【技巧】托福聽力精聽范例

TPO27 L2

Dictation: 

T: So, music instruments involved (evolved ) in ways that optimize their accoustic properties. How the instruments vibrate and sends those vibration through air to our_____(eardrum). Now, professoinal musicians are very particular about instruments, they want instruments that help them to fully express the intent of composer, which translates into a more enjoyable listening experience for the audience members.Yet most audience members probably are not even aware of how much the instrument matters, I mean, okay, think about the last concert you attended, when you applauded, what went through your mind? 

S: I recently heard a violinist who totally allured ( blew ) me away. So when I applauded, I guess I was showing appreciation for his skills, ________ ( the hours of practicing ) must have put in.

T: And his violin?

S: Did not think about it. Look exactly like mine, which is inspiring in a way knowing my violin could also produce beautiful tones, that may be_______( I would sound that good) someday. 

T: I hope you do. But if your violin is not as well as his.... 

S: You mean, he may not sound as good playing my violin. 

T： As I said, tone differs from instruments to instruments. The question is why? Why does one instrument sound more beautiful than another, even if it looks identical. There is an particularly interesting case with an extrordinary generation of violin made in northern Italy. In the city of Cremonese , back in late 1600s——early 1700s.

These vintage Cremonese violins are considered the best in the world, but it’s not like their makers of those violins were any more skilled than the morden counterparts. They were not. Today’s top violin makers can pretty much well replicate the physical attributes of Cremonese violins. But it’s generally thought the accoustic quality of violins does not live up to the quality of the vintage ones. 

S: So, what attributes of the old violins have been replicated? 

T: Oh, their dimensions, shape ,fingerboard height, general______ (craftsmanship). For a long time, people thought the varnish used to coat and protect the violins was special. But research showed that it was the same ordinary varnish used on the furnitures. However, the researchers have discovered there are something special about the wood the violins were made from. Recently, they have been able to replicate that too. 

S: How, unless the trees the Cremonese used are still alive. 

T: The trees were (were not ) replicated, just the wood, specially, the wood’s density. Density is determined by how trees grow. Trees, all (old) trees that do not grow in the tropics grow seasonally. They grow faster earlier in the year, the spring time, than they do later in the year. Early growth wood is porous, late growth wood is denser, less porous.

These variation shows up that trees growth rinse, the denser layers are generally darker than the less dense layers. We called this variation density differential. The variation in wood density affect the vibration, and therefore sound. When scientists first analyze the wood of vintage cremonses violins in compared with modern violin wood, they calculated the average density and found no differences. Later, other researchers measured the density differential and found a significant difference. Modern violins had a greater variation, larger differential. 

S: So, you mean the density of wood in Cremonese violins is...is more uniform?  

T: Correct!  S: But northern Italy____(is not in) the tropics. 

T: No, the climate matters. Turns out the Cremonese violins were made from the wood that grew during a little iceage period when temperatures are across Europe significantly lower than normal. So the trees grew more evenly throughout the year, making the density differential relatively small. 

S: But you said someone replicated the Cremonese wood. 

T: The density differential was replicated. 

S: What did they do? Try to simulate the ice-age climate in their greenhouse and grow some trees in there. 

T: No, what happened was a material scientists figured out a way to process wood to make it accoustic similar to Cremonese wood. He basically expose the wood to a species of fungus,a _______(mushroom). In the forests, the fungi is decomposer. They break down dead wood. But this particular fungus nibble away only at certain layers in the wood, leaving other layers alone. As a result, the density differential of fungi treated wood approach that of the Cremonese wood.

Vocabulary accumulation:

Nobble  vt/vi 細(xì)咬，一點(diǎn)一點(diǎn)地咬 n 輕咬
　　Vintage  adj 古老的，最佳的  vt/vi 采摘葡萄
　　Eardrum  n 鼓膜，耳膜，中耳
　　Craftsmanship  n 技藝，技術(shù)   Dimension  n 維，尺寸，次元
　　Mushroom  n 蘑菇，傘菌，暴發(fā)戶 adj 蘑菇形的  vi 迅速增加

Configuration:

在開頭professor 就說(shuō)了acoustical properties 就和 instrument 有關(guān)（第一題主旨題，就是討論影響acoustical quality的因素），然后鼓勵(lì)學(xué)生去感受，比如讓他們回想最近的參加的一次音樂會(huì)。（第五題重復(fù)錄音題，就是通過(guò)學(xué)生的經(jīng)歷來(lái)支撐大部分audiences的觀點(diǎn)）學(xué)生們admire composer’s craftsmanship, 但是教授說(shuō)你們?cè)靻�，你們忽視了樂器的作用�?/span>

接著professor 又說(shuō) The tone quality of instrument differ from instrument to instrument. 便引出Cremona 這個(gè)城市生產(chǎn)的violin 是世界上最好的 back in 1600s-1700s.（第二題推斷題，就是要說(shuō)明現(xiàn)代的maker不比那個(gè)時(shí)候的差）躺槍了， 并解釋不是說(shuō)現(xiàn)代的maker 比不上他們那時(shí)的maker, even if they can replicate same violin, 但是音質(zhì)還是比不上那個(gè)時(shí)代的violin.  (這題錯(cuò)得不應(yīng)該哪！不然就能做全對(duì)了 T_T)

之后學(xué)生們就和教授討論，現(xiàn)代人復(fù)制了什么東東，教授便舉了些例子，如dimension, shape ,fingerboard and so forth. 并且還說(shuō)到了油漆和木頭。其實(shí)這都不是主要因素。

后來(lái)教授解釋到 wood density 才是決定性的因素，并開始解釋density 是由什么影響的，即how trees grow, 比如 grow seasonally, faster in the early year and less fast in the later year. （第三題目的題，就是為了說(shuō)明這會(huì)引起木頭density的變化）之后引出了density differential, 這也是它們最終的結(jié)果。 Then by calculating the density of previous violins and compared to modern violins, researchers found that modern violins had a great variation.

后來(lái)學(xué)生說(shuō)Italy 不是在熱帶地區(qū)，教授便解釋，這是由climate 造成的，因?yàn)樵谀莻�(gè)時(shí)候歐洲有一段是時(shí)間是ice-age,這便使得樹grow evenly throughout the year, in this case, the density differential is relatively small.（第四題細(xì)節(jié)題，答案顯然就是cool climate)

最后一個(gè)學(xué)生問他們是怎么復(fù)制density differential, 教授又開始解釋，此時(shí)說(shuō)道了一位material scientist 和他的一種方法， 即利用一種 fungus, mushroom, 它們會(huì)對(duì)木頭的特定layer 起作用而對(duì)其他layer 不感興趣，(第五題，就是說(shuō)它們只會(huì)分解木材的特定部分） 因此使這種木材很接近Cremonese wood.

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