托福TPO听力16完整文本

TPO 16
Conversation 1
Narrator:
Listen to a conversation between a student and a facilities manager at the university.
Student:
Hi. I’m Melanie, the one who’s been calling.
Manager:
From the singing group, right?
Student:
From the choir.
Manager:
Right, the choir. It’s nice to finally meet you in person. So, you are having problems with...
Student:
Noise. Like I explained on the phone we’ve always had our rehearsals in the Lincoln Auditorium every day at 3 o’clock and it’s always worked just great. But the past few weeks with the noise, it’s been a total nightmare since constructions started next door on the science hall.
Manager:
Oh, that’s right. They’re building that addition for new laboratories.
Student:
Exactly. Anyway, ever since they started working on it, it’s been so noisy we can barely hear ourselves sing.
Manager:
Let alone sing.
Student:
Forget about singing. I mean, we keep the windows down and everything, but once those bulldozers get going, I mean those machines are loud. We’ve already had to cut short two rehearsals and we’ve got a concert in 6 weeks.
Manager:
Well, that’s not good. I’m assuming you’ve tried to reschedule your rehearsals. They don’t do construction work at night.
Student:
I ran that by the group, but there were just too many. I mean evenings are really hard. It seems like everyone in the choir already has plans and some even have classes at night.
Manager:
And what about the music building?
Student:
You know, originally we were booked in one of the rehearsal rooms in the music building, but then we switched with the jazz ensemble. They’re a much smaller group and they said the acoustics, the sound in that room, was better for them. So having us moved to a bigger space like the Lincoln Auditorium seemed like a reasonable idea.
Manager:
But now...
Student:
All that noise. I don’t know. I just wonder if the jazz ensemble knew what was going to happen.
Manager:
Well, that wouldn’t be very nice.
Student:
No. But it really was quite a coincidence. Anyway, now the music building’s fully booked, mornings, afternoons, everything, we just need a quiet space. And it has to have a piano.
Manager:
A piano. Of course some of the other auditoriums have pianos, but that’s not going to be easy.
Student:
You think they’re pretty booked up?
Manager:
Probably. But it can’t hurt to check. What about Bradford Hall? I remember a piano in the old student center there.
Student:
At this point, we’d be grateful for any quiet place.
Manager:
Can you... How flexible can you be on times? You said no evenings, but what if I can’t find something open at 3 o’clock? Can you move earlier or later?
Student:
I wish I could say another time would be okay, but you know how it is, everybody’s already got commitments for the whole semester 2:30 or 3:30 would probably be okay, but I don’t think we could go much outside that
Manager:
Well, check with me tomorrow morning. I should’ve found something by then. It might not be ideal...
Student:
As long as it’s got a piano and nobody’s putting up a building next door, we’ll be happy.
【Lecture 1】
Geology
Narrator:
Listen to a part of lecturer in a geology class.
Professor:
Now there are some pretty interesting caves in parts of the western United States, especially in national parks. There is one part that has over a hundred caves, including some of the largest ones in the world. One of the more interesting ones is called Lechuguilla Cave. Lechuguilla has been explored a lot in recent decades. It’s a pretty exciting place I think. It was mentioned only briefly in your books. So can anyone remember what it said? Ellen?
Male student:
It’s the deepest limestone cave in the U.S.?
Professor:
That’s right. It’s one of the longest and deepest limestone caves not just in the country but in the world. Now, what else?
Male student:
Well, it was formed because of sulfuric acid, ght?
Professor:
That’s it. Yeah, what happens is you have deep underground oil deposits and there are bacteria. Here let me draw a diagram. Surface rock rock and water oil and bacteria part of the limestone rock layer is permeated by water from below. Those curly lines are supposed to be cracks in the rock. Below the water table and rock is oil. Bacteria feed on this oil and release hydrogen sulfide gas. This gas is hydrogen sulfide, rises up and mixes with oxygen in the underground water that sits in the cracks and fissures in the limestone. And when hydrogen sulfide reacts with the oxygen in the water, the result of that is sulfuric acid, Ok? Sulfuric acid eats away at limestone very aggressively. So you get bigger cracks and then passageway is being formed along the openings in the rock and it’s all underground. Ah yes, Paul?
Male student:
So that water... ft’s not flowing, right? It’s still?
