Conversation 2

W: This week’s program Up Your Street takes you to Harrogate, a small town in Yorkshire. Harrogate became a fashionable resort during Victorian times, when people came to take a bath in the mineral waters. Today, few people come to visit the town for its mineral waters. Instead, Harrogate has become a popular town for people to retire to. Its clean air, attractive parks, and the absence of any industry, make this an ideal spot for people looking for a quiet life. Now, to tell us more about Harrogate, I have with me Tom Percival, President of the Chamber of Commerce. Tom, one of the things visitor notices about Harrogate is the large area of open park land right down into the middle of the town. Can you tell us more about it? 

M: Yes, certainly. The area is called the Stray.

W: Why the Stray?考試網(wǎng)(www．Examw。com)

M: It’s called that because in the old days, people let their cattle stray on the area, which was common land.

W: Oh, I see.

M: Then, we’ve changes in farming and in land ownership. The Stray became part of the land owned by Harrogate.

W: And is it protected?

M: Oh, yes, indeed. As a special law, no one can build anything on the stray. It’s protected forever.

W: So it will always be park land?

M: That’s right. As you can see, some of the Stray is used for sports fields.

W: I believe it looks lovely in the spring.

M: Yes, it does. There’re spring flowers on the old trees, and people visit the town just to see the flowers.  

Question 22-25 are based on the conversation you have just heard.

Q22. Where does this conversation most probably take place?考試網(wǎng)

Q23. What do we learn about modern Harrogate?

Q24. What does the man say about the area called the Stray?

Q25. What attracts people most in the Stray during the spring time? 

答案：

22. B) In a resort town.

23. D) It is an ideal place for people to retire to.

24. D) It is protected as parkland by a special law.

25. C) The beautiful flowers. 

【解析】

這段長(zhǎng)對(duì)話是對(duì)Harrogate這個(gè)旅游小鎮(zhèn)的介紹，談到其如何得名，如何變遷，以及如何受到政府的保護(hù)。由此可見，這段對(duì)話最有可能發(fā)生在一個(gè)旅游城鎮(zhèn)。這段對(duì)話稍微難一點(diǎn)的地方在于幾個(gè)單詞，一個(gè)是地名Harrogate，另一個(gè)是Stray，以及頭銜President of the Chamber of Commerce。解決這些難點(diǎn)也很容易，因?yàn)镠arrogate這個(gè)地名和頭銜不是考察點(diǎn)，考生可直接忽略。另外關(guān)于Stray，考生開始不懂沒關(guān)系，要帶著這個(gè)疑問去注意聽原文，對(duì)話中隨后就給出了明確解釋，所以考生也會(huì)獲得解答。 wｗw.ExamＷ.CoM

需要提醒考生的是，雖然考試中我們可以忽略一些人名，地名或者無關(guān)緊要的細(xì)節(jié)，這也是為了一時(shí)的應(yīng)試而迫不得已。在平時(shí)練習(xí)中，還是建議廣大考生多積累這些人文及百科知識(shí)，包括一些人名和地名。積累的多了，以后在任何場(chǎng)合聽起來就不會(huì)犯難了。