听力试题 Section A

Part II Listening Comprehension (30 minutes)
　　Section A
Directions: In this section, you will hear two long conversations. At the end of each conversation, you will hear four questions. Both the conversation 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 1 with a single line through the centre.
　　注意：此部分试题请在答题卡1上作答。

Questions 1 to 4 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
1. A) Project organizer.
B) Public relations officer.
C) Marketing manager.
D) Market research consultant.

2. A) Quantitative advertising research.
B) Questionnaire design.
C) Research methodology.
D) Interviewer training.

3. A) They are intensive studies of people's spending habits.
B) They examine relations between producers and customers.
C) They look for new and effective ways to promote products.
D) They study trends or customer satisfaction over a long period.

4. A) The lack of promotion opportunity.
B) Checking charts and tables.
C) Designing questionnaires.
D) The persistent intensity.

Questions 5 to 8 are based on the conversation you have just heard.

5. A) His view on Canadian universities.
B) His understanding of higher education.
C) His suggestions for improvements in higher education.
D) His complaint about bureaucracy in American universities.

6. A) It is well designed.
B) It is rather inflexible.
C) It varies among universities.
D) It has undergone great changes.

7. A) The United States and Canada can learn from each other.
B) Public universities are often superior to private universities.
C) Everyone should be given equal access to higher education.
D) Private schools work more efficiently than public institutions.

8. A) University systems vary from country to country.
B) Efficiency is essential to university management.
C) It is hard to say which is better, a public university or a private one.
D) Many private university in the U.S. are actually large bureaucracies.

听力试题 Section B

Section B
　　Directions: In this section, you will hear two passages. At the end of each passage, you will hear three or four 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 1 with a single line through the centre.
　　注意：此部分试题请在答题卡1上作答。

Passage One
Questions 9 to 11 are based on the passage you have just heard.

9. A) Government's role in resolving an economic crisis.
B) The worsening real wage situation around the world.
C) Indications of economic recovery in the United States.
D) The impact of the current economic crisis on peopled life.

10. A) They will feel less pressure to raise employees' wages.
B) They will feel free to choose the most suitable employees.
C) They will feel inclined to expand their business operations.
D) They will feel more confident in competing with their rivals.

11. A) Employees and companies cooperate to pull through the economic crisis.
B) Government and companies join hands to create jobs for the unemployed.
C) Employees work shorter hours to avoid layoffs.
D) Team work will be encouraged in companies.

Passage Two
Questions 12 to 15 are based on the passage you have just heard.

12. A) Whether memory supplements work.
B) Whether herbal medicine works wonders.
C) Whether exercise enhances one's memory.
D) Whether a magic memory promises success.

13. A) They help the elderly more than the young.
B) They are beneficial in one way or another.
C) They generally do not have side effects.
D)They are not based on real science.

14. A) They are available at most country fairs.
B) They are taken in relatively high dosage.
C) They are collected or grown by farmers.
D) They are prescribed by trained practitioners.

15. A) They have often proved to be as helpful as doing mental exercise.
B) Taking them with other medications might entail unnecessary risks.
C) Their effect lasts only a short time.
D) Many have benefited from them.

听力试题 Section C

　　Section C

Directions: In this section, you will hear three recordings of lectures or talks followed by three or four questions. The recordings will be played 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 1 with a single line through the centre.

注意：此部分试题请在答题卡1上作答。

Recording One
Questions 16 to 18 are based on the recording you have just heard.

16. A) How catastrophic natural disasters turn out to be to developing nations.
B) How the World Meteorological Organization studies natural disasters.
C) How powerless humans appear to be in face of natural disasters.
D) How the negative impacts of natural disasters can be reduced.

17. A) By training rescue teams for emergencies.
B) By taking steps to prepare people for them.
C) By changing people's views of nature.
D) By relocating people to safer places.

18. A) How preventive action can reduce the loss of life.
B) How courageous Cubans are in face of disasters.
C) How Cubans suffer from tropical storms.
D) How destructive tropical storms can be.

Recording Two
Questions 19 to 22 are based on the recording you have just heard.

