TOEFL Oct 2003 Lyrics

03年10月托福听力文字
Part A
1.
M: Oh, so, it was your sister you ere walking with yesterday. You don't look very much alike.
W: No, we did when we were kids, but not anymore
What does the woman mean?
2.
W: I can't believe my roommate still hasn't washed the dishes. There is not a clean dish left for us to use.
M: Don't worry about it. Paper plates are fine.
What does the man mean?
3.
M: I hear you have applied to several universities. Have you got accepted anywhere?
W: I haven't heard anything yet. But I should know something within the next few weeks.
What does the woman mean?
4.
W: Prof, I know your course has no absence policy. But I have to have foot surgery next Friday and can't be here.
M: Medical excuses are one of the few exceptions I make.
What will the Prof probably do?
5.
W: By walking through spring break, I managed to save up the 500$ for the trip to Canada this summer. How are you coming along?
M: I'm still a way's off.
What does the man mean?
6.
M: I am just writing Marry about our vacation. Why don't I enclose this picture of us in front of the Grand Canyon?
W: Don't you think it's a little out focus?
What does the woman imply?
7.
W: Oh, I am so angry. My biology Prof would not even let me try to explain why I missed the field trip. He just gave me a zero.
M: That is not seemed fair. I would feel that way too if I were you.
What does the man imply about the woman.
8.
W: Have you guys decided whether you are going to get an apartment off campus next year or are you staying in the dorm?
M: We are still talking about the pros and cons. I don't know. To me it seems like six of one half a dozen of the other.
What does the man mean?
9.
W: What is that you are listening to? That beat's so strong I can't concentrate on my work.
M: No problem. I can switch over to something lighter.
What will the man probably do?
10.
W: We had a delicious Sunday brunch at that new hotel downtown. You should try it sometime.
M: I didn't even know the building was finished. Shows how much I've been working lately.
What does the man imply?
11.
M: Hey, aren't you going to the present's presentation this morning. Our class has been canceled so that everyone can come.
W: Oh really? So much for my excuse I guess I have to join you then.
What will the woman probably do?
12.
M: What a relationship Steven and his father have!
W: Don't they? I only hope my daughter and I can get along like that when she's Steven's age.
What can be inferred about the woman?
13.
W: I just love this new CD. Have you heard it?
M: I really don't listen to popular music. I prefer classical.
What does the man mean?
14.
W: Sorry Sam, I just hate these kinds of movies. They always give me bad dreams.
M: I agree, let's go and see if you can get refund at the front window.
What will the speakers probably do next?
15.
M: I thought the libraries stay open till midnight during the week.
W: Well, their hours are shorter during the summer.
What does the woman mean?
16.
M: I thought you've finished your report. So I got tickets for the symphony tonight.
W: Well, it's not done. But it's not due till next week.
What can be inferred about the woman?
17.
W: Are you going to Linda's party tonight?
M: Are you kidding? I wouldn't miss it for anything.
What does the man mean?
18.
M: I am going to straighten up my desk now.
W: It's about time.
What does the woman mean?
19.
W: I just love walking through this park. The tree is gorgeous.
M: The trees? What about these wild flowers?
What does the man mean?
20.
M: My parents need a place to stay when they come to town next week. Do you have any suggestions?
W: I'd like to recommend the Clover Inn to visitors. But unlike the other places in town, they are usually filled months in advance.
What does the woman imply?
21.
M: I am going to the cafeteria to grab a bite to eat. Want to come along?
W: You go ahead. I am not really all that hungry.
What does the woman suggest the man do?
22.
W: Thank heaven it's Friday. Are you doing anything special this weekend?
M: Good question. To tell you the truth, my brother might be coming over and so everything is up in the air right now.
What does the man mean?
23.
W: By the way, thank so much for offering to mail my bills this morning. I just didn't have time to get over to the post office.
M: Oh, my gosh. I am really sorry. I'll go drop them in the box right now.
What will the man probably do next?
24.
W: I've got the leave for the airport right away. Bill's plane is due in an hour.
M: Judging by the weather outside, I doubt that the plane will land on schedule.
What does the man imply?
25.
M: How did you do on the math quiz?
W: Well, I am lucky that only counts for a small portion of our final grade for the course.
What can be inferred about the woman?
26.
W: Oh, hi, I hate to tell you but we're done with lunch and dessert is on its way. We decided you weren't going to show up.
M: I can understand that. I've never seen such traffic. I am glad you didn't wait.
What did the man mean?
27.
M: I admire your dedication. I could never finish that long laboratory experiment by myself.
W: I fell that I am cut out for that kind of work.
What does the woman mean?
28.
M1: Oho, I think we left that road map at home. Do you know how to get to the beach?
M2: No, I didn't. But since we haven't gone very far, we might as well just turn around.
What will the speakers probably do?
29.
W: I tentatively scheduled to meeting for Thursday to go over your inventory report. a__uming you can meet that deadline.
M: Well, to be honest, even Friday might be pushing is a little.
What does the man imply?
30.
W: I need to bring in a little money. I wonder there are any openings at the bookstore.
M: It's worth going and asking.
What does the man suggest the woman do?

