[00:01.000]Section A
[00:03.000]1. M: Have you had the brakes and tires checked? And do you have enough money?
[00:09.000]W: I've taken care of everything and I'm sure it's going to be a wonderful trip.
[00:16.000]Q: What is the woman going to do?
[00:23.000]2. M: The new sales manager says he have never met you before.
[00:29.000]W: We've been introduced about three times. He seems a little forgetful.
[00:36.000]Q: What do we learn about the new sales manager?
[00:44.000]3. W: I don't understand why this book for self study doesn't have answers to the questions.
[00:52.000]M: But it does. You can find them alt the back of the book.
[00:57.000]Q: What does the man say about the self-study book?
[01:06.000]4. W: We mean to let everyone know about the charity concert, but we don't have enough money for advertising.
[01:16.000]M: How about using the school radio station? They broadcast free public-service announcement.
[01:23.000]Q: What does the man suggest they do?
[01:32.000]5. M: By the way, Jane, did you talk to the consultant about our health program?
[01:39.000]W: I contacted his office, but his secretary said he would be out for lunch until two.
[01:45.000]Q: What does the woman mean?
[01:52.000]6. M: I don't know whether to ask Joe or Cora to draw the posters.
[01:59.500]W: What difference does it make? They're both excellent artists.
[02:05.010]Q: What does the woman imply about Joe and Core?
[02:14.500]7. M: Mary is in charge of the art and music section; and Charles, the ports page. What about you?
[02:22.500]W: I'm responsible for the editorials.
[02:25.750]Q: Where does the woman work?
[02:33.000]8. M: I ran into our friend Mark yesterday on the street, and he said he hadn't heard from you for two months.
[02:42.000]W: Yes, I know, but I've been too busy to phone him.
[02:48.000]Q: What do we learn from the conversation?
[02:55.000]9. M: I'm really exhausted. but I don't want to miss the film that comes on at 11.
[03:02.000]W: If I were you, I'd skip it. We both have to get up early tomorrow. and anyway, I've heard it isn't that exciting.
[03:12.000]Q: What does the woman mean?
[03:20.000]10. M: I thought the librarian said we could check out as many books as we need without our library cards.
[03:27.000]W: That's right, but not those reference books.
[03:32.000]Q: What does the woman mean?
[03:40.000]Section B
[03:42.000]Passage One
[03:44.500]The piano and violin are girls' instruments.
[03:49.500]Drums and trumpets are for boys.
[03:52.000]According to psychologists Susan Onco and Michael Balton, children have very clear ideas about which musical instruments they should play.
[04:02.500]They find that despite the best efforts of teachers these ideas have changed very little over the past decade.
[04:11.500]They interviewed 153 children aged between 9 and 11 from schools in northwest England.
[04:20.000]They asked them to identify 4 musical instruments and then to say which they would like to play most and which they would least.
[04:30.000]They also asked the children for their views on whether boys or girls should not play any of the 4 instruments.
[04:38.300]The piano and the violin were both ranked favorably by girls more than by boys, while boys prefer the drums and trumpets.
[04:51.000]There was broad agreement between boys and girls on which instruments each sex should play and the reasons vary.
[05:00.000]And while almost half of all boys said they avoid certain instruments because they were too difficult to play, only 15% of girls gave that as a reason.
[05:12.000]Earlier studies indicated that very young school children aged between 5 and 7 showed no bias in choosing musical instruments,
[05:22.000]but their tastes become more clear between the ages of 8 and 10.
[05:28.000]One survey of 78 teachers suggested that after that age both boys and girls begin to  restrict themselves to the so-called male or female instruments.
[05:43.000]11. Why did Susan and Michael interview children aged between 9 and 11?
[05:54.000]12. Why do many of the boys avoid certain instruments?
[06:05.000]13. Which group of children have a bias when choosing musical instruments?
[06:16.000]Passage Two
[06:19.000]In the 1970s, the famous Brazilian football player Pele retired from the national team of Brazil and became a professional player for a team in New York.
[06:31.000]Football, or soccer, wasn't very popular in the United States at that time.
[06:37.500]Few North Americans knew anything about this fast-moving sport.
[06:43.000]There was no money to pay professional players and there was little interest in football in high schools and colleges.
[06:51.000]When Pele and other international stars began playing in various US cities, people saw how interesting the game was and began to go to the matches.
[07:03.000]It is now common for important games to have fifty to sixty thousand fans.
[07:10.000]Support from the fans is important to the football.
[07:14.000]The fans cheer enthusiastically for their favorite players and teams, who respond by playing better than before.
[07:23.000]In most World Cups, the home team, or the team from the host country usually plays better than most people expect.
[07:33.000]In 1966, 1974 and 1978, the home teams of England, West Germany and Argentina all won the World Cup.
[07:45.000]The World Cup is called that because teams from every continent have played in it.
[07:51.000]However, since the Cup began, all of the winning teams have been from Europe or South America.
[07:59.000]Teams from Asia or Africa always do well but they haven't yet won.
[08:04.000]Mexico played surprisingly well in the 1970 Cup, which it hosted, but it wasn't among the 4 final teams.
[08:14.000]14. Why wasn't football a popular sport in the U.S. in the 1970s?
[08:27.000]15. When does a football team have the best chance to win the World Cup?
[08:38.000]16. How did Mexico do in the 1970 World Cup?
[08:49.000]Passage Three
[08:52.000]The world's smartest adolescence in mathematics and science are in Singapore, according to a global survey of educational achievement.
[09:01.000]In the 3rd International Mathematics and Science Study, 13-year-olds from Singapore achieved the best scores in standardized tests of maths and science that were administered to 287, 896 students in 41 countries in 1994 and 1995.
[09:26.000]The survey suggests that science and maths education is especially strong in the Far East.
[09:35.000]While well behind those top scores, students from Australia earned higher marks in maths than their counterparts in England, who in turn did better than American students.
[09:48.000]The study collected information on the students' teachers and homes.
[09:53.000]Not surprisingly, the highest-scoring students had well-educated parents or came from homes containing study-aids such as computers, dictionaries or even such elemental facilities as desks.
[10:10.000]The study shows that boys generally did better than girls in science, but there was little difference between them in maths.
[10:19.000]Boys scored better than girls in physics and chemistry.
[10:23.000]There were no sex differences in the life and environmental sciences.
[10:29.000]In addition to being tested, students in the project were asked how proficient they thought they were in maths and science.
[10:38.000]Students in some countries, such as Columbia and Kuwait, had an overly optimistic view of their skills.
[10:47.000]Meanwhile, some of the best students from Japan and Korea for example were needlessly pessimistic even though they did far better in maths than almost all of other students.
[11:02.000]17. Of the 4 groups of students, who scored the lowest in maths according to the survey?
[11:15.000]18. What kind of students are most likely to become top scorers?
[11:27.000]19. In what way do Columbian students differ from Japanese students?
[11:38.000]20. In which subjects did boys score higher than girls?