英語專業(yè)八級聽力tem8-01-02.mp3
2001年英語專業(yè)八級考試試題
Part Ⅰ Listening Comprehension (40 min)
In Sections A, B and C you will hear everything ONCE ONLY. Listen carefully a nd then answer the questions that follow. Mark the correct response to each ques tion on your Coloured Answer Sheet.
SECTION A TALK
Questions 1 to 5 refer to the talk in this section. At the end of the talk you w ill be given 15 seconds to answer each of the following five questions. Now list en to the talk.
1. Changes in the size of the World Bank’ s operations refer to ___.
A. the expansion of its loan programme
B. the inclusion of its hard loans
C. the inclusion of its soft loans
D. the previous lending policies
2. What actually made the Bank change its overall lending strategy?
A. Reluctance of people in poor countries to have small families.
B. Lack of basic health services and inequality in income distribution.
C. The discovery that a low fertility rate would lead to economic development.
D. Poor nutrition and low literacy in many poor countries of the world.
3. The change in emphasis of the Bank’s lending policies meant that the Bank would ___.
A. be more involved in big infrastructure projects
B. adopt similar investment strategies in poor and rich countries
C. embark upon a review of the investment in huge dams and steel mills
D.invest in projects that would benefit the low-income sector of society
4. Which of the following is NOT a criticism of the bank?
A. Colossal travel expenses of its staff.
B. Fixed annual loans to certain countries.
C. Limited impact of the Bank’s projects.
D. Role as a financial deal maker.
5. Throughout the talk, the speaker is ___ while introducing the Wor ld Bank.
A. biased B. unfriendly C. objective D. sensational
SECTION B CONVERSATION
Questions 6 to 10 are based on a conversation. At the end of the conversation yo u will be given 15 seconds to answer the question. Now listen to the conversatio n.
6. The man sounds surprised at the fact that ___.
A. many Australians are taking time off to travel
B. the woman worked for some time in New Zealand
C. the woman raised enough money for travel
D. Australians prefer to work in New Zealand
7. We learn that the woman liked Singapore mainly because of its ___.
A. cleanness B. multi-ethnicity C. modern characteristics D. shopping opportunities
8. From the conversation we can infer that Kaifeng and Yinchuan impressed the woman with their ___.
A. respective locations B. historic interests C. ancient tombs D. Jewish descendants
9. Which of the following words can best describe the woman’s feelings a bout Tibet?
A. Amusement. B. Disbelief. C. Ecstasy. D. Delig ht
10. According to the conversation, it was that made the woman ready to stop traveling.
A. the unsettledness of travel
B. the difficulties of trekking
C. the loneliness of travel
D. the unfamiliar environment
SECTION C NEWS BROADCAST
Questions 11 and 12 are based on the following news. At the end of the news item , you will be given 30 seconds to answer the questions. Now listen to the news.
11. Mike Tyson was put in prison last August because he ___.
A. violated the traffic law
B. illegally attacked a boxer
C. attacked sb. after a traffic accident
D. failed to finish his contract
12. The license granted to Tyson to fight will be terminated ___.
A. by the end of the year B. in over a year C. in August D. in a few weeks
Question 13 is based on the following news. At the end of the news item, you wil l be given 15 seconds to answer the question. Now listen to the news.
13. The Russian documents are expected to draw great attention because ___.
A. they cover the whole story of the former US president
B. the assassin used to live in the former Soviet Union
C. they are the only official documents released about Kennedy
D. they solved the mystery surrounding Kennedy’s assassination
Question 14 and 15 are based on the following news. At the end of the news item,
you will be given 30 seconds to answer the questions. New listen to the news.
14. In the recent three months, Hong Kong’s unemployment rate has ___.
A. increased slowly B. decreased gradually C. stayed steady D. become unpredictable
15. According to the news, which of the following statements is TRUE?
A. Business conditions have worsened in the past three months.
B. The past three months have seen a declining trend in job offers.
C. The rise of unemployment rate in some sectors equals the fall in others.
D. The unemployment rate in all sectors of the economy remains unchanged.
SECTION D NOTE-TAKING AND GAP-FILLING
Fill each of gaps with ONE word. You may refer to your notes. Make sure the word you fill in is both grammatically and semantically acceptable.
The Press Conference
The press conference has certain advantages. The first advantage lies with the
(1)___ nature of the event itself; public officials are supposed to 1.___
submit to scrutiny by responding to various questions at a press conference.
Secondly, statements previously made at a press conference can be used as a
(2)___ in judging following statements or policies. Moreover, in case 2.___
of important events, press conferences are an effective way to break the news
to groups of reporters.
