听力练习试题T ape script （英语专业四级考试高分指导）Model T est One
Dictation
Vitamins
1)V itamins are natural chemical substances that we all need in order to stay healthy. 2) Vitamin A is especially important for the eyes and the skin.3)A large amount of V itamin A is found in carrots, green vegetables, and liver. 4) The best source of V itamin A is fish liver oil. 5) Vitamin B is especially important for the health of our nerves. 6)In fact, our whole nervous system, including our brain 7) needs Vitamin B to work properly. 8) The best sources of V itamin B are beans, nuts, and grains.9) V itamin C is necessary for keeping our muscles healthy 10) and for protecting the body’s cells from dangerous substances. 11) V itamin C is contained in all fruits. 12) Vitamin D is important for keeping the bones of the body strong.13) It is contained in fish, eggs and milk products. 14) V itamin E is rather important for the heart and for blood circulation. 15) We can get sufficient V itamin E from nuts and some green vegetables.
Section A Conversations
Conversation 1
M: Let’s go swimming over at the student center.
W: I’d like to, but I have a paper due on Friday, and I haven’t even started yet.
M: Just an hour. I’ve got a test tomorrow, so I won’t be able to stay very long.
W: I need the exercise, but I just can’t spare the time.
M: Ok, how about dinner at the Grill? Y ou have to eat anyway, and it’s right by the library. I’ll go over there with you after dinner, and you can do your research while I study for my test.
W: Well.
M: Come on. Y ou’ve probably wanted to stay late, and you shouldn’t walk home after dark. I’ll stay until you are ready to go.
W: That would be nice, but…
M: Look, we really wouldn’t be wasting any time. We’d just be doing everything we need to do, but we’d be doing it together. I just want to spend time with you.
W: Me too. Ok, I need to go home first, and then I’ll meet you at the Grill about 6. Is that all right? M: That’s great. We’ll get everything done. Y ou’ll see.
Conversation2
M: Hi, Helen. How did you driving test go? Did you get your driver’s license?
M: So far, I’ve just taken the written test. I did well enough on that, but I still have to take the road test.
M: I remember when I took the road test a few years ago. The first time I took it, I failed.
W: Y ou failed! But you are such a good driver! What happened?
M: Well, I forgot to fasten my safety belt during the test and I didn’t find out until it was finished. W: My big problem is parallel parking. I just can’t get my car into those little spaces.
M: If you like, we can go out in my car before you take the road test and get some practice.
W: That would be great. I just have to get my driving license. I have a car that my parents gave me and it has been sitting in my garage for a year, and I can’t even drive it.
Conversation 3
M: Why did you move to California?
W: A friend invited me to teach this class in New Mexico and I thought, “This is it! I’m going to California now.” so I quit my job, went to teach the class and then moved to California.
M: What was the attraction of California?
W: Well, the summer of love. It just took me a while to act on it, though. California just sounded like heaven to me. Y ou know, how you kind of get ideas stuck in your head and then they just won’t go way?
M: What was your relationship with your parents like when you were living in Rochester in your late 20s and early 30s?
W: It was strange. I mean, my parents kept telling us how close we all were and so they sort of believed it except that I sort of didn’t. I was unhappy. I had a difficult relationship with both of them, really.
M: But you always kept quiet on the issue?
W: Yes, I wasn’t able to articulate how wr
Section B Passages
Passage 1
Scientists have discovered that plants themselves produce many poisonous chemicals for defense against insects. But insects have developed ways of dealing with them and, in fact, have been eating plants for about 250 million years. Now insects are using these same mechanisms to deal with man-made poisons---insecticides. This is why resistance of insects to insecticides has developed so rapidly.
What should be done? Scientists studying the problem suggest that farmers use less insecticide. At the moment, farmers regularly spray crops as a precaution against problems that are caused by large numbers of pests. Secondly, farmers could use a combination of 2 or 3 insecticides at once.To survive, the insects would need to become resistant to 2 or more insecticides at the same time.
The most surprising suggestion, perhaps, is that at certain times of the year, farmers should actually try to attract insect onto the crops they are trying to protect.The new insects will mate with those which survived from a certain kind of insecticides and will lessen the latter’s resistance to it.
Scientists hope that these and other measures will postpone the day when farmers and scientists will have to stand by while new super bugs which may be resistant to all poisons invade our farms and devour our crops.
