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Section 1

Audio script:

Call me Ishmael. Some years ago -- never mind how long precisely -- having little or no money in my

purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the

watery part of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen, and regulating the circulation.

Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my

soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of 

every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a

strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically

knocking people's hats off -- then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can. This is my

substitute for pistol and ball. With a philosophical flourish Cato throws himself upon his sword; I quietly

take to the ship. There is nothing surprising in this. If they but knew it, almost all men in their degree,

some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings towards the ocean with me.

There now is your insular city of the Manhattoes, belted round by wharves as Indian isles by coral reefs -

- commerce surrounds it with her surf. Right and left, the streets take you waterward. Its extreme down-

town is the battery, where that noble mole is washed by waves, and cooled by breezes, which a few

hours previous were out of sight of land. Look at the crowds of water-gazers there.

Circumambulate the city of a dreamy Sabbath afternoon. Go from Corlears Hook to Coenties Slip, and

from thence, by Whitehall northward. What do you see? -- Posted like silent sentinels all around the

town, stand thousands upon thousands of mortal men fixed in ocean reveries. Some leaning against the

spiles; some seated upon the pier-heads; some looking over the bulwarks of ships from China; some

high aloft in the rigging, as if striving to get a still better seaward peep. But these are all landsmen; of week days pent up in lath and plaster -- tied to counters, nailed to benches, clinched to desks. How then

is this? Are the green fields gone? What do they here?

But look! Here come more crowds, pacing straight for the water, and seemingly bound for a dive.

Strange! Nothing will content them but the extremest limit of the land; loitering under the shady lee of 

yonder warehouses will not suffice. No. They must get just as nigh the water as they possibly can

without falling in. And there they stand -- miles of them -- leagues. Inlanders all, they come from lanes

and alleys, streets and avenues, -- north, east, south, and west. Yet here they all unite. Tell me, does the

magnetic virtue of the needles of the compasses of all those ships attract them thither?

Match column A with column B to complete each statement.

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A B

1.  This is my substitute see the watery part of the world.

2.  I thought I would sail about a little and they possibly can without falling in.

3.  Here come more crowds, pacing straight

for the water,

stand thousands upon thousands of mortal men

fixed in ocean reveries.

4.  They must get just as nigh the water as for pistol and ball.

5.  Posted like silent sentinels all around the

town,water-gazers there.

6.  Nothing will content them but and seemingly bound for a dive.

7.  There now is your insular city of the

Manhattoes,from thence, by Whitehall northward.

8.  Look at the crowds of the spleen, and regulating the circulation.

9.  It is a way I have of driving off the extreme limit of the land.

10. Go from Corlears Hook to Coenties Slip,

andbelted round by wharves as Indian isles

Section 2

Audio script:

How long had it been? Hours, days, weeks? There was no way of knowing. When their mobile phone

batteries died, they lost all track of time. And place. With the silence and the darkness came

disorientation. They were unsure which way led to the surface and which led deeper into the mountain.

They had little evidence that they were even still alive. It was like being lost inside a tomb. Above

ground, their families were already preparing a funeral. In accordance with tradition, relatives had

started burning 'ghost money' for the two brothers to spend in the other world. Negotiations had begun

with the local authorities about compensation. Yet down below, the Mengs stubbornly refused to die.

Driven by a powerful instinct to survive, they fought against the earth and the darkness, against death

itself. The brothers started digging. They hacked and shovelled, using a single pick and their bare hands.

They were only a few dozen metres from the surface, but despite twenty years of mining experience,they were so panicked and confused by the darkness that they started to worry they were tunnelling

deeper into the mountain. They changed direction once, twice, three times, before deciding to head

straight up.

With every hour that passed they grew wearier and more depressed. It grew harder to dig, exhausting

even to crawl. They filled water bottles with urine. The taste was so foul, they could only drink in small

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sips and felt like crying after they swallowed. Desperately hungry, Xianchen took to nibbling finger-sized

pieces of coal, not knowing it had zero nutritional value. Yet they kept digging. Their companionship was

a source of comfort and strength. They slept in each other's arms to stave off the cold and told jokes

about their wives to maintain morale. 'My wife will be happy after I die. She can find a rich husband in

Shenyang to replace me,' mused Xianchen out loud, then laughingly contradicted himself. 'But then

again, she is an ugly woman with two children so it will be hard for her to remarry.' Humour does not

get much blacker than laughter in a collapsed coal mine. But it kept them going for six days, until finally,

miraculously, they scratched their way to the surface.