19. A) Pay back their loans to the American government.
B) Provide loans to those in severe financial difficulty.
C) Contribute more to the goal of a wider recovery.
D) Speed up their recovery from the housing bubble.

20. A) Some banks may have to merge with others.
B) Many smaller regional banks are going to fail.
C) It will be hard for banks to provide more loans.
D) Many banks will have to lay off some employees.

21. A) It will work closely with the government.
B) It will endeavor to write off bad loans.
C) It will try to lower the interest rate.
D) It will try to provide more loans.

22. A) It won't help the American economy to turn around.
B) It won't do any good to the major commercial banks.
C) It will win the approval of the Obama administration.
D) It will be necessary if the economy starts to shrink again.

Recording Three
Questions 23 to 25 are based on the recording you have just heard.

23. A) Being unable to learn new things.
B) Being rather slow to make changes.
C) Losing temper more and more often.
D) Losing the ability to get on with others.

24. A) Cognitive stimulation.
B) Community activity.
C) Balanced diet.
D) Fresh air.

25. A) Ignoring the signs and symptoms of aging.
B) Adopting an optimistic attitude towards life.
C) Endeavoring to give up unhealthy lifestyles.
D) Seeking advice from doctors from time to time.

听力答案

Section A & B & C
01-04:DADB
05-08:ABCC
09-11:BAC
12-15:ADDB
16-18:DBA
19-22:CBDD
23-25:AAC

六级听力解析 Section A
Section A
Conversation One

1.【解析】D。对话一开头男士就问女士做市场调查顾问有多久了，可见女士在公司的职位是市场调査顾问。因此 D 项为答案。
【干扰项排除】①选项都是关于职位的内容，预测问题问职业。②A 项“项目组织者”、B 项“公共关系职员”以及 C 项“营销经理”都没有在对话中提及，只是利用录音的个别字词 organize, project, relationship 作干扰，故均予以排除。
2.【解析】A。对话中女士在被男士问到对什么感兴趣时，女士回答说目前专攻量化广告研究。A 项的表述与女士的意思一致，故为正确答案。
【干扰项排除】①选项都是关于研究、设计、培训等内容，听音时留意相关信息。②B 项“调查问卷设计”和 C 项“研究方法论”都不是目前女士专攻的内容，是女士回答“和新客户建立良好关系要经历什么过程”这个问题时涉及到的，故排除；D 项“面试者培训”只是利用对话中出现的 interviewer 一词作干扰，故排除。
3.【解析】D。对话中女士提到两个项目，其中之一是有关追踪系统，女士的解释为：这是个正在进行的项目，研究很长一段时期内的趋势或客户满意度。D 项中的 study 是录音原文中 look at 的同义替换，故为正确答案。
【干扰项排除】①选项的主语都是 They,听录音时要留意其指代什么事物及其相关信息。②A 项“它们是对人们消费习惯的集中研究”、B 项“它们调查生产者和顾客之间的关系”以及 C 项“它们寻找促销产品的有效的新方法”都不属于追踪系统的内容，故均予以排除。
4.【解析】B。对话末尾，女士对于最后一个问题——工作上喜欢和不喜欢的分别是什么的回答是：工作上的多样性对于我来说是重要的，至于不喜欢的内容就是图表的核对了。B 项的表述与女士的意思一致，故为正确答案。
【干扰项排除】①选项分别为关于晋升机会、设计调查问卷和检查图表等的名词短语，推测题目可能与工作相关。②C 项“设计调查问卷”是和新客户建立良好关系需要做的，并没有提到是女士不喜欢的工作内容，故排除；A 项“缺乏晋升机会”和 D 项“持续的紧张”都未在对话中提及，故排除。

