来源：勤业教育--沪江

　　Listening comprehension

　　Part A Short Conversations

　　1. -Were you here on March 5th?

　　-Mm, not really. In fact I arrived three days later.

　　Q: When did the woman arrive?

　　2. -Is this the Eastern Airline check-in?

　　-Yes. Can I see your ticket, please?

　　Q: Where does the conversation probably take place?

　　3. -What did you do on the beach?

　　-You know, made sand castles that sort of things, and hunted for shells.

　　Q: What are the two speakers probably talking about?

　　4. -Paul, are you taking the bus or the underground to your office?

　　-My doctor suggests I walk, not even cycle.

　　Q: How will the man go to his office?

　　5. -Would you like to go to the movies with me this evening？

　　-I’d love to. But I’m just getting over the flue.

　　Q: What will the woman probably do this evening？

　　6. -Yes, madam. What seems to be the problem?

　　-I’d like to report a robbery. It’s my car. It’s been stolen.

　　Q: What’s probably the man’s occupation?

　　7. -Would you like to go to the ballet next Friday? I’ve got two tickets.

　　-Oh, that sounds like fun.

　　Q: How does the woman feel?

　　8. -What about going for a bike-ride? It stopped raining half an hour ago.

　　-But the road might still be wet.

　　Q: What does the woman mean?

　　9. -How many more cups should we get for the picnic?

　　-Don’t we have enough by now?

　　Q: What does the man imply?

　　10. -Have you completed your assignment?

　　-My computer isn’t affected with a virus.

　　Q: What does the man imply?

　　Part B Passages

　　5 years ago, I had to make a big decision. At that time, I was working for a small engineering company. However, thing were not going very well for the company and it was losing money. One day, the boss told us that the company was out of business. We were all unemployed. That lunch time we went to the pub as usual. We were all very depressed. While of course, we talked about the problem. Then the landlord of the pub heard the news. He said, “Why don’t you buy the company.” At first we all laughed and then we started to discuss it properly. We knew the problems. The company had lost a lot of customers because it hadn’t developed new products, but finally we decided to go for it. So we bought the company. The first few years were very difficult. But we worked hard and we had a bit of luck. We began to improve 3 years ago. Since then we have done pretty well. Last years we took on 4 new people. And so far this year we have taken on another ten.

　　11. Who bought the company that was out of business?

　　12. When did the company start to employ new people?

　　13. What did the story mainly tell us?

　　Now it’s 8:00, time for the educational report. GCSE is the British exam taken by the students in England and Wales around the age of 16. Recently researchers at university have confirmed the doubt of many parents and employers that some GCSEs are easier than others, despite official claims that each subject is equally difficult. The researchers found that sciences and modern languages were the hardest GCSEs to do well in. Chemistry ranked the hardest of the major subjects followed by physics and French. They also found that regardless of the ability students were more likely to gain good grades in easier subjects than in chemistry or French. Drama was the easiest GCSE to do well in, followed by physics education, media studies, English, English literature and religions studies. The number of test takers in physical education and religious studies rose faster than in any other subjects last year. More than 144,000 pupils set GCSEs in physical education last summer, an increase of 7.5 percent, and 147,500 took the religious studies exam, arise of 4.6%. However, it was the problem for the country if pupils avoided hard subjects. Fewer peoples would go on to study languages or sciences at A level and university. Even though they were important to Britain’s future development.