TOEFL 托福 聽力原創模擬試題 7

NARRATOR: Listen to a conversation between a student and a professor. STUDENT: Hi, Professor. Thank you for meeting with me during your office hours today. I wanted to talk about my draft proposal for the environmental science paper on urban bee populations. I am having some trouble with the assignment guidelines. PROFESSOR: Hello, Sofia. It is good to see you. Yes, I read your draft proposal, and your topic on urban bees is excellent. What exactly is the trouble you are having with the guidelines? STUDENT: Well, it is the page limit. Right now, my draft is eight pages long. But the project guidelines say the final paper must be exactly five pages. I am really worried because I do not know what I should cut out. Also, uh, I mean, I wanted to ask if the bibliography counts as part of those five pages. PROFESSOR: Ah, I see. That is a very common question. Let me reassure you: the bibliography does not count toward the five-page limit. That page is extra. But without the bibliography, your main text is still seven pages, which is still too long. STUDENT: Yes, that is true. It is still seven pages. I wrote a very long introduction to explain the history of urban beekeeping, and that section alone took three pages. I thought it was important to give all that background. PROFESSOR: I understand. Background history is interesting, but for a short proposal, you only need a brief summary. First, you should focus on your specific research question. Next, you need to explain your methods. My advice is to cut your introduction down to just one page. That will instantly save you two pages and bring you to the limit. STUDENT: Oh, that makes a lot of sense. If I shorten the introduction to one page, the rest of my paper will fit perfectly. I want to make sure I get it right. Can I still email you the new version before the final deadline on Friday? PROFESSOR: Yes, absolutely. Please email it to me by Thursday morning. That way, I will have time to look at it and give you some quick feedback before you submit the final version on Friday afternoon. STUDENT: That is perfect. I will work on shortening the introduction tonight and send it to you tomorrow. Thank you so much for your help! [Q1] Why does the student go to see the professor?

中文翻譯

旁白：聽一段學生和教授之間的對話。 學生：嗨，教授。謝謝您今天在諮詢時間抽空和我見面。我想討論我關於都市蜜蜂族群的環境科學報告計畫書草案。我在作業撰寫規定上遇到了一些困難。 教授：哈囉，莎菲亞。很高興見到妳。是的，我讀了妳的計畫書草案，妳關於都市蜜蜂的主題非常棒。妳在規定上具體遇到了什麼困難呢？ 學生：嗯，是頁數限制。目前我的草案有八頁長。但作業規定寫著最終報告必須剛好是五頁。我真的很擔心，編寫時不知道該刪掉什麼。還有，呃，我是說，我想問參考書目算不算在這五頁裡面。 教授：啊，我懂了。這是一個非常常見的問題。讓我跟妳保證：參考書目不計入五頁的限制內。那一頁是額外的。但即使扣除參考書目，妳的正文仍然有七頁，這還是太長了。 學生：是的，沒錯。依然有七頁。我寫了很長的前言來解釋都市養蜂的歷史，光是那個部分就佔了三頁。我以為提供這些背景知識很重要。 教授：我明白。歷史背景很有趣，但對於一份簡短的計畫書，妳只需要簡短的概述。首先，妳應該專注於妳具體的研究問題。接著，妳需要解釋妳的研究方法。我的建議是將前言縮減到剩一頁。這樣立刻就能省下兩頁，讓妳達到頁數限制。 學生：噢，這很有道理。如果我把前言縮減到一頁，我報告的其他部分就剛好裝得下了。我想確保寫得沒問題。在週五的最終截止日期之前，我還可以把新版本 Email 給您看嗎？ 教授：好的，沒問題。請在週四早上之前 Email 給我。這樣我才有時間看，並在妳週五下午繳交最終版本之前，給妳一些快速的意見回饋。 學生：太完美了。我今晚會著手縮短前言，明天寄給您。非常謝謝您的幫忙！

(Shared with Q1.) [Q2] According to the professor, what is true about the bibliography?

中文翻譯

（與第 1 題共用音檔。） [第 2 題] 根據教授的說法，關於參考文獻，下列敘述何者正確？

(Shared with Q1.) [Q3] What does the professor advise the student to do with her introduction?

