听力特训六级原文1-5

听力特训六级原文1-5 六级听力特训 Unit 1 1. M: America is a nation of immigrants. Even the American Indians are descendants of the Mongoloid people of Asia. W: Really? I thought the American Indians had always been in North America. Q: The American Indians are descendants of which race? 2. M: Do you really have to go down to the river to wash your clothes? W: Yes, but all things considered, life in the country is still a lot less complicated than life in the city. Q: How does the woman feel about life in the country? 3. W: I’m afraid Dr. Anderson won't be able to see you then. His appointment book is filled for the next couple of weeks. M: Oh, but I don't have to see him. I'll just leave my teeth in his office and he can look at them when he has time. They are false teeth! Q: What is Dr. Anderson? . 4. M: I’d like to go to the movies this evening. Would you like to come with me? W: Well, I’ll go if you really want to, but I'm a little worn out from my work Q: What conclusion can we draw from the conversation? 5. M: What's your family like, Susan? W: Well, my parents are separated, but my father lives near us. Mom is middle aged and pretty. She's tall with blonde hair. She works as a chemical engineer for a drug company. Q: How do Susan's parents get along? 6. M: I wonder if you can finish your paper by Monday afternoon. W: I'm sorry Dr. Johnson- I don't mink I can finish it that early. Thursday morning would be the earliest mat you could have it. Q: When will the woman hand in her paper? 7. W: Do you mink the possibility of cold weather and snow will affect the results of the game? M: Well, the Stealers are accustomed to playing in bad weather, so it shouldn’t make any difference to them. Q: How does the man think about the weather and the game? 8. M:I bought this sweater as a gift last week but have just discovered that it is the wrong size, so I want to return it. W: If you have your receipt, I can give you credit for the purchase. But I can't repay you. Q: Where did the conversation probably take place? Now you'll hear two long conversations. Conversation One M: Tina, I’m studying American geography at school right now, but I'm a little confused about the terminology they are using. Can you explain the basic geographical divisions to me? W: Well, the U.S. is made up of fifty states. Some of them are quite small such as Rhode Island or Hawaii; others are very large such as Alaska or Texas. M: My teacher mentioned that the capital of the United States is special. Do you know what he was talking about? W: The capital is Washington D.C. — the "D.C." stands for District of Columbia. Washington D.C. is not in a state; it is a separate political division. The United States also includes many territories such as Guam, American Samoa and the U.S. Virgin Islands. And of course, Puerto Rico is classified as a commonwealth. M: What exactly is a commonwealth? W: That means that Puerto Rico is tied to the United States, but it is largely self-governing. M: What about the cultural divisions? W: Americans divide the United States into many different cultural regions: the Northwest, the West Coast, the West, the South West the deep South, the Midwest, the East Coast and last but not least New England. M: Where's that? W: It is a cultural region in the far Northeast that stretches from Connecticut to the Maine. 9. What are the speakers mainly talking about? 10. What's special about the capital of the U.S.A.? 11. According to the conversation, which of the following is a cultural region? Conversation Two M: Hello, I am calling because I read your ad in the Sunday Tribune. It said you were trying to sublet a one-room apartment for the next six months. Can I ask you a couple of questions? W: Certainly. M: Will the apartment be furnished? W: Yes, the apartment will have a couch, a small dinner table with two chairs, a couple of bookshelves and a queen-size bed. M: Great. I just moved here and I haven't bought any furniture yet. W: The facilities are very nice. Tenants have access to a small fitness room, a swimming pool and a coin-operated laundry. The landlord is excellent as well. If there are any problems at all, you can contact him and he'll take care of everything. M: It sounds perfect. W: If you are interested, you need to pick up an application form, complete it, and return it to me by Friday along with a check for $25.00. We will get back to you within a week and let you know our decision. M: Do I get the $25.00 back if you rent the apartment to somebody else? W: No, the $25.00 fee is non-refundable. We use the money to order a copy of your credit report; we needed to find out about your history of paying bills. M: I just moved here from Japan. I don't think that will work in my case. W: Oh, I’m sorry. I didn't realize that you were new to the United States. In that case, when you fill out the form, make sure you include three references that we can contact to find out a little bit more about you. 12. What does the man want to do? 13. Which of the following is not mentioned as the facility of the apartment? 14. What’s the $25.00 fee used to do? 15. Where does the man come from? Section B Passage One Freezing can keep food fresh and safe to eat. Freezing lowers the food temperature below zero degrees Celsius. That is the point where water rums to ice. To start the freezing process, it is important to lower the temperature to between minus fifteen and minus twenty degrees Celsius as quickly as possible. The faster the freezing process, the fresher the taste of the food. Fruits and vegetables can spread out inside the freezer. Once the food is frozen, it should be placed in containers and then stored at a temperature of about minus twenty degrees Celsius. Fruits are usually not cooked before they arc frozen. This allows them to keep their fresh taste. The simplest way to prepare fruits is to cut them up and place them in a container inside the freezer, hi some cases it is better to permit the fruit to freeze before putting it in the container. This will keep it from sticking to the container. This is called the "dry pack" method. The second way is the "wet pack" method. The fruit is prepared along with some of its liquid or juice. You can add some sugar to fruits that are naturally juicy. The sugar sweetens the fruit and brings out its natural juices. Once foods have been unfrozen, they should not be frozen again. There is a danger of food poisoning if food is frozen more than once. 16. What's important to start the freezing process? 