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Question Answer Script
1. Where did A M: Oh no! I haven’t got my camera!
the man leave W: But you used it just now to take a photograph of the fountain
his camera? M: Oh, I remember, I put it down on the steps while I put my coat on.
W: Well, let’s drive back quickly – it might still be there.
2. What is the B The first thing I remember is when I was about five my father took
woman’s first me to the seaside. My brother stayed at home with my mother
memory? because he was too young. We couldn’t go in the sea because it was
too rough, but we spent hours playing on the sand.
3. Which train B W: What time’s the next train to Manchester please?
will the M: You’ve just missed the 8.15. The next one’s not until 10.15. There
woman isn’t one at 9.15.
catch? W: But that’s a two hour wait and I’ll be late for my appointment at
10.30. But I suppose I haven’t any choice – I’ll go for a coffee while
I’m waiting.
4. What should C Now, about the school picnic – it’ll be hot so leave your sweaters
the students behind but make sure you’ve got something to keep the sun off your
take with them head, and a drink in case you get thirsty… oh, and something to
tomorrow? writing on – that’s for a game we’re going to play. And don’t be late!
5. What will B W: what shall we do at the weekend, Tony? The Browns are coming
they do at the up with their children. I was wondering about a visit to the zoo, or a
weekend? river trip… or just going down to the sea again…
M: Let’s do something different. The weather should be good, so we
could take a picnic to the castle instead. The children will enjoy it and
it’ll be a nice change from the beach.
W: Right them, we’ll do that.
6. What does C Let me see, eggs – I’ve got lots of those; butter – I don’t need that.
the woman I’ll get some milk, bread, and I’ve nearly finished the toothpaste… oh,
need to buy? there’s a new one in the cupboard. But I do need some apples. Now,
where’s my purse?
7. How will C W: Get up, Martin. It’s snowed during the night. The school bus
the boy get to won’t be able to go, so you’ll have to walk.
school? B: Oh, I’ll go by bike.
W: Don’t be silly. The snow’s far too deep for that.
B: then I’ll ski. That’ll be quicker than walking and I can save the bus
fare! But I’ll have some breakfast first.
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8. What is the D W1: Look – this is the band on the television now, Tanya’s boyfriend
job of Tanya’s is the singer.
boyfriend W2: She told me he played the guitar.
now? W1: He does sometimes, but not tonight, and you know he used to
be the keyboard player in that other band. He’s so brilliant. Don’t
you think she’s lucky?
W2: Oh, I don’t know. I think I prefer the drummer myself, actually.
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9. A Interview: Simon, tell us about yourself.
Simon: Well, like lots of other kids my age, I’ve grown up taking
10. D my boat onto the rivers in this area. One of my favourite rivers is
the River Stanton, which is fast with excellent white water – so
11. A
things can get pretty dangerous but it’s exciting and I’m
experienced.
12. A
Interview: Now, it was while you were on the River Stanton that
you noticed something was wrong.
Simon: Yeah, I always wondered why the water made my eyes
burn if it got on my face…and why it was a strange, orange
colour, especially when the water was running low.
Interview: So you decided to find out more.
Simon: Yeah, I asked other people using the river and I visited a
few websites and found out that the river was orange because of
pollution from the old mines in the area. There was a lot of
mining for coal done in this part of the country. I knew that from
my history class at school, but what I didn’t know was that
pollution was coming from those old mine works and escaping
into the rivers.
Interview: then you did a qualification, didn’t you?
Simon: Yes, I found out about an organization called: “The
Friends of the River Stanton”. They told me they did a special
course where I could learn how to test the river water to see if it
was healthy or not. So that’s what I did and I got really interested
in the subject.
Interview: In fact, you got so interested that you actually started
to look for an answer to the pollution problem!
Simon: I learned as much as I could about the chemistry behind
the pollution. I can’t really explain all the detail, but basically if
you add something called limestone to the river, it can improve
the chemistry. That means that the plants and fish which had died
because of all the mining companies that used to be in the
area…could live in the river again. So that made me really happy.
13. D Officer: Yes, what can I do for you?
Student: My friend is in homestay…and she really enjoys
14. B it…so I’d like to join a family as well.
Officer: Okay, so let me get some details. What’s your
15. A
name?
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16. C Student: My name is Keiko Yuichini.
Officer: And you’re female. And your nationality?
