托福TPO4套听力真题(文本)
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TPO-4
TPO 04 – Listening Part
Conversation
Narrator
Listen to a conversation between a student and a librarian.
Librarian
Can I help you?
Student
Yeah, Ineed to find a review. It’s for myEnglish class. Wehave to find reviews of theplay we are reading. But theyhave to be from when the play was first performed,so I need to know when that was and I suppose I should startwith newspaper reviews and…
Librarian
Contemporary reviews.
Student
Sorry?
Librarian
You want contemporaryreviews. What’s the name of the play?
Student
It’s Happy Strangers. Itwas written in 1962 and we are supposed to write
abou t itsinfluence on American theatre and show why it’s been so important.
Librarian
Well, that certainly explains whyyour professor wantsyou to read some of
those old reviews. The critiquesreally torethe play to pieceswhen it opened.
It’s so controve rsial. Nobody had everseen anything like it on the stage.
Student
Really? Isthat a big deal?
Librarian
Oh, sure. Ofcourse thecritiques’reaction made some people kind ofcurious
about it.Theywanted to see what’s causing all the fuss. In fact,we wer eon
vacation in New York. Oh, I had tobe, eh,around 16 or so, and myparentstookme to see it. That would’ve been about 1965.
Student
So that wasthe year premier,great, but eh,newspaper from back then weren’t
online,so, how do I…
Librarian
Well, wehave copies ofall the newspapers in the basement, and all the major
papers publish reference guides to their articlesreviews,etc. You willfind
them in the reference stacksin the back. ButI start with 1964, so I thinkthe
play had been running for a little while when I saw it.
Student
How do you like it?I mean just two characterson the stage hanging around
and basically doing nothing.
Librarian
Well, Iwas impressed. Theactors werefamous, and besides it was myfirst
time in a realtheatre.But you are right.It was definitelydifferent from many
plays that we read in high school. Ofcourse, in a small town the assignments
are prettytraditional.
Student
Yeah, I’ve only read it but it doesn’t seem like it would be much fun to watch.
The st orydoesn’t progress in anysort oflogical matter,doesn’t have real
ending either,just stops. Honestly,you know,I thought it was kind of slow and
boring.
Librarian
Oh, wellI guess you might think that. Butwhen Isaw it back then it was
anything but boring. Some parts werereally funny,but Iremembercrying too.
But I’m not sure just reading it. You know, they’ve done thisplay at least once
on campus. I’m sure thereis a tape of theplay in our video library. You might
want to borrow it.
Student
That’s a good idea. I’ll have a better idea of what I really thinkof it before I read those reviews.
Librarian
I’m sure you willbe surprised that anyone ever found it radical. But you will see whyit is still powerful, dramatically speaking.
Student
Yeah, it must be something about it,or the professor wouldn’thave assigned it.
I’m sure I’ll figure it out.
Lecture
Narrator
Listen to part ofa lecturein a biology class. The class is discussing animal behavior.
Professor
Ok, the nextkind ofanimal behavior I want to talkabout might be familiar to
you. You mayhave seen, for example, a bird that’s in the middle ofa mating ritual, and suddenly it stops and preens,you know, takesa few momentsto
straighten its feathers, and then returns tothe mating ritual. This kind of behavior,this doing something that seems completelyout ofplace, is what we
calla ‘Displacement Activity’. Displacement activitiesare activities that animal’s engaging in when theyhave conflicting drives. Ifwe takeour example
from a minute ago, if thebird is afraid ofits mate,it’s conflicted.It wantsto mate but it’s also afraid and wantsto run away. So, instead, it startsgrooming itself.So, the displacement activity,the grooming, the straightening ofits feathers,seems to be an irrelevant behavior.So, what do you think another
example ofa displacementactivity might be?
Karl
How about an animal that, um, instead of fighting its enemyor running away,it
attacksa plant or a bush?
Professor
That’s reallygood suggestion, Karl. But that’s called ‘redirecting’.The animal is
redirecting itsbehavior to another object, in this case, theplant or the bush.