Weak and close to starvation, they emerged blinking into the light, then staggered to the village where

they were met with a hero's welcome and incredulous joy that the dead could rise from their tombs.

They were carried off to hospital, where the doctors treated their damaged kidneys and journalists

bombarded them with questions. The mine owner, meanwhile, was on the run. Aware that the standard

bribes would not protect him from a deadly accident investigation, he had fled as soon as he heard of 

the collapse.

Complete the following summary by filling in the gaps

  In accordance with _____11_____, relatives had started burning '_____12_____' for the two

brothers to spend in the other world.

  They were only a _____13_____ metres from the surface, but despite twenty years of mining

experience, they were so _____14_____ by the darkness that they started to worry they were

 _____15_____ deeper into the _____16_____.

  She can find a rich _____17_____ to replace me,' mused Xianchen out loud, then _____18_____

himself. 'But then again, she is an _____19_____ with two children so it will be hard for her to

remarry. ' _____20_____ does not get much blacker than laughter in a collapsed coal mine.

Section 3

Audio script:

Tom: good morning.

Harry: good morning, tom. How are you?

T: how are you Harry? It’s been long since i called you. 

H: so where have you been all these days?

T: i went to visit the Scottish highlands recently.

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H: how was your journey?

T: it was very nice. I always like the place.

H: what did you see there? Can you tell me something about the place?

T: yes of course. The area is generally sparsely populated, with many mountain ranges dominating the

region, and includes the highest mountain in the British Isles, Ben Nevis. Before the 19th century the

Highlands was home to a much larger population, but due to a combination of factors including the

outlawing of the traditional Highland way of life following the Jacobite Rising of 1745, the infamous

Highland Clearances, and mass migration to urban areas during the Industrial Revolution, the area is

now one of the most sparsely populated in Europe. The average population density in the Highlands and

Islands is lower than that of Sweden, Norway, Papua New Guinea and Argentina. 

H: all right. I have never been there.

T: The Scottish Highlands lie to the north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault, which runs from

Arran to Stonehaven and contains some of the most interesting geology in Europe. This part of Scotland

is largely composed of ancient rocks from the Cambrian and Precambrian periods which were uplifted

during the later Caledonian Orogeny. Smaller formations of Lewisian gneiss in the north west are up to

3,000 million years old and amongst the oldest found anywhere on Earth. The overlying rocks of the

Torridonian sandstone form spectacular mountains in the Torridon Hills such as Liathach and Beinn

Eighe in Wester Ross. 

H: that is interesting.

T: i also visited the Balmoral Estate.

H: what is that?

T: The Balmoral Estate began as a home built by Sir William Drummond in 1390.[2]

 The estate was

formerly owned by King Robert II (1316 –1390), who had a hunting lodge in the area. After Drummond,

the estate was sold to Alexander Gordon, the 3rd Earl of Huntly, in the 15th century. The estate

remained in the family's hands until it was sold in 1662 to the Farquharsons of Invery, who sold the

estate in 1798 to the 2nd Earl Fife. The estate formed part of the coronation activities of King George IV

in 1822.

Balmoral is today best known as a royal residence, the summer retreat of Queen Elizabeth II and The

Duke of Edinburgh. Its history as a royal residence dates back to 1848, when the house was leased toQueen Victoria and Prince Albert by the trustees of Sir Robert Gordon (who had obtained a long-term

lease of the castle in 1830 and died in 1847). They very much enjoyed their stay in the house, and paid

 just over £30,000 for full ownership in 1852. Prince Albert immediately started making plans with

William Smith to extend the existing 15th century castle, and make a new and bigger castle fit for the

royal family. The new building Prince Albert ordered to be built within a hundred yards of the old castle

was planned and designed partly by himself and completed in 1856.