Conversation Two

5.【解析】A。对话一开头女士就请 Frederick 解释对于加拿大的大学的看法，由此可知，女士是想让 Frederick 讨论他对加拿大的大学的看法。A 项的表述与女士的意思一致，故为正确答案。
【干扰项排除】①选项都是关于 his 的内容，听录音时要留意男士的相关信息。②女士只是想让男士谈下他对于加拿大的大学的看法，而不是想知道男士对于高等教育的理解，故 B 项错误；C 项“他对于高等教育改进的建议”未在对话中提及，故排除；D 项“他对于美国大学官僚主义的抱怨”掺杂女士对于美国大学的看法，属于张冠李戴，故予以排除。
6.【解析】B。对话中男士说到在加拿大，教育部负责设计大学的课程，没有太多灵活变通的空间，也就是说加拿大的大学课程是相当不灵活的。B 项中的 rather inflexible 是录音原文中 not much room for flexibility 的同义替换，故为正确答案。
【干扰项排除】①选项都是关于 It 的描述，听录音时要注意 It 指代什么及其相关信息。②录音只提到加拿大的大学课程由教育部设计，没有提到设计的质量怎么样、各大学课程表有何不同以及有何重大改变，故 A 项“它设计得很好”、C 项“它在不同的大学不一样”和 D 项“它经历了巨大的变化”均予以排除。
7.【解析】C。对话中女士说在美国有一个问题，就是通常只有有钱人家的孩子才能上最好的学校，男士对此表示赞同，并且讲到不能给予每个人平等的教育机会确实是个问题。由此看来，他们都认为每个人都应该被给予平等的机会去接受高等教育，故选 C 项。
【干扰项排除】①选项中出现 universities、education、 institutions 等关键词，推测问题可能与大学教育相关。②A 项“美国和加拿大可以互相学习”，关于借鉴和学习，男子只提到我们或许可以向日本学习，故排除。对话最后男士讲到很难说哪种大学更好，女士也表示认同，所以 B 项“公立大学比私立大学更优越”错误。录音中男士谈及加拿大公立大学的办事效率低的问题，而女士提到美国的私立大学同样存在官僚主义，所以无从判断哪种大学更有效率，故排除 D 项“私立学校比公立机构更有效率”。
8.【解析】C。对话最后男士得出结论：很难说公立大学和私立大学哪一个更好，因此，C 项为正确答案。
【干扰项排除】①四个选项都是围绕大学这个话题展开，听录音时要注意相关信息。②录音谈及三个国家以及它们不同的大学制度，但男子并没有就此得出结论“大学制度随着国家的不同而不同”，故排除 A 项。B 项“效率对于大学管理来说至关重要”，男子虽然谈及公立大学的管理效率问题，但他没有说效率是至关重要的，故排除 B 项。D 项“美国的很多私立大学实际上都是巨大的官僚机构”是女士的看法，而不是男士的结论，故排除。

六级听力解析 Section B

Section B
Passage One
9.【解析】B。录音开头提到，国际劳工组织最近的一份报告指出，世界各地实际工资水平的恶化情况让人质疑经济复苏的真实程度，B 项的 worsening real wage 是录音中的 deterioration of real wages 的同义替换，因此本题选 B 项。
【干扰项排除】①选项均为有一定概括性的名词短语，推测本题有可能是主旨类的题目。②A 项“政府在解决经济危机过程中所起的作用”是利用录音中个别词编造的干扰项，并非该报告的主要内容；C 项的 indications 和 economic recovery 虽在录音中有出现过，但经济复苏的征兆并非主题，且录音并没有单指美国经济复苏的情况，故 C 项不选；D 项“当前的经济危机对人们生活的影响”，当下应该是经济危机后的恢复时期，而非 current economic crisis，由此可排除。
10.【解析】A。录音提到，这位专家认为，当更多人失业，就有更多人求职，雇主在提升工资吸引员工方面的压力便随之下降，A 项的 less pressure 是录音中 pressure... will decline 的同义表达，故选 A 项。
【干扰项排除】①选项的主语都是 They,根据 raise employees' wages, choose... employees, expand... business operations 等关键词，推测 They 应该指雇主，听音时留意关于雇主的信息。②B 项“他们可以随意选择最合适的员工”、C 项“他们想扩展其经营范围”和 D 项“他们在跟对手竞争时会更有信心”均未在录音中提及。
11.【解析】C。录音末尾提到 work sharing scheme。该计划是想通过减少个人工时来避免裁员，然后由政府来补贴员工因减少工时而带来的损失，C 项是该处录音内容的同义表达，故为本题答案。
【干扰项排除】①根据选项出现的 employees, unemployed , layoffs 等关键词，推测问题可能与雇员失业或下岗有关，听音时留意相关信息。②A 项“员工和公司携手共度经济危机难关”、B 项“政府和企业联手为失业人员创造工作岗位”和 D 项“在企业内部鼓励团队合作”在录音中均未提及，故予以排除。