17. What’s the advantage of "dry pack" method? 18. What can we conclude from the passage? Passage Two The United States has more man 3,000 colleges and universities. Most require high school students to take an admissions test, either the SAT or the ACT. But some have reconsidered. The activist organization FairTest opposes the requirements. It lists more than 70 individual schools now where testing is optional. Students can provide their results, but only if they want to.A number of the schools are related as campuses within university systems. Yet in some cases, it appears that other campuses do still require testing.Testing critics say one reason to drop the requirement is that preparing for the tests takes away too much lime from schoolwork, and life. They say the requirement places too much importance on one test and causes too much stress for students. Still, critics question just how much the tests really show about a student. They say higher scores in some cases might only show that a student's family had the money for costly test-preparation classes. One of the first colleges to drop the requirement was Bates College in Maine in 1984. Over the next 20 years, it compared students who provided their test scores and those who did not. The study found that grades and graduation rates were the same. 19. What would the students in the listed 700 schools probably do? 20. According to the critics, why should they drop the requirement? 21. What can we learn from the passage? Passage Three Two new American studies are adding to our understanding of women and their sense of smell. The first study showed that women appear to like the smell of men whose genes are similar to the women's fathers, Scientists at the University of Chicago in Illinois described their experiment in Nature Genetics magazine. The scientists asked a group of 49 women to smell several boxes. Each box had a different smell. The women were asked which box they would choose if they had to smell it all the time. They were not told what each box contained. The ten boxes contained pieces of clothing called T-shirts. Some of the T-shirts contained a common smelt of a substance found around the house. Each of the other 6 T-shirts had been worn by a man for 2 days. The 6 men who wore the T-shirts were told to avoid activities that produced strong smells.The scientists tested the genes of the men and women in the study. They examined a special group of genes called M-H-C genes. The scientists found that the women did not choose the smells of men with genes totally similar to their own. However, women generally liked the smell of men whose M-H-C genes were similar to the HCUCS that were passed to the women from their fathers. There was no such relationship between a woman and genes from her mother. A second study found that women can improve their ability to recognize smells by smelling them repeatedly. Scientists at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, organized this study. They reported the findings in Nature Neuroscience magazine. Scientists say their findings may explain why women are more likely than men to be troubled by smells in the environment 22. What did the women do in the first study? 23. What should the six men do in the first study? 24. What's the result of the first study? 25. What can we conclude from the passage? Section C About one in twenty adults in the United States cannot read English. A new(26) federal study shows that adults made little (27) progress in their reading skills between 1992 and 2003. The National (28) Assessment of Adult Literacy is the most important test of how well adult Americans can read, Researchers tested nineteen thousand people over the age of sixteen. The study (29) represents an adult population of two hundred twenty-two million. Those who took part were tested on how well they could read and understand information used in everyday life. The study found that eleven million adults, or five percent, cannot read English. They can not answer even the (30) easiest written questions. Four million of them most likely cannot speak English either. The study shows that more than forty percent of adults can perform only simple reading activities. For many, even that can be difficult. Fifty-six percent of adults can perform moderate or complex activities. Moderate can mean finding information in a book. Of that number, thirteen percent can perform complex tasks like comparing two different newspaper (31) commentaries. Researchers say part of the problem is that many young Americans do nor read as much for pleasure anymore. Also, there are greater numbers of non-English speaking (32) immigrants. Reading skills can directly affect the ability to earn a living. The best readers were found to earn up to 28 thousand dollars a year more than those who (33) lacked simple reading skills. (34) Yet, compared to the last study in 1992,adult reading skills were about the same or lower across every level of education. This was true even among people who have completed college. (35)By race and ethnic group, black and Asians had the biggest increases in English reading skills. But levels decreased among Hispanics. Experts say, however, that while many Hispanics are unable to read in English, they may read well in Spanish. Overall, American adults improved the most in answering questions that involved numbers. (36) Even so, the test found that the average adult cannot do much more than perform simple, everyday math. The Department of Education says the literacy findings show the need for reforms especially at the high school level. Unit 2 1. M: We'll have to hurry if we're going to be on time to the airport. It’s already 10:30. W: Well, it takes only half an hour to get to the airport, and the plane doesn’t leave until 11:15. I think we'll make it all right if we leave immediately. Q: How much time is the couple allowing once they get to the airport? 