1、专业英语八级（讲座听力）模拟试卷 3及答案与解析 SECTION A MINI-LECTURE Directions: In this section you sill hear a mini-lecture. You will hear the lecture ONCE ONLY. While listening, take notes on the important points. Your notes will not be marked, but you will need them to complete a gap-filling task after the mini-lect
2、ure. When the lecture is over, you will be given two minutes to check your notes, and another ten minutes to complete the gap-filling task on ANSWER SHEET ONE. Use the blank sheet for note-taking. 0 The Cost of Natural Disasters I. Examples of recent natural disasters A. earthquake in Japan and New
3、Zealand B. flood in Thailand, China and (1)_ C. hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires and floods in America II. Theres little link between (2)_and the frequency of tropical cyclones. III. Cost of natural disasters A. Less deadly B. Economic cost is rising because a growing share of the worlds population
4、and (3)_are being concentrated in disaster-prone places. C. Development aggravates risks of natural disasters, the result of which harms more (4)_if barriers fail. But people are moving to more dangerous areas because of (5)_in cities. D. Perverse (6)_are also responsible. IV. Policy change A. to cu
5、t costs, government should spend more on (7)_ B. example of the Netherlands a. (8)_of the country is under sea level or at risk of regular flooding b. the country began building dykes, which made consequences of failure greater c. after flooding in the 1900s, the Netherlands began to make its cities
6、 and countryside (9)_to floodwaters d. limits of its approach: too (10)_ 10 Asias Economy I. Economy of China II. Economy of South Korea 1. (1)_of South Koreas Economy 1960, income per head on a par with (2)_ The end of 2011, richer than EU average on PPP terms Combined growth with (3)_and (4)_ Hit
7、hard by the financial crisis but recovered fast thanks to its (5)_ Recovery as the result of dependence on China and policies of the government 2. Three features of the South Korean model A.(6)_ Drawback: hard to achieve further growth B. powerful conglomerates Drawbacks: prone to fraud, dodgy accou
8、nting and illegal (7)_, stifling innovation and entrepreneurship having few start-ups C. SEMs are comparatively (8)_ Reasons: crowded out of markets for people and skills by the conglomerates (9)_by the government 3. How the South Korean model can be (10)_ 20 Education Out of School I. The origin of
9、 “Youth Hostel“: A German schoolmaster started the idea of “Youth Hostel“ in 1907. He turned his little schoolhouse into a (1)_for young peoples summer holidays. II. The current use of “Youth Hostel“: A. Admission and price: show their (2)_in a hostel organization; use the facilities for a (3)_price
10、. B. “Hostelling“: The young from different countries meet together in Youth Hostels. They learn a lot from those of other countries. “Hostelling“ has become a form of (4)_education as useful as classes in school. Today, hostels are considered important for (5)_the young with a first-hand contact wi
11、th youths of other lands. III. (6)_work: A. Young people serve at a (7)_without pay during their summer holidays. B. They also see the (8)_, meet people and have discussions. C. They come to (9)_a community, building community centers, organizing clubs, etc. D. They often work (10)_and the locals be
12、come interested in helping themselves. 专业英语八级（讲座听力）模拟 试卷 3答案与解析 SECTION A MINI-LECTURE Directions: In this section you sill hear a mini-lecture. You will hear the lecture ONCE ONLY. While listening, take notes on the important points. Your notes will not be marked, but you will need them to complete
13、 a gap-filling task after the mini-lecture. When the lecture is over, you will be given two minutes to check your notes, and another ten minutes to complete the gap-filling task on ANSWER SHEET ONE. Use the blank sheet for note-taking. 0 【听力原文】 The Cost of Natural Disasters Good afternoon. Today wel
14、l talk about natural disasters and their effects. The worlds industrial supply chains were only just recovering from Japans earthquake and tsunami in March when a natural disaster severed them again in October. An unusually heavy monsoon season swelled rivers and overwhelmed reservoirs in northern T
15、hailand. The deluge cost $40 billion, the most expensive disaster in the countrys history. J.P. Morgan estimates that it set back global industrial production by 2.5%. Such multi-billion-dollar natural disasters are becoming common. (1) Besides the Japanese and Thai calamities, New Zealand suffered
16、an earthquake, Australia and China floods, and America a cocktail of hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires and floods. Although deadly quakes are rarely blamed on human activity, it is fashionable to blame weather-related disasters on global warming. (2) However, a recent study by the Intergovernmental P
