托福听力TPO17原文文本资料【含音频】

2022-05-18 04:06:23

  

  TPO 17

  Conversation 1

  Narrator

  Listen to a conversation between a student and a professor.

  Professor

  OK, let’ s see. Right, Modern Stagings of a Shakespearian Classic. Well, like I told you

  last week, I think that’s a great topic for you paper. So the title would be something

  like ... uh ...

  Student

  I am not really sure, probably something like 20th

  century stagings of A Midsummer

  Night’s Dream.

  Professor

  Yes, I like that. Straightforward and to the point. So how is the research going?

  Student

  Well, that’s what I came to talk to you about. I was wondering if you happen to have

  a copy of the Peter Brook production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in your video

  collection. I’ve been looking for it everywhere and I am having a really hard time

  tracking it down.

  Professor

  That’s because it doesn’t exist.

  Student

  You mean in your collection ? Or at all?

  Professor

  I mean at all. That particular production was never filmed or recorded.

  Student

  Oh no. I had no idea. From what I read, that production, like, it influenced every

  other production of the play that came after it. So I just assumed it had been filmed

  or videotaped.

  Professor

  Oh, It definitely was a landmark production. And it’s not like it ran for just a week,

  but either it was never filmed or if it was the film’s been lost. And it’ s ironic because

  there’s even a film about the making of the production, but none of the production

  itself.

  Student

  So now what do I do? If there is no video.

  Professor

  Well, think about it. This is the most important 20th

  century staging of A Midsummer

  Night’s Dream, right?

  Student

  But how can I write about Brook’s interpretation of the play if I can’t see his

  production.

  Professor

  Just because there’s no recording doesn’t mean you can’t figure out how it

  influenced other productions.

  Student

  Yeah, I guess there’s enough material around, but it will be a challenge.

  Professor

  True. But think about it, you are writing about dramatic arts, the theater, and that ’s

  the nature of theater, isn’t it?

  Student

  You mean because it is live, when the performance is finished ...

  Professor

  That’s it. Unless it’ s filmed, it’s gone. But that doesn’t mean we can’t study it. And of

  course some students in this class are writing about productions in the 19th

  century,

  there are no videos of those. You know, one of the challenges for people who study

  theater is to find way of talking about something that ’s really so transient, about

  something that, in a sense, doesn’t exist.

  TPO 17 Lecture 1 Art History(Prehistoric Art Dating)

  Narrator

  Listen to part of a lecture in an art history class.

  Professor

  Good morning, ready to continue our review of prehistoric art? Today, we will be

  covering the Upper Paleolithic Period, which I am roughly defining as the period from

  35,000 to 8,000 BC. A lot of those cave drawings you have all seen come from this

  period. But we are also be talking about portable works of art, things that could be

  carried around from place to place. Here is one example.

  This sculpture is called the Lady with the Hood1

  , and it was carved from ivory,

  probably a mammoth’s tusk. Its age is a bit of a mystery. According to one source, it

  dates from 22,000 BC. But other sources claimed it has been dated closer to 30,000

  BC. Amy?

  Amy

  Why don’t we know the exact date when this head was made?

  Professor

  That’s a fair question. We are talking about prehistory here. So obviously the artists

  didn’t put a signature or a date on anything they did. So how do we know when this

  figure was carved?

  Tom

  Last semester I took an archaeology class and we spent a lot time on, studying ways

  to date things. One technique I remember was using the location of an object to date

  it, like how deep it was buried.

  Professor

  That would be Stratigraphy. Stratigraphy is used for dating portable art. When

  archaeologists are digging at a site, they make very careful notes about which

  stratum(strata), which layer of earth they find things in. And, you know, the general

  rule is that the oldest layers are at the lowest level. But this only works if the site

  hasn’t been touched, and the layers are intact. A problem with this dating method is

  that an object could have been carried around, used for several generations before it

  was discarded. So it might be much older than the layer or even the site where it was

  found. The stratification technique gives us the minimum age of an object, which

  isn’t necessarilly its true age. Tom, in your archaeology class, did you talk about

  radiocarbon dating?