2. M: Would you join me at the movie tonight? They are showing "The African Queen" with Katherine Hephurn and Humphrey Bogart. W: No, I'm sorry. I promised I would take care of my sister's children while she goes out tonight. Q: Why can't the woman go to the movie? 3. W: This year's heavy rainfall has caused flooding, and made it hard to plant new crops in California. M: Yes. I guess that's why fruit and vegetables are so expensive right now. Q: According to the conversation, why are vegetables expensive now? 4. W: Do you think the travel agency will be open Saturday afternoon? I want to get some information about a bus trip across the United States. M: You don't have to wait until Saturday. Right here, in this office, the dean has maps, bus schedules and even a list of inexpensive hotels. They're for foreign students, you know. Q: Where did this conversation most probably take place? 5. M: According to your resume you don't have much experience in advertising, Miss Montag. W: That's not quite true. My father was an advertising consultant and he gave me a fairly thorough introduction to the business. Q: What does Miss Montag say about her resume? 6. M: Where do you usually eat breakfast? W: In the kitchen. I fix myself some orange juice, an egg, a slice of unbuttered toast and some coffee. But once in a while I have breakfast in the school cafeteria. That's when I get a ride and leave the house early. Q: Where does the woman usually have breakfast? 7 M: These silver earrings are only sixteen dollars this week. The gold ones are twenty-four. W: I'll take the silver ones, then; or, on second thought, give me the gold ones. I have a gold necklace that would look very nice with them. Q: What might the woman decide to buy? 8. M: I heard your boss was really upset when he read your letter of resignation. W: Understandably. I told him what I really thought about his inept administration and his stupid decisions. Q: What did the woman mean? Now you'll hear two long conversations. Conversation One W: Good evening. Are you ready to order, or do you need a little more time? M: Yes, I'm ready to order. W: Did you notice on our menu that we have two seafood specials tonight. One is poached salmon and the other is grilled shark. M: That sounds really good, but I think I'm going to start with the shrimp cocktail appetizer. And as for my entree, I think I'll have the New York steak. W: And how would you like that steak? M: I’d like that welt-done. I don't like it when the meat is even a little pink. W: I’ll make sure the chef prepares it just the way you like it. The New York steak comes with mashed potatoes, a baked potato, or steak fries. M: I’ll take the baked potato. W: Would you like sour cream and chives on that? M: I’ll have sour cream. W: Your meal also includes a choice of soup or salad. M: What is the soup today? W: Clam chowder or chicken vegetable. M: I think I’ll have the salad instead. W: What kind of dressing would you like? M: Blue cheese. 9. Where does the conversation most probably take place? 10. how would the man like the steak he ordered? 11. Which of the following was not ordered by the man? Conversation Two W: Did you hear Lars lost his job? M: Really? He has been working for that advertising agency for almost five years. He was such a dedicated employee — I can't believe he was fired! W: He wasn't fired; he was laid off. Terra Advertising was bought out by some Internet marketing firm from the East Coast. M: That's terrible! Why didn't the new company keep him? I'm sure they could use someone with his skills. W: Lars said the new company needs to downsize. M: Why? W: They need to reduce the number of employees they have if they want to remain competitive. M: Why did they get rid of Lars? He's great at what he does. W: They hired a specialist to come in and help streamline the company. Lars is creative and much respected in the advertising industry, but his skills have become outdated. He can’t use a computer and he doesn’t know anything about the Internet. He is no help to an Internet marketing firm. M: He needs to go back to school and retrain. The career center downtown offers free classes to people who need to update their skills and training. W: Why don't you suggest that to him? 12. What happened to Lars? 13. Why did the Internet marketing firm need to downsize? 14. Why did the company get rid of Lars? 15. What's the man's suggestion to Lars? Section B Passage One Language experts say that spoken English was almost the same in the American colonies and Britain. Americans began to change the sound of their speech after the Revolutionary War in 1776. They wanted to separate themselves from the British in language as they had separated themselves from the British government. Some American leaders proposed major changes in the language. Benjamin Franklin wanted a new system of spelling. His reforms were rejected. But his ideas influenced others. One was Noah Webster. Webster wrote language books for schools. He thought Americans should learn from American books. He published his first spelling book in 1783. Webster published The American Dictionary of the English in 1828. It established rules for speaking and spelling the words used in American English. Language Webster believed that British English spelling rules were too complex. So he worked to establish an American version of the English language. For example, he spelled the word "center: c-e-n-t-e-r" instead of the British spelling "c-e-n-t-r-e". He spelled the word "humor: h-u-m-o-r" instead of "h-u-m-o-u-r" as it is spelled in Britain. Noah Webster said every part of a word should be spoken. That is why Americans say "fac-to -ry" instead of "fac-try" as the British do. Webster's rules for saying every part of a word made American English easier for immigrants to learn. For example, they learned to say "waist-coat" the way it is spelled instead of the British "wes-kit". The different languages of the immigrants who came to the United States also helped make American English different from British English. Many foreign words and expressions became part of English as Americans speak it. 16. Why did the Americans change the sound of their speech? 