Passage Two
Harvard University, located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and is a major world center of research and teaching in many fields of inquiry. It was established in 1636 as a cooperative educational university, and admitted both men and women into its growing ranks of students, which now totals 16,871 undergraduates. It also has 10 professional and graduate schools, many of which play a leading role in setting trends. Undergraduates, after their freshman year, live in 1 of 13 halls of residence, which have their own living, dining, library, and sports facilities. However, the main attraction of the university is its library, which holds no fewer than 11 million volumes.
Cambridge University, in Cambridge, England, was founded at the beginning of 13th century, and admitted only male students for many years since its foundation. All students must be members of colleges, and admission of undergraduates, numbering about 9,900, is controlled entirely by these colleges, but acceptance of graduate students is decided primarily by university bodies. Special features of the university include the university library which holds more than 4 million volumes, as well as specialized museums, and the Cavendish Laboratories, for the study of physics.
Questions 19 to 21 are based on the passage you have just heard.
19. Where is Harvard University?
20. Who were first admitted into Cambridge University when it was founded?
21.What is the number of books in the library of Harvard compared with that of those in the library of Cambridge?
Passage three
There was once a man in South America who had a parrot, a pet bird that could imitate human speech. The parrot was unique. There was no bird like him in the whole world because he could learn to say any word except one. He could not say the name of his native town, Ketunnel. The man did everything he could to teach the parrot to say Ketunnel, but he never succeeded. At first he was very gentle with the bird. But gradually, he lost his temper. “You stupid bird. Why can’t you learn to say that one word? Say Ketunnel or I will kill you.” But the parrot would not say it. Many times the man screamed, “Say Ketunel, or I'll kill you.” But the bird would never repeat the name. Finally, the man gave up. He picked up the parrot and threw him into the chicken house. “You are even more stupid than the chickens.” In the chicken house, there were four old chickens, waiting to be killed for Sunday's dinner. The next morning, when he went out to the chicken house, the man opened the door. He was shocked by what he saw. He could not believe his eyes and ears. On the floor lay three dead chickens. The parrot was screaming at the fourth, “Say Ketunel, or I'll kill you.”
Questions 22 to 25 are based on the passage you have just heard.
22. Why was the parrot unique?
23. Why did the man lose his temper?
24. Who killed the three chickens?
25. Why was he shocked at the scene the next morning?
Section D
Now, the passage will be read for the first time.
What we consider to be writing today, that is words made up of letters or characters that make up sentences began to be developed around 3000 years BC in ancient Egypt, about 2000 BC in Greece, in southern Europe, and about 1500 years BC in China. The system that developed in Greece, however, gradually developed into alphabet form used in most languages, although the ancient form of writing is still used in China today.
The Western alphabet was developed by the ancient Greeks nearly 3000 years ago. The alphabet, as it is called, is named after the first two Greek letters, Alpha and Beta, and is believed to be highly unique. In fact, the Greeks are the only civilization that has ever invented an alphabet-based language for writing. And what makes this form of writing so important in modern societies is that words can be spelled out, to avoid confusion or misunderstanding, especially when communicating verbally(口头的) using a telephone. Indeed, if we consider how the Greek alphabet makes communication possible we realize just how fascinating a development it was. For example, consider how much more difficult it would be to use a computer keyboard without the use of an alphabet. |
