填空题 Directions: In this section, you will hear a passage three times. When the passage is read for the first time, you should listen carefully for its general idea. When the passage is read for the second time, you are required to fill in the blanks with the exact words you have just heard. Finally, when the passage is read for the third time, you should check what you have written.
Many people are closely following the political polls during the final weeks preceding this important election. But how do these polls actually work? Polls are surveys of a {{U}} {{U}} 1 {{/U}} {{/U}}small number of people compared to the actual number who will vote. They are an attempt to determine who may actually win an election {{U}} {{U}} 2 {{/U}} {{/U}}the final vote. Let's say that 100 million people {{U}} {{U}} 3 {{/U}} {{/U}}vote in the general election. If 100 people are asked for their opinions, each respondent represents a million voters. Obviously, the results of such a poll are not very {{U}} {{U}} 4 {{/U}} {{/U}}. The more people surveyed, the more {{U}} {{U}} 5 {{/U}} {{/U}}are the results. Pollsters have various ways of making their polls more accurate. They try to find a representative variety of people to question. For example, they look for people with similar {{U}} {{U}} 6 {{/U}} {{/U}}and from similar regions to those of all the voters. Pollsters also ask questions that try to determine how many people who support each candidate will actually vote. If a candidate has a higher percentage of enthusiastic supporters than his opponent, he has a better chance of winning than the simple numbers might suggest. Pollsters may only count those who they {{U}} {{U}} 7 {{/U}} {{/U}}"likely voters". Polls often ask potential voters what they like or dislike about each candidate. The campaigns use those results to help them decide which issues to stress or which positions to {{U}} {{U}} 8 {{/U}} {{/U}}. Because no two people are the same, polls can never be perfect {{U}} {{U}} 9 {{/U}} {{/U}}of the real vote. But they can give important clues as to where things may be heading. At the very least, if you like politics, polls can be great {{U}} {{U}} 10 {{/U}} {{/U}}.