Questions 1 through 5. Listen to a conversation between two students.
W: Am I ever glad to see you! We don’t have much time left before our presentation—only the rest of this week. Let’s talk about what we still need to do.
M: Do we have that much left to do? I was under the impression we’re just about ready. I’ve got all my data, the graphs and photos of the mountain.
W: Let’s—we’d better go over what we have.
M: Oh, sure, but I have hockey practice in half an hour.
W: This won't take long, I hope. Now. I’ll do the introduction. First, I’ll talk about how the geologists at Volcano Watch detected another tiny earthquake on Stone Peak two weeks ago. The quake registered only point 8, but they think it could be part of a series of small quakes that precede an eruption. Then I’ll give the history of the eruptions in that area.
M: How far are you going to go back?
W: Two thousand years. That’s the last time Stone Peak erupted. I won’t go over every little eruption, just the six or seven major ones in the range. Then ... I guess at that point I'll turn it over to you.
M: And I’ll show my graphs—no, maybe the pictures first, at least this one of the bulge. George Davidson at the observatory gave me all these photographs. I still have to make slides out of 'em, and of my graphs, too, but that won't take long. Aren't they awesome? Some arc really good shots of the mountain—you can really see how much the bulge has grown.
W: It’s grown ... how much, a few inches?
M: A few inches a year, for the past six years. The bulge is forming ‘cause a chamber of magma below the surface is growing. Earth’s crust is being bent and bent—a few inches a year is a lot of bending—and sooner or later, it’ll start to break open. Then there’ll be a show! First I’ll show them- first the color picture, then the graphs showing the eruptions over the past six years ... and then the series of black-and white photos showing the bulge. It shows up better in black and white.
W: Then ... when you’re through with the slides, we should probably allow enough time for questions.
M: Yeah, that sounds good. That should about wrap it up. See? We’re all set to go.
Correct Answers:
1. D
2. B
3. A & C
4. C
5. D
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Questions 6 through 10. Listen to part of a talk in an economics class.
One very important institution in our economy is the bank. Banks manage money for individual people, corporations, and the government. Banks provide a number of important services for you and your family. Most importantly, they’re a safe place to store your money. They also provide an easy way for you to transfer money from one place to another.
When you write a personal check, the check authorizes the bank to give your money to the person or business whose name is on the check.
Of course, banks also lend money. Ordinary people take out bank loans for a number of reasons—to pay for college, to buy or remodel a home, to start or expand a business, and so forth. Banks provide these services to individuals: however, their main function is to lend large sums of money, for example, to corporations. When people or corporations borrow money from a bank, they must, of course, pay interest—a percentage of the money they borrowed.
Banks pay interest on the money they hold, and charge interest on the money they lend. For a bank to make a profit, it has to collect more interest than it pays out. Sometimes banks invest money as well as lend it. To invest money means to put it into a corporation or some other project—for example, building a housing complex or doing medical research—in exchange for a share of the profits. Most businesses need loans and investments at some time, and banks are an important source of both.
You might wonder what would happen if all the people with money in a bank wanted to take their money out at the same time. I mean, how would the bank be able to give everyone their money, if it had lent out or invested most of it?
In fact, this can be a serious problem for banks. They count on the fact that most people won’t want their money for a long time once it’s deposited. That leaves the bank free to lend or invest the money. If every person—or even lots of people— tried to withdraw their money at the same time, the bank might not be able to honor all of its deposits. This causes some banks to fail, or go bankrupt.
Bank failures used to be common during times of recession or depression. They were especially common during the Great Depression of the 1930s. When Franklin Roosevelt became president in 1933, one of the first things he did was close all the banks, so depositors wouldn't panic and try to take all their money out.
Correct Answers:
6. A
7. C & D
8. C
9. D
10. B
