四级新闻听力文本及答案

Test 1

Questions 1 and 2 will be based on the following news item.

[1] In a statement, the US president says he is taking the action, because the conflict in Darfur threatens the national security and foreign policy of the United States. The asset freeze is being imposed on four Sudanese identified by the U.N. Security Council as being involved in organizing and carrying out cruel and violent actions in Darfur. The president’s order comes days before rallies are planned in Washington and throughout the United States to protest the three-year war in Darfur. [2]Celebrities such as Academy Award winning actor George Clooney are scheduled to speak at the rally. Clooney, who just returned from a trip to the Darfur region, told reporters in Washington the world’s attention need to be focused on what he called the “first massive murder of the 21st century.”

1. Why is the U.S. president taking actions in Darfur?

2. Who is scheduled to speak at the rally?

Questions 3 and 4 will be based on the following news item.

[3] In October the Ugandan opposition leader, Kizza Basigye, returned to Kampala to prepare for the presidential elections next year. Three weeks later he was arrested. The Ugandan government says he must answer the charges, but his supporters say it’s an attempt by Ugandan President Museveni to Prevent Dr. Basigye running against him. [4]The incident is threatening to darken the country’s first multi-party elections in two decades. Western nations which provide essential economic support to Uganda have held up Uganda as a role model in the region, opposition leaders are calling on them to take a stand. In this edition of Analysis, Lucy Williamson looks at whether Uganda’s relationship with its donors is feeling the strain.

3. Why did Kizza Basigye return to Kampala?

4. What is the consequence of Basigye’s incident?

Questions 5 and 7 will be based on the following news item.

[5]Up to 32 people were killed in two bomb attacks Monday in the Syrian city of Homs, near the border with

Lebanon. The second attack killed people who gathered to see the damage of an earlier car bomb. A suicide bomber entered the crowd and exploded a bomb hidden in clothing.

The attacks took place in the al-Zahraa district, in the central part of the city. [6]State-controlled media say 19 people were killed in the two bombings. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says 32 people were killed. Many others were hurt.

It was the second major attack in Homs since the government and rebel forces reached a cease-fire agreement this month. The government will take back areas of the city controlled by rebels.

[7]On December 12, two bombings killed at least 16 people. Those attacks also took place in the al-Zahraa district. The Islamic State terrorist group claimed responsibility for the attacks.

The Wall Street Journal newspaper reports that many people who live in the neighborhood are members of the Alawite sect. The newspaper reports the area is often “attacked by anti-government rebels armed with rockets and vehicle bombs.”

5. What do we learn about the bomb attacks from the news report?

6. What did the state-controlled media say?

7. What happened on December 12?

Test 2

Questions 1 and 2 will be based on the following news item.

The number of Americans over the age of 65 is expected to double between now and 2030. This next generation of retirees will be the healthiest, best educated, and most wealthy in American history. [1]But many of them won’t have a retirement benefit their parents’ generation fought hard to get. It is something known as a defined-benefit plan, or “pension”. Retired workers who have a pension continue to be paid a certain percentage of their highest annual

salary-usually anywhere from one to three percent-multiplied by the number of years they worked for the company. Pensions first became popular during World War Ⅱ, when a federally-approved wage-freeze meant unions had to negotiate for retirement benefits, instead of pay increases. [2]Pensions reached the height of their popularity in the late 1970s, when more than 60 percent of Americans had one.

1. What problem does the next generation of retirees have?

2. When did pensions reach the height of their popularity?