Listening Preview Test 247 » Listen to a conversation between a student and a professor GP Aare is Œ ¬ mm < le) lof23 What is this conversation mainly about? © The student’s grade in her geology class © The topic of a research paper that the student must write © Aclass assignment that the student did not hand in © The reason the student did not attend class Ten erro G Testing Tools Listen again to part of the conversation GP Then answer the question 248 Section Guide to Listening of 23 What can be inferred about the student? ©) She has never attended the professor's class © © © 3of23 She is not sure what course the professor teaches She is not sure that the professor knows who she is She is not certain that the professor’s name is Dixon What assumption does the professor make about the student? That she got up too late to attend his class yesterday That she missed class because she had to go to the airport That she is coming to his office to apologize for missing class That she is unhappy about the research paper assignment © © © © 4of23 How did the student first get information about the topic she wants to write about? © ©) ©) © of23 From a magazine article From the Internet From the professor From a television show What is the professor’s attitude towards the topic that the student wants to write about? © © © © He does not think it is a proper topic for a research paper He thinks it might be a good topic if the student researches it carefully He believes students should not write about theories that have not been proved He thinks it is much too narrow a topic for her research paper Listening Preview Test 249 Now listen to a lecture in a biology class G» ĐNIN4ISLT » 6of23 What does the professor say about the word taiga? © © © © Itis no longer commonly used It refers only to certain forests in Russia It was recently invented by biologists Ithas the same meaning as the term boreal forest 250 Section Guide to Listening Question of 23 Why does the speaker say this? @) © © © © of 23 To explain why he finds the taiga a less interesting biome than tropical rain forest To emphasize that this sub-zone is far less varied than tropical rain forest To explain to students why he is talking about the taiga today, not in a few days To try to encourage students to find out more about different types of biomes The professor discussed three sub-zones of the taiga Match each sub-zone with its characteristic A Open forest B Closed forest C Mixed forest Listening Preview Test 251 of 23 When discussing needle-leaf trees, which of these adaptations to cold weather does the professor mention? CL L] L] L] Ll 10 of 23 What characteristic all of the predators of the taiga have in common? © © © © 11 of 23 Their thick bark Their dark green color Their deep root system Their conical shape The fact that they are “evergreen” They They They They all all all all migrate during the winter have thick, warm fur turn white in the winter hibernate in the winter What does the professor imply about moose? © © © © They are more dangerous to humans than predators They have almost vanished from the taiga When fully grown, they are in little danger from predators Because of the value of their hides, they are often hunted TỶse = m a lộ 252 Section Guide to Listening » Listen to a discussion in the first class of a business course G) Questio - ; | Case Study Method Christopher Longdell Testing Tools Listening Preview Test 253 Professor Speed mentions several stages in the history of the case method Put these steps in the proper order PweNnNPr © Pp 12of23 13 of 23 What does Professor Speed say about exhibits? ©) © ©) © 14of23 Harvard University School of Business begins to use the case method Columbia University Law School begins to use the case method Chinese philosophers use a similar method Harvard University School of Law begins to use the case method They They They They are the center of every case consist of ten to twenty pages of text describing a business situation are generally obtained from the Internet consist of statistical information about a company What does the professor mean when he says this? @) © © He wants to know if the class can answer his question He’s not sure exactly when the case study method was first used at a business school © He wants the students to express their opinion about when cases were first used © He's not sure where the case study method was first used 254 Section Guide to Listening 15of23 Why does Professor Speed mention his wife? © © © © 160f23 She She She She uses case study in another type of class also teaches in the business school studied law by using the case study method disagrees with the professor's opinion of cases In this lecture, the professor describes the process of the case study method Indicate whether each of the following is a step in the process Analyze the business situation and exhibits Role-play Run a computer simulation Give a presentation and write a report Visit a real business and attend a meeting 17 0f23 Which ofthe following reasons does the professor give for using the case study method? C1 C1 LC] L] It It It It builds a spirit of cooperation and teamwork among students allows students to study more than one discipline at the same time enables students to design and write their own cases develops students’ decision-making and problem-solving skills Listening Preview Test 255 » Listen to a student giving a presentation in an astronomy class @) : Brine) ools 256 Section Guide to Listening 18 of 23 How does the speaker introduce the topic of Venus? ©) © © © By By By By comparing Venus with the eight other planets discussing what people in the past thought of the planet asking the class what they already know about Venus listing all of the space probes that have been sent to Venus Listening Preview Test 257 19of23 According to the speaker, which of the following were once common beliefs about Venus? L] That it was not a single object but two objects L] That it was actually much colder than the earth L] That it had two moons, Phosphorus and Hesperus L] That a superior form of life lived under its clouds 200f23 In this presentation, the speaker discusses some similarities between Earth and Venus and some of the differences between the two planets Indicate which of the