Student: I’m Japanese.
Officer: And you’re how old?
Student: I’m twenty-eight years old.
Officer: Now you live at one of the colleges…which one?
Student: Willow College, umm Room 21C.
Officer: And how long are you planning on staying with
homestay?
Student: About four months
Officer: And what course are you enrolled in?
Student: Well, I’ve enrolled for twenty weeks in the Advanced
English Studies.
Officer: Okay. Do you have any preference for a family with
children or without children?
Student: I prefer I mean I like young children, but I’d like to be
with older people.
Officer: All right. Now what about you? Are you a vegetarian or
do you have any special food requirements?
Student: No, I am not a vegetarian but I don’t eat a lot of meat. I
really like seafood.
Officer: Are you familiar with the public transport system?
Student: No.
Officer: What about the trains?
Student: I like catching the train. They are much faster.
Officer: Now let me go check on the computer and see who I’ve
got. I’ll check my records and I’ll give you details this afternoon.
Student: Thank you for helping me.
Officer: It’s pleasure. Bye.
17. B Interviewer: Sophie, you’re a native English speaker and you’re
been working as a translator for some time now.
18. D Sophie: I’m currently doing a lot of legal texts – the details
of court cases can be interesting and the language quite
19. D
challenging.
Interviewer: And what kind of language gives you the most
20. A
problems? The kind of expressions used in technology,
perhaps, or science?
Sophie: Actually, I don’t have much trouble with those.
What’s still quite tricky, though, is when someone mentions
a person or an event, perhaps in their country’s history.
Interviewer: So, do you normally deal with big private firms
or with state institutions like local government.
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Sophie: Well, I was once contacted by an insurance company
and I did a job for them, but nearly always it’s a case of an
agency asking if I’d be willing to do a particular text.
Interviewer: That mush speed things up a lot.
Sophie: Yes, but it can still be a very long working day. I don’t
mind which part of the day I’m working though – that’s one
of the advantages of working from home.
Interviewer: How do you see the long – term future of
translating? Will it continue to be a good area to work in?
Sophie: Oh, I think so. Professional standards are higher than
they’ve ever been, and the increasingly wide range of
languages used internationally means that the demand for
high-quality translation will keep growing for many years to
come.
21 C I wanna talk about learning languages. I’ve lived in many different
countries, both in Western Europe, Middle East, and now here in
22 C Hong Kong. And during all of that time, I’ve learned five or six
different languages, to one degree or another. I love learning
23 C
languages, not only are they important when you move to a
country, I just find them fascinating. Before I came to Hong Kong,
24 A
I lived in Barcelona Spain for ten years. And when I first arrived,
25 C the most important thing was being able to communicate with
people locally. I don’t attend classes. I don’t think I’m particularly
good in classes. I prefer to learn by just talking to people, finding
out what I need to say by looking at dictionaries and listening
carefully. Other things that helped me when I first moved to
Spain, were watching the typical kinds of programs we see
everyday on channels around the world. For example the weather.
This is great, because they always say the same things. So you can
really quickly hear the same words repeated again and again. And
the pictures helped of course. Other types of program that
helped me learned Spanish quickly were things like game shows,
where the same thing happens. They have a catchphrase or a
slogan that they repeat endlessly when contestants win or when
they are called to compete. As well as that, I used to pick up the
Spanish newspapers. First of all, I just accepted that there was no
way I was going to understand anything but one or two words.
But gradually, I found that I learned lots of new things about this.
I was interested because I wanted to know what was happening in
the country I lived in. But, I also knew that I could learn a lot of
language this way. So I'd take a dictionary with me sometimes, or
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I'd notice a word and I'd ask other people what …it meant.
Anyway, by far the best practice I ever had was just talking to
people in the street, or in shops where I'd rehearse in my head
what I wanted to say beforehand, before I went in. Usually, I'd
make a right mess of it first of all, but, after you get over the
embarrassment, it’s quite funny really. And people are very
sympathetic and supporting in most cases. It took me a long time
to develop a good level of Spanish. I lived there for ten years, and
I think I’m very fluent now. But I think for the first two years I was
there, it was quite a struggle to hold a decent conversation. There
were always lots of words or expressions that I didn’t pick up on.
In particular with the colloquial expressions, idioms, that kind of
thing, that people use in everyday talk, but you don’t necessarily
see written down. I didn’t find those very easy to learn at all. But it
was a lot of fun. And people as I said are really supporting when
they know that you are genuinely interested in learning their
language.