However, from the point of view of (3)___, the press conference 3.___
possesses some disadvantages, mainly in its(4)___ and news source. 4.___
The provider virtually determines the manner in which a press conference
proceeds. This, sometimes, puts news reporters at a(n)(5)___ , as can 5.___
be seen on live broadcasts of news conferences.
Factors in getting valuable information preparation: a need to keep up to date on journalistic subject matter;
—(6)___ of the news source: 6.___
1 ) news source’ s (7)___ to 7.___
provide information;
2)news-gathering methods.
Conditions under which news reporters cannot trust the information
provided by a news source
— not knowing the required information;
— knowing and willing to share the information, but without
(8)___ skills; 8.___
— knowing the information, but unwilling to share;
— willing to share, but unable to recall.
(9)___ of questions asked 9.___
Ways of improving the questions:
no words with double meanings;
no long questions;
— specific time, place, etc.;
— (10) questions; 10.___
— clear alternatives, or no alternatives in answers.
2001年英語專業(yè)八級考試聽力原文
PART Ⅰ LISTENING COMPREHENSION
SECTION A TALK
The World Bank is one of the major channels through which development aid is passed from industrial west to the poor and developing nations of the world. Its scale of operations is vast, which is why its lending program exceeds 7 billion a year, and its work force numbers about 4500. In the last decade important changes have taken place in the size of the bank’s operations and in the emphasis of its lending policies. What immediately strikes anyone looking at the lending figures over the last 10 years is the tremendous expansion in the bank’s loan program. This has increased from 1 billion to nearly 7 billion. The figure includes hard loans, which are made at the current rate of interest, and soft loans, which are allocated to poor countries at concessionary rates, and usually channel led through the bank’s affiliate—the International Development Association.
In deciding the emphasis of its lending policy, the bank has had to take into account the population explosion which is occuring in many poor countries of the world. It is a fact that the fertility rate of the poor countries is often very high. This is one of the main reasons for these countries remaining poor. Unfortunately, wide-ranging country section programs do not usually reduce this r ate because this was a strong and deeply rooted tradition among people in these countries to have big families. What the bank discovered was that there was a link between economic and social development on the one hand, and reduction of fertility rate on the other. Thus by improving basic health services, by introducing better nutrition, by increasing literacy, and by promoting more even income distribution in a poor country, a lower and more acceptable fertility rate will be achieved. This advanced thinking persuaded the bank to change its overall lending strategy, where previously it concentrated on the big infrastructure project s, such as dams, roads and bridges. It begun to switch to projects which directly improve the basic services of the country. There was a shift, if you like, from building dams to digging water holes to provide clear water.
A second reason for the change of approach was that the bank has learned a big lesson from projects financed in the 1960s. Many of its major capital investment had scarcely touched the lives of urban and rural poor, nor have they created much employment. The project did not have the trigger-down effect they have in industrialized countries. Instead the huge dams, steel-mills, and so on were left as monuments to themselves. This redirection of its lending has meant that the bank has tended to support labour intensive activities, rather than capita l intensive ones. Both rural and urban areas, there is a better chance in the first case, that its funds will benefit the bottom 40% of the country’s population.
The bank is also looking for ways of stimulating the growth of the small businesses in many developing countries since this would create employment opportunities for people with lower incomes. Being such a big, obvious target, the bank has often come under fire. For example, its officials have been taken to task for u sing Concord supersonic aircraft so frequently, about 500 times in one year. Also, the large growth of the organization’s personnel has not pleased some critic s . A more substantial criticism has concerned the bank’s policy of setting annual target for lending to specified countries. This could lead to the deterioration in quality of loans, some say. One former bank official has said, rather than encourage growth for its own sake, the bank should begin to think of itself less as a foreign aid agency and more of a financial deal-maker, combining official wit h the private resources for specific purposes.
Finally, some people maintain that the impact of the projects funded by the bank has been modest. When one looks around the world at regions or countries that have successfully transformed to industrial status, it seems that one should be aware of over-estimating the bank’s impact. Take Hong Kong for example. Its changes have come about as a result of trade offensive. The purpose has been to flood western market with low price goods made by capitalist methods of production. The example seems to indicate that some regions can prosper without the bank’s aid as well.
SECTION B CONVERSATION
W: Well, it seems quite common actually. A lot of people in Australia no w are travelling and taking time off. And when I was actually travelling, I met so many people doing the same thing.
M: Yeah, yeah, so where did you start off?
W: Well, I went to New Zealand first. Eh, and got a job in a computer company as a secretary. And I worked there for 4 months.
M: Really? You can do that, can you? I mean it’s possible for anyone to get a j ob in New Zealand, without being a New Zealander?
W: No, not everybody, only Australians and New Zealanders can exchange either. You know you can work in either country.’
