LISTENING TEST
Part A Spot Dictation
Directions: In this part of the test, you will hear a passage and read the same passage with blanks in it. Fill in each of the blanks with the word or words you have heard on the tape. Write your answer in the corresponding space in your ANSWER BOOKLET. Remember you will hear the passage ONLY ONCE.
     What's in a surname? You may ask. A new website project has been released, that helps you (1). Have you ever wondered why your ancestors gathered where they did, or where others with your surname live now? A research project (2) in Britain answers these questions. And another study has found the surnames are (3) .
     "Smith", for example, remains the most common surname in Britain. Used by (4) people, it has exactly the same concentration it always did in Lerwick, in the Scottish Shetland Islands. "Jones" is (5) , and is the most common among hill farmers (6) .
     The data used for this project comes partly (7) . A number of other files are held by Expairing, which is probably Britain's (8) .
     There' re some of us who are fairly predictable. "Campbell", for example, as you might expect, is somewhat concentrated (9) , and it appears really bizarre to be found anywhere else.
     Well, with 25,000 names as (10) , what you can do is put them in general categories, if, for example, you look at (11) . Like the name Webber, you might find it is much more common in the Midlands than (12) . If you go to Wales, most people get their names (13) . And in Yorkshire for example, a lot of people have names (14) that they originally lived in or at least their ancestors did.
     Well, we only have 25, 000 names on this website, but there're (15) now found in Britain and they' re particularly interesting, for (16) . Most British names are fairly common. And about what we can now do as such is look for (17) from different parts of the world and different faiths, (18) . And what there is in names is actually extremely useful, for researchers in (19) may find a lot about (20) now living in this country.

Part B Listening Comprehension
Directions: In this part of the test, there will be some short talks and conversations. After each one, you will be asked some questions. The talks conversations and questions will be spoken only once. Now listen carefully and choose the right answer to each question you have heard and write the letter of the answer you have chosen in the corresponding space in your answer booklet.
Now let's begin Part B with Listening Comprehension.
Questions 1 to 5 are based on the following conversation.

(A) Persevering and facing up to difficult job duties.
(B) Negotiating with the boss about a pay rise.
(C) Asking for a change of work schedule.
(D) Engaging in candid conversation with colleagues.

(A) Seeking the middle ground in the labor dispute.
(B) Making employees happy without affecting productivity.
(C) Changing one's own attitudes towards the matter quietly.
(D) Experimenting with alternative approaches to the matter.

(A) Offering benchmarks.
(B) Giving up quietly.
(C) Saying it over and over again.
(D) Removing the skepticism raised by the boss.

(A) Persevering is the key in getting these special accommodations.
(B) Working from home is a pressing need for many members of the staff.
(C) Frankness is often a good policy in negotiating with bosses.
(D) Flexibility of schedule is an accommodation, not an entitlement.

(A) Fellow employees.

(B) Employer and employee.

(C) Lawyer and client.

(D) Co-producers.

Questions 6 to 10 are based on the following news.

(A) East Asia.

(B) The Middle East.
(C) Northern Europe.

(D) Latin America.

(A) Nationality.

(B) Legitimacy.

(C) Credibility.

(D) Merit

(A) One.

(B) Three.

(C) Five.

(D) Six.

(A) The instant messaging.

(B) Credit payment through Barclaycard.

(C) The mobile wallet.

(D) Ceil-phone toll paying.

(A) The eruption has caused widespread disruption to air traffic.
(B) The authority has imposed a local flight ban.
(C) It might lead to the closure of a large section of European airspace.
(D) The ash particles are coarse and could cause aircraft engines to fail.

Questions 11 to 15 are based on the following interview.

(A) A town built on the concept of new urbanism.
(B) The set of the movie The Truman Show.
(C) The Walt Disney Company in Central Florida.
(D) An American Studies project at New York University.

(A) Creating environmentally friendly settings.
(B) Planning communities around people rather than automobiles.
(C) Designing towns to encourage interactions between residents.
(D) Going along with practical building trends to sprawl.

(A) Performance anxiety among the town folks.
(B) The Disney boardroom's plan of investment.
(C) The very high level of media scrutiny.
(D) A vibrant sense of interaction and participation.

(A) It turned out to be a complete failure for many residents.
(B) It was a big commercial success for project developers.
(C) It evolved in ways exactly as predicted by planners.
(D) It provided a fairly typical American housing landscape.

(A) They are financially capable to make both ends meet living there.
(B) They have high expectations for a quiet community of isolation
(C) Some are disappointed but many more are happy with the community.
(D) Some have high incomes and others are working class folks.

Questions 16 to 20 are based on the following talk.

