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
Skin cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer. The risk increases in summer because ultraviolet rays from the sun are the main cause of skin cancer. Anyone can get skin cancer, but people with light colored skin, hair or eyes are at greatest risk. A history of sunburns early in life also increases the risk. So does a family history of skin cancer.
The sooner skin cancer is found, the easier it is to treat. So doctors advise people to examine all areas of their skin once a month, from the top of their head to the bottom of their feet. Even look under the nails and between the toes. Professional examinations are also important. See a doctor if a mole bleeds or itches or is bigger than six millimeters. The Cleveland Clinic suggests taking pictures of moles and dating the images to compare over time.
Hats, sunglasses and clothing offer protection from harmful sunrays, but that can depend. Experts say the denser the weave of the material, the less ultraviolet radiation reaches the skin. Also, darker colors may offer more protection, and natural cotton can block more than bleached cotton. When clothing is wet or stretched, however, it lets more UV radiation pass through. Choose sunscreen products and sunglasses designed to protect both UV-A and UV-B rays. Put a thick amount on all areas of skin that will get sun. UV levels can be high even on cloudy days. Put on more sunscreen if you stay in the sun for more than two hours and after you swim or sweat a lot from activities.
Questions 26 to 29 are based on the passage you have just heard.
26 Who are the most likely to get skin cancer?
27 What is the doctor’s advice to people?
28 Which is the most effective in protecting people from harmful sunrays?
29 Which of the following is not true about sunscreen?
Passage Two
Now, teenagers are using a cell phone ring tone that many adults cannot hear. The sound that the cell phone releases is a very high frequency or pitch. Many older people are not able to hear the ring tone. Teenagers are using it to communicate during school classes. Students are supposed to have their cell phones turned off during classes. But some students use the ring tone so they can send text messages to each other during class without their teachers knowing. For example, the frequency of normal talking is as high as eight kilohertz. The frequency of the ring tone is said to be about seventeen kilohertz. Over time, most adults over the age of forty or fifty lose their ability to hear high frequency sounds. So most young people can hear the ring tone but many older people cannot.
A British security company first created the sound and called it the Mosquito. The Mosquito device was used to solve a problem for British storeowners. Many teenagers gathered in stores without buying anything. Storeowners used the Mosquito sound to make the teenagers leave the store. The Mosquito sound was reinvented as a ring tone for cell phones.
Teenagers in the United States found the ring tone on the Internet. Some students downloaded the ring tone onto their cell phones and sent it to their friends. The ring tone quickly spread among teenagers in the United States and in other countries. Many people from around the world have written about the ring tone on Web sites. Some people over forty years old said they could hear the ring tone, too. And some young people found the ring tone to be painful to hear. They said it hurt their ears and gave them headaches.
Questions 30 to 32 are based on the passage you have just heard.
30. What can the students do with the new ring tone?
31. Why did the storeowners install the Mosquito device in their store?
32. Which of the following is true according to the passage?
Passage Three
A college education can be very costly in the United States, especially at a private school. Rising costs have led more and more families to borrow money to help pay for college. As borrowing has increased, there are growing concerns that many students graduate with too much debt.
In 1993, less than one-half of graduates from four-year colleges had student loans. Now two-thirds of them do. Their average loan debt when they graduate is 19,000 dollars. At public universities, the average is 17,000 dollars. However, averages do not present the full picture. For example, in 2004, one-fourth of students with loans graduated more than 25,000 dollars in debt. And that did not include borrowing by their parents. Parents as well as students are borrowing more to pay for college.
