Audio Scripts - Guide to Listening.pdf - Complete Guide - lulubulu

A UDIO S CRIPT

Student: I, I’m interested in writing about earthquakes . . .

Professor: Hmm. Earthquakes . . . well, I don’t know, Brenda

. . . that sounds like much too broad a topic for a short

research paper.

Student: Oh, well, I’m planning to choose . . . I plan to get

more specific than that. I want to write about using ani-

mals to predict earthquakes.

Professor: Really? Well, once scientists wondered if maybe

. . . if perhaps there was some connection between strange

behavior in animals and earthquakes . . . and that maybe

animals . . . that you could use them to predict earth-

quakes. But there have been a lot of studies on this subject,

you know, and so far, none of them have shown anything

promising . . .

Student: But I thought there was this . . . I saw this show on

television about earthquakes, and it said that in, uh, China,

I think it was, they did predict an earthquake because of

the way animals were acting.

Professor: Oh, right—you’re thinking of the Haecheng

earthquake about thirty years ago. Well, that’s true. There

were snakes coming out of the ground in the middle of

winter when they should have been hibernating . . . and

supposedly horses and other animals were acting fright-

ened. And there were other signs, too, not just from ani-

mals. So the government ordered an evacuation of the area,

and in fact, there was an earthquake, so thousands of lives

were probably saved.

Student: Yeah, that’s what I’m thinking of . . . that’s what I

saw on television.

Professor: The problem is that, unfortunately, no one’s

been able to duplicate that kind of result . . . in China or

anywhere else. There have been lots of earthquakes since

then that haven’t been predicted, and there have been a

couple of false alarms when cities were evacuated for no

reason . . . and like I said, none of the studies that have

been done have shown that animals are any better at pre-

dicting earthquakes than people are.

Student: So that’s . . . so you don’t think that’s a very good

idea for a topic, then, I suppose . . .

Professor: I didn’t say that . . . just because this theory

hasn’t been proven doesn’t mean you couldn’t write a per-

fectly good paper about this topic . . . on the notion that

animals can predict earthquakes. Why not? It could be

pretty interesting. But to do a good job, you . . . you’ll need

to look at some serious studies in the scientific journals,

not just some pop-science articles in newspapers, or . . .

and you can’t get your information from television shows.

Student: You really think it might make a good paper? Well,

then, I think if I can get enough information from the

library or the Internet . . .

Professor: Okay, why don’t you see what you can find? Oh, I

forgot to mention . . . you’ll need to write up a formal pro-

posal for your paper, and work up a preliminary bibliogra-

phy, and hand it in to me a week from tomorrow. I’ll need

to approve it before you get started. Now, if you’ll excuse

me, Brenda, I’ve got to get to that faculty meeting.

Narrator: Now get ready to answer the questions. You may

use your notes to help you.

Narrator: Question 1: What is this conversation mainly

about?

Narrator: Question 2: Listen again to part of the conversa-

tion. Then answer the question.

Student: Professor Dixon? I’m Brenda Pierce. From your

Geology 210 class . . . ?

Narrator: What can be inferred about the student?

Narrator: Question 3: What assumption does the professor

make about the student?

[CD 1 Track 1]

Narrator: Welcome to the Audio Program for the Complete

Guide to the TOEFL Test: iBT Edition, by Bruce Rogers.

Published by Thomson ELT, Boston, Massachusetts. All

rights reserved.

[CD 1 Track 2]

Section 2: Guide to Listening

Preview Test

Listen as the directions are read to you.

Narrator: Directions: This section tests your understanding

of conversations and lectures. You will hear each conversa-

tion or lecture only once. Your answers should be based on

what is stated or implied in the conversations and lectures.

You are allowed to take notes as you listen, and you can use

these notes to help you answer the questions. In some

questions, you will see a headphones icon. This icon tells

you that you will hear, but not read, part of the lecture

again. Then you will answer a question about the part of

the lecture that you heard. Some questions have special

directions that are highlighted. During an actual test, you

may not skip questions and come back to them later, so try

to answer every question that you hear on this test. On an

actual test, there are two conversations and four lectures.

You will have twenty minutes (not counting the time spent

listening) in which to complete this section of the test. On

this Preview Test, there is one conversation and three lec-

tures. Most questions are separated by a ten-second pause.

