SECTION 2: LISTENING TEST (30 minutes)

Directions: In this section you will read several passages. Each one is followed by several questions about it. You are to choose ONE best answer, (A), (B), (C) or (D), to each question. Answer all the questions following each passage on the basis of what is stated or implied in that passage and write the letter of the answer you have chosen in the corresponding space in your ANSWER BOOKLET. //tr.hjenglish.com/

Questions 1-5
     For the teenagers who cast off their daily lives and head off for South America, Africa and Asia, it may offer the time of their young lives. But research published yesterday shows that the so-called "gap year" between school and university is not as beneficial as has been suggested. In five years the gap year has metamorphosed from a radical activity of a rebellious student generation into an obligation that must be fulfilled by ambitious future professionals. It has spawned in the process a lucrative commercial market providing tourist style trips.

     Prince William's gap year venture to Chile in 2000 created institutional acceptability, and about 200,000 people a year between 18 and 25 now take 12 months out of study. "No longer were gap years for rebels and dropouts and people with nothing better to do; now they were for hopeful professionals and future kings," said Kate Simpson, from the school of geography at the University of Newcastle, who based her research on projects in South America and talked to hundreds of students on their return. //tr.hjenglish.com/

     "A gap year has become a requirement for success. It is now part of your progression to employability, as necessary as your A-levels and as inevitable as your degree. As the gap year has been professionalised, So it has increasingly been marketed at future professionals, with an assumption that further education and successful employment are to follow."

     Ms Simpson said that without explaining how values such as "broad horizons" and "character building" are supposed to be achieved by gap years, they have been promoted by people such as the foreign secretary, Jack Straw, and the University College Admission Service (Ucas). Mr. Straw said: "Our society can only benefit from travel which promotes character, confidence [and] decision-making skills." According to Ucas: "The benefits of a well-structured year out are now widely recognised by universities and colleges and cannot fail to stand you in good stead in later life."

     However, these statements did not always reflect the reality. Many of the 50 organisations providing package trips for gap year students this year designed them to be acceptable to parents and future employers, and had little concern for the communities the students were volunteering to help. One example was in Ecuador where students had been sent to "help the local community." The villages returned home from work to discover their houses had been painted by the volunteers without prior consultation.

     "Groups of 18-year-olds arrive somewhere with no skills and set about building a bridge or school often without proper consultation with the local community and what they might want or need. They get a level of experience and decision-making which they would not get at home, but also doing things in other people's hospitals and schools they would never be allowed at home." Gap students had been involved in delivering babies, construction projects and teaching without prior training - something banned in Britain. //tr.hjenglish.com/

     A typical provider advertised: "Are you looking for a travel adventure with a purpose, one that gives you experience beyond tourism and provides practical help to local communities." Its slogan was: "Develop people. Share cultures. Build futures." For Ms Simpson, the industry "appears amateurish and outdated". The idea seemed to be that ancient, highly civilised cultures could benefit from the introduction of large numbers of unskilled 18-year-olds. "While such an approach may produce some valuable contributions, the risks are high. The gap year industry cannot rely on its good intentions to assure the quality of its work."

     The projects are often used to the benefit of the visiting students, as opposed to the residents. In many projects, the students practice being adults and professionals using local people as guinea pigs. "Projects did not have to be based on the exploitative and dehumanising relationships. I am sure that many students learn a great deal from their gap years, but they could gain so much more if they experiment with local people." The best projects were those residents know in advance in which the local people participate and ask for what they want. "If the students and locals work together to form friendships, then the true potential of the gap year could be realised," Ms Simpson added.

1.  The word "metamorphosed" in the sentence "In five years the gap year has metamorphosed from a radical activity of a rebellious student generation into an obligation that must be fulfilled by ambitious future professionals." (para. 1) can best be replaced by _______.
    (A) orientated         (B) reversed         (C) changed           (D) downgraded
2.  According to the passage, which of the following is NOT true about the "gap year"?
    (A) It has been developed into a growing industry. 
    (B) It has been officially accepted by more universities.
    (C) It has been linked with students' academic study and future employment.
    (D) It has met strong protest from local communities outside Britain.
3.  The expression "guinea pigs" in the sentence "In many projects, the students practice being adults and professionals using local people as guinea pigs." (para. 8) can be paraphrased as _______.
     (A) beasts and brutes                    
     (B) subjects for experiments
     (C) control groups in a study            
     (D) dirty animals such as pigs
4.   It can be concluded from the passage that according to Ms Simpson, _______.
     (A) gap year activity should show more concern for locals as well
     (B) the activities of gap students are hated by most local people
     (C) the gap year industry will undergo a greater development
     (D) gap students have made great contribution to the local communities
5.   Which of the following can serve as the best title of the passage?
     (A) Broad horizons and character building: targets for university students
     (B) Mind the gap: why student year out may do more harm than good
     (C) The booming gap year industry: good intentions provide no guarantee
     (D) Requirement for success: gap year equals A-levels and academic degree

Questions 6-10
     A Black comedy by a first-time novelist with a past as colorful as his book has defied the bookies to win the ￡50,000 Man Booker prize, the most important honour in the British literary world. Vernon God Little by D B C Pierre, the nom de plume of 42-year-old Mexican- Australian Peter Finlay, was the unanimous choice of the Booker judges, chaired by John Carey, who took less than an hour to decide. The novel tells the story of Vernon Gregory, a Texan teenager who is put on trial accused of a massacre at his high school. //tr.hjenglish.com/

     At the awards ceremony at the British Museum in London last night, Professor Carey described it as a "coruscating black comedy reflecting our alarm but also our fascination with modern America." Accepting the prize, the novelist said: My mum is in the audience. I want to say she and the rest of my family planted the idea that I could do anything and I would just like to apologise for taking it literally." It beat a shortlist including Brick Lane, the first novel by Monica Ali which was the bookmakers' favourite and has been the biggest seller in the shops, and Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood, the only established author to make it to the final round of judging.

     Martyn Goff, the director of the Man Booker prize, said he was "absolutely amazed" at the swiftness of the decision which was made after the second shortest debate in the prize's 35-year history. "Four of them jumped as one, and the fifth [member of the jury] was not unhappy," he said. The judges were particularly convinced by the way the author was able to create such a strong sense of America. "There was a feeling that it could only have been written by an American whereas we all know it wasn't," he said.

     D B C Pierre' - the initials stand for Dirty But Clean—is a reformed drug addict and gambler who was bom into a wealthy family but lost virtually everything when the banks were nationalised in Mexico in 1982. Without his family money to fall back on, Finlay has admitted selling his best friend's home and keeping the proceeds as well as working up hundreds of thousands of dollars of debts in a scheme to find gold in Mexico. Revealing how his life was often stranger than fiction, he said in a recent interview: "For nine years I was in a drug haze, on a rampage of cocaine, heroin, any shit I could get. I am not proud of what I have done and I now want to put it right."

     A publishing deal: for Se book was sealed just one hour before the first plane hit New York's World Trade Centre on 11 September, 2001. "Ever since, I feel like there's some dark destiny swirling around the book," he said. His financial problems are likely to become a thing of the past. A filmmaker has bought an option to make a movie of the book and as well as the ￡50,000 prize cheque, the writer, who currently lives in Ireland, is guaranteed a significant increase in sales. Sales of last year's winner, Yann Martel's Life Of Pi, have exceeded 1 million copies. Martin Higgs, literary editor of Waterstone's, said: "The storyline for this book is one that you would as much see played out today on the six o'clock news as read in a novel and has for this reason struck a chord with book lovers." //tr.hjenglish.com/

     Finlay was second favourite to win, behind Monica Ali, 35, who created a flurry of interest even before her debut novel was published when she was named one of Granta's best young Bristish novelists. The other shortlisted books were The Good Doctor, by Damon Galgut, Astonishing Splashes of Colour by Clare Morrall, and Notes on a Scandal by the former Independent on Sunday journalist Zoe Heller, 38.

