时间:2018-12-01 作者:英语课 分类:VOA慢速英语2008年(十二)月


英语课
This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

For the past two weeks, we have talked about the SAT and ACT college admissions tests and the GRE for graduate school. This week in our Foreign Students Series, we move on to English language tests.

Most American colleges and universities accept one or both of the two major tests. One is the Test of English as a Foreign Language, known as the TOEFL. The other is the International English Language Testing System, or IELTS.

The TOEFL is given in one hundred eighty countries. The competing IELTS is given in one hundred twenty-one countries.

One million people each year take the TOEFL, says Tom Ewing, a spokesman 1 for the Educational Testing Service. Same with the IELTS, says Beryl Meiron, the executive 2 director of IELTS International.

She says two thousand colleges and universities in the United States now recognize the IELTS. Schools might accept it only for undergraduate or graduate admission or both.

The IELTS is a paper test, while the TOEFL is given on paper only in places where a computer test is unavailable.

The TOEFL paper test costs one hundred fifty dollars. It tests reading, listening and writing. A separate Test of Spoken English costs one hundred twenty-five dollars.

The computer version is called the TOEFL iBT, or Internet-based test. The price is different in each country, but generally falls between one hundred fifty and two hundred dollars.

The TOEFL iBT and the IELTS both measure all four language skills -- listening, reading, writing and speaking. But with the IELTS, the speaking test is done separately as a live interview. You speak with an examiner who is certified 3 in ESOL -- English for speakers of other languages.

Everyone takes the same speaking and listening tests. But there is a choice of two kinds of reading and writing tests -- either academic or general training.

IELTS International says the test measures true-to-life ability to communicate in English for education, immigration and employment. Institutions in Britain and Australia jointly 4 developed it.

The cost is different in each country. But Beryl Meiron says the price in local currency is generally comparable 5 to about one hundred sixty dollars. The IELTS Web site is ielts.org. The TOEFL Web site is toefl.org.

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. Our Foreign Student Series is online at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

1 spokesman
n.发言人,代言人
  • The government spokesman gave a quick briefing to the reporters.政府发言人向记者们作了情况简介。
  • They drew lots to decide who should be their spokesman.他们抽签决定谁是他们的发言人。
2 executive
adj.执行的,行政的;n.执行者,行政官,经理
  • A good executive usually gets on well with people.一个好的高级管理人员通常与人们相处得很好。
  • He is a man of great executive ability.他是个具有极高管理能力的人。
3 certified
a.经证明合格的;具有证明文件的
  • Doctors certified him as insane. 医生证明他精神失常。
  • The planes were certified airworthy. 飞机被证明适于航行。
4 jointly
ad.联合地,共同地
  • Tenants are jointly and severally liable for payment of the rent. 租金由承租人共同且分别承担。
  • She owns the house jointly with her husband. 她和丈夫共同拥有这所房子。
5 comparable
adj.相似的,同类的,可比的,比得上的
  • A fire is comparable with the sun,both give light and heat.火可以和太阳相比,两者都可以发光发热。
  • No horse has a speed comparable to that of his.没有一匹马的速度能比得上他的马。
学英语单词
acoustic-microwave radar
age-adjusted death rate
algorithmic assembly language
all-dreaded
ambisinister, ambisinistrous
barltrop
bench of burners
biometer method
Buenos Aires, Lake
bushytail woodrats
capture
cascaded windows
catbriers
chief insolvency officer
chules
coefficient of sensitivity of prices
Conulariid
Corydalis oxalidifolia
Cryptoprocta
Dasht-e-Lut
deathwound
dictatorily
disaster geology
double corde
dual-use line
echo suppressor indicator
ehtylene acetate
Electric utility divestiture
elixir glycine
epispastics
epithreshold energy
Erimi
event adapter
FFATE
floating caisson
flounder about
fornenst
forthlooks
G scan
genetic diversity index
gutturi
high temperature reaction
integrating gyro(scope)
iodhydrins
JAFOs
jango
jerome bruner
Joseph Pulitzer
judgment in rem
kamata saki (gamoda-misaki )
Karaköprü
kerosenish
lactatemia
light scattering
lunched
Ma Ly Pho
medium-texture soil
methyl acetanilide
misgrowing
mistral
monades
monoalkyl arsine
multiparticle
Musandam Pen.
neo-abiogenesis
no risks
NRZ
One mischief comes on the neck of another.
Paris Convention
photoresistance cell
plane-flying
porou
promoters
rakaposhis
redistrictings
resyndicating
satbility
selfenergies
seminifical
skillfulness
smoke stand
sororise
Sphecius
spoto
swell effect
terminal flight
thrust-bearing housing
tossed up
tracking of ions
Tunis.
unemployableness
valvular process
vegetarianism
vehiclelike
view of matter
walketh
war gaming
Weber's paradox
wiltz
win one's spurs
wood particle
yin deficiency involving yang