历年英语专业四级考试听力(2)

　　2010年英语专业四级考试真题听力原文

　　Part I DICTATION (15MIN)

　　Freshmen's Week

　　Britain has a well-respected higher education system and some of the top universities and research institutions in the world. But to those who are new to this system, it can sometimes be confusing.

　　October is usually the busiest month in the academic calendar. Universities have something called Freshmen's Week for their newcomers. It's a great opportunity to make new friends, join lots of clubs and settle into university life.

　　However, having just left the comfort of home and all your friends behind, the prospect of meeting strangers in classrooms and dormitories can be worrying.Where do you start? And who should you make friends with? Which clubs and society should you join?

　　Luckily, there will be thousands of others in the same boat as you. They worry about starting their university social life on the right foot. So just take it all in slowly. Don't rush into anything that you'll regret for the next three years.

　　PART Ⅱ LISTENING COMPREHE (20 MIN)

　　SECTION A CONVERSATIONS

　　Questions 1 to 3 are based on the following conversation.

　　W: OK. So let’s go through the travel details again. Two adults, eight days in Britain from April 26th to May 3rd (Q1), flying from Beijing to London, and back with Air China, and you’re in a double room.

　　M: Yes, that’s right. Umm, do you know what the flight times are?

　　W: The outward flight from Beijing is, ur … let me see, yes, 10:30 in the morning, and the return is, I think it’s early evening, yes, 7:15, 15 minutes past seven in the evening, local time, that is (Q1).

　　M: Right, that’s fine. Oh, sorry. I can’t remember what else you include in the price, apart from the air-tickets. Is it all meals or just breakfast?

　　W:Yes, it’s full board, so all meals, and transport from the airport to your hotel. Everything is included (Q2).

　　M: Good!

　　W: Now, can you tell me if you need travel insurance?

　　M: Yes, yes, we do.

　　W: OK. Well, that’s an extra 300 Yuan each, is that OK?

　　M: Well, there is no choice, is there? I mean we have to have it, don’t we? (Q3)

　　W: Yes, I’m afraid so.

　　M: Well, all right then.

　　Questions 4 to 7 are based on the following conversation.

　　M: Pan-Pacific Tours. How can I help you?

　　W: Good afternoon! Can I speak to Mark, please?

　　M: Speaking.

　　W: Oh, hello, Mark! This is Linda from Johnson & Sons Events.

　　M: Hello, Lindia! What can I do for you?

　　W: I was just wanting to clear up a few details of the conference event we’re organizing.

　　M: Right! What do you need to know?

　　W: Well, first, I’ve got to have numbers, delegates to the conference, their husbands or wives and so on for the transport as much as anything else.

　　M: So far we’ve got 183 who’ve booked up and we might get a few more.

　　W: Does that include husbands and wives as well?

　　M: No really. I’ll e-mail you the exact number, because I haven’t counted them yet (Q4).

　　W: Fine.

　　M: And there’ll be 6 guest speakers.

　　W: 6?

　　M: Yes. Who want picking up from the airport by car, not in a fleet of buses?

　　W: Right! You’ll let me know when they are arriving, won’t you (Q5)?

　　M: Just as soon as I know.

　　W: Now, special events. You wanted a local style dance for the opening ceremony, didn’t you (Q6)?

　　M: That would be great! I’m sure everyone will enjoy it.

　　W: And we’ll have to fly the dancers in specially.

　　M: Sure!

　　W: And then after the welcoming feast, there’s going to be a piano performance, right (Q6)?

　　M: Yes, so we’ll have to contact the airline company about it. They are sponsoring the event (Q7).

　　W: So we’ll send the bill direct to them for it.

　　M: You could do.

　　W: Well, that’s all my queries for the time being.

　　M: OK. If you need anything else, just pick up the phone or drop me an email.

　　W: I will. Thanks. Bye!

　　M: Bye!

　　Questions 8 to 10 are based on the following conversation.

　　W: Sorry, I’m late, James.

　　M: It’s all right, Mary. Where have you been?

　　W: At the police station.

　　M: Where?

　　W: At the police station. I’ve lost my briefcase.

　　M: Oh, no! What happened? Was there anything important in it?

　　W: Yes! My cheque book, all the papers I need for work, my appointment book (Q8).

　　M: Ah! That’s terrible! How did you lose your briefcase?

