2008年12月四级听力passage原文
2008年12月四级听力passage原文
Passage One
20分11秒――23分36秒
Members of the city council and distinguished guests, it is my privilege to introduce to you
today Mr. Robert Washington, chief of our city’s police force. He will address us on the subject
of the Community Policing Program. Most of you know that Mr. Washington has a distinguished record
as head of our police force for more than ten years. However, you may not know that he also holds
a master’s degree in criminology and studied abroad for a year with the international police
force which deals with crimes around the world. Mr. Washington first introduced the Community
Policing Program 8 years ago. The idea behind the program is to get the police officers out of
their cars and into our neighborhoods where they can talk directly to merchants and residents
about the real dynamics of our city. These officers do more than make arrests. They try to find
ways to help solve the problems that contribute to crime in the first place. Often that means
hooking people up with services offered by other city agencies, such as schools, hospitals,
housing, drug treatment centers. And the program seems to be working: crime is down and our
citizens report that they feel more secure. Today Mr. Washington is going to tell us more about
this program. Now let’s welcome Mr. Robert Washington.
26. What is the purpose of the speaker’s remarks?
27. What does the speaker say about Mr. Robert Washington?
28. What is the idea behind the Community Policing Program?
29. How has the Community Policing Program turned out to be?
Passage Two
There are between 3000 and 6000 public languages in the world, and we must add approximately 6
billion private languages since each one of us necessarily has one. Considering these facts, the
possibilities for breakdowns in communication seem infinite in number. However, we do communicate
successfully from time to time. And we do learn to speak languages. But learning to speak
languages seems to be a very mysterious process. For a long time, people thought that we learned
a language only by imitation and association. For example, a baby touches a hot pot and starts
to cry. The mother says, “Hot, hot!” And the baby, when it stops crying, imitates the mother
and says, “Hot, hot!” However, Noam Chomsky, a famous expert in language, pointed out that
although children do learn some words by imitation and association, they also combine words to
make meaningful sentences in ways that are unique, unlearned and creative. Because young children
can make sentences they have never heard before, Chomsky suggested that human infants are born
with the ability to learn language. Chomsky meant that underneath all the differences between
public and private languages, there is a universal language mechanism that makes it possible for
us, as infants, to learn any language in the world. This theory explains the potential that
human infants have for learning language. But it does not really explain how children come to
use language in particular ways.
Questions 30 to 32 are based on the passage you have just heard.
30. Why does the speaker say there are great possibilities for communication breakdowns?
31. What is Chomsky’s point on the ability to learn a language?
32. What does Chomsky’s theory fail to explain according to the speaker?
Passage Three
When US spacewoman Joan Higginbotham is not flying and working in space, she might be found
somewhere on earth giving a speech. Higginbotham, who grew up in Chicago and became an engineer
before joining NASA, that is the National Air and Space Administration, gives about a dozen
speeches a year. Each speech is different because she tailors her remarks to each audience.
Through interviews and E-mails, she finds out in advance her listeners' educational level and what information they want
to know. On the subject of space walks, for example, audiences vary in their interests and how
much complexity they can comprehend. To elementary school children, Higginbotham may discuss
a problem that many kids want to know about. "How do spacemen in a spacesuit eat, drink, and go
to the bathroom?" Her answer is “the spacesuit is really a small spacecraft with room for food
and water-containers, and a waste-collection system.” To a high school audience, she might satisfy a curiosity that often arises
in her pre-speech interviews with students who obviously have seen many science fiction movies.
“Do spacemen carry weapons in case they encounter enemies in space?” Her answer is "No". To
scientists, she might provide technical details on such topics as the design of spacesuits that
protects spacemen from the deadly temperature extremes of space. Just as elaborate preparation
is required for success in space, Higginbotham says that it’s important for speakers to learn
as much as possible about their listeners before a speech because every audience is different.
33. What did Joan Higginbotham do before joining in NASA?
34. How does Higginbotham prepare her speech on space walks?
35. What does the high school audience want to know about space travel?
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