(A) Changes in traditional British breakfast.
(B) A long-standing British custom.
(C) How to dine at a smart restaurant.
(D) What to eat at a greasy-spoon café.

(A) Bacon.

(B) Eggs.

(C) Fried chips.

D) Cereal porridge.

(A) Having business meetings during breakfast time.
(B) Serving breakfasts from silver dishes and a sideboard.
(C) Starting a busy day with nourishment and healthy food.
(D) Eating breakfast before arriving at the office for a hard day's work.

(A) The smells.

(B) The sounds of the badly-tunedradio.

(C) The ordinary condiment choices.

(D) The eccentric art on the wall.

(A) Even strangers to England have a clear vision about a traditional British breakfast
(B) A traditional British breakfast is not nourishing and so is added with more protein.
(C) The traditional British breakfast at a greasy caré is less than 50% the atmosphere.
(D) The traditional British breakfast is getting more popular in London.

READING TEST
Directions: In this section you will read several passages. Each one is followed by several questions about it. You are to choose ONE best answer, (A) , (B) , (C) or (D), to each question. Answer all the questions following each passage on the basis of what is stated or implied in that passage and write the letter of the answer you have chosen in the corresponding space in your ANSWER BOOKLET.
      St John's Hospital in Bath was established in 1180 to provide healing and homes by the bubbling spa springs for the poor and infirm. The charity is still there 830 years later: a much valued health and care service for the elderly. This demonstrates our country's great charitable tradition
in health. The Government's desire to put citizens and patients first is both core to the current health reforms and a guiding mission for the country's great charities and social enterprises. The words of the Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley, "no decision about me, without me", are our driving
passion.
    We have a dual role. to deliver health services, undertake research and provide care and compassion to those most in need; and to act as an advocate and adviser. We are sometimes a challenger of the health establishment and always a doughty champion for patients.
    For these reforms to be a success we must ensure a much stronger role for the third sector. That is why we strongly support the policy of "any willing provider". The previous Government was profoundly mistaken in pursuing a policy of the NHS as "preferred provider", which implied that
services from our sector were less valued than the State's. In fact, through a big expansion of the role of charities and social enterprises in providing care, we can provide more cost-effective and citizen-focused services.
     This is not about privatisation. What matters is what is delivered, not who delivers it. This must be at the heart of health service reform. Charities can offer a better deal in so many ways. In 2008 the NHS spent just over 0. 05 per cent of its healthcare budget through charities. In other
words this is a virtually untapped resource waiting to be used.
     To me, competition in the NHS means British Red Cross volunteers being able to help more people to adapt to life at home after a lengthy spell in hospital, so preventing the need for readmission. Those who get this support are often aged over 65 and have experienced a fall. Volunteers bring
them home, settle them in, advise neighbours or relatives of their return, check on pets, help to prepare a meal and make a further visit to ensure that they are safe and well. Such schemes can save the typical NHS commissioner up to ￡1 million a year.
     Competition in the NHS would also mean an environmental charity such as BTCV running more "green gyms", which give people a physical workout while taking part in environmental projects. So far, more than 10,000 people--often referred by GPs--have taken part. An evaluation found that the
positive impact on mental and physical health, not to mention the acquisition of new skills, means that the State saves $153 for every $100 it invests. On top of that, it has a positive impact on local communities and the environment. Do we want less of this or more? I suspect that for most of
us the answer is obvious.
     Those who rely most on the NHS are the vulnerable, the very people charities were set up to help, precisely because they were being let down by the status quo. If groups such as the Red Cross and BTCV can do a better job than the NHS, we should let them.
      Promoting wellbeing and preventing ill health have for too long been neglected aspects of the NHS's role. These reforms rightly put emphasis on public health. Giving a role in health back to (1)

The author introduced St John's Hospital in Bath at the beginning of the passage______.

(A) to show the 830 year history of health and care service in Bath
(B) to provide an example of the British Red Cross practice
(C) to illustrate the British charitable tradition in health and care service
(D) to explain the challenge that the British health establishment is facing

When the author writes "which implied that services from our sector were less valued than the State's'(para. 3), the expression "our sector" most probably refers to______.

(A) The National Health Service

(B) St John's Hospital in Bath

(C) charities and social enterprises

(D) private institutions and companies

When the author says "This is not about privatisation "(para. 4), he indicates that ______.

(A) privatisation is the inevitable road for health care reform
(B) privatised health service can be a major complement to the NHS system
(C) "privatisation" is used by volunteers as a defence in the argument over health care reform
(D) "privatisation" is used by some people as a criticism against health service reform

According to the passage, all of the following are true EXCEPT that______.

(A) charities can be a great resource to be used in health and care service
(B) competition in the NHS should be stopped immediately by local councils
(C) the expansion of the role of social enterprises can provide effective health service
(D) more resources should be tapped in promoting wellbeing and preventing ill health

Which of the following can serve as a logical conclusion of the passage?