Passage 2
Most people feel lonely sometimes, but such loneliness usually only lasts between a few minutes and a few hours. For some people though, loneliness can last for years. Now researchers say there are three different types of loneliness.
The first type is temporary. This is the most common type. It usually disappears quickly and does not require any special attention. The second type, situational loneliness, is a natural result of a particular situation---for example, a family problem, the death of a loved one, or moving to a new place. Although this kind of loneliness can cause physical problems, such as headaches and sleeplessness, it usually does not last for more than a year. The third type of
loneliness is the most severe. Unlike the second type, chronic loneliness usually lasts for more than two years and has no specific cause. People who experience habitual loneliness have problems socializing and becoming close to others.
Unfortunately, many chronically lonely people think there is little or nothing they can do to improve their conditions. Psychologists agree that one important factor in loneliness is a person’s social contacts, e.g., friends, families give us emotional support, our teachers give us guidance, and our friends share similar interests with us. However, psychologists have found that, though lonely people may have many social contacts, they sometimes feel they should have more. They question their own popularity.
Passage 3
When John Milton, writer of Paradise Lost, entered Cambridge University in 1625, he was already skilled in Latin after seven years of studying as his second language at St. Paul’s school, London. Like all English boys who were preparing for college in grammar school, he had learned not only to read Latin but also to speak and write it fluently and correctly. His pronunciation of Latin was, however, seemed to be strange when he later visited Italy.
Schoolboys gained their skill in Latin by doing a lot of hard work. They memorized rules to make learning by ear easier. They first made a word-for word translation and then an idiomatic translation into English. As they improved their skill, they translated their English back into Latin without referring to the book and then compared their translation with the original.
After several years of study, the boys began to write compositions in imitation of the Latin works they had read. Since Milton was already a poet when he was ten, his poems were much better than those painfully put together by other boys. During the seven years Milton spent at the university, he made constant use of his command of Latin. He wrote some excellent poems in Latin which were published among his works in 1645.
Section C News Broadcasting
News Item 1
Japan’s trade surplus jumped again last month with the sluggish economy continuing to slow demand for imports. Finance Ministry figures show the January trade surplus was 5.3 billion dollars. That was almost 40% higher than the same period of last year. It was the 25th consecutive monthly gain in the surplus from previous year level. Japan’s trading partners have become increasingly irritated with its growing trade surplus.
News Item 2
The week old Mexico rebellion in the southern state of Chiapas shows signs of spreading. The rebels claim responsibility for destroying two electricity towers Thursday and, in a Mexico city newspaper they threaten action in the capital. Mexico City’s stocks exchange has been evacuated because of a bomb threat yesterday and security has been strengthening at the city’s international airport.
News Item 3
Officials of the United States and the European Community are continuing to negotiate, trying to solve difference three weeks before the deadline for reaching a new world trade agreement. U.S.
trade representative Mickey Kantor and EC trade commissioner Leon Brittan will meet again next Wednesday after two days of talks in Washington this week. Deputies will continue to negotiate until then; Mr. Brittan says he made some progress in the Washington talks.
News Item 4
Algerian police, looking for three kidnapped French nationals, are searching vehicles at roadblocks in downtown Algiers. The van used in Sunday’s kidnapping was found abandoned in the area. An Algerian police chief says the captives may still be alive. Seven foreigners have been killed over the last month by suspected Moslem extremists fighting to topple the government. France is urging families of French nationals in Algeria to come home.
Key: 1. D 2. C 3. B 4. D 5. C 6. D 7. B 8. C 9. B 10. A
11. A12. C 13. D 14. B 15. D 16. A17. D 18. C 19. A20. D
21. B 22. C 23. A24. B 25. D 26. C 27. A28. A29. C 30. C
Model T est Two
Dictation
Camping Holiday
1) To many people, camping seems to be an ideal way of spending a holiday. 2) Not only is it cheaper, 3) it can also be far more convenient and enjoyable. 4) If you have young children, 5) camping has particular advantages. 6) There is always plenty for them to do, 7) and they enjoy the freedom of camping compared to the discipline of staying in a hotel. 8) Above all, camping provides a complete change for everyone, 9) and afterwards you return refreshed to your normal way of life. 10)To some people, however, all these advantages are outweighed by the disadvantages. 11)Such people will point out that on a camping holiday the mother still has to cook for everyone. 12)What is worse, she has to prepare meals 13) without the help of all the equipment in her kitchen at home. 14)Under bad weather, there may be too many flies and mosquitoes. 15) For these people a holiday in a hotel is well worth the extra expense.
