Section C

　　Directions: in this section,you will hear a paasage three times. When the passage is read for thefirst time, you should listen carefully for its general idea. When the passage is read for the secondtime, you are required to fill in the blanks with the exact words you have just heard. Finally, whenthe passage is reaf for the third time, you should check what you have written.

　　When you look up at the night sky, what do you see? There are other… besides the moon and stars.One of the most 27___ of the …

　　Comets were formed around the same time the Earth was formed. …and other frozen liquids andgases. 29___ these “dirty snow…” just as the planets do.

　　As a comet get closer to the sun, some gases in it begin to unfreeze… particles form the comet toform a huge cloud. As the comet gets … wind blows the cloud behind the comet, thus forming itstail. The tail… (模糊的) atmosphere around a comet are 32____ that can help… in the night sky.

　　In any given year, about a dozen known comets come close to … average person can't see themall, of course. Usually there is only one … to be seen with 34___ eye. Comet Hale-Bopp,discovered… bright comet. Its orbit brought it 35___ close to the Earth, … But Hale-Bopp came along way an its earthly visit. It won't be back…or so.

　　Part II Listening Comprehension

　　Directions: In this section, you will hear 8short conversations and 2 long conversations. At the endof each conversation, oneor more questions will be asked about what was said. Both theconversation andthe questions will be spoken only once. After each question there will be apause.During the pause, you must read the four choices marked A), B), C), and D), and decide which is thebest answer. Then mark the corresponding letter onAnswer Sheet 1 with a single line through thecentre.

　　Now let's begin with the eight short conversations.

　　Question 1

　　M： Do you remember the wonderful film on space exploration we watched together last month?

　　W： Sure。 It's actually the most impressive one I've seen on that topic。

　　Q：What do we learn about the speakers?

　　Question 2

　　W： Are you looking for anything in particular?

　　M： Yes. My son is graduating from high school, and I want to get him something special.

　　Q：Where does the conversation most probably take place?

　　Question 3

　　M： Mike told me yesterday that he had been looking in vain for a job in the art gallery.

　　W： Really? If I remember right, he had a chance to work there, but he turned it down。

　　Q：What does the woman say about Mike?

　　Question 4

　　W： Would you like to come to Susan's birthday party tomorrow evening?

　　M： I'm going to give a lecture tomorrow. I wish I could be in two places at the same time。

　　Q：What does the man mean?

　　Question 5

　　W： Aren't you discouraged by the slow progress your staff is making?

　　M： Yes. I think I will give them a deadline and hold them to it.

　　Q：What is the man probably going to do?

　　Question 6

　　W： Excuse me。 Could you tell me where the visitors' parking is? I left my car there.

　　M： Sure。 It's in Lot C。 Over that way.

　　Q：What does the woman want to know?

　　Question 7

　　W： You look great! Now that you've taken those fitness classes.

　　M： Thanks. I've never felt better in my life.

　　Q：What does the man mean?

　　Question 8

　　W： I really admire the efficiency of your secretaries.

　　M： Our company selects only the best. They have a heave workload and we give them a lot ofresponsibilities.

　　Q：What are the speakers talking about?

　　Now you'll hear the two long conversations.

　　Conversation One

　　W：Hi Leo, why do you say English would become the world language?

　　M：Well. For one thing, it's so commonly used, the only language that is used by more people isChinese.

　　W：Why is English spoken by so many people?

　　M：It's spoken in many countries of the world because of the British empire。 And now of course isthe influence of America as well.

　　W：Many students find English a difficult language to learn.

　　M：Oh all languages are difficult to learn。 But English does have two greatest advantages.

　　W：What are they?

　　M：Well,first of all, it has a very international vocabulary。It has many German, Dutch,French,Spanish and Italian words in it。So speakers of those languages will find many familiar wordsin English。In fact, English has words for many other languages as well.

　　W： Why is that?

　　M： Well, partly because English speakers have travelled a lot, they bring back words with them. SoEnglish really does have an international vocabulary.

　　W： And what is the other advantage of English?

　　M： It that English grammar is really quite easy. For example, it doesn't have dozens of differentendings for its nouns, adjectives and verbs, not like Latin, Russian and German for example.

　　W： Why is that?

　　M： Well, it's quite interesting actually, it's because of the French。 When the French ruled England,French was the official language, and only the common people spoke English。 They tried to maketheir language as simple as possible。 So they made the grammar easier。

　　Questions 9 to 11 are based on the conversation you've just heard.

　　Q9： What does the man say about Chinese?

　　Q10： What made English a widely used language?

　　Q11： What is said to be special about English vocabulary?

　　Conversation Two

　　Man：Hello. Yes?

　　Woman：Hello. Is that the sales department?

　　M：Yes, it is.

　　W：Oh,well. My name is Jane Kingsbury of GPF limited. We need some supplies for our designoffice.

　　M：Oh, what sort?

　　W：Well, first of all, we need one complete new drawing board.

　　M：DO44 or DO45?

　　W：Ah, I don't know. What's the difference?

　　M：Well,the 45 costs 15 pounds more.

　　W：So what's the total price then?

　　M：It's 387 pounds.

　　W：Dose that include valued-added tax?

　　M：Oh, I'm not sure。 Most of the prices do. Yes, I think it does.

　　W：What are the boards actually made of?

　　M：Oh,I don't know. I think it‘s a sort of plastic stuff these days. It's white anyway.

　　W：And how long does it take to deliver?

　　M：Oh, I couldn't really say. It depends on how much work we've got and how many other ordersthere are to send out, you know.

　　W：Ok, now we also want some drawing pens, ink and rulers, and some drawing paper.

　　M：Oh dear. The girl who takes all those supplies isn't here this morning. So I can't take thoseorders for you. I only do the equipment you see.

　　W：Ok,well,perhaps I'll ring back tomorrow.

　　M：So do you want the drawing board then?

　　W：Oh,I have to think about it. Thanks very much. I'll let you know. Good-bye.

　　M：Thank you. Good-bye.

　　Question 12 to 15 are based on the conversation you just heard。

　　Question 12： What is the woman's purpose in making the phone call?

　　Question 13： What do we learn about the man from the conversation?

　　Question 14： What does the man say about delivery?

　　Question 15： What does the woman say she will possibly do tomorrow?