Conversation Two

　　M: Hi Diana, mind if I sit down?

　　W: Not at all, Jerry. How have you been?

　　M:Good. But I’m surprised to see you on the city bus. Your car in the shop?

　　W:No. I’ve just been thinking a lot about the environment lately. So I decided the air will be a lot cleaner if we all use public transportation when we could.

　　M:I’m sure you are right. The diesel bus isn’t exactly pollution free.

　　W:True. They’ll be running a lot cleaner soon. We were just talking about that in my environmental engineering class.

　　M:What could the city do? Install pollution filters in all their buses?

　　W:They could, but those filters make the engines work harder and really cut down on the fuel efficiency. Instead they found a way to make their engines more efficient.

　　M: How?

　　W:Well, there is a material that’s a really good insulator. And a thin coat of it gets sprayed on the certain part of the engine.

　　M: An insulator?

　　W:Yeah. What it does is reflect back the heat of burning fuel. So the fuel will burn much hotter and burn up more completely.

　　M:So a lot less unburned fuel comes out to pollute the air.

　　W:And the bus will need less fuel. So with the saving on fuel cost, they say this will all pay for itself in just six months.

　　M:Sounds like people should all go out and get some this stuff to spray their car engines.

　　W:Well, it’s not really that easy. You see, normally, the materials are fine powder. To melt it so you can spray a coat of it on the engine parts, you first have to heat it over 10000 degrees and then, well, you get the idea. It’s not something you or I will be able to do ourselves.

　　Questions 23 to 25 are based on the conversation you have just heard.

　　23.What is the conversation mainly about?

　　【解析】[C]女士說為了環保應該多乘坐公共交通設備，因此之后的話題便圍繞如何節能保護環境的問題展開。這段對話主要討論的是公共汽車的節能問題，討論了如何讓公共汽車燃料更有效的利用，因此[C]符合題意。

　　24.Why did the woman decide to ride the city bus?

　　【解析】[B]對話開頭部分就交代了此題答案，那位女士說她不開自己的車而乘坐公車是為了降低環境污染。從她提到的So I decided the air will be a lot cleaner if we all use public transportation when we could 即可得知。

　　25.What is the new material?

　　【解析】[D] 這種新的材料是在引擎部位噴灑的一種絕緣材料。從女士的話中there is a material that’s a really good insulator. And a thin coat of it gets sprayed on the certain part of the engine即可得出。這種材料的用途是將燃料燃燒的熱量反射回去，從而達到提高效率的結果。

　　Section B

　　Passage One

　　A guide dog is a dog especially trained to guide a blind person. Dogs chosen for such training must show good intelligence, physical fitness, and responsibility.

　　At the age of about fourteen months, a guide dog begins an intensive course that lasts from three to five months. It becomes accustomed to the leather harness and stiff leather handle it will wear when guiding its blind owner. The dog learns to watch traffic and to cross streets safely. It also learns to obey any command that might lead its owner into danger.

　　The most important part of the training course is a four�瞱eek program in which the guide dog and its future owner learn to work together. However, many blind people are unsuited by personality to work dogs. Only about a tenth of the blind find a guide dog useful.