Conversation Two

　　W: I think continuing education is for innovative adults.

　　M: That’s interesting. I always thought of continuing education as training sessions for teachers to update their knowledge or for workers to fit themselves for new jobs.

　　W: There are those, too. But I mean people who personally choose to take continuing education, those who pay out of their own pockets because they decide, at a mature age, that life needs a little polishing up.

　　M: You mean like Marie who worked as a nurse for 25 years? At 45 she decided to go to university and then go for an MBA and is now the Chief Nurse. She earns double the salary, but has also double the trouble.

　　W: Exactly. Someone who has the courage to say, “Hey, I don’t want to die doing only this!” You know, someone who wants to use 99% rather than 60% of his or her potential.

　　M: It does take guts to return to studying as a working adult. I mean, you have family responsibilities, usually a job, and suddenly, you have to study and pass exams again.

　　W: That’s why I think continuing education is for people with initiative.

　　M: Well, count me out. I’m for live-and-let-live. So I’ll never make big money, but I earn enough to lead a good life. I’d rather go and learn to be a carpenter so when I retire I can make furniture or something like that.

　　W: Well, that’s a kind of continuing education. It doesn’t all have to be intellectual. The philosophy behind continuing education is that you’re never too old to learn. But of course we return to learn what we enjoy.

　　M: If you put it that way, I’m definitely for continuing education. I mean, I have no regrets as a dentist. But if I had another chance, I might choose architecture or art rather than medicine. I guess with continuing education I can try to get the best of both at different stages in my life!

　　Questions 12 to 15 are based on the conversation you have just heard.

　　12. What is the main topic of this conversation?

　　13. By saying “She earns double the salary, but has also double the trouble,” What does the man mean?

　　14. What would the man do for his continuing education?

　　15. At what age did Marie began to work as a nurse?

　　Section B

　　Directions: In this section, you will hear 3 short passages. At the end of each passage, you will hear some questions. Both the passage and the questions will be spoken only once. After you hear a question, you must choose the best answer from the four choices marked A), B), C), and D). Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the center.

　　Passage One

　　Los Angeles today is the second largest city in America, spreading over 464 square miles along the southern California coast. It is the center of the entertainment industry, and it has a balmy climate of mostly sunny days. But there was a time when Los Angeles was nothing more than a tiny Indian village.

　　The Spanish expedition searching for Monterey Bay camped there the night of August 1, 1769. Twelve years later, other Spaniards started a settlement at the village, which remained unchanged for decades.

　　Yankee sea traders used the settlement as a port, and the California gold rush brought some new economic life to the village, but the town remained quite small. It was not until the completion of the transcontinental railroads in 1869, and the discovery of oil in the 1890s, that the population began to grow. Later, during the two world wars, Los Angeles experienced more growth, in part because of the new airplane industry. At about the same time, the arrival of two New York motion picture producers in search of sunny weather marked the beginning of an entertainment industry that has become a multibillion-dollar industry today.

　　In just the past 100 years, this tiny sea village has grown into the sprawling metropolis that we know today.

　　Questions 16 to 18 are based on the passage you have just heard.

　　16. What is this talk about?

　　17. What two factors caused the town to begin to grow?

　　18. Approximately how many years ago did Los Angeles begin growing into a large city?

　　Passage Two

　　Norman E. Borlaug was the first agricultural scientist to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, and the fifteenth American to do so. He was born in 1914 in Iowa, the son of a farming family. In 1940, Borlaug earned his doctorate degree in plant pathology, and a few years later he was chosen by the Rockefeller Foundation to go abroad to help introduce new agricultural technology to farmers who were growing wheat.

　　Borlaug’s goal was to improve the quality of low-yielding wheat that some farmers had been growing for centuries, and he accomplished his goal. He developed new dwarf and semi-dwarf wheat that had stronger stems and could hold heavier heads of grain. In Mexico, for instance, the new methods resulted in doubled wheat yields. As a result Mexico changed from a country with a wheat shortage to one that was a wheat exporter. For the introduction of these new wheat-growing methods Borlaug was dubbed “father of the green revolution”.

　　Questions 19 to 21 are based on the passage you have just heard.

　　19. Which of the following was Borlaug’s goal?

　　20. What helped finance Borlaug’s trip abroad?

　　21. What did Borlaug do when he left the United States?

　　Passage Three

　　Robert recently attended a lecture on safety at a neighborhood center. The speaker was detective Garcia of the New York Police Department. Here is what he said.

　　The first thing you need to do is to get to know your neighbors. Don’t be shy. Introduce yourself, especially to people who live in your building. We people who live in large cities are often reluctant to make friends, but it may save our lives later. So make sure that you know your neighbors and that they know you.

　　Second, don’t carry a lot of money with you. If you’re a man, put your wallet in your front pocket; it’s harder for a pickpocket to lift it out without your knowing. Women, get a purse with straps that you can slip over your shoulder and under your arm. Don’t carry a small purse that a robber can grab from you easily.

　　Third, if you are mugged, don’t resist. I wish people would listen to me when I say that. A month ago a fifty-year-old man ended up in a hospital because he thought he could beat a mugger in a fight. But if he hadn’t tried to be brave, that probably wouldn’t have happened. Don’t try to be a karate expert. Give the mugger what he wants. As soon as he leaves, call the police. Report any lost credit cards without delay.

　　Finally, remember that there’s safety in numbers. Try to avoid dark, deserted streets at night. Also, do not get on empty subway cars. If you’re traveling at night, get on the car with the conductor or the motorman.

　　Some New Yorkers like to say that the city is a very dangerous place. There is some danger, yes, but if you’re careful and pay attention, you should do all right.

　　Questions 22 to 25 are based on the passage you have just heard.

　　22. Who gave the lecture on safety?

　　23. What can we infer about city citizens from the lecture?

　　24. What would you do if you lost your credit cards to the mugger?

　　25. What can we conclude from this lecture?

　　Section C

　　Directions: In this section, you will hear a passage three times. When the passage is read for the first time you should listen for its general idea. Then listen to the passage again. When the passage is read for the second time, you are required to fill in the blanks numbered from 26 to 33 with the exact words you have just heard. For the blanks numbered from 34 to 36 you are required to fill in the missing information. For these blanks, you can either use the exact words you have just heard or write down the main points in your own words. Finally, when the passage is read for the third time, you should check what you have written.

　　Foot massage parlors are sprouting up all over China. In big cities, like Beijing, there are shops on many street (26) corners, and foot massage chain stores employ thousands of workers. This (27) mushrooming industry is producing thousands of new jobs for the blind, who traditionally in Asia have been trained to do massage.

　　The Chinese government says more than five million people work in the foot massage (28) trade. Most of them come from poor rural areas, and getting jobs in the city rubbing other people’s feet offers a way out of poverty.

　　Workers at some shops have only (29) minimal training, leaving them wide open to competition from (30) highly trained blind massage therapists, who promise to deliver medicinal (31) benefits at a competitive price. Cao Jun has been blind from birth and he (32) owns three foot massage parlors. “We have an advantage in terms of touching and feeling, so we are very confident that we do a better job than (33) ordinary people,” he says.

　　Massage has traditionally been considered a profession for the blind in China, Japan and other Asian nations. Now (34) the Chinese government is encouraging the blind to take up massage as an occupation that will allow them to live independently. (35) Special massage schools have set up four-year programs, giving sightless students far more training than their sighted counterparts.

　　Mr. Cao says his 10-year-old business is strictly for medicinal massage based on ancient Chinese theories of reflexology, which say (36) that points on the feet correlate to parts of the body and that specialized foot rubs, which hit the different points, promote overall health.