Tape Script of Listening Comprehension

Section A
Directions: In this section, you will hear two long conversations. At the end of each conversation, you will hear some questions. Both the conversation 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 1with a single line through the centre.

Conversation One

W: Hello.
M: Hello, is that the reference library?
W: Yes. Can I help you?
M: I hope so. I rang earlier and asked for some information about Denys Hawtin, the scientist. You asked me to ring back.
W: Oh, yes. I have found something.
M: Good. I’ve got a pencil and paper. Perhaps you could read out what it says.
W: Certainly. Hawtin, Denys. Born: Darlington 1836; died New York 1920.?
M: Yes. Got that.
W: Inventor and physicist. The son of a farm worker, he was admitted to the University of London at the age of fifteen.?
M: Yes.
W: He graduated at seventeen with a first class degree in Physics and Mathematics. All right??
M: Yes, all right.
W: He made his first notable achievement at the age of eighteen. It was a method of refrigeration which arose from his work in low temperature physics. He became professor of Mathematics at the University of Manchester at twenty-four, where he remained for twelve years. During that time he married one of his students, Natasha Willoughby.
M: Yes. Go on.
W: Later, working together in London, they laid the foundation of modern Physics by showing that normal laws of cause and effect do not apply at the level of subatomic particles. For this he and his wife received the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1910, and did so again in 1912 for their work on very high frequency radio waves. In his lifetime Hawtin patented 244 inventions. Do you want any more?
M: Yes. When did he go to America?
W: Let me see. In 1920 he went to teach in New York, and died there suddenly after only three weeks. Still, he was a good age.
M: Yes. I suppose so. Well, thanks.

Questions 1 to 4 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
1. What do we learn about Denys Hawtin when he was 15?
2. What did Denys Hawtin do at the age of 24?
3. For what were Denys Hawtin and his wife awarded the Nobel Prize a second time?
4. Why did Denys Hawtin go to New York?

Conversation Two
W: This is Lisa Meyer in the WBZ newsroom, talking with Mike Bassichis, who is the director of the Gifford School, about the cleanup from last week’s fire and what the possible cause of that blaze may have been.
M: We’re getting ready for our entire staff to return early from vacation tomorrow whereupon we are going to move into temporary classrooms. And the other buildings that did not burn are being de-smoked. As to the cause of the fire, all we know is that we were having trouble with the pilot lights since we bought the stove in July and it had been serviced three times. Well, as a matter of fact, we think it was a malfunctioning stove that may have caused the fire. Nothing definite yet has been determined.
W: Have you heard from other schools or other institutional users of this stove that have had the same problem?
M: No. I wouldn’t know anything more about the stove itself. All I know is that this fire went up so quickly that there’s been a suspicion about why it went up so quickly. And it may be that there was a gas blast. But, again, this has not been determined officially by anybody.
W: I got you. When do kids come back to school?
M: Next Monday, and we will be ready for them. Monday January 4. We’re just extremely thrilled that no one was hurt and that’s because of the fire fighters that were here, nine of them. They’re wonderful.
W: And I’m sure you send your thanks out to them, uh?
M: Well, we’re sending out thanks to them in a letter or in any other way we can. I heard a story today where one of our kids actually baked some cookies and is taking it to the fire department, to give it to them.?

Questions 5 to 8 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
5. What were the speakers talking about?
6. What were the school staff doing at the time of the accident?
7. What was supposed to be the cause of the accident?
8. What did one of the kids do to show gratitude?