Section A
1. W: Friday’s speaker is supposed to be wonderful. Are you going to attend the seminar on that day?
   M: Yes. But I haven’t been able to get the ticket yet. Since the lecture is open to the public, I imagine that the tickets may have already been sold out.
   Q: Why is the man afraid he won’t be able to attend the seminar?

2. M: I wonder what makes Mother so upset these days.
   W: Father is canceling his vocation trip. He promised to take her abroad last year. But the company is asking Father to postpone his vocation.
   Q: Why is their mother unhappy?

3. W: How did you do on the maths exam, john?
   M: I barely made it. It was just a passing score but better than I had expected.
   Q: What do we learn from the conversation?

4. W: During the last thunder storm I noticed several leaks in my bedroom ceiling and they really caused a mess.
   M: Maybe you have some broken tiles. I have the phone number of a good roofing company that could do a good repair job for you at a reasonable price.
   Q: What can we conclude be this conversation?

5. W: The report says all the departments are making a profit except the Asian Department.
   M: Well, Mr. Smith seems to be the wrong person to head that department. One more step wrong and he would be removed from that office.
   Q: What do we learn from the conversation?

6. M: Could you give me your office phone number or fax number so that we can contact each other more often?
   W: But I’ve been trying to find a new job in another company. You see, I’ve worked here for 3 years without a raise. That’s unfair to me.
   Q: What does the woman mean?

7. W: Could you help me, Sir? My flight go in 15 minutes ago. Everyone else has picked up the luggage but mine hasn’t come through.
   M: I’m sorry, Madame. I’ll go and find out if there is any more to come.
   Q: What’s the woman’s problem?

8. W: Was Robert elected to the committee?
   M: Yes. In fact he was made chairman. But he only agreed to take the job if they let him have the final say.
   Q: What does Robert intend to do?

9. M: Has today’s mail arrived? I’m anxious to know about the result of my application.
   W: I’ll check the mail box. There is nothing in it but a post-card from our daughter.
   Q: What do we learn ha this conversation?

10. M: This machine has so many buttons. I can’t figure out which one makes it run.
    W: You’d better read the instructions first. Pressing the buttons randomly may cause the machine to break down.
    Q: According to the woman, what shall the man do first?

Section B
Passage one

It’s 8 o’clock on Tuesday, May 1st. Here is the news: Between the hours of 7:00 and 8:00 P.M. last night, five thieves broke into the country house of Lord and Lady Chest-field on an island. They entered by a window at the rear of the house and surprised the owners who were watching television in the drawing room. After disconnecting the telephone and tying up Lord and Lady Chest-field, the thieves escaped with 16 precious paintings. The market value of such art work has been estimated at somewhere around 4 million pounds. Lord and Lady Chest-field were not seriously harmed but have been treated for shock in the hospital.

Early this morning a woman with a Scottish accent telephone the Times in London to say that the Chest-field Organization for Freedom claim the responsibility for the theft. This is the third time this year that this organization has claimed the responsibility for an act of this kind. The organization defends all the farmers on the island. The farmers were forced to leave their lands when Lord Chest-field, their landlord, refused to renew their traditional lease last year in order to extend the reservation area for birds.

11. What were Lord and Lady Chest-field dong when the thieves broke into their house?
12. What did the five thieves do?
13. What did Lord Chest-field do to the fanners?
14. What’s the organization’s purpose in breaking into Lord Chest-field house?

Passage Two
A deadly infectious outbreak swept through a small city in Zaire, Africa last spring, killing more than one hundred people. The killer was a rare virus that caused most victims to bleed to death. As scientists rushed to control the outbreak, people in the U. S. wondered "Could it attack here?" "We are foolish if we think it couldn’t come to our country." say doctors. The virus can be highly infectious. If you come in contact with a victim’s blood or other body fluids, you can get sick, too. All it takes is one infected person to start such a disease. That’s what scientists believe happened in Zaire. The healthcare workers who treated the first victims there soon fell ill too. The problem was they had no protective equipment to prevent themselves from being infected. International rescue workers brought  equipment to Zaire soon after the outbreak occurred. Now the disease appears to be under control. One big mystery is that no one knows where the virus comes from or Where it will strike next. Some scientists say that the virus Iies inactive in the cells of some kind of plant, insect or other animal. Then it somehow finds a way to infect humans. Scientists are now headed into the jungles Of Africa to find out where the virus lives. Once they find the virus, they also hope to find ways to come at it.

15. How does the disease mentioned in the passage spread?
16. What happened to most of the victims striken with this disease?
17. Why are the scientists going to the African jungles?

Passage Three

A team of scientists recently began a project to measure the effects of loud noises on sea-animals. If the sounds don’t harm the animals, then the researchers can go ahead with a plan to transmit sound waves through the Pacific Ocean to take earth’s temperature. Sound travels faster through warm water than cold water. By analyzing the speed of sound through the ocean over a time, the scientists will be able to determine if our planet is warming up. The experiment was nearly cancelled mere than a year ago because environmental groups feared that the sound will confuse or harm the sea-animals. So, scientists are conducting tests on the animals first. The researchers lowered a loud speaker that emits low frequency sound about 1000 meters beneath the ocean. Scientists at the site transmit sound waves into the ocean. Radio transmitters attached to some of the sea-animals help the researches keep track of the animals’ movements. If sea-animals are distressed by the sounds, they would swim away from the speakers. So far, there aren’t any signs that the animals are being harmed. Researchers at the site noticed that large numbers of sea-animals swim near the speaker whether it was turned on or off, but it is still too soon to know for sure, the scientists admit. The test will continue through September. "If all goes well," they say, "we can begin measuring temperature changes on our planet."
18. What is the purpose of analyzing the speed of sound through the Pacific Ocean?
19. What was the reaction of the sea-animal to the sound tests?
20. For what purpose were radio transmitters used?