Questions 1 through 2. Listen to part of a discussion in a writing class.
M: You probably noticed in your reading for this week that all the stories involved cases of miscommunication between people. You probably also noticed that a lot of this miscommunication was due to cultural differences. This is all good stuff, and so 1 thought it would be a good idea if this week’s journal theme were along the same lines. What I’d like you to do is think and write about a time when you—or someone you know—experienced some type of miscommunication. It could be any kind of problem in conveying or in understanding a ... Yes?
W: But isn’t this the same as last week? I mean. I feel I’ve already written a lot about it. I had to do something like this in two of my other classes too. Can’t we write about something else for a change?
M: What did you have in mind?
W: I mean. I'm getting tired of writing about my life.
And I don’t feel qualified to write about any of my friends’ problems.
M: Then why not focus on someone you don’t know
personally? For example, a scene in a movie or a television show.
W: Oh. I can do that?
M: Of course. What’s important is your awareness of that you can recognize instances of miscommunication.
Correct answers:
1. A
2. D
------------------------
Questions 3 through 6. Listen to part of a talk in a United States history class. The professor is talking about economics in colonial New England.
W: We know that in colonial New England, the Native Americans compared to the European colonists— had a far greater knowledge of what resources in the environment could be eaten or made useful. Native Americans used a wide range of resources for economic subsistence, and these resources were simply used by the family that acquired them. Only a few resources were accumulated for the purpose of showing a person's social status—for example, shells, furs, and ornaments of the hunt.
M: Excuse me. Dr. Singer, but did they ... um ... did the Native Americans have a concept of wealth?
W: The Native Americans believed a person’s status came more from kinship and personal alliances than from stores of wealth. Their definition of “need” was what they needed to survive. So if they had food, clothing, and shelter, they considered themselves wealthy. For the European colonists, on the other hand, resources in the environment were seen more as commodities, as goods that could be exchanged in markets. European economics measured commodities in terms of money values abstract equivalencies that could be accumulated and could function as indicators of wealth and social status. So. for the colonists, “need" was defined by the markets that bought New England goods. So the Europeans perceived few resources in New England ecosystems, but they saw many commodities—fur, fish, timber— which could be sold in the marketplace for profit.
Correct answers:
3. A
4. C
5. D
6. A
------------------------
Questions 7 through 10. Listen to part of a talk in an anthropology class. The professor is discussing culture.
M: What would human life be without culture? It's impossible for us to imagine what we'd be like without language, without art or religion or technology. Over hundreds of thousands of years of evolution, these aspects of our cultures have become as much a part of us as our anatomy and physiology. We have a lot in common with the people around us. In fact, the number of ideas we have in common with nearby people is very large. A complete list of shared ideas—for example, ideas we share with our own— the people around us—this list would include our ideas about what’s right and wrong, what's beautiful and ugly, and so on ... also our ideas about food, work, love, marriage every aspect of our lives even our rules about how to behave toward strangers, friends, animals, and the earth. Think of a particular group of people—any group—say, for example, college students. If you could take all the ideas and behaviors, all the tools and technology, all the things that college students share as a result of being in contact with each other, you’d have what anthropologists call student culture.
W: So, what you're saying is culture is sort of like a club. College students are a club. It's because our experience is ... like, we go to class, we do homework, we have our computers and cell phones, we hang out with other students. Sometimes we forget what the outside world is like. This is why- that's what we have in common with other students it’s why our culture makes us feel like part of a club, right?
M: Hmm. In a way a culture is like a club - neighboring cultures might share the same ideas and rules, like neighboring clubs do. But the comparison doesn't completely cut it. Think about it. A club has borders that we can define but we run into trouble if we try to draw borders around a culture... (some text removed)
Correct answers:
7. D
8. A
9. C
10. B
