Narrator Listen to part of a lecture in a
biology class. Now get ready to answer the questions. You may
use your notes to help you answer.
单选题
What is the main purpose of the talk?
A. To review for an upcoming test.
B. To review material from an earlier lecture.
C. To go over a homework assignment.
D. To introduce points related to a new course.
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】[解析] 29-34 Professor When Charles Darwin published The Origin of Species in 1859, the first edition sold out overnight. His revolutionary theory of evolution was of interest not only to his fellow scientists, but to great numbers of ordinary people, who avidly read The Origin and argued over the details of the theory. Today, public interest in biology is even greater. When a previously unknown Scottish biologist cloned the first mammal, a sheep, in February of 1997, the story made front-page headlines all over the world and sharply increased the value of biotechnology stocks overnight. Biology is a discipline in full flower. Biologists now have the capacity to understand the workings and the interactions of organisms and—at the cellular level—to alter them, almost at will. Biologists have bred new crops, discovered the frailties and strengths of precious ecosystems, developed new treatments for diseases, and begun to solve many puzzles of the human mind. Spectacular as these developments are, they are a mixed blessing for instructors and their students. The sheer number of facts can be overwhelming. How, for example, can we remember the difference between a missense mutation and a nonsense mutation? Between a plasmodia slime mold and a cellular slime mold? And, more importantly, why should we care? Yet, to make even the simplest decisions in the 21st century you will need to understand how science works and, at least, the bare basics of biology. If you are sick, should you take an antibiotic? If one of your parents has a genetic disease, should you be tested for the disease- causing allele? If the vacant lot down the road is to be turned into a playing field, should the creek that runs through it be preserved? Is there any harm in running the creek through an underground, concrete culvert? The answers to all of these questions and hundreds of others depend on the ability to understand and evaluate scientific arguments. The greatest barrier to understanding science is the common misperception that science is inaccessible to ordinary folks. We know that it is accessible. It's about asking questions, getting a partial answer, and then asking further questions. [解析] 本题为要点题，要求考生理解分散在听力材料中的关键词汇、词组和事实，并通过综合分析来确定听力材料的要点。综合分析全文要点，可以总结出本讲座的主要目的是：对新课程进行初步的介绍。所以答案应为D项。
多选题
The professor mentions two great figures in the field of biology. What
are their common attributes in the professor's viewpoint?
[Clink on 2 answers.]
A. They always used the same well-known and trusted techniques.
B. They received wide public attention after their major contributions to
biology.
C. They were both unknown during early stages of their careers and later
gained widespread recognition.
D. Their theories and contributions stimulated the field of biology to a
great extent.
单选题
According to the professor, which is true about the role of biology in
people's life?
A. Biology is too difficult for ordinary people to understand.
B. Biology is less important compared with medical science.
C. Biology, like other sciences, is only important to scientists.
D. Biology is one of the most important sciences related to people's
everyday life.
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】[解析] 本题为细节题。题目问：关于生物学在人们生活中的作用，哪一个说法正确?A项说生物学太难了，一般人难以理解；B项说生物学与医学比起来显得没那么重要；C项说如同其他科学一样，生物学只对科研工作者显得重要；D项说生物学是与人们生活相关的最重要的学科之一。根据此句:“Yet, to make even the simplest decisions in the 21st century you will need to understand how science works and, at least, the bare basics of biology(在21世纪，即使是做个最简单的决定，也需要懂得科学道理，至少懂得生物学的基本原理)”，可知D项为正确答案。
单选题
What does the professor mean when he says this?
A. Scientific knowledge is easy to understand.
B. We can never be sure about the answers to any questions.
C. Asking questions is the correct method to engage science.
D. We need to ask questions in order to ensure our mastery of
knowledge.
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】[解析] 本题为语用理解题中的功能题，要求考生理解讲话者的目的。题目问：教授说该句话的真实意思是什么：“We know that it is accessible. It's about asking questions, getting a partial answer, and then asking further questions. (我们知道科学是可以理解的。那就是提出问题，得到部分答案，再问另一个问题的学问。)”A项(科学知识都容易理解)、B项(我们从不能对任何问题的答案表示肯定)、D项(我们需要通过提问来检查对知识的掌握)都不是教授所表达的意思。只有C项(提出问题是学习科学的正确方法)与教授的原意接近，因此C为正确答案。
单选题
Why does the professor pose so many questions to the students in this
beginning class?
A. To help explain the difficulties in this course.
B. To help explain why the class will take a long time to finish.
C. To give a good demonstration of the diversity of biological study.
D. To give an oral test of the students' general knowledge about
biology.