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 choices marked A, B, C and D.
听力原文: Not long ago it was assumed that the dangers man would meet in space would be terrible, the main ones being radiation and the danger of being hit by meteors. It is perhaps worth remembering 'that less than two centuries ago the dangers of train travel seemed similarly terrible. A man would certainly die, it was thought, if carried along at a speed of thirty kilometers per hour.
(26)There are two sorts of radiation man must fear in space. The first is radiation from the sun, and this is particularly dangerous when the sun is very active and explosions are occurring on its surface. The second, less harmful form. comes from the so-caned Van Allen Belts. There are two areas of radiation about 1 500 miles away from the earth. (28) Neither of these forms of radiation area danger to us on the earth, since we are protected by our atmosphere. Specifically, it is that part of our atmosphere known as the ozonosphere which protects us. This is a belt of the chemical ozone between 12 and 21 miles from the ground, which absorbs all the radiation.
(28) Once outside the atmosphere, however, man is no longer protected, and radiation can be harmful in a number of ways. A distinction must be drawn between the short-and long-term effects of radiation. The former are merely unpleasant, but just because (27) an astronaut returning from a journey in space does not seem to have been greatly harmed, we cannot assume that he is safe. The long-term effects can be extremely serious, even leading to death.
(27)
A. Radiation from the sun.
B. Radiation from the Van Allen Belts.
C. Radiation from the meteors.
D. Radiation from the Van Allen Belts and from the meteors.
Yet there are also many ways our social statistics underestimate the degree of labor-market-related hardship. The unemployment counts exclude millions of fully employed workers whose wages are so low that their families remain in poverty. Low wages and repeated or prolonged unemployment frequently interact to undermine the capacity for self-support. Since the number experiencing joblessness at some time during the year is several times the number unemployed in any month, those who suffer as a result of forced idleness can equal or exceed average annual unemployment, even though only a minority of the jobless in any month really suffers. For every person counted in the monthly unemployment tallies, there is another part-time working because of the inability to find fulltime work, or else outside the labor force but wanting a job. Finally, income transfers in our country have always focused on the elderly, disabled, and dependent, neglecting the needs of the working poor, so that the dramatic expansion of cash and in kind transfers does not necessarily mean that those failings in the labor market are adequately protected.
As a result of such contradictory evidence, it is uncertain whether those suffering seriously as a result of labor market problems number in the hundreds of thousands or the tens of millions, and hence, whether high levels of joblessness can be tolerated or must be countered by job creation and economic stimulus. There is only one area of agreement in this debate—that the existing poverty, employment, and earnings statistics are inadequate for one of their primary applications, measuring the consequences of labor market problems.
Which of the following does "labor market problems" (Line 1, Para. 1) refer to?
A. Shortage of Jobs providing adequate income.
B. Deficiencies in the training of the work force.
C. Trade relationships among producers of goods.
D. The overall causes of poverty.
听力原文:M: How many students passed the final physics exam in your class?
W: Forty, but still as many as 20 percent of the class failed. Quite disappointing, isn't it?
Q: What does the woman think of the exam?
(13)
A. It wasn't very well designed.
B. Its results were just as expected.
C. It fully reflected the students' ability.
D. Its results fell short of her expectations.
Section A
Directions: In this section, you will hear 8 short conversations and 2 long conversations. At the end of each conversation, one or more questions will be asked about what was said. Both the conversation and the questions 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.
听力原文:W: Professor Johnson helps me so much that I'm thinking of buying him a book of poetry.
M: I think you should get him a record, just because being an English teacher doesn't mean all he does is reading.
Q: What does the man mean?
(12)
A. English teachers usually like reading a lot.
B. The English like to read a lot and listen to music.
C. Not everyone from England likes to read all the time.
D. People who teach English like things other than books.