时间:2018-12-01 作者:英语课 分类:VOA慢速英语2008年(十二)月


英语课
This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

For the past two weeks, we have talked about the SAT and ACT college admissions tests and the GRE for graduate school. This week in our Foreign Students Series, we move on to English language tests.

Most American colleges and universities accept one or both of the two major tests. One is the Test of English as a Foreign Language, known as the TOEFL. The other is the International English Language Testing System, or IELTS.

The TOEFL is given in one hundred eighty countries. The competing IELTS is given in one hundred twenty-one countries.

One million people each year take the TOEFL, says Tom Ewing, a spokesman 1 for the Educational Testing Service. Same with the IELTS, says Beryl Meiron, the executive 2 director of IELTS International.

She says two thousand colleges and universities in the United States now recognize the IELTS. Schools might accept it only for undergraduate or graduate admission or both.

The IELTS is a paper test, while the TOEFL is given on paper only in places where a computer test is unavailable.

The TOEFL paper test costs one hundred fifty dollars. It tests reading, listening and writing. A separate Test of Spoken English costs one hundred twenty-five dollars.

The computer version is called the TOEFL iBT, or Internet-based test. The price is different in each country, but generally falls between one hundred fifty and two hundred dollars.

The TOEFL iBT and the IELTS both measure all four language skills -- listening, reading, writing and speaking. But with the IELTS, the speaking test is done separately as a live interview. You speak with an examiner who is certified 3 in ESOL -- English for speakers of other languages.

Everyone takes the same speaking and listening tests. But there is a choice of two kinds of reading and writing tests -- either academic or general training.

IELTS International says the test measures true-to-life ability to communicate in English for education, immigration and employment. Institutions in Britain and Australia jointly 4 developed it.

The cost is different in each country. But Beryl Meiron says the price in local currency is generally comparable 5 to about one hundred sixty dollars. The IELTS Web site is ielts.org. The TOEFL Web site is toefl.org.

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. Our Foreign Student Series is online at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

1 spokesman
n.发言人,代言人
  • The government spokesman gave a quick briefing to the reporters.政府发言人向记者们作了情况简介。
  • They drew lots to decide who should be their spokesman.他们抽签决定谁是他们的发言人。
2 executive
adj.执行的,行政的;n.执行者,行政官,经理
  • A good executive usually gets on well with people.一个好的高级管理人员通常与人们相处得很好。
  • He is a man of great executive ability.他是个具有极高管理能力的人。
3 certified
a.经证明合格的;具有证明文件的
  • Doctors certified him as insane. 医生证明他精神失常。
  • The planes were certified airworthy. 飞机被证明适于航行。
4 jointly
ad.联合地,共同地
  • Tenants are jointly and severally liable for payment of the rent. 租金由承租人共同且分别承担。
  • She owns the house jointly with her husband. 她和丈夫共同拥有这所房子。
5 comparable
adj.相似的,同类的,可比的,比得上的
  • A fire is comparable with the sun,both give light and heat.火可以和太阳相比,两者都可以发光发热。
  • No horse has a speed comparable to that of his.没有一匹马的速度能比得上他的马。
学英语单词
air detection
Amritsaris
aphidozer
ARC (automatic remote control)
arcade cornice
Arsenuranocircite
Asprey
banjaxes
benzenediazohydroxide
berthelet
bulbus organs
Carboxybenzylpenicillin
cerealin
cigar wrapper tobacco
clamshell brake
common-sense realism
compel testimony
comprehensive analytical chemistry
correlation scatter chart
daraut-kurgan (daroot-korgon)
dashpot control
debug support system command language syntax
directory facility
dolphin boom
doypack
drop round
drop-leaf
electric still
emboldener
emigre
evolucion
exchange sequence
expellent
flat side
folded length
fregoso
gold-and-silver
graphorrhea
great great grandparents
Hiruga-take
hmips
hoba
ichiro
international payment service company
ionizing radiation effect
jus recuperandi
kalya
Kanokovo
KNT
labouisse
lacin'
local heat flux
magnetobremstrahlung
make up ones mind
maximal density
narrow fraction
nitrogen budgets
non-tax revenue
on a long leash
onchidium verruculatum
over-genial
paeonia lutea franch. var. superba lemoine
pandrea
Pariahuanca
pearl danio
phylum Cryptophyta
plasma chamber cleaning
polynomial complement
polysymmetric
public interest organization
rack-cutting machine
rapson slide
reconsideration of the case
relay-type recording instrument
release by
reproductive fitness
Rāypur
Sarapis
self intensification
send something someone's way
servo-driven plotting table
set-level
shimmied
Shoyna
signal distribution panel
silver printing
silver-gilt
Sirobasidiaceae
sliding grafting and fusion of ankle joint
splice closure
succession spectrum
threw it
Torps
trimming lathe
twin souls
upsetter machine
vacuum (distilling) column
Venterstad
Vietnamese balm
visual check list
well-willed
wooden dowel