M: Right, yeah.
W: So that was easy. So I worked there for 4 months and raised enough money for the rest of travels really. So from there I went to Indonesia, and travelled around the different
islands around Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, China , Nepal and India.
M: What about Indonesia? What did you do? Did you fly mostly between the Islands?
W: Eh, I did a bit of that, and boats, mainly local boats between the Islands.
M: What about Singapore? People said it’s very very modern. But because it is s o modern, it’s rather boring. Did you find that?
W: Well, it’s difficult to say really. It has different attractions. You know t h e Chinese, Malay, and Hindu communities are there. Each has his own culture and custom, very different from the others. And it’s a great big shopping center an d I really enjoy it from that point of view. And it was very clean.
M: And after, you said you went what, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and then China? That’s a great country to travel in, isn’t it?
W: Eh, it was. Yeah, it was fabulous. It really was. You have been there then?
M: No, I haven’t. No, I mean it’s very big. What did you do?
W: Yeah. Well, I had only one month to travel in China, and that was too short f or such a vast country as China. I felt I didn’t have enough time, so I sacrifced a lot of places and did the main tourist throughout really. I went to Beijing, the capital, Kaifeng, Yinchuan, and Tibet.
M: Well, how exciting! You said after Beijing, you went to?
W: That was Kaifeng in central China’s Henan province. It’s a charming city, and has got a lot to look around, like temples and pagodas, very traditional.
M: Eh, eh.
W: What fascinated me when I was there was that some Jews went to live in Kaifeng many years ago. As early as 16th century, there were Jewish families there. They have their synagogue and five books of Masses. Even today several hundred descendants of the original Jews still live in Kaifeng.
M: Really, I’ve never heard of that. And where did you go after Kaifeng?
W: I went to northwest to Yinchuan, the provincial city of Ningxia Hui autonomous region.
M: Is this the place where there always is a shortage of water?
W: No, no, on the contrary, it has got abundant supply of water, because it is n ear the Yellow River. In this sense, Yinchuan has a favorable geographical posit on in otherwise harsh surroundings.
M: What did you see there then?
W: Ningxia was once the capital of Western Xia during the 11th century. So outside Yinchuan, you can still see the Western Xia mausoleum, where the Kings and t heir Kingdoms were buried. The tombs were scattered in a pretty big area at the foot of the Henan Mountain, and inside the city there are famous mosques in the architectural style of Middle East. It’s really a place worth visiting. You got to know something about Chinese Moslems.
M: And that sounds really interesting. Where did you travel after that?
W: I was lucky enough to get into Tibet, and that was brilliant.
M: Yeah. What was the most interesting place you visited, do you think?
W: Well, I think actually Tibet is the most fascinating and exciting. I’ve never been anywhere so different. The people there are wonderful, the clothes .they w ear, the food they eat.
M: And you said you went to Nepal as well?
W: Yeah, eh, that’s a sort of easier passion of Tibetans really and there are a lot of Tibetans---there as well as other tribes and Nepalese, so that was good because I went trekking in Nepal, you should do that.
M: How long did you trek for?
W: Oh, I only did a short one, only for a week. I was lazy.
M: Was it very tiring?
W: No, it wasn’t actually. I mean you just set your own pace, and don’t pace you rself too hard, that was a stupid thing to do. Eh, you don’t have to walk very far, so that was great.
M: So how did you feel after all this travelling? How did you feel to stop travelling? I mean you were on the move alone for months and months ,and suddenly you’re here ,and not traveling any more. How does it feel?
W: I was ready to stop anyway. You get pretty sick, wearing the same clothes, and washing them in the different hotels. I never stay in the same place for longer than two days. And since I was ready to stop, I don’t think I could keep doing it. I mean I’ve met people who’ve been travelling for 2 or 3 years. I couldn' t do it.
M: Yeah, yeah. Maybe it’s something I should try after this.
W: I think you really should.
SECTION C NEWS BROADCAST
News Item 1(For Questions 11-12)
Mike Tyson could sign a deal by Friday to face either Germany’s Axo Shos or Denmark’s Brian Nielsen here on August 21 in the heavy weight’s first fight since his release from jail. The former World Heavy Weight champion was released on Monday after 4 months behind bars for an assault in the wake of a traffic accident last August. His deal with Showtime makes an August come back likely. “August 21st is certainly a day we’re looking at,” Showtime board director, James Lock en s said , “Hopefully in the next few days we’ll have something concrete”. Nevada boxing officials revoked Tyson’s license for more than a year after he bit Evander Holyfield’s ear off in June 1997. But they plan no action on Tyson because the license they granted him to fight doesn’t expire until the end of the year. That came before the assault charge had been heard, and with the victim’s support.
