年9月中口聽力Talks & Conversations原文+解析

Talks and Conversations

P1. Q11-14

W: Jack, tell me about yourself.
M: I was born in LA. But my family is from China. My father came to the US to study. He got a PHD in computer science. And he stayed on as a professor at a college in California.
W: Is your mother from China, too?
M: No, my mom is from here. She’s Asian-American. Her folks came to the US during the 19th century. In fact, one of her great-grandfathers actually helped to build the first railroad across the United States in the 1860s. What about you?
W: Well, I’m a third-generation Mexican-American. My grandparents were born in Vera Cruz. And they immigrated to this country a long time ago. We still have a lot of relatives in Mexico.
M: Do you keep in touch with them?
W: We visit whenever we can.
M: By the way, how’s your Spanish?
W: It’s pretty good. We speak it at home most of the time. Do you speak Chinese?
M: Yeah, I’m quite fluent. And I’m now learning to write it. I think someday I might be back in China and take up my career there.

Q11 What does the man’s father do for a living?
Q12 What does the man say about his mother?
Q13 According to the woman, why can she speak very good Spanish?
Q14 What is the man doing now?

解析：這一段對話難度很低，基本沒有影響理解的生詞。一個華裔男生和一個墨西哥裔女生在談論雙方的家庭情況、以及對漢語、西班牙語的知識。提問點也很明顯。

P2. Q15-18
Most of us use oil in some way. And it is difficult to imagine the modern world without oil. But oil is not easy to find and get out of the earth, as it is trapped deep down in the ground. We must first study the rocks carefully. When we think that the rocks in a certain place may contain oil, we will build a metal tower in the location, either on the land or on the sea. This metal tower is called a derrick. The derrick is equipped with oil-drilling machinery. The machine will cut a narrow hole down into the ground. Meanwhile, a steel pipe is pushed down to stop the sides from falling and to keep out water. At last, if we have judged correctly, the oil would rush up the pipe with great force. This is basically how an oil well is set up. Oil, as we can see, is obtained more easily than coal. For coal, very often, we must dig it from a mine and have it sent out to the ground surface. But for oil, it rushes up a pipe. If an oil well is made near the middle of the oil field, then natural gas can be obtained. In parts of the world, such gas is often sent through pipes to distant towns and cities, so that it can be used like coal gas in houses and factories.

Q15 Why is it difficult to find oil?
Q16 What is a derrick?
Q17 Why does the speaker say that oil is obtained more easily than coal?
Q18 According to the speaker, what can be obtained when an oil well is made near the middle of the oil field?

解析：今年各種時事依然散佈在考卷的四處，這道題講的是石油的開採。能源問題一直是大家關心的話題，加上不久前的原油泄漏事件，我們在一週前的答疑會上也提到，這個話題是重點。這道題改編自一篇中學閱讀題，其實是改得比閱讀題中出現的句子更加直接、容易理解了。這篇文章簡述了石油開採的步驟、與煤礦開採相比較，最後還提到了天然氣。科普類的文章最主要的困難是專業詞彙，像這裏的Derrick、oil-drilling machinery等等。總的來說這些詞彙並不多，提問點也比較中規中矩，難度中等。

P3 Q19-22
W: Good evening, Mr. Smith. It’s nice to meet you and your boy in such nice and cozy weather. Is John going to school this year?
M: Yes. We are thinking of sending him to a private boarding school instead of the local state school.
W: Really? Well, I wouldn’t dream of sending my little boy away to some strange institution for month on end every year. It will break my heart every time.
M: I don’t think so. I would say that a boarding school education is good for children because it teaches them to have confidence in themselves. In a boarding school, they can learn to be more independent of themselves and less dependent on their parents.
W: But not every child can afford to go to a private school. My nephew only went to his local state school and he’s just been awarded a scholarship to study classics at Cambridge.
M: Anyway, the private school is more animative and open-minded in teaching children to learn. You will get the value of your money, and this is worthwhile.
W: Still, I don’t know what I’ll do with my little boy next year. I don’t want him to go to that big new school. The children of all the common people in the area go there.
M: Well, they are closing all the other schools. If you don’t like the new state school, you’ll just have to pay to send him to a private school, won’t you?

Q19
According to the man, what is good about a private boarding school?
Q20
Why does the woman mention her nephew in the conversation?
Q21
Which of the following can be concluded from the conversation?
Q22
What is the woman worried about?