Section B Passages
Passage 1
Joe Smith had been brought up in an orphanage. He envied people who were rich and decided that when he grew up he would make a lot of money.
Unfortunately, Joe was not smart and he failed all his school exams. “I have to either find a good job or become a thief,” Joe said to himself. He knew he would never find a well-paid job.
For several months Joe watched a bank out of town. He noticed when it had the fewest customers. He watched, waited and planed.
One afternoon, he found that only two tellers were on duty there. “I will either succeed and be very rich or fail and go to prison.” Joe said to himself. He was willing to take the risk.
Then he went in and pushed a demand note over the counter. The teller read it, turned pale and quietly opened a small safe behind him. He took out $50,000 and placed the bank notes in Joe’s open bag. Then Joe ran out as fast as he could.
That night Joe had to bury money in case the police caught him. He chose a deserted piece of land near the house. He thought that the money could be safely hidden there.
The next day he was woken by bangs on his door. He answered and there were two policemen. “ Joe Smith, you are under wrest for robbing a bank!”
Joe protested in vain. The bank had hidden cameras and the whole raid had been photographed. Joe was caught and put into prison.
Ten years later Joe was set free. He made sure no one was following him and quickly made his way to the spot where ha had buried the money.
Neither happiness nor money waited for him, however. A big building had been built on the site.
Passage 2
A good marriage means growing as a couple but also growing as individuals. This isn’t easy: marriage has always been difficult. Why are we seeing so many divorces today? Well, one of the important reasons is that the permissiveness of our society has created unrealistic expectations and threw many families into disorder. Divorce is common because many people today are unwilling to exercise the self-discipline that marriage requires. They expect easy joy, like the entertainment on TV, and the thrill of a nice party.
Marriage takes some kind of sacrifice, not dreadful self-sacrifice of the soul, but some level of compromise. Some of one’s fantasies and legitimate desires have to be given up for the value of the marriage itself. “While all marital partners feel shackled at times, it is they who really choose to make the marital ties into confining chains or supporting bonds,” says Dr. Walter. Marriage requires sexual, financial and emotional discipline. A man and a woman cannot follow every impulse, nor should they ever stop growing.
Passage 3
Deserts are found where there is little rainfall or where rain for a whole year falls in only a few weeks’time. Ten inches of rain may be enough for many plants to survive if the rain is spread throughout the year. If it falls within one or two months and the rest of the year is dry, those plants may die and a desert may form.
Sand begins as tiny pieces of rock that get smaller and smaller as wind and weather wear them down. Sand dunes are formed as winds move the sand across the desert. Bit by bit, the dunes grow over the year, always moving with the winds and changing the shape. Most of them are only a few feet tall, but they can grow to be several hundred feet high.
Most deserts, however, have a surprising variety of life. There are plants, animals as insects that have adapted to life in the desert. During the heat of the day, visitors may see very few signs of living things, but as the air begins to cool in the evening, the desert comes to life. As the sun begins to rise again in the sky, the desert once again becomes quiet and lonely.
Section C News Broadcasting
News Item 1
A wide-ranging conference is due to begin in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa shortly, which will look at Somali’s political future and review January cease-fire and disarmament agreement. The UN-sponsored meeting which is due to last for five days is being attended not only by the warring fractions and political representatives, but also by community leaders, intellectuals and women’s groups. It comes amid growing international pressure to bring peace to Somalia. A BBC correspondent in Addis Ababa says if no workable agreement is reached, some UN representatives have speculated that the UN which has postponed its decision on a mandate to take over from the
US forces may withdraw from the country.
News Item 2
The UN says a UN team is close to destroying Iraq’s largest complex capable of producing biological weapons. A UN official in Baghdad said the team should finish dismantling the factory by mid-June. Iraq insists the plant produces animal feed. But the UN official says the site near Baghdad can also be used to produce materials for germ warfare and therefore must be dismantled. Under the terms that ended the 1991 Gulf War, Iraq is to be stripped of weapons of mass destruction and the means to produce them.
