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 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: You`re the editor of Public Eye.

What kind of topics does your program cover?

M: Well, there are essentially domestic stories.

We don`t cover international stories. We don`t cover party politics or economics.

We do issues of general social concern to our British audience.

They can be anything from the future of the health service

to the way the environment is going downhill.

W: How do you choose the topic?

Do you choose one because it`s what the public wants to know about or

because it`s what you feel the public ought to know about?

M: I think it`s a mixture of both. Sometimes you have a strong feeling that something is important

 and you want to see it examined and you want to contribute to a public debate.

Sometimes people come to you with things they are worried about and they can be quite small things.

 They can be a story about corruption in a local government, something they cannot quite understand,

why it doesn`t seem to be working out properly,

like they are not having their litter collected properly or the dustbins emptied.

W: How do you know that you`ve got a really successful

program, one that is just right for the time?

M: I think you get a sense about it after working in it in a number of years.

You know which stories are going to get the attention.

They are going to be published just the point when the public are concerned about that.

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

1:What kind of topics does Public Eye cover?

2:How does Public Eye choose its topics?

3:What factor plays an important role in running a successful program?

4:Which is not correct according to the conversation?

Conversation 2

W:Hi, Professor Smith. I hear you`ve written a book titled Visions.

M: Yes. It explains how science will revolutionize the 21st century.

W: Could I ask you some questions concerning the book?

M: Sure.

W: Are you optimistic about the future?

M: Generally, yeah. If we go back to the year of 1900,

most Americans didn`t live beyond the age of 50. Since then,

 we`ve had improvements in health care and technology.

There is no reason why these won`t continue far into the 21st century.

W: Are we ready for the changes that will come?

M: Changes are already happening. The future is here now.

 We have DNA, microchips, the Internet.

 Some people`s reaction is to say, we are too old;

we don`t understand new technology.

My reaction is to say, we must educate people to use new technology now.

W: Is world population going to be a big problem?

M: Yes, and no. I think that world population will stop increasing as we all get richer.

 If you are a part of the middle class, you don`t want or need 12 children.

W: Will there be a world government?

M: Very probably. We will have to manage the world and its resources

on a global level because countries alone are too small.

W: Will we have control of everything?

M:I think we`ll learn to control the weather, volcanoes and earthquakes.

Illness won`t exist. We`ll grow new livers, kidneys, hearts,

and lungs like spare parts for a car.

 People will live to about 130 or 150.

For 2000 years, we have tried to understand our environment.

Now we`ll begin to control it.

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

5:What does Professor Smith say about most Americans around the year of 1900?

6:What does Professor Smith advise we do?

7：When will the world population stop growing according to Professor Smith?

8：What does Professor Smith think human beings will be able to do?

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 1

Getting behind the wheel of a car can be an exciting new step in a teen`s life.

But along with that excitement comes a new responsibility—understanding

the need for common sense and maturity to avoid accidents.

 In an effort to spread awareness to teens across the nation,

the Allstate Foundation sponsored a Keep The Drive Summit

at Sunset Station on January 23rd.

Students from Kennedy and Alamo Heights High schools participated

in the summit which was held here for the first time.

The goal of the yearlong effort is to educate teens on the

 rules of safe driving and the severe consequences

 that can result if those rules are not followed,

and then have them communicate that information to their peers.

 The students watched videos that told them about

 the numbers of teenage driving injuries and deaths.

 They listen to the videos as students from other cities

share their stories of how their reckless driving affected

not only their lives but also those of their passengers.

“We are trying to create awareness in high schools across the countries,”

 said Westerman, an Allstate representative,

 “we focus on changing how teens think behind the wheel.”

According to the presentation,

more teens die in automobile crashes in the United States each year than from drugs,

violence, smoking and suicide.

An average of 16 teens die every day in motor vehicle crashes

and nearly forty percent of those are caused by speeding.

Texas is the state with the most teen driving deaths according to the presentation.

Students agreed that the statistics were amazing

and made them think twice about how they drive.

