Spot dictation

Hunger and food insecurity have been called America’s hidden crises. At the same time and apparently paradoxically, obesity has been declared a serious epidemic. Both obesity and hunger, and more broadly food insecurity are serious public health problems, sometimes coexisting in the same families and the same individuals. Their existence sounds contradictory, but those with insufficient resources to purchase adequate food can still be overweight, for reasons that researchers now are beginning to understand. The apparent paradox of expending waste lines and persistent hunger and food insecurity in America is driven in part by the economics of buying food. Households without money to buy enough food first change their purchasing and eating habits, relying on cheaper, high calorie foods over more expensive, nutrient-rich foods before they cut back the amount of food. In order to cope with the limited money for food and to stave off hunger, families try to maximize caloric intake for each dollar spent which can lead to overconsumption of calories and a less healthful diet. Research among low-income families shows that mothers first sacrifice their own nutrition by restricting their food intake during periods of food insufficiency in order to protect their children from hunger. The resulting chronic ups and downs in food intake can contribute over the long run to obesity among low-income women. Doctor Larry Brown, the executive director of the center on hunger and poverty, reported a growing body of research shows that hunger and obesity pose a dual threat for some people. We need to better understand this relationship if our nation is to grapple with these parallel threats to the well-being of Americans. We particularly need to avoid damaging policy prescriptions that assume hunger and obesity cannot coexist. Renowned food experts and scientists call for a reform. agenda to address both hunger and obesity. According to James Wells, president of the food research and action center, an agenda that seriously tackles hunger and obesity among the poor, must address their common roots. Those roots include food insecurity and the impact of poverty. One answer is increased access to income supports and nutrition programs so that more families have sufficient resources to obtain healthier diets.

Talks and conversations

Question1-5 are based on the following conversation 

M: Do you come from a particularly musical family?

F: Not really, my family are farming people and my parents have always lived on farms, my oldest brother is a born farmer and my second brother works on a farm too. But he has also got an office job to do with agriculture. And so they appreciate music but they don’t really know much about classical, in inverted commas, that sort of things. They appreciate, perhaps, Scottish traditional music more. And they like a good tune, and if they can trace the tune and they can tap their feet too or clap too, they are quite happy. But they do not know about Stravinsky，or something like that, then they are quite lost.

M: Why did you choose percussion? I mean it is not the obvious thing even for musical students to choose? 

F: No, but I liked it. I was always keen on percussion. Clarinet and percussion were my two instruments and I like the sheer variety. But I feel I was very much influenced by a local girl who played the xylophone. And she was absolutely brilliant and I just said: gosh! I want to do that too，but then I discovered that percussion did not consist just of xylophone, it consisted of a lot more and so I liked that as well. And so, that is all how it really all began

M : So you started to play percussion quite young

F: Yes , that is when I was at secondary school at the age of 12. I had a bit of job actually starting percussion because when you are a pupil at school, you all go through a musical oral test and which is down through a tape recorder and you just listen and you write down answers , things like that. And after it, when I asked if I could play percussion, the obvious reaction of my teachers was : well, look at these marks, they are not very good. But I said: well, really? I played the piano. That was the only thing I could back myself up with. Until eventually, he said: well, the percussion teacher happens to be at school today. Perhaps you might want go through and see what he says and so the percussion teacher said : well, I can’t really see why she shouldn’t be playing percussion. And so it was really just gone from there. But at that time they didn’t know that I was wearing hearing aids and this sort of thing. And so when I told them their reaction was much different. You know what I mean ? 

M: They didn’t know that when they gave you the test?

F: Oh, no and I refuse to tell anyone. Rightly or wrongly, I am not sure. But certainly, that was the case. That is how it all started really .

Q 1  Which type of family does the woman come from?

Q 2  What kind of family does the woman say her family like most ?

Q 3  Which of the following instruments does the woman play ?

Q 4  When did she start to play the instrument she is talking about now?

Q5 Which of the following statements is true according to the conversation?

