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: Have you heard of the new fitness centre they're building downtown?
M: Yeah. I can hardly wait for it to open.
Q: What does the man mean?
(12)
A. The centre has just opened.
B. He's looking forward to using the centre.
C. The door to the fitness centre is locked.
D. There are long lines to get into the centre.
听力原文:M: Boy! How quickly technology changes! So many people have a computer in their home nowadays.
W: I know. I feel so behind the times.
Q: What can be inferred about the woman?
(14)
A. She has gotten behind in her work.
B. Her computer is the latest model.
C. She keeps her computer at home.
D. She doesn't have a computer.
In many parts of the world cars play an essential role in daily life and many societies would cease to function without them. So, tile claim that in 20 years' time, no one will own cars may be hard to believe. But this is tile prediction made by a team of transport researchers who are taken seriously, not only by governments but also by car manufacturers.
The Human Science and Advanced Technology Institute at Loughborough in the U. K. is part of an international research program. The team there believes that by 2020 all cars will be computerized which will mean gigantic fuel savings, no accidents and better use of roads. The super-intelligent car of the 21 st century will drive itself, and it will not be owned by one individual. Instead, we will have a choice of cars and change them as frequently as we change our clothing.
According to Dr. David Davies, who leads the research team, these predictions are based on the rising cost of the car culture, which had blocked up our cities, polluted our air, and caused more deaths' than both world wars put together. Davies says, cars will be fitted with intelligent cruise-con-trol devices to regulate the distance between one car and another. Brakes and accelerators will become redundant(多余的) because the car will automatically speed up, or slow down, to match the speed of the car in front. Computers are much safer drivers than people, so cars and trains will be able to drive much closer together than cars driven by people.
By 2010, David Davies maintains, car technology will give motorists a clear view of the road, whatever the weather conditions, by projecting an image of the road ahead onto the car's windscreen. And, by 2020, cars will travel in convoy, linked to each other electronically. Cars will be connected by an electronically bar to the car in front to form. "road-train". "The front vehicle in such a train," says Davies. "But all the others in the train would burn about ten percent of the normal amount, and so produce about ten percent of the poollution."
We know that governments and car manufacturers______.
A. don't believe the prediction that nobody will own cars by 2020
B. are devoted to the technological innovation in car industry
C. consider the predictions made by the researchers seriously
D. have put the super-intelligent car into mass production