  Tom

  Yeah, we did. That had to do with chemical analysis, something to do with measuring

  the amount of radiocarbon that’s left in organic stuff. Because we know how fast

  radiocarbon decays, we can figure out the age of the organic material.

  Professor

  The key word there is organic. Is art made of organic material?

  Tom

  Well, you said the lady with the hood was carved out of ivory. That ’s organic.

  Professor

  Absolutely. Any other examples?

  Amy

  Well, when they did those cave drawings. Didn’t they use, like chacoal or maybe

  colors, dyes made from plants?

  Professor

  Fortunately, they did, at least some of the time. So it turns out that radiocarbon

  dating works for a lot of prehistoric art. But again there’s a problem. This technique

  destroys what it analyzes, so you have to chip off bits of the object for testing.

  Obviously we are reluctant to do that in some cases. And apart from that, there’s

  another problems. The date tells you the age of the material, say, a bone or a tree,

  the object is made from, but not the date when the artist actually created it. So, with

  radiocarbon dating, we get the maximum possible age for the object, but it could be

  younger.

  Ok, let’ s say our scientific analysis has produced an age range. Can we narrow it

  down?

  Amy

  Could we look for similar styles or motives? You know, try to find things common to

  one time period.

  Professor

  We do that all the time. And when we see similiarities in pieces of art, we assume

  some connection in time or place. But is it possible that we could be imposing our

  own values on that analysis?

  Tom

  I am sorry. I don’t get your point.

  Professor

  Well, we have all kinds of pre-conceived ideas about how artistic styles develop. For

  example, a lot of people think the presence of details demonstrates that the work

  was done by a more sophisticated artist. While a lack of detail suggests a primitive

  style. But trends in art in the last century or so certainly challenge that idea. Don’t

  get me wrong though, analyzing the styles of prehistoric art can help dating them.

  But we need to be careful with the idea that artistic development occurs in a straight

  line, from simple to complex representations.

  Amy

  What you are saying is, I mean, I get the feeling that this is like a legal process, like

  building a legal case, the more pieces of evidence we have, the closer we get to the

  truth.

  Professor

  Great analogy. And now you can see why we don’t have an exact date for our

  sculpture, the lady with the hood.

  TPO 17 Lecture 2 Environmental Science(Milankovitch Hypothesis)

  Narrator

  Listen to part of a lecture in an environmental science class.

  Professor

  Ok, so we have been talking about theories that deal with the effects of human

  activity on the climate. But today I’d like to talk a little bit about other theories that

  can explain variations in climate. And one of the best-known is called the

  Milankovitch Hypothesis.

  Now what the Milankovitch Hypothesis is about? It says that variations in earth’s

  movements, specifically in its orbit around the sun, these variations lead to

  differences in the amount of solar energy that reaches the earth. And it is these

  differences in the amount of energy that’s reaching earth from the sun, it is what

  causes variations in earth’s climate.

  Ok, a lot of people think of earth’s orbit around the sun as being perfectly circular, as

  smooth and as regular as, say, the way that hands move on a well -made watch, but it

  just doesn’t work that way. You are probably aware that the earth’s orbit around the

  sun, it is not shaped like a perfect circle. It is more of an oval, it is elliptical. But the

  shape of this orbit isn’t consistent, it varies over time, over a period of about a

  thousand years. Sometimes it is a little more circular, sometimes it is more elliptical.

  And when earth’s orbit is more elliptical, earth is actually closer to the sun during

  part of the year. Which makes earth, and in particular, the northern hemisphere,

  warmer. And why is that important? well, because most of the planet’s glaciers are in

  the northern hemisphere, and if it gets too warm, then glaciers will stop forming.

  And we’ve already talked about how that affects earth’s overall temperature.

  The second movement involved in the hypothesis has to do with axial tilt. The tilt of

  earth’s axis, that imaginery pole that runs through the center of the earth. And

  depending on the angle it tilts at, the seasons can be more or less severe. It makes

  winters cooler and summers warmer, or what some might say it is doing now, it

  makes summers less hot, and more importantly, the winters less cold. Which just like

  what I mentioned before, can also stop, prevent glaciers from forming, or cause them

  to melt.