News Item 2(For Question 13)
The United States has begun to review Russians documents about the life and death of former president John F. Kennedy, and is expected to release them once the review is complete, the White House said on Monday. The documents which the Russians gave the United States on Sunday would be of particular interest because Kennedy’s assassin Lee Harvey Oswald lived in the former Soviet Union for several years before he returned to the United States, and was arrested for killing t he former president on November 22, 1963. Russian President Boris Yeltsin surprised US president Bill Clinton on Sunday when he turned over what was described a s the result of exhaustive search of Russian government, military and private archives for papers about Kennedy and his assassination.
News Item 3(For Questions 14-15)
Hong Kong’s unemployment rate has remained stable at 6.3% in the past 3 months, as business conditions have improved in the last month Figures indicate that from March to May this year, the size of the labor force was provisionally at 3,469,000, while the number of the unemployed people stood at 216,000. The number of cases of insolvency, sensational businesses and retrenchment, and numbers of workers affected these cases as recorded by the Labor Department have shown a declining trend in recent months. From March to May 1999, 78 such cases involving 3,882 workers were recorded as compared 93 cases affecting 5,220 workers for the 3 months from December 1998 to February 1999. Figures for the period from March to May 1999 when compared with those from February to April 1999 show an increase in the unemployment rate, mainly in renovation, maintenance, whole sale, and retail and transport sectors, which offset the decrease in construction, import and export and financing sectors
SECTION D NOTE-TAKING AND GAP-FILLING
The Press Conference
Press conferences are an all too familiar phenomena around us. However, when people start thinking about its advantages, it sometimes seems difficult to think of any that press conference provides for the competent news reporter. Use of the press conference by public officials and private entrepreneurs help give rise to the phrase “pseudo-event”, and the event contrived to create news cove rage, where none has considered wanted.
However, having said that, one value of news conference by a public official is the symbolic nature of the event. And perhaps this is reasoned enough to continue the practice. At a press conference, a public official supposedly submits to examination by responding to unsolicited and perhaps hostile questions. A related advantage to the reporter is that press conference offers an opportunity to get the public official on the record, with regard to the government policies. Stat ements from the press conference can serve as criteria against subsequent statements and policies are measured. In that regard, press conference information may be used as reference point, more so than comments reported by single news medium. Also, when there is a single issue or topic to address, such as a new government program, an earthquake, or the nomination of a new government minister, the press conference offers benefits of efficiency in that officials can speak to a number of reporters at once on the issue of public concern and interest. The press conference may be at its best in this almost one-way format.
Now let’s move on to the disadvantages. And there are serious ones. Generally speaking, the press conference format, as it stands, makes it difficult for t he reporters to get worthwhile information. At press conference, particularly a large one, the well-prepared reporter may never get asked question and certainly is unlikely to have chance to ask follow-up questions. Another disadvantage in the press conference comes from the news source, that is, the news provider. The news source generally decides who asks the questions, determines the length of the answers, and can avoid any follow-up question and rephrase tough questions t o his or her liking, and sets the time, place and duration of the interview. Press conferences televise live for the news audience, sometimes only highlights the disadvantages for the news reporters since there is little or no time to challenge, clarify or place context materials provided by the news source. Despite these disadvantages and others inherent how reporters get information, t he dews reporter can help assure the worthwhile information from a news source in share with the news audience. One way to reduce the likely heard of errors is to use multiple forms of interviewing by telephone, in person, and press conferences as well as multiple sources, common to the success of these approaches, how ever, are such interrelated ingredient as the preparation of the news reporter, the component of the news source and nature of the questions asked.
Let’s look at the preparation first. The nature of much news coverage re quires news reporters to be well-read on contemporary events. Like other professionals and craftsmen, the reporter must keep up to date on journalistic subject matter, that is the human condition. Although the subject is broad, it offers the advantages that there is a little a reporter can read or witness. That will not help in covering the news at one time or another. Next, being prepared for an interview includes giving some thought to the competence of the news source. The relationships between news reporters and news sources would benefit the news audience more, if reporters would frequently ask themselves: What is this news resource competent to talk about? What can this person tell the news audience that few others can? Towards the caution regarding the issue of competence, first, the reporter should not take for granted that, because of position or experience, the news source should know, does know, and can provide information. Second, the competence of t he news source needs to be linked with the news-gathering-methods. Let’s just spend a few minutes on the first point. There are generally 4 conditions under which the reporter should not give prints to the news source information. One, the source may not know the information the reporter wants. Two, the source may have the information and want to share it, but may lack the verbal skills or concepts to do so. Three, the source may have the desired information but not to want to share it, or worse, may lie to avoid sharing information. Last, t he source may be willing to share this information but unable to recall it.
