14.

　　W: Are you still teaching at the junior high school?

　　M: Not since June. My brother and I opened a restaurant as soon as he got out of the army.

　　Q: What do we learn about the man from the conversation?

　　本題也是個很好的例子，混淆選項(xiàng)中說男人開了一個RESTAURANT，實(shí)際為與其兄合開，較之正確選項(xiàng)A) He quit teaching in June.，此混淆選項(xiàng)略顯瑕疵，因此舍棄該混淆選項(xiàng)。

　　長對話中雖然第一篇篇幅長達(dá)12個回合，史無前例，但考官卻刻意在其中安排了諸多停頓和遲疑來給考生留出足夠的時間思考，也不可不謂用心良苦。對話內(nèi)容本身相對比較簡單，屬于租房場景的典型例子。其中甚至引用到了以往真題中出現(xiàn)的一些內(nèi)容，如：

　　W: Em…, I don’t think we have any rooms for tonight. There’s a conference going on in town and…er, let’s see…yeah, no rooms.

　　參考1991年6月四級考題中第10題：

　　M: I sent a letter to make a reservation for a single room a few days ago.

　　: I’m sorry, your request arrived too late. There are some conferences in town this week and we are full up.

　　Q: Are there any spare rooms at the hotel?

　　甚至連沒有房間的理由也是一模一樣，這不得不讓人再次深思往年考題的重要性。無獨(dú)有偶，本次考試中甚至有些短對話考題就將過去的真題進(jìn)行小幅的修改后就直接使用，如短對話第15題：

　　M: Hi, Susan! Have you finished reading the book Professor Johnson recommended?

　　W: Oh, I haven’t read it through the way I read a novel. I just read a few chapters which interested me.

　　Q: What does the woman mean?

　　與03年6月考試中短對話第8題如出一轍：

　　M: Have you finished reading the book you bought last month?

　　W: Oh, I didn’t read it straight through the way you read a novel, I just covered a few chapters which interested me most.

　　Q: How did the woman read the book?

　　甚至從用詞角度而言，今年的15題還不如03年6月的第8題來得難，去掉了straight，把cover直接用read代替，均降低了句子本身的難度。所以可以說今天考試短對話部分總體而言難度是略有所下降的。但本題的出現(xiàn)再次強(qiáng)調(diào)了往年真題的重要性，告戒考生須戒驕戒躁，將往年真體摸熟吃透，方能兵來將擋，水來土淹。

　　長對話就出題而言，位置倒頗是符合規(guī)律，以第二篇為例：

　　M: Sarah, you work in the admissions office, don’t you?

　　W: Yes, I’m…I’ve been here ten years as assistant director.

　　M: Really? What does that involve?

　　W: Well, I’m in charge of all the admissions of postgraduate students in the university.

　　M: Only postgraduates?

　　W: Yes, postgraduates only. I have nothing at all to do with undergraduates.

　　M: Do you find that you get particular…sort of…different national groups? I mean, do you get large numbers from Latin America or…

　　W: Yes. Well, of all the students enrolled last year, nearly half were from overseas. They were from African countries, the Far East, the Middle East, and Latin America.

　　M: Em. But have you been doing just that for the last 10 years, or, have you done other things?

　　W: Well, I’ve been doing the same job. Er, before that, I was secretary of the medical school at Birmingham, and further back, I worked in the local government.

　　M: Oh, I see.

　　W: So I’ve done different types of things.

　　M: Yes, indeed. How do you imagine your job might develop in the future? Can you imagine shifting into a different kind of responsibility or doing something…

　　W: Oh, yeah, from October 1, I’ll be doing an entirely different job. There’s going to be more committee work. I mean, more policy work, and less dealing with students, unfortunately…I’ll miss my contact with students.

　　Questions 23 to 25 are based on the conversation you’ve just heard: