专业英语八级听力-33及答案解析.doc

1、专业英语八级听力-33及答案解析 (总分：100.00，做题时间：90分钟)一、BLISTENING COMPR(总题数：4，分数：100.00)Whats Wrong with College Rankings?Perhaps some people are against college ranking because their school did not rank as well as they hoped. But there are many U U 1 /U /Uto question the value of college rankings. Can Colleges be

2、 Ranked at All?A. Modern colleges are different from each other in many U U 2 /U /U.B. People can not simply say that one college is better than another by a single U U 3 /U /U. Rank vs. Individual FitA. According to college admissions counselors, a school must fit the students in terms of U U 4 /U

3、/U, opportunities, and locations, etc.B. Parents and students should consider if the school can really serve their certain U U 5 /U /U. False PrecisionA. Putting emphasis on U U 6 /U /Uto various measuresB. Combining a school performance in each area to produce U U 7 /U /U.In such case, people doing

4、 the ranking can be U U 8 /U /U. Negative College BehaviorA. Schools try to improve U U 9 /U /Uto their rankings by manipulating their numbers for ranking.B. Schools increase the U U 10 /U /Uwho accept offers of admission by not offering acceptance to low-probability students. （分数：25.00）填空项1:_填空项1:_

5、填空项1:_填空项1:_填空项1:_填空项1:_填空项1:_填空项1:_填空项1:_填空项1:_How to Talk to Anyone, Anytime, AnywhereWhen people are asked to give a speech in public for the first time, they usually feel terrified no matter how well they speak in informal situations.In fact, public speaking is the same as any other form of U U

6、11 /U /Uthat people are usually engaged in. Public speaking is a way for a speaker to U U 12 /U /Uwith the audience. Moreover, the speaker is free to decide on the U U 13 /U /Uof his / her speech. Two key points to achieve success in public speaking:A. U U 14 /U /Uof the subject matterB. good prepar

7、ation of the speechTo facilitate their understanding, inform your audience before hand of the U U 15 /U /Uof your speech and end it with a summary. Other key points to bear in mind:A. be aware of your audience and have eye contactB. vary the U U 16 /U /Uof speakingC. adjust U U 17 /U /Uto comfort yo

8、urself in speechD. be brief in speech; always try to make your message U U 18 /U /UExample: the best remembered inaugural speeches of the US presidents are U U 19 /U /U.Therefore brevity is essential to the U U 20 /U /Uof a speech. （分数：25.00）填空项1:_填空项1:_填空项1:_填空项1:_填空项1:_填空项1:_填空项1:_填空项1:_填空项1:_填空项1

9、:_Does Media Cause Violent Behavior?With the recent release of the Federal Trade Commissions report on the marketing of adult-rated entertainment products to children, the issue of the effects of U U 21 /U /Uhas been again open to debate.While there are many opinions on whether violent media can cau

10、se peoples violent behavior, discussion of U U 22 /U /Uon the subject is very few. So in this lecture the FTC report will be U U 23 /U /Uand the lecturers opinion will be given.It is obvious that media violence is one of the risk factors for violence, but there is U U 24 /U /Uto focus too much on th

11、is single factor because matter is not so simple. As seen in many cases, U U 25 /U /Uand poverty are more vital factors. Still media violence cant be ignored and the entertainment industry should be U U 26 /U /Ufor keeping children away from violence content.The lecturer agrees to the following:A. T

12、he entertainment industry should set up U U 27 /U /Uto prohibit marketing adult-rated products to children.B. Second, retailers should do their best to prevent U U 28 /U /Uof Mature-rated videos or games to children under 17. U U 29 /U /Ualso should be more stringent with admission of children witho

13、ut parents companion.C. And third, we should design U U 30 /U /Uto help parents in their decision about what products their children should consume. （分数：25.00）填空项1:_填空项1:_填空项1:_填空项1:_填空项1:_填空项1:_填空项1:_填空项1:_填空项1:_填空项1:_A Brief Survey of the History of LinguisticsThe science of linguistics, which dea

14、ls with language proper, has experienced three stages.A. The first phase is that of U U 31 /U /U. It was invented by Greeks and handed down by French. It focused more on U U 32 /U /Uthan on the philosophical view of language. And it failed to give a broader view of U U 33 /U /Uas a whole.B. The seco