Passage Two
12.【解析】A。说话人在录音开头部分即提到“我曾经经常被问到这些记忆力补品是否有效”，A 项是该处录音原句的概述，因此本题选 A 项。
【干扰项排除】①三个选项都出现了 memory，推测问题可能与记忆力有关，听音时留意相关信息。②B 项“草药是否有奇效”，录音中虽提到 herbal，但说话人被问的是是否真的有挽救记忆力的草本药物，B 项没有提到记忆力，故不选；C 项“锻炼是否有助于提高记忆力”是利用录音中提到的 workout“锻炼，练习”来设置干扰；D 项“拥有神奇的记忆力能否保证取得成功”在录音中未提及。
13.【解析】D。说话人提到那类补品有很多并不一定名副其实，大部分的背后缺乏科学依据，D 项“他们并非以真正的科学为基础”是该句录音的同义表达。
【干扰项排除】①四个选项的主语都是 They,听音时留意其指代什么事物。②A 项“相较于年轻人，它们对年长者更有用”未在录音中提及；说话人多次表示这些补品多数没有什么效果，需谨慎服用，而且最后提到若跟其他药同服，还有可能产生不良后果,B 项“无论如何它们都是有益的”和 C 项“它们一般没什么副作用”与录音意思相反，均排除。
14.【解析】D。录音提到，在一些东方国家，这类补药属于处方药，剂量须由经过训练的执业医师所定，D 项为该处录音的概括，故为正确答案。
【干扰项排除】①四个选项的主语都是 They，听音时留意其指代什么事物。②A 项“它们在多数乡村集市上有售”和 C 项“它们是由农民采集和种植的”均未在录音中提及。B 项“它们服用时的剂量相对较大”与录音所述不符。
15.【解析】B。录音结尾，说话人提醒：很多时候人们没有真正意识到服用这类补药带来的影响，也不知道与其他药物同服可能会增加出现某些不良情况的风险，B 项为该处录音的同义表达。
【干扰项排除】①根据选项出现的 They、them、medications、effect 等关键词，推测问题可能问某样药物的作用，听音时留意相关信息。②A 项“它们通常被证实跟做脑力训练一样有效”、C 项“它们的效果只持续一小段时间”和 D 项“很多人受益于它们”在录音中均未提及，故予以排除。

六级听力解析 Section C

Section C
Recording One
16.【解析】D。录音一开头提到自然灾害造成的负面影响随处可见：大量人员伤亡和经济损失。随后气象专家 Geoffrey Love 提到在过去的 50 年里，经济损失增加了 50 倍，但死亡人数已经下降了 10 倍，原因是安全预警做得越来越好了。接下来录音都是围绕着人们采取预防措施来减少自然灾害带来的危害展开。因此 D 项正确。
【干扰项排除】①选项都出现关键词 natural disasters,
由此可知本题与自然灾害有关。②虽然录音开头有提及一些发展中国家遭受严重的自然灾害，但录音接下来强调的是，采取预防措施，这些国家的人员伤亡成功降低了，故 A 项不对。录音没有主要阐述世界气象组织如何研究自然灾害，故 B 项不对。C 项“人类在面对自然灾害上显得有多无力”与录音提到的人们采取预防措施应对自然灾害这一事实不符。
17.【解析】B。录音提到 Geoffrey Love 说极端事件还会继续发生，但是只有当人们未能做好准备工作或预防措施时，极端事件才会最终演变成灾难，换言之，我们需要采取行动来为此做准备，因此选 B。
【干扰项排除】①四个选项都是 By+doing...结构，推测问题可能涉及做某事的方式。②A 项“通过训练救援队伍来应对突发事件”、C 项“通过改变人们对自然的看法”和 D 项“通过把人们迁移到更安全的地方”录音均没有提及，故排除。
18.【解析】A。录音最后，世界气象组织列举了古巴和孟加拉国作为例子，说明这两个国家通过采取预防措施，成功地减少了自然灾害带来的大量人员死亡。接着录音提到，采用了预警系统的古巴在 2008 年遭遇 5 次飓风连续袭击，仅有 7 人遇难。A 项与之相符。
【干扰项排除】B 项“勇敢的古巴人怎样面对灾难”录音没有提及，故排除；C 项“古巴人如何遭受热带风暴的袭击”，录音虽有提及古巴人每年都遭受很多次热带风暴袭击这一事实，但这不是举古巴为例子的目的，故 C 项不对。古巴在防范热带风暴袭击方面做得很成功，使得风暴造成的破坏并没有特别大，故排除 D 项“热带风暴的破坏力有多大”。