News Item 3
Italy was sharply criticized for allowing the Kurdish guerilla leader Abdullah Ocalan to leave the country on Jan. 6 and disappear again. Turkish officials urged their country’s neighbors in the Caucasus not to harbor the Kurdistan workers Party leader, who is said to be now in Nagorna Karabakh, an American enclave within Azerbaijan. Any such protection, Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said, would be regarded as a hostile act for which Turkey would “take necessary measures”.
News Item 4
Economic experts now estimate that the Indonesian forest fires which have been blazing intensely for nearly a year could cost the region up to six billion dollars. This includes direct losses, such as agricultural output and indirect costs like medical bills and a drop in tourism. Figures were arrived at by the worldwide Fund for Nature and Research Group funded by western governments, the economy and the environment program for Southeast Asia.
News Item 5
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has promised to improve US and UN protection of human rights which activists complain has taken a back seat in the past. Mr. Annan made the commitment before the 53 members of the Un human rights commission meeting in Geneva. However, the new UN leader was criticized by some human rights activists for failing to offer any specifics.
Key: 1. A 2. A 3. B 4. D 5. B 6. A7. B 8. D 9. B 10. A
11. A12. B 13. A14. D 15. C 16. D 17. B 18. C 19. B 20. C
21. B 22. C 23. D 24. D 25. C 26. A27. C 28. A29. B 30. D
Model T est Three
Section B Passages
Passage 1
Faces, like fingerprints, are unique. Have you ever wondered about how it is possible for us to recognize people? Even a skilled writer probably could not describe all the features that make one face different from another. A very young child or even an animal, such as a pigeon can learn one face different from another. We all take this ability for granted.
We also tell people apart by how they behave. When we talk about someone’s personality, we
mean the ways in which he or she acts, speaks, thinks and feels that make that individual different from others.
Just like human faces, human personalities are also very complex. But describing someone’s personality in words is somewhat easier than describing his face. If you were asked to describe what a “nice face”looked like, you probably would have a different time doing so. But if you were asked to describe a “nice person” you might begin to think about someone who was kind, considerate, friendly, and so on.
There are many words to describe how a person thinks, feels and acts. An American psychologist found nearly 18,000 English words characterizing differences in people’s behavior. And many of us use this information as a basis for describing personalities. Book worms, conservatives, military types and so on: people are described with such terms.
People have always tried to “type”each other. Actors in early Greek drama wore masks to show the audience whether they played the villains’“persona”, meaning “mask”. Today, most television and movie actors do not wear masks. But we easily tell the “good guys” from the “bad guys”, because the two types differ in appearance as well as in actions.
Passage 2
When someone has hurt you, it can be extremely difficult to let go of your anger. But forgiveness is possible and it can be surprisingly helpful toy your physical and mental health. Indeed, research has shown that people who forgive report more energy, better appetite and better sleep patterns.
So when someone has hurt you, calm yourself first. Take a couple of breaths and think of something that gives you pleasure: a beautiful scene in nature, someone you love. Don’t wait for an apology.
Keep in mind that that forgiveness does not necessarily mean accepting that action of the person who upset you. Mentally going over your heart gives power to the person who brought you pain. Instead, learn to look for the love, beauty and kindness around you. Finally, try to see things from the other person’s perspective. Y ou may realize that he or she was acting out of ignorance, fear, or even love. To gain perspective, you may want to write a letter to yourself from that person’s point of view.
Passage Three
No man can change the weather. Nobody can control the weather. But if you study correctly the signs around us we can tell important changes in weather. This way of telling what the weather will be on the following day or two is called weather forecasts.
For many centuries and in all countries people have studied the weather and tried to make weather forecasting. Sometimes distant objects such as hills and tall trees seem to be very clear and near. This is a sign of much water vapor in the air, and therefore rain will probably come. Ring around the sun are the sign coming rain. Many people feel pain in their bones. This is a sign of the coming wet weather. Some birds fly high if fine weather is coming. They fly near the ground if rain or stormy weather is on the way. It is probably because of the insects which they are hunting that they fly low. If you see a rainbow during rainy weather, this is a sign that the weather will become clear and fine. If fog appears in the morning just about sunrise, then the day will be warm. If the stars twinkle clearly at night, then fine weather will continue. If the sunset is mostly red in
color, then the following day will be fine. If the rainbow appears in the morning, rainy weather will probably.
