作者：5xue

2018年12月英语四级第2套听力原文及题目

Section A
Direction: 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.

News Report 1
Rescue crews pulled a man to safety after a collapse at a construction site in Brooklyn on Tuesday. The incident happened on the 400 block of Rutland Road just after 12:30 p.m. The Fire Department of New York says the vacant 100-year-old building being pulled down partially collapsed. A man described as a “non-worker civilian” was buried up to his waist in the basement. The man was collecting building materials when the first floor collapsed underneath him. He was trapped under a beam about 10 feet below the surface for nearly an hour and a half. The man was then taken to hospital. Officials said he is in stable condition with non-life threatening injuries. The building was reportedly purchased by a neighboring church in 2011. It was the site of a 2006 fire and has remained vacant ever since.
Questions 1 and 2 are based on the news report you have just heard.
Question 1: What happened at a construction site in Brooklyn on Tuesday?
Question 2: What does the report say about the “non-worker civilian”?
Questions 1 and 2 are based on the news report you have just heard.

1.
A) A man was pulled to safety after a building collapse.
B) A beam about ten feet long collapsed to the ground.
C) A rescue worker got trapped in the basement.
D) A deserted 100-year-old building caught fire.

2.
A) He suffered a fatal injury in an accident.
B) He once served in a fire department.
C) He was collecting building materials.
D) He moved into his neighbor’s old house.

News Report 2
Millions of people are struggling to understand their paychecks or calculate money in shops, campaigners have said. Being bad at maths should no longer be seen as a “badge of honor” or down to genetics, according to National Numeracy, a new organization which aims to challenge the nation’s negative view of the subject. Chris Humphries, chairman of the group, said that poor maths skills can affect an individual’s life, leaving them at a higher risk of being excluded from school or out of work. “Figures from a government survey, published last year, show that 17 million adults in England have basic maths skills that are, at best, the same as an 11-year-old,” he said. Speaking at the lounge of National Numeracy, Mr. Humphries said, “That’s a scary figure, because what it means is they often can’t calculate or give change.” Mike Ellicock, chief executive of National Numeracy, said: “We want to challenge this ‘I can’t do maths’ attitude that is prevalent in the UK,” adding that it was vital that all primary school teachers understand key maths concepts, as young children who fail to learn the basics will suffer later on.
Questions 3 and 4 are based on the news report you have just heard.
Question 3: What does the organization National Numeracy aim to do?
Question 4: What is vital according to the chief executive of National Numeracy?

3.
A) Improve the maths skills of high school teachers.
B) Change British people’s negative view of maths.
C) Help British people understand their paychecks.
D) Launch a campaign to promote maths teaching.

4.
A) Children take maths courses at an earlier age.
B) The public sees the value of maths in their life.
C) British people know how to do elementary calculations.
D) Primary school teachers understand basic maths concepts.

News Report 3
The Dutch king has revealed that for more than two decades, he has held down a part-time second job alongside his royal duties. King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands said that he recently ended his role as a regular “guest pilot” after 21 years with the national airline’s fleet of now-outdated aircraft. As a guest flier, the king worked about twice a month, always as co-pilot. He will now retrain to fly the bigger Boeing 737s as the old planes are being phased out of service. The 50-year-old father of three and king to 17 million Dutch citizens calls flying a “hobby”. It lets him leave his royal duties on the ground and fully focus on something else. “You have an aircraft, passengers and crew. You have responsibility for them,” the king said. “You can’t take your problems from the ground into the skies. You can completely change focus and concentrate on something else. That, for me, is the most relaxing part of flying.” Willem-Alexander said he is rarely recognised by passengers. Very few people pay attention to him as he walks through the airport in his airline uniform and cap.
Questions 5 to 7 are based on the news report you have just heard.
Question 5: What does the report say about the Dutch king?
Question 6: Why does the king say he likes flying?
Question 7: What does the king say about passengers at the airport?

5.
A) He owns a fleet of aircraft.
B) He is learning to be a pilot.
C) He regards his royal duties as a burden.
D) He held a part-time job for over 20 years.

6.
A) He can demonstrate his superior piloting skills.
B) He can change his focus of attention and relax.
C) He can show his difference from other royalty.
D) He can come into closer contact with his people.

7.
A) They enjoyed his company.
B) They liked him in his uniform.
C) They rarely recognised him.
D) They were surprised to see him.

Section B
Direction: 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.

Conversation 1
M: Morning, Miss Semenov. Welcome to our studio.
W: Thanks. My pleasure.
M: OK then. Let me start by asking you how old your company is.
W: My grandparents started the company in 1955.
M: Why did they decide to open a furniture plant in Bucharest?
W: At that time there was a construction boom. There was a great need for furniture and my grandparents saw a business opportunity. Their aim was to provide quality yet affordable wooden furniture. And this goal has never changed.
M: Do you still only work with wood?
W: That’s right. It’s what we know and what we do best. If we started trying different materials, our quality would probably suffer.
M: And all the wood is local?
W: Correct. A hundred percent of our raw material comes from Romania.
M: Could you please outline how the company has grown over time? What have been the main challenges and opportunities that you have faced?
W: Well, back in the 50s and 60s, Romania was a lot poorer than it is today. My grandfather and father did not have much capital, and our customers didn’t have much money either. So that limited growth. The big change was in 2007 when Romania joined the European Union. Suddenly, our market exploded in size and we could now sell our products all across the continent. There was also more financial investment. And, as a result, we went from having 20 employees to 200.
M: Which countries are your biggest market?
W: Besides Romania, our biggest market is Germany. There is strong demand there for our traditional style of furniture.
Questions 8 to 11 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
Question 8: Why did Semenov’s grandparents start a furniture plant in Bucharest?
Question 9: What was Semenov’s grandfather trying to do?
Question 10: What does Semenov say about her company’s raw materials?
Question 11: Where does Semenov’s company sell their products?

8.
A) They were skilled carpenters themselves.
B) It didn’t need much capital to start with.
C) Wood supply was plentiful in Romania.
D) They saw a business opportunity there.

9.
A) Provide quality furniture at affordable prices.
B) Attract foreign investment to expand business.
C) Enlarge their company by hiring more workers.
D) Open some more branch companies in Germany.

10.
A) They are from her hometown.
B) They are imported from Germany.
C) They all come from Romania.
D) They come from all over the continent.

11.
A) All across Europe.
B) Throughout the world.
C) Mostly in Bucharest.
D) In Romania only.

Conversation 2
M: Have you heard about the new restaurant, the Pearl? Susan and I are going to try it out this weekend. We have a reservation on Saturday at 7 o’clock. I can call to add two more to the table if you’d like.
W: That sounds great We’d love to join you. You always seem to know the best places to go. Where do you hear about these things?
M: I have a habit of reading 614 Magazine. It has all the information on local events within the 614 column code area.
W: That was a clever name for the magazine then. Does it only focus on new restaurant openings?
M: They have other information too. Things like concerts, festivals and small shops. I think the restaurant information and reviews are the most exciting though. Each year they also sponsor a local event called Restaurant Week.
W: Restaurant Week? What’s that?
M: Oh, it’s wonderful. All the stylish restaurants participate. They have special set menus for the week, usually in spring, at a number of different price points. Susan and I go to at least three different places during the event. It’s a great opportunity to try some of the more expensive restaurants at a discounted price and try something new. That’s how we found the Pearl, actually.
W: Wow, that’s an event I would be interested in. When will it be happening this year?
M: You are in luck. Restaurant Week starts in just a few days, the first Sunday in May. Let’s make sure they set a double date during the event. Just let me know what type of food you would like to try.
W: Okay, I will.
Questions 12 to 15 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
Question 12: What does the man invite the woman to do this weekend?
Question 13: What does the man say about 614 Magazine?
Question 14: What does the man usually do with Susan during Restaurant Week?
Question 15: Why does the man say the woman is in luck?