But that’s not an irrelevant or inappropriate behavior.The behavior makes
sense. It’s appropriate under the circumstances.But what doesn’t make sense
is the object thebehavior‘s directed towards. Ok, who else? Carol?
Carol
I thinkI read in another class about an experimentwhere an object that the
animal was afraid of was put nextto its food – nextto the animal’s food. And
the animal, it wasconflicted between confronting theobject and eating the
food, so instead, it just fellasleep. Like that?
Professor
That’s exactlywhat I mean. Displacement occursbecause theanimal’s got two
conflicting drives – two competing urges, in thiscase, fear and hunger. And
what happens is, theyinhibit each other,theycanceleach other out in a wayand a third seemingly irrelevant behavior surfaces through a processthat we
call‘Disinhibition’. Now in disinhibition, thebasic idea is that two drivesthat
seem to inhibit,to hold back, a third drive. Or, well,they’re getting in a wayof
each in a… in a conflict situation and somehow lose control,lose their
inhibiting effecton that third behavior,which means thatthe third drive surfaces, it’s expressed in theanimal’s behavior.Now,these displacement
activities can include feeding, drinking, grooming, even sleeping. These are
what we call ‘Comfort Behavior’.So whydo you thinkdisplacement activities
are so often comfort behaviors, such as grooming?
Karl
Maybe because it’s easy for them to do? I mean,grooming is like one of the
most accessible things an animal can do. It’s something theydo all thetime,
and theyhave the stimulus right there on the outside oftheir bodies in order to do thegrooming, or if food is right in front of them.Basically, theydon’t have to think verymuch about those behaviors.
Carol
Professor,isn’t it possible that animals groom because they’ve got messed up
a little from fight ing or mating? I mean if a bird’s feathersget ruffled or an animal’s fur,maybe it’s not so strange for them to stop and tidythemselves up
at that point.
Professor
That’s another possible reason although it doesn’t necessarily explain other behavi ors such as eating, drinking or sleeping. What’s interesting is that studies have been done that suggest thatthe animal’s environment mayplay a
part in determining what kind of behavior it displays. For example,there’s a
bird, the ‘wood thrush’,anyway, when the ‘wood thrush’is in an attack-escape
conflict, that is, it’s caught between the two urges to escape from or to attack
an enemy,if it’s sitting on a horizontalbranch, it’ll wipe itsbeak on itsperch.If
it’s sitting on a verticalbranch, it’ll groom its breast feathers.The immediate
environment of thebird, its immediate,um, its relationship to its immediate
environment seemsto play a part in which behavior will display.
Lecture
Narrator
Listen to part ofa lecturein a literatureclass.
Professor
All right,so let me close today’s class with some thoughts to keep in mindwhile you are doing tonight’s assignment. You will be reading one of Ralph
Waldo Emerson’s best-known essays ‘Self-Reliance’and comparing it with his
poems and other works. Ithink this essay has the potentialto be quite
meaningful for all ofyou as young people who probably wonder about things
like truth and whereyour lives are going - all sorts ofprofound questions.
Knowing something about Emerson’s philosophie s will help you when you
read ‘Self-Reliance’.And basically, one ofthe main beliefs that he had was
about truth. Not that it’s something that wecan be taught,Emerson says it’s
found within ourselves. So this truth,the idea that it’s in each one ofus, is one
of thefirst points that you’ll see Emerson ** in this essay. It’s a bit
abstract but he’s very into…ah…into each person believing his or her own
thought, believing in yourself, the thought or conviction that’s truefor you. But actually, he tiesthat in with a sort of ‘universal truth’ – something that everyone knows but doesn’t realizetheyknow. Most of us aren’tin touch with ourselves
in a way,so we just aren’t capable of recognizing profound truth. Ittakes
geniuses, people like, say,Sh akespeare, who’reunique because when they
have a glimpse at this truth,this universal truth,theypay attention to it and expressit and don’t just dismiss it like most people do.