Section C News Broadcasting
News Item 1
A crippling, nationwide six-day transport strike over higher diesel fuel prices was called off after government and union leaders reached an agreement to lower fuel prices. Popular support for the strike, which ended late on Tuesday, is indicative of the anger over the tight fiscal policies of President Arnoldo Aleman, whom many blame for unemployment which has reached 53 per cent.
News Item 2
General Motors, the leading US automaker on Tuesday reported a 4.2 per cent decline in total vehicle sales to 433,723 in April compared with the same month in 1998. car sales fell 4.5 per cent and truck sales 3.9 per cent, the company said in a statement. Despite the April performance, GM vice-president for North American sales Roy Robert said: “We’re going into the summer season with excellent momentum.”
News Item 3
Some 200 pigs breeders protested in the Malaysian capital yesterday against the government’s handing of a viral epidemic that killed 101 people and ruined the US $ 400 million pork industry. The farmers, mostly from Nigeria Sembilan state, the epicenter of the outbreak, wore black armbands and help up banners outside the headquarters of the Malaysian Chinese Association political party, calling for compensation of US $ 53 for every pig killed.
News Item 4
A Kosovan man was killed and three others injured in Calais when a gunman opened fire after an argument between traffickers smuggling refugees into Britain. British tourists watched as the battle broke out at the ferry terminal at the Channel port, and a stray bullet lodged in one Britain’s camper van. Witnesses said that the gunman, who is thought to be a Kosovan, pulled out a pistol and fired on a group of about ten other Kosovans in the lorry part at the port.
News Item 5
In London, a conference of finance and employment ministers from the group of seven industrial democracies joined by Russia has produced a set of principles for dealing with unemployment, a central theme at which is the concept of government taking the lead in helping workers gain the skills that employers need. The conference also called for reforms to labor laws and welfare systems to encourage businesses to offer more jobs and workers to accept them. Key: 1. C 2. B 3. B 4. C 5. D 6. A7. D 8. B 9. B 10. B
11. B 12. A13. B 14. A15. B 16. C 17. D 18. B 19. D 20.C
21. A22. B 23. A24. D 25. B 26. B 27.C 28. A29.B 30.D
Model T est Four
Section B Passages
Passage 1
Kuwait is a country which is quite small but very rich. It has a population of a little more than a million, and it is situated at the North end of the Persian Gulf. This small desert country has 15% of the world’s known petroleum reserves. Since the discovery of oil in 1938, Kuwait’s rulers have turned the country into a prosperous welfare state. Is has free primary and secondary education, free health care and social services; and the Kuwaitis do not have to pay any personal income tax for those services. The rate of literacy is very high and constantly growing. The University of Kuwait was opened in 1966, but many of Kuwait students still study aboard, at state expense. Kuwait is, needless to point out, an Arab country, and about 99% of the people who live there are Moslems. But fewer than half of these Moslems are actually citizens of Kuwait. This is because there are many Moslem immigrants living and working there. Many of these recent immigrants have come from all over the Arab world---from places like Egypt, Syria, the Sudan and so on. Indians, Pakistanis, and Iranians live and work in Kuwait, too. The other 1% of the population, in other words, the non-Moslems, are recent immigrants who were attracted by job opportunities in the oil companies. There are several thousand Europeans and Americans in Kuwait. Many of them are employed by the oil companies.
Passage 2
Up to about 1915, movies were short and programs were made up of several works. Then, D.U. Griffith and others began to make longer films which provided the same powerful emotional appeal as did melodrama and presented spectacles far beyond what the theater could offer. Consequently, after World War I, increasing numbers of spectators deserted the theater for the movies. This trend was accelerated in the late 1920’s as a result of two new elements. In 1927 sound was added to the previous silent film, and thus one of the theater’s principal claims to superiority vanished. In 1929, a serious economic depression began. Since audiences could go to the movies for a fraction of what it cost to see a play, theater going became a luxury which few could afford, especially as the depression deepened.
By the end of World War II, the American theater had been reduced to about thirty theaters in New Y ork City and a number of touring companies originating there.
Passage 3
Whoever has made a voyage up the Hudson River must remember the Catskill Mountains. Many years ago, at the foot of these mountains, there lived, a simple, good-natured fellow by the name of Rip V an Winkle.
Rip’s great weakness was a natural dislike of all kinds of moneymaking labor. It could not be from lack of diligence, for he could sit all day on a wet rock and fish without saying a word, even though he was not encouraged by a single bite. He would carry a gun on his shoulder for hours, walking through woods and fields to shoot a few birds or squirrels. He would never refuse to help a neighbor, even in the roughest work. The woman of the village, too, used to employ him to do such little jobs as their less helpful husbands would not do for them.