Recording Two
19.【解析】C。录音一开始提到，在美国政府和纳税人的帮助下，美国银行业得以复苏，总统奥巴马说银行是时候要作出回报了：现在银行更有义务去完成更大范围的经济复苏这一目标。C 项与录音相符。
【干扰项排除】①选项都是原形动词短语，推测问题可能与行为动作有关。②A 项“向美国政府偿还贷款”录音没有提到，是利用录音个别字词拼凑而成的；录音没有提到为那些经济严重困难的个人或企业提供贷款，因此 B 项错误。D 项“加快银行在房地产泡沫中的复苏”是利用录音中的 recovery 和 the housing bubble 设置的干扰项。
20.【解析】B。录音提到，经济学家 Martin Neil Baily 认为银行业危机并没有结束，在 2009 年已经有 130 多家美国银行倒闭，预计在 2010 年会有更多规模小的地区性银行面临倒闭，原因是商业地产贷款将到期，B 项与之相符。
【干扰项排除】①选项中多次提及 banks，推测问题与银行业有关。②A 项“一些银行可能不得不与其他银行合并”录音没有提及，故予以排除；C 项“银行将难以提供更多的贷款”只是分析家的观点，并不是 Martin Neil Baily 的预测，故排除；录音只是提到高失业率可能会导致借贷需求的减少以及银行不愿意放贷，并没有提及许多银行将不得不解雇员工，因此 D 项错误。
21.【解析】D。在银行的问题上，Richard Davis 比一些经济专家更乐观，他说借贷就好像煤炭对于引擎的作用一样，所以我们要放出更多的贷款。D 项中 provide more loans 是录音中 make more loans 的同义转换，故为正确答案。
【干扰项排除】①从选项的内容来看，题目与 It(银行）将来的举动有关。②A 项“与政府密切合作”、B 项“努力注销不良贷款”和 C 项“尝试降低利率”录音均没有提及，故予以排除。
22.【解析】D。录音最后提到，如果美国经济再次开始下滑，Baily 认为应该有充分的理由二度刺激经济，因此 D 项正确。
【干扰项排除】①四个选项都是关于 It 的情况，留意题目中的 It 指代何物。②A 项“它不会帮助美国经济好转”和 B 项“它不会对主要商业银行有好处”录音均没有提及，故予以排除；C 项是利用录音中 Obama administration 设置的干扰项，故排除。