Part B
31-35
W: Dr Manning, do you have a few minuets. I'd like to ask you about this fossil I found.
M: Sure Jon. What have you got there?
W: Well, it's some kind of shellfish. I thought it might be a brachiopod, but I am not sure. I found it when I went out hiking last weekend.
M: I think you might be right. It certainly appears to be a brachiopod. But it's easy to confuse them with the bivalve mollusks. Superficially they resemble one another. Both have two shells for example.
W: How can you tell them apart then?
M: Well, there are some minor differences in the shell. A lot of brachiopods have ridge shells like this one. There are other distinctions of course. Internally they are quite different. Mollusks and brachiopods belong to different animal groups, and they have been in competition with one another millions of years ago.
W: How old do you think this one is?
M: It's hard to tell. The earliest brachiopods were from the Paleozoic era, 300 to 500 million years ago. They were quite successful then in terms of number of species. It's not out of the question that your fossil could be that old.
W: Wow, that's amazing. Kind of makes paleontology seem more interesting when you can hold it in your hand.
M: You know that gives me an idea. Would you mind bring this to our next class? The others might find it interesting too.
W: Well, I could. But if you don't already have one in your collection, I thought you might as well keep it.
M: That's very kind of you.
31. What are the speakers mainly discussing?
32. Why does the prof mention bivalve mollusks?
33. Why does the prof think the fossil might be a brachiopod?
34. What does the prof say about the age of the fossil?
35. What does the woman want to do with the fossil?

36-39
M: I am so relieved I just finished the story I was working on for our creative writing course.
W: I haven't quite finished mine yet. I had trouble getting pass the beginning.
M: How come?
W: Well, I was really happy to be writing a detective story. But after the first few pages, I sort of froze up mentally. I just couldn't write any more.
M: The same thing happened to me. I thought it meant I lack imagination.
W: Well, Prof Wilson said it's pretty common for writers to get stuck like tat.
M: You went to talk to her about it?
W: Actually, I went to ask for more time to finish the a__ignment. But instead she gave me some advise about how to keep from getting stalled writing like that. She said that the first thing I should do is just write anything that come into my head even if it doesn't make any sense, sort of burble warm up exercise.
M: That is interesting. When I got stuck, I shift to something else, you know, do some work for one of my other courses.
W: Well, her methods seem have worked for me. I've written most of the story, and I should be able to hand it in on time. But first I need go to the jewelry store.
M: You are going shopping? Can't you wait until you finish your story?
W: I am going there for my store. My detective solves a jewelry store robbery. So I want to take a look at how the jewelry cases are arranged, where the security cameras are located, that sort of thing.
36. What is the conversation mainly about?
37. What was the woman's problem?
38. What did the prof tell the woman to do?
39. Why is the woman going out?

Part C
40-42 biology
Today, we are going to talk about a special way some plants respond to being invaded by pests. The plants react by emitting a chemical signal, which acts like a call for help. Let's take corn plants for example. Sometimes, caterpillars chew on the corn leaves. When the caterpillar saliva mixes with the chew portion of a leave, the plant releases a chemical scream that attracts wasps. The wasps respond to the signal by flying to the chewed on leave, and laying their eggs on the caterpillars. The caterpillars die in the next few days as the wasp offspring nourish themselves by feeding of them. Thus the corn plant prevents all its leaves from being eaten by the caterpillars. This chemical scream is specific. It's only released after the plant has detected the caterpillar saliva. A plant that is cut by in the other means does not give off the same signal, nor doesn't undamaged plants. This also explains how a wasp can find a caterpillar in a huge field of corn. Soybean, cotton and probably many other plants use similar type of defense against pests. By enhancing this natural response in plants, researchers might reduce, some day even eliminate, the need for chemical pesticide, which can cause ecological damage. For example, scientists might breed plants for this screaming trait, or they might transplant specific genes to increase the release of the chemical signals.
40. What's the main purpose of the talk?
41. What causes the corn plant to emit the chemical signal?
42. How can a wasp find a caterpillar on a corn plant?

43-47 religious study
Today, we are going to continue our discussion of Buddhism. In our last class, we talked about how it practiced. Today, I'd like to talk a little about early Buddhism, which we really don't know much about. Well, what is known is that the teachings of Buddhism were memorized, and passed on orally for centuries by its followers. Recently, there was an important discovery of Buddhist manuscripts that are believed to be the oldest ever found. They may be 2,100 years old. And there maybe as many as 20 of them. It's expected that we will be able to learn from them about the spread of Buddhism from present day India into China, and throughout Asia. But the scrolls themselves have presented challenge too. They were very fragile, found rolled up in clay pots. Before they even could be looked at, they need to be dampened over night in fact, and then carefully flattened with tweezers. And it's not that anybody could just sit down and read them. The scrolls were written in a language that is really rare today. Only a few people are proficient at it. Considering these challenges, it's easy to understand why it takes scholars so long to examine the scrolls.
43. What is the main topic of the talk?
44. According to the speaker, what's one aspect of the manuscript that is very significant?
45. What was an early source of information about Buddhism?
46. What do scholars expect to learn about from the manuscripts?
47. What has made it difficult to study the manuscripts?

48-50 US history
About 200 years ago, the United States economy was growing quickly, mainly because a booming trade in grain and cotton. This trade is grain and cotton went on near areas near or at the cost, or near navigable rivers. It took place there because it was so expensive to transport goods over the roads that existed. They were muddy, narrow, and hard to travel on. At that time, don't forget there was only one continuous road that existed in the US, and it was made up of north to south local country roads, linked together to make one long road. Within a short time, the first east-to-west roads were built. They were called turnpikes. Private companies built these roads, and collected fees from all vehicles traveled on them. Eventually, a network of dirt, gravel or plank roadways connected some major cities and towns. But even these turnpike roads were still very slow, and traveling on them was too costly for farmers. They would spend more money to move their crops than they got by selling them. So, we see that even with some major improvement in roadways, farmers still had to rely on rivers to move their crops to markets.
48. What's the talk mainly about?
49. According to the prof, what cause the growth of the US economy about 200 years ago?
50. According to the prof, what did private companies do after they built new roads?