Question 6-10

Washington, the United States

President Barack Obama is said to announce a three-billion-dollar plan to boost food security and farm productivity in Africa, US officials say. They say the initiative is aimed at alleviating shortages as world food supplies are being stretched by rising demand in Asia’s emerging markets. Foods security is expected to be on the agenda of this weekend’s G8 meeting. The summit near Washington is being dominated by Europe’s debt crisis and possible Greek exit from the Euro Zone. The head of the US Agency for International Development, USAID, Raj Shah said the move shows the administration’s commitment to boosting world food production as rising wealth in Asia drives consumption.

Madrid, Spain

Spain’s government called for come Friday, a day after Rating Agency Moody’s downgraded 16 Spanish banks in the latest sign of the stress in Europe. Among those who saw their ratings lowered were the country’s two largest banks. Had a cabinet meeting Friday, Spanish ministers agreed that the top priority regarding the economy is controlling the deficit. The downgrades commented rising concerns about the political and economic turmoil in Greece and the potential ripple effect of that crisis on nations like Spain and Italy that are struggling with low growth and big debts. Moreover, the realistic crisis that began in 2008 is ongoing and unemployment has risen to very high levels with rising risks to white-collar employment affecting the outlook for banks’ household lending.

Sao Paulo, Brazil

President Dilma Rousseff plans to cut and simplify taxes for electricity producers, two senior officials told royals as part of the strategy to reduce Brazil’s high business costs and stimulate its struggling economy. Brazil has been on the brink of recession since mid 2011 as high taxes and overvalued exchange rate and other structural problems squeeze what had previously been one of the world’s most dynamic emerging economies. Rousseff has in recent month announced targeted tax cuts for stagnant sectors such as the automotive industry. Embracing an incremental approach to reform. that has strong criticism from the investors who say more drastic changes are needed.

New York, the United States

Children from racial and ethnic minorities now account for more than half the birth in the US according to estimates of the latest US census data. Black, Hispanic, Asian and mixed-race birth make up 51% of new arrivals in the year ending July 2011. It puts non-Hispanic white-birth in the minority for the first time. Sociologists believe the ongoing economic slowdown has contributed to a great decline in birthrates among white people. The US Census Bureau recorded two million babies born to minorities in the year to July 2011, just over half of all births, compared with 37% in 1990. US birth rates have been declining but the drop has been larger for white people. The nation’s minority population now makes up 36% of the total US population.

London, the United Kingdom

Oil prices slipped towards 107 dollars a barrel on Friday as investors fled risky growth sensitive assets on fears that Greece would leave the Euro, although short covering provided some support for brand. Brand crude was down 16 cents to 107 dollars and 33 cents a barrel after slipping to its lowest level for the year at 106 dollars 40 cents earlier in the session. Traders and analysts said short covering was providing a floor for brand futures but the overall trend remains to the down side given the uncertainty over what would happen with Greece.

6. Which of the following is not expected to be on the agenda of this weekend’s G8 meeting near Washington?

7. After Moody lowered the ratings of Spanish banks, what is the top priority regarding the economy as agreed by Spanish ministers?

8. What does Brazilian president plan to do to stimulate its struggling economy?

9. What can we know from the news about the new-born population in the United States?

10. At what price did brand crude oil end Friday on London market?

Question 11-15 are based on the following interview

A: Mr. Johnson, You have traveled to so many places in the world. Does travel necessarily open minds to other cultures?

B:I think travel is good in any capacity, I do hope that people who travel to other countries spend at least a little bit of time not traveling in an isolated and capsulated kind of way. Over the last two or three decades, travel whether in well wildness or urban areas has become much more Insular. When I travel, I tent to not bring very much baggage with me, maybe just carry-on. I also know that where I am going.  Millions of people have lived for thousands of years. I know that I can survive there if they can survive.

A: With all the traveling you do in what way is it still a pleasure for you.