(A) Stop arguing over private or public delivery on health and choose what is best for patients.
(B) Local councils should play a decisive role in the health service reform.
(C) Preventing ill health through education is a better approach than treating patients with illnesses.
(D) The reform of the NHS is at the heart of health service reform in the United Kingdom.

     Americans have become addicted to superlatives. We seem to need our regular "hyperbole fixes" as if to validate our own existence. This national syndrome becomes most egregious during the run- up to the "Super Bowl," a football game that more often than not turns out to be the "ho-hum" bowl. But
to the attuned ear, this pumped-up hype routinely infects most of our conversations. This exaggeration is not the exclusive province of the magpies of sports talk. In a broader sense, some of these embellishments carry with them a subtle but undeniable element of dishonesty.
    The news media is perhaps most culpable in promoting our obsession with overstatement. Consider last November's midterm elections. Television's political pundits portrayed the results as a"landslide victory" for Republicans and a rejection of President Obama. While it's true that the GOP
picked up 63 seats, the "massive win" becomes a slim plurality when you crunch the numbers.
     Michael McDonald, a professor of politics at Virginia's George Mason University, found that only 41 percent of eligible voters even bothered to vote in the so-called GOP landslide. And within that 41 percent, the margin of victory for House Republicans in the national popular vote was about
7 percent. Still, the media acted as though America had become a tea party nation. In reality, more Americans identify as Democrats (31 percent) than Republicans (29 percent), according to a recent Gallup survey.
    Distortions like this tend to be at their most shameful during triumphs and tragedies, precisely when facts and events should be able to stand on their own without being propped up by the banalities of those paid to read a TV teleprompter. I recall during CNN's live coverage of Pope John
Paul Ⅱ's funeral in 2005, one of my colleagues gushed in her impromptu on-air eulogy that the late pontiff was "the pope of the whole world!"
     Such silly media pronouncements are so common that few of us even notice them as they float off into the ether. Yet such hyperbole is not just pompous; it also reveals considerable ignorance. My former colleague' s remark marginalized not just the billion or so Protestants and Eastern Orthodox
adherents who don' t follow orders from Rome but also the 4 billion Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, and others who don't consider the pontiff worthy of such adulation and veneration. Perhaps just as embarrassing amid this verbal extravagance was the failure to note the significant Catholic dissent over his legacy. Many Roman Catholic clerics, including Jesuits, had been quite critical of John Paul Ⅱ; some were privately relieved his time at the helm was up.
    "Great" and "awesome" are other examples of overused words that have become almost meaningless. Earthquakes, tsunamis, and tornados bearing down on you are awesome. Bone- crunching NFL football tackles and films like "Avatar" are not. "Awesome" is so overused it can now be rendered to mean "rather ordinary. " "Tragedy" has become another nearly meaningless word. It used to be reserved for events of mass casualties and deep suffering. Now it's applied to stories ranging from lost puppies to quarterly earnings reports. The adage (attributed to Stalin) comes to mind: "The death of one man
is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic. "
     The real tragedy is the demise of intelligent self-expression, a consequence of our shriveling vocabularies. Well may we cringe listening to contemporary blather, especially superlatives like "unbelievable," which should properly be used to describe politicians. Sometimes this national
obsession with superlatives does a genuine disservice. Wherever did we get the idea that everyone who serves in the military is a hero? Heroism demands an act of valor. A retired US Navy captain I know put it best: "Heroes are selfless warriors who risk their lives and often give their l

The expression "hyperbole fixes"(para. 1) can best be paraphrased as______.

(A) understatement idioms

(B) overused words

(C) exaggerative expressions

(D) impromptu eulogies

The author uses the example of "landslide victory" (para. 2)______.

(A) to celebrate the victory of Republicans over Democrats in midterm elections
(B) to show how the expression can distort voters' attitude towards the two parties
(C) to display how metaphors can be used by the news media to inform the readers
(D) to demonstrate how America had become a tea party nation

In the example of "the pope of the whole world"(para. 4) from his former colleague, the author implies all of the following EXCEPT that ______.

(A) other religions should also be respected
(B) Roman catholic clerics could have different attitudes towards the Pope
(C) this kind of praise is often meaningless and only shows one's ignorance
(D) Pope John Paul II is worthy of such adulation and veneration

In comparing the American use of superlatives with the British exaggeration, the author mainly tells us that______.

(A) Americans and the British can learn from each other
(B) Americans should imitate British way of using hyperbole
(C) Americans lack intelligence in their use of superlatives
(D) the British excel at both the art of overstatement and understatement

The pàssage used John Lennon's reply to "How did you find America?"