Now in addition to preparation of the reporter and competence of the news source, there is one more important ingredient in successful news coverage, that is ,the nature of questions asked. It is generally agreed that the nature of the question can shape the nature of the answer. General questions like “Are you for market economy” may lead to the respondent saying virtually anything, and s till being rather vague. On the other hand, a too narrow question may limit the respondent to one particular answer only. In order to gather information from news sources as accurately as possible, reporters can improve the question in the following 5 ways. Firstly, avoid words wit h double meanings. Secondly, avoid long questions. Thirdly, specify the time, pl ace and context you want the respondent to assume, and number 4, it is often helpful to ask questions in terms of the respondent’s own immediate and recent experience rather than in generalities. Finally, either make explicit all the alternative the respondent should have in mind when answering the question or make none of them explicit. Do not leave the news resource by suggesting a desired answer and not mentioning other alternatives.
OK, to sum up, today’s lecture has covered some of the advantages and disadvantages of the press conference, and three important factors and successful news coverage. In our next lecture, we will continue to discuss how to become a competent news reporter.
2002年英語專業(yè)八級考試聽力試題
PART I LISTENING COMPREHENSION (40 MIN)
In sections A , B and C, you will hear everything ONCE ONLY, listen carefully and then answer the questions that follow. Mark the correct response for each question on your Colored Answer Sheet.
SECTION A TALK
Questions 1 to 5 refer to the talk in this section. At the end of the talk you will be given 15 seconds to answer each of the following five questions. Now listen to the talk.
1. According to the passage, during the 18th and 19th centuries cities were small in size mainly because .
A. the urban population was stable B. few people lived in cities
C. transport was backward D. it was originally planned
2. Cities survived in those days largely as a result of .
A. the trade activities they undertook
B. the agriculture activities in the nearby areas
C. their relatively small size
D. the non-economic roles they played
3. City dwellers were engaged in all the following economic activities EXCEPT ______.
A. commerce B. distribution
C. processing D. transportation
4. Urban people left cities for the following reasons EXCEPT .
A. more economic opportunities
B. a freer social and political environment
C. more educational opportunities
D. a more relaxed religious environment
5. Why did the early cities fail to grow as quickly as expected throughout the 18th century?
A. Because the countryside attracted more people.
B. Because cities did not increase in number.
C. Because the functions of the cities changed.
D. Because the number of city people was stable.
SECTION B INTERVIEW
Questions 6 to 10 are based on an interview with an architect. At the end of the interview you will be given 13 seconds to answer each of the following five questions. Now listen to the interview.
6. According to Janet, the factor that would most affect negotiation is ____
A. English language proficiency
B. different cultural practices
C. different negotiation tasks
D. the international Americanized style
7. Janet's attitude towards the Americanized style as a model for business negotiation is ______.
A. supportive B. negative C. ambiguous D. cautious
8. Which of the following can NOT be seen as a difference between Brazilian and American negotiators?
A. Americans prepare more points before negotiations.
B. Americans are more straightforward during negotiations.
C. Brazilians prefer more eye contact during negotiations.
D. Brazilians seek more background information.
9. Which group of people seems to be the most straightforward?
A. The British. B. Germans.
C. Americans. D. Not mentioned.
10. Which of the following is NOT characteristic of Japanese negotiators?
A. Reserved. B. Prejudiced. C. Polite. D. Prudent.
SECTION C NEWS BROADCAST
Questions 11 is based on the following news. At the end of the news item, you will be given 15 seconds to answer the two questions. Now listen to the news.
11. The news item is mainly about
A. a call for research papers to be read at the conference
B. an international conference on traditional Tibetan medicine
C. the number of participants at the conference and their nationalities
D. the preparations made by the sponsors for the international conference
Question 12 and 13 is based on the following news. At the end of the news item, you will be given 30 seconds to answer the question. Now listen to the news.
12. The news item mainly concerns in Hong Kong.
A. Internet centres B. an IBM seminar
C. e-government D. broadcasting
13. The aims of the three policy objectives include all the following EXCEPT
A. improvement of government efficiency
B. promotion of e-commerce
C. integration of service delivery
D. formulation of Digital 21 Strategy
Questions 14 to 15 are based on the following news. At the end of the news item, you will be given 30 seconds to answer the two questions. Now listen to the news.