12.
A) Go to a concert with him and his girlfriend.
B) Try out a new restaurant together in town.
C) Go with him to choose a pearl for Susan.
D) Attend the opening of a local restaurant.

13.
A) It is sponsored by local restaurants.
B) It specializes in food advertizing.
C) It is especially popular with the young.
D) It provides information on local events.

14.
A) They design a special set of menus for themselves.
B) They treat themselves to various entertainments.
C) They go to eat at different stylish restaurants.
D) They participate in a variety of social events.

15.
A) More restaurants will join Restaurant Week.
B) This year’s Restaurant Week will start soon.
C) Bigger discounts will be offered this Restaurant Week.
D) More types of food will be served this Restaurant Week.

Section C
Direction: In this section, you will hear three passages. At the end of each passage, you will hear three or four 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
All parents know it is difficult to get children to eat their vegetables. Some of them offer rewards or treats for children finishing their share. But researchers have discovered that youngsters who are not praised for trying vegetables are more likely to eat them eventually. The study found that the best way to get children to eat food they do not like is simply to give them repeated exposure to it. Psychologists from Ghent University in Belgium studied 98 children. They gave them five kinds of vegetables to eat-mushrooms, peas, eggplants, carrots and cabbages. The taste tests revealed that carrots were the least-liked vegetable among youngsters. The children were then given a bowl of boiled carrots and told to choose how much to eat. After 8 minutes, they were asked to rate the dish as “delicious,” “just OK” or “disgusting.” The trial went on twice a week for a month, with a follow-up taste test after 8 weeks. Children were split into three groups, with one group asked to try the bowl of carrots repeatedly with no further encouragement. The other two groups were given rewards of a toy or verbal praise. After the trial, 81% of children who simply tried the carrots consistently liked them. This is in contrast to 68% for the group given a toy and 75% for the group given verbal praise.
Questions 16 to 18 are based on the passage you have just heard.
Question 16: What is the best way to get children to eat vegetables according to a recent study?
Question 17: What did the researchers find about carrots?
Question 18: What does the result of this research show?

16.
A) Rewarding them for eating vegetables.
B) Exposing them to vegetables repeatedly.
C) Improving the taste of vegetable dishes for them.
D) Explaining the benefits of eating vegetables to them.

17.
A) They were disliked most by children.
B) They were considered most nutritious.
C) They were least used in Belgian cooking.
D) They were essential to children’s health.

18.
A) Vegetables differ in their nutritional value.
B) Children’s eating habits can be changed.
C) Parents watch closely what children eat.
D) Children’s choices of food vary greatly.

Passage 2
One thing about the moon many people don’t know is that it has a lot of garbage on its surface, leftover from human space exploration. But how much garbage exactly have humans left on the moon? It’s hard to be accurate, but the trash likely weighs more than 181,000 kilograms on Earth. Much of it was left by American astronauts who landed on the lunar surface between 1969 and 1972 during NASA’s Apollo missions. The other rubbish comes from missions that did not have human crews. These missions were conducted by various space exploring agencies, including those from the US, Russia, Japan, India, and Europe. Many of the older pieces are equipment sent to learn about the moon. The equipment stayed there after its missions ended. The moon is also home to lunar orbiters that mapped the moon before they crashed into its surface, adding to the garbage heap. The objects left by the Apollo astronauts included equipment that was no longer needed. Bringing back unneeded equipment would have used up precious resources such as fuel. But, as the saying goes, one person’s trash is another’s treasure. Researchers can study the garbage left on the moon to see how its materials weathered the radiation and vacuum of space over time. Moreover, some of the objects on the moon are still being used, including a laser-range reflector left by the Apollo 11 crew.
Questions 19 to 21 are based on the passage you have just heard.
Question 19: What does the passage say may be unknown to many people?
Question 20: Why has a lot of equipment been left on the moon?
Question 21: What can researchers do with the garbage on the moon?

19.
A) Space exploration has serious consequences.
B) India has many space exploration programs.
C) There is quite a lot to learn about the moon.
D) A lot of garbage has been left on the moon.

20.
A) It is costly to bring back.
B) It is risky to destroy.
C) It is of no use on Earth.
D) It is damaged by radiation.

21.
A) Record details of space exploration.
B) Monitor the change of lunar weather.
C) Study the effect of radiation and vacuum on its materials.
D) Explore the possibility of human settlement on the moon.

Passage 3
In my line of work, I receive a lot of emails. I also send a lot of emails. Though social media and messaging apps have taken over some of the roles from email as a form of communication, email is likely to retain an important role for business communication in the future. Surprisingly, though, a lot of companies and organizations lack formal guidelines for emailing. As most of you will soon be entering the workforce, I would like to share with you my own rules for emailing. If someone sends you an email, reply to them acknowledging the email. A simple “thank you” let the sender know that their email has arrived safely, that it has not been lost among what could be 50 other emails that have arrived in your email inbox that day. It’s not necessary to reply to a mass email sent to numerous recipients. These emails are often informative rather than personalized correspondence requiring a response or action. But it’s common politeness to respond to a personal message, preferably within 24 hours of receiving it. It’s also important to use proper English. Just because emails are a quick form of communication, doesn’t mean emails, especially business emails, should be written using informal shortened forms of words. Think of an email as a letter. Spelling, grammar and punctuation should not be overlooked. And never use capitals to emphasize a word or words in an email. It’s the same as yelling.
Questions 22 to 25 are based on the passage you have just heard.
Question 22: What does the passage say about email?
Question 23: What should one do upon receiving a personalized email?
Question 24: What does the passage say about a mass email?
Question 25: What should one do when writing a business email?

22.
A) It is likely to remain a means of business communication.
B) It is likely to be a competitor of various messaging apps.
C) It will gradually be replaced by social media.
D) It will have to be governed by specific rules.

23.
A) Save the message in their file.
B) Make a timely response.
C) Examine the information carefully.
D) See if any action needs to be taken.

24.
A) It is to be passed on.
B) It is mostly junk.
C) It requires no reply.
D) It causes no concern.

25.
A) Make it as short as possible.
B) Use simple and clear language.
C) Adopt an informal style of writing.
D) Avoid using capitals for emphasis.

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2017年06月英语六级第1套听力原文及题目

Section A
Direction: 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 I with a single line through the centre.

Conversation 1
W: Welcome to Workplace. And in today’s program, we’re looking at the results of two recently published surveys, which both deal with the same topic—happiness at work. John, tell us about the first survey.
M: Well, this was done by a human resources consultancy, who interviewed more than 1,000 workers, and established a top ten of the factors, which make people happy at work. The most important factor for the majority of the people interviewed was having friendly, supportive colleagues. In fact, 73% of people interviewed put their relationship with colleagues as the key factor contributing to happiness at work, which is a very high percentage. The second most important factor was having work that is enjoyable. The two least important factors were having one’s achievements recognized, and rather surprisingly, earning a competitive salary.
W: So, we are not mainly motivated by money?
M: Apparently not.
W: Any other interesting information in the survey?
M: Yes. For example, 25% of the working people interviewed described themselves as ‘very happy’ at work. However, 20% of employees described themselves as being unhappy.
W: That’s quite a lot of unhappy people at work every day.
M: It is, isn’t it? And there were several more interesting conclusions revealed by the survey. First of all, small is beautiful: people definitely prefer working for smaller organizations or companies with less than 100 staff. We also find out that, generally speaking, women were happier in their work than men.
W: Yes, we are, aren’t we?
M: And workers on part-time contracts, who only work 4 or 5 hours a day, are happier than those who work full-time. The researchers concluded that this is probably due to a better work-life balance.
W: Are bosses happier than their employees?
M: Yes, perhaps not surprisingly, the higher people go in a company, the happier they are. So senior managers enjoy their jobs more than people working under them.
Questions 1 to 4 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
Question 1: What is the No. 1 factor that made employees happy according to the survey?
Question 2: What is the percentage of the people surveyed who felt unhappy at work?
Question 3: What kind of companies are popular with employees?
Question 4: What is the possible reason for people on part-time contracts to be happier?