中文翻譯

（與第 1 題共用。）[第 3 題] 教授建議學生如何處理她的前言？

(Shared with Q1.) [Q4] What can be inferred about the student's research proposal?

中文翻譯

（與第 1 題共用。）[第 4 題] 關於該學生的研究計畫書，可以推論出什麼？

(Shared with Q1.) [Replay: "Yes, I read your draft proposal, and your topic on urban bees is excellent."] [Q5] Why does the professor say this:

中文翻譯

(與第 1 題共用。) [重播：「對，我看過妳的提案草稿了，妳選的城市蜜蜂主題非常棒。」]

NARRATOR: Listen to part of a lecture in a biology class. PROFESSOR: Yesterday we discussed how animals use scent or calls to recognize their relatives. Today, we're shifting our focus to the plant kingdom. It might sound surprising, but plants also exhibit what we call kin recognition. This is the ability of an organism to distinguish between close genetic relatives and unrelated individuals of the same species. For a long time, scientists thought plants just competed blindly with any neighbor for resources like water and light. But recent studies show they can actually identify their siblings—seeds from the same mother plant—and act cooperatively. Now, how do they do this without eyes or ears? The answer lies underground, primarily through root exudates. Root exudates are chemical compounds—like sugars, amino acids, and other metabolites—that roots secrete into the surrounding soil. Think of these exudates as a chemical signature, unique to each plant's genetic makeup. Yes, Lukas? STUDENT: So, if a plant detects a sibling's chemical signature, how does it react? Does it stop growing? PROFESSOR: Not exactly. Instead of stopping growth entirely, it modifies its resource allocation. In a famous experiment with a beach plant called the sea rocket, when plants were potted with strangers, they aggressively grew more roots to compete for nutrients. But when potted with siblings, they restricted their root growth. They, uh, they shared the space rather than trying to crowd each other out. But it gets even more sophisticated in forest ecosystems, thanks to common mycorrhizal networks, or CMNs. CMNs are underground webs of fungal threads that physically connect the root systems of multiple plants. These fungi trade soil nutrients for plant sugars. But here's the fascinating part: older 'mother trees' use these fungal networks to recognize and support their own offspring. In Douglas fir forests, researchers tracked isotopes and found that mature trees preferentially channel carbon and defense signals through the CMN to seedlings that are their direct kin, while offering far less support to unrelated seedlings of the exact same species. Now, some skeptics might say, 'Well, maybe the fungi are choosing where to send the nutrients, not the trees.' And that's a fair point. But experiments where fungal variables were controlled still showed that the mother tree actively regulates its resource distribution based on genetic relatedness. This challenges our traditional view of forests as purely competitive battlegrounds. Instead, they operate more like complex, cooperative family networks. [Q6] What is the lecture mainly about?

中文翻譯

旁白：請聽一段生物學課堂的講座。 教授：昨天我們討論了動物如何利用氣味或叫聲來辨識牠們的親屬。今天，我們將焦點轉移到植物界。這聽起來可能令人驚訝，但植物也展現出我們所說的「親緣辨識」（kin recognition）。這是生物區分基因相近的親屬與同物種非親屬個體的能力。長期以來，科學家認為植物只是盲目地與任何鄰近植物競爭水分和陽光等資源。但最近的研究顯示，它們實際上可以辨認出自己的手足——也就是來自同一株母體植物的種子——並進行合作。那麼，在沒有眼睛或耳朵的情況下，它們是如何做到的呢？答案就在地下，主要是透過根系分泌物（root exudates）。根系分泌物是根部向周圍土壤分泌的化學化合物，例如糖類、胺基酸和其他代謝物。大家可以將這些分泌物視為一種化學特徵，對每株植物的基因組成來說都是獨一無二的。有什麼問題嗎，盧卡斯？ 學生：所以，如果植物偵測到手足的化學特徵，它會如何反應？它會停止生長嗎？ 教授：不完全是這樣。它並非完全停止生長，而是調整了資源分配。在一項針對名為「歐洲海芥藍」（sea rocket）的海岸植物所進行的著名實驗中，當植物與非親屬種在同一個盆子裡時，它們會積極生長出更多根部以爭奪養分。但當與手足種在一起時，它們會限制根部的生長。它們，呃，它們會共享空間，而不是試圖把對方排擠出去。不過，在森林生態系統中，多虧了「共同菌根網路」（common mycorrhizal networks，簡稱 CMN），情況變得更加複雜精妙。CMN 是地下的真菌菌絲網絡，實體連結了多株植物的根系。這些真菌用土壤中的養分來交換植物的糖分。但最迷人的地方在於：年長的「母樹」會利用這些真菌網路來辨識並支持自己的後代。在花旗松森林中，研究人員追踪同位素後發現，成熟的樹木會優先透過 CMN 將碳和防禦訊號傳送給具有直接親緣關係的幼苗，而對同一物種但無親緣關係的幼苗提供的支持則少得多。現在，有些懷疑論者可能會說：「好吧，也許是真菌在選擇要把養分送到哪裡，而不是樹木。」這確實是個合理的質疑。但在控制了真菌變因的實驗中，結果仍然顯示母樹會根據基因親緣關係，主動調節其資源分配。這挑戰了我們過去認為森林純粹是競爭戰場的傳統觀點。相反地，它們的運作更像是一個複雜且合作的家族網路。

