TOEFL Audioscript - wps.pearsonlongman.com

1 LPREP IBT 3 E Audioscript 1 LISTENING Audioscript LISTENING DIAGNOSTIC PRE-TEST Page 143 [mp3 001-002] Questions 1 through 5. Listen to a conversation between an advisor and a student. (Advisor) Hi, Brad. Thanks for coming in. (Student) No problem. What did you want to see me about? (Advisor) Um, well, I saw your mid-semester grade report, and there was something of a problem on it. (Student) You mean my history class? (Advisor) Yes, exactly .. Look, we usually don t call students in for mid-semester grades, but I ve been trying to check up on the freshmen who are having .. problems, to help them .. um, be more successful during their time here at the university. (Student) Uh, OK, but it s only that class. (Advisor) Oh, I know. Don t get me wrong, Brad, I didn t ask you to see me today to scold you. I did see that you re doing fairly well in your other classes .. uh, your grades in them show you re perfectly capable of good work. But, well, to be frank, I worry about you not passing history, and I guess I just want to find out why you re not doing so well in the class.

2 (Student) Well, this is going to sound like a really bad excuse, but history s so early in the morning. (Advisor) It s at nine o clock; that s not really that early. (Student) Yeah, but there are a lot of things going on in the dorms until really late, so it s pretty much impossible to go to bed early. (Advisor) Uh, Brad, you do get up and go to history class, don t you? (Student) Usually. (Advisor) Ah, I m beginning to see the problem. Since it s a class you re not doing well in, you should be there all the time. (Student) I ll try. (Advisor) Now, is that your only problem in the class, that you miss class sometimes? (Student) No, not exactly. (Advisor) What else is an issue? (Student) Well, I didn t, uh, I .. I didn t do too well on the exam. (Advisor) And what was the problem, do you think? (Student) I studied for the exam, I really But there were a lot of questions on the exam that weren t in the class textbook, in the chapters that were covered on the exam. At least half the questions on the exam weren t from the book.

3 (Advisor) Do you understand why? (Student) I think there were a lot of questions from the lectures, stuff that wasn t covered in the text. (Advisor) OK, here s where I think I can help you, and LPREP IBT 3 E Audioscript 2 (Student) (interrupting, slightly excited) Really? How? (Advisor) OK, if it ll make you feel any better, Brad, you re not the first student to have issues with Professor Branson s history class. His exams seem to be a far cry from what many students are used to. (Student) I ll say. (Advisor) Look, after a few students came to me with the same problem last year, I got in touch with Dr. Branson. He told me that during his lectures he puts a lot of emphasis on looking at the past through different viewpoints. He wants his students to examine events in light of .. um, various possible approaches to explain what happened in the past. That s what he stresses in his lectures, and his exams reflect that emphasis. (Student) OK, so you re saying I m not going to get all of these different ideas if I only read and don t go to class.

4 (Advisor) Precisely. But there s a bigger issue here. And this is why I was saying I like to get the freshmen into my office as soon as possible. Each professor has a different approach to what he or she wants the students to take away from a class. (Student) Yeah. I m beginning to see that. (Advisor) Part of being a successful student is being aware of what professors expect of their students. So, you should pay close attention in the first few lectures when your professors outline the course, and ask them if you re not sure what they expect. (Student) The class is huge, so I can t (Advisor) Well, in the case of the big lecture courses, you actually have another resource: the teaching assistants, you know, the TAs. A lot of times they even have .. or, can give a clearer explanation of what the professors expect since they were in your position not so long ago. (Student) So I should ask one of the TAs what to study for the exams ? (Advisor) I d say that for this particular class; ask the TAs or another student who s doing well.

5 Take your midterm to them and ask what kind of answers they think the professors were looking for. They won t spell out exactly what will be on the future exams , but they can show you what kinds of things the professor tends to test. In other classes you can approach the professor easier. If they don t have large lectures, you can get more attention during office hours. My point is, one way or another, make sure to find out what the professor requires his or her students to learn from the course. (Student) Alright, that makes sense. (Advisor) I promise you ll be much happier if you do. (Student) You re probably right. (Advisor) And, as for actually getting up and going to class .. I can give you advice about courses, but you re going to have to meet me halfway on this. (Student) OK, I hear what you re saying. (Advisor) Good! So check back with me in a couple of weeks, and let me know how it s going. (Student) I ll do that. Thanks for the advice. (Advisor) Sure. 1. WHY DOES THE ADVISOR WANT TO TALK WITH THE STUDENT?