1.
A) Doing enjoyable work.
B) Having friendly colleagues.
C) Earning a competitive salary.
D) Working for supportive bosses.

2.
A) 31%.
B) 20%.
C) 25%.
D) 73%.

3.
A) Those of a small size.
B) Those run by women.
C) Those that are well managed.
D) Those full of skilled workers.

4.
A) They can hop from job to job easily.
B) They can win recognition of their work.
C) They can better balance work and life.
D) They can take on more than one job.

Conversation 2
W: Mr. De Keyzer, I’m a great lover of your book Moments Before the Flood. Can you tell us how you first became interested in this subject matter?
M: In 2006, when the concert hall of the city of Bruges asked me to take some pictures for a catalogue for a new concert season around the theme of water, I found myself working along the Belgian coastline. As there had been numerous alarming articles in the press about a climate catastrophe waiting to happen, I started looking at the sea and the beach very differently, a place where I spent so many perfect days as a child. This fear of a looming danger became the subject of a large-scale photo project.
W: You wrote in the book: “I don’t want to photograph the disaster, I want to photograph the disaster waiting to happen.” Can you talk a bit about that?
M: It is clear now that it is a matter of time before the entire European coastline disappears under water. The same goes for numerous big cities around the world. My idea was to photograph this beautiful and very unique coastline, rich in history, before it’s too late—as a last witness.
W: Can you talk a bit about how history plays a role in this project?
M: Sure. The project is also about the history of Europe looking at the sea and wondering when the next enemy would appear. In the images, you see all kinds of possible defense constructions to hold back the Romans, Germans, Vikings, and now nature as enemy number one. For example, there is the image of the bridge into the sea taken at the Normandy D-Day landing site. Also, Venice, the city eternally threatened by the sea, where every morning wooden pathways have to be set up to allow tourists to reach their hotels.
W: Thank you, Mr. De Keyzer. It was a pleasure to have you with us today.
Questions 5 to 8 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
Question 5: What does the man say about the book Moments Before the Flood?
Question 6: When did the man get his idea for the work?
Question 7: What will happen when the climate catastrophe occurs?
Question 8: What does the man say about Venice?

5.
A) It is a book of European history.
B) It is an introduction to music.
C) It is about the city of Bruges.
D) It is a collection of photos.

6.
A) When painting the concert hall of Bruges.
B) When vacationing in an Italian coastal city.
C) When taking pictures for a concert catalogue.
D) When writing about Belgium’s coastal regions.

7.
A) The entire European coastline will be submerged.
B) The rich heritage of Europe will be lost completely.
C) The seawater of Europe will be seriously polluted.
D) The major European scenic spots will disappear.

8.
A) Its waterways are being increasingly polluted.
B) People cannot get around without using boats.
C) It attracts large numbers of tourists from home and abroad.
D) Tourists use wooden paths to reach their hotels in the morning.

Section B
Direction: In this section, you will hear two passages. At the end of each passage, you will hear three or four 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
When facing a new situation, some people tend to rehearse their defeat by spending too much time anticipating the worst. I remember talking with a young lawyer who was about to begin her first jury trial. She was very nervous. I asked what impression she wanted to make on the jury. She replied: “I don’t want to look too inexperienced, I don’t want them to suspect this is my first trial.” This lawyer had fallen victims to the “don’ts” syndrome—a form of negative goal setting. The “don’ts” can be self-fulfilling because your mind response to pictures. Research conducted at Stanford University shows a mental image fires the nerve system the same way as actually doing something. That means when a golfer tells himself: “Don’t hit the ball into the water.” His mind sees the image of the ball flying into the water. So guess where the ball will go? Consequently, before going into any stressful situation, focus only on what you want to have happen. I asked the lawyer again how she wanted to appear at her first trial. And this time she said: “I want to look professional and self-assured.” I told her to create a picture of what self-assured would look like. To her, it meant moving confidently around the court room, using convincing body language and projecting her voice, so it could be heard from the judge’s bench to the back door. She also imagined a skillful closing argument and a winning trial. A few weeks after this positive stress rehearsal, the young lawyer did win.
Questions 9 to 12 are based on the passage you have just heard.
Question 9: What do some people do when they face a new situation?
Question 10: What does the research conducted at Stanford University show?
Question 11: What advice does the speaker give to people in a stressful situation?
Question 12: What do we learn about the lawyer in the court?

9.
A) They make careful preparation beforehand.
B) They take too many irrelevant factors into account.
C) They spend too much time anticipating their defeat.
D) They try hard to avoid getting off on the wrong foot.

10.
A) A person’s nervous system is more complicated than imagined.
B) Golfers usually have positive mental images of themselves.
C) Mental images often interfere with athletes’ performance.
D) Thinking has the same effect on the nervous system as doing.

11.
A) Anticipate possible problems.
B) Make a list of do’s and don’ts.
C) Picture themselves succeeding.
D) Try to appear more professional.

12.
A) She wore a designer dress.
B) She won her first jury trial.
C) She did not speak loud enough.
D) She presented moving pictures.

Passage 2
Most Americans don’t eat enough fruits, vegetables or whole grains. Research now says adding fiber to the teen diet may help lower the risk of breast cancer. Conversations about the benefits of fiber are probably more common in nursing homes than high schools. But along comes a new study that could change that. Kristi King, a diet specialist at Texas Children’s Hospital, finds it hard to get teenage patients’ attention about healthy eating. By telling them they are eating lots of high-fiber foods could reduce the risk of breast cancer before middle age. That’s a powerful message. The new finding is based on a study of 44,000 women. They were surveyed about their diets during high school and their eating habits were tracked for two decades. It turns out that those who consumed the highest levels of fiber during adolescents had a lower risk of developing breast cancer, compared to women who ate the least fiber. This important study demonstrates that the more fiber you eat during your high school years, the lower your risk is in developing breast cancer in later life. The finding points to long-standing evidence that fiber may reduce circulating female hormone levels, which could explain the reduced risk. The bottom line here is the more fiber you eat, perhaps, a lower level of hormone in your body, and therefore, a lower lifetime risk of developing breast cancer. High-fiber diets are also linked to a reduced risk of heart disease and diabetes. That’s why women are told to eat 25 grams of fiber a day—man even more.
Questions 13 to 15 are based on the passage you have just heard.
Question 13: What does the new study tell about adding fiber to the teen diet?
Question 14: What do we learn about the survey of the 44,000 women?
Question 15: What explanation does the speaker offer for the research finding?

13.
A) Its long-term effects are yet to be proved.
B) Its health benefits have been overestimated.
C) It helps people to avoid developing breast cancer.
D) It enables patients with diabetes to recover sooner.

14.
A) It focused on their ways of life during young adulthood.
B) It tracked their change in food preferences for 20 years.
C) It focused on their difference from men in fiber intake.
D) It tracked their eating habits since their adolescence.

15.
A) Fiber may help to reduce hormones in the body.
B) Fiber may bring more benefits to women than men.
C) Fiber may improve the function of heart muscles.
D) Fiber may make blood circulation more smooth.

Section C
Direction: In this section, you will hear three recordings of lectures or talks followed by three or four 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.

