Part C          Additional Listening

A Passage                    Switzerland

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

  1. When people think of Switzerland they often think of its beautiful landscape.

  2. The Swiss are also famous at producing precision goods, like watches and cameras.

  3. Switzerland is a country of highly intelligent and hardworking people.

  4. The production of products like watches and cameras makes use of a lot of skill and craftsmanship.

  5. The Swiss are interested only in making goods that do not need huge amounts of raw materials because the country has no sea coast and has to pay heavily for imported raw materials.

Script

Switzerland

Switzerland is a land well-known for its beautiful landscape. When people think of Switzerland they often think of mountains and mountain scenery.

But Switzerland is more than a land of mountains. It is a country of highly intelligent and hardworking people.

The Swiss are able to produce goods that do not need huge amounts of raw materials. Most of the raw materials used in their industries are imported from other countries. As Switzerland has no sea coast, it has to pay heavily for imported raw materials which have to be sent over long distances.

For this reason, the Swiss are interested only in producing precision products like watches, cameras, and other type of goods which make use of their skill and craftsmanship. The well-known Swiss watch industry is a good example of this. Small amounts of raw materials are used but a great deal of skill and precision is needed to produce a little item with so many minute parts.

Movie Time

Watch a video clip. In the video clip, the narrator describes several different aspects of China. Fill in the blanks in the following paragraph summarizing the video clip.

Word Bank

landscape  n. 地貌，风景

ethnic  adj. 民族

searing  adj. 灼热的

exotic  adj. 奇异的

tropical  adj. 热带的

Script:

Narrator:

The last hidden world — China.

For centuries, travellers to China have told tales of magical landscapes and surprising creatures. Chinese civilization is the world's oldest and today, its largest, with well over a billion people. It's home to more than 50 distinct ethnic groups and a wide range of traditional lifestyles, often in close partnership with nature. We know that China faces immense social and environmental problems. But there is great beauty here, too.

China is home to the world's highest mountains, vast deserts ranging from searing hot to mind-numbing cold. Steaming forests harbouring rare creatures. Grassy plains beneath vast horizons. And rich tropical seas.

Now for the first time ever, we can explore the whole of this great country, meet some of the surprising and exotic creatures that live here and consider the relationship of the people and wildlife of China to the remarkable landscape in which they live.

This is Wild China.

Exercise

China’s beauty lies in its (1) magical/remarkable landscape, (2) surprising creature, the (3) oldest civilization of more than (4) 50 ethnic groups, a wide range of (5) traditional lifestyles in harmony with (6) nature. The population is over (7) a billion. In China, there are the world’s (8) highest mountains and vast deserts. In China also live (9) rare creatures in the forests. One can see (10) grassy plains and (11) rich tropical seas. It is a good opportunity for us to explore the whole of this great country, meet some of the exotic creatures and consider the relationship of the (12) people and wildlife of China.

Part D

Test Your Listening

A Compound Dictation

Listen to the passage three times and supply the missing information. 

       Paris and Washington differ in 1) age and population, but anyone who has seen the two cities can tell that they are very similar.

       Of course, Paris is much older than Washington. The 2) French city is over 2,000 years old. Washington, in 3) contrast, is very young. It is only over 200 years old. The population of Paris is also larger than that of Washington's. Paris has more than 4) 2,500,000 people. Washington has just over 588.000

       In spite of these differences, the 5) similarities are striking. First, both cities are the political 6) centers of their countries. The president of France lives in the heart of Paris, in the Elysee Palace. 7) Likewise, the president of the United States lives in the heart of Washington, in the White House.        

Second, the two cities look similar. Pierre Charles L'Enfant, 8) the French engineer who designed Washington, was greatly influenced by the layout of the capital of France. For this reason, many of the buildings and monuments in Washington are symmetrically located in view of one another, just as they are in Paris. 9) Both cities are also the sites of magnificent monuments, important historical landmarks, fine museums, and beautiful parks.

Finally, tourism is as important for Washington as it is for Paris. 10) Every year, millions of tourists from all parts of the world visit these cities to view their attractions.