Narrator: Listen to a conversation between a student and a

professor.

Student: Professor Dixon? I’m Brenda Pierce. From your

Geology 210 class . . . ?

Professor: Yes. I know. That’s a big class, but I do recognize

you. As a matter of fact, I noticed you weren’t in class yester-

day morning. Did you oversleep? That’s one of the problems

with an 8:00 class. I almost overslept myself a couple of times.

Student: Oh, uh, no, I didn’t oversleep. In fact, I was up at

5:00—one of my roommates had an early flight and I took

her to the airport. I thought I’d make it back here in time,

but, uh, well, you know . . . you know how traffic can be out

on Airport Road at that time of day. Anyway, uh, I know you

were going to tell us . . . give us some information about

our research paper in class today. Do you have a few min-

utes to fill me in?

Professor: Well, umm, a few minutes, I guess. This isn’t my

regular office hour. I actually just came by my office to pick

up a few papers before the faculty meeting.

Student: Okay, well . . . about the research paper . . . how

long does it have to be?

Professor: Well, as I told the class, the paper counts for 30%

of your grade. It should be at least twelve pages, but no

more than twenty-five. And your bibliography should con-

tain at least ten reference sources.

Student: Will you be assigning the topic, or . . .

Professor: I’m leaving the choice of topic up to you. Of

course, it should be related to something we’ve discussed

in class.

2 Section 2 Guide to Listening

Narrator: Question 4: How did the student first get informa-

tion about the topic she wants to write about?

Narrator: Question 5: What is the professor’s attitude

toward the topic that the student wants to write about?

What about the animals that live up there? You remem-

ber I said there were lots of marshes and lakes. These

watery places make wonderful breeding grounds for

insects. So naturally, in the summer, you get lots of insects.

And insects attract birds, right? Plenty of birds migrate to

the taiga in the summer to, uh, to feast on insects. Lots of

the mammals that live in the taiga migrate to warmer cli-

mates once cold weather sets in. But there are some year-

round residents. Among the predators—the animals that

hunt other animals—there are Arctic foxes, wolves, bears,

martens, oh, and ermines. There’s one thing all these pred-

ators have in common, the ones that live there all year

round . . . they all have thick, warm fur coats, don’t they?

This heavy fur keeps them toasty in the winter. Of course,

on the downside, it makes them desirable to hunters and

trappers. Some of these predators survive the winter by

hibernating, by sleeping right through it . . . bears, for

example. And some change colors. You’ve heard of the

ermine, right? In the summer, the ermine is dark brown,

but in the winter, it turns white. That makes it hard to spot,

so it can sneak up on its prey.

Then, uh, what sorts of herbivores live up there? What

do the predators eat to stay alive? There’s the moose, of

course, but only young moose are at risk of being attacked.

The adult moose is the biggest, strongest animal found in

the taiga, so a predator would have to be feeling pretty des-

perate to take on one of these. Mostly, predators hunt

smaller prey, like snowshoe rabbits, voles, lemmings . . .

Okay, the next biome we come to is the temperate for-

est, where broadleaf trees like, oh, maples and oaks are

most common, but before we get to this, I’d like to give you

an opportunity to ask me some questions about the taiga.

Narrator: Now get ready to answer the questions. You may

use your notes to help you.

Narrator: Question 6: What does the professor say about

the word taiga?

Narrator: Question 7: Why does the speaker say this:

Professor: This sub-zone—well, if you like variety, you’re

not going to feel happy here. You can travel for miles and

see only half a dozen species of trees. In a few days, we’ll be

talking about the tropical rain forest; now, that’s where

you’ll see variety.

Narrator: Question 8: The professor discussed three sub-

zones of the taiga. Match each sub-zone with its

characteristic.

Narrator: Question 9: When discussing needle-leaf trees,

which of these adaptations to cold weather does the pro-

fessor mention?

Narrator: Question 10: What characteristic do all of the

predators of the taiga have in common?

Narrator: Question 11: What does the professor imply

about moose?

Narrator: Now listen to a lecture in a biology class.

Professor: Okay, everyone . . . if you remember, on

Wednesday we talked about the general concept of biomes.

