听力题M: Could I have my bill, please? W: Certainly

听力题Centuries ago, during the Middle Ages

听力题W: Gosh, Fred, another cup of coffee

听力题M: Oh, look at the sky

听力题 The world''s smartest adolescents in mathematics and science are in Singapore, according to a global survey of educational achievement. In the 3rd International Mathematics and Science Study, 13-year-olds from Singapore achieved the best scores in standardized tests of maths and science that were administered to 287,896 students in 41 countries in 1994 and 1995. The survey suggests that science and maths education is especially strong in the Far East. While well behind those top scores, students from Australia earned higher marks in maths than their counterparts in England, who in tuna did better than American students. The study collected information on the students, teachers and homes. Not surprisingly, the highest-scoring students had well-educated parents or Came from homes containing study aids such as computers, dictionaries or even such elemental facilities as desks. The study shows that boys did generally better than girls in science, but there was little difference between them in maths. Boys scored better than girls in physics and chemistry. There were no sex differences in the life and environmental sciences. In addition to being tested, students in the project were asked how proficient they thought they were in maths and science. Students in some countries, such as Columbia and Kuwait, had an overly optimistic view of their skills. Meanwhile, some of the best students from Japan and Korea for example were needlessly pessimistic even though they did far better in maths than almost all the other students. The world''s smartest adolescents in mathematics and science are in Singapore, according to a global survey of educational achievement. In the 3rd International Mathematics and Science Study, 13-year-olds from Singapore achieved the best scores in standardized tests of maths and science that were administered to 287,896 students in 41 countries in 1994 and 1995. The survey suggests that science and maths education is especially strong in the Far East. While well behind those top scores, students from Australia earned higher marks in maths than their counterparts in England, who in tuna did better than American students. The study collected information on the students, teachers and homes. Not surprisingly, the highest-scoring students had well-educated parents or Came from homes containing study aids such as computers, dictionaries or even such elemental facilities as desks. The study shows that boys did generally better than girls in science, but there was little difference between them in maths. Boys scored better than girls in physics and chemistry. There were no sex differences in the life and environmental sciences. In addition to being tested, students in the project were asked how proficient they thought they were in maths and science. Students in some countries, such as Columbia and Kuwait, had an overly optimistic view of their skills. Meanwhile, some of the best students from Japan and Korea for example were needlessly pessimistic even though they did far better in maths than almost all the other students.

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听力题M: Hi Helen

听力题W: I want to register for this mathematics course

听力题 A deadly infectious outbreak swept through a small city in Zaire, Africa last spring, killing more than one hundred people. The killer was a rare virus that caused most victims to bleed to death. As scientists rushed to control the outbreak, people in the U.S. wondered "Could it attack here." "We are foolish if we think it couldn''t come to our country," say doctors. The virus can be highly infectious. If you come in contact with a victim''s blood or other body fluids, you can get sick, too. All it takes is one infected person to start such a disease. That''s what scientists believe happened in Zaire. The healthcare workers who treated the first victims there soon fell ill too. The problem was: they had no protective equipment to prevent themselves from being infected. International rescue workers brought equipment to Zaire soon after the outbreak occurred. Now the disease appears to be under control. One big mystery is that no one knows where the virus comes from or where it will strike next Some scientists say that the virus lies inactive in the cells of some kind of plant, insect or other animals. Then it somehow finds a way to infect humans. Scientists are now headed into the jungles of Africa to find out where the virus lives. Once they find the virus, they also hope to find ways to combat it. A deadly infectious outbreak swept through a small city in Zaire, Africa last spring, killing more than one hundred people. The killer was a rare virus that caused most victims to bleed to death. As scientists rushed to control the outbreak, people in the U.S. wondered "Could it attack here." "We are foolish if we think it couldn''t come to our country," say doctors. The virus can be highly infectious. If you come in contact with a victim''s blood or other body fluids, you can get sick, too. All it takes is one infected person to start such a disease. That''s what scientists believe happened in Zaire. The healthcare workers who treated the first victims there soon fell ill too. The problem was: they had no protective equipment to prevent themselves from being infected. International rescue workers brought equipment to Zaire soon after the outbreak occurred. Now the disease appears to be under control. One big mystery is that no one knows where the virus comes from or where it will strike next Some scientists say that the virus lies inactive in the cells of some kind of plant, insect or other animals. Then it somehow finds a way to infect humans. Scientists are now headed into the jungles of Africa to find out where the virus lives. Once they find the virus, they also hope to find ways to combat it.