14. Which of the following records was the second best time of the year by Donovan Bailey?
A. 9.98. B. 9.80. C. 9.91. D. 9.95.
15. The record shows that Bailey was .
A. still suffering from an injury B. getting back in shape
C. unable to compete with Greene D. less confident than before
SECTION D NOTE-TAKING AND GAP-FILLING
In this section you will hear a mini-lecture ONCE ONLY. While listening to the lecture, take notes on the important points. Your notes will not be marked, but you will need them to complete a 15-minute gap-filling task on ANSWER SHEET ONE after the mini-lecture. Use the blank paper for note-taking. Fill in each of the gaps with one word. You may refer to your notes. Make sure the word you fill in is both grammatically and semantically acceptable.
Study Activities in University
In order to help college and university students in the process of learning, four key study activities have been designed and used to encourage them to make knowledge their own.
1. Essay writing: central focus of university work esp. in the humanities, e.g. (1)_ .
benefits: 1) helping to select interesting content in books and to express understanding.
enabling teachers to know progress and to offer (2) .
familiarizing students with exam forms.
2. Seminars and classroom discussion: another form to internalize knowledge in specialized contexts
benefits: 1) (3) enables you to know the effectiveness of and others' response to your speech immediately.
Within the same period of time, more topics can be dealt with than in (4) .
The use of a broader range of knowledge is encouraged.
3. Individual tutorials: a substitute for group discussion
format: from teacher (5) to flexible conversation.
benefit: encouraging ideas and interaction.
4. Lectures: a most (6) used study activity
disadvantages: 1) less (7)____ than discussions or tutorial.
2) more demanding in note-taking.
advantages: 1) providing a general (8) of a subject under discussion.
offering more easily understood versions of a theory.
updating students on (9) developments.
allowing students to follow different (10)_____
(1) ______ (2) ______ (3) ______ (4) ______ ( 5 ) ______
(6) ______ (7) ______ (8) ______ (9) ______ (10) ______
2002年英語專業(yè)八級考試聽力原文和答案
SECTION A TALK
The first area in American urban history extended from the early 17th century to about 1840. Throughout those years the total urban population remained small and so with the cities. At the first federal censors in 1790, city dwellers made up nearly 5.1% of the total population and only two places had more than 25000 inhabitants. Fifty years later only 10.8% of the national population fell into the urban category and only one city, New York, contained more than 250000 people. Largely because of the unsophisticated modes of transportation, even the more populous phrases in the early 19th century remained small enough that people could easily work from one end of the city to the other in those days.
Though smaller in modern standards these working cities, as it were, performed variety of functions in those days. One was economic. Throughout the pre-modern era, this part of urban life remained so overwhelmingly commercial that almost every city owed its development to trade.
Yet city dwellers concerned themselves not only with promoting agricultural activities in their own areas, they also collected and processed goods from these areas and distributed them to other cities. From the beginning line and increasingly in the 18th and early 19th centuries, city served as centres of both commerce and simple manufacturing.
Apart from the economical functions, the early cities also had important non-economic functions to play. Since libraries, museums, schools and colleges were built and needed people to go there to visit or to study, cities and the large early towns with their concentrations of population tended to serve as centres of educational activities and its policy from which information were spread to the countryside. In addition, the town with people of different occupational, ethnic, racial and religious filiation became focuses of formal and informal organizations which were set up to foster the security and to promote the interests and influence of each group. In these days the pre-industrial city in America functioned as a complex and varied organizing element in American life, not as a simple, homogeneous and sturdy union.
The varieties of these early cities were reinforced by the nature of their location and by the process of town spreading. Throughout the pre-industrial period of American history, the city occupied sites on the eastern portion of the then largely under-developed continent, and settlement on the countryside generally followed the expansion of towns in that region. The various interest groups in each city tended to compete with their counterparts in other cities for economic, social and political control first nearby and later more distant and larger areas. And always there remained the underdeveloped regions to be developed through the establishment of new towns by individuals and groups. These individuals and groups sought economic opportunities or looked for a better social, political or religious atmosphere. In this sense, the cities builder had development of succession of urban frontiers. While this kind of circumstance made Americans one of the most prolific and self-conscious city building peoples of their time, it did not resort the steadily urbanizing society in the sense that decade by decade and ever larger proportion of the people lived in cities.
In 1690 an estimated 9 to 10 percent of American colonists lived in urban settlements. A century later, that was the end of the 18th century, though 24 places had 2 500 persons or more, city dwellers accounted for only 5.1% of the total population. For the next thirty years, the proportion remained relatively stable and it was not until the 1830 did the urban figure moved back up to the level of 1690.
In short, as the number of cities increased after 1690, they sent large number of people into countryside and they retained. Nonetheless the continuous movement of people into and out of the cities made life in the many but relatively small places lively and stimulating.
SECTION B INTERVIEW
M: I'm talking to Janet Holmes who has spent many years negotiating for several well-known national and multi-national companies. Hello, Janet.
W: Hello.