So, just to review, biomes are large zones, big sections of

the planet that have similar conditions and have the same

kinds of plants and animals. Last class, we talked about the

tundra, remember? This is a strip of land in the far, far

north. We said the tundra consists mainly of open, marshy

planes with no trees, just some low shrubs.

So, okay, today, we’re going to continue our tour of the

world’s biomes. The next biome you come to, as you head

south from the tundra, is the taiga. That’s spelled t-a-i-g-a,

taiga. It’s also called the “boreal forest.” The taiga is the

largest of all the world’s biomes. About 25% of all the

world’s forests are found in the taiga.

Now, the word taiga means “marshy evergreen forest.” It

comes from the Russian language, and that’s not too sur-

prising, really, because there are huge, I mean, really enor-

mous stretches of taiga in Russia. But taiga isn’t just found

in Russia. Like the tundra, the taiga is a more-or-less con-

tinuous belt that circles the North Pole, running through

Russia, Scandinavia, Canada, Alaska. Most of this land

was—well, it used to be covered by glaciers, and these gla-

ciers left deep gouges and depressions in the land. And not

surprisingly, these filled up with water—with melted

snow—so you have lots of lakes and ponds and marshes in

the taiga.

Within the taiga itself, you’ll find three sub-zones. The

first of these you come to, as you’re going south, is called

open forest. The only trees here are needle-leaf trees—you

know, evergreen trees, what we call coniferous trees. These

trees tend to be small and far apart. This is basically tun-

dra—it looks like tundra, but with a few small trees. Next,

you come to what’s called closed forest, with bigger needle-

leaf trees growing closer together. This feels more like a real

forest. This sub-zone—well, if you like variety, you’re not

going to feel happy here. You can travel for miles and see

only half a dozen species of trees. In a few days, we’ll be

talking about the tropical rain forest; now, that’s where

you’ll see variety. Okay, finally, you come to the mixed zone.

The trees are bigger still here, and you’ll start seeing some

broad-leafed trees, deciduous trees. You’ll see larch, aspen,

especially along rivers and creeks, in addition to needle-

leaf trees. So this sub-zone feels a bit more like the temper-

ate forests we’re used to.

So, what are conditions like in the taiga? Well, to start

with, you’ve gotta understand that it’s cold there. I mean,

very cold. Summers are short, winters long. So the organ-

isms that call the taiga home have to be well adapted to

cold. The trees in the taiga, as I already said, are coniferous

trees like the pine, fir, and spruce. And these trees, they’ve

adapted to cold weather. How? Well, for one thing, they

never lose their leaves—they’re “evergreen,” right, always

green, so in the spring, they don’t have to waste time—

don’t have to waste energy—growing new leaves. They’re

ready to start photosynthesizing right away. And then, for

another thing, these trees are conical—shaped like cones—

aren’t they? This means that snow doesn’t accumulate too

much on the branches; it just slides off, and so, well, that

means their branches don’t break under the weight of the

snow. And even their color—that dark, dark green—it’s use-

ful because it absorbs the sun’s heat.

Narrator: Listen to a discussion in the first class of a busi-

ness course.

Professor: Well, I guess everyone’s here, huh? We may as

well get started. Good morning, all. I’m Professor Robert

Speed and I’d like you . . . I’d like to welcome you to the

Foundations of Business class. The purpose of this class is

really to acquaint you with the tools, the various tools,

techniques you’ll be using in most of your business

courses. And we’ll concentrate especially on the case study

method, because you’ll be using that in almost . . . well, in

most of the business classes you take.

Student A: The . . . case study method, Professor? Is that a

new method of teaching business?

Section 2 Guide to Listening 3

Professor: Oh, no, no, no. I mean . . . it may seem new to

you, but, no, in fact, a professor named Christopher

Longdell introduced this system at Harvard University back

. . . around the 1870’s. And he always insisted that it was

based on a system used by Chinese philosophers thou-

sands of years ago.

Student B: So then, they’ve . . . it’s been used in business

schools ever since the . . . when did you say, the 1870’s?

Professor: Well, you see, Professor Longdell, he . . . he in

fact taught in the law school at Harvard, not in the business

school. So the case method first . . . it was first used to train

law students. Then, a couple of years after that, they started

using it at Columbia University, at the law school there. It

wasn’t until . . . When was it? Uh, probably about 1910,

1912, something like that, that it was used . . . first used at

Harvard Business School.