following is a similarity and which is a difference Their ages The directions in which they spin around their axes Their atmospheric pressures The presence of volcanoes Their sizes 21 0f23 Which of the following is NOT true about the length of a day on Venus? ©) © © © 22 0f23 It It It It is is is is longer longer longer longer than than than than an Earth day an Earth year a Venus year a day on Jupiter In what order were these space probes sent to Venus? A Mariner2 B Magellan C Venus Pioneer D Venera4 PO N 23 of23 _—It can be inferred that the topic of the next student presentation will be about which of the following? © © © ©) The Moon The Sun Earth Mars This is the end of the Listening Preview Test LESSON MAIN- TOPIC AND MAIN-PURPOSE QUESTIONS After each conversation or lecture in the Listening Section, there is a set of questions The first question of each set is often a main-topic question or a mainpurpose question To answer these questions, you need to understand the whole conversation or lecture These questions can be phrased in a number of ways: Conversations What are these people mainly talking about? What is the main topic of this conversation? What is this conversation primarily about? Why is the man/woman talking to the professor? What is the purpose of this conversation? Lectures and Class Discussions What is the primary topic of this lecture? What is the main point of this lecture? What is the purpose of this lecture? What is the topic of the class discussion? What is the main subject of this discussion? What are the students and the professor discussing? The answer to main-topic/main-purpose questions must correctly summarize vvvyv v the conversation or lecture Incorrect answers have one of these characteristics: They are too general They are too specific, focusing on a detail in the conversation or lecture They are incorrect according to information in the conversation or lecture They are not mentioned in the conversation or lecture Although answering these the conversations or lectures, you a general idea of what the some lectures the speaker will of the talk: questions will require an overall understanding of the first few sentences often “set the scene” and give conversation or lecture will be about In fact, in actually announce the main topic at the beginning “In our last class, we discussed , to but today we're going to move on ” “In this class, we're going to focus on “Today I'd like to introduce the topic of .” When you are taking notes, as soon as you become aware of the main topic of the conversation or lecture, you should write it down and underline or circle it 258 Lesson 9: Main-Topic and Main-Purpose Questions 259 Pay attention to the “blackboard screens” that are shown before these lectures begin—copy down the information shown on these screens on your note paper The words that are written on the blackboard are often related to the main idea Here is conversation from the Listening Preview Test and a main-topic question about it Sample Item » Listen to a conversation from the Listening Preview test and a main-topic question about it Sample notes on this conversation are also provided (You can see a script of this conversation in the Answer Key/Audioscript book or online at http://elt.thomson.com/ toefl.) » Nowstart the Audio Program @) — eel ara ca Scction Guide to Listening Sample Notes: Prof Dixon / student (Brenda Pierce) EU U In Geol 210 class To_a’port traffic +@teed info re rshch pape no 25 pp _Bibllo: 10 reƒ srces Big class + overslp? a.m Topic up to stu LU k2 U Earthquakes? Too broad Maybe connections animals/quakes? But studies not promising ,U 260 Using animals predict quakes Saw TV show Haecheng In China, animals predicted quake Quake, 30 urs ago snakes, horses, etc evac save 1,000s lives But: not able duplic manu quakes not predicted + many false alarms (evac, but no quake) So not good topic? Maybe OK need look @ serious studies in j’nals, not pop-sci in papers or on TV Will go library, look Need formal prop., prelim biblio, due in wk Lesson 9: Main-Topic and Main-Purpose Questions 26T Sample Question: What is this conversation mainly about? EXERCISE 9.1 Focus: Answering main-topic/main-purpose questions about conversations DiREcTIONs: Listen to the conversations and the main-topic/main-purpose questions about them Then mark the answer choices that correctly answer the questions You may take notes on the conversations in the space allowed in the book or on another sheet of paper As you take notes, try to decide what the main topic/main purpose of the conversation is and underline it in your notes You may use your notes to help you answer the questions » Nowstart the Audio Program @ » Listen to a conversation between a student and a librarian G) Œ The subject of the student’s grade (choice 1) was barely mentioned in the conversation The professor simply says that the paper will account for 30% of the student’s grade The conversation does deal with a class assignment (a research paper) but it is an assignment that the student must in the future, not one that she did not hand in, so choice is not correct The professor does mention the fact that the student did not attend class yesterday morning (choice 4), but this is only a detail in the conversation The student and professor are mainly talking about the research paper that the student must complete and about a possible topic for this paper: predicting earthquakes by observing animals’ behavior (choice 2) q1SFT The student’s grade in her geology class The topic of a research paper that the student must write Aclass assignment that the student did not hand in The reason that the student did not attend class < =2 ® , ©) ©) © ©) ... in little danger from predators Because of the value of their hides, they are often hunted TỶse = m a lộ 25 2 Section Guide to Listening » Listen to a discussion in the first class of a business... Christopher Longdell Testing Tools Listening Preview Test 25 3 Professor Speed mentions several stages in the history of the case method Put these steps in the proper order PweNnNPr © Pp 12of23... ools 25 6 Section Guide to Listening 18 of 23 How does the speaker introduce the topic of Venus? ©) © © © By By By By comparing Venus with the eight other planets discussing what people in the