Recording 1
Well, my current research is really about consumer behavior. So recently, I’ve looked at young people’s drinking and it’s obviously a major concern to Government at the moment. I’ve also looked at how older people are represented in the media; again, it’s of major current interest with older people becoming a much larger proportion of UK and indeed, world society. I’m also interested in how consumers operate online, and how that online behavior might be different from how they operate offline when they go to the shops. Well, I think that the important thing here is to actually understand what’s happening from the consumer’s perspective. One of the things that businesses and indeed Government organizations often fail to do is to really see what is happening from the consumer’s perspective. For example, in the case of young people’s drinking, one of the things that I’ve identified is that drinking for people say between the ages of 18 and 24 is all about the social activity. A lot of the Government advertising has been about individual responsibility, but actually understanding that drinking is very much about the social activity and finding ways to help young people get home safely, and not end up in hospital is one of the things that we’ve tried to present there. The key thing about consumer behavior is that it’s very much about how consumers change. Markets always change faster than marketing; so we have to look at what consumers are doing. Currently I teach consumer behavior to undergraduates in their second year and we look at all kinds of things in consumer behavior and particularly how consumers are presented in advertising. So they get involved by looking at advertising and really critically assessing the consumer behavior aspects of it and getting involved sometimes, doing primary research. For example, last year my students spent a week looking at their own purchasing and analyzed it in detail from shopping to the relationship that they have with their retail banks and their mobile phone providers. I think they found it very useful and it also helped them identify just what kind of budgets they had too. The fact of the matter is that there’s a whole range of interesting research out there and I think as the years go on, there’s going to be much more for us to consider and certainly much more for students to become involved in.
Questions 16 to 18 are based on the recording you have just heard.
Question 16: What is the speaker currently doing?
Question 17: What has the speaker found about young people’s drinking?
Question 18: What does the speaker say that his students did last year?

16.
A) Observing the changes in marketing.
B) Conducting research on consumer behavior.
C) Studying the hazards of young people drinking.
D) Investigating the impact of media on government.

17.
A) It is the cause of many street riots.
B) It is getting worse year by year.
C) It is a chief concern of parents.
D) It is an act of socialising.

18.
A) They spent a week studying their own purchasing behavior.
B) They researched the impact of mobile phones on young people.
C) They analysed their family budgets over the years.
D) They conducted a thorough research on advertising.

Recording 2
Sweden was the first European country to print and use paper money, but it may soon do away with physical currencies. Banks can save a lot of money and avoid regulatory headaches by moving to a cash-free system, and they can also avoid bank robberies, theft, and dirty money. Claer Barrett, the editor of Financial Times Money, says the Western world is headed toward a world without physical currency. Andy Holder—the chief economist at The Bank of England—suggested that the UK move towards a government-backed digital currency. But does a cashless society really make good economic sense? “The fact that cash is being drawn out of society, is less a feature of our everyday lives, and the ease of electronic payments—is this actually making us spend more money without realizing it?” Barrett wanted to find out if the absence of physical currency does indeed cause a person to spend more, so she decided to conduct an experiment a few months ago. She decided that she was going to try to just use cash for two weeks to make all of her essential purchases and see what that would do to her spending. She found she did spend a lot less money because it is incredibly hard to predict how much cash one is going to need—she was forever drawing money out of cash points. Months later, she was still finding cash stuffed in her trouser pockets and the pockets of her handbags. During the experiment, Barrett took a train ride. On the way, there was an announcement that the restaurant car was not currently accepting credit cards. The train cars were filled with groans because many of the passengers were traveling without cash. “It underlines just how much things have changed in the last generation,” Barrett says. “My parents, when they were younger, used to budget by putting money into envelopes—they’d get paid and they’d immediately separate the cash into piles and put them in envelopes, so they knew what they had to spend week by week. It was a very effective way for them to keep track of their spending. Nowadays, we’re all on credit cards, we’re doing online purchases, and money is kind of becoming a less physical and more imaginary type of thing that we can’t get our hands around.”
Questions 19 to 22 are based on the recording you have just heard.
Question 19: What do we learn about Sweden?
Question 20: What did Claer Barrett want to find out with her experiment?
Question 21: What did Claer Barrett find on her train ride?
Question 22: How did people of the last generation budget their spending?

19.
A) It is helping its banks to improve efficiency.
B) It is trying hard to do away with dirty money.
C) It is the first country to use credit cards in the world.
D) It is likely to give up paper money in the near future.

20.
A) Whether it is possible to travel without carrying any physical currency.
B) Whether it is possible to predict how much money one is going to spend.
C) Whether the absence of physical currency causes a person to spend more.
D) Whether the absence of physical currency is going to affect everyday life.

21.
A) There was no food service on the train.
B) The service on the train was not good.
C) The restaurant car accepted cash only.
D) The cash in her handbag was missing.

22.
A) By putting money into envelopes.
B) By drawing money week by week.
C) By limiting their day-to-day spending.
D) By refusing to buy anything on credit.

Recording 3
Why should you consider taking a course in demography in college? You’ll be growing up in a generation where the baby boomers are going into retirement and dying. You will face the problems in the aging of the population that have never been faced before. You will hear more and more about migration between countries and between rural areas and cities. You need to understand as a citizen and as a tax payer and as a voter what’s really behind the arguments. I want to tell you about the past, present and future of the human population. So let’s start with a few problems. Right now, a billion people are chronically hungry. That means they wake up hungry, they are hungry all day, and they go to sleep hungry. A billion people are living in slums, not the same billion people, but there is some overlap. Living in slums means they don’t have infrastructure to take the garbage away, they don’t have secure water supplies to drink. Nearly a billion people are illiterate. Try to imagine your life being illiterate. You can’t read the labels on the bottles in the supermarket, if you can get to a supermarket. Two-thirds of those people who are illiterate are women and about 200 to 215 million women don’t have access to birth control they want, so that they can control their own fertility. This is not only a problem in developing countries. About half of all pregnancies globally are unintended. So those are examples of population problems. Demography gives you the tools to understand and to address these problems. It’s not only the study of human population, but the populations of non-human species, including viruses like influenza, the bacteria in your gut, plants that you eat, animals that you enjoy or that provide you with meat. Demography also includes the study of non-living objects like light bulbs and taxi cabs, and buildings because these are also populations. It studies these populations, in the past, present and future, using quantitative data and mathematical models as tools of analysis. I see demography as a central subject related to economics. It is the means to intervene more wisely, and more effectively in the real world, to improve the well-being, not only of yourself—important as that may be—but of people around you and of other species with whom we share the planet.
Questions 23 to 25 are based on the recording you have just heard.
Question 23: What is one of the problems the speaker mentions in his talk?
Question 24: What does the speaker say about pregnancies?
Question 25: How does the speaker view the study of populations?

23.
A) Population explosion.
B) Chronic hunger.
C) Extinction of rare species.
D) Environmental deterioration.

24.
A) They contribute to overpopulation.
B) About half of them are unintended.
C) They have been brought under control.
D) The majority of them tend to end halfway.

25.
A) It is essential to the wellbeing of all species on earth.
B) It is becoming a subject of interdisciplinary research.
C) It is neglected in many of the developing countries.
D) It is beginning to attract postgraduates’ attention.

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2017年06月英语六级第2套听力原文及题目

Section A
Direction: 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 I with a single line through the centre.