　　W: Well, as you know, I was with my client at a meeting all morning (Q9) and we had lunch together, after lunch I went shopping, and when I wanted to buy something I couldn’t find my cheque book, then I remembered that was in my briefcase and my briefcase was in my car.

　　M: So you went back to your car?

　　W: Yes, I went back to my car. No briefcase! But luckily my laptop was there (Q8).

　　M: And then you went to the police?

　　W: Not immediately. Before I went to the police station, I called my client’s office. No luck. They said the briefcase wasn’t there.

　　M: Excuse me! I’ve got a phone call. Yes, yes, there is. Mary Hopkins. Oh, really? I’ll tell her. It was very kind of you to call. Bye!

　　W: Who was that?

　　M: That was the manager of the River Sun Restaurant. Just after lunch today, he found a briefcase under a table, when he opened the case, he found a lot of papers. He said they had the name or our company on them, and he found a cheque book with the name of Hopkins on it --- M. Hopkins --- M for Mary (Q10).

　　W: Ah! Thank god!

　　SECTION B PASSAGES

　　Questions 11 to 13 are based on the following passage.

　　Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri is a medium-sized university. It has 11,000 students, 12% of them are international students, mostly graduate students. The university has schools for law, medicine and social work. It also has a Business School, a School of Design and Visual Arts and a School of Engineering and Applied Science. But more than 60% of courses are taught through the Arts and Sciences Program (Q11). The new scholl year that begins this fall will cost about $ 50,000 for undergraduates, that includes 12 months of living expenses estimated at ,000 (Q12). Graduate tuition differs by program. Tuition for the Master of Social Work Program, for example, will cost ,000 in the coming year. The Master of Business Administration Program will cost about ,000. The university offers financial assistance to international students including first year students, but says its resources are limited. Scholarships are available. The university also offers a monthly payment plan to spread out the cost of tuition. It offers loan programs. International students in the United States generally cannot receive federal student loans (Q13), but they maybe able to take out private loans as many American students do. Washington University in St. Louis was named Eliot Seminary when it opened in 1853. Later the name was changed to honor the first American president --- George Washington.

　　Questions 14 to 17 are based on the following passage.

　　A new study from the University of New South Wales has discovered that during the working week, Australian fathers only spend an average of just over a minute each day alone with their children. Australian mothers, on the other hand, spend 3 hours a week purely looking after their children (Q14). On much greater disparity than in other countries, like America, Denmark, Italy and France, working couples divide the child-care more evenly. According to the author of the study, traditionally, Australian fathers appear to like the fun aspects of parenhood, but stay away from daily child-care activities. So while they tend to be happy taking the kids to the park or to sports event, they are unlikely to participate regularly in feeding, bathing, or taking the kids to school (Q15). In short, Australian parenting is seen as a woman’s job and a man’s hobby. However, the last 20 years have seen the arrival of the so-called “new man” --- the man who is willing to share the housework and child-care. The “new man” has a picture of his children on his computer desktop at work; he never misses the kids’ school plays and he passes on a drink after work so that he can get home in time to read their bedtime story (Q16). This new study suggests that the new man feels a little more at home in Europe than in Australia (Q17). Indeed, a poll conducted in the UK indicated that almost 70% of British women thought that men were as good at raising children as women.

　　Questions 18 to 20 are based on the following passage.

　　UNICEF is joinning with a nonprofit group to bring AIDS prevention programs to more women and children in five countries (Q19A). UNICEF, United Nations Children’s Fund, will work with Family Health International. The new partnership will be established at first in Guyana, India, Malawi, Nigeria and Zambia. One of the goals is to improve care for babies infected with H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS. Another is to prevent the spread of H.I.V. from mother to child. Activities will depend on the needs of each country. In some cases, anti-AIDS drugs will be provided to infected parents of children. Women and children living in rurual communities will receive most of the services (Q18). Both UNICEF and Family Health International will expand their partnership into more countries in the future. Family Health International has been working on public health issues since 1971 (Q19B). The organization is based in North Carolina and has programs in 70 countries (Q19D). It does research on infectious diseases and reproductive health, and also provides services (Q19C). Experts say an important part of fighting AIDS is political will (Q20). One example they point to is Cambodia. That country has been getting attention for its progress in reducing some of the highest infection rates in Asia. Experts praise the government for supporting public education efforts and programs.

