PRESENTER: My guest on the show today is Alice Riches who started the Street Play Scheme where she lives in Beechwood Road. For those of you that don’t already know – Street Play involves local residents closing off their street for a few hours so that children have a chance to play in the street safely. She started it in her own street, Beechwood Road, and the idea caught on, and there are now Street Play Schemes all over the city. So when did you actually start the scheme, Alice?
ALICE: Well, I first had the idea when my oldest child was still a toddler, so that’s about six years ago now – but it took at least two years of campaigning before we were actually able to make it happen. So the scheme’s been up and running for three years now 【Q11】. We’d love to be able to close our road for longer – for the whole weekend, from Saturday morning until Sunday evening, for example. At the moment it’s just once a week 【Q12】. But when we started it was only once a month. But we’re working on it.
PRESENTER: So what actually happens when Beechwood Road is closed?
ALICE: We have volunteer wardens, mostly parents but some elderly residents too, who block off our road at either end 【Q13】. The council have provided special signs but there’s always a volunteer there to explain what’s happening to any motorists. Generally, they’re fine about it – we’ve only had to get the police involved once or twice.
Now I should explain that the road isn’t completely closed to cars. But only residents’ cars are allowed. If people really need to get in or out of Beechwood Road, it’s not a problem – as long as they drive at under 20 kilometres per hour 【Q14】. But most people just decide not to use their cars during this time, or they park in another street. The wardens are only there to stop through traffic.
PRESENTER: So can anyone apply to get involved in Street Play?
ALICE: Absolutely – we want to include all kids in the city – especially those who live on busy roads 【Q15】. It’s here that demand is greatest. Obviously, there isn’t such demand in wealthier areas where the children have access to parks or large gardens – or in the suburbs where there are usually more places for children to play outside.
I’d recommend that anyone listening who likes the idea should just give it a go. We’ve been surprised by the positive reaction of residents all over the city. And that’s not just parents. There are always a few who complain but they’re a tiny minority. On the whole everyone is very supportive and say they’re very happy to see children out on the street 【Q16】 – even if it does get quite noisy.
ALICE: There have been so many benefits of Street Play for the kids. Parents really like the fact that the kids are getting fresh air instead of sitting staring at a computer screen, even if they’re not doing anything particularly energetic. And of course it’s great that kids can play with their friends outside without being supervised by their parents – but for me the biggest advantage is that kids develop confidence in themselves to be outside without their parents 【Q17/Q18】. The other really fantastic thing is that children get to know the adults in the street – it’s like having a big extended family 【Q17/Q18】.
PRESENTER: It certainly does have a lot of benefits. I want to move on now and ask you about a related project in King Street.
ALICE: Right. Well this was an experiment I was involved in where local residents decided to try and reduce the traffic along King Street, which is the busiest main road in our area, by persuading people not to use their cars for one day. We thought about making people pay more for parking – but we decided that would be really unpopular – so instead we just stopped people from parking on King Street but left the other car parks open.
It was surprising how much of a difference all this made. As we’d predicted, air quality was significantly better but what I hadn’t expected was how much quieter it would be 【Q19/Q20】 – even with the buses still running. Of course everyone said they felt safer but we were actually amazed that sales in the shops went up considerably that day 【Q19/Q20】 – we thought there’d be fewer people out shopping – not more.
PRESENTER: That’s really interesting so the fact that …
Choose the correct letter, A, B or C.
听前预测：限定词为 first take place.
题目解析：本题没有较好的定位词，唯一的名词 Street Play Scheme 为该部分的主题词，不能用于定位，所以本题需要理解题干的意思再听题。在听到 “So when did you actually start the scheme...” 时可判断答案信息即将出现。首先听到选项C，故排队排除;接着听到选项A: "... but it took at least two years of campaigning before...” 但此处说的是该计划的准备时间，与题干中要求的 first take place 不符，故不能选;之后听到由表示结果的连词 So 引导的答案句：“So the scheme's been up and running for three years now” 即该计划是从三年前开始的，因此答案为B.
听前预测：定位词为 Beechwood Road、traffic; 限定词为 now.
题目解析：本题定位词 Beechwood Road 出现在答案之后，另一定位词被替换为了 road, 但不难听出。在听到 close our road 时可判断答案信息即将出现。首先听到选项B的相关信息：“... for the whole weekend, from Saturday morning until Sunday evening...” 此处的时间段是发起者希望的时间段，与题干中要求的 now 不符，故排除;接着听到选项A: "At the moment it's just once a week.” 其中 At the moment 替换了题干中的 now, 故A正确;之后听到选项C: "But when we started it was only once a month.” 其中 when we started 与题干中要求的 now 不符，故排除，因此答案为A.
听前预测：定位词为 the road; 限定词为 closing the road.
题目解析：在听到提问 “So what actually happens when Beechwood Road is closed?” 时可判断答案信息即将出现，答案句为：“We have volunteer wardens, mostly parents but some elderly residents too, who block off our road at either end."其中 volunteer wardens (即 parents、elderly residents)对应选项C的 local wardens, block off 替换了题干中的 closing, 因此答案为C.选项A中的 council 虽在后面有提及，但录音中说 council 会提供一些路标，与题干中的 closing the road 不符;至于选项B中的 police,录音中只是说其会偶尔介入，并未提及具体负责什么。
听前预测：定位词为 Residents、cars.
所目解析：定位词 Residents 和 cars 被替换成 residents' cars, 答案句随即出现：... as long as they drive at under 20 kilometres per hour.”由此可知选项B与其相符;选项A中的 park in another street 虽在后面有提及，但录音中说的是人们主动这样做，而非 have to do (不得不做)，故排除;至于选项C中的 warden, 录音中说其只负责让路过的车辆停下，因此答案为B.
听前预测：限定词为 most needed.
题目解析：本题没有较好的定位词，可通过提问 “So can anyone apply to get involved in Street Play?” 锁定答案句：... especially those who live on busy roads.” 其中 busy roads 替换了选项C的 areas with heavy traffic, 紧接着听到：“It's here that demand is greatest.”其中 demand is greatest 对应题干中的 most needed, 因此答案为C.选项A和选项B的相关信息在录音中并列出现，通过否定信号词 isn't 可直接排除。
听前预测：定位词为 reaction of residents; 限定词为 are not parents.
题目解析：定位词 reaction of residents 原词重现后，首先听到选项A的相关信息：“There are always a few who complain but they're a tiny minority."其中 a few 和 tiny minority 与选项A中的 Many of them 矛盾，故排除;接着听到选项B和选项C 的相关信息：“... they're very happy to see children out on the street - even if it does get quite noisy.” 由此可知选项B与其相符，而选项C中的 the lack of noise 与后半句中的 quite noisy 矛盾，因此答案为B.