08

The transcription consists of several short conversations between different individuals. In the first conversation, the woman implies that she and her sister used to look alike when they were kids but not anymore. In the second conversation, the man suggests using paper plates since there are no clean dishes left. In the third conversation, the woman mentions that she hasn't heard back from universities she applied to yet. In the fourth conversation, the professor allows the student to miss class due to foot surgery. In the fifth conversation, the man is still far from saving enough money for a trip to Canada. The rest of the conversations involve various topics such as a picture being out of focus, unfair treatment by a professor, deciding between living off-campus or in a dorm, and preferences for music and movies. The summary of the second part of the transcription cannot be provided as it exceeds the character limit. Now we will begin part A with the first conversation. Number one. Oh, so that was your sister you were walking with yesterday. You don't really look very much alike. No. We did when we were kids, but not anymore. What does the woman mean? Number two. I can't believe my roommate still hasn't washed the dishes. There's not a clean dish left for us to use. Don't worry about it. Paper plates are fine. What does the man mean? Number three. I hear you've applied to several universities. Have you gotten accepted anywhere? I haven't heard anything yet, but I should know something within the next few weeks. What does the woman mean? Number four. Professor, I know your course has a no-absence policy, but I have to have foot surgery next Friday and can't be here. Medical excuses are one of the few exceptions I make. What will the professor probably do? Number five. By working through spring break, I managed to save up the $500 for the trip to Canada this summer. How are you coming along? I'm still a ways off. What does the man mean? Number six. I'm just writing to Mary about our vacation. Why don't I enclose this picture of us in front of the Grand Canyon? Don't you think it's a little out of focus? What does the woman imply? Number seven. Oh, I'm so angry. My biology professor would not even let me try to explain why I missed the field trip. He just gave me a zero. That does not seem fair. I would feel that way, too, if I were you. What does the man imply about the woman? Number eight. Have you guys decided whether you're going to get an apartment off campus next year or are you staying in the dorm? We're still talking about the pros and cons. I don't know. To me it seems like six of one, half a dozen of the other. What does the man mean? Number nine. What is that you're listening to? That beat's so strong I can't concentrate on my work. No problem. I can switch over to something lighter. What will the man probably do? Number ten. We had a delicious Sunday brunch at that new hotel downtown. You should try it sometime. I didn't even know the building was finished. Shows how much I've been working lately. What does the man imply? Number eleven. Hey, aren't you going to the president's presentation this morning? All classes have been canceled so that everyone can come. Oh, really? So much for my excuse. I guess I'll have to join you then. What will the woman probably do? Number twelve. What a relationship Steve and his father have. Don't they? I only hope my daughter and I can get along like that when she's Steve's age. What can be inferred about the woman? Number thirteen. I just love this new CD. Have you heard it? I really don't listen to popular music. I prefer classical. What does the man mean? Number fourteen. Sorry, Sam. I just hate these kinds of movies. They always give me bad dreams. I agree. Let's go see if we can get a refund at the front window. What will the speakers probably do next? Number fifteen. I thought the library stayed open until midnight during the week. Well, their hours are shorter during the summer. What does the woman mean? Number sixteen. I thought you'd finished your report, so I got us tickets for the symphony tonight. Well, it's not done, but it's not due until next week. What can be inferred about the woman? Number seventeen. Are you going to Linda's party tonight? Are you kidding? I wouldn't miss it for anything. What does the man mean? Number eighteen. I'm going to straighten up my desk now. It's about time. What does the woman imply? Number nineteen. I just love walking through this park. The trees are gorgeous. The trees? What about these wildflowers? What does the man mean? Number twenty. My parents need a place to stay when they come to town next week. Do you have any suggestions? I like to recommend the Clover Inn to visitors, but unlike the other places in town, they're usually filled months in advance. What does the woman imply? Go on to the next page. Number twenty-one. I'm going to the cafeteria to grab a bite to eat. Want to come along? You go ahead. I'm not really all that hungry. What does the woman suggest the man do? Number twenty-two. Thank heavens it's Friday. Are you doing anything special this weekend? Good question. To tell you the truth, my brother might be coming over, and so everything's up in the air right now. What does the man mean? Number twenty-three. By the way, thanks so much for offering to mail my bills this morning. I just didn't have time to get over to the post office. Oh my gosh, I'm really sorry. I'll go drop them in a box right now. What will the man probably do next? Number twenty-four. I've got to leave for the airport right away. Bill's plane is due in an hour. Judging by the weather outside, I doubt that the plane will land on schedule. What does the man imply? Number twenty-five. How did you do on the math quiz? Well, I'm lucky that it only counts for a small portion of our final grade for the course. What can be inferred about the woman? Number twenty-six. Oh, hi. I hate to tell you, but we're done with lunch and dessert's on its way. We decided you weren't going to show up. I can