If left to himself, he would have whistled life way in perfect satisfaction; but his wife was always mad at him for his idleness. Her tongue was endlessly going, so that he was forced to escape to the outside of the house---the only side which, in truth, belongs to a henpecked husband.
Section C News Broadcasting
News Item 1
MOSCOW---NA TO is challenging and provoking the United Nations, international law and the international community, said by Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov. Condemning the US-led NA TO bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Y ugoslavia, Ivanov told reporters on Saturday the attack further complicated the Kosovo crisis. He cancelled his three-day working visit to Britain due to the bombing, which occurred around midnight Friday. Numerous nations--including Y ugoslavia, Peru, Poland, Thailand, Iraq and Iran---have expressed regret over the casualties.
News Item 2
Tens of thousands of furious students and local residents, angry over NA TO’s bombing of China’s Embassy in Y ugoslavia, continued their anti-US, anti-NA TO demonstrations for the second day. The demonstrators---carrying Chinese flags, banners and photos of the three journalists killed in the attack---condemned the bombing. They also voiced their support for the stand taken by the Chinese Government. Residents lining both sides of the street supported the students, joining them in shouting slogans and singing the Chinese national anthem.
News Item 3
MOSCOW---thousands of soldiers and musicians paraded across Moscow’s Red Square yesterday as Russians took part in nationwide celebrations marking the 54th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. Russia lost a staggering 27 million people in the war, and Victory Day is a revered holiday. Television showed scores of Soviet-era war movies during the past several days, and posters and signs celebrating the holiday were plastered around Moscow and other cities.
News Item 4
TEHERAN---At least 15 people were killed and 50 injured when a series of powerful earthquakes rocked the Shiraz region of southern Iran yesterday, the official Iran news agency reported. The quakes struck a vast mountains region between the city of Shiraz, capital of Fars Province, and the town of Kazerun, some 140 kilometers to the west. The tremors measured 6.8 and 5.9 degrees on the Richter scale.
News Item 5
Bangladesh--- 11 bodies were found and at least 100 people were still missing yesterday, one day after a ferry sank in a tropical storm in southern Bangladesh. The ferry capsized on Saturday morning near Lakhsmipur, 175 kilometers from Dhaka. About 100 passengers swam ashore immediately after the vessel sank. State radio reported that the ferry was overcrowded and running at speed in heavy current.
News Item 6
Washington---The Commerce Department has charged 6 European steel companies that have been selling their products on American markets at prices below the fair value. The charge was made in a special report made after American steel companies protested unfair competition from the European companies. Last week American and European negotiators signed an agreement on
limiting Europe’s steel exports to the US. But the American steel industry rejected the agreement saying it did not do enough to reduce the effect of unfair European steel prices.
Key: 1. A 2. A 3. A 4. C 5. D 6. D 7. A8. C 9. C 10. B
11.D 12. D 13. A14. D 15. D 16. A17. B 18. D 19. C 20.A
21. C 22. B 23. B 24. D 25. A26. B 27. D 28. A29. B 30.D
Model T est Five
Section B Passages
Passage 1
The world energy economy is on the edge of a major transformation. Historically, the 20th century was century of fossil fuels. Coal was already well established as a major fuel source all the way back in 1900, but it was joined by oil when the automobile came on the scene.
It was not until 1967, however, that oil finally replaced coal as the workhorse of the world’s energy economy. Natural gas gained in popularity during the closing decades of the 20th century. As concern about urban air pollution and global climate change escalated, natural gas moved ahead of coal in terms of energy usage in 1999.
In addition to world coal use which reached its peak in 1996, oil production is expected to peak either in this decade or the next. Natural gas use will keep expanding somewhat longer because of its generous reserves and its popularity as a clear-burning, carbon-efficient fuel.
Thus, as the new century begins, we are beginning to see the new trend. The last several decades have shown a steady shift from coal---the most polluting and climate-disrupting fossil fuel---to oil, which is somewhat less environmentally disruptive, and then to natural gas, the cleanest and least climate-disrupting pf the three.