Recording Three
23.【解析】A。录音开头提到当我们年老时，认知能力的下降意味着丧失学习新技能的能力，或者是容易忘记一些单词、名字和人脸。A 项的 unable to 是录音原文 the loss of ability 的同义转换。
【干扰项排除】①四个选项都是动名词短语，内容涉及一些负面的影响，注意细节。②B 项“作出改变相当缓慢”、C 项“越来越经常发脾气”和 D 项“失去与他人相处的能力”录音均没有提及，故予以排除。
24.【解析】A。录音提到 James Burke 认为虽然没有有力的证据证实运动、饮食和认知刺激可以帮助降低认知能力衰退，但是它们仍能发挥一定的积极作用。因此 A 项是正确的。
【干扰项排除】录音没有提及参加社区活动和呼吸新鲜空气能减少认知能力衰退，因此 B 项和 D 项不对；录音只是提到饮食是减缓认知能力衰退的因素之一，并没有指是均衡饮食，也有可能指提高记忆力的食材，因此 C 项也不准确。
25.【解析】C。录音最后提到，James Burke 提出一些建议，从医学、营养和认知刺激的角度来看，人们采取健康的生活方式，可以减少认知能力衰退的发生，故 C 项“尝试放弃不健康的生活方式”正确。
【干扰项排除】A 项“忽略衰老的症状和体征”、B 项“采取积极的生活态度”和 D 项“时不时向医生征求建议”录音均没有提及，故予以排除。

听力原文 Section A

Section A
Conversation One
M: So how long have you been a Market Research Consultant?
W: Well, I started straight after finishing university.
M: Did you study market research?
W: Yeah, and it really helped me to get into the industry, but I have to say that it's more important to get experience in different types of market research to find out exactly what you're interested in.
M: So what are you interested in?
W: Well, at the moment, I specialize in quantitative advertising research, which means that I do two types of projects. Trackers, which are ongoing projects that look at trends or customer satisfaction over a long period of time. The only problem with trackers is that it takes up a lot of your time. But you do build up a good relationship with the client. I also do a couple of ad-hoc jobs which are much shorter projects.
M: What exactly do you mean by ad-hoc jobs?
W: It's basically when companies need quick answers to their questions about their consumers' habits. They just ask for one questionnaire to be sent out for example, so the time you spend on an ad-hoc project tends to be fairly short.
M: Which do you prefer, trackers or ad-hoc?
W: I like doing both and in fact I need to do both at the same time to keep me from going crazy. I need the variety.
M: Can you just explain what process you go through with a new client?
W: Well, together we decide on the methodology and the objectives of the research. I then design a questionnaire. Once the interviewers have been briefed, I send the client a schedule and then they get back to me with deadlines. Once the final charts and tables are ready, I have to check them and organize a presentation.
M: Hmm, one last question, what do you like and dislike about your job?
W: As I said, variety is important and as for what I don't like, it has to be the checking of charts and tables.
1 What position does the woman hold in the company?
2 What does the woman specialize in at the moment?
3 What does the woman say about trackers?
4 What does the woman dislike about her job?

Conversation Two
W: Hello, I'm here with Frederick. Now Fred, you went to university in Canada?
M: Yeah, that's right.
W: OK, and you have very strong views about universities in Canada. Could you please explain?
M: Well, we don't have private universities in Canada They're all public. All the universities are owned by the government, so there is the Ministry of Education in charge of creating the curriculum for the universities and so there is not much room for flexibility. Since it's a government-operated institution, things don't move very fast. If you want something to be done, then their staff do not have so much incentive to help you because he's a worker for the government. So I don't think it's very efficient However, there are certain advantages of public universities, such as the fees being free. You don't have to pay for your education. But the system isn’t efficient, and it does not work that well.
W: Yeah, I can see your point, but in the United States we have many private universities, and I think they are large bureaucracies also. Maybe people don't act that much differently, because it's the same thing working for a private university. They get paid for their job. I don't know if they're that much more motivated to help people. Also, we have a problem in the United States that usually only wealthy kids go to the best schools and ifs kind of a problem actually.
M: I agree with you. I think ifs a problem because you're not giving equal access to education to everybody. It's not easy, but having only public universities also might not be the best solution. Perhaps we can learn from Japan where they have a system of private and public universities. Now, in Japan, public universities are considered to be the best.
W: Right. It’s the exact opposite in the United States.
M: So, as you see，it's very hard to say which one is better.
W: Right, a good point.
5 What does the woman want Frederick to talk about?
6 What does the man say about the curriculum in Canadian universities?
7 On what point do the speakers agree?
8 What point does the man make at the end of the conversation?