M: Now Janet. You've experienced and observed the negotiation strategies used by people from different countries and speakers of different languages. So before we comment on the differences, could I ask you to comment first of all on what such encounters have in common?
W: OK, well, I'm just going to focus on the situations where people are speaking English in international business situations.
M: I see. Now, not every one speaks English to the same degree of proficiency. So, maybe that affects situations.
M: Yes, perhaps. But that is not always so significant. Well, because, I mean, negotiations between business partners from different countries normally mean we have negotiations between individuals who belong to distinct cultural traditions.
M: Oh, I see.
W: Well, every individual has a different way of performing various tasks in everyday life.
M: Yes, but. but isn't it the case that in the business negotiation, they must come together and work together to a certain extent. I mean, doesn't that level up the style of , the style of differences or somewhat?
W: Oh, 1 am not so sure. I mean there's people in the so-called Western World who say that in course of the past 30 or 40 years, there were a lot of things had changed a great deal globally, and that as a consequence, national differences had diminished. We have got fewer, giving way to some sort of international Americanized style.
M: Yeah, I've heard that. Now some people say this Americanized style has acted as a model for local patterns.
W: Maybe it has, maybe it hasn't. Because on the one hand, there does appear to be a fairly unified even uniform style of doing business with certain basic principles and preferences, you know, like "time is money", that sort of thing. But at the same time, it is very important to remember the way all retain aspects of national characteristics. But it is actual behavior that we will talk about here. We shouldn't be too quick to generalize that to national characteristic and stylistic type. It doesn't help much.
M: Yeah. You mentioned Americanized style. What is particular about American style of business bargaining or negotiating?
W: Well. I've noticed that, for example, when Americans negotiate with people from Brazil, the American negotiators make their points in a direct, sophistical way.
M: I see.
W: While Brazilian make their points in a more indirect way.
M: How?
W: Let me give you an example. Brazilian importers look at people they're talking to straight in the eyes a lot. They spend time on what some people thinks to be background information. They seem to be more indirect.
M: Then, what about the American negotiators?
W: American style of negotiating, on the other hand, is far more like that of point-making, first point, second point, third point, and so on. Now of course, this isn't the only way in which one can negotiate and absolutely no reason why this should be considered as the best way to negotiate.
M: Right. Americans seem to have different styles, say, even from the British, don't they?
W: Exactly, which just show how careful you must be about generalizing. 1 mean, how asking you explain how the American negotiators are seen as informal, and sometimes much too open. For British eyes, Americans are direct even blunt.
M: Is that so?
W: Yeah, at the same time, the British too. German negotiators can appear direct and uncompromising in the negotiations, and yet if you experience Germans and Americans negotiating together, it is often the Americans who are being too blunt for the German negotiators.
M: Fascinating! So people from different European countries use different styles, don't they?
W: That's right.
M: OK. So what about the Japanese then? I mean, is their style different from the Americans and Europeans?
W: Oh, well, yes, of course. Many Europeans nod its extreme politeness of their Japanese counterparts, the way they avoid giving the slightest defense, you know. They're also very reserved to people they don't know well. At the first meetings American colleagues have difficulties in finding the right approach sometimes. But then when you meet the Japanese negotiators again, this initial impression tends to disappear. But it is perhaps true to say that your average Japanese business person does choose his or more really her words very carefully.
M: So can we say that whatever nationalities you are dealing with, you need to remember that different nationalities negotiate in different ways?
W: Well, it's perhaps more helpful to bear in mind the different people behave in negotiating in different ways. And you shouldn't assume that everyone will behave in the same way that you do.
M: Right. It is definitely a very useful tip for our businessman who often negotiate with their overseas partners. OK, Janet, thank you very much for talking with us.
W: Pleasure.
SECTION C NEWS BROADCAST
News Item One (For Question 11)
The first International Tibetan Traditional Medicine Conference will be held July 15th to 17th in Lasha, capital city of Tibet autonomous region. China's Ethnic Medicine Institute, Tibetan Bureau and Tibetan Medical College will co-host the conference. The conference has received more than 500 research papers from China and abroad. The organizing committee primarily selected 290 articles to be discussed at the conference. More than 50 foreign guests from United States, Russia. Britain, India. Germany, France, Italy and Nepal will attend the meeting. The Chinese mainland has sent delegation consisting of 250 Tibetan medicine experts to the conference.
News Item Two (For Questions 12—13)
The government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region were actively adopting information technology and building an electronic government, a senior Hong Kong official said yesterday. This is an integral part of Hong Kong's Digital 21 Strategy formulated in 1998 to make Hong Kong both a regional and world-wide internet centre, said Carrion, secretary for information technology and broadcasting. She outlined three policy objectives in developing an e-government in Hong Kong at the IBM Asian Pacific E-government Executive Seminar. The first policy objective is to develop an electronic and paperless government so as to improve the efficiency, cost-effectiveness and quality of public services. The second is to promote the wide adoption of e-commerce with the government setting a leading example. The third is, through the e-government program, to integrate service delivery across multiple department and agencies.