17. When did The American Dictionary of the English Language publisher 18. What can we learn from the passage? Passage Two Computer people talk a lot about the need for other people to become "computer-literate", m other words, to learn to understand computers and what makes them tick. Not all experts agree, however, that is a good idea. One pioneer, in particular, who disagrees, is David Tebbutt, the founder of Computertown U.K.. Although many people see this as a successful attempt to bring people closer to the computer, David does not see it that way. He says that Computertown U.K. was formed for just the opposite reason — to bring computers to the people and make them "people-literate". David first got the idea when he visited one of America's best-known computer "guru" figures. Bob Albrecht, in the small university town of Palo Alto in Northern California, had started a project called Computertown U.S.A. in the local library, and the local children used to call round every Wednesday to borrow some time on the computers there, instead of borrowing library books. Albrecht was always on hand to answer any question and to help the children discover computers in their own way. Over here, in Britain, Computertowns have taken off in a big way, and there are now about 40 scattered over the country. David Tebbutt thinks they are most successful when tied to a computer club. He insists there is a vast and important difference between the two, although they complement each other. The clubs cater for the enthusiasts, with some computer knowledge already, who get together and eventually form an expert computer group. This frightens away non-experts, who are happier going to Computertowns where there are computers available for them to experiment on, with experts available to encourage them and answer any question; they are not told what to do, they find out. 19. What's the purpose of establishing Computertown U.K. according to the passage? 20. What is the Computertown U.S.A. according to the passage? 21. What does the speaker say about computertowns and computer clubs? | Passage Three Farmers are the biggest users of freshwater resources. The Food and Agriculture Organization says agriculture uses 70 percent of all surface water supplies. That is the world average. Without the right measures, agriculture can be a major cause of water pollution. But solutions do not have to cost much. There are simple methods for farms of any size to reduce or prevent pollution of water supplies. We are going to talk about a few of them. The first deals with fertilizers and poisons. One way such chemicals can enter the environment is when they are not stored correctly. Stored chemicals can slowly leak into the soil and get into groundwater. To help avoid such problems, chemicals should be kept in structures with a floor made of cement. Farm animals can also pollute water supplies. Animals like cattle, pigs, sheep and goats are often left to feed on grass in open fields bordered by streams or rivers. Large animals loosen dirt and rocks as they walk along waterways to drink. Animal waste also enters water supplies. Experts say it is important to keep large farm animals away from water supplies with the use of a fence or barrier. Instead of leading animals to water, bring the water to them. It does not have to be transported long distances. Farmers can send water through pipes to a watering area for their animals with a pump powered by electricity or fuel. Human- powered treadle pump is another solution. These methods will not solve all water quality problems. But they are good first steps. 22. Which of the following are the biggest users of freshwater resources? 23. How can fertilizers pollute water supplies according to the passage? 24. How do you prevent large farm animals from polluting water according to the experts? 25. What does the passage mainly talk about? Section C Researchers have found more evidence that suggests a relationship between race and rates of lung cancer among smokers. Some (26) comparisons have shown that blacks are more likely than whites to get lung cancer from smoking. Researchers at the University of Southern California and the University of Hawaii did the new study. The New England (27) Journal of Medicine (28)published the findings. The eight-year study (29) involved more than 180,000 people. They provided (30) details about their tobacco use and their diet as well as other information. They included (31) current and former smokers and people who never smoked. Almost 2,000 people in the study developed lung cancer. Researchers say (32) genetics might help explain the racial and ethnic differences. There could be differences in how people's bodies react to smoke. But (33) environmental influences, including the way people smoke, could also make a difference. African-Americans and Latinos in the study reported smoking the fewest cigarettes per day. Whites were the heaviest smokers. (34) But the scientists note that blacks have been reported to breathe cigarette smoke more deeply than white smokers. This could fill their lungs with more of the chemicals in tobacco that cause cancer. (35) Many researchers disagree not only about the effect of race On the risk of disease, but even about the meaning of race. Yet scientists know that some diseases effect different groups differently. And some drug companies have begun to develop racially targeted medicines. (36)Last June, the United States Food and Drug Administration approved a drug designed to treat heart failure in black patients. The name is BiDil. The agency called it “a step toward the promise of personalized medicine.” Unit 3 1. W: If I have several kinds of accounts, Mr. Brown. The best interest rate is for the customer club account, but you must maintain a monthly balance of $300. M: That will be fine. Q: Where did this conversation most probably take place? 2. M: That must have been quite an experience. W: You’re right! It’s lucky my daughter was still awake, studying. Her screaming woke up all up. The house was already in flames by them. Q: What is the woman talking about? 