26 C Hello Ladies and Gentleman. It gives me great pleasure to
introduce our keynote speaker for today's plenary address, Dr.
27 A Howard Miller. Dr. Miller, Professor of Sociology at Washington
University, has written numerous articles and books on the issues
28 B
facing older Americans in our graying society for the past 15
years. Dr. Miller.
29 A
Dr. Miller:
30 A Thank you for that introduction. Today, I'd like to preface my
remarks from a story from my own life which I feel highlights our
common concerns that bring us here together. Several years ago
when my grandparents were well into their eighties, they were
faced with the reality of no longer being able to adequately care
for themselves. My grandfather spoke of his greatest fear, that of
leaving the only home they had known for the past 60 years.
Fighting back the tears, he spoke proudly of the fact that he had
built their home from the ground up, and that he had pounded
every nail and laid every brick in the process. The prospect of
having to sell their home and give up their independence, and
move into a retirement home was an
extremely traumatic experience for them. It was, in my
grandfather's own words, like having a limb severed off. He was
quite emphatic exclaiming that he felt he wasn't important
anymore.
For them and some older Americans, their so-called "golden
years" are at times not so pleasant, for this period can mean the
decline of not only one's health but the loss of identity and self-
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worth. In many societies, this self-identity is closely related with
our social status, occupation, material possessions, or
independence. Furthermore, we often live in societies that value
that which is "new" or in vogue, and our own usage of lexicon in
the English language often does not bode well older for
Americans. I mean how would your family react if you came home
tonight elated exclaiming, "Hey, come to the living room and see
the OLD black and white TV I brought!" Unfortunately, the word
"old" conjures up images of the need to replace or discard.
Now, many of the lectures given at this conference have
focused on the issues of pension reform, medical care, and the
development of public facilities for senior citizens. And while
these are vital issues that must be addressed, I'd like to focus my
comments on an underlying issue that will affect the overall
success of the other programs mentioned. This has to do with
realigning our perspectives on what it means to be a part of this
group, and finding meaningful roles the elderly can play and
should play in our societies.
First of all, I'd like to talk about . . .
31 A Hello. I’m going to talk about British festivals. I’m sure you’ve
heard about the Notting Hill Carnival in London and the
32 D Edinburgh Festival, but today we’re going to look at a lot more
that you might not know about. Actually, a lot of these are not
33 B
exactly festivals, but strange races or competitions. Some of them
are ancient and some are modern. So, let’s start in January in the
34 B
north of Scotland with the Burning of the Clavie. This is a whisky
35 A barrel which is set alight then carried through the streets as a
bonfire. It’s an ancient tradition which always takes place on 11th
of January, the first day of the year, according to an older form of
the calendar. The bonfire brings good luck for the coming year
and people used to keep bits of burnt wood as protection against
evil spirits. At the end of January, even further north, in the
Shetland Islands, there’s another fire festival, the Up HellyAa. This
seems like an ancient festival, but has actually only been going for
about 130 years – well, it is fairly old, I suppose. People carry fire-
lit torches and a Viking boat through the streets, then set fire to
the boat. There’s lots of dancing; it’s good fun. Now to the north
of England. On Shrove Tuesday in February, otherwise known as
Pancake Day, a special Pancake Bell is rung in Scarborough.
Everyone goes down to the road next to the beach where they
skip – yep, they jump over long ropes, up to fifteen people to one
rope.
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And they have pancake races. This is quite common in the UK
– running with a frying pan and tossing a pancake at the same
time. Another kind of race takes place in spring – cheese [Link]
Gloucestershire, in the south-west of England, round cheeses in
round boxes are sent rolling down a hill and people run after
them and try and catch them. The hill is very steep, so people
often fall over – if you take part in this you need to be very fit and
wear your oldest jeans. Nowadays this strange custom attracts
visitors from all over the world, but the people from the local
village are usually the ones who catch the cheese. From people-
racing, to animals, very tiny animals. World Championship Snail
Racing takes place in a village in Norfolk. The snails have to race
from an inner circle to an outer circle and the winner gets a lot of
[Link]’s a party and barbecue for the snail owners and
observers. This custom began in the 1960s after a local man saw
something similar in France. In the UK we don’t eat snails, by the
way.
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