听力题 Living things take from their environment and give back to their environment. In other words, living things and their environment are interdependent. Living things take matter and energy from the environment, and return matter and energy to the environment. For instance, animals feed on plants, or on other animals. And they return materials to the environment. This interaction goes on continually. Man also is in active give-and-take relations with his environment. However, there is one way in which man is different. Other living things do not change their environment the way man does. Man is not only adapted to the environment. He alters his environment in other complex ways. How is it that man can alter his environment, as no other living thing can? It is because of his brain. With his brain, man learns. Man''s brain makes it possible for him to record what he learns. He puts his records in words, in pictures, in sounds. In this way man can pass on what he learns to other men. Living things take from their environment and give back to their environment. In other words, living things and their environment are interdependent. Living things take matter and energy from the environment, and return matter and energy to the environment. For instance, animals feed on plants, or on other animals. And they return materials to the environment. This interaction goes on continually. Man also is in active give-and-take relations with his environment. However, there is one way in which man is different. Other living things do not change their environment the way man does. Man is not only adapted to the environment. He alters his environment in other complex ways. How is it that man can alter his environment, as no other living thing can? It is because of his brain. With his brain, man learns. Man''s brain makes it possible for him to record what he learns. He puts his records in words, in pictures, in sounds. In this way man can pass on what he learns to other men.

听力题W: Hey, Charlie, I''ve been thinking. M: Oh, yeah

听力题W: Ok

听力题W: Hello, Patrick, is that you? M: Yeah Jane

听力题Questions19to22arebasedontherecordingyouhavejustheard

听力题Questions 19 to 21 are based on the recording you have just heard

听力题 The estimated one-fifth of children in London''s schools who cannot read simple sentences by the age of eight should be given special help. This is the main conclusion of an independent report on London''s 700 primary schools. The report, which is the result of a year''s work, tells London''s primary schools that they must demand more of their children. Most parents were happy with the schools, but some said that their children''s pace of learning might be too slow. The report confirmed this by stating that much of the new work must have been taught at the same level of difficulty as the old. The report emphasized that children should not be tortured but more should have been expected of them in schools. This would mean that some children might have achieved much more than the limited demands made on them by comprehension exercises or copying out from textbooks. Mrs. Morel, who commissioned the report, said that all London''s schools must put into effect a framework of reform. Every child ought to be able to read by the age of eight. Other reforms mentioned in the report were that parents should be better represented on school governing committees and that each school ought to draw up a development plan, listing what improvements it can make. Parents should also be represented on the education committee. The estimated one-fifth of children in London''s schools who cannot read simple sentences by the age of eight should be given special help. This is the main conclusion of an independent report on London''s 700 primary schools. The report, which is the result of a year''s work, tells London''s primary schools that they must demand more of their children. Most parents were happy with the schools, but some said that their children''s pace of learning might be too slow. The report confirmed this by stating that much of the new work must have been taught at the same level of difficulty as the old. The report emphasized that children should not be tortured but more should have been expected of them in schools. This would mean that some children might have achieved much more than the limited demands made on them by comprehension exercises or copying out from textbooks. Mrs. Morel, who commissioned the report, said that all London''s schools must put into effect a framework of reform. Every child ought to be able to read by the age of eight. Other reforms mentioned in the report were that parents should be better represented on school governing committees and that each school ought to draw up a development plan, listing what improvements it can make. Parents should also be represented on the education committee.

听力题Video recorders and photocopiers, even ticket machines on the railways, often seem unnecessarily difficult to use. Last December I bought myself a Video cassette recorder (36)_________as "simple to use". In the first three weeks I failed (37)_________to program the machine to record from the TV, and after months of practice I still made mistakes. I am not alone. According to a (38)_________last year by Ferguson, the British manufacturer, more than one in four VCR owners never use the timer on their machines to record a programmer: they don''t use it because they''ve found it far too hard to operate. So why do manufacturers keep on designing and producing VCRs that are (39)_________ to use if the problems are so obvious? First, the problems we notice are not obvious to (40)_________ minded designers with years of experience and trained to understand how (41)_________work. Secondly, designers tend to add one or two features at a time to each model, (42)_________ you or I face all a machine''s features at once. Thirdly, although finding problems in a finished product is easy, it is too late by then to do anything about the design. Finally, if manufacturers can get away with selling products that are difficult to use, it is not worth the (43)_________of any one of them to make improvements. (44) ____________________________. But that gives rise to the question, "why can''t you have features that are easy to use?" The answer is you can. (45) ____________________________. For a start, designers should build an original model of the machine and try it out on typical members of the public — not on colleagues in the development laboratory. (46) ____________________________. In an ideal world, there would be some ways of controlling quality such as that the VCR must be redesigned repeatedly until, say, 90 percent of users can work 90 percent of the features correctly 90 percent of the time.