Student B: Then, it’s used in other fields? Besides law and

business?

Professor: Oh sure, over the years, it’s been used in all sorts

of disciplines. For example, my wife . . . she teaches over at

the School of Education . . . she uses cases to train teachers.

Student A: Professor Speed, I get that case study has been

around awhile, but I still don’t quite understand why we’re

. . . well, why do we study cases, exactly?

Professor: Okay, before the case method was introduced,

the study of law and business was very . . . abstract . . . the-

oretical. It was just, just lectures about theory. Professor

Longdell thought—and a lot of educators think—that really,

the best way to learn law, business, any discipline you can

think of, is by studying actual situations and analyzing

these situations . . . and learning to make decisions.

Student A: That makes sense, but . . . I mean, what does a

case look like, exactly . . . I mean, what does it . . . ?

Professor: What does a case look like? Well, cases are basi-

cally descriptions of actual—let me stress that—of real

business situations, chunks of reality from the business

world. So, you get typically ten to twenty pages of text that

describe the problem, some problem that a real business

actually faced. And then there will be another five to ten

pages of what are called exhibits.

Student B: Exhibits? What are those?

Professor: Exhibits . . . those are documents, statistical doc-

uments, that explain the situation. They might be oh,

spreadsheets, sales reports, umm, marketing projections,

anything like that. But as I said, at the center of every case,

at the core of every case, is a problem that you have to

solve. So, you have to analyze the situation, the data—and

sometimes, you’ll see you don’t have enough data to work

with, and you might have to collect more—say, from the

Internet. Then, you have to make decisions about how to

solve these problems.

Student B: So that’s why we study cases? I mean, because

managers need to be able to make decisions . . . and solve

problems?

Professor: Exactly . . . well, that’s a big part of it, anyway.

And doing this, solving the problem, usually involves role-

playing, taking on the roles of decision-makers at the firm.

One member of the group might play the Chief Executive

Officer, one the Chief Financial Officer, and so on. And you

. . . you might have a business meeting to decide how your

business should solve its problem. Your company might,

say, be facing a cash shortage and thinking about selling off

one division of the company. So your group has to decide if

this is the best way to handle the problem.

Student B: So we work in groups, then?

Professor: Usually in groups of four or five. That’s the

beauty of this method. It teaches teamwork and

cooperation.

Student A: And then what? How are we . . . how do you

decide on a grade for us?

Professor: You give a presentation, an oral presentation, I

mean, and you explain to the whole class what decision

you made and . . . what recommendations you’d make . . .

and then you write a report as well. You get a grade, a group

grade, on the presentation and the report.

Student B: Professor, is this the only way we’ll be studying

business, by using cases?

Professor: Oh, no, it’s just one important way. Some classes

are lecture classes and some are a combination of lectures

and case studies and some . . . in some classes you’ll also

use computer simulations. We have this software called

World Marketplace, and using this program, your group

starts up your own global corporation and tries to make a

profit . . . it’s actually a lot of fun.

Narrator: Now get ready to answer the questions. You may

use your notes to help you.

Narrator: Question 12: Professor Speed mentions several

stages in the history of the case method. Put these steps in

the proper order.

Narrator: Question 13: What does Professor Speed say

about exhibits?

Narrator: Question 14: What does the professor mean when

he says this:

Professor: It wasn’t until . . . when was it? Probably about

1910, 1912, something like that, that it was used . . . first

used at Harvard Business School.

Narrator: Question 15: Why does Professor Speed mention

his wife?

Narrator: Question 16: In this lecture, the professor

describes the process of the case study method. Indicate

whether each of the following is a step in the process.

Narrator: Question 17: Which of the following reasons does

the professor give for using the case study method?

Narrator: Listen to a student giving a presentation in an

astronomy class.

Student Presenter: Well, uh, hi, everyone . . . Monday, we

heard Don tell us about the Sun, and, uh, Lisa talk about

Mercury, the planet closest to the Sun. My . . . my, uh,

report, what I’m talking about is the next planet, the sec-

ond planet, Venus. Okay, to start off, I’m going to tell you

what people, well, what they used to think about Venus.