Conversation 1
W: Mr. Ishiguro, have you ever found one of your books at a second-hand bookstore?
M: Yes. That kind of thing is difficult. If they’ve got my book there, I think “Well, this is an insult! Somebody didn’t want to keep my book.” But if it’s not there, I feel it’s an insult too. I think, “Why aren’t people exchanging my book? Why isn’t it in this store?”
W: Does being a writer require a thick skin?
M: Yes. For example, my wife can be very harsh. I began working on my latest book, The Buried Giant, in 2004, but I stopped after I showed my wife a little section. She thought it was rubbish.
W: Even after you won a Booker Prize?
M: She is not intimidated at all, and she criticises me in exactly the same way she did when I was first unpublished and I was starting.
W: But you would never compromise on your vision?
M: No. I wouldn’t ever compromise on the essential, the ideas, or the themes. This isn’t really what my wife is trying to criticise me about. It’s always about execution.
W: So why did you put your book The Buried Giant aside for so long? Apparently, you started working on it over ten years ago.
M: I’ve often stopped writing the book and left it for a few years. And by the time I come back to it, it may have changed. Usually my imagination has moved on, and I can think of different contexts or a different way to do it.
W: What does it feel like when you finally finish a book?
M: It’s funny you ask that, because I never have this moment when I feel “Ah, I’ve finished!” I watch footballers at the end of the match, you know; the whistle goes and they’ve won or lost. Until then, they’ve been giving everything they have, and at that moment they know it’s over. It’s funny for an author. There’s never a finishing whistle.
Questions 1 to 4 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
Question 1: How would the man feel if he found his book in a second-hand bookstore?
Question 2: What does the man’s wife think of his books?
Question 3: What does the man do when he engages in writing?
Question 4: What does the man want to say by mentioning the football match?

1.
A) He would feel insulted.
B) He would feel very sad.
C) He would be embarrassed.
D) He would be disappointed.

2.
A) They are worthy of a prize.
B) They are of little value.
C) They make good reading.
D) They need improvement.

3.
A) He seldom writes a book straight through.
B) He writes several books simultaneously.
C) He draws on his real-life experiences.
D) He often turns to his wife for help.

4.
A) Writing a book is just like watching a football match.
B) Writers actually work every bit as hard as footballers.
C) He likes watching a football match after finishing a book.
D) Unlike a football match, there is no end to writing a book.

Conversation 2
W: According to a study of Race & Equity in Education, black athletes are dropping out of college across the country at alarming rates. With us to talk about the findings in the study is Washington Post columnist Kevin Blackstone. Good morning!
M: Good morning. How are you?
W: Fine, thank you. What is new that you found in this study?
M: Well, this is Shaun Harper’s study. And he points out that on major college campuses across the country, black males make up less than 3 percent of undergraduate enrollments. Yet, when you look at their numbers or percentages on the revenue-generating sports teams of football and basketball, they make up well into 50-60 percent of those team. So the idea is that they are really there to be part of the revenue-generating working class of athletes on campus, and not necessarily there to be part of the educating class as most students in other groups are.
W: Compared with other groups, I think the numbers in this group at those 65 schools are something like just barely more than half of the black male athletes graduate at all.
M: Exactly. And what’s really bad about this is these athletes are supposedly promised at least one thing as reward for all their blood and sweat. And that is a college degree, which can be a transformative tool in our society when you talk about upward mobility. And that’s really the troubling part about this.
W: Well, this has been talked about so much, really, in recent years. Why hasn’t changed?
M: Well, I think one of the reasons it hasn’t changed is because there is really no economic pressure to change this. All of the incentive is really on winning and not losing on the field or on the court. Coaches do not necessarily have the incentive to graduate players.
Questions 5 to 8 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
Question 5: What are the speakers talking about?
Question 6: What is the new finding about black male athletes in the study?
Question 7: What is the graduation rate of black male athletes?
Question 8: What accounts for black athletes’ failure to obtain a college degree according to the man?

5.
A) Achievements of black male athletes in college.
B) Financial assistance to black athletes in college.
C) High college dropout rates among black athletes.
D) Undergraduate enrollments of black athletes.

6.
A) They display great talent in every kind of game.
B) They are better at sports than at academic work.
C) They have difficulty finding money to complete their studies.
D) They make money for the college but often fail to earn a degree.

7.
A) About 15%.
B) Around 40%.
C) Slightly over 50%.
D) Approximately 70%.

8.
A) Coaches lack the incentive to graduate them.
B) College degrees do not count much to them.
C) They have little interest in academic work.
D) Schools do not deem it a serious problem.

Section B
Direction: In this section, you will hear two passages. At the end of each passage, you will hear three or four 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
America’ s holiday shopping season starts on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. It is the busiest shopping day of the year. Retailers make the most money this time of year, about 20 to 30 percent of annual revenue. About 136 million people will shop during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. More and more will shop online. In an era of instant information, shoppers can use their mobile phones to find deals. About 183.8 million people will shop on Cyber Monday, the first Monday after Thanksgiving. More than half of all holiday purchases will be made online. One in five Americans will use a tablet or smartphone. Online spending on black Friday will rise 15 percent to hit 2.7 billion dollars this year. Cyber Monday spending will increase 12 percent to 3 billion dollars. For many, shopping online was “a more comfortable alternative” than crowded malls. The shift to online shopping has had a big impact on traditional shopping malls. Since 2010, more than 24 shopping malls have closed and an additional 60 are struggling. However, Fortune says weakest of the malls have closed. The sector is thriving again. The international Council of Shopping Centers said 94.2 percent of malls were full, or occupied with shops by the end of 2014. That is the highest level in 27 years. Economist, Gus Faucher, said lower unemployment and rising wages could give Americans more money to spend. The average American consumer will spend about 805 dollars on gifts. That’s about 630.5 billion dollars between November and December, an increase of 3.7 percent from last year.
Questions 9 to 12 are based on the passage you have just heard.
Question 9: What is the speaker mainly talking about?
Question 10: How many people will shop on Cyber Monday?
Question 11: What does Fortune say about traditional shopping malls?
Question 12: What is said to account for the increase number of shoppers?

9.
A) Marketing strategies.
B) Holiday shopping.
C) Shopping malls.
D) Online stores.

10.
A) About 50% of holiday shoppers.
B) About 20-30% of holiday shoppers.
C) About 136 million.
D) About 183.8 million.

11.
A) They have fewer customers.
B) They find it hard to survive.
C) They are thriving once more.
D) They appeal to elderly customers.

12.
A) Better quality of consumer goods.
B) Higher employment and wages.
C) Greater varieties of commodities.
D) People having more leisure time.

Passage 2
For years, many of us have relied on antibiotic use to treat various infections. And the reality is that antibiotics have been responsible for saving millions of lives since penicillin, one of the earliest antibiotics who’s first used on a clinical basis 70 years ago. However, today is a new era in witch taking antibiotics can cause some very dangerous and potentially life-threatening situations. In fact, you may have heard about the new “superbugs”, which are antibiotic-resistant bacteria that have developed as a result of overprescribed antibiotics. In the past, health experts warned us that the day would come in which it would become very difficult to provide medical care for even common problems, such as lung infection or severe sore throat. And apparently that day has come, because seemingly routine operations such as knee replacements are now much more hazardous due to the looming threat of these infections. The problem has grown into such epidemic proportions that this severe strain of resistant bacteria is being blamed for nearly 700,000 deaths each year throughout the world. And unfortunately, health experts worry that the number will rise to 10 million or more on a yearly basis by 2050. With such a large life-threatening epidemic, it is sad to say that only 1.2 percent of budgetary money for the National Institutes of Health is currently being spent on research to tackle this problem. This is a far cry from the funds necessary for a problem of such magnitude.
Questions 13 to 15 are based on the passage you have just heard.
Question 13: What do we learn about the “superbugs”?
Question 14: What is the result of the overuse of antibiotics?
Question 15: What is most urgently needed for tackling the large life-threatening epidemic, according to the speaker?

13.
A) They are new species of big insects.
B) They are overprescribed antibiotics.
C) They are life-threatening diseases.
D) They are antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

14.
A) Antibiotics are now in short supply.
B) Many infections are no longer curable.
C) Large amounts of tax money are wasted.
D) Routine operations have become complex.

15.
A) Facilities.
B) Expertise.
C) Money.
D) Publicity.

Section C
Direction: In this section, you will hear three recordings of lectures or talks followed by three or four 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.