听力原文 Section B

Section B
Passage One
A recent International Labor Organization report says the deterioration of real wages around the world calls into question the true extent of an economic recovery, especially if government rescue packages are phased out too early. The report warns the picture on wages is likely to get worse this year despite indications of an economic rebound. Patrick Belser, an international labor organization specialist, says declining wage rates are linked to the levels of unemployment. The quite dramatic unemployment features, which we now see in some of the countries, strongly suggest that there will be a great pressure on wages in the future as more people will be unemployed, more people will be looking for jobs and the pressure on employers to raise wages to attract workers will decline. So we expect that the second part of the year would not be very good in terms of wage growth. The report finds more than a quarter of the countries experienced flat or falling monthly wages in real terms. They include the United States, Austria, Costa Rica, South Africa and Germany. International Labor Organization economists say some nations have come up with policies to lessen the impact of lower wages during the economic crisis. An example of these is work sharing with government subsidies. Under this scheme, the number of individual working hours is reduced in an effort to avoid layoffs. For this scheme to work, the government must provide wage subsidies to compensate for lost pay due to the shorter hours.
9 What is the International Labor Organization's report mainly about?
10 According to an International Labor Organization's specialist, how will employers feel if there are more people looking for jobs?
11 What does the speaker mean by the work sharing scheme?

Passage Two
Is there really a magic memory pill or a herbal recall remedy? I have been frequently asked if these memory supplements work. You know, one of the first things I like to tell people when they ask me about the supplements, is that a lot of them are promoted as a cure for your memory. But your memory doesn't need a cure. What your memory needs is a good workout. So really those supplements aren't going to give you that perfect memory in the way that they promise. The other thing is that a lot of these supplements aren't necessarily what they claim to be, and you really have to be wary when you take any of them. The science isn't there behind most of them. They're not really well-regulated unless they adhere to some industry standard. You don't really know that what they say is in there, isn't there. What you must understand is that those supplements，especially in some eastern cultures, are part of a medical practice tradition. People don't just go in a local grocery store and buy these supplements. In fact, they are prescribed and they're given at a certain level, a dosage that is understood by a practitioner who's been trained. And that's not really the way they're used in this country. The other tiling people do forget is that these are medicines, so they do have an impact. A lot of times people are not really aware of the impact they have, or the fact that taking them in combination with other medications might put you at increased risk for something that you wouldn't otherwise being countering or be at risk for.
12 What question is frequently put to the speaker?
13 What does the speaker say about most memory supplements?
14 What do we learn about memory supplements in eastern cultures?
15 What does the speaker say about memory supplements at the end?

听力原文 Section C
Section C
Recording One
The negative impacts of natural disasters can be seen everywhere. In just the past few weeks, the world has witnessed the destructive powers of earthquakes in Indonesia, typhoons in the Philippines, and the destructive sea waves that struck Samoa and neighboring islands. A study by the Center for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters finds that, between 1980 and 2007, nearly 8,400 natural disasters killed more than two million people. These catastrophic events caused more than $1.5 trillion in economic losses.
U.N. weather expert Geoffrey Love says that is the bad news. "Over the last 50 years, economic losses have increased by a factor of 50. That sounds pretty terrible, but the loss of life has decreased by a factor of 10 simply because we are getting better at warning people. We are making a difference. Extreme events, however, will continue to occur. [16]But, the message is that they need not be disasters. "
Love, who is director of Weather and Disaster Risk Reduction at the World Meteorological Organization, says most of the deaths and economic losses were caused by weather, climate, or water-related extremes. These include droughts, floods, windstorms, strong tropical winds and wildfires.
He says extreme events will continue. But, he says extreme events become disasters only when people fail to prepare for them.
"Many of the remedies are well-known. From a planning perspective, it is pretty simple. Build better buildings. Don't build where the hazards will destroy them. From an early-warning perspective, make sure the warnings go right down to the community level. Build community action plans."
The World Meteorological Organization points to Cuba and Bangladesh as examples of countries that have successfully reduced the loss of life caused by natural disasters by taking preventive action.
It says tropical storms formerly claimed dozens, if not hundreds of lives, each year, in Cuba. But, the development of an early-warning system has reversed that trend. In 2008, Cuba was hit by five successive hurricanes, but only seven people were killed.
Bangladesh also has achieved substantial results. Major storm surges in 1970 and 1991 caused the deaths of about 440,000 people. Through careful preparation，the death toll from a super tropical storm in November 2007 was less than 3,500.
16 What is the talk mainly about?
17 How can we stop extreme events from turning into disasters?
18 What does the example of Cuba serve to show?