Professor:
Yes, so there are two kinds of limestone caves. In about 90 percent of them, you have water from the surface, streams, waterfall or whatever - moving water that flows through cracks found in limestone. It’s the moving water itself that wears away at the rock and makes passageways. Also, in surface water, there is a weak acid, carbonic acid, not sulfuric acid but carbonic acid that helps dissolve the rock. With a little help from this carbonic acid, moving water forms most of the world’s limestone caves. When I was researching this for a study a few years ago, I visited a couple of these typical limestone caves, and they were all very wet, you know, from streams and rivers. This flowing water carved out the caves and the structures inside them.
Male student:
But not Lechuguilla?
Professor:
Dry as a bone. Well, that might be a bit of an exaggeration. But it’s safe to say that it’s sulfuric acid and not moving water that formed Lechuguilla cave and those few other ones like it. In fact, there is no evidence that flowing water has even gone in or out of the cave. So, it’s like a maze. You have passageways all around. There are wide passages, narrow ones at all different depths, like underground tunnels in the limestone. And, since they were created underground and not from flowing surface water, not all these passageways have an opening to the outside world. And.. .and there is other evidence that flowing water wasn’t involved in Lechuguilla. We’ve said that sulfuric acid dissolves limestone, right, and forms the passageways? What else does sulfuric acid do? Paul?
Male student:
Ah, leaves a chemical residue and...
Female student:
Gypsum, right?
Professor:
Yep, you’ll find lots of gypsum deposited at Lechuguilla. And, as we know, gypsum is soluble in water. So if there were flowing water in the cave, it would dissolve the gypsum. This is part of what led us to the realization that Lechuguilla is in that small group of waterless caves. And Lechuguilla is pretty much dormant now. It’s not really forming any more. But, there is other ones like it, for example, in Mexico, that are forming. And when cave researchers go to explore them, they see and smell, the sulfuric acid and gases of...er...phew...now, something else, think of rotten eggs. And, it’s not just the smell. Explorers even need to wear special masks to protect themselves from the gases in these caves. OK? Paul.
Male student:
Yeah, how about what these caves look like on the inside?
Professor:
Well, the formations.. .there is really something. There’s such variety there like nothing anywhere else in the world, some of them are elaborate looking, like decorations. And a lot of them are made of gypsum and could be up to 20 feet long. It’s pretty impressive.
【Lecture 2】
Music history
Narrator:
Listen to part of a lecture in a music history class.
Professor:
Up until now in our discussions and readings about the broken early classical periods, we’ve been talking about the development of musical styles and genres within the relatively narrow social context of its patronage by the upper classes. Composers, after all, had to earn a living and those who were employed in the services of a specific patron, well, I don’t have to spell it out for you, the likes and dislikes of that patron, this would’ve had an effect on what was being composed and performed. Now, of course, there were many other influences on composers, um, such as the technical advances we’ve seen in the development of some of the instruments, uh, you remember the transverse flute, the clarinet and so on. But I think if I were asked to identify a single crucial development in European music of this time, it would be the invention of the piano, which, interestingly enough also had a significant effect on European society of that time. And I’ll get to that in a minute. Now, as we know, keyboard instruments existed long before the piano - the organ, which dates back to the Middle Ages, as do other keyboard instruments, such as the harpsichord which is still popular today with some musicians. But none of these has had as profound an impact as the piano. Um, the piano was invented in Italy in 1709. The word piano is short for pianoforte, a combination of the Italian words for soft and loud. Now, unlike the harpsichord which came before it, the piano is a percussion instrument. You see, the harpsichord is actually classified as a string instrument, since pressing a key of a harpsichord causes a tiny quill that’s connected to the key to pluck the strings that are inside the instrument, much the same as a guitar pick plucks the strings of a guitar But pressing the keys of a piano causes tiny felt-covered hammers to strike the strings inside the instrument, like drumsticks striking the head of a drum. This striking action is why the piano is a percussion instrument instead of a string instrument. Okay, so why is this so important? Well, the percussive effect of those little hammers means that the pianist, unlike the harpsichordist, can control the dynamics of the sound - how softly or loudly each note is struck, hence the name, pianoforte, soft and loud. Now artistically for both composers and performers this was a major turning point. This brand new instrument, capable of producing loud and soft tones, greatly expanded the possibilities for conveying emotion. This capacity for increased expressiveness, in fact, was essential to the Romantic style that dominated 19th century music. But I’m getting ahead of myself Um, before we get back to the musical impact of this development, I wanna take a look at the social impact that I mentioned earlier. Now, in the late 1 7005 and the earlier 1 800s, the development of the piano coincided with the growth of the middle class in Western Europe. Of course folk music, traditional songs and dances had always been part of everyday life. But as mass production techniques
Conversation 2
Narrator:
Listen to a conversation between a professor and a student .
