Listening 7 “BookStore” Key
35. B
36. A, C
37. A
38. A
39. D
LISTENING 7 “BOOKSTORE ” Transcript
Listen to part of a conversation in the bookstore.
Student: Excuse me. I’m looking for someone who can help me with the textbook reservation program.
Manager: Oh. well, I can do that. What do you need?
Student: Okay. Um, my friend told me that I could get used books if I order, I mean, preorder them now.
Manager: That’s right. Do you want to do that?
Student: I think so, but I’m not sure how it works.
Manager: Actually, it’s fairly straightforward. We have a short form for you to fill out Do you know what you’re going to take next semester?
Student: Yeah, I do.
Manager: And you have the course names and the schedule numbers for all your classes?
Student:Unhuh.
Manager:Okay, then, just put that information down on the form and, uh, make a checkmark in the box if you want recommended books as well as required books. And you said you were interested in used books, right?
Student: Right.
Manager: So mark the box for used books, sign the form and bring it back to me.
Student:Do I have to pay now? Or, do you want a deposit?
Manager: No. you can pay when you pick up the books.
Student:And when can I do that?
Manager: The week before classes begin.
Student:That’s good, but, um, what if I change my schedule? I mean. I don’t plan to but…
Manager:… it happens. Don’t worry. If you change classes, you can just bring the books back any time two weeks from the first day of dass to get a full refund. Of course, you’ll need the original cash register receipt and a photo ID and, if ifs a new book, you can’t have any marks in it. But you said you wanted used books, so it won’t matter.
Student:Yeah, that’s the main reason why I want to do this—because I’ll have a better chance to get used books.
Manager:If there are used books available and you marked the form, that’s what we’ll pull for you.
Student:Okay, thanks a lot. I’ll just fill this out and bring it back-to you later today. I don’t have all the numbers with me, the section numbers for the classes.
Manager:Fine. We need those numbers because when different professors are teaching the same class, they don’t always order the same books.
Student:Right So, will you be here this afternoon?
Manager:I probably will, but if I’m not, just give the form to the person in this office. Don’t give it to one of the student employees, though. They’re usually very good about getting the forms back to the office, but sometimes it gets really busy and … you know how it is.
Student:Sure. Well, I’ll bring it back to the office myself.
Manager:That’s probably a good idea. And. oh. uh. one more thing. I should tell you that the used books tend to go first, so, if you want to be sure that you get used books …
Student:You know what? I’m going to go right back to the dorm to get those numbers now, while you’re still here.
Manager:Okay. That’s good.
Listening 8 “Environmental Science Class” Key
40. A
41. D
42. D
43. D
44. B, D
45. B
LISTENING 8 “ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE CLASS ” Transcript
Listen to part of a lecture in an environmental science class.
Professor
Hydrogen is the most recent and, I’d say. one of the most promising, in a long list of alternatives to petroleum. Some of the possibilities include batteries, methanol, natural gas, and, well, you name’it But hydrogen fuel cells have a couple of advantages over some of the other options. First of all, they’re really quiet, and they don’t pollute the atmosphere. Besides that, hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, and it can be produced from a number of sources, including ammonia, or… or even water. So, it’s renewable, and there’s an almost unlimited supply.
Okay. Now fuel cells represent a radical departure from the conventional internal combustion engine and even a fairly fundamental change from electric battery power. Like batteries, fuel cells run on electric motors; however, batteries use electricity from an external source and store it for use in the battery while the fuel cells create their own electricity through a chemical process that uses hydrogen and oxygen from the air. Are you with me? Look, by producing energy in a chemical reaction rather than through combustion, a fuel cell can convert, say 40–60 percent of the energy from the hydrogen into electricity. And when this ratio is compared with that of a combustion engine that runs at about half the efficiency of a fuel cell, well, it’s obvious that fuel cell technology has the potential to revolutionize the energy industry.
So, fuel cells have the potential to generate power for almost any kind of machinery or equipment that fossil fuels run, but, the most important, um, let’s say goal, the goal of fuel cell technology is the introduction of fuel cell powered vehicles. Internationally, the competition is fierce to commercialize fuel cell cars. I guess all of the leading automobile manufacturers worldwide have concept cars that use fuel cells, and some of them can reach speeds of as high as 90 miles per hour. Even more impressive is the per tank storage capacity. Can you believe this? Some of those cars can run for 220 miles between refills. But many of those cars were designed decades ago, so … what’s the holdup?
Well, the problem in introducing fuel cell technology is really twofold. In the first place, industries will have to invest millions, maybe even billions of dollars to refine the technology—and here’s the real cost—the infrastructure to, uh. support the fueling of the cars. And by infrastructure, I mean basic facilities and services like hydrogen stations to refuel cars and mechanics who know how to repair them. I think you get the picture. And then, consumers will have to accept and use the new products powered by fuel cells. So, we’re gong to need educational programs to inform the public about the safety and convenience of fuel cells, if we’re going to achieve a successful transition to fuel oell products. But, unfortunately, major funding efforts get interrupted. Here’s what I mean. When oil prices are high, then there seems to be more funding and greater interest in basic research and development, and more public awareness of fuel cells, and then the price of oil goes down a little and the funding dries up and people just go back to using their fossil fueled products. And this has been going on for more than thirty years.
Some government sponsored initiatives have created incentives for fuel cell powered vehicles but probably one of the most successful programs, at least in my opinion, is, uh. the STEP program, which is an acronym for the Sustainable Transportation Energy Program. STEP is a demonstration project sponsored by the government of Western Australia. Now, in this project, gasoline driven buses have been replaced with fuel cell buses on regular transportation routes. I think that British Petroleum is the supplier of the hydrogen fuel, which is produced at an oil refinery in Kwinana, south of Perth. So we need to watch this carefully. Another collaborative research effort is being undertaken by the European Union and the United States. Scientists and engineers are trying to develop a fuel cell thafs effectively engineered and attractive to the commercial market. Now, under an agreement signed in about 2000, if memory serves, it was 2003, but anyway, the joint projects indude the writing of codes and standards, the design of fueling infrastructures, the refinement of fuel cell models, and the demonstration of fuel cell vehicles. In Europe, the private sector will combine efforts with government agencies in the public sector to, uh, to create a long-term plan for the introduction of fuel cells throughout the E.u. And the World Bank is providing funding to promote the development and manufacture of fuel cell buses for public transportation in China, Egypt, Mexico, and India, and we’re starting to see some really interesting projects in these areas. So, uh, clearly, fuel cell technology is an international effort.
Okay, at the present time, Japan leads the way in addressing the issues of modifying the infrastructure. Several fueling stations that dispense hydrogen by the cubic meter are already in place, with plans for more. But even when a nationwide system is completed, decisions about how and where to produce the hydrogen and how to transport it will still have to be figured out. Most countries share the view that fleets of vehicles have significant advantages for the introduction of fuel cell powered transportation because, well obviously they can be fueled at a limited number of central locations. And, uh, and other benefits of a fleet are the opportunity to provide training for a maintenance crew and for the driversề As for consumer education, no one country seems to have made the advances there that… that would serve as a model for the rest of us. But perhaps when the demonstration projects have concluded and a few model cars are available to the public, well, more attention will be directed to public information programs.