3. W: Hi, Bob. This is Marcia speaking from the agency. Can you go on an interview tomorrow? I have a law office that's very interested in you. M: No, I’m sorry, Marcia, but I've planned to be at school all day tomorrow. How would Wednesday suit you? Q: What is Marcia's job? 4. M: You still have a social science requirement to fulfill, Jean. You can take history, psychology, anthropology, or sociology. Which do you think you like? W: Well, I've always been fascinated by the conscious and unconscious reasons people have for acting as they do, and I'd like to learn more about how memory works. Q: Which course will the woman probably enroll in? 5. M: Mrs. Green, I need your advice. I want to buy a dress for my wife. Can you tell me where I can get one at a reasonable price? W: Sure. Go to Mr. Howard's boutique. He has beautiful styles and gives a 10% discount to husbands and boyfriends who shop alone. Q: What did the man wish to do? 6. M: The problem is that I don't get paid until tomorrow, hut I must register for Dr. Johnson's class. Could you hold a place for me until tomorrow? W: I’m sure you know that we arc not permitted to reserve spaces in a class without full payment or a note from the professor. You'll have to wait and take your chances. Q: What did the woman mean? 7. M: Ms. Smith, I told Dr. Brown that 1 would call him in the Houston office at ten o'clock their time. Please find out the time difference for me so that I'll know when to place the call. W: It’s two hours earlier in Houston, sir. I know without looking it up because my sister lives there. Q: When should the man place his call to Houston? 8. M: I'm going to the museum Sunday morning. There's a new exhibit of Indian art from Arizona and New Mexico. Want go with me? W: I'd love to, but my best friend is getting married on Sunday and I wouldn’t miss it for anything. Q: Where is the woman going on Sunday morning? Now you'll hear two long conversations. Conversation One M: Hey! What are you looking at, Barbara? W: I'm taking a class called 21st Century Advertising. The teacher wants us to study different web sites to team about web page design. M: That sounds like a great class for people who are studying business. W: It is. The Internet is the future of business. And the World Wide Web is going to be the storefront of the new century. To be competitive, businesses have to adapt their current advertising techniques. However, creating a good web site is much more difficult than most people think. M: Have you discovered anything interesting which you consider to be well designed? W: Yeah, this site is fantastic. Take a look. It's very artistic and the technical layout is convenient and very logical. It also looks good in different browsers. I have already viewed it in Microsoft Explorer and Netscape Navigator. The format is also fantastic; the size and shape of the text is perfect. I'm going to borrow some of their techniques when I design my own web page for class. M: Borrowing ideas is OK, but you have to remember that the content of all web pages is legally protected. W: I know. Our professor taught us about intellectual rights. He told us that copyright infringement is a real concern for people who publish on the web. M: That picture says "continue on". Why don't you click there so we can see the next page? W: OK 9. According to the conversation, what's the woman's major? 10. How does the woman feel about the web site she introduces to the man? 11. What will the speakers probably do after the conversation? Conversation Two M: Tina, I'm trying to fill out this job application form and they want to know about my educational history. It's a little confusing because I don't understand the terminology they are using. They arc using words such as college, junior college, major, minor, B.A., B.S., Masters and Ph.D. I have heard these words, but I don't really understand the system. W: In America, all students basically study the same thing until they reach high school. After high school, students have the choice to start working or go to college. M: What is the difference between a college and a university? W: In the U.S., there isn't a big difference between the two. Colleges tend to be smaller schools and universities are usually larger schools with more facilities. M: What are Junior colleges? W: Colleges and universities in the United States are extremely expensive. Even colleges which are funded by the government can cost thousands of dollars a year. Most states have created junior colleges, which are inexpensive schools where students can complete the first two years of their education. Afterwards, students can transfer to a normal college or university. M: How long do students usually study to get their degree? W: Usually, it takes four years to get a B.S. or a B.A, American students Try to complete their studies as soon as possible because each additional year can cost a lot of money. M: What do B.S. and B.A. stand for? W: B.S. means "Bachelor of Science" and B.A. means "Bachelor of Arts". 12. Why is the man confused? 13. Which is true about colleges and universities according to the conversation? 14. What can we know about Junior colleges from the conversation? 15. How long do students usually need to get the degree of B.A.? Section B Passage One Scientists in Canada say big ocean fish have almost disappeared from the world since the start of industrial fishing in the 1950s. The scientists, found that populations of large fish like tuna, swordfish and cod have dropped by 90 percent in the past fifty years. The study took 10 years. The researchers gathered records from fishing businesses and governments around the world. The magazine Nature published the findings. The scientists say the common method called longline fishing is especially damaging to populations of large fish. This method involves many fishing lines connected to one boat. These wires can be close to 100 kilometers long. They hold thousands of sharp metal hooks to catch fish. Longline fishing is especially common in the Japanese fishing industry. Records showed that Japanese boats used to catch about 10 fish for every 100 hooks. The study says longline fishing boats now might catch one fish per hundred hooks. Modern methods also include the use of satellites and underwater radar to find fish. The scientists say industrial fishing can destroy groups offish much faster than in the past. The study suggests that whole populations can disappear almost completely from new fishing areas within 10 to 15 years. Ransom Myers of Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia led the study with Boris Worm of Dalhousie and the University of Kiel in Germany. Mr. Worm says the destruction could lead to a complete re-organization of ocean life systems. Mr. Meyers says the decreased numbers of large fish is not the only worry. He says even populations that are able to reproduce do not get the chance to live long enough to grow as big as their ancestors. He says not only arc there fewer big fish, they are smaller than those of the past. 16. Which of the following large fish is not mentioned whose populations have dropped by ninety percent? 