TPO extra2 听力文本

Conversation 1

Narrator

Listen to a conversation between a student and an admissions officer at City College.

Student

Hi. Can I ask you a few questions about starting classes during your summer session?

Admissions officer

Sure. Ask away! It starts next week, you know.

Student

Yeah, and I want to get some required courses out of the way so I can... maybe can graduate one

term earlier and get out into the job market sooner.

Admissions officer

That

sounds

like

a

good

idea.

Let

me

pull

up

the

summer

school

database

on

my

computer

here...

Student

OK.

Admissions officer

OK, there it is. What's your student ID number?

Student

Oh, well, the thing is... I'm not actually admitted here. I'll be starting school upstate at Hooper

University in the fall. But I'm down here for the summer, staying with my grandparents, 'cause I

have a summer job near here.

Admissions officer

Oh, I see, well...

Student

So I'm outta luck?

Admissions officer

Well, you would be if you were starting anywhere but Hooper. But City College has a sort of

special relationship with Hooper... a full exchange agreement... so our students can take classes at

Hooper and vice versa. So if you can show me proof... um, your admissions letter from Hooper,

then I can get you into our system here and give you an ID number.

Student

Oh, cool. So... um... I wanna take a math course and a science course

—

preferably biology. And

I was also hoping to get my English composition course out of the way, too.

Admissions officer

Well

all

three

of

those

courses

are

offered

in

the

summer,

but

you've

gotta

understand

that

summer courses are condensed

—

you meet longer hours and all the assignments are doubled up

because... it's the same amount of information presented and tested as in a regular term, but it's

only six weeks long. Two courses are considered full time in summer term. Even if you weren't

working, I couldn't let you register for more than that.

Student

Yeah, I was half expecting that. What about the schedule? Are classes only offered during the

day?

Admissions officer

Well,

during

the

week,

we

have

some

classes

in

the

daytime

and

some

at

night,

and

on

the

weekends, we have some classes all day Saturday or all day Sunday for the six weeks.

Student

My job is pretty flexible, so one on a weekday and one on a weekend shouldn't be any problem.

OK, so after I bring you my admissions letter, how do I sign up for the classes?

Admissions officer

Well, as soon as your student ID number is assigned and your information is in our admissions

system, you can register by phone almost immediately.

Student

What about financial aid? Is it possible to get it for the summer?

Admissions officer

Sorry, but that's something you would've had to work out long before now. But the good news is

that the tuition for our courses is about half of what you're going to be paying at Hooper.

Student

Oh, well that helps! Thank you so much for answering all my questions. I'll be back tomorrow

with my letter.

Admissions officer

I won't be here then, but do you see that lady sitting at that desk over there? That's Ms. Brinker.

I'll leave her a note about what we discussed, and she'll get you started.

Student

Cool.

Lecture 1

Narrator

Listen to part of a lecture in a world history class.

Professor

In any introductory course, I think it's always a good idea to step back and ask ourselves

are we studying in this class, and why are we studying it?

So,

for

example,

when

you

looked at

the

title

of

this

course

in

the

catalog

—

to

World

History'

—

what

did

you

think

you

were

getting

into...

what

made

you

sign

up

for

it

—

besides filling the social-science requirement?

Anyone...?

Male student

Well...

just

the

—

the

history

—

of

everything...

you

know,

starting

at

the

beginning...

with...

I

guess, the Greeks and Romans... the Middle Ages, the Renaissance... you know, that kinda stuff...

like what we did in high school.

Professor

OK... Now, what you're describing is one approach to world history.

In fact, there are several approaches

—

basic

study

when

we

history.

And

what

you

studied

in

high

school

—

what

I

call

the

colleges ...

in

fact,

it's

the

model

I

learned

with,

when

I

was

growing

up

back

—

oh,

about

a

hundred years ago...

Uh... at Middletown High School, up in Maine... I guess it made sense to my teachers back then

—

since, well, the history of western Europe was the cultural heritage of everyone in my class...

and

this

remained

the

dominant

approach

in

most

U.S.

schools

till...

oh,

maybe...

30,

40

years

ago... But it doesn't take more than a quick look around campus

—

even just this classroom today

—

to see that the student body in the U.S. is much more diverse than my little class in Middletown

High...

and

this

Western-Heritage

Model

was

eventually

replaced

by

—

or

sometimes

combined

with

—

one or more of the newer approaches... and I wanna take a minute to describe these to you

today, so you can see where this course fits in.

OK... so... up until the mid-twentieth century, the basic purpose of most world-history courses

was to learn about a set of values... institutions... ideas... which were considered the

the people of Europe

—

things like ... democracy... legal systems... types of social organization...

artistic achievements...

Now, as I said, this model gives us a rather limited view of history. So, in the 1960s and '70s it

was combined with

—

or replaced by

—

what I call the

period in which people were demanding more relevance in the curriculum, and there was criticism

of the European focus that you were likely to find in all the academic disciplines. For the most

part, the Different-Cultures Model didn't challenge the basic assumptions of the Western-Heritage

Model.

