作者：上海新东方学校 四、六级听力明星教师 洪薇薇
Conversation One:
M: Hi, Anna! Welcome back! How’s your trip to the States?
W: Very busy. I had a lot of meetings, so, of course, I didn’t have much time to see New York.
M: What a pity! Actually, I have a trip there myself next week.
W: Do you? Then take my advice, do the well-being in the air program. It really works.
M: Oh, I read about that in a magazine. You say it works?
W: Yes, I did the program on the flight to the States, and when I arrived at New York, I didn’t have any problem, no jet lag at all. On the way back, I didn’t do it, and I felt terrible.
M: You’re joking!
W: Not at all, it really meant a lot of difference.
M: En. So what did you do?
W: Well, I didn’t drink an alcohol or coffee, and I didn’t eat any meat or rich food. I drink a lot of water, and fresh juice, and I ate the noodles on the well-being menu. They’re lighter. They have fish, vegetables, and noodles, for example, and I did some of the exercises of the program.
M: Exercises? On a plane?
W: Yes. I didn’t do many, of course, there isn’t much space on a plane.
M: How many passengers do the exercises?
W: Not many.
M: Then how much champagne did they drink?
W: A lot! It was more popular than mineral water.
M: So, basically, it’s a choice. Mineral water and exercises, or champagne and jet lag.
W: That’s right! It’s a difficult choice.
Questions 19 to 22 are based on the conversation you’ve just heard.
19. Why did the woman go to New York?
20. What does the woman say about the well-being in the air program?
21. What did the woman do to follow the well-being menu?
22. What did the woman say about other passengers?
Conversation Two:
W: Morning. Can I help you?
M: Well, I’m not rally sure. I’m just looking.
W: I see. Well, there’s plenty to look at it again this year. I’m sure you have to walk miles to see each stand.
M: That’s true.
W: Er…, would you like a coffee? Come and sit down for a minute, no obligation.
M: Well, that’s very kind of you, but…
W: Now, please. Is this the first year you’ve been to the fair, Mr….
M: Yes, Johnson, James Johnson.
W: My name’s Susan Carter. Are you looking for anything in particular, or are you interested in computers in general?
M: Well, actually, I have some specific jobs in mind. I owe a small company, we’ve grown quite dramatically over the past 12 months, and we really need some technological help to enable us to keep on top of everything.
W: What’s your line of business, Mr. Johnson?
M: We’re a training consultancy.
W: I see. And what do you mean “to keep on top”?
M: The first thing is correspondence. We have a lot of standard letters and forms. So I suppose we need some kind of word processor.
W: Right. Well, that’s no problem. But it may be possible for you to get a system that does a lot of other things in addition to word processing. What might suit you is the MR5000. That’s it over there! It’s IBM compatible.
M: What about the price?
W: Well, the MR5000 costs 1,050 pounds. Software comes free with the hardware.
M: Well, I’ll think about it. Thank you.
W: Here’s my card. Please feel free to contact me.
Questions 23 to 25 are based on the conversation you’ve just heard:
23. Where did the conversation take place?
24. What are the speakers talking about?
25. What is the man’s line of business?
答案
19. B) To have meetings.
20. D) It can lessen the discomfort cased by air travel.
21. D) Avoided eating rich food.
22. C) Not many of them chose to do what she did.
23. A) At a fair.
24. C) The purchasing of some equipment.
25. B) Training consultancy.
应试框架下的能力考察——
浅析2007年6月六级听力长对话部分
今年六级听力考试的长对话部分，集中体现了命题组对于考试改革的诉求——强调在实际环境中的语言运用能力。从六级考试的定位来分析，由于六级针对的往往是高校的高年级学生，这些考生即将走上社会，投入实际工作，因此他们的英语学习不能仅停留在对书本知识的表层理解上，而要“学以致用”。
命题以工作场景为核心，强调商务英语
在这一指导原则下，今年长对话的命题完全脱离了以往听力题目以学校生活为主要背景的做法，而将对话内容全部安排在工作和商务场景之下。其实，早在国家教委所发行的六级样题中，长对话的conversation one内容为一家公司招聘初级销售经理，这已经给以后的六级长对话命题提供了线索——这类新题型是专门在新的英语应用要求下应运而生的，因此会广泛地结合工作内容。而这种线索，在6月23日的六级考试中无疑得到了具体验证。
在题目中涉及工作内容，这从九十年代中期起，就在短对话的命题中有所体现，但当时只是“蜻蜓点水”，通常只在对话中安插个别与工作相关的单词，与整体的解题关系比较间接，够不成难度。但在今年的第二篇长对话中，场景是在一次展销会上，其中的男生由于要为公司采购计算机设备，因此来展销会参观，而女生则是他在展销会上碰到的一位销售人员。两人的对话频繁涉及会展、商业洽谈、产品介绍、价格询洽、建立商业往来等内容，且层次丰富、信息容量大(六级的长对话篇幅比四级长，而且每位说话人每次发言的句子都比较复杂，这是四级和六级长对话在难度上的一大区别)。据很多考生事后反映，对于这类题目颇感措手不及，听的时候大脑的反应跟不上对话的节奏。比如女生向男生介绍新形电脑产品时有这样一句话：But it may be possible for you to get a system that does a lot of other things in addition to word processing… It’s IBM compatible. 其中的word processing指电脑的文档处理系统，而compatible这个词表示“可兼容的”，在这里指这套计算机系统可以和IBM电脑兼容。这两个词都是非常典型的六级词汇，很多考生虽然在词汇手册上背到过，但放到句子的语言环境中来具体理解，就觉得比较吃力了。同样地，当女生询问男生所从事的职业时，她说：What’s your line of business? 在这里，就不能把line, business之类的词单独理解了，line of business作为一个完整的固定表达，意为“行业领域”；女生向男生介绍售价时有这样一句表达：Software comes free with hardware.意思是软件是随同硬件免费附赠的。像这些语言，其实对于六级的考生来说，不存在任何难词，但由于对整体语言环境缺乏把握，容易造成理解上的困难。
难词依然存在，但不影响解题
说到这次长对话中的难词、偏词，可能要数conversation one中提到的jet lag了。这篇长对话发生在同事之间，女生刚从纽约出差回来，向男生介绍了飞机旅途中的一项well-being program(健康计划)，其中提到这项健康计划旨在降低旅客的jet lag，即“由飞行引起的身体不适”。这个词先后两次出现在文章中。而第20题针对健康计划的目的和作用来提问，因此必须理解jet lag才能解题。但要理解这个词，不一定要事先背过单词，只要利用上下文稍加推测即可。男生在对话结尾处提到：So, basically, it’s a choice. Mineral water and exercises, or champagne and jet lag.提示jet lag是和锻炼等健康的生活方式相反的一个选择，也就是会另人不适的，理解到这一曾就可以做题了。
顺便提一句，类似情况在这次的级长对话中也有所体现。题目有一处提到了continental breakfast，即“欧洲大陆早餐”，这种早餐通常只提供面包卷、黄油、咖啡等，与生活在欧洲大陆之外的英国人吃的早餐有较大不同，因此得名。这些内容，native speaker说起来非常自然，但对于中国考生来说，不了解文化社会的背景知识，可能觉得很陌生。虽然有一题针对continental breakfast提问，但并没有要求考生搞懂这种早餐到底是什么，因此做题时，只要接收到有关breakfast的信息就足够了。但以后的命题很可能反复出现这类信息，如果要在考试时真正有把握理解对话整体，需要考生补充过去容易忽略的文化常识。这体现出了四六级考试对于在校大学生英语学习的导向性作用，值得大家借鉴。
考点与清晰，解题顺序清楚
conversation two问了三道题，分别是对话发生的地点、对话主要内容和男生从事的行业。前两题都是短对话中常见的问题，考生比较熟悉，也较容易把握。其实，只要一看第23的选项，四个in, at开头加地点名词的短语，熟悉选项预读技巧的同学可以在听录音之前就直接判断出题方向了。且三道题目，23考察在对话开头，24通过对话的层层展开得到提示，25在文章结尾处出现答案，这种考点布置的手法，与短文理解题如出一辙。总之，从题型的角度来说，长对话需要我们在听之前借鉴短对话的预读方法做预判，而听的时候以短文理解题的思路，逐题定位答案。
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