15、nd phase began at the 19th century with the introduction of the method of U U 34 /U /Uof texts. This principle demanded that the contributions of different periods be examined and thus U U 35 /U /Uon the historical linguistics. Although more sources of U U 36 /U /Uwere opened up, it was still not li

16、nguistics in its real sense.C. The third phase is a comparative one when scholars U U 37 /U /Uon a number of languages and their relation, but produced no satisfying linguistic perspective. It is U U 38 /U /Uand only a method to employ when theres no direct way of ascertaining the facts.The Romance

17、studies played an important role in examining what happened to the U U 39 /U /Uover a long period of history. It showed that one of the most serious faults of the comparative phase was that the studies stayed at the same level and it U U 40 /U /Uspoken language with written language. （分数：25.00）填空项1:

18、_填空项1:_填空项1:_填空项1:_填空项1:_填空项1:_填空项1:_填空项1:_填空项1:_填空项1:_专业英语八级听力-33答案解析 (总分：100.00，做题时间：90分钟)一、BLISTENING COMPR(总题数：4，分数：100.00)Whats Wrong with College Rankings?Perhaps some people are against college ranking because their school did not rank as well as they hoped. But there are many U U 1 /U /Uto q

19、uestion the value of college rankings. Can Colleges be Ranked at All?A. Modern colleges are different from each other in many U U 2 /U /U.B. People can not simply say that one college is better than another by a single U U 3 /U /U. Rank vs. Individual FitA. According to college admissions counselors

20、, a school must fit the students in terms of U U 4 /U /U, opportunities, and locations, etc.B. Parents and students should consider if the school can really serve their certain U U 5 /U /U. False PrecisionA. Putting emphasis on U U 6 /U /Uto various measuresB. Combining a school performance in each

21、area to produce U U 7 /U /U.In such case, people doing the ranking can be U U 8 /U /U. Negative College BehaviorA. Schools try to improve U U 9 /U /Uto their rankings by manipulating their numbers for ranking.B. Schools increase the U U 10 /U /Uwho accept offers of admission by not offering acceptan

22、ce to low-probability students. （分数：25.00）填空项1:_（正确答案：legitimate/good/sound reasons）解析：听力原文 By and large, education professionals profess to loathe college rankings. Sometimes, one suspects, its because their school didnt rank as well as they thought it should. There are, however, many legitimate re

23、asons to question the value of college rankings. Here are a Few: Can Colleges be Ranked at All? A modern college or university tends to be an increasingly diverse and multifaceted group of people, activities, and goals. Basic instruction is taking place, but also research, athletics, extracurricular

24、s, community interaction, artistic performance, socializing, and many other activities. A college can be distinguished from its peers by many factorsits faculty, its financial strength, its name recognition, the success of its graduates, the quality of its incoming students, its ability to succeed w

25、ith marginal students, its physical facility, the surrounding community, and so on. It can certainly be argued that it is simply impossible to reduce all of these factors to a single, mono-dimensional ranking that says College A is better than College B. Rank vs. Individual Fit College admissions co

26、unselors universally agree that a school must fit the students in terms of academic environment, social environment, athletic and other extracurricular opportunities, urban or rural location, etc. A good fit will result in a great college experience and, most importantly, maximum personal growth and

27、 achievement. Rankings can be a negative influence when students or parents look more at how highly a school is ranked instead of how well it will serve the needs of that particular students. False Precision Most ranking systems actually assign numeric weights to various measures, then combine a sch

28、ools performance in each area with the assigned weighting to produce a composite score. These composite scores can be used to rank schools in an apparently unbiased and quantitative manner. There is more than one fly in this ointment, however. First, the selection of factors to be counted and the we

29、ighting applied to each factor must be determined, more or less arbitrarily, by the people doing the ranking. This is quite evident from the US News rankings in which schools have been suddenly elevated or downgraded by a change in factors or weights. Even agreeing on which factors should be used ca

30、n be difficult. For years, US News has used retention rate the percentage of students that return after a freshman year, and the percentage that graduate within a specified number of yearsas a key measure. Certainly, one would like to attend a university where most of the students who start there ac