17、anel on Climate Change, expressed little confidence in any link between climate change and the frequency of tropical cyclones. The world has succeeded in making natural disasters less deadly, through better early-warning systems for tsunamis, better public information about evacuation plans, tougher
18、 building codes in quake-prone areas and encouragement for homeowners to adopt simple precautions. Adjusted for the Earths growing population, the trend in death rates is clearly downward. However, there is no doubt the economic cost of natural disasters is rising. (3) This is because a growing shar
19、e of the worlds population and economic activity is being concentrated in disaster-prone places: on tropical coasts and river deltas, near forests and along earthquake fault lines. Whether the economic toll of disasters is rising faster than global GDP is unclear, since a wealthier world naturally h
20、as more wealth at risk. Still, the incidence of spectacular, multi-billion-dollar catastrophes seems certain to rise. Development by its nature also aggravates risks. As cities encroach on coasts, wetlands and rivers, natural barriers such as mangrove swamps and sand dunes are obliterated and artifi
21、cial ones such as dykes and sea walls, are erected to keep the water out. (4) The result is to put more people and property in harms way if those barriers fail. As cities on river deltas extract groundwater for industry, drinking and sanitation, the ground subsides, putting it further below sea leve
22、l and thus requiring even higher dykes. People originally settled in river deltas precisely because regular flooding made the land so fertile. Those cities have continued to grow because of the natural economic advantages such concentrations of human talent hold for modernizing societies. Even when
23、poor people moving to cities they are increasing their risk of dying in a mudslide or flood. (5) But the risk is more than compensated for by the better-paying work available in cities. And in rich countries, coasts are gaining population simply because people like living near water. Perverse incent
24、ives are also at work. In America, homeowners on flood-plains must have flood insurance to get a federally backed mortgage. But federal insurance is often subsidized and many people are either exempt from the rule or live in places where flood risks have not been properly mapped. Some do not buy dis
25、aster insurance, assuming they can count on federal aid if their home is destroyed. Once the government declares a disaster, it pays 75%-100% of the response costs. As a consequence of these skewed incentives, people routinely rebuild in areas that have already been devastated. This is not all becau
26、se of incentives. People have a tendency not to price rare, unpredictable events into their decisions, even if these may have catastrophic consequences. If human nature cannot be changed, government policy can be. (7) That is spending more on preventing disaster so as to cut its costs. According to
27、the World Bank, roughly 20% of humanitarian aid is now spent responding to disasters, whereas a paltry 0.7% is spent on preventive measures taken to mitigate their possible consequences. Next I would like to use the Netherlands as an example. Some 60% of the country is either under sea level or at r
28、isk of regular flooding from the North Sea or the Rhine, Meuse and Schelt rivers and their tributaries. In 1953, a combination of a high spring tide and severe storm over the North Sea overwhelmed dykes, flooding 9% of its farmland and killing 1,800 people. The country responded with a decades-long
29、program of “delta works“ to guard estuaries from storm surges, while raising and strengthening dykes. But the success of those defenses has made the consequences of failure even greater. Protected by the delta works and dykes, the land stretching from Amsterdam to Rotterdam has heavily industrialize
30、d and now provides most of the countrys output. The northern and southern parts of the Netherlands are far more safe but are economically less attractive. People are moving to the western part of Holland because its where the economy grows. In 1993 and again in 1995 heavy river flooding inundated th
31、e countryside and nearly rose above dykes in population centers, forcing the evacuation of more than 250,000 people. (9) The country ,as a result began instead to make its cities and countryside more resilient to floodwaters. In 2007 it launched its 2.3 billion “Room for the River“ project. At 39 lo
32、cations, dykes are being moved inland, riverbeds deepened and fields now occupied by farms and households deliberately exposed to floods. The Dutch approach also has limits. It is costly. Farmers were paid market value to leave the polders. To do this in a more densely populated city or industrial a
33、rea would be prohibitively expensive. All right, weve just looked at the increasing economic cost of natural disasters, why preventive measures may turn out to be even more damaging and the example of the Netherlands. Any questions? 【知识模块】 讲座 1 【正确答案】 Australia 【试题解析】 细节题。文章开头举例日本地 震和泰国洪灾，随后又提到新西兰地震
