I have to make a call on the payphone.
W: Payphone? Why not use my mobile phone? Here you are.
Q: What will the man most probably do?
2. M: Can you tell me the title of this oil painting?
W: Sorry, I don’t know for sure, but I guess it is an early 18 century work. Let me
look it up in the catalog.
Q: Where does this conversation most probably take place?
3. M: I am worried about those classes I missed when I was sick.
W: I will try to bring you up today on what we’ve done.
Q: What does the woman mean?
4. W: Hey Dan. I hear you’re meeting Susan’s parents for the first time.
M: Yeah, next weekend. Fortunately, her father loves to fish, so we will have so
many things to talk about.
Q: What can be inferred about Dan?
5. W: Professor White’s presentation seemed to go on forever. I was barely able to stay
awake.
M: How could you sleep through it? It is one of the best that I have ever heard on
this topic.
Q: What does the man think of Professor White’s presentation?
6. W: I am looking for quality paper to type my essay. I don’t see any on the shelf.
M: I saw some in the stockroom this morning. I will go and check.
Q: What does the woman want to buy?
7. M: It seems that we’ll have another fine day tomorrow. Let’s go to the seaside.
W: OK. But we’ll have to leave very early, or else we’ll get caught in the traffic.
Q: What does the woman suggest?
8. M: Do you know James? He is in your class.
W: Certainly. In fact he was the first person I got to know in my class. I still
remember the look on his face when he showed up late on the first day of school.
Q: Why did the woman remember James so well?
9. W: The man at the garage thinks that I take good care of my car.
M: So do I. I can’t see any scratches on the outside, and the inside is clean, too.
Q: What does the man think of the woman’s car?
10. M: Wonderful day, isn’t it? Want to join me for a swim?
W: If you don’t mind waiting while I get prepared.
Q: What does the woman mean?
Passage One
A friend of mine told me that when he was a young man, he went to work as a
teacher in one of the states of India. One day, he received an invitation to dinner at the
ruler’s palace. Very pleased, he went to tell his colleagues. They laughed, and told him
the meaning of the invitation. They had all been invited, and each person who was
invited had to bring with him a certain number of silver and gold coins. The number of
coins varied according to the person’s position in the service of the government. My
friend’s income was not high, so he did not have much to pay. Each person bowed before
the ruler, his gold went onto one hip, his silver went onto another hip. And in this way he
paid his income tax for the year. This was a simple way of collecting income tax. The tax
on property was also collected simply. The ruler gave a man the power to collect a tax
from each owner of land or property in a certain area, if this man promised to pay the
ruler a certain amount of money. Of course, the tax collector managed to collect more
money than he paid to the ruler. The difference between the sum of money he collected
and the sum of money he gave to the ruler was his profit.
Questions 11 to 13 are based on the passage you have just heard.
11. What do we know about the speaker’s friend?
12. What was the real purpose of the ruler’s invitation?
13. What does the passage say about the tax collectors?
Passage Two
Around the year 1000.A.D, some people from northwest India began to travel
westward. Nobody knows why. After leaving their homes, they did not settle down
again, but spent their lives moving from one place to another, their later generations are
called the Romany people, or Gypsies. There’re Gypsies all over the world, and many of
them are still travelling with no fix homes. There are about 8,000,000 of them, including
3,000,000 in Eastern Europe. Gypsies sometimes have a hard time in the countries where
they travel, because they are different, people may be afraid of them, look down on them,
or think that they are criminals. The Nazies treated the Gypsies cruelly, like the Jews, and
nobody knows how many of them died in Hitler’s deathcamps. Gypsies have their own
language Romany. They liked music and dancing. And they often work in fairs and
travelling shows. Travelling is very important to them, and many Gypsies are unhappy if
they have to stay in one place. Because of this, it is difficult for Gypsy children to go to
school, and Gypsies are often unable to read and write. In some places, the education
authorities tried to arrange special travelling schools for Gypsy children, so that they can
get the same education as other children.
Questions 14 to 16 are based on the passage you have just heard.
14. Why did the ancestors of Gypsies leave their home?