英語周報07年12月四級考試聽力模擬(四)

Directions: In this section, you will hear 3 short passages. At the end of each passage, you will hear some questions. Both the passage and the questions will be spoken only once. After you hear a question, you must choose the best answer from the four choices marked A), B), C) and D). Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre.

Passage One

Throughout the rest of June and July temperatures rose steadily all over the Earth. In the British Isles the temperature climbed through the eighties, into the nineties, and moved towards the hundreds, temperatures in the U. S. remained quite low, largely due to the air-conditioning units that had been fitted during previous years and months. Temperatures rose to the limit of human endurance throughout the whole country and people were obliged to remain indoors for weeks on end. Occasionally air-conditioning units failed and it was then that fatalities occurred. Conditions were utterly desperate throughout the tropics as may be judged from the fact that 7943 species of plants and animals became totally extinct. The survival of Man himself was only possible because of the caves and cellars he was able to dig. Nothing could be done to lower the hot air temperature. More than seven hundred million persons are known to have lost their lives. Eventually the temperature of the surface waters of the sea rose, not as fast as the air temperature, it is true, but fast enough to produce a dangerous increase of humidity. It was indeed this increase that produced the disastrous conditions just remarked. Millions of people between the latitudes of Cairo and the Cape of Good Hope were subjected to a choking atmosphere that grew damper and hotter from day to day. All human movement ceased. There was nothing to be done but to lie breathing quickly as a dog does in hot weather.

Questions 26 to 28 are based on the passage you have just heard.

26. What is the temperature like in the British Isles?

27.Why did few people in the United States lose their lives?

28. Why were millions of people in Cairo and the Cape of Good Hope subjected to a choking atmosphere?

Passage Two

Long nap after dinner will bring trouble to your blood. If you didn’t sleep for long hours during the

early part of the evening, you would be more ready to sleep at bedtime. If you didn’t nap after dinner, you would not want to stay up so late, and you would not feel the need to take a sleeping pill. The pill is still working in your system when you get up in the morning. This helps account for the fact that you feel tired all day. You should get out of the habit of sleeping during the evening. Right after your evening meal, engage in some sort of physical activity --- a sport such as bowling, perhaps. Or get together with friends for an evening of cards and conversation. Then go to bed at your usual time or a little earlier, and you should be able to get a good night's rest without taking a pill. If you can get into the habit of spending your evenings this way, I’m sure you will feel less tired during the day. At first it may be hard for you to go to sleep without taking a pill. If so, get up and watch television or do some jobs around your house until you feel sleepy. If you fall asleep and then wake up a few hours later, get up but do not take a sleeping pill. Read a while or listen to the radio, and make yourself a few hours’ sleep that night. You will feel better in the morning than you usually feel after taking a pill. The next night you will be ready to sleep at an earlier hour. The most important thing is to avoid taking that nap right after dinner and to avoid taking pills.

Questions 29 to 31 are based on the passage you have just heard.

29. Why is it difficult for you to go to sleep according to the writer?

30. Why would you feel tired all day?

31. Who is the speaker?

Passage three

Many people are afraid to assert themselves. Dr. Alberti, author of Stand Up, Speak Out, and Talk Back, thinks it’s because their self-respect is low. “Our whole set up is designed to make people distrust themselves,” says Alberti. “There’s always ‘superior’ around – a parent, a teacher, a boss – who ‘knows better’. These superiors often gain when they chip away at your self-image.” But Alberti and other scientists are doing something to help people assert themselves. They offer “assertiveness training” courses – AT for short. In the AT courses people learn that they have a right to be themselves. They learn to speak out and feel good about doing so. They learn to be more active without hurting other people. In one way, learning to speak out is to overcome fear. A group taking an AT course will help the timid person to lose his fear. But AT uses an even stronger motive-the need to share. The timid person speaks out in the group because he wants to tell how he feels. Whether or not you speak up for yourself depends on your self-image. If someone you face is more “important” than you, you may feel less of a person. You start to doubt your own good sense. You go by the other person’s demand. But, why should you? AT says you can get to feel good about yourself. And once you do, you can learn to speak out.

Questions 32 to 35 are based on the passage you have just heard.

32. Why are people afraid to assert themselves?

33. What is the main problem discussed in the passage?

34. What is the author’s attitude towards the whole set up?

35. What is the one thing that “Assertiveness Training” does not do?

Section C

Directions: In this section, you will hear a passage three times. When the passage is read for the first time, you should listen carefully for its general idea. When the passage is read for the second time, you are required to fill in the blanks numbered from 36 to 43 with the exact words you have just heard. For blanks numbered from 44 to 46 you are required to fill in the missing information. For these blanks, you can either use the exact words you have just heard or write down the main points in your own words. Finally, when the passage is read for the third time, you should check what you have written.

People usually have a positive experience when they first go online. But, (36)like any endeavor – traveling, cooking, or attending school – there are some risks. The online world, like the (37) rest of society, is made up of a (38) wide line of people. Most are decent and respectful, but some may be rude and insulting, (39) or even mean and exploitative. Children get a lot of (40) benefit from being online, but they can be (41) targets of crime and exploitation in this as in other environments. Trusting, curious, and (42) anxious to explore this new world and the relationship it brings, children need (43) parental supervision and common sense advice.

Although there have been some highly publicized cases of abuse involving the internet and online services, (44) reported cases are relatively infrequent. Of course, like most crimes against children, many cases go unreported, especially (45) if the child is engaged in an activity that he or she does not want to discuss with a parent. The fact that crimes are being committed online, however, (46) is not a reason to avoid these services.

英語周報07年12月四級考試聽力模擬(三)

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