【技巧】托福听力精听范例

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 细咬，一点一点地咬 n 轻咬
　　Vintage  adj 古老的，最佳的  vt/vi 采摘葡萄
　　Eardrum  n 鼓膜，耳膜，中耳
　　Craftsmanship  n 技艺，技术   Dimension  n 维，尺寸，次元
　　Mushroom  n 蘑菇，伞菌，暴发户 adj 蘑菇形的  vi 迅速增加

Configuration:

在开头professor 就说了acoustical properties 就和 instrument 有关（第一题主旨题，就是讨论影响acoustical quality的因素），然后鼓励学生去感受，比如让他们回想最近的参加的一次音乐会。（第五题重复录音题，就是通过学生的经历来支撑大部分audiences的观点）学生们admire composer’s craftsmanship, 但是教授说你们造吗，你们忽视了乐器的作用。

接着professor 又说 The tone quality of instrument differ from instrument to instrument. 便引出Cremona 这个城市生产的violin 是世界上最好的 back in 1600s-1700s.（第二题推断题，就是要说明现代的maker不比那个时候的差）躺枪了， 并解释不是说现代的maker 比不上他们那时的maker, even if they can replicate same violin, 但是音质还是比不上那个时代的violin.  (这题错得不应该哪！不然就能做全对了 T_T)

之后学生们就和教授讨论，现代人复制了什么东东，教授便举了些例子，如dimension, shape ,fingerboard and so forth. 并且还说到了油漆和木头。其实这都不是主要因素。

后来教授解释到 wood density 才是决定性的因素，并开始解释density 是由什么影响的，即how trees grow, 比如 grow seasonally, faster in the early year and less fast in the later year. （第三题目的题，就是为了说明这会引起木头density的变化）之后引出了density differential, 这也是它们最终的结果。 Then by calculating the density of previous violins and compared to modern violins, researchers found that modern violins had a great variation.

后来学生说Italy 不是在热带地区，教授便解释，这是由climate 造成的，因为在那个时候欧洲有一段是时间是ice-age,这便使得树grow evenly throughout the year, in this case, the density differential is relatively small.（第四题细节题，答案显然就是cool climate)

最后一个学生问他们是怎么复制density differential, 教授又开始解释，此时说道了一位material scientist 和他的一种方法， 即利用一种 fungus, mushroom, 它们会对木头的特定layer 起作用而对其他layer 不感兴趣，(第五题，就是说它们只会分解木材的特定部分） 因此使这种木材很接近Cremonese wood.

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