6.   The novelist Peter Finlay said that, when accepting the prize, he "would just like to apologise for taking it literally." (para.2) The word "it" refers to the idea of _______.
     (A) selling his friend’s home and using up the money
     (B) publishing the novel Vernon God Little
     (C) owing huge amounts of debts to others
     (D) doing whatever he liked
7.   We can learn from the shortlisted books of this year's Man Booker prize that _______.
     (A) most of them are from established authors
     (B) some of them are from first-time novelists
     (C) all of them are biggest sellers in the shops
     (D) half of them were written by former journalists
8.   According to the passage, the director of the Man Booker prize was "absolutely amazed" because _______.
     (A) the debate over the prize winner was so hot and fierce
     (B) the plot of Vernon God Little was so fascinating
     (C) the Booker judges were almost unanimous in their decision
     (D) the fifth member of the jury refused to change his mind
9.   The author mentions in the passage the sales of last year's winner Yann Martel's Life Of Pi to imply that _______.
     (A) the success of Vernon God Little will bring the author a lot of money
     (B) Peter Finlay will become as rich as a world famous movie star
     (C) the sales of Vernon God Little will exceed that of Life Of Pi
     (D) the Booker prize winning novels will become world classics
10.  Which of the following CANNOT be concluded from the passage about the novelist Peter Finlay?
     (A) He had once been a drug addict and gambler.
     (B) He almost lost everything because of the nationalization of banks in Mexico.
     (C) He was quite worded before the publication of his first novel.
     (D) He knew his bestselling book would win the national literary prize.

Questions 11-15
     American companies are giving their people a good talking to. For qualified talkers, that can make for a career opportunity. The same workaday challenges that are the bane of the modem corporation - issues such as struggling sales forces, spotty leadership, intense global competition, and flagging morale - are a boon for thousands of professional speakers nationwide. Using their gift of gab, they impart knowledge, hope, motivation, big-picture thinking and, occasionally, a few laughs to audiences at conventions, company powwows, trade shows, and association meetings.

     Eric Wahl is one such beneficiary of corporate America's hand-wringing. For the past three years, the San Diego-based lecturer and artist has toted paints and an easel around the country for a presentation titled "The Art of Vision." At each stop, he literally draws parallels between the creativity that drives great artists and that which fuels the world's most successful entrepreneurs, underscoring his most memorable points and examples by painting quick portraits of visionaries such as Einstein or Lincoln.

     Mr. Wahl's "think outside the box" message and high-energy delivery have brought him a steady stream of lucrative appearances. He says that by year's end, he'll have logged 100 speaking appearances at his going rate of between $6,500 and $9,500 apiece. Wahl's success story, by his own admission, is something of an aberration. Still in his late 20s, he hasn't published a best-selling management book. He isn't a household name or a comer-office veteran with a trove of great war stories. And he hasn't rebounded from personal tragedy to lead a last-place team to a world championship.

     Wahl, who majored in art and business at the University of San Diego, took a job at Speak Inc., a San Diego company that books speaking talent for corporate clients. What Wahl does have, says Rich Gibbons, the firm's president, are the three elements a successful speaker needs in today's marketplace: relevance, uniqueness, and, most of all, passion. "An audience can tell when a speaker is truly committed, versus someone who's doing something by rote and reciting professional platitudes," Mr. Gibbons says.

     It's virtually impossible to pinpoint the exact number of speakers working the lecture circuit in the United States today, and it's equally difficult to generalize about the fees those speakers command. While the National Speakers Association includes roughly 3,500 speaking professionals, the NSA's membership doesn't include most of the celebrities, high-profile pundits, athletes, authors, CEOs, politicians and ex-politicians who often make the scene as keynote speakers at major social and business functions.

