Passage 2
Juan Louis, a junior geology major, decided to give an informative speech about how earthquakes occur. From his audience and analysis he learned that only 2 or 3 of his classmates knew much of anything about geology. Juan realized then that he must present his speech at an elementary level and with a minimum of scientific language. As he prepared the speech, Juan kept asking himself, “How can I make this clear and meaningful to someone who knows nothing about earthquakes or geological principles?” Since he was speaking in the Midwest, he decided to begin by noting that the most severe earthquake in American history took place not in California or Alaska but at New Madrid, Missouri in 1811. If such an earthquake happened today, it would be felt from the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean and would flatten most of the cities in the Mississippi valley. That, he figured, should get his classmates' attention. Throughout the body of the speech, Juan dealt only with the basic mechanics of the earthquakes and carefully avoid technical terms. He also prepared visual aids, diagramming photo line, so his classmates wouldn't get confused. To be absolutely safe, Juan asked his roommate, who was not a geology major, to listen to the speech. “Stop me,” he said, “any time I say something you don't understand.” Juan's roommate stopped him four times. And at each spot, Juan worked out a way to make his point more clearly. Finally, he had a speech that was interesting and perfectly understandable to his audience.
Questions 30 – 32 are based on the passage you have just heard.
Q30 What did Juan Louis learn from the analysis of his audience?
Q31 How did Juan Louis start his speech?
Q32 What did Juan ask his roommate to do when he was making his trial speech?
Passage 3
Esperanto is an artificial language, designed to serve internationally as an auxiliary means of communication among speakers of different languages. It was created by Ludwig Lazar Zamenhof, a Polish Jewish doctor specialized in eye diseases. Esperanto was first presented in 1887. An international movement was launched to promote its use. Despite arguments and disagreements, the movement has continued to flourish and has members in more than 80 countries. Esperanto is used internationally across language boundaries by at least 1 million people, particularly in specialized fields. It is used in personal context, on radio broadcasts and in a number of publications as well as in translations of both modern works and classics. Its popularity has spread form Europe, both east and west, to such countries as Brazil and Japan. It is, however, in China that Esperanto has had its greatest impact. It is taught in universities and used in many translations, often in scientific or technological works. EL POPOLA CHINIO, which means from people's China, it's a monthly magazine in Esperanto and it is read worldwide. Radio Beijing's Esperanto program is the most popular program in Esperanto in the world. Esperanto's vocabulary is drawn primarily from Latin, the Roman's languages, English and German. Spelling is completely regular. A simple and consistent set of endings indicates grammatical functions of words. Thus, for example, every noun ends in“o”, every adjective in“a”, and basic form of every verb in“i”. Esperanto also has a highly productive system of constructing new words from old ones.
Questions 33 – 35 are based on the passage you have just heard.
Q33 What does the speaker tell us about Esperanto?
Q34 What is said about the international movement to promote the use of Esperanto?
Q35 What does the speaker say about Esperanto in China?