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H: that sounds great. So you had a nice time for you.

T: yes, absolutely. Well; call you later. Bye.

H: bye.

Give the correct answer to the following blanks.

A.  Tom went to visit _____21_____. There they have their _____22_____.

B.  The Scottish Highlands lie to the north and west of the _____23_____.

C.  The area is generally _____24_____, with many _____25_____ dominating the region.

D.  The Balmoral Estate began as a home built by Sir _____26_____ in _____27_____.

E.  Before the 19th century the Highlands was home to a much _____28_____.

F.  The area is now one of the most sparsely populated in _____29_____.

G.  Balmoral is today best known as a royal residence, the summer retreat of Queen Elizabeth II and

 _____30_____.

Section 4

Audio script:

On January 6 an asteroid-spotting telescope at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico detected a

new and unusual object in the night sky. Towing a streaky debris tail, the object was classified as a

comet, although its orbit belied a different origin. Visible comets generally have elongated orbits that

carry them into Earth's neighborhood from the colder outer reaches of the solar system, but the

newfound body had a neat, nearly circular orbit in the Asteroid Belt [the green ring in the video below ],

between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.

Within weeks, a group of astronomers had secured time on the Hubble Space Telescope to get a better

look at the curious object, dubbed P/2010 A2, which appeared not to be a comet at all but a previously

undiscovered asteroid that had somehow spewed its own debris into a comet-mimicking tail.

Now two groups have used those Hubble photographs, as well as observations from ground-based

telescopes and the European Space Agency's comet-chasing Rosetta spacecraft, to confirm that P/2010

A2 is indeed an asteroid that was disrupted, quite possibly by a collision with a smaller asteroid. The

disruption appears to have occurred in early 2009, which is remarkably recent in terms of the evolution

of the solar system. The two groups reported their findings in the October 14 issue of  Nature. (Scientific

 American is part of Nature Publishing Group.)

"I knew that this was an object the likes of which we hadn't seen before," says David Jewitt, a co-author

of one of the new papers and an astronomer at the University of California, Los Angeles. "This is the first

time we've seen an asteroid in the act of disrupting." Using Hubble, Jewitt and his colleagues watched

the nucleus and tail of P/2010 A2 evolve over several months, from January to May 2010. Tracking the

tail's changing position with respect to the nucleus, the researchers estimated that the disruption of the

parent asteroid must have happened in February or March 2009.

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Jewitt's group concluded that the impact of a small asteroid, just meters across, into the 120-meter

nucleus of P/2010 A2 could excavate enough debris from the asteroid to produce the curious tail. But a

less violent phenomenon could also be the culprit: The asteroid may have been spun up by the force of 

the sun, eventually rotating so fast that it began to shed mass. "Like wind blowing onto a propeller, the

solar radiation can exert a torque on an asteroid," Jewitt says. He notes that a collision is his "favorite"

scenario but that it is not possible to discriminate conclusively between the two causes based on the

observations.

The authors of the other Nature paper on P/2010 A2 also favor the collision scenario. "It's not possible

for us to tell whether it was a collision or a spin-up—we simply say collision because a collision is much

more likely," says Colin Snodgrass, a postdoctoral astronomer at the Max Planck Institute for Solar

System Research in Katlenburg –Lindau, Germany.

In the following excerpt from the passage that you have just listened to, there are some texts missing.

Read the passage carefully and fill in the gaps correctly.

A.  On _____31_____ an asteroid-spotting telescope at _____32_____ in New Mexico detected a

new and unusual object in the _____33_____. Towing a streaky debris tail, the object was

classified as _____34_____, although its orbit belied a different origin. Visible comets generally

have _____35_____ orbits that carry them into Earth's neighborhood from the ____36_____

reaches of the solar system, but the newfound body had a neat, nearly circular orbit in the

Asteroid Belt, between the orbits of _____37_____ and Jupiter.

B.  Within weeks, a group of astronomers had secured time on the _____38_____ Telescopeto get

a better look at the curious object, dubbed P/2010 A2, which appeared not to be a comet at all

but a previously _____39_____ that had somehow spewed its own debris into a _____40_____

tail.