Recording 1
This is the reason you are here in a university. You are here to be educated. You are here to understand thinking better and to think better yourself. It’s not a chance you are going to have throughout your lifetime. For the next few years, you have a chance to focus on thinking. I think about some of the students who took advantage of their opportunities in a university. One of the stories I always like to tell is about a freshman seminar that I had a chance to teach at Harvard when I was President of the university. I taught a seminar on globalization and I assigned a reading that I had written about global capital flows. And as I did each week, I asked one of the students to introduce the reading. And this younger man in October of his freshman year said something like the following. “The reading by President Simons on the flow of capital across countries, it was kind of interesting, but the data did not come close to supporting the conclusions.” And I thought to myself, “What a fantastic thing this was!” How could somebody who had been there for five weeks tell the person who had the title President that he didn’t really know what he was talking about? And it was a special moment. Now, I don’t want to be misunderstood. I explained to my student that I actually thought he was rather more confused than I was, and I argued back. But what was really important about that was the universities stand out as places that really are about the authority of ideas. You see it in faculty members who are pleased when their students make a discovery that undermines a cherished theory that they had put forward. I think of another students I had who came to me one morning, one evening actually, walked into my office and said that I had written a pretty good paper, but that it had five important mistakes and that he wanted a job. You could debate whether they actually were mistakes, but you couldn’t debate that young man’s hunger to learn. You could not debate that that young man was someone who wanted to make a difference in economics and he is today a professor of economics and his works are more cited as an economist than any other economist in the world.
Questions 16 to 18 are based on the recording you have just heard.
Question 16: What does the speaker say about a university?
Question 17: What do we learn from the speaker’s stories about universities?
Question 18: What does the speaker see in the young man who challenged his paper?

16.
A) It is accessible only to the talented.
B) It improves students’ ability to think.
C) It starts a lifelong learning process.
D) It gives birth to many eminent scholars.

17.
A) They encourage academic democracy.
B) They promote globalization.
C) They uphold the presidents’ authority.
D) They protect students’ rights.

18.
A) His thirst for knowledge.
B) His eagerness to find a job.
C) His contempt for authority.
D) His potential for leadership.

Recording 2
Psychological research shows we consistently underestimate our mental powers. If you think this does not apply to you, then here is a simple test to show you’re wrong. Write down the names of all the American states you can remember. Put the list away, and then set yourself the same task a week later. Provided you have not cheated by consulting an atlas, you will notice something rather surprising. The two lists will contain roughly the same number of states, but they will not be identical. Some names will have slipped away, but others will have replaced them. This suggests that somewhere in your mind you may well have a record of virtually every state. So it is not really your memory letting you down, just your ability to retrieve information from it. We would remember a lot more if we had more confidence in your memories and knew how to use them properly. One useful tip is that things are more likely to be remembered if you are in exactly the same state and place as you were when you learn them. So if you are a student who always reviews over black coffee, perhaps it would be sensible to prime yourself with a cup before the exam. If possible, you should also try to learn information in the room where it is going to be tested. When you learn is also important. Lots of people swear they can absorb new information more efficiently at some times of the day than at others. Research shows this is not just imagination. There is a biological rhythm for learning. Though it affects different people in different ways, for most of us the best plan is to take in new information in the morning, and then try to consolidate it into memory during the afternoon. But this does not apply to everyone, so it is essential to establish your own rhythm. You can do this by learning a set number of lines of poetry at different times of the day, and see when most lines stick. When you have done this, try to organize your life so that the time set aside for learning coincides with the time when your memory is at its best. Avoid learning marathons. They do not make the best use of your mind. Take plenty of breaks, because they offer a double bonus. The time off gives your mind a chance to do some preliminary consolidation, and it also gives a memory boost to the learning.
Questions 19 to 22 are based on the recording you have just heard.
Question 19: What does the simple test suggest?
Question 20: What do we learn about the two lists in the test?
Question 21: What does the speaker suggest about preparing for and taking an exam?
Question 22: What tip does the speaker give on learning?

19.
A) Few people know how to retrieve information properly.
B) People can enhance their memory with a few tricks.
C) Most people have a rather poor long-term memory.
D) People tend to underestimate their mental powers.

20.
A) They present the states in a surprisingly different order.
B) They include more or less the same number of states.
C) They are exactly the same as is shown in the atlas.
D) They contain names of the most familiar states.

21.
A) Focusing on what is likely to be tested.
B) Having a good sleep the night before.
C) Reviewing your lessons where the exam is to take place.
D) Making sensible decisions while choosing your answers.

22.
A) Discover when you can learn best.
B) Change your time of study daily.
B) Give yourself a double bonus afterwards.
D) Follow the example of a marathon runner.

Recording 3
Hello, today I’m going to talk about poverty. Poverty has become a critical issue in today’s world. It concerns not only us sociologists, but also economists, politicians and business people. Poverty has been understood in many different ways. One useful way is to distinguish between three degrees of poverty: extreme poverty, moderate poverty, and relative poverty. The first type of poverty is extreme poverty; it’s also called absolute poverty. In extreme poverty, households cannot meet basic needs for survival. People are chronically hungry. They are unable to access safe drinking water, let alone health care. They cannot afford education for their children. In short, people who live in extreme poverty do not have even the minimum resources to support themselves and their families. Where does extreme poverty occur? Well, you can find it only in developing countries. Well, what about moderate poverty? Unlike extreme poverty, moderate poverty generally refers to conditions of life in which basic needs are met but barely. People living in moderate poverty have the resources to keep themselves alive, but only at a very basic level. For example, they may have access to drinking water, but not clean, safe drinking water. They may have a home to shelter themselves, but it does not have power supply, a telephone or plumbing. The third kind of poverty is relative poverty. Relative poverty is generally considered to be a household income level, which is below a given proportion of average family income. The relatively poor live in high-income countries, but they do not have a high income themselves. The method of calculating the poverty line is different from country to country, but we can say that basically a family living in relative poverty has less than a percentage of the average family income. For example, in the United States, a family can be considered poor if their income is less than 50% of the national average family income. They can meet their basic needs, but they lack access to cultural guts, entertainment and recreation. They also do not have access to quality health care, or other prerequisites for upward social mobility. Well, I have briefly explained to you how poverty can be distinguished as extreme poverty, moderate poverty and relative poverty. We should keep these distinctions in mind when we research people’s living conditions, either in the developing or the developed world.
Questions 23 to 25 are based on the recording you have just heard.
Question 23: What does the speaker do?
Question 24: Where does the speaker say we can find extreme poverty?
Question 25: What do we learn about American people living in relative poverty?

23.
A) He is a politician.
B) He is a businessman.
C) He is a sociologist.
D) He is an economist.

24.
A) In slums.
B) In Africa.
C) In pre-industrial societies.
D) In developing countries.

25.
A) They have no access to health care, let alone entertainment or recreation.
B) Their income is less than 50% of the national average family income.
C) They work extra hours to have their basic needs met.
D) Their children cannot afford to go to private schools.

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2017年12月英语六级第1套听力原文及题目

Section A
Direction: 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 I with a single line through the centre.

Conversation 1
M: And now for the lighter side of news, Europe is setting an example for the rest of the world when it comes to food waste.
W: That’s right, John. This week the Italian government passed legislation that aimed to dramatically reduce the amount of food wasted in the country. New laws have been put into place that would make it easier for farms and supermarkets to donate unsold foods to those who’re in need.
M: Yes. In addition to this, businesses will now be rewarded for successful efforts to cut food waste.
W: Italy is not the only country to focus on reducing food waste. Just earlier this year, the European Parliament voted in favor of legislation that would stop grocery giants from unfair trading practices that result in overproduction, thus creating waste.
M: In France, the government has banned supermarkets from throwing away edible foods and imposed harsh penalties on businesses that fail to comply with the regulations.
W: While there is still much progress to be made, other countries could learn a thing or two from the example set by France and Italy. In the United States, up to forty percent of all food goes uneaten despite the fact that one in seven American households lacks regular access to good food. One major cause of this problem is the confusion over food expiration labels, which are currently not regulated by the government.
M: All this could change soon. This wave of new laws in Europe will definitely put more pressure on law makers to reduce food waste here. We turn now to a spokesperson from Harvard University’s Food Law and Policy Clinic for more on the story. And now, let’s welcome Prof. Edward Becker to speak to us.
Questions 1 to 4 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
Question 1: What does the woman say about the new laws in Italy?
Question 2: What did the European Parliament do to reduce food waste?
Question 3: What has the French government done recently?
Question 4: What is the major cause of food waste in the United States?

