16 USA Campaign”.
Arguments against lowering the voting age include: 16- and 17-year-olds are not mature enough and would vote the way their parents do.
Here is what one person wrote on the website debate.org: “It’s simply the fact that people at 16-17-years-old don’t have the emotional or mental maturity of someone 20-years-old. Their minds are still crazed with the chemicals of being a teenager.” Questions:
1. What do some groups including Generation Citizen want local governments to do? 2. Who is Oliver York according to the news?
3. Why are some people against lowering voting age?
Task 2 Understanding Long Conversations
Conversation One
1. B 2. C 3. D 4. B 5. A Conversation Two
1. A 2. C 3. B 4. D
■ Script
Conversation One
W: Good evening, and welcome to tonight’s edition of Legendary Lives. Our subject this evening
is James Dean—actor and hero for the young people of his time. Edward Nervy is the author of a new biography of Dean. Good evening, Edward! M: Hello, Tina!
W: Edward, tell us what you know about Dean’s early life.
M: He was born in Indiana in 1931, but his parents moved to California when he was five. He
wasn’t there long, though, because his mother passed away just four years later. James’ father sent him back to Indiana after that to live with his aunt. W: So how did he get into acting?
M: Well, first he acted in plays of high school, then he went to college in California where he got
seriously into acting. In 1951, he moved to New York to more stage acting. W: Then when did his movie career really start?
M: 1955. His first starring role was in East of Eden. It was fabulous. Dean became a huge success.
But the movie that really made him famous was his second one—Rebel without Cause. That was about teenagers who felt like they didn’t fit into the society. W: So how many more movies did he make?
M: Just one more. Then he died in a car crash in California in 1955.
W: What a tragedy! He only made three movies. So what made him the legend he still is today? M: Well, I guess is his looks, his acting ability, his short life and maybe the type of character he
played in his movies. Many young people thought him as a symbol of American youth. Questions 1 to 5 are based on the conversation you have just heard. 1. Who is Edward Nervy?
2. When did James Dean and his parents move to California? 3. Which movie really made Dean famous?
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4. How did James Dean die?
5. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the conversation?
Conversation Two
M: So, this is the first time we’ve met. W: Yes, it is.
M: And my producers tell me that your real name is Jo. All this time I thought you were “J. K.” W: (Laughing) Yeah. M: J. K. is…
W: Is just the nom de—well, it’s because my British publisher. When the first book came out, they thought “this is a book that will appeal to boys”, but they didn’t want the boys to know a woman had written it. So they said to me ‘could we use your initials’ and I said “fine”. I only have one initial. I don’t have a middle name. So I took my favorite grandmother’s name, Kathleen. M: And fooled the boys for a while.
W: Yeah, not for too long, because I started getting my picture in the press and no one could pretend I was a man anymore.
M: Yes, and I don’t think the boys have minded.
W: No, it hasn’t held me back, has it? Clearly not held me back.
M: Is there something about being here, in this particular hotel where we are that you thought would be particularly stimulating to your creative process. That’s why you wanted to come here? To finish?
W: Well, it turned out to be stimulating. For years and years and years I just would go to a café and sit in a different kind of noise and work. I thought “I can go to a quiet place”. So I came to this hotel because it’s a beautiful hotel, but I didn’t intend to stay here. They were so nice to me here—and I think writers can be a little bit superstitious—so the first day’s writing went well so I kept coming back to this hotel and I ended up finishing the last of the Harry Potter books in this hotel.
Questions 1 to 4 are based on the conversation you have just heard. 1. Why did the woman write under a pen name?
2. What did the boys do when they knew J.K. was a woman? 3. Where did the woman use to write?
4. What makes the hotel special for the woman?
Task 3 Understanding Passages Passage One
Listening for general information
1. The world spends most of the time looking at the celebrity “elite”.
2. Teenage daughters want to marry or become the girlfriend of a celebrity. Listening for specific information 1. A 2. B 3. C 4. B 5. D
■ Script
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Listening for general information
The world spends most of the time looking at the celebrity “elite” and occasionally trying to emulate, on a much smaller scale, what they see there. Our celebrity culture is as it is but, as a new study shows, if it’s not filtered, it’s our teenage daughters that have the most to suffer from it, since they grow up to believe that marrying or becoming the girlfriend of a celebrity is what they want from life.
