Conversation 1

W: One of the most interesting experiments with dolphins must be one done by Doctor Jarvis Bastian. What he tried to do was to teach a male dolphin called Bass and a female called Doris to communicate with each other across a solid barrier.

M: So how did he do it exactly?

W: Well, first of all, he kept the two dolphins together in the same tank and taught them to press levers whenever they saw a light. The levers were fitted to the side of the tank next to each other. If the light flashed on and off several times, the dolphins were supposed to press the left-hand lever followed by the right-hand one. If the light was kept steady, the dolphins were supposed to press the levers in reverse order. Whenever they responded correctly, they were rewarded with fish.

M: Sounds terribly complicated.

W: Well, that was the first stage. In the second stage, Doctor Bastian separated the dolphins into two tanks. They could still hear one another, but they couldn’t actually see each other. The levers and light were set up in exactly the same way except that this time it was only Doris who could see the light indicating which lever to press first. But in order to get their fish, both dolphins had to press the levers in the correct order. This meant of course that Doris had to tell Bass whether it was a flashing light or whether it was a steady light.
M: So did it work?

W: Well, amazingly enough, the dolphins achieved a 100 % success rate.

Questions 19-21 are based on the conversation you have just heard.

Q19. What is the purpose of Doctor Jarvis Bastian’s experiment?

Q20. What were the dolphins supposed to do when they saw a steady light?

Q21. How did the second stage of the experiment differ from the first stage?

答案：

19. D) to see if dolphins can communicate with each other.

20. A) Press the right-hand lever first.

21. C) Only one dolphin was able to see the light.

【解析】

这篇长对话主要围绕巴斯蒂安博士关于海豚的实验而展开，实验的目的是要教会海豚学会互相沟通和交流讯息。随着男士对实验的发问，女士便对实验的两个阶段进行了详细介绍。这篇长对话整体难度适中，考生只要在平时注意练习和打好词汇基础，想要得满分并不难。需要提醒考生的是，做听力题也要讲究技巧，一定要带着问题去有目的地听，相关的信息着重记忆，不相干的信息迅速忽略。懂得抓题眼和懂得取舍，这样听力才能做得好。

重点词汇和表达：

lever n.杠(杆)；途径，工具

in reverse order 以相反的顺序

be rewarded with 得到奖励

flashing light 闪光灯

Conversation 2

W: This week’s program Up Your Street takes you to Harrogate, a small town in Yorkshire. Harrogate became a fashionable resort during Victorian times, when people came to take a bath in the mineral waters. Today, few people come to visit the town for its mineral waters. Instead, Harrogate has become a popular town for people to retire to. Its clean air, attractive parks, and the absence of any industry, make this an ideal spot for people looking for a quiet life. Now, to tell us more about Harrogate, I have with me Tom Percival, President of the Chamber of Commerce. Tom, one of the things visitor notices about Harrogate is the large area of open park land right down into the middle of the town. Can you tell us more about it?

M: Yes, certainly. The area is called the Stray.

W: Why the Stray?

M: It’s called that because in the old days, people let their cattle stray on the area, which was common land.

W: Oh, I see.

M: Then, we’ve changes in farming and in land ownership. The Stray became part of the land owned by Harrogate.

W: And is it protected?

M: Oh, yes, indeed. As a special law, no one can build anything on the stray. It’s protected forever.

W: So it will always be park land?

M: That’s right. As you can see, some of the Stray is used for sports fields.

W: I believe it looks lovely in the spring.

M: Yes, it does. There’re spring flowers on the old trees, and people visit the town just to see the flowers.

Question 22-25 are based on the conversation you have just heard.

Q22. Where does this conversation most probably take place?

Q23. What do we learn about modern Harrogate?

Q24. What does the man say about the area called the Stray?

Q25. What attracts people most in the Stray during the spring time?

答案：

22. B) In a resort town.

23. D) It is an ideal place for people to retire to.

24. D) It is protected as parkland by a special law.

25. C) The beautiful flowers.

【解析】

这段长对话是对Harrogate这个旅游小镇的介绍，谈到其如何得名，如何变迁，以及如何受到政府的保护。由此可见，这段对话最有可能发生在一个旅游城镇。这段对话稍微难一点的地方在于几个单词，一个是地名Harrogate，另一个是Stray，以及头衔President of the Chamber of Commerce。解决这些难点也很容易，因为Harrogate这个地名和头衔不是考察点，考生可直接忽略。另外关于Stray，考生开始不懂没关系，要带着这个疑问去注意听原文，对话中随后就给出了明确解释，所以考生也会获得解答。

需要提醒考生的是，虽然考试中我们可以忽略一些人名，地名或者无关紧要的细节，这也是为了一时的应试而迫不得已。在平时练习中，还是建议广大考生多积累这些人文及百科知识，包括一些人名和地名。积累的多了，以后在任何场合听起来就不会犯难了。