Professor
Jeff, I’m glad you drop by. I’ve been meaning to congratulate you on the class leadership award.
Student
Thanks professor Bronson, I was really happy to get it and a little surprised. I mean, there were so many other people nominated.
Professor
Well, I know the award was well deserved. Now, what can I do for you today?
Student
I needed to talk to you about the medieval history test you know, the one scheduled for Friday afternoon.
Professor
Yes?
Student
Well, there is this trip that my French class is taking. We are going to Montreal for the weekend.
Professor
Montreal? That’s my favorite city. What’ll you be seeing there?
Student
I’m not sure yet. Well, the reason, the main reason I wanted to go is that we’ll be rooming with French speaking students there, you know, so we can get a chance to use our French to actually talk with real French speakers.
Professor
It sounds like a good opportunity. But then, there is that test.
Student
Yeah... but.. well, the thing is the bus leaves right in the middle of when our history class meets this Friday. So, well, I was thinking maybe I could take the test on a different day like Monday morning during your office hours?
Professor
Eh...Monday morning...um...that would not be...oh wait, let me just see one thing. Aha, okay. That’s what I thought. So, for your class, I was planning a take-home exam so you could just take the test along with you. Let’s see, I guess you could come to class Friday just to pick up the test. That way you’d still make your bus, and then find some quiet time during your trip to complete it and you can bring it to class Wednesday when I’ll be collecting everyone else’s.
Student
Hmm.. . um...during the trip, well, I guess I could. So I should plan to take my books and stuff with me.
Professor
You’ll definitely need your class notes. I’m giving you several short essay questions to make you think critically about the points we’ve discussed in class, to state.. .uh state and defend your opinion, analyze the issues, speculate about how things might have turned out differently. So, you see, I don’t care if you look updates and that kind of thing. What I want is for you to synthesize information to reflect back on what we’ve read and discussed and to form your own ideas, not just repeat points from the textbook. Does that make sense?
Student
Yeah, I think so. You are looking for my point of view.
Professor
That’s right. The mid-term exam showed me that you know all the details of who, where and when. For this test, l want to see how you can put it all together to show some original thinking.
Student
That’s sounds pretty challenging, especially trying to work it into this trip. But, yeah, I think I can do it.
Professor
I’m sure you can.
Student
Thank you, professor Bronson.
Professor
Have a great time in Montreal.
【Lecture 3】
Biology
Narrator:
Listen to a part of a lecture in a biology class.
Professor
OK. Let’s continue our discussion about animal behavior by talking about decisions that animals face, complex ones. Animals, even insects, carry out what look like very complex decision making processes. The question is how. I mean no one really thinks that, say a bee goes through weighing the pros and cons of pollinating this flower or that flower. But then how do animals solve complex questions, questions that seem to require decision making. The answer we’ll propose of course is that their behavior is largely a matter of natural selection. As an example, let’s look at foraging behavior among beavers. Beavers eat plants, mostly trees. And they also use trees and tree branches to construct their homes in streams and lakes. So when they do forage for food and for shelter materials, they have to leave their homes and go up on land where their main predators are. So there are a number of choices that have to be made about foraging. So for example, um... they need to decide what kind of tree they should cut down. Some trees have higher nutritional value than others, and some are better for building material, and some are good for both... um...aspen trees. Beavers peel off the bark to eat and they also use the branches for building their shelters. So aspens do double duty. But ash trees, beavers use ash trees only for construction. Another decision is when to forage for food. Should they go out during the daytime when it’s hotter outside and they have to expend more energy, or at night when the weather is cooler but predators are more active? Ok, but there are two more important issues, really the most central, the most important, OK? First, let’s say a beaver could get the same amount of wood from a single large tree when it has lots of branches as it could get from three small trees. Which should it choose? If it chooses one large tree, it’ have to carry that large piece of wood back home, and lugging a big piece of wood 40 or 50 yards is hard work, takes a lot of energy. Of course it’ll have to make only one trip to get the wood back to the water On the other hand, if it goes for three small trees instead, it will take less energy per tree to get the wood back home but it’ll have to make three trips back and forth for the three trees. And presumably, the more often it wanders from home, the more it’s likely to be exposed to predators. So which is better, a single large tree or three small trees? Another critical issue and it’s related to the first, to the size issue, is how far from the water should it go to get trees. Should it be willing to travel a greater distance for a large tree, since it’ll get so much wood from it? Beavers certainly go farther from the water to get an aspen tree than for an ash tree. That reflects their relative values. But what about size? Will it travel farther For a larger tree than It will for a smaller tree? Now I would have thought the bigger the tree, the farther the beaver would be willing to travel for it. That would make sense, right? If you’re going to travel far, make the trip worth it buy bringing back most wood possible. But actually, the opposite is true. Beavers will cut down only large trees that are close to the water They will travel far only to cut down certain small trees that they can cut down quickly and drag back home quickly. Generally, the farther they go from the water, the smaller the tree they will cut down. They’re willing to make more trips to haul back less wood, which carries a greater risk of being exposed to predators. So it looks as though beavers are less interested in minimizing their exposure to predators and more interested in saving energy when foraging for wood, which may also explain why beavers forage primarily during the evenings. OK, so why does their behavior indicate more of a concern with how much energy they expend than with being exposed to predators? No one believes a beaver consciously weighs the pros and cons of each of these elements. The answer that some give is that their behavior has evolved over time. It’s been shaped by constraints over vast stretches of time, all of which comes down to the fact that the best foraging strategy for beavers isn’t the one that yields the most food or wood. It’s the one that results in the most descendants, the most offspring. So let’s discuss how this idea works.