B: l think it is important when you travel, that you get on plateau a little bit. I think we travel now with cell phones and internet to stay connected all the time. I think some sort of disconnect from that for just few days or a week can really enhance travel. You don’t have to be connected every day. I also find when I am overseas for several weeks or months I am not touch news. I don’t see it or hear about it. I find when I come back to the states nothing is changed very much. The reality is the news  that we want to know every day maybe doesn’t really matter after a few weeks or months, life goes on.

A: Any favorite places that you visited?

B: I love my home in Montana. My ancestors were homesteaders of Montana, and I have lived in Bosman since 1995. I also like where I grew up in Northern Tanzania .I like the savanna and high plateau, I like the wild life, I do like a few beaches, but mostly I am a mountain person. I love the Karakul mountains in Northern Pakistan. I also love the Pamir Mountains in Hindu Kush Range. That’s what I like mountains. The Karakul is the greatest consolidation of high peaks in the world. I have a hard times picking a city I like a lot

Any places still on your list?

My wife wants to go to Antarctic .I don’t have time in this life time. It takes too long. I want to go northern Norway. It’s where my ancestors are from, very beautiful rivers and seas. My ancestors were fishermen. I also want to go to Peru and Argentine and(in) Santiandies.

What responsibility do you think western travelers have to the places that they visit?

If you can go local, even for a day, it’s fine if you have a package tour, but spend at least one day a week doing something a little different than what’s on the rest of your itinerary, spend some time in local cafe, get to know somebody, go visit a school. It’s uncomfortable to people at first, but often people say that is the most significant part of the trip. That will help the local economy

Q11 : According to Mr. Johnson which of the following statements applies to travelers in the past twenty or thirty years?

Q12 In what way is traveling a pleasure for Mr. Johnson?

Q13 Which of the following places does Mr. Johnson like most?

Q14 Which of the following places is not on Mr. Johnson’s traveling list?

Q15 According to Mr. Johnson, what should western travelers do when they visit places?

Question 16-20 are based on the following talk

At the same time that Broke-back Mountain hits video store shelves, savvy computer users can download the entire movie legally. The Oscar winning drama is the innocuous release of a new video on demand service for Movie Link. Five of the major Hollywood Studios started the California-based company Movie Link four years ago in 2008 to offer time-limited online rentals of feature films. The Movie Link Chief Executive Officer Jim Ramo says purchasers can now own a downloaded digital copy to watch over and over again. He said what we’ve tried to do with our launch is having a great mix of Academy Award winners, blockbusters and classics. We have a little over three hundred titles in all with our launch. Of course video pirates already have those options. Warner Brothers’ home-entertainment President Kevin sujihara says the new plan provides a legal alternative to online theft estimated to cause the entertainment industry more than four billion dollars annually. Movie Link’s CEO Ramo says the company’s experience was some 100,000 rental downloads per month, demonstrates that illegal copying can be prevented. With a high-speed connection, a full link film takes about ninety minutes to download. The digital files are in windows media format, and will only play on a PC. Purchasers can burn back-up copies to DVD. However, those disks will not work on a standard DVD player. Mr. Ramo says that will change when copy protection protocol can be perfected. He also notes that the downloads will not work on macintosh computers and suggests Apple, which pioneered video downloads through its iTunes site, they have its own film distribution plan in the works, perhaps with Disney. Movie Link has films from Warner brothers, Sony, Universal, Paramount, Fox and MGM in its catalogue. However, Mr. Ramo says the download-owned service is only available within the United States. Movie Link with only licensed-to-do business in the United States so we head off mechanism that make sure that the only people who could get movie link were within the United States. Having said that, I think we are happy to see now that Movie Link has already licensed other distributors around the world. There have been announcement recently in the Netherlands, the UK and Germany. So I think there are certainly more and more countries that are going to be opened up for digital delivery.

16. When was the company Movie Link founded?

17. What new service is offered by the company now?

18. What kind of movies are not offered with the launch of this new service?

19. How much does online theft cause the entertainment industry annually?

20. Where does Movie Link not allow download outside the United States at present?

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