34、，中国、澳大利亚洪灾，及美国的其他灾害。 【知识模块】 讲座 2 【正确答案】 climate change 【试题解析】 要点题。自然灾害频发的原因是什么 ?作者指出，尽管有观点倾向于将此和气候变化联系起来，但研究发现并非如此。此外，研究小组的名称中也提到了 climate change。 【知识模块】 讲座 3 【正确答案】 economic activity 【试题解析】 细节题。注意填单数形式。人员伤亡在减少，而经济损失在增加，原因在于经 济活动集中在易受灾的地区。 【知识模块】 讲座 4 【正确答案】 people and property 【试题解析】 细节题。根据常识也能推测出，
35、自然灾害无非是人员伤亡和财产损失。 【知识模块】 讲座 5 【正确答案】 better-paying work better jobs 【试题解析】 细节题。是什么造成大批人员前往易受灾地区呢 ?原因是那里的工作有更高的工资。 【知识模块】 讲座 6 【正确答案】 incentives 【试题解析】 要点题。注意要填 复数形式。除了好工作，政府的政策补贴也是人们不顾危险的原因，此句为总起句，下面举了美国的例子来说明这一点。 【知识模块】 讲座 7 【正确答案】 preventing disasters 【试题解析】 归总题。作者认为与其给事后补贴，不如把钱花在事前预防上。 【知识模块】 讲座
36、8 【正确答案】 About 60 About two-thirds 【试题解析】 细节题。注意原句中的 some表示大约。 【知识模块】 讲座 9 【正确答案】 resilient 【试题解析】 细节题。荷兰吸取了教训，改变了政策。注意后面跟介词 to，因此得用原文中的 resilient。 【知识模块】 讲座 10 【正确答案】 costly expensive 【试题解析】 要点题。说完了荷兰政策的转变后，作者指出了缺点，即花费太高。这里需填形容词，可用文中的词，也可用 expensive。 【知识模块】 讲座 10 【听力原文】 Asias Economy Welcome to Asi
37、as economy 101. After studying the case of China, I would like to focus on a country whose economy is as vibrant if much smaller. During this lecture, youll know how South Koreas economy strode and what challenges it is facing now. First, lets have a look at the significant progress of South Koreas
38、economy and its characteristics. In 1960, in the aftermath of the Korean war, South Korea was one of the poorest countries in the world, with an income per head on a par with the poorest parts of Africa. By the end of 2011 it had been richer than the European Union average, with a gross domestic pro
39、duct per person of $31,750, calculated on a basis of purchasing-power parity (PPP), compared with $31,550 for the EU. South Korea is the only country that has so far managed to go from being the recipient of a lot of development aid to being rich within a working life. For most poor countries, South
40、 Korea is a model of growth. Its a better exemplar than China, which is too vast to copy, and better, too, than Singapore or Hong Kong. Both are richer than South Korea but both are exceptions: Singapore and Hong Kong are city states. South Korea has not merely grown fast. (3) It has combined growth
41、 with democracy. For those of you familiar with South Koreas history you might say that its spurt began under a military dictator, Park Chung-hee. Thats true, but for the past 25 years the country has had a vibrant parliamentary system. South Korea scores the same as Japan in the democracy tally kep
42、t by Freedom House, a think-tank in Washington, DC. No other Asian country does as well. At the same time South Korea has combined growth with equity. Between 1980 and 1997, its Gini coefficient, fell from 0.33 to an exceptionally low 0.28, before rising back up during the 1997-98 Asian crisis. In 2
43、010, the level was 0.31. This is a bit worse than Scandinavian countries, a bit better than Canada. By the way, if you dont know what Gini coefficient means, you might want to listen to the next lecture, during which I will explain it in detail. Now South Korea can add resilience to its roster of ac
44、hievements. It was walloped during the global financial crisis, but recovered faster than any other rich country. Between June 2008 and February 2009, South Korea lost 1.2 million jobs. In September 2011, foreigners withdrew over 1.3 trillion won ($1.1 billion) from the stock market and the currency
45、 slumped 10%. Yet in 2010, GDP grew by 6%. The unemployment rate is now only 3%. Some of the recovery is the result of South Koreas happy dependence on China. It exports more capital goods to China relative to the size of its economy than anyone else. But this is only part of the explanation. The go
46、vernment also initiated a public-works scheme that is mopping up over 2% of the labour force. It introduced an old-age pension and began an earned-income tax credit. South Korea is catching up with Americas standard of living. Chinas dollar GDP per person would have to grow at 7.5%-8% a year for 20
47、years to reach the heights South Korea has already scaled. The South Korean model had three distinctive features: an industrious workforce; powerful conglomerates; and relatively weak smaller firms. Lets take a look one by one. First, South Koreans lay great store by education and hard work. They pu
48、t in 2,200 hours of work a year, half as much again as the Dutch or Germans. Their reaction to the 2008 slump was to work harder still. During the 2009-10 recovery, South Korea had the second-largest increase in hours worked in manufacturing. But it is harder to generate further jumps in income from
49、 big increases in hours and skills. On some estimates, half of recent graduates are failing to find full-time jobs and are going into further study or part-time employment. So while general education remains good, some industrial skills may be declining. Second, much of South Koreas miracle has been the work of big conglomerates. Samsung Electronics, one