     And while more than 60 percent of respondents who participated in a recent NSA member survey reported earning from $2,000 to $5,000 for a major engagement, it costs a great deal more to bag a big name, even for only a short while. Charles Moose, the former Montgomery County, Md., police chief who headed last fall's Washington, D.C., sniper manhunt, now asks up to $30,000 per appearance. Frank Abagnale, the con man who was the subject of last year's Steven Spielberg hit "Catch Me if You Can," is in the same range. After-dinner addresses from the likes of former President Clinton or former New York City Mayor Giuliani have been reported to fetch $100,000 or more.

     John Truran, director of marketing for Keppler Associates, which represents Mr. Moose, says the former chief's defection to the greener pastures of the lecture circuit was a logical byproduct of the case's drama and Moose's instant-hero status. "This is a celebrity culture. Moose was the lead guy in the investigation: he's African-American. which makes him a great diversity speaker; and he was a memorable figure in the media," Truran says. It's still possible for people who lack Moose's track record to make it big in public speaking, but those whose reputation doesn't precede them have to be able to wow prospective clients with a dynamic demonstration tape that does the talking for them.

     Of course, putting that video together demands that the speaker get caught during a terrific performance at the podium, and therein lies the Catch-22, says Mark Sanborn, NSA's president and a speaker who addresses corporate audiences on topics such as leadership, team-building, and customer service. A speaker can't be heard until he or she is hired, Mr. Sanborn notes, but "you can't get hired without first being heard." By far the most popular misconception about public speaking is that it's easy. Well, if I'm doing my job right, it should look easy. "The cost of entry in this business is whatever Kinko's charges for a business card, but it's much harder than it looks to make a living at it."

11.  The author cites the example of Eric Wahl to show _______.
     (A) how fast the career opportunity is growing for qualified talkers
     (B) what kind of challenges American companies are facing
     (C) how much a talker can benefit from corporate America's dilemma
     (D) what skills are essential for a successful public speaker
12.  The word "bane" in the expression "same workaday challenges that are the bane of the modem corporation" (para.1) can be paraphrased as _______.
     (A) cause of trouble                       
     (B) structural improvement
     (C) result of competition                  
     (D) impact of globalization
13.  Which of the following does not support the statement that "Wahl's success story ...is something of an aberration." (para.3)?
     (A) He has not yet published a best-selling management book.
     (B) He is not an experienced office manager.
     (C) He has had no direct experience in leading a world championship.
     (D) He is interested in nothing but art and business at the university.
14.  Which of the following CANNOT be concluded from Truran's comment (para.7)?
     (A) Charles Moose is an exception of celebrity culture.
     (B) Moose's African-American background is a special advantage.
     (C) The lecture circuit is a growing profitable new career.
     (D) Moose's quit of police chief is only natural as he became an instant-hero.
15.  Sanborn uses "the Catch-22" (para.8) to describe the predicament in _______.
     (A) dealing with topics such as leadership, team-building and customer service
     (B) preparing dynamic demonstration tape
     (C) acquiring techniques to address experienced corporate audiences
     (D) meeting the requirement for speaking experience before being hired

Questions 16-20
     Bob Barnes never dreamed that the long arm of the music industry would reach into his personal computer. Sure, the bus operator had used Napster to grab music files off the Internet. And when that file-swapping service was put out of business, he switched to its most popular successor, Kazaa. But he was careful not to leave a trace, transferring all his downloaded songs to separate discs. A visiting teenage grandson wasn't so careful, however, and last week Barnes, 50, was slapped with a subpoena from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It alleged that he had posted online--for the world to steal digital copies of songs by Savage Garden, Marvin Gaye and the Eagles. "This is like shock and awe," says Barnes. "Blitz them until they submit."

