TOEFL IBT Listening Practice Test 04 from Barron’s TOEFL iBT Solution
Listening 1 “Professor’s Office”
1. D
2. C
3. B
4. D
5. A
6. D
7. A, C
8. B
9. B
Listening 2 “Anthropology Class”
1o. C
11. YES: A, B, D | NO: C, E
Listening 3 “Business Class”
12. B
13. D
14. A
15. B
16. D
17. B
Listening 4 “Student on Campus”
18. B
19. A
20. B
21. C
22. A
Listening 5 “Biology Class”
23. D
24. B
25. A
26. A
27. B
28. D
Listening 6 “Orientation Session”
29. B
30. A
31. B
32. C
33. A: Fixating | C: Regressing | B: Auditory reading
34. D
TOEFL IBT Listening Practice Test 04 from Barron’s TOEFL iBT Transcripts
LISTENING 1 “PROFESSOR’S OFFICE”
Audio Conversation
Narrator Listen to part of a conversation on campus between a student and a professor.
Professor: So what did you want to see me about Emie?
Student: My grade. I’m not doing very well in this class.
Professor. Well, that’s not exactly true. You were doing very well until the last test.
Student: I got a D. Professor Adams, I’ve never gotten a D in my life… before this, I mean. So that’s why I’m here. I hope you can give me some advice.
Professor. Well, from my class book, I see that your attendance is excellent. No absences, so that’s not the problem.
Student: No. I never miss class. I’m a serious student. I just don’t know what happened on that test.
Professor: Did you bring it? The test?
Student: Yes. I did. Here it is.
Professor: Okay. I think I remember this, but there were almost a hundred tests to grade, so let’s have a look at it.
Student: Thanks.
Professor: Well, Ernie … let’s see … Here it is. Yes, I do recall this test. You didn’t finish it You stopped after question 15. So you had 5 questions that were counted wrong because they… because you didn’t complete the test.
Student: I know. I didn’t watch the time, and I just couldn’t believe it when you asked us to hand in the tests.
Professor: Yes. I see. But you did a good job on the questions that you did respond to.
Student: Professor Adams, maybe you won’t believe me, but I know the answers to the questions that I… that… that…
Professor: The ones that you left blank at the end.
Student: Yeah. So now I need some advice about how to bring up my grade because a D is going to make a big difference.
Professor: This test counts 25 percent so. uh,… you’re right. It will bring it down at least a letter.
Student: I know.
Professor. Okay then. The first thing is to learn something from this. You have to find a way to pace yourself through tests or you’re going to have this problem again.
Student: Okay. That’s good. Now, uh, what about the grade for this class?
Student: I was hoping you might give me a chance to… to maybe do an extra credit assignment.
Professor: Hummm. I don’t know about that.
Student: Oh.
Professor: But here’s what we can do. If you want to finish the test right now, and your answers are satisfactory, then I’ll add some points to your grade.
Student: You will? I know the answers. Really I…
Professor … I can’t give you full credit for your answers. That wouldn’t be fair to the other students, but I can add some points, and that should help you somewhat.
Student: Wow. This is great.
Professor: Okay. Just take your test over there and finish it. You had about an hour to complete 20 questions, so, uh,… that would be 15 minutes to finish the 5 questions you left blank. And Ernie … pace yourself.
Student: I will! Thanks. Thanks a lot.
LISTENING 2 “ANTHROPOLOGY CLASS”
Audio Lecture
Narrator Listen to part of a lecture in an anthropology dass The professor is discussing agriculture
Professor
Let’s just pick up where we left off last week. Okay, as you’ll recall, earlier theories about the develop ment of agriculture tended to view it as a progressive event, or even as a catalyst for everything from art to industry, but I’m going to share a rather different view with you. From a revisionist perspective, the development of agriculture about 10,000 years ago didn’t improve the lives of early farmers. On the contrary. when hunter-gatherers abandoned the age-old method of foraging for food and began to cultivate crops, they put their health at risk. Now I know it’s just the opposite of… it’s quite a different viewpoint let’s say, so… why would this be so . why would their health decline when agriculture provided people with an efficient way to get more food for less work?
Clearly, cultivated fields yield more food per acre than uncultivated land with undomesticated patches of berries and nuts. Well, first let’s consider the conditions that are necessary for agriculture to flourish. In order to have enough labor to plant, tend, and harvest crops, a larger number of people must well they have to cooperate. That means that the density of the population must increase in the area surrounding the cultivated farms. And, as we know, crowding contributes to the transmission of infectious diseases. So when hunter-gatherers were wandering in small bands, the likelihood of an epidemic was slight, but after the agricultural revolution, tuberculosis . . . and diseases of the intestinal tract.. . these began to reach epidemic proportions in the crowded agricultural communities. And in addition, because the population was no longer mobile and … and relied on trade to inject variety into the lives and diets of the farmers, that meant that disease was also transmitted through the exchange of goods. •
Now, the revisionists also argue that the content of the (Set for earty farmers was inferior to that of the hunter-gatherers. You’ll recall that hunter-gatherers enjoyed a variety of foods selected from wild plants and game, and in studies of modem tribes that have continued the tradition of hunting and gathering food, it appears that those … the hunters and gatherers … they have a better balance of nutrients and even more protein than tribes that have adopted agricultural lifestyles. Today, three grain crops… wheat, com, and rice… these account for the bulk of calories consumed by farming societies. So, consider the implications. Extrapolating from this and from evidence that earty farmers raised only one or two crops, we can conclude that a disproportionate amount of carbohydrates formed the basis of their diets.
Now another interesting series of studies involve the skeletal remains of hunter-gatherers as com-pared with their agricultural relatives. And one such study from Greece and Turkey… it indicates that the average height of hunter-gatherers at the end of the Ice Age was … let me check my notes… yes, it was 5’9s for men and 5’5 for women. And their bones were strong, healthy, and athletic. But, after the agricultural revolution, skeletal remains revealed that height had diminished to a shocking 5’3s for men and 5’ for women. And evidence from bone samples suggests that they suffered from diseases caused by malnutrition, like anemia. And this is interesting. Further studies from paleontologists at the University of Massachusetts project life expectancies for hunter-gatherers at about twenty-six years, but post agricultural life expectancies were less than twenty years. Let me just read you something from one of the studies by George Armelagos, and I quote, “episodes of nutritional stress and infectious disease were seriously affecting their ability to survive.” And he’s referring to earty farmers here.
So. let’s see where we are. Oh, yes. Consider that hunter-gatherers had the advantage of mobility. So if food wasn’t plentiful, they broke camp and moved on in search of an area with a larger food supply. And, if one type of food were in short supply, for example … well, berries, then they wouldn’t eat berries but there would probably be a good supply of another type of food, like nuts. Or hunting might compensate for a bad year for plant foods But farmers were very vulnerable to crop failures. Remember, most early farmers cultivated only one or two crops. If there was a drought and the grain harvest failed, they didn’t have other resources and that’s why they were subject to malnutrition or even starvation. So, as you see, revisionists have made a rather convincing case. To sum it up, according to the revisionists, the development of agriculture put the health of earty fanners at risk.
