SLEP listening test

This listening test contains 20 questions. You will hear a tour guide giving information on Peak District National Park. Complete the notes below, using no more than three words and / or a number.

Introduction Established in ____(1)_____, two years after the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act (aiming to protect _____(2)______ from human activities) It is the world’s _____(3)_____ natural park, easily accessible by _____(4)_____ people. ______(5)_______ people currently live within its borders.

Geology and Ecology Most of the area is made up of sedimentary rock, including shale, gritstone and _____(6)_____. Sedimentary rock forms when ______(7)______ sink through bodies of water and settle at the sea floor. The area is covered with caves and interesting rock formations called ______(8)_______ topography. The land is covered with forests, wetlands, and moorland, which are areas covered in _____(9)_______.

Activities There are over 3,000 km of trails, and on these you can go walking, hiking, mountain biking and _______(10)_______. You can hire bikes _____(11)_______. The park is also one of the best places in the world for _______(12)_______. You can also go sailing and fishing on the _______(13)_______. Buxton is ________(14)________, and Castleton has a _______(15)_______ and some show caves.

Traditions Well Dressing is the custom of decorating wells with _______(16)_______. Wooden frames are constructed and ______(17)______with clay and salt, onto which designs are drawn and filled in with flowers, beans, and seeds. The theme of the picture is usually ______(18)______.

Conservation Keep to the trails and don’t _______(19)_______ on them. More information More information is available at _______(20)_________. 参考答案 1) 1951

2) The landscape 3) Second most visited 4) 20 million 5) 38,000 6) limestone 7) sand and dust 8) karst 9) grass / low-growing plants 10) horse riding 11) at many locations 12) rock climbing 13) reservoirs 14) the largest town 15) castle 16) natural materials 17) covered 18) religious 19) throw rubbish 20) visitor centres 录音文本 Audioscript Guide: Good morning everyone, if I could just get your attention for a few minutes… Thank you. Welcome aboard. As you know, we are on our way to Peak District National Park today. The trip will take about one hour, and we should be arriving by about 11:00. Now that we are underway, I’d like to take this opportunity to tell you a little bit about the park itself, what you can do there, and answer any questions you have. Now, first of all, a little bit about the park. You may already know that the Peak District National Park is the oldest national park in the British Isles. It was established in 1951, a few years after the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act was passed in 1949. This act aimed to protect the natural landscape of the peak district from encroaching civilization. Peak District National Park is also the world’s second most visited national park, and this is mainly due to the fact that it is easily accessible. A full one third of the British population, about 20 million people, live less than one hour away by car or train.

While the national park is less than sixty years old, the area itself has been popular with human since before human history. Archaeologists have uncovered evidence of human settlement in the area from flint knives and blades left behind by Mesolithic hunters, to iron age hill forts, and the area was settled later on by the Romans, the Saxons, the Danes and the Normans. Today, 38,000 people live in the National Park itself, and are engaged in all types of activity, from farming to tourism.

The area itself is one of great diversity and is often described as a microcosm of the English landscape: peaks and dales, rivers, woodland, moors and meadows can all be found here. Much of the land is unspoilt countryside, looking very much the same as it did hundreds of years ago. The landscape is astounding, due mainly to the composition of the rock found in this area. Much of the area is covered in shale, gritstone and limestone. All three of these are what is called sedimentary rock, a type of rock which forms at the bottoms of bodies of water when sand and dust sink through the water and get pressed together on the river or sea floor. Of course, all that happened millions of years ago – the land hasn’t been underwater for some time. Limestone is a type of rock which is easily dissolved, and years and years of rain have carved the limestone in the area, leaving all sorts of interesting and beautiful rock formations, including caves, ridges, and sharp stony peaks. The scientific name for this is called Karst topography. Topography means the study of surface features, and Karst, that’s K- A- R- S- T-, is the German name of the place in what is now Slovenia where this kind of landscape was first studied in Europe.