Passage 2
Internet shopping is a new way of shopping. Y ou no longer need to walk round hundreds of shops looking for the items you need. Nowadays, you can shop for just about anything from your armchair. All you need is a computer which is linked to the internet. Shopping on the Internet is becoming increasingly popular. In the United States, 50% of families have computers at home and almost one third are linked to the Internet. Americans spend over $2.5 billion on Internet shopping in 1998. This figure is expected to reach $11 billion by the year 2004.
People can shop for a variety of products on the internet. Physical products include items such as books, CDs, clothes and food. These types of products are the most common purchases through the internet. Y ou can also buy information products such as on-line news or magazine stories, or you can download computer software through the internet. Services such as booking airline tickets, reserving hotels or renting cars are also available on the Internet. Y ou can also go shopping on the Internet for entertainment and take part in on-line games or e-mail chats.
Passage 3
The discovery of the Rosetta stone was made in the year 1799by one of Napoleon’s soldiers near the Rosetta arm of the Nile. It was a flat stone, about the size of a sheet of opened newspaper, and had curious writing on it. On it was priestly written in Greek, in hieroglyphics, and in ancient Egyptian business script!
When in 1802 the stone was ceded to England and placed in the British Museum, scholars fell
to work on the inscription immediately. Getting to the bottom of the hieroglyphics was a much harder job than any of them had anticipated, however. One after another was forced to give up in despair. But the French scholar Francois Champollion refused to be defeated. Stubbornly he stuck to the task he had set for himself.
He didn’t know what a difficult job he would face. The Egyptian had used letters only for writing names. Other words they had written in various ways. Some signs stood for whole words, some for syllables, and some for letters. It was slow, slow work, and 23 years after the Rosetta stone was found, he had worked out only 107 of the thousands of symbols.
Section C News Broadcasting
News Item 1
Bangkok---Thailand has closed a Cambodia refugee camp in eastern Trat province, leaving less than 1,000 Cambodians asylum seekers in the country. A ministry statement said the camp was closed last week after Thai authorities, in co-operation with the United Nations High commissioner for Refugees, sent about 14,000 refugees back to Cambodia. The last remaining group of about 856 Cambodia refugees in the northeastern province of Surin is due to be repatriated soon.
News Item 2
Macao--- The annual registration of votes, the last under the rule of the Portuguese Macao government, started yesterday and will last till June 1. According to official statistics, Macao had 248,515 registered voters by July 15, 1998. However, only 126,149 voters were actually registered. Registered voters have accounted for about half of the registrable voters in Macao in the past few years. In accordance with current Macao laws, any resident aged 18 or above who has lived in Macao for more than 7 years and holds a Macao resident card or Portuguese identification or military card, can be registered as a voter. In addition, legal organizations which have been established for more than 3 years can be registered as corporate voters.
News Item 3
Littleton, Colorado---A22-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of supplying the Columbine High School gunmen with a semi-automatic handgun, one of 4 weapons used in the rampage. The arrest came on Monday as Columbine students returned to classes at another school, nearly 2 weeks after the massacre which left 15 dead. Mark Manes was booked for investigation regarding the provision of a handgun to a minor, a charge which carries a maximum 6 years in prison. He was released on bond. Police said they do not know if manes knew what the gun would be used for, but an attorney for Manes said his client knew nothing of the impending massacre. “He was horrified when it happened,” attorney Robert Ransom said.
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Islamabad---South African President Nelson Mandela yesterday made an impassioned plea to the leaders of Pakistan and India to work for peace and promote nuclear disarmament in South Asia. Mandela arrived earlier for a 24-hour visit as part of his farewell tour before he retires after June 2 elections in South Africa. He was due to hold talks later with Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on bilateral co-operation as well as regional and international issues.
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Geneva---UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged world disarmament negotiators yesterday to ban the sales of land mines and to prohibit a nuclear arms race in outer space. “We must do everything we can to ensure that as many states as possible” adhere to the Ottawa Anti-landmine Treaty that comes into force in March, Annan told the 61-nation Conference on Disarmament. The secretary-general said the conference should make its own contribution to the campaign against land mines by creating a new accord to prohibit transfers of “these barbaric weapons”between countries.
Key: 1. B 2. A 3. B 4. C 5. A 6. B 7. B 8. D 9. A10. B
11. D 12. C 13. B 14. C 15. C 16. B 17.B 18. D 19. D 20.B
21. C 22. A23. C 24. D 25. B 26. D 27. D 28.C 29. C 30. C