So Emerson is reallyinto each individual believing in and trusting him or
herself.You’ll see thathe writesabout, well,first, conformity. Hecriticizes that people of his time for abandoning their own minds and their own wills for the
sake of conformity and consistency. Theytryto fit in with the restof the world
even thou gh it’s at odds with their beliefsand their identities. Therefore,it’s
best to be a non-conformist – to do your own thing, not worrying about what
other people think. That’s an important point. Hereally drives thisargument
home throughout the essay.
When you are reading, I want you to think about that and why thatkind of
thought would be relevant to the readers of his time. Rememberthis is 1838,
‘Self-Reliance’was a novel idea at thetime and the United State’s citizens
wereless secure about themselvesas individuals and as Americans. The
country as a whole was trying to define itself. Emerson wanted to give people
something to reallythink about, help them find theirown wayand what it meant
to be who theywere.So that’s something that I thin k is definitely as relevant
today as it was then, probably, um, especially among young adults like
yourselves, you know,uh, college being a time to sort of reallythink about who
you are and where you’re going.
Now we already said that Emerson really emphasizesnon-conformity, right,as
a way to sort of not lose your own self and identityin the world, to have your
own truth and not be afraid to listen to it. Well, he takes thisa stepfurther. Not
conforming also means, uh, not conforming with yourself or your past. What
does that mean?Well, if you’ve always been a certain way or done a certain
thing, but it’s not working for you anymore,or you’re not content,Emerson
says that it’d be foolish to be consistent evenwith our own past. ‘Focus on t he
future,’ he says, “That'swhat matters more.Inconsistency is good.”He talksabout a ship’s voyage and this is one of themost famous bits ofthe
essay - how the best voyage is made up of zigzag lines. Up close, it seemsa
little all over theplace, but from fartheraway, the truepath shows and in the
end it justifies all theturns along the way.So, don’t worry if you are not sure
where you’re headed or what your long-term goals are.Staytrue to yourself
and it’ll make sense in the end. I mean,I can at test tothat. BeforeI was a
literatureprofessor, Iwas an accountant.Beforethat,I was a newspaper
reporter.My life is taking some prettyinteresting turns and here I am, very
happy with my experiencesand wherethey’ve brought me. Ifyou relyon
yourself and trust your own talents,your own interest, don’t worry,your path
will make sense in the end.
Conversation
Narrator
Listen to a conversation between a student and a professor.
Professor
Hey,Jane, you look like you arein a hurry.
Student
Yeah, things are a little crazy.
Professor
Oh yeah? What’s going on?
Student
Oh, it’s nothing. Well, since it’s your class, I guess it’s OK. It’s, it’s just I am having trouble with mygroup project.
Professor
Ah, yes, due next week.What’s your group doing again?
Student
It’s about United StatesSupreme Court Decisions. We are looking at the
impact of recent caseson propertyrights, municipal land use cases, owning
disputes.
Professor
Right,OK. And i t’s not going well?
Student
Not really.I’m worried about othertwo people in my group. Theyare just sittingback, not really doing their fair share ofthe work and waiting for an A. It’s kind
of stressing me out,because we aregetting close to thedeadline and I feellike
I’m doing everything for this project.
Professor
Ah, the good old free writerproblem.
Student
Free writer?
Professor
Ah, it’s just a term that describes thissituation, when people in the group seek
to getthe benefits ofbeing in a group without contributing tothe work. Anyway,
what exactly do you mean when you say theyjust sit back? I mean,they’ve
been following theweekly progress repotswith me.
Student
Yes, but I feellike I’m doing 90% ofthe work. I hateto sound so n egative here,
but honestly, theyare taking credit for things theyshouldn’t take credit for. Like
last weekin the library,we decided to split up theresearch into 3 partsand
each of us was supposed to find sources in the library for our parts. I went off
to the stackand found some really good materialfor mypart, but when I got
back to our table,theywere just goofing off and talking. So I wentand got
materialsfor theirsections as well.
Professor
Um…you know you shouldn’t do that.
Student
I know,but I didn’t want to risk the project going down thedrain.
Professor
I know Teresa and Kevin. I had both ofthem on othercourses. So, I’m familiar
with the workand work habits.