17. What is the disadvantage of longline fishing according to the passage? 18. According to the passage, what's the possible influence of industrial fishing? Passage Two Everyone has heard of a heart attack. But what about “brain attack"? Some medical experts say that is one way to think of a stroke. On December 18th, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suffered a minor stroke. Then, last Wednesday, the 77-year-old leader had a severe stroke with bleeding in the brain. There are two major kinds of strokes. The more common is an ischemic stroke. A blood clot blocks or restricts the flow of blood to the brain. Brain cells begin to die. About 90 percent of strokes are the ischemic kind. Hemorrhagic strokes are more serious. A blood vessel in the brain bursts. There is bleeding into or around the brain. Mr. Sharon had to have operations to stop the bleeding. Doctors also took another step to ease the pressure on his brain. They gave him drugs to create what is known as a medically induced coma. Then, on Monday, they began to wake him. Doctors reported signs of improvement in his condition. But it was too soon to measure possible brain damage. Each side of the brain controls the opposite side of the body. In most people, the left side of the brain controls speech and language. Experts say a stroke on the right side, like Mr. Sharon had, often causes some loss of movement. Overweight people are at greater risk of a stroke. Other risk factors include high blood pressure, smoking, diabetes and high cholesterol levels in the blood. 19. What's a "brain attack" according to the passage? 20. What kind of stroke did Sharon have when he had to have operations to stop the bleeding? 21. If a person has a stroke on the left side of the brain, what will happen? Passage Three About 500,000 students look the SAT college-admissions test last October. The College Board, which owns the test, says about 5,QQO of them received wrong scores. The problem became known after 2 students questioned their scores. They asked to have their tests scored again, this time by hand instead of by computer. Future investigation led to more and more wrongly scored tests. Most of the scores were too low. College Board spokesman Brian 0'Reilly says only four students gained 300 points or more. He says most gained 90 points or less. A perfect SAT score is 2,400 points. The College Board is not telling students or colleges about scores that were too high. Mr. O'Reilly says students should not be punished for something out of their control He says the scores were no more than 50 points too high. He tells us correcting them would not have affected college acceptance decisions. The tests went to a processing center in Texas. Pearson Educational Measurement has scored the SAT for the College Board since March of last year. The company took the place of E.T.S., the Educational Testing Service. The College Board says humidity in the air caused the paper to expand and change the position of the answers. It says the problem affected tests with light or incomplete answer marks. Mr. O'Reilly says Pearson has already corrected the problem. He says the company has improved its computer systems and will now scan all answers two times. The College Board has asked schools to reconsider any students they rejected before their SAT scores were increased. Higher education officials say acceptance decisions are based only partly on test scores, but higher scores can mean more financial aid. 22. How did the problem that five thousand students received wrong scores become known? 23. Which of the following is Mr. O'Reilly's opinion? 24. Why did 5 thousand students receive wrong scores according to the College Board? 25. What can be concluded from the passage? Section C Businesses are structured in different ways to meet different needs. The (26)simplest form of business Is called an individual proprietorship. The proprietor owns all the property of the business and is responsible for everything. This means the proprietor receive all the profits —but must also pay any debts. The law recognizes no difference between the owner and the business. Another kind of business is the partnership. Two or more people go into business together. An (27)agreement is usually needed .s decide how much of the partnership each person controls. There are limited (28)liability partnerships, which include full partners and limited partners. Limited partners may not share as much in the profits. But they also do not have as many responsibilities. Doctors, lawyers and (29) accountants often form partnerships to share the profits and risks of doing business. A husband and wife can form a business partnership. Partnerships can end at any time. But partnerships and individual proprietorships exist only as Sony as the owners arc alive. The most (30)complex kind of business organization is the corporation. Corporations arc designed to have an unlimited lifetime. Corporations can sell stock to (31)raise money. Stock (32)represents shares of ownership. Investors who buy stuck can trade their shares or keep them as long as the company is in business. A company might use some of its earnings to pay shareholders what are called (33 )divident. Or the company might reinvest the money into the business. If shares lose value, investors can lose a31 the money they paid for their stock. But shareholders are not responsible for the debts of the corporation, (34)A corporation is recognized as an entity —— its own legal being, separate from its owners. A board of directors controls corporate policies. (35)The directors appoint top company officers. The directors might or might not hold shares in the corporation. Corporations can have a few major shareholders. Or ownership can be spread among the general public. Incorporating offers businesses a way to gain the investments they need to grow. (36)But not all corporations are traditional businesses that sell stock. There are non-profit groups that are also organized as corporations. Unit 4 Section A 1. M: Did you know that the hot dog did not originate in the United States, but in Germany? W: yes, and they even have something similar to it in Finland. It’s made out of reindeer meat. Q: Which of the following is not true according to the conversation? 