First off, back in the really . . . in the really ancient days,

people thought Venus was a star, not a planet, and . . . well,

actually, you know how you can see Venus in the early

morning and in the evening? Well, so they thought it was

two stars, Phosphorus—that was the morning star . . . and,

uh, let’s see, Hesperus, the evening star. And then, once

they figured out it was just one planet, they named it Venus

after the goddess of love—I don’t really know why, though.

And then later, people started studying Venus through a

telescope, and they found out it was covered by clouds. Not

partly covered by clouds, like Earth, but completely

wrapped up in clouds. And since it was closer to the Sun

than Earth, people imagined it was warm there, like it is in

the tropics. In the nineteenth century, there was this belief,

a lot of people believed, for some reason, that there were

these creatures on Venus who were superior to us, almost

perfect beings, like angels or something. Then, uh, in the

early part of the twentieth century, people imagined that,

uh, under the clouds there were swamps and jungles and

4 Section 2 Guide to Listening

monsters. There was this guy, this author, um, Edgar Rice

Burroughs, he also wrote the Tarzan books, and, uh, he

wrote books in the 1930’s about . . . well, the series was

called “Carson of Venus,” and it was about some explorer

from Earth having wild adventures and fighting monsters

in the jungles. This idea of a “warm” Venus lasted until

the 1950’s.

Okay, so . . . Venus is the brightest object in the sky,

except for the Sun and the moon, and except for the moon

it comes closer to the Earth than any other planet, a lot

closer than Mars, the, uh, fourth planet. One of the articles

I read about Venus said that Venus is Earth’s sister . . .

Earth’s twin, I guess it said. That’s because Venus is about

the same size as Earth . . . and uh, it’s made out of the same

basic materials. And Earth and Venus are about the same

age; they, uh, were formed about the same time.

But really, we know nowadays that Earth and Venus are

not really much like twins. For one thing, the air, the

atmosphere of Venus is made out of carbon dioxide and

sulfuric acid—not very nice stuff to breathe. And it’s really

thick, the atmosphere is. It’s so thick, it’s like being at the

bottom of an ocean on Earth, so if astronauts ever went

there, they’d have to have a . . . something like a diving bell

to keep from getting crushed. And they’d need really good

air conditioning, too, because it’s really hot down there, not

warm the way people used to think. All those clouds hold

in the Sun’s heat, you see. It’s hotter than an oven, hot

enough to melt lead, too hot to have any liquid water. So,

guess what that means—no jungles, no swamps, and no

weird creatures!

Okay, now here’s a really strange fact about Venus. It

takes Venus only 225 Earth days to go around the Sun, as

opposed to the Earth, which of course takes 365 days—

what we call a year. But Venus turns around on its axis

really slowly. Really slowly. It takes 243 Earth days to spin

around completely. The Earth takes—you guessed it—24

hours. This means that a day on Venus is longer than a year

on Venus! In fact, a day on Venus is longer than . . . well,

than on any planet in the solar system, longer even than on

those big gas planets like Jupiter. And here’s something else

weird. All the planets of the solar system turn on their axis

in the same direction as they orbit the Sun. All except

Venus, of course! It has what’s called a . . . wait, let’s see . . .

okay, a “retrograde” spin.

Now, there have been quite a few space probes that have

gone to Venus, so I’m only going to mention a few of them,

the most important ones. I guess, umm, one of the most

important was called Magellan. Magellan was launched in

1990 and spent four years in orbit around Venus. It used,

uh, radar, I guess, to map the planet, and it found out that

there are all these volcanoes on Venus, just like there are on

Earth. The first one to go there, the first probe to go there

successfully, was Mariner 2 in, uh, 1962. Mariner 1 was sup-

posed to go there, but it blew up. There was one, it was

launched by the Soviet Union back in the, uh, let’s see . . .

let me find it . . . hang on, no, here it is, Venera 4 in 1967 . . .

and it dropped instruments onto the surface. They only

lasted a few seconds, because of the conditions, the heat

and all, but this probe showed us how really hot it was.

Then, there was one called Venus Pioneer 2, in 1978. That

was the one that found out that the atmosphere of Venus is

made of carbon dioxide, mostly. And, uh, well, as I said . . .

there were a lot of other ones too.

Well, that’s pretty much it—that’s about all I have to say

about Venus, unless you have some questions.