31、tually graduate. However, a school with rigorous grading standards that does not allow professors to inflate grades of poorly performing students might actually suffer in this statistic, even though it is arguably better than a less rigorous school. Similarly, a school that has a policy of admitting

32、 marginal students would also be hurt by a retention rate statistic. Even if this school turned half of the marginal high schoolers into star performers, they would probably have far more dropouts than with a more pre-qualified population. Thus, a statistic that looks like a great measure of school

33、desirability at first glance turns into something that is, unfortunately, much more ambiguous in detailed analysis. Rankings leave little room for ambiguity, footnotes, and detailed qualitative comparisons. Beyond the factor weighting issues, the use of a numeric composite score implies a precision

34、that simply doesnt exist. For years, US News would rank a school that scored 94.2 higher than one that scored 94.1. In recent years, the trend has been to do more grouping, so that schools that score about the same are listed at the same rank. Even these slightly larger groupings, though, suggest no

35、t much precisionA 93 still outranks a 92. Some experts have suggested very broad groupings of schools for ranking purposes. Unfortunately, this would take much of the competition out of the rankings and would no doubt sell far fewer magazines and books. Furthermore, there would still be problems wit

36、h schools being relegated to a lower category because they just missed a quantitative cutoff for the next level up. Negative College Behavior As noted in our discussion of the positive aspects of rankings, schools will sometimes attempt to improve situations that hurt their rankings. The dark side o

37、f this effect, though, is that colleges can find other ways to manipulate their numbers; these methods dont improve the school in any real way, and may actually be negative for some students or applicants. An example of this is the recent trend for schools to either reject or place on the waiting li

38、st applicants who appear to be overqualified. Why should a school not accept an outstanding applicant who falls into the top 5% of the applicant pool? Its simplethe admissions committee thinks that the applicant will almost certainly gain admittance to a more prestigious school, and will be unlikely

39、 to accept their own offer. By not extending these low-probability students offers of admission, the school sends out many fewer total acceptances while losing very few actual matriculants. This improves the yieldthe percentage of students who accept offers of admissionand at the same time reduces t

40、he percentage of applications which result in admission. These statistical changes make the school look more selective and, in turn, boost the schools ranking. 本讲座主要讨论了大学排名的问题所在，内容从是否该对大学进行排名、排名与个体适合度、排名准确度、大学的消极行为几方面展开。根据however后面的内容many legitimate reasons to question the value of college rankings可

41、知，对大学排名的价值存在许多合理的质疑。因此本题答案为legitimate/good/sound reasons。填空项1:_（正确答案：factors/aspects）解析：本题所在处涉及第一条质疑，即是否该对大学进行排名。讲座中说到，一所大学区别于(be distinguished from)其他大学的因素有很多：师资、财力、名气、毕业生成就、生源质量等，因此大学之间应是在许多因素或方面上互不相同，答案为factors或aspects。填空项1:_（正确答案：ranking）解析：在第一条质疑的最后，演讲者说，it is simply impossible to reduce all of

42、 these factors to a single, mono-dimensional ranking that says College A is better than College B.即不可能把诸多因素简单地归结为一个单一维度的排名，说“A大学比B大学好。”因此本题答案为ranking。填空项1:_（正确答案：environment）解析：本题所在处涉及第二条质疑，即排名与个体适合度问题。讲座中提到，大学招生顾问一致认为，学校必须在学术环境(academic environment)、社会环境(social environment)、运动和其他课外机会(athletic and o

43、ther extracurricular opportunities)、地理位置(urban or rural location)等各个方面适合学生。本题题干中列举了opportunities和location，因此空白处应填environment。填空项1:_（正确答案：needs）解析：第二条质疑的最后，报告者说当学生和家长会只注重学校的排名，而忽视学校能否满足特殊学生的需求时，排名就会造成负面影响，因此家长和学生应该考虑学校是否能真正满足学生的需求，答案为needs。填空项1:_（正确答案：numeric weights）解析：本题所在处涉及第三条质疑：排名的准确度不可信。讲座中说，大多数排名系统把数字的重要性应用于各项衡量标准中(assign numeric weights to various measures)，因此也就是说强调了数字的重要性，答案为numeric weights。填空项1:_（正确答案：a composite score）解析：承接上题，报告者说，大多数排名系统把数字的