6 2. WHAT PROBLEMS DOES THE STUDENT HAVE? LPREP IBT 3 E Audioscript 3 3. WHAT DOES THE ADVISOR IMPLY ABOUT THE HISTORY PROFESSOR S exams ? 4. WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING DOES THE ADVISOR RECOMMEND THAT THE STUDENT DO? 5. LISTEN AGAIN TO PART OF THE PASSAGE. THEN ANSWER THE QUESTION. (Advisor) And, as for actually getting up and going to I can give you advice about courses, but you re going to have to meet me halfway on this. (Student) OK, I hear what you re saying. (Advisor) Good! So check back with me in a couple of weeks, and let me know how it s going. WHAT DOES THE ADVISOR MEAN WHEN SHE SAYS THIS? (Advisor) And, as for actually getting up and going to I can give you advice about courses, but you re going to have to meet me halfway on this. Page 144 [mp3 003-004] Questions 6 through 11. Listen to part of a lecture in a psychology class. (Professor) Today, we re going to review the characteristics of sleep, in both humans and animals. We talked about this some in the last class, and you should have done the reading, so this should all be clear to you.

7 First of all, what are the main characteristics of sleep? Let s talk about this diagram. What happens to the human body when a person is sleeping? Uh .. can you start this off for us, Pam? (Student 1) Well, during sleep, the, um, muscles relax, both breathing and heart rate slow down, and .. brain waves change. (Professor) Exactly. So, I m going to want to elaborate on the subject of muscle tone in just a minute. I have an interesting example to illustrate my points about it. But for now, let s stick with brain waves. OK, so let s look at this drawing of brain wave patterns. Ron, can you explain how brain waves change? (Student 2) I think so. The brain of a person who s awake and relaxed gives off .. um about ten small waves per second, like in the drawing near the middle. But it s different in deep sleep. (Professor) What s different about deep sleep? (Student 2) Well, I think that in deep sleep, the, uh, brain waves become much slower and larger, like in the drawing on the left. (Professor) Well.

8 You don t sound very sure of your answers, Ron, but you ve got them exactly right. Brain waves are the slowest and largest during the first few hours of a period of sleep. This is called the period of slow-wave sleep. Are brain waves always large and slow during sleep? Nancy? (Student 2) No, um, there are periods of small and fast waves at intervals during a period of sleep. These short and fast waves are similar to the brain waves of a person who s awake. (Professor) And what happens to the eyes during these periods of fast brain activity? Pam? (Student 1) The sleeper s eyes move really fast. This is called .. ah .. called rapid-eye-movement sleep or REM sleep. (Professor) Yes, Pam, you ve got it. And what other name does the period of REM sleep have? LPREP IBT 3 E Audioscript 4 (Student 1) It s called dreaming sleep because this is when people dream. (Professor) Yes, that s right. OK, now can you tell me about muscle tone during REM sleep? (Student 1) Well, the muscles are relaxed throughout sleep, but during REM sleep, muscle tone decreases even more.

9 (Professor) Good. Can anyone tell me why this is? (Student 2) Well, if you re dreaming, you probably don t want to be acting out all of what you re doing in your dreams, um, like if you re running or playing soccer. So your muscles have to relax. (Professor) Precisely, and, this isn t in the book, but there are actually sleep disorders where this repression of movements is weakened and you end up moving around in your sleep. This is also the explanation behind the fact that sleepwalking does not usually occur during REM sleep. Sounds strange, right? It turns out that people are most likely to sleepwalk during deep sleep, when brain waves are much slower. At that time, the repression of movements present during REM sleep is absent. OK, that s probably enough about muscle tone, but let me just recap what we ve said about brain waves before we go on to discuss them in another context. So, we ve seen that when a person sleeps, there re different types of brain-wave activity. There re periods of large, slow brain waves during deep sleep, and there re periods of small, fast brain waves during REM, or dreaming sleep.

10 Now, we re going to compare human sleep patterns with those of certain animals. What can you tell me about the sleep patterns of mammals, Ron? (Student 2) Mammals seem to experience true sleep, with changes in brain-wave patterns. Uh, that means that they have periods of dreaming sleep and periods of slow-wave sleep. (Professor) And what about reptiles and fish? Nancy? (Student 2) Reptiles also experience sleep with changes in brain-wave patterns, but they don t seem to have periods of dreaming sleep. Fish have periods when they become less aware of their surroundings, but, um, there s no scientific evidence of changes in brain waves. (Professor) Excellent. And, for the record, the animals we ve discussed today make up only a small fraction of all the animals on our planet that dreams while sleeping. Now, Pam, let s see if you can summarize the information for us. Which types of animals seem to experience changes in brain waves while they re sleeping? (Student 1) Humans, of course, and also mammals, birds, and reptiles.