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

9:For what purpose did the Allstate Foundation sponsor the Keep The Drive Summit?

10:What causes the greatest number of deaths among American teens according to the presentation?

11:What can we conclude about the Keep The Drive Summit?

Passage 2

This is Ray McCarthy with the news.

 Reports are coming in of a major train crash in Japan.

A passenger train carrying hundreds of workers home from

the center of Tokyo is reported to have hit an oncoming goods train.

Both were traveling at high speed. Figures are not yet available but

it is believed that the death toll could be as high as 300,

 with hundreds more injured. Emergency and rescue services rushed to the scene.

But our reporter says it will take days to clear

 the track and to establish the numbers of the dead and injured.

 There was a similar accident on the same stretch of track four years ago.

There was another bomb scare in a large London store last night during late night shopping.

 Following a telephone call to the police from an anonymous caller, hundreds of shoppers

were shepherded out of the store while roads in the area were sealed off.

Police dogs spent hours searching the store for a bag

which the caller claimed contained 50 pounds of explosives.

 Nothing was found and the store was given the all clear by opening time this morning.

A police spokesman said that this was the third bomb scare within a week and that we should all be on our guard.

And finally, the motoring organizations have issued a warning to

 drivers following the recent falls of snow in many parts of the country.

Although the falls may be slight, they say extra care is needed.

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

12:What accident happened recently in Japan?

13:What do the report say about the recent accident in Japan?

14:Why did people have to leave the London store last night?

15:What did motoring organizations advise drivers to do?

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.

Passage 1

The world is changing in some really profound ways,

and I worry that investors aren`t paying enough attention

 to some of the biggest drivers of change,

 especially when it comes to sustainability.

And by sustainability, I mean the really juicy things, like environmental

and social issues and corporate governance.

 I think it`s reckless to ignore these things,

 because doing so can jeopardize future long term returns.

And here`s something that may surprise you:

the balance of power to really influence sustainability rests with institutional investors,

the large investors like pension funds, foundations and endowments.

I believe that sustainable investing is less complicated than you think,

 better performing than you believe, and more important than we can imagine.

Let me remind you what we already know.

 We have a population that`s both growing and aging;

we have seven billion souls today heading to 10 billion at the end of the century;

 we consume natural resources faster than they can be replenished;

 and the emissions that are mainly responsible for climate change just keep increasing.

 Now clearly, these are environmental and social issues,

but that`s not all. They`re economic issues,

 and that makes them relevant to risk and return.

16.What does the speaker worry about?

17.According to the speaker, which one influences the sustainability mostly?

18.By the end of the century, how many people will increase?

19.According to the speaker, what is the main course for climate change?

Passage 2

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

Have you ever wanted to stay young a little longer, and put off aging?

 This is a dream of the ages.

But scientists have for a long time thought this just was never going to be possible.

They thought you just wear out,

 there`s nothing you can do about it—a kind of like an old shoe.

But if you look in nature, you see that different kinds of animals can have really different lifespans.

Now these animals are different from one another,

 because they have different genes.

So that suggests that somewhere in these genes, somewhere in the DNA,

 are genes for aging, genes that allow them to have different lifespans.

 So if there are genes like that, then you can imagine that,

 if you could change one of the genes in an experiment,

 an aging gene, maybe you could slow down aging and extend lifespan. And if you could do that,

then you could find the genes for aging.

 And if they exist and you can find them, then maybe one could eventually do something about it.

So we`ve set out to look for genes that control aging.

 And we didn`t study any of these animals.

 Instead, we studied a little, tiny, round worm called C. elegans,

 which is just about the size of a comma in a sentence.

And we were really optimistic that we could find something

because there had been a report of a long lived mutant.

 So we started to change genes at random, looking for long lived animals.

 And we were very lucky to find that mutations

 that damage one single gene called daf 2 doubled the lifespan of the little worm.

