Part C           

Additional Listening         

A Passage            What College Professors Do

Listen to the passage and fill in the blanks with the missing information.

College professors seem to teach few classes but they actually lead busy lives. Every week the average professor spends between six to fifteen hours in the classroom but works from sixty to eighty hours.  Professors spend part of that time reading because they must remain current in their fields. After reading, they will work on their class lecture notes to revise and update them. Besides, they must grade papers, prepare their lessons, write articles and books, or work on various projects.  So, college professors have very full schedules.

Script

What College Professors Do

College professors are often believed to lead easy lives of quiet thinking while teaching one or two classes every week. But college professors do much more than go to class. The average professor spends between six and fifteen hours in the classroom weekly. And that same college professor works from sixty to eighty hours a week.

Because they must remain current in their fields, professors spend part of that time reading, reading, reading. That leads to additional hours during which they revise and update their class lecture notes. It takes far longer to prepare notes than to deliver them in class. Professors may spend time conducting experiments, working on college projects, or advising students. They may be writing books, articles, or papers for delivery at conventions.

When not in the classroom or in the office, professors are still working, behind closed doors in committee sessions or at home grading papers and preparing for tomorrow’s classes. To accept this sort of schedule willingly, they must feel strongly about the importance of the college experience.

Movie Time

Watch a video clip. After watching it, choose the right answer to each of the following questions.

Word Bank

randomness             n.  随机性，偶然

determinism             n.  宿命论；决定论

jump in                 v.  投入

preceding               a.  在前的

elaborate               v.  详细描述

Fahrenheit              n.  华氏(温度)

helium                 n.  氦

nitrogen                n.  氮

celestial                a. 天体的

riveting                a.  非常精彩的，引人入胜的

coincidence             n.  巧合

mutation               n.  变异，变化，（生物物种的）突变

Script

                                                 A Professor’s Lecture

Professor: We're going to pose a topic to get you thinking along the right lines for your term paper. It's the subject of randomness versus determinism in the universe. Who's jumping in? Jessica?

Jessica:  Determinism says that occurrences in nature are causally decided by preceding events or natural laws, that everything leading up to this point has happened for a reason.

Professor: That's right. That's what determinism says. Spencer? Tell me something about the sun.

Spencer: It's hot.

 (Students laughing)

Professor: Elaborate.

Spencer:  Temperature's about 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit on the surface, 27 million degrees at the core.

Professor: Good. Stacey? A word or two about the composition.

Stacey:   Mostly hydrogen. Also helium with some carbon and nitrogen thrown in there.

Professor: Excellent. Now, I want you to think about the perfect set of circumstances that put this celestial ball of fire at just the correct distance from our little blue planet for life to evolve, making it possible for you to be sitting here in this riveting lecture. But that's a nice thought, right? Everything has a purpose, an order to it, is determined. But then there's the other side of the argument, the theory of randomness, which says it's all simply coincidence. The very fact we exist is nothing but the result of a complex yet inevitable string of chemical accidents and biological mutations. There is no grand meaning. There's no purpose.

Stacey:  What about you, Professor Koestler?

Professor: What?

Stacey:  Well, what do you believe?

Professor: I think shit just happens. But that's me. Class dismissed.

Exercise

1. What was the subject of the lecture?

a.         The solar system.

b.         Two theories about the universe.

c.         The temperature of the Moon.

d.         The natural laws.

2. What was randomness?

a.         Everything happened for a reason.

b.         Every event that happened was simply coincidence.

c.         Anything could happen in the universe.

d.         The natural laws decided what could happen.

3. What was determinism?

a.         Everything happened for a reason.

b.         The natural laws decided what could happen.

c.         The sun determined the movement of planets.

d.         The orbit of a planet was pre-determined.

4. Which theory did the professor believe in?

a.         He was on the side of randomness.

b.         He was on the side of determinism.

c.         He believed in both randomness and determinism.

d.         He believed in neither randomness nor determinism.

Part  D                           

Test Your Listening                    A Passage

Listen to the passage and choose the right answers to the questions you hear.

1.       What does the passage mainly tell us? How to live with your roommates. 

a.        How to win the respect of your roommates.

b.        How to be good friends of your roommates.

c.        How to be nice to your roommates.

2.       What’s the only way you will be able to live with your roommates according to the passage?

a.         To have talks with your roommates often.

b.         To be considerate towards your roommates.

c.         To make compromises when problems arise.

d.         To change your habits and ask your roommates to change theirs.

3.  Which of the following is true?                   

a.  If you try hard, you will be able to solve the problems you have with your roommates.     

b.  It is hard for roommates to get along well because they disturb one another.

c.  The best way to deal with your roommates is to stick to what you want to do.                 

d.  If you have friends over and therefore may disturb your roommates, make apologies.           

Script

Despite what your parents and others try to make you believe, life at college may not be the best experience you will ever live through. Why?

       The simple one word answer is: Roommates. One has often heard about the guy that never sleeps or the girl who always has her friends over or the one who studies all the time and becomes very disturbed by the slightest movement you make. Okay, they are not all that bad. So how do you get them to stop?

       You can't do it. It's impossible. The only way you will be able to live with your roommates is by compromising. If you like to have friends over, but your roommates want to study, take your friends out. If you don't like to listen to music while you are studying but one of your roommates does, ask him to use headphones. Talk about your habits and ask your roommates about theirs. Respect your roommates and your roommates will respect you. 

       You may not be friends with your roommates by the end of the year but you may be friends with them the year after, when you are no longer rooming together. This is alright though. Sometimes it's too difficult to try to live together and be good friends at the same time. Roommates are not always meant to be your best friends. 

       Remember: Not only do you have roommates, you are a roommate. Be good to your roommates.