EMMA: We’ve got to choose a topic for our experiment, haven’t we, Jack? Were you thinking of something to do with seeds?
JACK: That’s right. I thought we could look at seed germination – how a seed begins to grow.
EMMA: OK. Any particular reason? I know you’re hoping to work in plant science eventually …
JACK: Yeah, but practically everything we do is going to feed into that. No, there’s an optional module on seed structure and function in the third year that I might do, so I thought it might be useful for that 【Q21】. If I choose that option, I don’t have to do a dissertation module.
EMMA: Good idea.
JACK: Well, I thought for this experiment we could look at the relationship between seed size and the way the seeds are planted. So, we could plant different sized seeds in different ways, and see which grow best.
EMMA: OK. We’d need to allow time for the seeds to come up 【Q22】.
JACK: That should be fine if we start now. A lot of the other possible experiments need quite a bit longer.
EMMA: So that’d make it a good one to choose. And I don’t suppose it’d need much equipment; we’re not doing chemical analysis or anything. Though that’s not really an issue, we’ve got plenty of equipment in the laboratory.
JACK: Yeah. We need to have a word with the tutor if we’re going to go ahead with it though. I’m sure our aim’s OK. It’s not very ambitious but the assignment’s only ten percent of our final mark, isn’t it? But we need to be sure we’re the only ones doing it 【Q23】.
EMMA: Yeah, it’s only five percent actually, but it’d be a bit boring if everyone was doing it.
JACK: Did you read that book on seed germination on our reading list?
EMMA: The one by Graves? I looked through it for my last experiment, though it wasn’t all that relevant there. It would be for this experiment, though. I found it quite hard to follow – lots about the theory, which I hadn’t expected 【Q24】
JACK: Yes, I’d been hoping for something more practical. It does include references to the recent findings on genetically-modified seeds, though.
EMMA: Yes, that was interesting.
JACK: I read an article about seed germination by Lee Hall.
EMMA: About seeds that lie in the ground for ages and only germinate after a fire?
JACK: That’s the one. I knew a bit about it already, but not about this research. His analysis of figures comparing the times of the fires and the proportion of seeds that germinated was done in a lot of detail – very impressive 【Q25】.
EMMA: Was that the article with the illustrations of early stages of plant development? They were very clear.
JACK: I think those diagrams were in another article.
EMMA: Anyway, shall we have a look at the procedure for our experiment? We’ll need to get going with it quite soon.
JACK: Right. So the first thing we have to do is find our seeds. I think vegetable seeds would be best. And obviously they mustn’t all be the same size. So, how many sorts do we need? About four different ones? 【Q26】
EMMA: I think that would be enough. There’ll be quite a large number of seeds for each one.
JACK: Then, for each seed we need to find out how much it weighs 【Q27】, and also measure its dimensions, and we need to keep a careful record of all that.
EMMA: That’ll be quite time-consuming. And we also need to decide how deep we’re going to plant the seeds 【Q28】 – right on the surface, a few millimetres down, or several centimetres.
JACK: OK. So then we get planting. Do you think we can plant several seeds together in the same plant pot? 【Q29】
EMMA: No, I think we need a different one for each seed.
JACK: Right. And we’ll need to label them – we can use different coloured labels. Then we wait for the seeds to germinate – I reckon that’ll be about three weeks, depending on what the weather’s like. Then we see if our plants have come up, and write down how tall they’ve grown. 【Q30】
EMMA: Then all we have to do is look at our numbers, and see if there’s any relation between them.
JACK: That’s right. So …
Choose the correct letter, A, B or C.
听前预测：定位词 seed germination。
题目解析：首先女生 Emma 提出了 B 选项中的观点“work in plant science”，但是男生 Jack 用 but 否定掉了这个选项，强调对 seed germination 感兴趣是因为“it might be useful for that”，that 指代前文的 optional module，因此答案为 A。要注意在单选题中，but 经常用来否定前面的内容，强调后面要说的内容，准确把握 but 代 表的逻辑关系，可以更好地排除干扰选项 ；文中并未提到 C 选项中要选 seed germination 为论文的内容，只说不用上论文的课程。
听前预测：定位词 main advantage。
题目解析：此题难度稍大，因为定位词的同义替换词 a good one to choose 在答案内容说了之后才出现，考生听到 good 时可能已经遗忘了前面的答案内容。结合文中说的“allow time for the seeds to come up”“That should be fine if we start now… other possible experiments need…longer…”可知 Jack 和 Emma 选择的实验有足够的时间让种子成长，因此答案为 C。文中有提到 laboratory 一词，但只是说 laboratory 有很多 equipment，并没有说实验的优点是能在 laboratory 进行，可排除 B 选项；A 选项在文中未提及。
听前预测：定位词 check with their tutor。
题目解析：此题定位较简单，定位词 tutor 原词出现，虽然 check with 替换成了 have a word with。Jack 先说“our aim’s OK”，所以排除 A 选项；然后提到“assignment 占据 final mark 的 10%，但是一定要确认他们是唯一做这个实验的”。Emma 纠正了 Jack，说“assignment 只占据 final mark 的 5%”，由此可见 Jack 和 Emma 都知道 assignment 是占据 final mark 的一部分的，排除 C 选项；Emma 进一步说“如果所有人都做这个实验会很无聊”，赞同了 Jack 要确认他们是唯一做这个实验的观点，因此答案为 B。
听前预测：定位词 Graves’ book、disappointing。
题目解析：此题定位简单，人名 Graves 原词重现。Emma 首先说“though it wasn’t all that relevant there”，所以排除 B 选项。然后说 Graves 的书“lots about the theory”，
接着 Jack 也表明“hoping for something more practical”，所以两人都觉得 Graves 的书理论性太强，因此答案为 C。Jack 说“Graves 的书确实提到了转基因种子最新的研究结果”，可排除 A 选项。
听前预测：定位词 Lee Hall。
题目解析：此题定位简单，Lee Hall 原词出现。定位词出现后，Emma 首先询问 Jack 看的文章是不是关于种子在火灾发生后发芽的文章，Jack 说他看的不是这篇文章，所以原文并没有提到研究种子在火灾发生后发芽的结果让人惊讶，C 选项排除。 Jack 接着说“analysis of figures…was done in a lot of detail”，其中 figures 为 B 选项中 statistics 的同义替换，a lot of detail 对应 thorough，因此答案为 B。A 选项中的 diagrams，Jack 说是在另一篇文章里，所以排除。