【Lecture 4】
Art history
Narrator:
Listen to part of a lecture in an art history class.
Professor
OK, now urn, a sort of paradigmatic art form of the Middle Ages was stained glass art. Stained glass of course is simply glass that has been colored and cut into pieces and re-assembled to form a picture or a decorative design. To truly experience the beauty of this decorative glass you should see it with light passing through it, especially sunlight, which is why stained glass is usually used for windows. But of course it has other uses, especially nowadays. Urn, anyway the art of making stained glass windows developed in Europe, urn, during the Middle Ages and was closely related to church building. In the early 11OOs a church building method was developed that reduced the stress on the walls so more space could be used for window openings allowing for large and quite elaborate window designs. Back then, the artists made their own glass, but first they came up with the design. Paper was scarce and expensive, so typically they drew the design onto a white tabletop. They’d draw the principal outline but also outline the shape of each piece of glass to be used and indicate its color. Now in the window itself the pieces of glass would be held together by strips of lead. So in the drawing the artists would also indicate the location of the lead strips. Then you could put a big piece of glass on the tabletop and see the design right through it and use it to guide the cutting of the glass into smaller pieces.
Student
And the lead that was just to hold the pieces of glass together?
Professor
Well, lead is strong and flexible so it’s ideal for joining pieces of glasses cut in different shapes and sizes. But up to the 15th century the lead strips also helped create the design. They were worked into the window as part of the composition. They were used to outline figures to show boundaries just like you might use solid lines in a pencil drawing.
Student
How did they get the color’? I mean how did they color the glass?
Professor
Well up until the 16th century stained glass was colored during the glass making process itself. You got specific colors by adding metallic compounds to the other glass making ingredients. So if you wanted red you added copper if you wanted green you added iron. You just added these compounds to the other ingredients that the glass was made of.
Student
So each piece of glass is just one color?
Professor
Yes, at least up until the 16th century. Then they started... urn.. .you started to get painted glass. Painted glass windows are still referred to as stained glass but the colors were actually painted directly onto clear glass after the glass was made. So um with this kind of stained glass you could paint a piece of glass with more than one color.
Student
And with painted glass they still used the lead strips?
Professor
Yes, with really large windows it took more than one piece of glass, so you still needed lead strips to hold the pieces together. But the painters actually tried to hide them. So it was different from before when the lead strips were part of the design. And it is different, because with painted glass the idea of light corning through to create the magical effect wasn’t the focus any more. The paintwork was. And painted glass windows became very popular In the 19th century, people started using them in private houses and public buildings. Unfortunately, many of the original stained glass windows were thought to be old fashioned and they were actually destroyed, replaced by painted glass.
Student
They actually broke them? That showed good judgment, real foresight, didn’t it?
Professor
Yes, if only they had known. Uh, and it’s not just that old stained glass is really valuable today, we lost possibly great artwork. But luckily there was a revival of the early techniques in the mid-I 800s and artists went back to creating colored glass and using the lead strips in their designs. The effects are much more beautiful. In the 19th century Louis Tiffany came up with methods to create beautiful effects without having to paint the glass. He layered pieces of glass and ed thin copper strips instead of lead, which let him make these really intricate flowery designs for stained glass, which are used in lamp shades You’ve heard of Tiffany lamp shades right? These of course took advantage of the new innovation of electric lighting. Electric light bulbs don’t give quite the same effect as sunlight streaming through stained glass but it’s close. So layered glass, Tiffany glass, became very popular and still is today. So let’s look at some examples of different types of stained glass from each era.