Undertaken by the British Girls’ School Association, on the occasion of the launch of a new site called My Daughter, which aims to help teens deal with age-specific issues, the poll showed that wife and girlfriends ranked the highest in terms of negative influence on youngsters. They make girls give up academic learning, in order to aspire to, some day, become the partner of a celebrity opting for high-heels and low IQs as a way of life.
However, given that the girls in question are surrounded almost constantly by such models from their peers to the celebrities they so admire, it’s up to the parents to make them see the difference between the options that are presented to them.
Other bad influences that must be counteracted by parents are the so-called “It girls” reality TV stars and, last but not least, celebrity magazines. Nevertheless, not all television is bad television. The same poll showed that TV shows like the long-running ER and Casualty prompt young girls to opt for a career in medicine. Listening for specific information
1. Who will suffer from celebrity culture most according to the study mentioned in the passage? 2. Why does the British Girls’ School Association launch a new site called “My Daughter”? 3. Who should help girls see the difference between the options that are presented to them? 4. Which of the following items is NOT mentioned as bad influences on girls?
5. What profession are young girls encouraged to take after watching the shows ER and Casualty according to the poll?
Passage Two
Listening for general information 1. how to become a celebrity. 2. Five steps and four tips.
Listening for specific information 1. B 2. C 3. B 4. A 5. C
■ Script
Listening for general information
Andy Warhol once said that everyone will have 15 minutes of fame. This may or may not be true, but to achieve celebrity status and stay there, you’ll have to be persistent. Here are some things to keep in mind.
The steps are as follows. First, have a personality, any personality. Without this, forget the rest. Second, work on your singular talent, whether it’s cooking, acting, singing, writing, whatever. Third, try to reach the widest possible audience. Then, get a good publicist. You must be on front pages or inner covers. Always get a full page somewhere or a page where your mug dominates. Finally, Start anywhere and smile. Work your way up in circulation.
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There are also some tips for you to achieve celebrity. First, have a website, blog or both and network them. Second, becoming a “low cost” celebrity can be anyone’s niche. Third, every once in a while, do something outrageous. Fourth, try to be witty or funny at times but don’t force it if and when not natural.
But contrary to popular belief, being celebrity is not always easy. Once you are famous, your personal life is no longer your own. Try to keep it separate as much as you can. Listening for specific information
1. Which is the most important step in achieving celebrity status? 2. How can a good publicist help you?
3. According to the speaker, how often can you do outrageous things? 4. When should you try to be witty or funny? 5. What will happen if you are famous?
Passage Three
Listening for general information 1. photographers 2. celebrities Listening for specific information 1. A 2. B 3. D 4. D 5. B
■ Script
Listening for general information
Paparazzi are photographers who tirelessly hunt celebrities and their families so as to photograph them in candid, unflattering and at times compromising moments. Some people hate them, while more seems to need them.
To stars, in the limelight they are public figures and off-stage, their lives are private. But to the public, both stars’ performances and their private lives are entertainment. To satisfy people’s eagerness to get a glimpse into celebrities’ lives, the cat and mouse game between paparazzi and celebrities is played out almost every day.
And when the paparazzi get too intrusive, conflicts between them and the stars intensify. A few months ago, Jay Chou was chased by several paparazzi as he was driving a car with his girlfriend and the angry Jay pushed over a reporter’s scooter.
Facing repeated offenses, some celebrities choose to endure them unless their families are also involved.
Famous actor and Faye Wang’s husband Li Yapeng has made it clear that his family is his bottom line, beyond which he will never compromise.
And famous Taiwan actress, singer and writer Annie Yi also says the media can gossip about her private life and her career but bothering her little son is something she won’t stand.
But as people’s curiosity for celebrities’ lives grows, paparazzi are trying every means to hunt them down. Besides paparazzi are just one link in a long chain that has benefited many industries. So it seems that for celebrities, between fame and the right to privacy, they can only choose one. Listening for specific information
1. How do most people feel about the paparazzi?
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