Geology
Directions: Now answer the questions.
29.What aspect of the Earth 750 million years ago is the lecture mainly about?
- The changes in locations of the continents
- The effect of greenhouse gases on the atmosphere
- Factors that influenced the ocean currents
- Factors that contributed to a global freeze
30.According to the professor, how do geologists interpret the presence of erratics in the tropics?
- It indicates that carbon-dioxide levels were once higher there.
- It is evidence of global glaciation.
- It indicates that the Earth may cool off at some point in the future.
- It is evidence that some glaciers originated there.
31.What is the ice-albedo effect?
- Global warming is balanced by carbon dioxide in the oceans.
- Solar radiation retained in the atmosphere melts ice.
- Large amounts of carbon dioxide are removed from the atmosphere.
- Reflection of heat by glaciers contributes to their growth.
32.What is the relationship between carbon dioxide and silicate rocks?
- Silicate rocks are largely composed of carbon dioxide.
- Silicate rocks contribute to the creation of carbon dioxide.
- The erosion of silicate rocks reduces carbon-dioxide levels in the atmosphere.
- The formation of silicate rocks removes carbon dioxide from the oceans.
TASK II: GAP-FILLING
TRACK 63 TRANSCRIPT:
Narrator
Listen to a conversation between a student and an employee in the campus computer center.
Computer center employee
Hi, what can I help you with today?
Student
Hi, um, I wanted to—you see, the thing is, I don’t know much about computers, so I was wondering if, uh, if there’s a class or something … so I can learn how to use computers, like to write papers for my classes.
Computer center employee
Oh, I see … um, we don’t really offer a course for beginners, since most students already have
computing [……………………………. ]. But all the computers in our labs have a general
[…………………………. ]installed on them. You could just go there and run it.
Student
And the tutorial explains everything? I mean, it might sound [……………………………………. ]but I’ve never
used a computer.
Computer center employee
Well, all the computer labs on […………………………………….. ]are staffed with student
[…………………………. ], and I’m sure that any one of them would be more than willing to get you
started.
Student
Yeah? That sounds good. But is it expensive?
Computer center employee
No, in fact, it won’t cost anything; it’s one of the [……………………………… ]of the computer center.
Student
That’s great. How do they—I mean, how do I get in touch with the student assistants? Should I just go to a [ …………………………….. ] […………………………………………… ]and ask whoever’s there?
Computer center employee
Sure, you could do that, or I can let you have a list of names of the students who are assistants in the labs. You might know one of them.
Student
Actually, I think I’d prefer someone I don’t know, um, so I can ask [ ……………………………..]questions .
Is there anyone you’d recommend?
Computer center employee
All of our student assistants are really [………………………………. ]about computers. I mean, they have
to be, in order to work in the computer labs … It doesn’t mean that they’re
[………………………… ]good at teaching beginners … but you probably won’t be a beginner for
very long.
Student
Hope not.
Computer center employee
And I just thought of something else. The bookstore has a lot of books on computers—there might be one for people like you, I mean, people who don’t have a lot of
[………………………… ]with computers. I actually bought one for my father so he could learn how
to use […………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ], basic word [ ], that sort of thing—and it worked
pretty well for him.
Student
OK, I’ll try that, too. And if the bookstore doesn’t have it, they can just order it for me?
Computer center employee
Right. Now is there anything else I can help you with today?
Student
Uh, just the list of names and the times they’re working. I’d like to get going on this as soon as
[…………………………. ].
Computer center employee Right. Good luck.
TRACK 64 TRANSCRIPT:
Narrator
Listen to part of a lecture in an economics class.
Professor
When [ ]to understand international trade, some things seem so
[…………………………. ]that they can hardly be [……………………………….. ], and other points that are
important are [………………………………… ]unless you’ve thought about the subject carefully.
Consider the following: if there’s an increase in imports, let’s say, um, let’s say imports of
furniture, and the […………………………………. ]producers of furniture find this new competition very
difficult and are cutting production and employment, then it seems obvious and easy to
understand and many people [……………………………… from this that increasing imports will cause
generally greater […………………………… ]at home.
What is not so obvious is that how much we import and how much we [………………………………… ]…
those are [……………………………………. ]and you can’t understand the one without the other. But the
exports that are generated are not easily [………………………………….. ], so most people don’t see them.
They see only the imports of furniture rising and employment in domestic
[…………………………. ]production falling.
So as a result, many people argue that we ought to protect jobs by limiting imports— either by
[…………………………. ], quotas, regulations, or whatever—without [………………………………… ]that this
also has the effect of reducing [……………………………. future exports to the rest of the world, things
that we can produce very, very … cost effectively and therefore [……………………………… ].
The [………………………….. ]proposition in international economics is that it makes sense to import
those things that we … that can be produced more [……………………………….. ]abroad than at home and
export things to the rest of the world that we can produce more cost [……………………………………… ]than
produced [………………………….. ]in the world. Therefore, if we limit imports we put ourselves in
danger of not being able to export.
The details of this [……………………………………. ]will take much longer to explain than I can fully go into
now but the point of the matter is that gains—the benefits of gains—from international trade
result from being able to get things [……………………………….. ]by buying them abroad than you can
make them at home. Now there’re some things that we can make at home that are .. . that we can do more economically than they can do […………………………………………………………… ].
In the case of the United States, typically [………………………………… ]products, uh . .. are things that
Americans have [ ]in and started firms doing that sort of thing at which they do very well. Whereas goods that produce … that use a lot of relatively low skill labor, like
furniture production, cotton production, [……………………………………. ]production … those are things that
are […………………………………….. ]made more inexpensively in places where [………………………… ]rates
are low and the cost of using [……………………………. ]is very high.
However, in Florida they produce a lot of sugar, but the costs are so high, if we didn’t have
[………………………… Restrictions on imports of sugar, the output of sugar would decline
[………………………… ]. But the sugar industry in the U.S. doesn’t produce
[………………………… ljobs, it uses resources in [……………………… ]ways and it blocks the
import of more cost-effectively produced sugar. It, it’s a very bad […………………………………….. ]for the
people in the United States to want to protect low-paying jobs thereby […………………………………… ]the
growth of world trading and international… uh, more international [……………………………………….. ]. It
would be better to remove [……………………………….. ]on imports and allow other countries in the
world … countries that can produce them more cheaply … let them specialize in producing those products.
Now, I agree that people who are directly [……………………………… ]by imports, what they focus on …
is, is that their […………………………… ]… their job prospects are being reduced, and their economic
[………………………… ]are getting worse. And that’s a relevant problem and an important problem;
what isn’t so obvious is … that by […………………………………….. ]and […………………………….. ]people to
places and industries where jobs are expanding rather than contracting, we can make the whole economy function more effectively and productively than by trying to [ ]imports.
Um, what is interesting to note is that, even if there were no international trade
[………………………… ], like imports, any changes that occur in a country’s economy—any new
technology, change in […………………………….. ], change in regulations or whatever—will lead to
“[……………………….. ]” that lead some sectors of the economy to decline and others to
[………………………… ].
And that’s what we have to figure out, and that’s a hard problem to deal with in
[………………………… ], is howto […………………………………… ]people adjusting from sectors where their
job prospects are not so good, and in particular where real wages aren’t so high, to acquire skills
that will […………………………… ]them to move into higher-paying jobs in other parts of the
economy either by retraining or relocating. Helping pay for the relocation of these people would
be very [……………………………. ], but trying to block the changes is really [……………………………….. ]. It
makes people in our country poorer, and it makes people elsewhere in the world [ ……………………………….. ]as well.