(A) to display the British use of understatement and dry wit
(B) to give an example to show John Lennon's personality
(C) to show the difference between American and British exaggeration
(D) to compare the national characters of Americans and the British

     It is possibly the most famous promise in British retailing: "Never knowingly undersold" has been at the heart of John Lewis's business since 1925. But a quietly introduced change has infuriated loyal customers, who claim the price-match promise is now slipping away. For many years John Lewis
customers have been safe in the knowledge that if they found their purchase for a lower price elsewhere the company would refund the difference. Carrier bags and marketing campaigns have proudly proclaimed to the world that John Lewis won't be beaten on price.
     Yet since September some customers who have asked John Lewis to match the price of goods found cheaper elsewhere on the high street have been turned away. A Guardian Money reader from Roydon, Essex, contacted us after he bought a Hotpoint washing machine in John Lewis's Welwyn store for
￡279. A few days later he saw the same model in Argos for ￡219--￡60 cheaper. John Lewis turned down his claim made under the never knowingly undersold policy, because it said it guaranteed the washing machines for two years, while Argos offered only one year.
     The customer complained--unsuccessfully--that the store wasn't being fair as this was not made clear in the literature. When Money investigated, we found that John Lewis had made a fundamental change to its policy. In a statement in September, which at the time drew positive headlines, it
said it would for the first time match online prices from other retailers as long as they also had a physical high street presence. What was made less clear was that the store would no longer match a price unless its rival offers the exact same warranty.
     The policy change might not sound much, but it in effect allows the store to avoid almost all price matching of electrical items--because John Lewis has adopted a policy of offering two-year warranties on almost every such item. Most stores in the UK offer just one year. When we first
raised the reader's complaint with John Lewis it told us. "As part of our commitment to be never knowingly undersold, we match prices based on the combined cost of the product plus charges the competitor may make for a comparable warranty or guarantee. We evaluate price-match claims on a likefor-like basis, and breakdown cover is a crucial part of our proposition to our customers. "
     What it failed to mention was that prior to the September policy rewrite, it would have paid the complainant the ￡60 difference between the John Lewis and Argos washing machines. Interestingly, the store confirmed it would not price match the cost of buying a product plus a warranty from a third party company, but would consider a claim if the cheaper retailer offered the chance to buy both together.
     David Suddock, head of buying support at John Lewis, who revised the policy, says. "As a result of our commitment to expand our never knowingly undersold policy to include other retailers with online presences we now put a great deal of resources into checking the prices charged by our rivals
and lowering ours where appropriate; Our customers are benefiting through significantly reduced prices. They tell us they value the extra warranty periods we offer, and we think it is only fair we should include that in our price match scheme. The terms of the never knowingly undersold policy are
clearly presented in both our stores and on the website. "
    But if the Money postbag is to be believed, most John Lewis customers were unaware of the change. And Martyn Hocking, editor of Which? says: "John Lewis is known for its great customer service, so the change to its never knowingly undersold policy is very disappointing. Customers
would naturally expect any price matching policy to relate to the up-front cost of a product, excluding the value of added extras such as warranties and guarantees. As such, we feel that the amended policy is misleading and will lead to frustration for many shoppers. "
    But Natalie Berg, research director at retail analysts Planet Retail, says John Lewis\s mo (1)

According to the passage, the never knowingly undersold policy ______.

(A) has been practiced in British retailing for more than eighty years
(B) has been rewritten for a number of times by John Lewis
(C) is best represented through John Lewis's carrier bags and marketing campaigns
(D) is undergoing a quiet change and has aroused complaint from customers

The essence of John Lewis's never knowingly undersold policy is______.

(A) to refund the difference in price matching with a third party retailer
(B) to provide after sale service to the customers for electrical items
(C) to offer two-year warranties for electrical appliances purchased
(D) to match online prices from other retailers when customers have applied

The ￡60 difference between the John Lewis and Argos washing machines (para. 2)______.

(A) has been paid to the customer after the complaint
(B) would not be paid according to the September policy rewrite
(C) should be paid to the customer according to the original price match policy
(D) is already covered in the two year guarantee

The editor of Which? Martyn Hocking______.

(A) openly exposes the tricks made by John Lewis
(B) points out that customers should be informed of John Lewis's amended policy
(C) strongly opposes David Suddock's defence of and argument over the revised policy
(D) makes an analytical criticism of John Lewis's revised policy

Which of the following CANNOT be concluded from Natalie Berg's comment?

(A) The introduction of the internet has changed the shopping environment greatly.
(B) Price is no longer the major factor for customers.
(C) It is the trend today for customers to seek both lower prices and value of services.
(D) John Lewis's approach in its revised policy is understandable with sound reasons.