SECTION C NEWS BROADCAST
Directions: In this section you will hear everything ONCE ONLY. Listen carefully and then answer the questions that follow. At the end of each news item, you will be given 10 seconds to answer the questions.
听力原文: President Clinton begins a 3-day campaign-styled trip to the western US later today to highlight his domestic agenda.
White House spokesman says crime, the most important issue for Americans this election year according to public opinion polls, will be a key theme of President Clinton's trips to California, Nevada and New Mexico. Mr Clinton's presumptive Republican challenger, retiring Senator Bob Dole, has repeatedly disapproved of Mr Clinton's record on fighting crime. The president is expected to argue that his policies have helped make American communities safer places. Mr Clinton will also attend a number of politicalfund-raising events during his visits to California and Nevada.
Senator Bob Dole's attitude towards Clinton's anti-crime policy is that of
A. opposition.
B. support.
C. ambiguity.
D. indifference.
查看答案
Many AIDS experts are not completely satisfied with results of the study because
A. only a limited number of chimpanzees are used for sampling the virus.
B. it is now extremely difficult to find chimpanzees that carry the virus.
C. the samples collected are from two different subspecies of chimpanzees.
D. it does not provide reliable evidence of the link between SIV and HIV-
听力原文: Scientists say they can tell what air and sea conditions were like hundreds of thousands of years ago. They say pieces of ice taken from Greenland provide such information.
Scientists took the ice from more than one-and-a-half mile deep in huge masses of ice that float on the sea. That is the deepest scientists ever have drilled for ice. The ice represents 25,000 years of history. It provides one of the clearest records of ancient weather.
European and American scientific teams have been studying ice from the same area to confirm each other's findings. The scientists examine the ice that was formed each year. They measure the oxygen and carbon dioxide in the ice. These measurements tell about the year's temperature.
From these measurements, the scientific teams say that the past 10,000 years is the only period during which the weather has not changed very much. Before that time, they believe very large, sudden changes in the weather were common. The ice appears to show that at some periods, Earth's weather changed from very hot to very cold in only ten years.
According to the news, the ice from Greenland provides information about
A. oxygen.
B. ancient weather.
C. carbon dioxide.
D. temperature.
In Haverford on the Platte the townspeople still talk of Lucy Gayheart. They do not talk of her a great deal, to be sure; life goes on and we live in the present. But when they do mention her name it is with a gentle glow in the face or the voice, a confidential glance which says. "Yes, you, too, remember?" They still see her as a slight figure always in motion; dancing or skating, or walking swiftly with intense direction, like a bird flying home.
When there is a heavy snowfall, the older people look out of their windows and remember how Lucy used to come darting throughout just such storms, her muff against her cheek, not shrinking, but giving her body to the wind as if she were catching step with it. And in the heat of summer she came just as swiftly down the long shaded sidewalks and across the open squares blistering in the sun. In the breathless glare of August noons, when the horses hung their heads and the workmen "took it slow," she never took it slow. Cold, she used to say, made her feel more alive; heat must have had the same effect.
The townspeople of Haverford are
A. observant and kindly.
B. unused to weather extremes.
C. introverted and sullen.
D. gossipy and mean-spirited.
Cooperative competition. Competitive cooperation. Confused? Airline alliances have travellers scratching their heads over what's going on in the skies. Some folks view alliances as a blessing to travellers, offering seamless travel, reduced fares and enhanced frequent-flyer benefits. Others see a conspiracy of big businesses, causing decreased competition, increased fares and fewer choices. Whatever your opinion, there's no escaping airline alliances: the marketing hype is unrelenting, with each of the two mega- groupings, One world and Star Alliance, promoting itself as the best choice for all travellers And, even if you turn away from their ads, chances are they will figure in any of your travel plans. By the end of the year, Oneworld and Star Alliance will between them control more than 40% of the traffic in the sky. Some pundits predict that figure will be more like 75% in 10 years.
But why, after years of often ferocious competition, have airlines decided to band together? Let's just say the timing is mutually convenient North American airlines, having exhausted all means of earning customer loyalty at home, have been looking for ways to reach out to foreign flyers. Asian carriers are still hurting from the region-wide economic downturn that began two years ago just when some of the airlines were taking delivery of new aircraft. Alliances also allow carriers to cut costs and increase profits by pooling manpower resources on the ground (rather than each airline maintaining its own ground crew) and code-sharing -- the practice of two partners selling tickets and operating only one aircraft.
So alliances are terrific for airlines but are they good for the passenger? Absolutely, say the airlines: think of the lounges, the joint FFP (frequent flyer programme) benefits, the round-the-world fares, and the global service networks. Then there's the promise of "seamless" travel: the ability to, say, travel from Singapore to Rome to New York to Rio de Janiero, all on one ticket, without having to wait hours for connections or worry about your bags. Sounds utopian? Peter Buecking, Cathay Pacific's director of sales and marketing, thinks that seamless travel is still evolving. "It's fair to say that these links are only in their infancy. The key to seamlessness rests in infrastructure and information sharing. We're working on this." Henry Ma, spokesperson for Star Alliance in Hong Kong, lists some of the other benefits for consumers:"Global travellers have an easier time making connections and planning their itineraries." Ma claims alliances also assure passengers consistent service standards.
Critics of alliances say the much-touted benefits to the consumer are mostly pie in the sky, that alliances are all about reducing costs for the airlines, rationalizing services and running joint marketing programmes. Jeff Blyskal, associate editor of Consumer Reports magazine, says the promotional ballyhoo over alliances is much ado about nothing. "I don't see much of a gain for consumers: alliances arc just a marketing gimmick. And as far as seamless travel goes, I'll believe it when I see it. Most airlines can't even get their own connections under control, let alone coordinate with another airline."
Blyskal believes alliances will ultimately result in decreased flight choices and increased costs for consumers. Instead of two airlines competing and each operating a flight on the same route at 70% capacity, the allied pair will share the route and run one full flight. Since fewer seats will be available, passengers will be obliged to pay more for tickets.
The truth about alliances and their merits probably lies somewhere between the travel utopia presented by the players and the evil empires portrayed by their critics. And how much they affect you depends on what kind of traveller you are.
Those who've already made the elite grade
A. Delight.
B. Indifference.
C. Objection.
D. Puzzlement.