PART A Micro-Listening
1. M: Would you like to go boating with me?
W: What a good idea!
Q : What does the woman mean?
2. W: You were very quiet at the meeting.
M: I was really fascinated by what every speaker said.
Q : Why was the man so quiet at the meeting?
3. M: Do you know Maggie? She's a very nice girl.
W: We're from the same town.
O : What does the woman mean?
4. W: In summer Bob plays tennis or golf. In winter he goes skiing and skating.
M: Yes, he's always been very enthusiastic about sports.
Q : What can be concluded about Bob?
5. W: I can't wait to see how Professor Wang will look when he opens our gifts.
M: Neither can I.
O : What does the man mean?
6. M: The service in this restaurant is really terrible.
W: Right. It's high time they got rid of half of the staff here, if you ask me.
Q : What conclusion can we draw from the conversation?
7. W: It's lunch time. Where do you want to eat?
M: What's wrong with the school canteen?
Q : What do we learn from the conversation?
8. M: Will you be working at the Student Club tomorrow night?
W: I'm afraid so. I wish I could get out of it.
Q : What does the woman mean?
9. W: I wonder if I could borrow your typewriter.
M: You certainly could if I had one.
Q: What does the man mean?
10. W: I think I'll send Judy a postcard from Rome when I go there next week.
M: I'm sure she'd be glad to get one. She has a collection of cards from all over the world.
Q : What do we learn about Judy from the conversation?
PART B Macro-Listening
Passage 1
Videodisc Player
Tapescript
During the past several years, many new uses of television sets have been introduced. Video cassette recorders, video games, cable TV, and home computers are becoming popular accessories for the home TV. The videodisc is the most recent and perhaps the most important of new attachments.
A videodisc looks like an ordinary record, but it reproduces pictures and sound. It is designed to play back programs that have been recorded on it. The manufacturers record movies, concerts, and educational programs on the discs.
A videodisc is made of plastic. Its surface is covered with tiny pits that wind around the disc in a coil. The size and arrangement of the pits form a code that represents the recorded pictures and sounds. As the disc spins on the disc player, the player reads the code and translates it into a TV signal which is then shown on the TV screen.
Manufacturers began developing videodiscs in the 1970's. Videodiscs and players have been available for home use since December 1978, and their manufacturers hope that they will become as popular as records and record players. Home entertainment, however, is not the only use for videodiscs. Some companies are developing videodisc system to store computer information and record visual computer programs. Home computers may even be used with video players in the future.
Passage 2
How Does Acupuncture Work?
Tapescript
Acupuncture has been practised in China for more than 2,000 years, but its use in the Western world is still very new. Several hospitals in the United States are now experimenting with acupuncture as a way of treating pain.
An American journalist who stood beside a patient during an operation in Shanghai recently described the process and its effects. To keep the patient from feeling pain during the operation, four needles were used, each about an inch and a half long. Two needles were inserted under the skin on each side of the patient's neck. The top of the needles were attached to wires which led to a small electrical device.
Throughout the operation the patient talked calmly to those standing around him, insisting that he felt perfectly normal.
How does acupuncture work? How is it able to keep a patient from feeling pain? No very satisfactory answer has been given, but there are at least three theories.
Some doctors believe that acupuncture somehow produces an effect upon the central nervous system. Others believe that acupuncture produces a chemical change in the body's fluids. Still another theory is that the needles make contact with an unknown system of energy in the body which travels along certain routes under the skin. The true explanation may be one of these or a combination of more than one. Or it may be something entirely different. |