(Shared with Q6.) [Q7] According to the professor, what are root exudates?

中文翻譯

（與第 6 題共用）[第 7 題] 根據教授的說法，什麼是根部分泌物？

(Shared with Q6.) [Q8] According to the lecture, in what ways do mature Douglas fir trees cooperate with their kin? Choose 2 answers.

中文翻譯

（與第6題共用。）[第8題] 根據講座內容，成熟的花旗松透過哪些方式與其親屬植物合作？請選出2個答案。

(Shared with Q6.) [Q9] Why does the professor mention the perspective of skeptics regarding fungal networks?

中文翻譯

（與第 6 題共用）[第 9 題] 教授為什麼提到懷疑論者對真菌網路的看法？

(Shared with Q6.) [Q10] What did researchers observe when sea rocket plants were potted with unrelated plants?

中文翻譯

（與第 6 題共用）[Q10] 當海芥菜與無親緣關係的植物同盆栽種時，研究人員觀察到了什麼？

(Shared with Q6.) [Replay: "They, uh, they shared the space rather than trying to crowd each other out."] [Q11] Why does the speaker say this:

中文翻譯

（與第 6 題共用。）[重播：「他們，呃，他們共享了空間，而不是試圖把彼此擠走。」][第 11 題] 說話者為什麼說這句話：

NARRATOR: Listen to a conversation between a student and a registrar's office administrator. STUDENT: Hi there. I'm hoping you can help me with my graduation audit. I received an email saying I'm three credits short of the requirement for my bachelor's degree in environmental science, but... well, I'm pretty sure I have enough. STAFF: Hello. Let's take a look. What is your student ID number? ... Okay, Sofia. I see your record here. According to the system, you have 117 completed credits, and you need 120 to graduate. Are you currently enrolled in any other classes? STUDENT: Yes, I'm taking 15 credits this semester, which should bring me to, uh, wait, 132 total. But the audit says I only have 117 completed, which doesn't include the internship I did last summer. That was supposed to be worth three credits. STAFF: Ah, the summer internship. Did you register that with the department before you started? STUDENT: Yes, I did. My advisor, Professor Evans, approved it. I have the signed approval form right here, actually. STAFF: Okay, that's the pre-approval. But to actually get those credits on your transcript, you needed to submit a completed Internship Credit Validation Form—that's Form 402—along with a brief evaluation from your internship supervisor. Our deadline for submitting summer credit validation forms was October 15th. Today is, let's see, November 10th. So that's why it's not showing up. STUDENT: Oh, no. I thought... I thought Professor Evans would submit it directly to you once I emailed her my supervisor's evaluation. I didn't realize I had to submit a separate form myself. Is it too late to get those credits? I really need them to graduate in the spring. STAFF: Don't worry, it's not impossible to fix. You can still submit the form late, but you'll have to file a late-submission petition. It requires a signature from your department chair—not just your advisor—and there is a forty-five dollar late fee. STUDENT: Forty-five dollars? That's... well, I guess I don't have much of a choice. How long does the petition take to process? STAFF: Usually about two weeks once we receive all the paperwork and the payment. Since your graduation isn't until the end of the spring term, we have plenty of time. But I'd recommend getting that department chair's signature as soon as possible, because they can be hard to track down during midterms. STUDENT: Right, Dr. Ramirez is usually very busy. I'll head over to her office right now to see if she's in. Where do I get Form 402 and the petition form? STAFF: You can download both of them from our office website under the 'Student Forms' tab. Just print them out, get the signature, and bring them back here with the payment. We accept cards or student account billing. STUDENT: Great. Thank you so much for clarifying this. I was really panicking. STAFF: You're welcome. We'll get it sorted out. [Q12] Why does the student go to see the registrar's office administrator?