Student
I know,me too. That’s why this has reallysurprised me.
Professor
Do you…does your group like your topic?
Student
Well, Ithink we’d all ratherfocus on casesthat deal with personal liberties,questions about freedom of speech,things like that.But Ichose property
rights.
Professor
You chose the topic?
Student
Yeah, Ithought it would be good for us, all of us to trysomething new.
Professor
Um…maybe that’s part of theproblem. Maybe Teresa and Kevin aren’t that
excited about the topic? And since you picked it,have you thought…talkto
them at all about picking a different topic?
Student
But we’ve got all the sourcesand it’s due next week. We don’t have time to start from scratch.
Professor
OK, I will letyou go ‘cause I know you are so busy. But you might consider talking to your group about your topic choice.
Student
I willthink about it. Gotto run, see you in class.
Lecture
Narrator
Listen to part ofa lecturein a geology class.
Professor
Now we’ve got a few minutes beforewe leave for today.So I’ll just touch on an inter esting subject that I think makesan important point. We’ve been covering rocks and different types ofrocks for the last severalweeks. Butnext weekwe are going to do something a bit different.And to get started I thought I’d mention something that sho ws how uh…as a geologist, you need toknow
about more than just rocksand the structureof solid matter,moving rocks, you may have heard about them.
It’s quite a mystery.Death valley is this desert plane, a dry lake bed inCalifornia surrounded bymountains and on the desertfloor these huge rocks,
some ofthem hundreds of pounds. And theymove. Theyleave long trails
behind them,tracksyou might say as theymove from one point to another.But
nobody has been able to figure out how theyare moving because no one has
everseen it happen.
Now there area lot of theories,but all we know for sure is that people aren’t’
moving the rocks. Thereare no footprints, no tyretracks and no heavy
machinery like a bulldozer…uh, nothing was everbrought in to move these
heavy rocks.
So what’s going on? TheoryNO.1 ---Wind? Some researchersthink powerful
uh…windstorms might move the rocks. Most of therocks move in the same
direction as the dominant wind pattern from southwest to northeast.But some,
and thisis interesting, move straight west while some zigzag or even move in
large circles.
Um…How can that be?How about wind combined with rain? The ground of
this desertis made of clay. It’s a desert,so it’s dry.But when thereis the
occasionalrain, the clay gr ound becomesextremelyslippery.It’s hard for
anyone tostand on, walk on. Some scientiststheorized that perhaps when the
ground is slipperythe high winds can then move the rocks. There’s a problem
with this theory.One team ofscientists flooded an area ofthe desert with water,
then tryto establish how much wind forcewould be necessary to move the
rocks. And guess this, you need winds of at least five hundred miles an hour to move just the smallest rocks. And winds that strong have neverbeen recorded. Ever!Not on thisplanet.
So Ithink it’s safe to say that that issues has been settled.Hereis another possibility–ice.It’s possible that rain on thedesert floor could turn to thin sheetsof ice when temperaturesdrop at night. So if rocks…uh becomi ng
better than ice,uh … OK, could a pieceof ice with rocks in it be pushed around by thewind? Butthere’s a problem with thistheory,too. Rockstrapped in ice togetherwould have moved togetherwhen the ice moved. Butthat doesn’t
always happen. The rocksseem to take separate routes.
Thereare a fewother theories. Maybe the ground vibrates, or maybe the
ground itself is shifting, tilting. Maybe the rocksare moved bya magnetic force. But sadly all these ideas have been eliminated as possibilities. The re’s just no evidence.I bet you are saying to yourself well, whydon’t scientists just setup video camerasto record what actually happens? Thing is this is a protective wilderness area. So by law that type of research isn’t allowed. Besides, in powerful windstorms, sensitive camera equipment would be destroyed. So
whycan’t researchers just live therefor a while until theyobserve the rocks’moving? Same reason.
