Part A Listening Practice

Dialogues  Listen to the short dialogues and choose the best answer according to what you have heard.

1. A) Its price.                          B) Its comfort.

    C) Its location.                     D) Its facilities.

2. A) An art museum.              B) A beautiful park.

    C) A college campus.          D) An architecturalexhibition.

3.A) Find a shortcut tothe park.

    B) Buy some roses from the market.

    C) Plant trees in theeast end of the town.

    D) Go to the park toenjoy the flowers.

4. A) She must have paid a lot.

    B) She is known to have a terrific figure.

    C) Her effort to keep fit is really praiseworthy.

    D) Her gym exercise has yielded good results.

5. A) He doesn’t like abstract paintings.

    B) He isn’t good at abstract thinking.

    C) The woman possesses a natural taste for art.

    D) Women have abetter artistic taste than men.

Conversation

Task 1 Listen to the conversation and choose the best answer according to what you have heard.

1. What does Janethink of the beauty blogger?

 A) She wants to help the blogger.

 B) She expects the blogger to help her.

 C) She looks down on the blogger’s boyfriend.

 D) She admires the blogger for her beauty and wealth.

2. What’s Jane’s self-assessment?

    A) She is an idiot.

    B) She iswell-educated.

    C) She likes sour grapes.

    D) She desires for lemon.

3. Professor Tan suggests that Jane should _____.

    A) find a greatboyfriend

    B) sweat in the gym

    C) work hard for abetter life

    D) eat more sourgrapes

Task 2 Listen to the conversation again and fill in the blanks according to what you have heard.

1. I just couldn’t help __________ her!

 2. God, that’s not__________ .

 3. I’m sure she worked very hard to __________ what she is now.

 4. Have you ever seen her writing her paper __________ at night?

 5. __________people are always attracted to each other.

Task 3 Give a short talk about whether being beautiful is always a good thing.

a wonderful thing, handsome or pretty, self-confidence,excellent appearance,

successful in their career ladder, better-looking faces, at a disadvantage, down to one’s beauty

Passage

Task 1 Listen to the passage and choose the best answer according to what you have heard.

1. According to the passage, which of the following statements is true?

    A) Women are suggested to marry an ugly guy.

    B) A man had better choose a  poor-looking woman.

    C) There are some universal standards for being beautiful women.

    D) Women place great value on beauty.

2. The“grass could be greener” mentality implies that ____.

    A) people usually believe they would find a more considerate spouse

    B) people always think they would behappier in a different set of circumstances

    C) other people often seem to be in a worse situation than  you

    D) other people’s belongings always seemless desirable than one’s own

3. The passage mainly talks about _____.

   A) why beautiful women marry less attractive men

  B) why handsome men marry more attractive women

  C) more beautiful wives are not reliable

   D) more handsome men are attracted to women

Task 2 Listen to the passage again and complete the notes by filling in the blanks. 

Task 3 Retell the passage according to the notes above with the help of the key words and 

expressions below.

a universal standard, woman facial beauty, a less physically attractive guy, a life partner, better-looking wives, positive and supportive, attractive husbands,work hard to maintain that relationship, less committed to maintain the marriage, mismatch in looks