understand that. I've never seen such traffic. I'm glad you didn't wait. What does the man mean? Number twenty-seven. I admire your dedication. I could never have finished that long of a laboratory experiment by myself. I feel that I'm cut out for that kind of work. What does the woman mean? Number twenty-eight. Uh-oh, I think we left the road map at home. Do you know how to get to the beach? No idea, but since we haven't gone very far, we might as well just turn around. What will the speakers probably do? Number twenty-nine. I've tentatively scheduled a meeting for Thursday to go over your inventory report, assuming you can meet that deadline. Well, to be honest, even Friday might be pushing it a little. What does the man imply? Number thirty. I need to bring in a little money. I wonder if there are any openings at the bookstore. It's worth going and asking. What does the man suggest the woman do? This is the end of part A. Go on to the next page. Now read along as the directions for part B are being read. The test continues on side two. Part B. Directions. In this part of the test, you will hear longer conversations. After each conversation, you will hear several questions. The conversations and questions will not be repeated. After you hear a question, read the four possible answers in your test book and choose the best answer. Then, on your answer sheet, find the number of the question and fill in the space that corresponds to the letter of the answer you have chosen. Remember, you are not allowed to take notes or write in your test book. Go on to the next page. Now we will begin part B with the first conversation. Questions thirty-one through thirty-five. Listen to a conversation between a student and her professor. Dr. Manning, do you have a few minutes? Yes. I'd like to ask you about this fossil I found. Sure, Jill. What have you got there? Well, it's some kind of shellfish. I thought it might be a brachiopod, but I'm not sure. I found it while I was out hiking last weekend. I think you might be right. It certainly appears to be a brachiopod, but it's easy to confuse them with the bivalve mollusks. Superficially, they resemble one another. Both have two shells, for example. How can you tell them apart, then? Well, there are some minor differences in the shell. A lot of the brachiopods have ribbed shells like this one. There are other distinctions, of course. Internally, they're quite different. Mollusks and brachiopods belong to different animal groups and may have been in competition with one another millions of years ago. How old do you think this one is? It's hard to tell. The earliest brachiopods were from the Paleozoic era, 300 to 500 million years ago. They were quite successful, then, in terms of numbers of species. It's not out of the question that your fossil could be that old. Wow! That's amazing. It kind of makes paleontology seem more interesting when you can hold it in your hand. You know, that gives me an idea. Would you mind bringing this to our next class? The others might find it interesting, too. Well, I could, but if you don't already have one in your collection, I thought you might as well keep it. That's very kind of you. Number 31. What are the speakers mainly discussing? Number 32. Why does the professor mention bivalve mollusks? Number 33. Why does the professor think the fossil might be a brachiopod? Number 34. What does the professor say about the age of the fossil? Number 35. What does the woman want to do with the fossil? Questions 36 through 39. Listen to a conversation between two students. I'm so relieved. I just finished the story I was working on for our creative writing course. I haven't quite finished mine yet. I had trouble getting past the beginning. How come? Well, I was really happy to be writing a detective story, but after the first few pages, I sort of froze up mentally. I just couldn't write anymore. The same thing happened to me. I thought it meant I lacked imagination. Well, Professor Wilson says it's pretty common for writers to get stuck like that. You went to talk to her about it? Actually, I went to ask for more time to finish the assignment, but instead she gave me some advice about how to keep from getting stalled in my writing like that. She said that the first thing I should do is just write anything that comes into my head, even if it doesn't make sense, sort of a verbal warm-up exercise. That's interesting. When I got stuck, I'd shift to something else, you know, do some work for one of my other courses. Hmm. Well, her method seems to have worked for me. I've written most of the story, and I should be able to hand it in on time, but first I need to go to the jewelry store. You're going shopping? Can't it wait until you've finished your story? I'm going there for my story. My detective saw the jewelry store robbery, so I want to take a look at how the jewelry cases are arranged, where the security cameras are located, that sort of thing. Number 36. What is the conversation mainly about? Number 37. What was the woman's problem? Number 38. What did the professor tell the woman to do? Number 39. Why is the woman going out? This is the end of Part B. Go on to the next page. Now read along as the directions for Part C are being read. Part C. Directions. In this part of the test, you will hear several short talks. After each talk, you will hear some questions. The talks and the questions will not be repeated. After you hear a question, read the four possible answers in your test book and choose the best answer. Then, on your answer sheet, find the number of the question and fill in the space that corresponds to the letter of the answer you have chosen. Here is an example. On the recording, you hear, listen to an instructor talk to his class about a television program. I'd like to tell you about an interesting TV program that will be shown this coming Thursday. It will be on from 9 to 10 p.m. on Channel 4. It's part of a series called Mysteries of Human Biology. The subject of the program is the human brain, how it