Conversation One:
M: Hi, Anna! Welcome back! How’s your trip to the States?
W: Very busy. I had a lot of meetings, so, of course, I didn’t have much time to see New York.
M: What a pity! Actually, I have a trip there myself next week.
W: Do you? Then take my advice, do the well-being in the air program. It really works.
M: Oh, I read about that in a magazine. You say it works?
W: Yes, I did the program on the flight to the States, and when I arrived at New York, I didn’t have any problem, no jet lag at all. On the way back, I didn’t do it, and I felt terrible.
M: You’re joking!
W: Not at all, it really meant a lot of difference.
M: En. So what did you do?
W: Well, I didn’t drink an alcohol or coffee, and I didn’t eat any meat or rich food. I drink a lot of water, and fresh juice, and I ate the noodles on the well-being menu. They’re lighter. They have fish, vegetables, and noodles, for example, and I did some of the exercises of the program.
M: Exercises? On a plane?
W: Yes. I didn’t do many, of course, there isn’t much space on a plane.
M: How many passengers do the exercises?
W: Not many.
M: Then how much champagne did they drink?
W: A lot! It was more popular than mineral water.
M: So, basically, it’s a choice. Mineral water and exercises, or champagne and jet lag.
W: That’s right! It’s a difficult choice.
Questions 19 to 22 are based on the conversation you’ve just heard.
19. Why did the woman go to New York?
20. What does the woman say about the well-being in the air program?
21. What did the woman do to follow the well-being menu?
22. What did the woman say about other passengers?
Conversation Two:
W: Morning. Can I help you?
M: Well, I’m not rally sure. I’m just looking.
W: I see. Well, there’s plenty to look at it again this year. I’m sure you have to walk miles to see each stand.
M: That’s true.
W: Er…, would you like a coffee? Come and sit down for a minute, no obligation.
M: Well, that’s very kind of you, but…
W: Now, please. Is this the first year you’ve been to the fair, Mr….
M: Yes, Johnson, James Johnson.
W: My name’s Susan Carter. Are you looking for anything in particular, or are you interested in computers in general?
M: Well, actually, I have some specific jobs in mind. I owe a small company, we’ve grown quite dramatically over the past 12 months, and we really need some technological help to enable us to keep on top of everything.
W: What’s your line of business, Mr. Johnson?
M: We’re a training consultancy.
W: I see. And what do you mean “to keep on top”?
M: The first thing is correspondence. We have a lot of standard letters and forms. So I suppose we need some kind of word processor.
W: Right. Well, that’s no problem. But it may be possible for you to get a system that does a lot of other things in addition to word processing. What might suit you is the MR5000. That’s it over there! It’s IBM compatible.
M: What about the price?
W: Well, the MR5000 costs 1,050 pounds. Software comes free with the hardware.
M: Well, I’ll think about it. Thank you.
W: Here’s my card. Please feel free to contact me.
Questions 23 to 25 are based on the conversation you’ve just heard:
23. Where did the conversation take place?
24. What are the speakers talking about?
25. What is the man’s line of business?
答案
19. B) To have meetings.
20. D) It can lessen the discomfort cased by air travel.
21. D) Avoided eating rich food.
22. C) Not many of them chose to do what she did.
23. A) At a fair.
24. C) The purchasing of some equipment.
25. B) Training consultancy.
應試框架下的能力考察——
淺析2007年6月六級聽力長對話部分
今年六級聽力考試的長對話部分，集中體現(xiàn)了命題組對于考試改革的訴求——強調在實際環(huán)境中的語言運用能力。從六級考試的定位來分析，由于六級針對的往往是高校的高年級學生，這些考生即將走上社會，投入實際工作，因此他們的英語學習不能僅停留在對書本知識的表層理解上，而要“學以致用”。
命題以工作場景為核心，強調商務英語
在這一指導原則下，今年長對話的命題完全脫離了以往聽力題目以學校生活為主要背景的做法，而將對話內容全部安排在工作和商務場景之下。其實，早在國家教委所發(fā)行的六級樣題中，長對話的conversation one內容為一家公司招聘初級銷售經理，這已經給以后的六級長對話命題提供了線索——這類新題型是專門在新的英語應用要求下應運而生的，因此會廣泛地結合工作內容。而這種線索，在6月23日的六級考試中無疑得到了具體驗證。
在題目中涉及工作內容，這從九十年代中期起，就在短對話的命題中有所體現(xiàn)，但當時只是“蜻蜓點水”，通常只在對話中安插個別與工作相關的單詞，與整體的解題關系比較間接，夠不成難度。但在今年的第二篇長對話中，場景是在一次展銷會上，其中的男生由于要為公司采購計算機設備，因此來展銷會參觀，而女生則是他在展銷會上碰到的一位銷售人員。兩人的對話頻繁涉及會展、商業(yè)洽談、產品介紹、價格詢洽、建立商業(yè)往來等內容，且層次豐富、信息容量大(六級的長對話篇幅比四級長，而且每位說話人每次發(fā)言的句子都比較復雜，這是四級和六級長對話在難度上的一大區(qū)別)。據(jù)很多考生事后反映，對于這類題目頗感措手不及，聽的時候大腦的反應跟不上對話的節(jié)奏。比如女生向男生介紹新形電腦產品時有這樣一句話：But it may be possible for you to get a system that does a lot of other things in addition to word processing… It’s IBM compatible. 其中的word processing指電腦的文檔處理系統(tǒng)，而compatible這個詞表示“可兼容的”，在這里指這套計算機系統(tǒng)可以和IBM電腦兼容。這兩個詞都是非常典型的六級詞匯，很多考生雖然在詞匯手冊上背到過，但放到句子的語言環(huán)境中來具體理解，就覺得比較吃力了。同樣地，當女生詢問男生所從事的職業(yè)時，她說：What’s your line of business? 在這里，就不能把line, business之類的詞單獨理解了，line of business作為一個完整的固定表達，意為“行業(yè)領域”；女生向男生介紹售價時有這樣一句表達：Software comes free with hardware.意思是軟件是隨同硬件免費附贈的。像這些語言，其實對于六級的考生來說，不存在任何難詞，但由于對整體語言環(huán)境缺乏把握，容易造成理解上的困難。
難詞依然存在，但不影響解題
說到這次長對話中的難詞、偏詞，可能要數(shù)conversation one中提到的jet lag了。這篇長對話發(fā)生在同事之間，女生剛從紐約出差回來，向男生介紹了飛機旅途中的一項well-being program(健康計劃)，其中提到這項健康計劃旨在降低旅客的jet lag，即“由飛行引起的身體不適”。這個詞先后兩次出現(xiàn)在文章中。而第20題針對健康計劃的目的和作用來提問，因此必須理解jet lag才能解題。但要理解這個詞，不一定要事先背過單詞，只要利用上下文稍加推測即可。男生在對話結尾處提到：So, basically, it’s a choice. Mineral water and exercises, or champagne and jet lag.提示jet lag是和鍛煉等健康的生活方式相反的一個選擇，也就是會另人不適的，理解到這一曾就可以做題了。
順便提一句，類似情況在這次的級長對話中也有所體現(xiàn)。題目有一處提到了continental breakfast，即“歐洲大陸早餐”，這種早餐通常只提供面包卷、黃油、咖啡等，與生活在歐洲大陸之外的英國人吃的早餐有較大不同，因此得名。這些內容，native speaker說起來非常自然，但對于中國考生來說，不了解文化社會的背景知識，可能覺得很陌生。雖然有一題針對continental breakfast提問，但并沒有要求考生搞懂這種早餐到底是什么，因此做題時，只要接收到有關breakfast的信息就足夠了。但以后的命題很可能反復出現(xiàn)這類信息，如果要在考試時真正有把握理解對話整體，需要考生補充過去容易忽略的文化常識。這體現(xiàn)出了四六級考試對于在校大學生英語學習的導向性作用，值得大家借鑒。
考點與清晰，解題順序清楚
conversation two問了三道題，分別是對話發(fā)生的地點、對話主要內容和男生從事的行業(yè)。前兩題都是短對話中常見的問題，考生比較熟悉，也較容易把握。其實，只要一看第23的選項，四個in, at開頭加地點名詞的短語，熟悉選項預讀技巧的同學可以在聽錄音之前就直接判斷出題方向了。且三道題目，23考察在對話開頭，24通過對話的層層展開得到提示，25在文章結尾處出現(xiàn)答案，這種考點布置的手法，與短文理解題如出一轍�？傊瑥念}型的角度來說，長對話需要我們在聽之前借鑒短對話的預讀方法做預判，而聽的時候以短文理解題的思路，逐題定位答案。