1.
A) They reward businesses that eliminate food waste.
B) They prohibit the sale of foods that have gone stale.
C) They facilitate the donation of unsold foods to the needy.
D) They forbid businesses to produce more foods than needed.

2.
A) It imposed penalties on businesses that waste food.
B) It passed a law aiming to stop overproduction.
C) It voted against food import from outside Europe.
D) It prohibited the promotion of bulk food sales.

3.
A) It has warmed its people against possible food shortages.
B) It has penalized businesses that keep overproducing foods.
C) It has started a nationwide campaign against food waste.
D) It has banned supermarkets from dumping edible foods.

4.
A) The confusion over food expiration labels.
B) The surplus resulting from overproduction.
C) Americans’ habit of buying food in bulk.
D) A lack of regulation on food consumption.

Conversation 2
M: Thank you for calling Saks Fifth Avenue department store. How can I be of assistance to you today?
W: Hello. I was in your store this past weekend and bought a few items. Yesterday, my friend told me that the annual anniversary sales’d begun. It turned out she bought the same sweater as I did but for a much lower price.
M: Yes. Our anniversary sales started on Monday. We do offer price adjustments within seven days of purchase to ensure our customers’ satisfaction. You said you did the purchase here this past weekend?
W: Yes. I was shopping in your store last Sunday afternoon.
M: That would definitely fall within the price adjustment window. Do you have an account with us? We can credit your account directly with the difference if you wish. Otherwise we can send a gift card by mail if you prefer.
W: Crediting my account would be wonderful. Thank you. Now that you mention there’s a sale going on, I do remember a dress I quite like when I was in the shop on Sunday. Is it on offer as well?
M: Yes, ma’am. All the new arrivals are 15-20% off. In addition to the sale, we’re running a promotion for complimentary tailoring if you need it.
W: That’s good news. The dress really caught my eye but I did have some concerns about the length. How long will the alterations take?
M: Our tailoring department guarantees alterations to be completed within five working days. If you like, I can set one aside for you. If you’re able to come this afternoon, you can give your name to the sales manager and they will be able to assist you.
Questions 5 to 8 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
Question 5: What do we learn about Saks department store?
Question 6: What does the man say Saks department store offers?
Question 7: What does the woman want the store to do to address the price difference?
Question 8: What is the service Saks department store offers in addition to the promotion sale?

5.
A) It has started a week-long promotion campaign.
B) It has just launched its annual anniversary sales.
C) It offers regular weekend sales all the year round.
D) It specializes in the sale of ladies’ designer dresses.

6.
A) Price reductions for its frequent customers.
B) Coupons for customers with bulk purchases.
C) Free delivery of purchases for senior customers.
D) Price adjustments within seven days of purchase.

7.
A) Mail a gift card to her.
B) Allow her to buy on credit.
C) Credit it to her account.
D) Give her some coupons.

8.
A) Refunding for goods returned.
B) Free installing of appliances.
C) Prolonged goods warranty.
D) Complimentary tailoring.

Section B
Direction: In this section, you will hear two passages. At the end of each passage, you will hear three or four 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
Barbie dolls have a particular look to them. They’re thin, tall, long-legged and virtually unlike any real human being. Although over the years Barbie has had more than 180 different careers—including football coach, sign language teacher, ambassador, president and astronaut—her body shape hasn’t changed much. Last year Mattel, the company that makes Barbie dolls, added some Barbies to its line that have different skin tones and hair textures. There are now Barbies with one of seven skin tones, 22 eye colours and 24 hair styles to choose from. Last year Mattel also gave Barbie a flat foot, rather than forcing her to be “in heels” all the time like the original Barbie is. Now they are introducing new Barbies with three slightly different body shapes while the original, tall and thin Barbies will continue to be sold. In a statement on its website, the company says it wants Barbies to look more like real people, and to give girls everywhere infinitely more ways to spark their imagination and play out their stories. Although many people say the new Barbies are a step in the right direction, some people say they don’t go far enough. They say that the new body shapes could be even more different from the original, tall, thin Barbies. Sales of Barbie dolls have been falling “every year since 2012,” according to CBC News. The toys aren’t in stores yet but they will be sold online at the Barbie website, starting this week, for $9.99.
Questions 9 to 11 are based on the passage you have just heard.
Question 9: What do we know about the original Barbie dolls?
Question 10: Why do some people feel unsatisfied with the new Barbie dolls?
Question 11: Where will the new Barbie dolls be sold first?

9.
A) They are thin, tall, and unlike real human beings.
B) They have more than twenty different hair textures.
C) They have twenty-four different body shapes in total.
D) They represent people from virtually all walks of life.

10.
A) They do not reflect young girls’ aspirations.
B) They are not sold together with the original.
C) Their flat feet do not appeal to adolescents.
D) Their body shapes have not changed much.

11.
A) In toy stores.
B) In shopping malls.
C) On the Internet.
D) At Barbie shops.

Passage 2
The earliest printed book we know today appeared in China in the year 868 and metal type was in use in Korea at the beginning of the fifteenth century, but it was in Germany around the year 1450 that a printing press using movable metal type was invented. Capitalism turned printing from an invention into an industry. Right from the start, book printing and publishing were organized on capitalist lines. The biggest sixteenth-century printer, Plantin of Antwerp, had twenty-four printing presses and employed more than a hundred workers. Only a small fraction of the population was literate, but the production of books grew at an extraordinary speed. By 1500 some twenty million volumes had already been printed. The immediate effect of printing was to increase the circulation of works that were already popular in a handwritten form, while less popular works went out of circulation. Publishers were interested only in books that would sell fairly quickly in sufficient numbers to cover the costs of production and make a profit. Thus, while printing enormously increased access to books by making cheap, high-volume production possible, it also reduced choice. The great cultural impact of printing was that it facilitated the growth of national languages. Most early books were printed in Latin, but the market for Latin was limited, and in its pursuit of larger markets the book trade soon produced translations into the national languages emerging at the time. Printing indeed played a key role in standardizing and stabilizing these languages by fixing them in print, and producing dictionaries and grammar books.
Questions 12 to 15 are based on the passage you have just heard.
Question 12: What happened in Germany around the year 1450?
Question 13: What does the speaker say about the printer, Plantin of Antwerp?
Question 14: What was the immediate effect of printing?
Question 15: What was the great cultural impact of printing?

12.
A) Moveable metal type began to be used in printing.
B) Chinese printing technology was first introduced.
C) The earliest known book was published.
D) Metal type was imported from Korea.

13.
A) It had more than a hundred printing presses.
B) It was the biggest printer in the 16th century.
C) It helped the German people become literate.
D) It produced some 20 million volumes in total.

14.
A) It pushed handwritten books out of circulation.
B) It boosted the circulation of popular works.
C) It made writing a very profitable career.
D) It provided readers with more choices.

15.
A) It accelerated the extinction of the Latin language.
B) It standardized the publication of grammar books.
C) It turned translation into a welcome profession.
D) It promoted the growth of national languages.

Section C
Direction: In this section, you will hear three recordings of lectures or talks followed by three or four 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.