　　SECTION C NEWS BROADCAST

　　News Item 1 (For Questions 21 and 22)

　　Four American teenagers, all children of U.S. military personnel, have been arrested on charges of attempted murder after a woman was knocked off her motorbike with rope strung across two poles, Japanese police said. The four suspect --- two 15-year-old boys, a 17-year-old girl and an 18-year-old man --- were taken into custody on Saturday, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department said. They are accused of causing a severe head injury to a 23-year-old restaurant employee by stringing a rope between poles across a road (Q21). U.S. Forces in Japan was informed of the August incident in late October (Q22), a public information officer said. There was no clear explanation for the delay in the handover of the suspects to police, other than it involved rules between Washington and Tokyo covering U.S. Forces and their dependents in Japan. The U.S. military presence and its impact on Japanese residents have been a thorny issue over the years.

　　News Item 2 (For Questions 23 and 24)

　　Iraqi lawmakers are expected to vote on a security agreement by Wednesday, which will keep the U.S. troops here until the end of 2011, the parliament’s speaker said yesterday. After hours of heated debate, Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani announced that the vote is scheduled for Wednesday and can be put forward provided parties in the parliament would reach an agreement on the pact (Q23). The long-delayed agreement passed the Iraqi cabinet last week and wen to the parliament for reviewing. The vote date was originally set for tomorrow. The security agreement will replace the UN mandate to grant U.S. military presence in Iraq legal status from 2009. The U.S. has agreed to pull troops out of Iraqi cities and towns by mid-2009 and leave Iraq by the end of 2011 (Q24). The Iraqi government wants the parliament to make the decision before lawmakers would set out for a pilgrimage trip to Mecca next week.

　　News Item 3 (For Questions 25 and 26)

　　Honduran authorities dedicated to the protection of children and adolescents have undertaken a campaign to protect youngsters who beg on the streets. In the capital of Tegucigalpa alone, the effort has resulted in the rescure of 350 children, city officials say. The Honduran Insitute of Childhood and Family, together with the police and the distric attorney, carry out operations around the country to rescure the children and punish the parents (Q25). “Many children are used for begging,” said Nora Urbina, special prosecutor for children’s issues. “Many children are rented and that is precisely what we hope to punish, because Article I-70 of the Juvenile Penal Code sets a penalty of up to six years in detention.” Those children who are rescued are taken to the Honduran Institute of Childhood and Family and then handed over to their parents with the promise that their rights will be protected. Parents who allow their children to be exploited in this way face, in addition to as many as six years in prison, the equivalent of a 0 fine (Q26).

　　News Item 4 (For Questions 27)

　　A campaign is getting under way in Italy to take back large stretches of the country’s beaches from private bathing clubs, which usually charge to use them (Q27). This has been a summer of discontent, because despite government efforts, an entire coasline has been monopolized by profiteering bathing clubs. Italy has some of Europe’s finese beaches, buty they are often buried under a mountain of deck chairs and umbrellas. The government says the state owns the shoreline and swimming should be free (Q27).

　　News Item Five (Question 28)

　　The Northwest braced for blizzards Friday night --- icy roads created from storms this week paralyzed much of the greater Seattle-Washington area, where schools were closed and bus routes were suspended Friday (Q28D) as roads were too icy to navigate. Two charter buses carrying 80 people that collided and skidded off a road were pulled to safety (Q28B). The buses crashed through a metal railing and hung precariously over Interstate 5 for several hours before tow trucks pulled them back on the road. The snowfall closed the airport for several hours (Q28A), and cut into local business hours for retail shops (Q28C) during the busiest shopping season of the year.

　　News Item Six (Question 29 and 30)

　　Hundreds of emergency workers combed the site of a five-story apartment building (Q30A) in sounthern Ukraine Thursday after a series of explosions reduced it to rubble (Q30C, D), authorities said. The blasts Wednesday night in the Black Sea resort town of Yevpatoria left at least 17 people dead and 24 others missing, according to Igor Krol, a spokesman for the Ukraine’s Emergency Situ ations Ministry, 21 people have been rescued (Q29). “We are now investigating all possible reasons for the explosions,” Krol said. Volodymiyr Shandra, Ukrainian Emergency Situations minister, told local media that oxygen canisters being stored in the basement of the building could have triggered the blasts (Q30B). Television footage showed rescuers trying to free people buried underneath fallen debris, while others scrabbled through wires, construction rods and boulders (Q30D).