M: Well, People speak both French and English there. But you’ll hear French most
of the time. And all the street signs are in French. In fact, Montreal is the third
largest French speaking city in the world. So you’d better practice your French
before you go.
W: Good advice. What about Quebec City? I’ll visit a friend from college who lives
there now. What’s it like?
M: It’s a beautiful city, very old. Many old buildings have been nicely restored.
Some of them were built in the 17th or 18th centuries. You’ll love there.
W: Fantastic. I can’t wait to go.
19. What’s the woman’s main purpose of visiting Quebec?
20. What does the man advise the woman to do before the trip?
21. What does the man say about the Quebec City?
Questions 22 to 25 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
M: Hi, Miss Rowling, how old were you when you started to write? And what was
your first book?
W: I wrote my first Finnish (finished) story when I was about six. It was about a
small animal, a rabbit, I mean. And I’ve been writing ever since?
M: Why did you choose to be an author?
W: If someone asked me how to achieve happiness. Step One would be finding out
what you love doing most. Step two would be finding someone to pay you to do
this. I consider myself very lucky indeed to be able to support myself by writing
M: Do you have any plans to write books for adults?
W: My first two novels were for adults. I suppose I might write another one. But I
never really imagine a target audience when I’m writing. The ideas come first. So it
really depends on the ideas that grasp me next.
M: where did the ideas for the “Harry Potter” books come from?
W: I’ve no ideas where the ideas came from. And I hope I’ll never find out. It
would spoil my excitement if it turned out I just have a funny wrinkle on the surface
of my brain, which makes me think about the invisible train platform.
M: How did you come up with the names of your characters?
W: I invented some of them. But I also collected strange names. I’ve got one from
ancient saints, maps, dictionaries, plants, war memoirs and people I met.
M: Oh, you are really resourceful.
22. What do we learn from the conversation about Miss Rowling’s first book?
23. Why does Miss Rowling consider her so very lucky?
24. What dictates Miss Rowling’s writing?
25. According to Miss Rowling where did she get the ideas for the Harry Porter books?
Section B
Directions: In this section, you will hear 3 short passages. At the end of each passage,
you will hear some questions. Both the passage and the questions will be
spoken only once. After you hear a question, you must choose the best
answer from the four choices marked A), B), C) and D). Then mark the
corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre.
Passage One
Reducing the amount of sleep students get at night has a direct impact on their
performance at school during the day. According to classroom teachers, elementary and
middle school students who stay up late exhibit more learning and attention problems.
This has been shown by Brown Medical School and Bradley Hospital research. In the
study, teachers were not told the amount of sleep students received when completing
weekly performance reports, yet they rated the students who had received eight hours or
less as having the most trouble recalling all the material, learning new lessons and
completing high-quality work. Teachers also reported that these students had more
difficulty paying attention. The experiment is the first to ask teachers to report on the
effects of sleep deficiency in children. Just staying up late can cause increased academic
difficulty and attention problems for otherwise healthy, well-functioning kids, said
Garharn Forlone, the study’s lead author. So the results provide professionals and parents
with a clear message: when a child is having learning and attention problems, the issue of
sleep has to be taken into consideration. “If we don’t ask about sleep, and try to improve
sleep patterns in kids’ struggling academically, then we aren’t doing our job”, Forlone
said. For parents, he said, the message is simple, “getting kids to bed on time is as
important as getting them to school on time”.
26. What were teachers told to do in the experiment?