Professor: Charlie?

Student Presenter: Yes, Professor?

Professor: First, I just want to say . . . good job on your

presentation, Charlie; it was very interesting, and then . . .

well, I just want to add this. You said you weren’t sure why

the planet Venus was named after the goddess of love. It’s

true Venus was the goddess of love, but she was also the

goddess of beauty and . . . well, anyone who’s ever seen

Venus early in the morning or in the evening knows it’s a

beautiful sight.

Student Presenter: Okay, so, there you have it, everyone—a

mystery solved. Thanks, Professor. Well, I don’t have any-

thing to add, so unless anyone has any questions . . . no?

Well, Caroline will be giving the next report, which is about

the third planet, and since we all live here, that should be

pretty interesting.

Narrator: Now get ready to answer the questions. You may

use your notes to help you.

Narrator: Question 18: How does the speaker introduce the

topic of Venus?

Narrator: Question 19: According to the speaker, which of

the following were once common beliefs about Venus?

Narrator: Question 20: In this presentation, the speaker dis-

cusses some similarities between Earth and Venus and

some of the differences between the two planets. Indicate

which of the following is a similarity and which is a

difference.

Narrator: Question 21: Which of the following is not true

about the length of a day on Venus?

Narrator: Question 22: In what order were these space

probes sent to Venus?

Narrator: Question 23: It can be inferred that the topic of

the next student presentation will be about which of the

following?

Narrator: This is the end of the Listening Preview Test.

[CD 1 Track 3]

Lesson 9: Main-Topic and Main-Purpose Questions

Sample Item

Narrator: Listen to a conversation between a student and a

professor.

Student: Professor Dixon? I’m Brenda Pierce. From your

Geology 210 class . . . ?

Professor: Yes. I know. That’s a big class, but I do recognize

you. As a matter of fact, I noticed you weren’t in class yes-

terday morning. Did you oversleep? That’s one of the prob-

lems with an 8:00 class. I almost overslept myself a couple

of times.

Student: Oh, uh, no, I didn’t oversleep. In fact, I was up at

5:00—one of my roommates had an early flight and I took

her to the airport. I thought I’d make it back here in time,

but, uh, well, you know . . . you know how traffic can be out

on Airport Road at that time of day. Anyway, uh, I know you

were going to tell us . . . give us some information about

our research paper in class today. Do you have a few min-

utes to fill me in?

Professor: Well, umm, a few minutes, I guess. This isn’t my

regular office hour. I actually just came by my office to pick

up a few papers before the faculty meeting.

Student: Okay, well . . . about the research paper . . . how

long does it have to be?

Professor: Well, as I told the class, the paper counts for 30%

of your grade. It should be at least twelve pages . . . but no

Section 2 Guide to Listening 5

more than twenty-five. And your bibliography should con-

tain at least ten reference sources.

Student: Will you be assigning the topic, or . . .

Professor: I’m leaving the choice of topic up to you. Of

course, it should be related to something we’ve discussed

in class.

Student: I, I’m interested in writing about earthquakes . . .

Professor: Hmm. Earthquakes . . . well, I don’t know, Brenda

. . . that sounds like much too broad a topic for a short

research paper.

Student: Oh, well, I’m planning to choose . . . I plan to get

more specific than that. I want to write about using ani-

mals to predict earthquakes.

Professor: Really? Well, once scientists wondered if maybe

. . . if perhaps there was some connection between strange

behavior in animals and earthquakes . . . and that maybe

animals . . . that you could use them to predict earth-

quakes. But there have been a lot of studies on this subject,

you know, and so far, none of them have shown anything

promising . . .

Student: But I thought there was this . . . I saw this show on

television about earthquakes, and it said that in, uh, China,

I think it was, they did predict an earthquake because of

the way animals were acting.

Professor: Oh, right, you’re thinking of the Haecheng earth-

quake about thirty years ago. Well, that’s true. There were

snakes coming out of the ground in the middle of winter

when they should have been hibernating . . . and suppos-

edly horses and other animals were acting frightened. And

there were other signs, too, not just from animals. So the

government ordered an evacuation of the area, and in fact,

there was an earthquake, so thousands of lives were proba-

bly saved.

Student: Yeah, that’s what I’m thinking of . . . that’s what I

saw on television.