解析：對話形式討論是否要送孩子去私立寄宿制學校(private boarding school)上學。男性說話人認爲之所以要選擇私立寄宿制學校，是因爲：一，它能讓孩子對自己充分自信；二，讓孩子學會獨立；三，私立學習在教育方式上更加活潑和開放。女性說話人認爲私立學校不是每個孩子都能讀得起的，並舉出自己侄子的例子，證明：不去私立學校，也一樣會有好的成績。但是她自己還是拿不定主意到底送自己的孩子去哪種學校上學。她不想讓孩子去那所新的公立學校，因爲當地所有普通家庭的孩子都會去這所學校。文章難度並不大，大家注意區分觀點即可。

P4 Q23-26

Earthquakes are violent, destructive and unpredictable. The overall history of earthquakes leads to one general rule. The more time that has passed since an earthquake, the bigger the chance one will strike. Scientists therefore use information about past earthquakes to guess probabilities about future earthquakes.

For example, they say that within the next 30 years, there is a 60 percent probability that an earthquake will hit somewhere in southern California. But exactly where or when is a mystery. In at least one case, an earthquake in northern china has been predicted by paying attention to clues from nature.

In china, earthquakes have been studied for nearly 4,000 years. And there are records of more than 9,000 earthquakes, going back to the year 1831BC. The official earthquake records of the state of California only go back to 1950. In their long hard look earthquakes, the Chinese have observed many things. Before an earthquake, animals start to act strangely. The ground changed in shape, and earth’s magnetic fields get stronger in the earthquake area. The water in wild bubbles up, and then returns to its normal level. Also, a series of small earthquakes can mean that a big quake is on its way. The Chinese use these clues in 1974 to make the first successful prediction of an earthquake. The United States geological survey, on the other hand, has never predicted a major earthquake.

Q23
What is the general rule about the occurrence of an earthquake?
Q24
According to the speaker, which area is likely to be hit by an earthquake within the next 30 years?
Q25
How long have the Chinese studied earthquakes?
Q26
Which of the following is not a clue that is used by the Chinese to predict an earthquake?

解析：本文關於地震，大家在考前可能也預測到會考到此類話題。本文主要關注地震監測和預報的問題，並將中國和美國在這一問題上的情況作對比。第一、二段論述地震是很難預測的，並在第二段結尾處指出中國曾有一次通過對各種自然現象的觀察，成功預測到了一次地震。第三段比較了中美的地震預測情況，並具體論述哪些線索可以爲預測地震提供信息。本文難度較前幾篇較高，但是題目難度正常。

P5 Q27-30
Man: How did you like the fireworks last night?
Woman: I really didn’t enjoy them too much. There was such a big crowd that we couldn’t get very close.
Man: I thought you were going early.
Woman: We did. But even though we got there on 7 o’clock, the park was already jammed. It was so crowed that we had a hard time finding a place even to stand.
Man: That’s too bad because the fireworks were really spectacular.
Woman: What did you do? How did you manage to get a good view?
Man: We went early. We decided to have a picnic dinner in the park, so we’d be sure to get there early enough to find a good spot.
Woman: I guess that’s what I should do next Fourth of July.
Man: We found a place on top of some rocks where nobody could get in front of us.
Woman: Wasn’t it pretty hot? The temperature was up in the 80s yesterday.

Man: It was nice and cool where we were because there were a lot of trees right behind us. So we had some shade to sit in.
Woman: What did you do about going home? I’ve never been pushed and shoved so much in my whole life.
Man: Well, they rent extra buses until midnight, so we didn’t have any problem.
Woman: I think you were lucky.
Man: It wasn’t luck. It was good planning. You have to come with us next year.
Woman: I don’t know whether I want to try it again next year. Even though I like fireworks, I don’t like big crowds.
Man: Well, next year is still a long time away and next weekend we are going to the beach, a whole bunch of us. Would you like to come with us?
Woman: Yes, thank you, I would. And maybe I can find how you go about planning things.

Q27. According to the woman, why couldn’t she enjoy the fireworks?
Q28. What did the man do to ensure a good view of the fireworks?
Q29. How did the man explain the success for their park trip?
Q30. What did the man do at the end of conversation?

解析：本文主要講述男女雙方在觀賞煙花中完全不同的經歷。女士因爲沒有做好事先的計劃，結果去觀賞時人羣擁擠，觀賞過程不甚愉快。而男士則做好周全的安排，觀賞煙花過程順利且愉快。
這篇對話內容不難，關鍵是要抓住男女雙方各自不同經歷的不同原因。

關鍵詞：a big crowd，jam，early enough，go to the beach