So whereare we now? Well, right now we still don’t have any answers. So all
this leads backto mymain point – you need to know about more than just
rocks as geologists. The researchersstudying moving rocks, well, they
combine their knowledge of rockswith knowledge of wind, ice and such…umnot successfully, not yet.But you know,theywould even have been able to get
startedwithout uh… earth science understanding – knowledge about wind,
storms, you know,meteorology. You need tounderstand physics. So for
severalweeks like Isaid we’ll be addressing geology from a wider prospective.
I guess that’s all for today. See you next time.
Lecture
Narrator
Listen to part ofa lecturein a United Statesgovernment class.
Professor
OK, last timewe were talking about government support for the arts. Who can
sum up some of themain points? Frank?
Frank
Well, Iguess there wasn’t reallyany, you know, official government support for
the artsuntil thetwentieth century. Butthe first attempt theUnited States
government made to,you know, to support the artswas the FederalArt
Project.
Professor
Right,so what can you say about the project?
Frank
Um…it was started during the Depression, um…in the 1930s to employ
out-of-work artists.
Professor
So wasit successful? Janet?What do you say?
Janet
Yeah, sure,it was successful. I mean, for one thing, the project established a lot of…uh like community art centersand galleriesand places like ruralareas where people hadn’t really had access to thearts.
Professor
Right.
Frank
Yeah. Butdidn’tthe government end up wasting a lot of money for art that wasn’t even verygood?
Professor
Uh…some people might say that. Butwasn’t theprimary objective of the FederalArt Project to provide jobs?
Frank
That’s true.Imean…it did provide jobs for thousands of unemployed artists. Professor
Right.But then when the United Statesbecame involved in the Second World War,unemployment was down and it seems that these programs weren’t
really necessary any longer.
So, moving on, we don't actuallysee any govern…wellany realgovernment involvement in the artsagain until theearly 1960s, when President Kennedy
and otherpoliticians started topush for major funding to support and promote
the arts. Itwas felt bya number ofpoliticians that …wellthat the government
had a responsibilityt o support the artsas sort of…oh, what can we say?...the
the soul…or spirit of the country. The idea was that therebe a federal subsidy…um…uh…financial assistance to artists and artistic or cultural institutions. And for just those reasons, in 1965, the National Endowment for the Artswas created.
So it was through the NEA,the National Endowment for the Arts, um…that the artswould develop, would be promoted throughout the nation. And then
individual statesthroughout thecountry started to establish their own state arts councils to help support the arts. Therewas kind of uh…culturalexplosion.
And bythe mid 1970s, by 1974 I think, all fifty stateshad their own arts agencies, their own state artscouncils that work with the federalgovernment
with corporations, artists, performers, you name it.
Frank
Did you just say corporations? How are theyinvolved?
Professor
Well, you see, corporations aren’t always altruistic. Theymight not support the artsunless…well, unless the government made i t attractive for them to do so,
by offering corporations tax incentives tosupport the arts, that is, by letting
corporations pay less in taxesif theywerepatrons ofthe arts. Um, the
KennedyCentre in Washington D.C., you mayuh…maybe you’ve been there,
or Lincoln Centrein New York. Bothof these werebuilt with substantial
financial support from corporations. And the Kennedyand Lincoln centres
aren’t the only examples. Manyof your cultural establishments in theUnited
Stateswill have a plaque somewhere acknowledging the support – themoney
theyreceived from whatevercorporation. Oh, yes, Janet?
Janet
But aren’t therea lot ofpeople who don’t think it’s thegovernment’s role tosupport the arts?
Professor
Well, as a matter offact, a lot ofpoliticians who did not believe in government
support for the arts, theywantedto do away with the agencyentirely, for that
veryreason, to get rid of governmentalsupport.But theyonly succeeded in
taking away about half the annual budget. And as far as thepublic goes,
well…thereare about as many individuals who disagree with the government
support as thereare those who agree.In fact,with artistsin particular, you
have lots of artistswho support and who have benefited from this agency,
although it seems that just as many artistssuppose a government agency
being involved in the arts, for many different reasons, reasons like theydon’t
want the government to controlwhat theycreate.In other words, the
argumentsboth for and against government funding ofthe artsare as many
and, and as varied as the individual styles ofthe artists who hold them.
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