So you can see in black, after a month—they`re very short lived;

 that`s why we like to study them for studies of aging—in black,

after a month, the normal worms are all dead. But at that time,

 most of the mutant worms are still alive.

And it isn`t until twice as long that they`re all dead.

And now I want to show what they actually look like in this movie here.

So the first thing you`re going to see is the normal

worm when it`s about college student age—a young adult.

It`s quite a cute little fellow. And next you`re going to see the long lived mutant when it`s young.

So this animal is going to live twice as long. Is it miserable? It doesn`t seem to be.

 It`s active. You can`t tell the difference really.

And they can be completely fertile—have the same number of progeny as the normal worms do.

Now get out your handkerchiefs here.

 You`re going to see, in just two weeks, the normal worms are old.

You can see the little head moving down at the bottom there.

But everything else is just lying there.

 The animal`s clearly in the nursing home. And if you look at the tissues of the animal,

 they`re starting to deteriorate. You know, even if you`ve never seen one of

these little C. elegans—which probably most of you

 haven`t seen one—you can tell they`re old—isn`t that interesting?

So there`s something about aging that`s kind of universal.

 And now here is the daf2 mutant.

One gene is changed out of 20,000, and look at it. It`s the same age,

 but it`s not in the nursing home;

 it`s going skiing. This is what`s really cool:

 it`s aging more slowly.

It takes this worm two days to age as much as the normal worm ages in one day.

And when I tell people about this, they tend to think of maybe

an 80 or 90 year old person who looks really good for being 90 or 80.

But it`s really more like this: let`s say you`re a 30 year old guy—

or in your 30s—and you`re a bachelor and you`re dating people.

 And you meet someone you really like, you get to know her.

And you`re in a restaurant, and you say, “Well，how old are you?” She says,

 “I`m 60.” That`s what it`s like. And you would never know.

 You would never know, until she told you.

20.According to the speaker, why do animals have different lifespans from one another?

21.Why does the speaker want the audiences to get out their handkerchiefs?

22.What is this speech mainly about?

Passage 3

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

One day, Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez was walking along the streets of downtown Los Angeles，

when he heard beautiful music. And the source was a man, an African American man,

 charming, rugged, homeless, playing a violin that only had two strings.

And I`m telling a story that many of you know,

 because Steve`s columns became the basis for a book,

 which was turned into a movie, with Robert Downey Jr. acting as Steve Lopez,

and Jamie Fox as Nathaniel Anthony Ayers,

 the Juilliard trained double bassist whose promising career was cut

 short by a tragic affliction with paranoid schizophrenia.

 Nathaniel dropped out of Juilliard, he suffered a complete breakdown,

 and 30 years later he was living homeless on the streets of Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles.

 I encourage all of you to read Steve`s book or to watch

the movie to understand not only the beautiful bond that formed between these two men,

 but how music helped shape that bond, and ultimately was instrumental—

if you`ll pardon the pun—in helping Nathaniel get off the streets.

I met Mr. Ayers in 2008, two years ago, at Walt Disney Concert Hall.

 He had just heard a performance of Beethoven`s First and Fourth symphonies,

and came backstage and introduced himself.

 He was speaking in a very jovial and gregarious way

about Yo Yo Ma and Hillary Clinton and how the Dodgers

were never going to make the World Series,

all because of the treacherous first violin passage work in the last movement

of Beethoven`s Fourth Symphony. And we got talking about music,

 and I got an email from Steve a few days later saying

that Nathaniel was interested in a violin lesson with me.

Now, I should mention that Nathaniel refuses treatment because when

 he was treated it was with shock therapy and Thorazine and handcuffs,

 and that scar has stayed with him for his entire life. But as a result now,

he is prone to these schizophrenic episodes,

the worst of which can manifest themselves as him exploding and then disappearing for days,

 wandering the streets of Skid Row, exposed to its horrors,

 with the torment of his own mind unleashed upon him.

23.Which of the following statements about Steve Lopez is right?

24.According to the speaker, what helped Nathaniel get off the streets?

25.Do you know when the speaker gave this speech?