News Item Three (For Questions 14—15)
Canadian Olympic 100-meter champion Donovan Bailey showed he was on his way back to the top form on Tuesday by winning 100-meter at the athletic meeting in Switzerland in the time of 9.98 seconds. Despite unfavorable windy conditions. Bailey recorded the second best time of the year short of the 9. 91 set by double world champion Moris Greene of the United States on May 13th in Nosoka, Japan. "I would have run 9.80 if I'd really pushed myself." said Bailey, 1996 Olympic and 1995 world champion. The Canadian has been fighting for form before the Sidney Olympics, following a long-term injury which resulted in a disappointing series of starts in the season.
SECTION D NOTE-TAKING AND GAP-FILLING
Good morning, today well look at some study activities carried out in university as we know, students in colleges or universities are expected to master some academic materials that are fairly difficult to understand. However, some of them find it hard to learn some complex, abstract or unfamiliar subject matter. As a result, a central problem in higher education is how to internalize academic knowledge, that is, how to make knowledge your own. In order to do so we must convert knowledge from being other's knowledge to being part of our own way of thinking.
Then how are we going to do it? What's the means available to help us in the process of learning? There are four key study activities currently used in higher education to encourage students to internalize knowledge. They are the ones we are familiar with: writing essay, going to classes and seminars, having individual tutorials and listening to lectures. The four activities are long-established features of our higher education, and they are as important now as they were a hundred years ago. Now let's look at the features of them one by one.
First, essay writing. The central focus of university work, especially in humanities, for example in literature, history or politics, is on students' producing regular essays or papers which summarize and express their personal understanding of the topic. Then what is good about essay writing? Firstly, writing essays forces you to select what you find interesting in books and journals and to express your understanding in the coherent form. Individual written work also provides teachers with the best available guide to how you are processing in the subject, and allows them to give advice on how to develop your strengths or counteract your weaknesses. Lastly, of course, individual written work is still the basis of almost all assessment in higher education. Written assignments familiarize you with the form of your exams or course what papers will take.
The second key activity in colleges and universities is seminars and class discussions. Their role is to help you to internalize academic knowledge by providing specialized contexts so that you can talk about such difficult problems as the treat of between inflation and the unemployment in economic policy or the use of the metaphors in Shakespeare's plays. Talking is a more interactive activity than written work. In the conversation you know immediately how effective you are in expressing your point and can modify what you are saying in response to people's reactions. In addition, a normal program of between 10 to 25 classes will cover far more topics than one subject. Then you can hope to manage your written work. Participating in flexible conversations across this range of issues also allows you to practice using the broader knowledge gained from other key activities such as lectures.
Now let's take a look at another activity, individual tutorials. Discussions between the teacher and one or two students are used in many colleges as a substitute for or supplement to group discussion in classes like those mentioned before. Tutorials can range from direct explanation by teacher and subject to flexible conversational sessions which at their best very effective in stimulating students' mastery of body of knowledge. The one-to-one quality of the personal interaction is very important in stimulating acceptance of ideas and producing fruitful interaction. In order to make individual tutorial really work, students should make good preparation beforehand, and during the tutorial they also should ask questions to keep the ball rolling rather than let the teachers talk the vacuum.
The last activity is lectures. As we all know, lectures play a large part of most students' timetable and occupy considerable proportion of teachers' efforts. However the major difficulty with lectures is that they are not interactive like discussion or tutorials. The lecturer normally talks for the whole time with minimal feed-back from questions. The signs making notes the lecture well-concentrating on the argument being developed is often difficult to some students, especially when the argument is very complicated. However, we have said that lectures are clearly valuable in several specific ways. They can provide a useful overview in every map, as it were, to familiarize you with the mainland features to be encountered during the course. Lectures typically give much more accessible descriptions of theoretical perspectives in their oral presentations that can be found in the academic literature. Whenever there is a rapid pace of progress in theory or practice, lectures play an indispensable part in letting students know the development immediately, usually several years before the new material is included in textbooks. Lastly, lectures are often very useful in allowing you to see directly how exponents of different views build up their arguments. The cues provided by things someone talking in person may seem irrelevant, but these cues are important aids to understanding the subject matter better later.
So far we've discussed four study activities and their respective features and roles in higher education. Of course, study activities are not limited to just these four types. There're other activities that are equally important, such as general reading, project learning, etc. We will cover them during our next lecture.
