全国公共英语等级考试五级 e1

　　[00:00.00]Exercise 5

[00:03.40]Part A

[00:07.71]You will hear Dr.Wilson,a Professor of linguistics 1,

[00:13.56]talk about formal and informal language.

[00:18.49]As you listen,answer Questions 1--10.by circling True or False.

[00:26.75]You will hear the lecture ONLY ONCE.

[00:31.19]You now have 60 seconds to read Questions 1--10.

[00:38.03]Today I want to talk about levels of language usage 2.

[00:44.38]You probably have noticed that people express similar ideas in different ways,

[00:52.14]depending on the situation they are in.

[00:56.69]This is very natural

[01:00.63]All languages have two general,broad categories,or levels of usage:

[01:08.49]a formal level and an informal level.

[01:13.25]English is no exception 3.

[01:17.01]I'm not talking about correct or incorrect English.

[01:22.86]What I'm talking about are two levels of correct English.

[01:29.60]The difference in these two levels is the situation

[01:35.56]in which you use a particular level.

[01:40.21]Formal language is the kind of language you find in textbooks,

[01:46.76]reference books such as encyclopedias,and in business letters.

[01:54.02]For example,a letter to a university would be in formal style.

[02:01.08]You would also use formal English in compositions and essays

[02:08.21]that write in school.

[02:12.44]People usually use formal English

[02:17.20]when they give classroom lectures or speeches

[02:22.55]and at ceremonies such as graduations.

[02:27.51]We also tend to use

[02:31.46]formal language in conversations with people we don't know well

[02:37.20]or with people we have a formal relationship with,such as

[02:43.66]professors,bosses,doctors,friends of our parents',strangers,etc.

[02:51.81]Informal language is used in conversation with colleagues,

[02:58.16]family and friends,and when we write personal notes or letters

[03:04.50]to close friends,as well as in diaries,etc.

[03:10.46]Formal language is different from informal language in several ways.

[03:17.41]However,today I'm going to talk only about a couple of ways.

[03:23.47]First of all,formal language tends to be more polite.

[03:29.50]Interestingly,it usually takes more words to be polite.

[03:35.67]For example,I might say to a friend or family member,

[03:42.22]"Close the door,please," but to a stranger or someone in authority 4

[03:50.06]I probably would say "Would you mind closing the door?"or

[03:57.04]"Excuse me,could you please close the door?

[04:02.78]Using words like "could" and "would"

[04:08.14]makes my request sound more polite,but also more formal.

[04:15.48]I want to be polite but not too formal with my friends and family.

[04:21.83]Another difference between formal and informal language

[04:27.78]is some of the vocabulary.

[04:31.83]There are some words and phrases that belong in formal language

[04:38.39]and others that are informal.

[04:42.93]Let me give you a couple of examples of what I mean.

[04:47.87]Let's say "I'm just crazy about soccer!"

[04:53.12]But if I were talking to my supervisor 5 or a friend of my parents

[04:59.39]I would probably say "I really enjoy soccer" or

[05:05.92]"I like soccer very much."

[05:10.26]Let's say I'm telling someone some news I heard about the police

[05:17.31]arresting a criminal.

[05:20.86]To my parents' friend I might say "The police arrested the thief."

[05:28.31]Although the line between formal and informal language

[05:34.86]is not always clear

[05:38.52]and although people are probably less formal today than in the past,

[05:44.97]it is useful to be aware

[05:49.02]that these two levels,or categories,do exist.

[05:54.98]The best way for a nonnative speaker of English to learn the difference

[06:02.42]is to observe the different ways

[06:07.07]English speakers speak or write in different situations.

[06:12.92]Television newscasters,your college professors in class,

[06:19.77]your doctors in their offices,etc.

[06:25.12]will usually speak rather formally.

[06:30.37]However,your classmates,teammates,family members,friends,etc.

[06:38.52]will generally speak in an informal fashion.

[06:44.17]The difference can be learned 6 over time by observing

[06:50.51]and interacting 8 with native speakers.

[06:55.76]You now have 20 seconds to check your answers to Questions 1--10.

[07:04.70]Question 1-10 according to Part A.

[07:06.74]1.All languages have two general levels of usage:

[07:08.75]a correct level and an incorrect level.

[07:10.79]2.People usually use formal language when they first meet someone.

[07:12.85]3.We tend to speak formally with colleagues.

[07:14.89]4.Formal language is used in all kinds of writings.

[07:16.95]5.Formal language and informal language are different in a couple of ways

[07:18.99]6.People usually use more words to sound more polite.

[07:21.03]7.The sentence "Bob is crazy about that music"

[07:23.09]is acceptable 9 in conversation between patients and doctors.

[07:25.13]8.The word "cop 10" is informal for "police officer"

[07:27.19]9.People were probably more formal in the past than today.

[07:29.23]10.The best way to learn the differencebetween formal

[07:31.29]and informal English is to pay attention to how native speakers

[07:33.33]use language in different situations and to interact 7 with them.

[07:35.47]That is the end of Part A.

[07:39.52]Part B

[07:42.26]You will hear several conversations or talks

[07:48.04]and you must answer the questions by choosing A,B,C or D.

[07:56.29]You will hear the recording 11 ONLY ONCE.

[08:01.44]Questions 11--13 are based on the following story

[08:09.80]about the ancient city of Pompeii.

[08:14.84]You now have 15 seconds to read Questions 11--13.

[08:21.60]Today many people who live in large metropolitan 12 areas

[08:27.74]such as Paris and New York leave the city in the summer.

[08:33.38]They go to the mountains or to the seashore to escape the city noise and heat

[08:40.23]Over 2,000.years ago,many rich Romans did the same thing.

[08:47.88]They left the city of Rome in the summer.

[08:52.53]Many of these wealthy Romans spent their summers in the city of Pompeii.

[08:59.19]Pompeii was a beautiful city;

[09:03.84]it was located on the ocean,on the Bay of Naples.

[09:08.99]In the year 79 A.D. a young Roman boy,named Pliny the Younger

[09:17.14]was visiting his uncle in Pompeii

[09:21.50]One day Pliny was looking up at the sky.

[09:27.25]He saw frightening sight. It was a very large dark cloud.

[09:33.70]This black cloud rose high into the sky.

[09:39.45]What Pliny saw was the eruption 13--

[09:44.59]the explosion--of the volcano 14,Vesuvius.

[09:49.84]The city of Pompeii was at the foot of Mt.Vesuvius.

[09:55.88]When the volcano first erupted,

[10:00.95]many people were able to flee the city and to the scape death.

[10:06.59]In fact,18,000 people escaped the terrible disaster.

[10:12.94]Unfortunately,there was not enough time for everyone to escape.

[10:19.70]More than 2,000 people died.

[10:24.14]These unlucky people were buried alive under the volcanicash.

[10:30.20]The eruption lasted for about three days.

[10:35.35]When the eruption was over,

[10:39.61]Pompeii was buried under 20 feet of volcanic 15 rock and ash.

[10:45.77]The city of Pompeii was buried and forgotten for 1,700 years.

[10:53.71]In the year 1748 an Italian farmer was digging on his farm.

[11:01.66]As he was digging,

[11:05.18]he uncovered 16 a part of a wall of the ancient city of Pompeii.

[11:10.72]Soon archaeologists began to dig in the area.

[11:16.28]As time went by,much of the ancient city of Pompeii was uncovered.

[11:23.02]Today tourists come from all over the world

[11:27.99]to see the ruins of the famous city of Pompeii.

[11:32.53]You now have 30 seconds to check your answers to Questions 11--13.