     Barnes may be a pirate, but he has plenty of company. An estimated 60 million Americans, more than the number of Bush voters in 2000, are using file-sharing networks on the Internet. Until last week it seemed like a safely anonymous pursuit. But then RIAA started subpoenaing colleges and Internet-service providers (ISPs) for the names and addresses of more than 950 computer owners--some of whom, like Barnes, were trafficking in stolen music without knowing it. A lot of music downloaders don't realize that they are also distributors. On Kazaa, for example, the tunes you store in the designated download folder are automatically broadcast back to other users. Unless you turn off sharing or move the music to a different place on your hard drive, anybody can reach into your computer and take a copy (as long as you are online and running Kazaa.)

     How many songs do you have to have in that folder to catch the eye of the music police? A thousand? A dozen? Just one? RIAA, which is trying to put the fear of litigation into as many music pirates as it can, is playing coy. It has declined to say whom it is targeting or how many more subpoenas it plans to issue. So far, though, most of the file sharers it has gone after were dealing in hundreds of tracks, not just a few. "We're focused on the supply side," RIAA president Cary Sherman says. "If you can get at the 10% of people who are offering 90% of the files, that makes a significant dent." Until recently, getting even that 10% was impossible. Users were hidden behind the long strings of numbers that represent Internet addresses. Only network administrators knew who had been assigned which Internet address, and they were reluctant to share. All that changed in February, when a federal judge ordered Verizon to turn over to RIAA the name of an alleged music pirate. That opened the floodgates. Last week the Federal District courthouse had to hire extra clerks just to deal with music-industry litigation.

     "This is turning into a subpoena mill," says Sarah Deutsch, associate general counsel for Verizon, after receiving more than 200 requests for identities. "We're not just going to roll over and allow this kind of process." Not every ISP feels the same. Comcast, the cable-TV company that sells high-speed Internet access on the side, has announced its intention to cooperate with RIAA. So has Chicago's Loyola University. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Boston University, by contrast, have gone to court to protect students' identities. The cat-and-mouse game between computer programmers and the music industry is heating up. The next generation of file-sharing software, programmers promise, will provide anonymity that not even ISPs will be able to crack. New online services with names like Earth Station 5 and W.A.S.T.E. claim to have done that already, but none are quite ready for prime time.

     Happily, there's another alternative: paying for your music, using one of several legal downloading services. The most popular, Apple's 99￠-a-song iTunes music store. has racked up 5 million downloads in just two months and is scheduled to launch a Windows version in December. It was joined last week by , which offers some of the same songs for 79￠ apiece. Neither has anything like Kazaa's selection just yet—but both are guaranteed subpoena free.

16. The author introduces Bob Barnes at the beginning of the passage _______.
     (A) to show how careful he was when downloading music
     (B) to serve as the background of his life story
     (C) to provide readers with an example of music pirates
     (D) to warn the readers not to follow suit
17. The expression "he has plenty of company" (para.2) can best be paraphrased as _______.
     (A) he has won large numbers of supporters              
     (B) he has had a lot of followers
     (C) he has downloaded numerous songs               
     (D) he has established a big company
18. Which of the following is implied in the question "How many songs do you have to have in that folder to catch the eye of the music police?" (para.3)
     (A) It is important to give a definite figure of songs for music piracy.
     (B) RIAA has not yet decided whether to announce the figure.
     (C) RIAA only plans to threaten music pirates to stop their action.
     (D) The figure for determining music piracy will be announced, sooner or later.
19. Which of the following best explains the metaphor "That opened the floodgates." (para.3)?
     (A) More Americans are following Bob Barnes to download music.
     (B) More clerks are hired to deal with music industry litigation.
     (C) More companies are supporting the action of RIAA to stop music piracy.
     (D) More names of music pirates were offered to RIAA under federal decision.
20. The decision from federal judges is not supported by _______.
     (A) The Massachusetts Institute of Technology
     (B) Recording Industry Association of America
     (C) The cable-TV company Compacts
     (D) Loyola University of Chicago//tr.hjenglish.com/