Professor: The problem is, that, unfortunately, no one’s

been able to duplicate that kind of result . . . in China or

anywhere. There have been lots of earthquakes since then

that haven’t been predicted, and there have been a couple

of false alarms when cities were evacuated for no reason . . .

and like I said, none of the studies that have been done

have shown that animals are any better at predicting earth-

quakes than people are.

Student: So that’s . . . so you don’t think that’s a very good

idea for a topic, then, I suppose . . .

Professor: I didn’t say that . . . just because this theory

hasn’t been proved doesn’t mean you couldn’t write a per-

fectly good paper about this topic . . . on the notion that

animals can predict earthquakes. Why not? It could be

pretty interesting. But to do a good job, you . . . you’ll need

to look at some serious studies in the scientific journals,

not just some pop-science articles in newspapers or . . .

and you can’t get your information from television shows.

Student: You really think it might make a good paper? Well,

then, I think if I can get enough information from the

library or the Internet . . .

Professor: Okay, why don’t you see what you can find? Oh, I

forgot to mention . . . you’ll need to write up a formal pro-

posal for your paper, and work up a preliminary bibliogra-

phy, and hand it in to me a week from tomorrow. I’ll need

to approve it before you get started. Now, if you’ll excuse

me, Brenda, I’ve got to get to that faculty meeting.

Narrator: Now get ready to answer the question. You may

use your notes to help you.

Narrator: Question 1: What is this conversation mainly

about?

[CD 1 Track 4]

Narrator: For the Listening exercises in The Complete

Guide, the directions will not be read aloud on the tape.

Therefore, you must read the directions for each exercise

and make sure you understand them before you start the

Audio Program.

Exercise 9.1

Narrator: Listen to a conversation between a student and a

librarian.

Student: Hi, I’m in Professor Quinn’s Political Science class.

She, uh, in class today she said that she’d put a journal on

reserve . . . We’re supposed to read an article from that

journal.

Librarian: Okay, well, you’re in the right place. This is the

reserve desk.

Student: Oh, good—I’ve never checked out reserve materi-

als before. So what do I need? Do I need a library card, or

. . . what do I have to do to . . .

Librarian: You have your student ID card with you, right?

Student: Umm, I think I do . . . I mean, I think it’s in my

backpack here . . .

Librarian: Okay, well, all you really need to do is leave your

student ID here with me, sign this form and the journal is

all yours—for—let me see—for two hours anyway.

Student: Two hours? That’s all the time I get?

Librarian: Well, when instructors put materials on reserve,

they set a time limit on how long you can use them . . . you

know, just so all the students in your class can get a chance

to read them.

Student: I don’t know how long the article is, but . . . I guess

I can finish it in two hours.

Librarian: And, one more thing, you, uh, you’ll have to read

the article in the library. You’re not allowed to check reserve

material out of the library, or to take it out of the building.

Student: Oh, well, then, . . . maybe I should, uh, maybe I

should go back to my dorm and get some dinner . . . before

I sit down and read this.

Librarian: That’s fine, but . . . I can’t guarantee the article

will be available right away when you come back . . . some

other student from your class might be using it.

Student: Well, I dunno, I . . . I guess I’ll just have to take my

chances . . .

Narrator: Now get ready to answer the question. You may

use your notes to help you.

Narrator: Question 1: What is the main topic of this

conversation?

Narrator: Listen to a conversation between two students.

Student A: Tina, hey, how are you?

Student B: Hi, Michael. Hey, how was your summer

vacation?

Student A: Oh, not too bad—mostly I was working. How

about you? I, uh, I kinda remember you saying that

. . . weren’t you going to Europe? How was that?

Student B: Oh, that fell through. I was going to travel with

my roommate, and she changed her mind about going, so

. . . well, my parents own a furniture store, and so instead, I

was going to work there. But then . . . well, you know

Professor Grant?

Student A: Oh, uh, from the archaeology department? Sure

. . . well, I’ve heard of her, anyway.

Student B: Well, I got a call from her just before the end of

the spring semester. She was planning to do this dig in

Mexico. So she calls me up and asks if I’d like to be a volun-

teer, and you know, I’ve always wanted . . . it’s always been

Audio Scripts - Guide to Listening.pdf

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