on the way to the taxi stand?

W:Yeah.Did you have it then?

M:Yes I did.I remember taking it out of my pocket

to write down the name of the book on a piece of paper.

I think I must have put it on the shelf while I was writing,

and left it there.

I`ll call the bookshop and see if they`ve found it.

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

12. What did the man do in the bank?

13. Who paid the taxi fare and who paid for the coffee?

14.What did the woman think about the missing wallet?

15.Where did the man most probably lose his wallet?

Section C

In this section, you will hear three 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

The city`s museums are much more than cultural centers.

They are major contributors to the city`s economy.

Not only do they provide jobs for people living in the city,

but the museums also attract tourists who spend money in hotels,

restaurants and stores.

Each year mass motoring tours visit our museums and spend millions

of dollars in the city,

but only a fraction of that money is ever seen by the museums.

This,in addition to recent cuts in government aid,has hurt the museums.

And museums are in trouble,

though we can all help by increasing our contributions

and encourage others to support cultural institutions.

We should help the museums and help ourselves,too.

This message is by Crocker Bank,

which is interested in keeping New York financially healthy.

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

16.What is the main thought expressed in this appeal?

17.Why are the city`s museums economically important?

18.Why are museums having problems?

Passage Two

Mrs.Baker`s sister was ill.

She had someone to look after her from Monday to Friday,

but not at the weekend,

so every Friday evening Mrs.Baker used to go off to spent the weekend

with her at her home in a neighbouring town.But as Mr.Baker could not cook,

she had arranged for his sister to come over

and spend the weekend looking after him at their home.

This meant that Mr.Baker had quite a busy time when he came home from work

on Friday evening.First he had to drive home from the railway station.

Then he had to drive his wife to the station to catch her train.

And then he had to wait until his sister`s

train arrived,so as to take her to his house.

Of course,on Sunday evening he had to drive his sister to the station

to catch her train back home,and then wait for his wife`s train,

so as to bring her home.

One Sunday evening he had seen his sister off on her train

and was waiting for his wife`s arrival when a porter,

who had often seen him at the station,

came over and spoke to him.

“You are having a lot of fun,”he said.

“But one day one of those women is going to catch you with the other,

and then you will be in real trouble!”

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

19.Who looked after the sick person on weekends?

20.On weekends who cooked for Mr.Baker?

21.What did Mr.Baker have to do at the railway station on  Friday evening?

Passage Three

Thank you all for coming today to hear about new recycling program on campus.

The recycling we`ve planned is really a three part program,sorting,

collecting and distributing.

The first part—sorting is the hardest to get people to do.

Most people don`t like to take the time

to separate their trash and this is usually where most recycling programs fail.

However we are determined to make our work.

lnstead of seeing the usual brown trash cans all over campus,

from now on you`ll see four different colors of trash cans.

Pink trash cans are for paper,green cans are for glass,

brown ones are for metal,and white ones are for all other waste.Just remember

pink paper;green glass;brown metal,and white waste.

After the trash is sorted it needs to be collected

and then distributed to the correct recycling facilities.

That`s where all of you come in.

Since this program is still a volunteer program,

we are asking students to give a little

of their time to the project probably no more than six hours per person each week,

and again your job would be to collect sorted trash

and take it to the program by giving six hours a week，

 please write your name and phone number on his note pad.

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

22.What is the main purpose of the talk?

23.According to the speaker,why do most recycling programs fail?

24.What will be the color of trash cans for paper?

25.What will be the primary responsibility of the volunteers?