  There is a third movement the hypothesis covers called precession. Precession,

  basically is the change in the direction of earth’s axis of rotation. It will take me a

  million years to explain even just the basics of this movement as precession is quite

  complex. And all these details are way beyond our scope. What’s important for you

  to understand is that these three movements, well, they are cyclical, and they work

  together to form, to produce complex but regular variations in earth’s climate, and

  lead to the growth or decline of glaciers.

  Now, when Milankovitch first proposed this theory in the 1920s, many of his

  colleagues were skeptical. Milankovitch didn’t have any proof. Actually there

  wouldn’t be any evidence to support his hypothesis until the 1970s, when

  oceanographers were able to drill deep into the seafloor and collect samples,

  samples which were then analyzed by geologists. And from these samples they were

  able to put together a history of ocean temperatures going back hundreds of

  thousands of years, and this showed that earth’s climate had changed pretty much

  the way Milankovitch’s hypothesis suggested it would. So this evidence was pretty

  strong support for the Milankovitch Hypothesis. And by the 1980s, most people

  accepted this theory.

  However, in the late 1980s, some scientists were exploring Devil’ s Hole, which is

  basically an extensive water-filled cave, far from the ocean, in Nevada2

  , in the

  western United States. Over millions of years, groundwater left deposits of a mineral

  called calcite3

  , on the rock within Devil’s Hole. And by studying these clacite deposits,

  we can determine the climate conditions, the temperatures over the last half million

  years. Well, the Devil’ s Hole findings contradicted the ones obtained during the

  1970s, so basically the question was, were the ages of one or both the samples were

  wrong, or were scientists misunderstanding the significance of the evidence.

  Well, in the 1990s, a new study was done on the two samples. And the ocean floor

  samples were found to be correct, as were the samples from Devil’s Hole. And now it

  is generally believed that the sample from Devil’s Hole correspond to variations in

  local climate, in the western United States, rather than global climate changes.

  TPO 17 Conversation 2

  Narrator

  Listen to a conversation between a student and a food service manager.

  Student

  Excuse me, Mrs. Hanson. My name is John, John Grant. I work as a waiter in the

  campus dining hall, in the faculty dining room.

  Manager

  What can I do for you, John?

  Student

  Well, I work week nights, except for Friday. I was wondering if I could switch from

  working the dinner service to working at lunch.

  Manager

  That’s going to be a problem. I am afraid we don’t have any openings at lunch time. A

  lot of students want to work then, so it is really rare for us to have an open spot at

  that time of day.

  Student

  Oh, you see, I have joined this group, the University Jazz Band, and the band’s

  practice time is right around dinner time. You know, it is so hard to get into this group,

  I must have auditioned like ten times since I have been at the school, so I am ...

  Anyway, so I was really hoping to have the dinner hour free so I can go to practice.

  Manager

  Well, we do have other open times, like breakfast.

  Student

  Eh, that won’t work, I am sorry. I mean that, I can’t work that early. I have this very

  important music class I got to take, and it is like, first thing in the morning.

  Manager

  Well, if you don’t mind working in the kitchen, we’ve got some pretty flexible hours

  for students doing food-prep work, anything from early morning to late afternoon.

  Student

  What’s prep work?

  Manager

  You prepare food for the cooks. You know, like cutting up vegetables for soup, or

  cleaning greens for salads.

  Student

  Oh, that doesn’t sound, I mean... Being a waiter, I get to see a lot of the professors,

  like in a different light, we joke around a little you know. In the classroom, they

  always have to be pretty formal, but ...

  Manager

  Well, the money is no different since we pay students the same amount for any of

  the jobs here in food service, so it’s up to you.

  Student

  Oh, man. I always thought that sacrificing for my art, that’d mean working long hours

  as a musician for, like, no money. I didn’t think it’d mean, peeling carrots.

  Manager

  Let me see, I am offering you something that has the hours you want, it is right here

  on campus, and you make as much money as you did being a waiter, quite a sacrifice.

  Student

  I am sorry, I know you are just trying to help. I guess I should look into the food-prep

  job.