functions and how it can malfunction. Topics that will be covered are dreams, memory, and depression. These topics are illustrated with outstanding computer animation that makes the explanations easy to follow. Make an effort to see this show. Since we've been studying the nervous system in class, I know you'll find it very helpful. Now listen to a sample question. What is the main purpose of the program? In your test book, you read, A, to demonstrate the latest use of computer graphics, D, to discuss the possibility of an economic depression, C, to explain the workings of the brain, D, to dramatize a famous mystery story. The best answer to the question, what is the main purpose of the program, is C, to explain the workings of the brain. Therefore, the correct choice is C. Now listen to another sample question. Why does the speaker recommend watching the program? In your test book, you read, A, it is required of all science majors, B, it will never be shown again, C, it can help viewers improve their memory skills, D, it will help with coursework. The best answer to the question, why does the speaker recommend watching the program, is D, it will help with coursework. Therefore, the correct choice is D. Remember, you are not allowed to take notes or write in your test book. Go on to the next page. Now we will begin part C with the first talk. Questions 40 through 42. Listen to part of a talk in a biology class. Today we are going to talk about a special way some plants respond to being invaded by pests. These plants react by emitting a chemical signal which acts like a call for help. Let's take corn plants for example. Sometimes caterpillars chew on the corn leaves. When the caterpillar's saliva mixes with the chewed portion of a leaf, the plant releases a chemical screen that attracts wasps. The wasps respond to the signal by flying to the chewed on leaf and laying their eggs in the caterpillars. The caterpillars die in the next few days as the wasp offspring nourish themselves by feeding off them. Thus, the corn plant prevents all its leaves from being eaten by the caterpillars. This chemical screen is specific. It is only released after the plant has detected the caterpillar's saliva. A plant that is cut by any other means does not give off the same signal, nor does an undamaged plant. This also explains how a wasp can find a caterpillar in a huge field of corn. Soybeans, cotton, and probably many other plants use a similar type of defense against pests. By enhancing this natural response in plants, researchers might reduce or someday even eliminate the need for chemical pesticides, which can cause ecological damage. For example, scientists might breed plants for this screening trait, or they might transplant specific genes to increase the release of chemical signals. Number 40. What is the main purpose of the talk? Number 41. What causes the corn plant to emit the chemical signal? Number 42. How can a wasp find a caterpillar on a corn plant? Questions 43 through 47. Listen to part of a talk in a religious studies class. Today we're going to continue our discussion of Buddhism. In our last class we talked about how it's practiced. Today I'd like to talk a little about early Buddhism, which we really don't know much about. Now what is known is that the teachings of Buddhism were memorized and passed on orally for centuries by its followers. Recently there was an important discovery of Buddhist manuscripts that are believed to be the oldest ever found. They may be 2100 years old, and there may be as many as 20 of them. It's expected that we'll be able to learn from them about the spread of Buddhism from present-day India into China and throughout Asia. But the scrolls themselves have presented challenges too. They were very fragile, found rolled up in clay pots. Before they could even be looked at, they needed to be dampened, overnight in fact, and then carefully flattened with tweezers. And it's not as if anybody could just sit down and read them. The scrolls were written in a language that is really rare today. Only a few people are proficient at it. Considering these challenges, it's easy to understand why it's taken scholars so long to examine the scrolls. Number 43. What is the main topic of the talk? Number 44. According to the speaker, what is one aspect of the manuscripts that is very significant? Number 45. What was an early source of information about Buddhism? Number 46. What do scholars expect to learn about from the manuscripts? Number 47. What has made it difficult to study the manuscripts? Questions 48 through 50. Listen to part of a lecture in the United States History class. About 200 years ago, the United States economy was growing quickly, mainly because of a booming trade in grain and cotton. This trade in grain and cotton went on in areas near or at the coast, or near navigable rivers. It took place there because it was so expensive to transport goods over the roads that existed. They were muddy, narrow, and hard to travel on. At that time, don't forget, there was only one continuous road that existed in the United States, and it was made up of north to south local country roads linked together to make one long road. Within a short time, the first east to west roads were built. They were called turnpikes. Private companies built these roads and collected fees from all vehicles that traveled on them. Eventually, a network of dirt, gravel, or plank roadways connected some major cities and towns. But even these turnpike roads were still very slow, and traveling on them was too costly for farmers. They would have spent more money to move their crops than they got by selling them. So we see that even with some major improvements in roadways, farmers still had to rely on rivers to move their crops to market. Number 48. What is the talk mainly about? Number 49. According to the professor, what caused the growth of the United States economy about 200 years ago? Number 50. According to the professor, what did private companies do after they built new roads?