听力题 Both John and Sue joined the staff of a successful public relation''s firm in New York during the same year. They had just completed their PR degrees at a nearby university and were thrilled to be hired by one of the finest PR firms in the city. John''s first assignment was to create a promotion campaign for a client who was to put in a new game on the market. Initially Sue was assigned to work with a sportswear company on the marketing concept for its newest line of clothing. As time passed and work with their respective first clients became more and more difficult, John and Sue realized that they had been assigned two of the toughest accounts in town. Although John completed his assignment quickly and successfully, he was furious when he learned that the boss had deliberately assigned him a difficult account. In response, he not only complained to his colleagues, but also to the boss''s secretary. Sue, on the other hand, had a more difficult time satisfying her first client and she took several additional months to actually complete the project. However, she just laughed when she heard that the boss had made the assignments purposely. Over the next two years John worked reluctantly with each assignment and problem that he encountered. Sue accepted each assignment cheerfully and when problems arose she responded with her characteristic, "No problem, I can handle it." Although Sue took longer to complete her projects than John and both were equally successful on the assignments they completed, Sue was given the first promotion when there came a vacancy. Both John and Sue joined the staff of a successful public relation''s firm in New York during the same year. They had just completed their PR degrees at a nearby university and were thrilled to be hired by one of the finest PR firms in the city. John''s first assignment was to create a promotion campaign for a client who was to put in a new game on the market. Initially Sue was assigned to work with a sportswear company on the marketing concept for its newest line of clothing. As time passed and work with their respective first clients became more and more difficult, John and Sue realized that they had been assigned two of the toughest accounts in town. Although John completed his assignment quickly and successfully, he was furious when he learned that the boss had deliberately assigned him a difficult account. In response, he not only complained to his colleagues, but also to the boss''s secretary. Sue, on the other hand, had a more difficult time satisfying her first client and she took several additional months to actually complete the project. However, she just laughed when she heard that the boss had made the assignments purposely. Over the next two years John worked reluctantly with each assignment and problem that he encountered. Sue accepted each assignment cheerfully and when problems arose she responded with her characteristic, "No problem, I can handle it." Although Sue took longer to complete her projects than John and both were equally successful on the assignments they completed, Sue was given the first promotion when there came a vacancy.

听力题 The worldwide organization of the Red Cross stems from the idea of Henri Dunant, a Swiss banker. In 1838, at the age of ten, Dunant was taken by his father to visit a prison. There he saw prisoners chained together exercising in the yard and breaking stones along the road. This experience left a deep impression on him and made him determined to do something for convicts and slaves and for all who were oppressed and deprived of their liberty. On 24th June 1859 while on his way from Geneva to France. Dunant witnessed the battle between the French and Austrian armies. It was one of the fiercest battles of the 19th century. Shocked by the lack of medical supplies and attention given to the wounded, Dunant decided that volunteer service had to be organized. He gathered together a number of women who attended the hundreds of wounded soldiers of all nationalities and ''helped the surgeons as best as they could. From that battle, Dunant determined to form a body of people who would rally together in times of war and attend to the needs of the wounded and dying. Dunant held that a suffering human being should be helped for his own sake only without regard to race, religion, or political beliefs. Many European states supported him and on 22nd August 1864, the first Geneva Convention was signed. This lays down that once a soldier is wounded, he and everyone who comes to his help cease to be an enemy. A symbol by which the relief workers could be recognized was devised. As a tribute to Switzerland, the symbol was the Swiss flag reversed. That is a red cross on a white ground. So the Red Cross was born. The worldwide organization of the Red Cross stems from the idea of Henri Dunant, a Swiss banker. In 1838, at the age of ten, Dunant was taken by his father to visit a prison. There he saw prisoners chained together exercising in the yard and breaking stones along the road. This experience left a deep impression on him and made him determined to do something for convicts and slaves and for all who were oppressed and deprived of their liberty. On 24th June 1859 while on his way from Geneva to France. Dunant witnessed the battle between the French and Austrian armies. It was one of the fiercest battles of the 19th century. Shocked by the lack of medical supplies and attention given to the wounded, Dunant decided that volunteer service had to be organized. He gathered together a number of women who attended the hundreds of wounded soldiers of all nationalities and ''helped the surgeons as best as they could. From that battle, Dunant determined to form a body of people who would rally together in times of war and attend to the needs of the wounded and dying. Dunant held that a suffering human being should be helped for his own sake only without regard to race, religion, or political beliefs. Many European states supported him and on 22nd August 1864, the first Geneva Convention was signed. This lays down that once a soldier is wounded, he and everyone who comes to his help cease to be an enemy. A symbol by which the relief workers could be recognized was devised. As a tribute to Switzerland, the symbol was the Swiss flag reversed. That is a red cross on a white ground. So the Red Cross was born.

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