What

it

did

was

insist

on

representing

other

civilizations

and

cultural

categories,

in

addition to those of western Europe...

In other words, the heritage of all people: not just what goes back to the Greeks and Romans,

but also the origins of African... Asian... Native American civilizations. Though more inclusive,

it's

still,

basically,

a

model

which

brings

us

to

a

third

approach,

what

I

call

the

Like the Different-Cultures Model, this model presents a wide cultural perspective. But, with

this model, we're no longer limited by notions of fixed cultural or geographical boundaries. So,

then, studying world history is not so much a question of how a particular nation or ethnic group

developed,

but

rather

it's

a

look

at

common

themes

—

conflicts...

trends

—

that

cut

across

modern-day borders of nations or ethnic groups. In my opinion, this is the best way of studying

history, to better understand current-day trends and conflicts.

For example, let's take the study of the Islamic world. Well, when I first learned about Islamic

civilization, it was from the perspective of Europeans. Now, with the Patterns-of-Change Model,

we're

looking

at

the

past

through

a

wider

lens.

So

we

would

be

more

interested,

say,

in

how

interactions with Islamic civilization

—

the religion... art... literature

—

affected cultures in Africa...

India... Spain... and so on.

Or... let's take another example. Instead of looking at each cultural group as having a separate,

linear

development

from

some

ancient

origin,

in

this

course

we'll

be

looking

for

the

common

themes

that

go

beyond

cultural

or

regional

distinctions.

So...

instead

of

studying...

a

particular

succession of British kings... or a dynasty of Chinese emperors... in this course, we'll be looking at

the broader concepts of monarchy, imperialism... and political transformation.

Lecture 2

Narrator

Listen to part of a lecture in an environmental science class.

Professor

OK, now let's talk about another environmental concern

—

soil erosion. It's a major problem,

all around the world. Sometimes erosion damages soil so severely that the land can no longer be

cultivated

and

it's

just

abandoned.

That

happened

in

a

big

way

right

here

in

the

United

States.

Some of you have probably read the novel The Grapes of Wrath. And maybe you remember that

the story took place in the 1930s, during the time of what was called the Dust Bowl.

Dust Bowl is a term we use to describe an ecological and human disaster that took place in the

southern

Great

Plains

region.

For

nearly

eight

years,

dust

and

sand

blew

across

the

area

and

covered everything. It was so bad it even made breathing and eating difficult... and farmers could

only look on helplessly as their crops were destroyed and the land... and their lives... ruined.

Now, there'd always been droughts and strong winds in that region. But that was OK because

the native grasses had deep roots in the ground that were able to hold the soil in place. So the wind

wasn't able to, you know, erode the soil too badly. This changed, though, between 1900 and 1930.

Agriculture was expanding rapidly then, and lots of farmers in the southern Great Plains wanted to

grow wheat and other crops they could sell for cash

—

uh, crops that would be profitable. So they

ripped up much of the grassland to plant these crops like wheat, which don't hold the soil down

nearly

as

well.

At

the

same

time,

livestock

—

uh,

cattle,

too

many

of

them

—

were

feeding

on

grasses

in

the

area

and

damaging

a

lot

of

the

grassland.

So

these

animals

caused

even

more

erosion of the soil.

It didn't help that many of the actual owners of the land were not living anywhere near the area

—

a lot of the landowners lived way back east, and rented out the land to local people who lived on

the land and worked on it, but, um, didn't have much reason to take really good care of it. I mean,

it

wasn't

their

land,

right?

The

tenant

farmers

weren't

really

interested

in

conserving

someone

else's soil

—

not for the long term, anyway.

Also, some thought the land couldn't really be damaged

—

you know, that the soil was so rich

and deep that... it didn't matter if the topsoil, the soil on the surface, blew away. They thought they

could just plow up more. But they were wrong. Good topsoil takes a long time to form

—

it can

literally take thousands of years to create good topsoil that will grow vegetation

—

and a very short

time to ruin it. So after only a few years of excessive plowing, the land pretty much couldn't be

farmed anymore. And people moved on to other places and let the old areas just sit there. And

when they didn't plant anything on that land, that made it vulnerable to even more erosion. So it

was kind of a vicious cycle, you could say.

Another

problem,

ironically,

was

that

advances

in

technology

were

actually

destroying

the

land, instead of improving it. A lot of farmers were using huge new tractors that dug deep into the

ground and tore up a lot ofthe soil.

And then, of course, there was the weather. You know, when people look back on the Dust

Bowl

era,

they

tend

to

blame

the

drought

—

the

lack

of

rain

between

1934

and

1937.

We

can't

ignore

the

drought

—

I

mean,

it

was

the

worst

on

record

at

the

time

and

did

help

bring

on

this

disaster.

But

—

without

the

soil

destruction

—

the

drought

alone

wouldn't

have

resulted

in

the

devastation we call the Dust Bowl. It was poor farming techniques that made that happen.