2. W: How do you find your new apartment? M: Well, it's quite nice really, although I'm having a hard time getting used to such a big building. Q: What is the man's problem? 3. W: Do you plan on flying to the ski resort, Andrew? M: Yes. It costs a lot but the trains and the buses don't run the day I’m going. So I'm going to have no choice. Q: How would Andrew go to the ski resort? 4. W: Have you ever put one of these together before? M: No, never. But I think if" we carry out these instructions exactly, we won’t have any trouble. Q: What will the man do? 5. M: I asked at the bookstore about the book you mentioned “The New African Art”. But I couldn’t find it. W: Oh, but the title is "Africa's New Heart". We had just been talking about African painters so I'm not surprised you got the title wrong. Q: What's the correct title for the book? 6. M: How many literature courses have you taken at the university? W: I've had only one course each in American and British Literature. I wish I had had more, especially in other languages. Q: What are the speakers discussing? 7. W: Maybe we should take Front Street this morning. The radio announcer said that traffic was very heavy on the freeway. M: Well, if he says to take Front Street we should go the other way! Q: What is the man's opinion of the radio announcer? 8. W: Professor Higgins helps me so much that I'm thinking of buying him a book of poetry. M: I think you should get him a record. Although he doesn't mean all he does is reading. Q: What does the man mean? Now you'll hear two long conversations. Conversation One M: Did you meet that guy, Richard, at the party last night? W: Oh, my God, he was so egotistical. Be kept talking about how intelligent he is and how much money he makes. He even said he was talking about becoming a professional model —— like that's ever going to happen! M: And Brad, the artist from New York. He was rather eccentric! He told me he sculpts and paints nothing but frogs. He even said he wanted to introduce a new line of frog jewelry. That's a little odd. W: He wasn't strange at all. I thought he was very imaginative. You have to be really creative to become such a successful artist. He was also incredibly sensitive —— he almost started crying as he told me about his art. By the way, look at the ring he gave me. M: He gave you a frog ring? That's the ugliest thing I've ever seen! W: It is not! I think it's really sophisticated. He said his jewelry is the latest trend among the New York elite. Wasn't that thoughtful of him to give me one of his creations? M: Not really. I think he just wanted some free advertising. W: My God, you are so cynical! Wasn't there anybody you liked at the party? M: Yeah, Bill was really nice. He was the only sensible, clear-thinking person I met there. W: Oh, the waitress is coming. Have you decided what to order? M: I'm not sure what I want to order. I don't know what I want. W: You are so picky. Nothing is ever good enough for you. M: That's not true! I'm just a little indecisive. W: Well, you need to decide soon so we can order. 9. According to the conversation, what is Brad? 10. What does the man say about Bill? 11. Where does the conversation most probably take place? Conversation Two M: So where are you going to be this summer? W: I got a part-time job at the gallery in New York. And I have been taking a joining class at night. M: That’s great. You can learn a lot working; in an art gallery, and there's no place like New York for inspiring artists. I lived there myself when I was first at the college. W: I know how lucky I am to have this job, but to tell you the truth, I have my heart set on going out west this summer. M: West? You mean California? W: No, the southwest, the desert and everything. M: Why the desert? W: You know, George Oki is my favorite artist, and she did such good work out there. M: That's true, but Oki didn't start out in the southwest, you know. She lived in New York for years, and she did some very impressive painting there. W: I guess you mean skyscraper series. It's fanny I never really thought about where she paint them before. M: It was New York. She got a lot of when living there. She didn't always enjoy it, but later on she said being around so many artists there help to develop her on artistic vision. W: That's a new way to look at the city. Now I have to find an affordable place to live in. 12. What are the speakers mainly talking about? 13. How does the man feel about the woman's part-time Job? 14. Why does the woman want to go to the southwest? 15. Where will the woman probably spend her summer vacation? Section B Passage One Stocks, bonds, land —— people invest in different things and for different reasons. But all investors share the same goal. They want to get more money out of their investment than they put into it. So investors have to decide how much risk they are willing to take and for how long. One choice for people who want a low-risk investment is the money market. Usually individuals do this through money market mutual funds. Mutual funds are investment pools. They gather the money of many investors. Money market mutual funds earn interest from short-term loans to government and businesses. But the return to investors is low because little risk is involved. Notes and bonds are loans, too. They have terms from 2 to 30 years. The longer the term of a loan, the greater the risk that the investment will not be repaid. So notes and bonds usually pay higher interest rates than short-term bills or commercial paper. Millions of people invest in bonds and other debt-based products. This is true especially as people get older and want to reduce the level of risk in their investments. But over lime, debt-based investments have traditionally provided lower returns than stocks. Stock is a share of ownership in a business. Common stock gives investors a vote on company issues and leadership. It might also pay a small percentage of its value, a dividend, one or more times a year. Not all stocks pay dividends. Some are valued more for their growth. Technology stocks, for example, rarely pay dividends. 