News in Brief
News Item 1:
General Comprehension. Fill in the blanks to complete the following statements.
1. made these remarks about the Soviet troops. (Write down the name.)
2. His official title is .
3. These remarks actually concern
.
4. Shevardnadze said,
" ."
5. These remarks were made during held in .
6. He is in now.
7. He is going to over the weekend.
News Item 2:
1. Fill in the blanks according to what you have heard on the tape.
(1) The next space shuttle is scheduled on .
(2) NASA announced for the years.
2. Complete the following chart concerning the specific number of shuttle launches. Please remember that the Challenger exploded early 1986 and this announcement was made later the same year.
Number of Launches ?? Time
(1) 5 ?? will shoot in
(2) More than 10 ?? had been planned for the year until the Challenger exploded)
(3) 16 ?? will shoot every year in the
3. Choose the best answer (a, b, c, or d) to complete each of the following statements.
(1) The new shuttle program will be different from that of the past because _____________.
a. NASA administrators are strongly affected by the explosion of the Challenger
b. fewer shuttle launches will be made every year from now on
c. NASA has been predicting a decline in financial support for its program
d. new shuttles will carry a much different mix of cargoes
(2) A list of priority for the ranking of various projects is ____________.
a. NASA space exploration, military projects, commercial satellites
b. military projects, NASA space exploration, commercial satellites
c. military projects, commercial satellites, NASA space exploration
d. commercial satellites, NASA space exploration, military projects
News Item 3:
1. Identification. Match each item in Column I with one item in Column II by recognizing the person's position.
Column I Column II
(1) John Zaccaro a. former presidential candidate
(2) Geraldine Ferarro b. campaign manager
(3) Michael Nussbaum c. husband of Geraldine Ferarro
(4) Donald Mannis d. late Queens Borough President
Answer: (1) ?? ; (2) ?? ; (3) ?? ; (4) ??
2. Focusing on Details. Fill in the detailed information according to what you have heard.
John Zaccaro has been by in Queens, New York. The and quote a source close to Zaccaro, saying that the is the result of in the awarding of .
News in Detail
1. General Comprehension. Choose the best answer (a, b, c, or d) to complete each of the following statements.
(1) Mark your calendar for the next shuttle take-off for _________.
a. February 18, 1986
b. February 18, 1987
c. February 18, 1988
d. February 18, 1989
(2) The Agency had been planning to launch in 1986 __________.
a. only five shuttles
b. less than ten shuttles
c. at least ten shuttles
d. more than sixteen shuttles
(3) NASA ___________ to send a teacher into space.
a. is holding a widely publicized competition
b. had no specific plans until the Challenger exploded
c. is making new plans for the early 1990s
d. is not making any specific plans at the moment
(4) James Fletcher believes that civilians will be flying again ____________.
a. but not in the first year
b. probably in the first year
c. until oppositions to the plan can be lessened
d. until NASA is able to collect sufficient money for the plan
(5) The one program in shuttle mission that is more prominent than the others is __________.
a. the military
b. NASA space exploration
c. the Hubble Telescope
d. commercial business satellites
(6) The military program includes the following except ____________.
a. military communications satellites
b. the Hubble Telescope
c. secret Star Wars tests
(7) All US commercial space cargo will in the future have to fly on __________.
a. military rockets
b. NASA space shuttles
c. private industries' rockets
d. rockets of foreign countries
2. Vocabulary Exercises. List all the words or phrases, from the selection, which contain the meaning of "sending off (the shuttle) into space."
Answer:
Special Report
1. Complete the chart for Forbes' 1986 list of the 400 wealthiest people in America.
Rank: First
Name:
Occupation:
Worth: $
Others
Name:
Occupation:
Name:
Occupation:
Name:
Occupation:
Name:
Occupation:
Worth: over $
2. Focusing on Details. Fill in the blanks with specific figures.
(1) The minimum figure needed to get on the list rose from in 1985 to $ in 1986.
(2) The number of billionaires jumped from to .
3. Fill in the blanks to complete the following statements.
(1) Malcolm Forbes (is/isn't) left out of this list.
(2) started the list of the wealthiest people in America. He is an of magazine.
(3) He started this list ago.
(4) He started because thought that people would .
(5) He has encountered some problems with in working out the list.
(6) Some of these achieve such wealth through ; others are new wealth.
4. Spot Dictation. Listen to the tape again and fill in the following blanks.
At some point, everybody, had to be earned the way. And the way is, you a business that can be beyond the . It can be , like John D. Rockefeller did with . It could be, you know, an organization that can like Merv Griffin.
5. Choose the best answer (a, b, c, or d) to complete each of the following statements.
(1) As to the worth of Michael Carrier, the figure of a few hundred million dollars on the list is ____________.
a. underestimated
b. overestimated
c. accurate
d. fabricated
(2) When someone writes in and say "You're missed me," ______________.
a. he is rather angry about being missed
b. he is usually exaggerating
c. he is actually serious about it
d. he is deliberate misleading the editor of the magazine
6. Complete the following chart.
Youngest on the List
Name:
Age: years old
Source of wealth: on his side
Worth: several dollars
Place:
Oldest on the List
Name:
Age: years old
Source of wealth: some and
Worth: /
Place:
United Press International
News agency formed in 1958 by the merger of the United Press, founded in 1907, and International News Service, founded in 1909. It has also 6,500 subscribers throughout the world.
The Hubble Space Telescope
The most powerful orbiting observatory currently under construction. Its 2.4-meter-wide reflector telescope is designed to observe objects one-fiftieth as bright as those that can be seen with present earth-based telescopes and its resolution will be at least ten times higher.
1. Forbes
A semi-monthly business magazine founded by Bertie Charles Forbes (1880??1954) in 1917.
2. Sam Moore Walton
Retail discount chain company executive. He was born in Oklahoma. He got his B.A. at the University of Missouri in 1940 and became a trainee at J. C. Penny, Des Moines, Iowa. He was the branch owner of Ben Franklin Stores from 1945, and co-owner and chairman of Wal-Mart Stores at Bentonville Arkansas.
3. IRS
IRS stands for the Internal Revenue Service which is a bureau of the United States Treasury Department. It is the federal agency charged with the administration of the tax laws passed by Congress. The IRS functions through a national office in Washington, seven regional offices, sixty-three district offices, and ten service centers.
4. John Davison Rockefeller
John Davison Rockefeller (1839??1937) was a well-known American industrialist and philanthropist. He acquired a near-monopoly of oil refining in the United States. He endowed an institute for medical research with five hundred million dollars (1901), and also gave generously to educational, scientific and religious funds.
5. Standard Oil Companies
Major units of the US oil industry incorporated (1870) in Ohio by John D. Rockefeller, who became the first president. As a result of US antitrust legislation, the organization was broken up (1910) into more than thirty companies. The international units include the Standard Oil Company (New Jersey), known as "Jersey Standard" or "Esso", Socony Mobil Oil Company and the Standard Oil Company of California. The Standard Oil Company (Indiana) has traditionally dominated the domestic US industry.