Recording 1
You dream about being a movie star. You’ll live in a big house in Hollywood, go to the Oscars every year—and win! You’ll be rich and famous. Wait a minute, you also hate having your photos taken, and you’re very shy. So how could you ever become a movie star? Choosing a right career can be hard. Many people graduate from school or college not knowing what to do with their lives, and get a job without really thinking about it. For some, things work out fine, but others often find themselves stuck in a job they hate. Your working life lasts an average of forty years, so it’s important to find a job you like and feel enthusiastic about. Luckily, there are many ways you can get help to do this. The Australian website, www. careersonline.com, compares choosing a career with going to the movies. Before you see a movie, you find out what films are showing. The site suggests you should do the same with your career—find out what jobs are available and what your options are. Next, decide which movie you like best; if you’re not a romantic person, you won’t want to see a love story. In other words, with your career, you should decide which job will suit your personality. Finally, decide how to get movie tickets, and find out where the theater is before you go. With your career, you need to find information about where you can work, and how to get a job in that profession. So, how do you start? Begin by asking yourself some questions. Some jobs require you to have certain life experiences: Have you traveled overseas? Do you have any extra certificates besides your degree, such as a first aid license, for example? Your physical state and build can also affect which jobs you can do. A person, for example, who is allergic to cats would probably never become an animal doctor. Flight attendants, firefighters, and police officers have to be over a certain height, and be physically fit. Your personality matters, too. Are you outgoing or shy? If you like working alone, a job that requires lots of teamwork might not suit you. Choosing a career can take time and a lot of thought. However, when you know you can look forward to working in your dream job, you’ll be glad you thought it through.
Questions 16 to 18 are based on the recording you have just heard.
Question 16: What does the speaker say about many college graduates?
Question 17: What does the Australian website suggest you do first to find a suitable job?
Question 18: What should you think about when you look for the right job according to the Australian website?

16.
A) They get bored after working for a period of time.
B) They spend an average of one year finding a job.
C) They become stuck in the same job for decades.
D) They choose a job without thinking it through.

17.
A) See if there will be chances for promotion.
B) Find out what job choices are available.
C) Watch a film about ways of job hunting.
D) Decide which job is most attractive to you.

18.
A) The qualifications you have.
B) The pay you are going to get.
C) The culture of your target company.
D) The work environment you will be in.

Recording 2
Kwanzaa is a cultural festival during which African-Americans celebrate and reflect upon their rich heritage as the products of two worlds. It begins December 26 and lasts for seven days. Kwanzaa was founded in 1966 by Dr. Karenga, a college professor and African-American leader, who believed that a special holiday could help African-Americans meet their goals of building strong families, learning about their history, and creating a sense of unity. After conducting extensive research in which he studied the festivals of many African groups of people, he decided that the new holiday should be a harvest or “first fruits” celebration, incorporating ideas from many different harvest traditions. Kwanzaa is a KiSwahili word meaning “the first fruits of the harvest.” The East African language of KiSwahili was chosen as the official language of Kwanzaa because it is a non-tribal language, spoken by a large portion of the African population. Also, its pronunciation is easy. Kwanzaa is based on seven principles which are unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity and faith. One principle is highlighted each day of the holiday. In preparation for the celebration, a straw mat is placed on the table, along with a candle holder with seven candles, one black, three red, and three green. The black candle represents the African-American people, the red is for their struggles, and the green represents their hopes for the future. Other items placed on the table are a variety of fruit, ears of corns, gifts, and a communal unity cup for pouring and sharing drinks. Each day of Kwanzaa, usually before the evening meal, family and friends gather around the table and someone lights a candle, beginning with the black. After that, candles are lit alternately from left to right. While the candle is being lit, a principle is recited. Then each person present takes a turn to speak about the importance that principle has to himself or herself. Next the ceremony focuses on remembering those who have died. A selected person pours water or juice from the unity cup into a bowl. That person then drinks from the cup and raises it high saying “Harambee” which means “Let’s all pull together.” All repeat “Harambee!” seven times and each person drinks from the cup. Then names of African-American leaders and heroes are called out, and everyone reflects upon the great things these people did. The ceremony is followed by a meal, and then singing and perhaps listening to African music.
Questions 19 to 22 are based on the recording you have just heard.
Question 19: What does the speaker say about Kwanzaa?
Question 20: For what purpose did Dr. Karenga create this special holiday?
Question 21: What does the word “Kwanzaa” mean?
Question 22: What did people do while each candle was being lit at the Kwanzaa celebration?

19.
A) It is as important as Christmas for African-Americans.
B) It is a cultural festival founded for African-Americans.
C) It is an ancient festival celebrated by African-Americans.
D) It is a religious festival celebrated by African-Americans.

20.
A) To urge African-Americans to do more for society.
B) To call on African-Americans to worship their gods.
C) To help African-Americans to realize their goals.
D) To remind African-Americans of their sufferings.

21.
A) Faith in self-determination.
B) The first fruits of the harvest.
C) Unity and cooperative economics.
D) Creative work and achievement.

22.
A) They recite a principle.
B) They take a solemn oath.
C) They drink wine from the unity cup.
D) They call out their ancestors’ names.

Recording 3
The Mediterranean diet is based upon the eating patterns of traditional cultures in the Mediterranean region. Several noted nutritionists and research projects have concluded that this diet is one of the most healthful in the world in terms of preventing such illnesses as heart disease and cancer, and increasing life expectancy. The countries that have inspired the Mediterranean diet all surround the Mediterranean Sea. These cultures have eating habits that developed over thousands of years. In Europe, parts of Italy, Greece, Portugal, Spain, and southern France adhere to principles of the Mediterranean diet, as do Morocco and Tunisia in North Africa. Parts of the Balkan region and Turkey follow the diet, as well as Middle Eastern countries like Lebanon and Syria. The Mediterranean region is warm and sunny, and produces large supplies of fresh fruits and vegetables almost the year round that people eat many times a day. Wine, bread, olive oil, and nuts are other staples of the region, and the Mediterranean Sea has historically yielded abundant quantities of fish. International interest in the therapeutic qualities of the Mediterranean diet began back in the late 1950s, when medical researchers started to link the occurrence of heart disease with diet. Dr. Ancel Keys performed an epidemiological analysis of diets around the world. Entitled the Seven Countries Study, it is considered one of the greatest studies of its kind ever performed. In it, Keys gathered data on heart disease and its potential causes from nearly 13,000 men in Greece, Italy, Croatia, Serbia, Japan, Finland, the Netherlands, and the United States. The study was conducted over a period of decades. It concluded that the Mediterranean people in the study enjoyed some significant health advantages. The Mediterranean groups had lower mortality rates in all age brackets and from all causes, particularly from heart disease. The study also showed that the Mediterranean diet is as high or higher in fat than other diets, obtaining up to 40% of all its calories from fat. It has, however, different patterns of fat intake. Mediterranean cooking uses smaller amounts of saturated fat and higher amounts of unsaturated fat, mostly in the form of olive oil. Saturated fats are fats that are found principally in meat and dairy products, although some nuts and vegetable oils also contain them. Saturated fats are used by the body to make cholesterol, and high levels of cholesterol have since been directly related to heart disease.
Questions 23 to 25 are based on the recording you have just heard.
Question 23: What has research concluded about the Mediterranean diet?
Question 24: What do we learn about the Seven Countries Study?
Question 25: What do we learn about the Mediterranean people from the Seven Countries Study?

23.
A) It is one of the world’s most healthy diets.
B) It contains large amounts of dairy products.
C) It began to impact the world in recent years.
D) It consists mainly of various kinds of seafood.

24.
A) It involved 13, 000 researchers from Asia, Europe and America.
B) It was conducted in seven Mid-Eastern countries in the 1950s.
C) It is regarded as one of the greatest researches of its kind.
D) It has drawn the attention of medical doctors the world over.

25.
A) They care much about their health.
B) They eat foods with little fat.
C) They use little oil in cooking.
D) They have lower mortality rates.

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