冲击波英语专八系列：听力部分之新闻

IV 合理推断
听力考试不同于其他项目的考试，考生的成绩更依赖考试期间的临场发挥。有时考生会因为一时的紧张而放弃整套新闻听力理解题，或者空着不选，或者乱选一气，这都是很不可取的应试态度。即便只听到有限的几个单词，也不能轻易放弃，而应该根据所掌握的背景知识去大胆推断。

如2005年第1篇考题：
Scientists in Brazil have used frog skin to ______.
A. eliminate bacteria     B. treat burns
C. speed up recovery   D. reduce treatment cost
此题也可通过推断得出答案。蛙皮的作用究竟是什么？跟选项A（杀菌）似乎远了些，选项C（加速恢复）和选项D（减少治疗成本）都显得过于笼统，没有针对性。而选项B（治疗烧伤），以皮治皮在逻辑上与蛙皮的作用更为接近，因此我们可以推断答案是B。

又如2011年第2篇新闻的第1题：
What does the news item say about the fi res in Greece?
A. Fires only occurred near the Greek capital.
B. Fires near the capital were the biggest.
C. Fires near the capital caused casualties.
D. Fires near the capital were soon under control.
此题也需通过推理得出答案。新闻开篇导语提及Greek firefighters plan to continue to work through the night to contain dozens of wildfi res, including a massive blaze outside Athens.
由此可见首都雅典附近的火势最为迅猛，因此答案为B。

再如2012年第3篇新闻的第2题：
How many reasons does the news item cite for Japan’s slow economic growth?
A. 2. B. 3. C. 4. D. 5.
新闻中没有直接提到导致经济发展停滞的原因数目，需要通过内容推断数量。新闻中提到经济发展滞后的原因包括出口增长减速与消费者消费停滞：Monday’s report said export growth slowed and consumer spending stalled. 共提到两个原因，所以答案为A。

V 火眼金睛
听力考试效率是关键。看题目要看题眼，用最短的时间找到最关键的词，看选项则要火眼金睛，在最短时间内排除干扰项。这就需要我们看选项时要留意各个选项之间的区别，以便排除明显错误的选项。及时排除明显错误的选项有助于提高做题的正确率。

如2007年的第3篇考到联合国宪章的作用：
Which of the following best describes the role of the Charter?
A. The Charter only describes powers of the UN bodies.
B. The Charter mainly aims to promote world economy.
C. The Charter is a treaty above all other treaties.
D. The Charter authorizes reforms in UN bodies.
这篇新闻主旨为联合国各与会代表发言庆祝联合国宪章制订60周年。新闻中明确提到联合国宪章最重要的一点就是它高于其他一切条约，可以首先排除选项B。新闻中最后提到联合国的改革，但没有提到改革与宪章的关系，因此可排除选项D。制订联合国宪章的主要目的在于解决国际争端，维护世界和平与发展，选项A只提及宪章所包含的重要内容，与联合国宪章地位与作用的准确描述不符，因此加以排除。答案为C。

又如2008年的第2篇考到登月录像带的最初存放地：
The tapes of the Apollo-11 mission were fi rst stored in .
A. a US government archives warehouse
B. a NASA ground tracking station
C. the Goddard Space Flight Centre
D. none of the above places
新闻中提到的相关地址有：NASA ground tracking stations（美国宇航局的地面跟踪站）、Goddard Space Flight Center（戈达德航天中心）和 US Government archives warehouse（美国国家档案馆）。如何区别这几个地址是得分关键，其中最大的干扰项就是选项B。因地面跟踪站最先被提到，就很可能被误认为是最先存放录像带的地方，根据The pictures of that historic footstep and everything else about that and subsequent Apollo moon landings were recorded on magnetic tape at three NASA ground tracking stations around the world.可推定地面跟踪站只是完成了记录工作，而后资料被运往戈达德航天中心（The
tapes were then shipped to a NASA Operations center near Washington, the Goddard Space Flight Center.）最后才被转移到档案馆（In late 1969, the space agency began transferring them
and tens of thousands of tapes from other space missions to a nearby US Government archives warehouse.）因此最先存放地为选项C（戈达德航天中心）。

再如2009年第2篇第1题考到导致火车出轨的原因：
The cause of the Indian train accident was ______.
A. terrorist sabotage          B. yet to be determined
C. lack of communications   D. bad weather
新闻中提到：...which some government offi cials say could have been caused by terrorist sabotage.这里could have been caused体现的仅是一种猜测，选项A就被排除了。新闻中确实提到了lack of communication 和bad weather，根据The accident occurred in a remote area with poor telecommunication links. Many victims remained tracked in the wreckage through the night before they were rescued. A spokesman for Eastern Railway says rescue operations were slowed down by bad weather, but are now fully on the way.这段可知通讯差和天气差这两项是导致救援工作不能顺利高效展开的原因而非造成事故发生的原因，可以排除C和D。再根据An investigation has been ordered to identify the cause of the accident.可以推断出导致事故发生的原因尚在调查之中，所以答案为B。

又如2010年第3篇第2题考到导致火灾的原因：
The likely cause of the big fire is ______.
A. electrical short circuit   B. lack of fire-safety measurements
C. terrorism                   D. not known
新闻中提到：Evacuated employees said Authorities told them, they had ruled out terrorism and that an electrical short circuit had likely sparked the fi re.因此选项C就首先被排除了，选项A则被保留，大火的起因是电线短路。新闻末尾提到：Egypt requires some fire safety measures in buildings, including fire extinguishers, but in general the rules are not strictly enforced. 于是选项B成了最大的干扰项，埃及确实应该采取更多的防火措施，但这与本次议会大火并不构成直接因果关系，也需被排除，所以答案为A。

此外2011年第2篇新闻的第2题考到政府救火动用的措施：
According to the news, what measure did authorities take to fi ght the fi res?
A. Troops were brought in to help the fi refi ghters.
B. Residents were asked to vacate their homes.
C. Air operations and water drops continued overnight.
D. Another six fi re engines joined the fi refi ghting operation.
新闻中提到政府动用军队救火，包括海军与空军：“Authorities mobilized units from the Navy, Air Force, and Marines to assist the fi refi ghters in Grammatiko,” the state fire department said. 选项A中的troops指的正是军队，可以包括海军与空军，因此答案为A。

还有2012年第3篇新闻第2题考到经济增长幅度的差值：
According to the news item, Japan’s economic growth in the second quarter was
less than the fi rst quarter.
A. 4 percent B. 3 percent C. 0.6 percent D. 3.4 percent
此题看起来很简单，却也容易犯错。根据新闻中Japan’s cabinet office said Monday gross domestic product rose an annualized 0.4 percent in the three months ended June 3rd, compared with a revised 4.4 percent expansion in the fi rst quarter. 可知两个季度经济增长幅度的差值为4%。因此答案为A。