【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】[解析] 7-11
Student How are you, Professor Smith!
Professor How are you, Gillian! Anything I can do for you?
Student Well, I know you've been studying old age and just presented a very interesting and original report on it. And people are now talking a lot about old age. I'm a volunteer reporter with the students' journal Sailor, so I decide to write something in the journal about it. So, would you please spare me a few minutes?
Professor Sure! I'm very happy that my report has attracted a reporter's attention.
Student Many thanks! Professor Smith, can you tell me what you think your report on old people will achieve?
Professor We hope that it will help to change people's feelings about old age. The problem is that far too many of us believe that most old people are poor, sick, lonely and unhappy. And this is very dangerous for our society.
Student But surely we can't escape the fact that many old people are lonely and many are sick.
Professor No, we can't. But we must also remember that the proportion of such people is no greater among the 60 to 70 age group than among the 50 to 60 age group.
Student In other words, you mean, there is no more mental illness, for example, among the 60 to 70-year olds than the 50 to 60-year olds.
Professor Right. And why should there be? Why should we expect people to change suddenly when they reach their 60th or 65th birthday any more than they did when they reached their 21st? Now that the computer age has arrived in industry, the normal age for retirement may be lowered to 60 or even 55. Shall we then say that old age begins at 55?
Student But one would expect there to be more physical illnesses among old people, surely?
Professor Why should one expect this? After all, those people who reach the age of 65 or 70 are the strong among us. The weak die mainly in childhood, then in their 40's and 50's. Furthermore, by the time people reach 60 or 65, they have learned how to look after themselves; they keep warm, sleep regular hours, and eat sensibly.
Student This sounds reasonable. But there are still a lot of people who suffer from physical illness.
Professor Of course, some old people do suffer from physical illness, but these do not suddenly develop on their 65th birthday. People who are healthy in middle age tend to be healthy in old age, just as one would expect.
Student Are people's mental abilities affected by old age?
Professor Certain changes do take place as we grow order, but this happens throughout life. These changes are very gradual, and happen at different times with different people. But, in general, if you know a person well in his middle age and have seen how he deals with events and problems, you will easily recognize him in old age.
Student So someone who enjoys new experiences—travel, education, and so on—in his middle years will usually continue to do so into old age.
Professor Exactly. And we have carried out some very interesting experiments about old people's mental abilities.
Student Really? Would you please say something about the experiments?
Professor Sure. In the experiments, we have two groups of people. One group are aged 60 to 70 and the other aged 30 to 40. They were required to learn the same things. The first thing we discovered was that the old group took longer to learn; eventually they performed as well as the young group. And when we tested the two groups several weeks later, there was again no difference between the two groups.
Student That's very interesting indeed. All right, Professor Smith. I wish that I could hear more about your studies but I have another appointment with Professor Jackson at five o'clock. Thank you so much for having accepted my interview.
Professor You are welcome.
Student Good-bye, Professor Smith.
Professor Bye-bye.
[解析] 本题为细节题，考查考生对话语细节的捕捉。题目问：教授研究老年人的目的是什么?学生记者在问教授“Can you tell me what you think your report on old people will achieve? (您认为您关于老年人的研究报告能起到什么样的作用?)”时，教授回答道：“We hope that it will help to change people's feelings about old age(我们希望它能够改变人们对老年人的一些看法。)”由此可知，D项应为该题的答案。

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】[解析] 本题为细节题，要求考生理解并记住对话中所谈到的细节或事实，如说明和解释要点的例证或事实。题目问：根据采访内容，以下哪项不属于公众对老年人的一般性看法?A项的意思为老年人通常在精神上比较健硕；B项为老年人通常身体比较虚弱；C项为老年人通常缺少陪伴；D项为老年人通常过着独居生活。从学生记者所说的“But surely we can't escape the fact that many old people are lonely and many are sick(但是我们不能否认很多老人生活孤独而且很多体弱多病)”和“But one would expect there to be more physical illnesses among old people, surely?(但是人们往往认为老人们有更多的身体疾病，是这样吗?)”两句话中，可以知道B、C、D选项均为公众对老年人的一般性看法，而A项所述的观点并未在对话中提及，故选择A项。

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】[解析] 本题为细节题，考查的仍是对话中的细节和事实。教授说：“The first thing we discovered was that the old group took longer to learn; eventually they performed as well as the young group. And when we tested the two groups several weeks later, there was again no difference between the two groups. (我们发现的第一点是，老年人学习所花的时间较长，但最后他们的表现和年轻组一样好；而且我们几周后对两个组再次进行测验，发现这两个组的表现还是没有区别。)”因此，我们可以判断B项为正确选项。

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】[解析] 本题为语用理解题，要求考生通过对听力材料的理解，推断出说话者所说话语的语用功能。教授所说这段话的中文意思是：为什么我们总觉得人们到了60岁或65岁的时候突然间发生的变化要比人们到达21岁时所发生的变化大呢?结合教授所说的下句话：“Now that the computer age has arrived in industry, the normal age for retirement may be lowered to 60 or even 55. Shall we then say that old age begins at 55? (现在我们正处于电脑化的工业时代，正常的退休年龄可能降至60岁甚至55岁。那么我们是不是要说，老年阶段从55岁就开始了?)”，我们可以推断教授的意思是：老年人可以和年轻人一样强壮。因此该题选择C项。

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】[解析] 本题为内在关系题，该题要求考生能够预测所表述事件的结果、或得出结论、或评价信息、或进行准确的概括、或得出具有逻辑性的推测等。这句话的中文意思是：“当然，有些老年人确实遭受着身体上病痛的折磨，但这些病痛并不是在他们65岁的时候一下子产生的。就像人们通常认为的那样，中年时代身体强壮的人往往在老年的时候也比较健康。”选项A的意思是身体疾病是伴随着老龄化出现的；选项B的意思是身体上的变化是渐渐地发生的；选项C的意思是人们突然在65岁时变得虚弱；选项D的意思是疾病最容易在65岁时发生。因此，很容易判断出选项A、C、D的内容都与教授所表达的意思不符，选项B才是正确答案。