Part I Listening Comprehension (20 minutes)
Section A
Directions: In this section, you will hear 10 short conversations. At the end of each conversation, a question will be asked about what was said. Both the conversation and the question will be spoken only once. After each question there will be a pause. During the pause, you must read the four choices marked A), B), C) and D), and decide which is the best answer. Then mark the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet with a single line through the centre.
Example:
You will hear:
You will read:
A) At the office.
B) In the waiting room.
C) At the airport.
D) In a restaurant.
From the conversation we know that the two were talking about some work they had to finish in the evening. This is most likely to have taken place at the office. Therefore, A) “At the office” is the best answer. You should choose [A] on the Answer Sheet and mark it with a single line through the centre.
Sample Answer [A] [C] [D]
1. A) At a theatre.
B) At a booking office.
C) At a railway station.
D) At a restaurant.
2. A) The man is inviting the woman to dinner.
B) The woman is too busy to join the man for dinner.
C) The woman is a friend of the Stevensons.
D) The man is going to visit the Stevensons.
3. A) The professor’s presentation was not convincing enough.
B) The professor’s lecture notes were too complicated.
C) The professor spoke with a strong accent.
D) The professor spoke too fast.
4. A) The furnished apartment was inexpensive.
B) The apartment was provided with some old furniture.
C) The furniture in the market was on sale every Sunday.
D) The furniture he bought was very cheap.
5. A) The man is thinking about taking a new job.
B) The man likes a job that enables him to travel.
C) The man is sure that he will gain more by taking the job.
D) The man doesn’t want to stay home and take care of their child.
6. A) Take the GRE test again in 8 weeks.
B) Call to check his scores.
C) Be patient and wait.
D) Inquire when the test scores are released.
7. A) She read it selectively.
B) She went over it chapter by chapter.
C) She read it slowly.
D) She finished it at a stretch.
8. A) He was kept in hospital for a long time.
B) He was slightly injured in a traffic accident.
C) He was seriously wounded in a mine explosion.
D) He was fined for speeding.
9. A) Wait for a taxi.
B) Buy some food.
C) Go on a trip.
D) Book train tickets.
10. A) It’s not as hard as expected.
B) It’s too tough for some students.
C) It’s much more difficult than people think.
D) It’s believed to be the hardest optional course.
Section B
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 choice marked A), B), C) and D). Then mark the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet with a single line through the centre.
Questions 11 to 13 are based on the passage you have just heard.
11. A) Anxious and worried.
B) Proud and excited.
C) Nervous and confused.
D) Inspired and confident.
12. A) His father scolded him severely.
B) His father took back the six dollars.
C) His father made him do the cutting again.
D) His father cut the leaves himself.
13. A) One can benefit a lot from working with his father.
B) Manual labourers shouldn’t be looked down upon.
C) One should always do his job earnestly.
D) Teenagers tend to be careless.
Questions 14 to 16 are based on the passage you have just heard.
14. A) He ran a village shop.
B) He worked on a farm.
C) He worked in an advertising agency.
D) He was a gardener.
15. A) It was stressful.
B) It was colorful.
C) It was peaceful.
D) It was boring.
16. A) His desire to start Iris own business.
B) The crisis in his family life.
C) The decline in his health.
D) His dream of living in the countryside.
Questions 17 to 20 are based on the passage you have just heard.
17. A) Because there are no signs to direct them.
B) Because no tour guides are available.
C) Because all the buildings in the city look alike.
D) Because the university is everywhere in the city.
18. A) They set their own exams.
B) They select their own students.
C) They award their own degrees.
D) They organize their own laboratory work.
19. A) Most of them have a long history.
B) Many of them are specialized libraries.
C) They house more books than any other university library.
D) They each have a copy of every book published in Britain.
20. A) Very few of them are engaged in research.
B) They were not awarded degrees until 1948.
C) They have outnumbered male students.
D) They were not treated equally until 1881.
Part II Reading Comprehension (35 minutes)
Directions: There are 4 passages in this part. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A), B), C) and D). You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet with a single line through the centre.
Passage One
Questions 21 to 25 are based on the following passage.
On average, American kids ages 3 to 12 spent 29 hours a week in school, eight hours more that they did in 1981. They also did more household work and participated in more of such organized activities as soccer and ballet (芭蕾舞). Involvement in sports, in particular, rose almost 50% from 1981 to 1997: boys now spend an average of four hours a week playing sports; girls log hall that time. All in all, however, children’s leisure time dropped from 40% of the day in 1981 to 25%
“Children are affected by the same time crunch (危机) that affects their parents,” says Sandra Hofferth, who headed the recent study of children’s timetable. A chief reason, she says, is that more mothers are working outside the home. (Nevertheless, children in both double-income and “male breadwinner” households spent comparable amounts of time interacting with their parents 19 hours and 22 hours respectively. In contrast, children spent only 9 hours with their single mothers.)
All work and no play could make for some very messed-up kids. “Play is the most powerful way a child explores the world and learns about himself,” says T. Berry Brazelton, professor at Harvard Medical School Unstructured play encourages independent thinking and allows the young to negotiate their relationships with their peers, but kids ages 3 to 12 spent only 12 hours a week engaged in it.
The children sampled spent a quarter of their rapidly decreasing “free time” watching television. But that, believe it or not, was one of the findings parents might regard as good news. If they’re spending less time in front of the TV set, however, kids aren’t replacing it with reading. Despite efforts to get kids more interested in books, the children spent just over an hour a week reading. Let’s face it, who’s got the time?
21. By mentioning “the same time crunch” (Line 1, Para. 2) Sandra Hofferth