  Manager

  Ok, then, I’ll tell the kitchen manager that you will stop by tomorrow to talk about

  the job and schedule your hours. And I will let the dining hall manager know that he

  needs to find a new waiter for the evening.

  Student

  Oh, ok, I guess that’ s it. Thanks, Mrs. Hanson.

  TPO 17 Lecture 3 History(Ancient Egyptian Calendar)

  Narrator

  Listen to part of a lecture in a history class. The professor has been discussing ancient

  Egypt.

  Professor

  Ok, so one of the challenges that faced ancient civilizations like Egypt was

  timekeeping, calendars. When you have to grow food for whole cities of people, it is

  important to plant your crops at the right time. And when you start having financial

  obligations, rents, taxes, you have to keep track of how often you pay.

  So today we will look at how the Egyptians adressed these problems. In fact, they

  ended up using two calendars, one to keep track of the natural world, or their

  agriculture concerns, and another one, that was used to keep track of the business

  functions of the Kingdom. So let’s take a look at the hows and whys of one ancient

  Egyptian calendar system, starting with the Nile River.

  Why the Nile? Well, there’s no other way to put it. Egyptian life basically revolved

  around the mysterious rise and fall of the river. The success of their agriculture

  system depended upon them knowing when the river would change. So, naturally,

  their first calendar was divided up into three seasons, each based on the river ’s

  changes: inundation, subsidence and harvest.

  The first season was the flooding, or inundation, when the Nile valley was essentially

  submerged in water for a few months or so. And afterwards during the season of

  subsidence, the water would subside, or recede, revealing a new layer of fertile black

  silt and allowing for the planting of various crops. And finally the time of the year

  would arrive when the valley would produce crops, such as wheat, barley, fruit, all

  ready to harvest. Ok, so it was important to the ancient Egyptians to know when

  their Nile based seasons would occur, their way of life depended upon it.

  Now, the way they used to count time was based on the phases of the moon, which,

  regularly and predictably, goes through a cycle, starting with a new moon, then to a

  full moon, and back again to the new moon. Now this cycle wes then used to

  determine the length of their month. So, um, one lunar cycle was one Egyptian

  month, and about four of the months would constitute a season. Now, 12 of these

  months was an approximately 354-day year. So they had a 354-day agricultural

  calendar that was designed to help them determine when the Nile would inunadate

  the land.

  Well, of course it had to be more complicated than that. The average amount of time

  between floodings wasn’t actually 354 days. I mean, although it varies, the average

  was clearly longer than 354 days. So how did they keep this short calendar in step

  with the actual flooding of the Nile?

  Well, their astronomers had discovered that at a certain time of year the brightest

  star, Sirius, would disappear. Actually, it’d be hidden in the glare of the Sun. And then,

  a couple of months later, one morning in the eartern sky just before dawn, Sirius

  would reappear. And it happened regularly, about every 365 days. Even more

  significantly, the reappearance of Sirius would occur around the same time as the

  Nile’s flooding. And this annual event is called a heliacal rising4

  .

  The heliacal rising was a fair indicator of when the Nile would flood. The next new

  moon, after the heliacal rising of Sirius, which happened in the last month of the

  calendar year, marked the New Year. And because the ancient Egyptians were using

  the lunar cycle in combination with this heliacal rising, some years ended up having

  12 lunar months, while others had 13 lunar calender months, if Sirius didn’t rise in

  the 12th

  month.

  Even though the length of the agricultural calendar still fluctuated, with some years

  having 12 months and others having 13, it ended up being much more reliable than it

  was before. They continually adjusted it to the heliacal rising of Sirius, ensuring that

  they never got too far off in their seasons. This new calendar was ideal, because, well,

  it worked well for agricultural purposes as well as for knowing when to have

  traditional religious festivals. So, that was their first calendar.