16. Why is the return of the money market mutual funds to investors relatively low? 17. Why do millions of people invest in debt-based products? 18. What can we learn about stocks from the passage? Passage Two The Forest Service is responsible for the forests on public lands in the United States. It supervises almost 78 million hectares of forests, grasslands, rivers and lakes. It is an agency of the Department of Agriculture. Forest Service officials say there are 4 major threats to forests and wild lands in America. The first is the threat of fire and fuel. This year, forest fires have burned more than 3 million hectares of land. That is almost 2 times as much as the ten-year average. Fires are a natural part of forest growth, but they can also threaten lives and property. Fuel is dead plant material and small plants that grow under tall trees. As much as 49 metric tons of fuel can build up on every hectare of forest floor. The Forest Service estimates that up to one-fourth of the forests it supervises have dangerous levels of fuel. Sometimes foresters set controlled fires to remove the fuel. Other times the fuel must be cleared by hand. Another threat to forests is from invasive species. These are non-native plants and animals that push out native kinds. They can cause a lot of economic damage. Some invaders are insects like the Asian longhorn beetle. Some diseases like white pine blister rust. Others are plants like the fast-growing kudzu vine. The agency says another threat to the health of wild lands is the loss of open space. It says over 1 hectare of forest or grassland is lost to development every minute. 19. What's the ten-year average of land burned by forest fires according to the passage? 20. How do foresters remove the fuel in the forests according to the passage? 21. Which of the following are NOT mentioned as invaders according to the age? Passage Three Foundations support everything from A to Z —— from the arts to zoos. They give away money in the form of grants or provide free services. Governments generally do not tax these organizations. Wealthy individuals establish most foundations. But companies and communities can also form them. In the United States, the Foundation Center estimates that foundations gave away almost 34,000 million dollars last year. The Giving U.S.A. Foundation says that was about 12 percent of all charitable giving by Americans. Foundations are required to provide the federal tax agency with information on their financial activities. There are groups, like the Foundation Center in New York, that also keep records on foundations. The center, in its most recent report, says the nation had almost 68,000 grant-making foundations in 2004. That year, about 1,300 new foundations were formed. The increase was small compared to the year 2000, when more than 6,000 new foundations appeared. The Foundation Center divides private foundations into three groups. Independent foundations are set up by individuals or families. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is an example. There are more than 60,000 independent foundations in the United States, far more than any other kind. Corporate foundations receive money from the companies that created them, but are legally separate. The third kind, operating foundations use their money to provide programs and services. So they generally do not give away grants. There also are public foundations, or "grant-making public charities". The New York Community Trust is the largest example. Public foundations depend on money from large numbers of individuals and groups. They may also invest in stocks and earn money from selling gifts of property. 22. What should foundations do in the U.S. according to Ac passage? 23. How many new foundations were fanned in 2000? 24. What is the New York Community Trust? Section C RealNetworks was one of the pioneers in Internet audio. It was the first one (26)popularize streaming audio over the web. So you might suppose that the latest (27)version of its media player, RealPlayer 10, has all (28)inclusive audio capabilities. The player supports (29) practically any audio file type you can think of, including MP3, WAV and WMA, and copying these files from your PC's hard drive into the player is as simple as clicking a couple of buttons. Once you finish, you can instruct the player to watch for new clips arriving on your hard drive and (30)automatically import them into the library. The player plays other audio clips, as well. Play audio CDs or sync up your iPod or other (31)portable media player to hear those songs. Listen to a variety rock, (32) claasical, blues, and news radio stations from within the player. The high-quality and near-universal playback (33) extends to video as well. Playback is crisp and clear, and the player can read QuickTime, MPEG. and DVD flies among others. (34)The software is all wrapped in an interface that makes it relatively easy to find what you want. We were slightly confused when we first tested the software until we realized that the full player is composed of two windows, one called RealPlayer and the other called Media Browser, (35)but once we understood how the two work together, it was easy to organize files, listen to music, and watch DVDs and other video. And if you don't like the appearance of the default interface, simply change it by downloading any of the hundreds of skins. (36)If you’re willing to spend a little money on your media player, you might want to take advantage of RealPlayer’s services. Upgrade to RealPlayer Plus for features such as advanced video controls.