Recording Two
As U.S. banks recovered with the help of the American government and the American taxpayer, President Obama held meetings with top bank executives, telling them it's time to return the favor. "The way I see it are banks now having a greater obligation to the goal of a wider recovery," he said. But the president may be giving the financial sector too much credit "It was in a free fall，and it was a very scary period." Economist Martin Neil Baily said. After the failure of Lehman Brothers, many of the world's largest banks feared the worst as the collapse of the housing bubble exposed in investments in risky loans.
Although he says the worst is just over, Baily says the banking crisis is not. More than 130 US banks failed in 2009. He predicts high failure rates for smaller, regional banks in 2010 as commercial real estate loans come due.
"So there may actually be a worsening of credit availability to small and medium sized businesses in the next year or so."
Analysts say the biggest problem is high unemployment, which weakens demand and makes banks reluctant to lend. But US Bankcorp chief Richard Davis sees the situation differently.
“We're probably more optimistic than the experts might be. With that in mind, we're putting in everything we can, lending is the coal to our engine, so we want to make more loans. We have to find a way to qualify more people and not put ourselves at risk."
While some economists predict continued recovery in the future, Baily says the only certainty is that banks are unlikely to make the same mistakes twice. "You know, forecasting's become a very hazardous business so I don't want to commit myself too much. I don't think we know exactly what's going to happen but ifs certainly possible that we could get very slow growth over the next year or two."
If the economy starts to shrink again, Baily says it would make a strong case for a second stimulus—something the Obama administration hopes will not be necessary.
19 What does President Obama hope the banks will do?
20 What is Martin Neil Baily's prediction about the financial situation in the future?
21 What does U.S. Bankcorp chief Richard Davis say about its future operation?
22 What does Martin Neil Baily think of a second stimulus to the economy?

Recording Three
A new study has failed to find any conclusive evidence that lifestyle changes can prevent cognitive decline in older adults. Still there are good reasons to make positive changes in how we live and what we eat as we age. Cognitive decline is the loss of ability to learn new skills, or recall words, names, and faces that is most common as we age. To reduce or avoid it, researchers have examined the effect of smoking, diet, brain-challenging games, exercise and other strategies.
Researchers at Duke University scrutinized more than 160 published studies and found an absence of strong evidence that any of these approaches can make a big difference. Co-author James Burke helped design the study. "In the observational studies we found that some of the B vitamins were beneficial." "Exercise, diet, cognitive stimulation showed some positive effects, although the evidence was not so strong that we could actually consider these firmly established." Some previous studies have suggested that challenging your brain with mentally stimulating activities might help. And Burke says that actually does seem to help, based on randomized studies—the researcher's gold standard "Cognitive stimulation is one of the areas where we did find some benefit. The exact type of stimulation that an individual uses is not as important as being intellectually engaged." The expert review also found insufficient evidence to recommend any drugs or dietary supplements that could prevent or slow cognitive decline. However, given that there is at least some evidence for positive effects from some of these lifestyle changes, plus other benefits apparently unrelated to cognitive decline, Burke was willing to offer some recommendations. "I think that by having people adopt a healthy lifestyle, both from a medical standpoint as well as nutritional and cognitive stimulation standpoint, we can reduce the incidence of cognitive decline, which will be proof that these factors are, in fact, important." James Burke of Duke University is one of the authors of a study reviewing previous research on cognitive decline. The paper is published online by the Annals of Internal Medicine.
23 According to the speaker, what might be a symptom of cognitive decline in older adults?
24 According to James Burke, what does seem to help reduce cognitive decline?
25 What did James Burke recommend to reduce the incidence of cognitive decline?