  But was it any way to run a government? They didn’t think so. For administrative

  purposes, it was very inconvenient to have years of different lengths. So another

  calendar was introduced, an administrative one. Probably soon after 3,000 BC, they

  declared a 365-day year, with 12 months per year, with exactly 30 days each month,

  with an extra 5 days at the end of each year. This administrative calendar existed

  alongside the earlier agricultural and religious calendar that depended on the

  heliacal rising of Sirius. This administrative calendar was much easier to use for

  things like scheduling taxes and other things that had to be paid on time. Over time,

  the calendar got out of step with seasons and the flooding of the Nile, but for

  bureaucratic purposes, they didn’t mind.

  TPO 17 Lecture 4 Biology(Octopus)

  Narrator

  Listen to part of a lecture in a biology class.

  Professor

  Ok, now I want to talk about an animal that has a fascinating set of defense

  mechanisms. And that’s the octopus, one of the unusual creatures that live in the sea.

  The octopus is prey to many species, including humans, so how does it escape its

  predators?

  Well, let me back up here a second. Anyone ever heard of Proteous? Proteus was a

  God in Greek mythology who could change form. He could make himself look like a

  lion or a stone or a tree, anything you wanted, and he could go through a whole

  series of changes very quickly.

  Well, the octopus is the real world version of Proteus. Just like Proteus, the octopus

  can go through all kinds of incredible transformations. And it does this in three ways:

  by changing color, by changing its texture, and by changing its size and shape.

  For me, the most fascinating transformation is when it changes its color. It’s a normal

  skin color, the one it generally presents, is either red or brown or even grey, and it ’s

  speckled with dark spots. But when it wants to blend in with its environment to hide

  from its enemies, it can take on the color of its immediate surroundings: the ocean

  floor, a rock, a piece of coral, whatever. Charles?

  Student

  Do we know how that works, I mean, how they change colors?

  Professor

  Well, we know that the reaction that takes place is not chemical in nature. The color

  changes are executed by two different kinds of cells in the octopus ’ skin, mainly by

  color cells on the skin’s surface call chromatophores

  5

  .

  Chromatophores consist of tiny sacks filled with color dye. There might be a couple

  hundred of these color sacks per square millimeter of the octopus ’ skin, and

  depending on the species, they can come in as many as five different colors. Each

  one of these sacks is controlled by muscles. If the muscles are relaxed, the sack

  shrinks, and all you see is a little white point. But if the muscle’s contract, then the

  sack expands, and you can see the colors. And by expanding different combinations

  Student

  And just with various combinations of those five colors, they can recreate any color

  in their environment?

  Professor

  Well, they can no doubt create a lot with just those five colors, but you are right,

  maybe they can’t mimic every color around them, so that’s where the second kind of

  cell comes in.

  Just below the chromatophores is a layer of cells that reflect light from the

  environment, and these cells help the octopus create a precise match with the colors

  that surround them. The colors from the color sacks are supplemented with colors

  that are reflected from the environment, and that ’s how they are able to mimic

  colors with such precision. So, that’s how octopus mimic colors.

  But they don’t just mimic the colors in their environment; they can alos mimic the

  texture of objects in their environment. They have these little projections on their

  skin that allow them to resemble various textures. The projections are called

  papillae6

  . If the octopus wants to have a rough texture, it raises the papillae. If it

  wants to have a smooth texture, it flattens out the papillae, so it can acquire a

  smooth texture to blend in with the sandy bottom of the sea.

  So the octopus has the ability to mimic both the color and the texture of its

  environment. And it’s truly amazing how well it can blend in with its surroundings.

  You can easily swim within a few feet of an octopus and never see it.

  Student

  I read that they often hide from predators by squirting out a cloud of ink, or

  something like that.

  Professor

  Yes. The octopus can release a cloud of ink if it feels threatened. But it doesn’t hide

  behind it, as is generally believed. Um, the ink cloud is ... it serves to distract a

  predator while the octopus makes its escape.

  Um, now there’s a third way that octopus can transform themselves to blend in with

  or mimic their environment, and that’s by changing their shape and size, well, at

  least their apparent size.

  The muscular system of the octopus enables it to be very flexible to assume all sorts

  of shapes and postures. So it can contract into the shape of a little round stone, and

  sit perfectly still on the seafloor. Or it can nestle up7

  in the middle of a plant and take

  the shape of one of the leaves. Even Proteus would be impressed, I think.

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