中文翻譯

旁白：請聽一段學生與教務處註冊組職員之間的對話。 學生：你好。我希望你能幫我看一下我的畢業審查。我收到一封電子郵件，說我還差三個學分才能達到環境科學學士學位的畢業要求，但是……嗯，我很確定我的學分是夠的。 職員：你好。我們來看看。妳的學號是多少？……好的，Sofia。我看到妳的紀錄了。根據系統顯示，妳目前已修完 117 個學分，而畢業需要 120 個學分。妳這學期目前有修其他課嗎？ 學生：有的，我這學期修了 15 個學分，這應該會讓我達到……呃，等等，總共 132 個學分。但畢業審查顯示我只修完了 117 個學分，這並不包含我去年夏天做的實習。那應該要有三個學分才對。 職員：啊，暑期實習。妳在開始實習之前，有先向系上登記嗎？ 學生：有的。我的指導教授 Evans 教授已經批准了。事實上，我這裡就有他簽名的核准表。 職員：好，那是預先核准。但如果要正式把那些學分列入妳的成績單中，妳需要繳交一份填寫完整的「實習學分採認表」——也就是 402 號表格，以及一份妳實習主管的簡短評估表。我們繳交暑期學分採認表的截止日期是 10 月 15 日。今天，讓我看看，是 11 月 10 日。所以這就是為什麼學分沒有顯示出來。 學生：噢，糟糕。我以為……我以為在把我主管的評估表寄給 Evans 教授後，她會直接提交給你們。我沒想到我自己還得另外繳交一份表格。現在要拿到那些學分已經太遲了嗎？我真的很需要這些學分才能在春季畢業。 職員：別擔心，這不是不能補救。妳仍然可以逾期繳交表格，但妳必須提出逾期繳交申請。這需要你們系主任——而不僅僅是妳的指導教授——的簽名，而且還需要支付 45 美元的逾期手續費。 學生：45 美元？這……好吧，我想我沒有太多選擇。那申請需要多久的處理時間？ 職員：通常在我們收到所有文件和款項後，大約需要兩週的時間。因為妳要到春季學期結束才畢業，所以我們還有充裕的時間。不過我建議妳儘快拿到系主任的簽名，因為在期中考期間可能很難找到他們。 學生：沒錯，Ramirez 教授通常非常忙碌。我現在就去她的辦公室看看她在不在。那我要在哪裡取得 402 號表格和申請表呢？ 職員：妳可以從我們處室網站的「學生表單」分頁下載這兩份表格。直接印出來、拿到簽名，然後連同費用一起帶過來。我們接受刷卡或記在學生帳戶帳單上。 學生：太好了。非常感謝你幫我釐清這件事。我剛才真的慌了。 職員：不客氣。我們會幫妳搞定的。

(Shared with Q12.) [Q13] According to the administrator, why are the student's internship credits missing from her audit?

中文翻譯

（與第 12 題共用）[第 13 題] 根據行政人員的說法，為什麼該學生的實習學分沒有出現在她的學分審查報告中？

(Shared with Q12.) [Q14] What can be inferred about the department chair, Dr. Ramirez?

中文翻譯

（與第 12 題共用。）[第 14 題] 關於系主任 Ramirez 教授，可以推論出什麼？

(Shared with Q12.) [Q15] Why does the administrator mention October 15th?

中文翻譯

（與第 12 題共用。）[第 15 題] 行政人員為何提到 10 月 15 日？

(Shared with Q12.) [Replay: "Forty-five dollars? That's... well, I guess I don't have much of a choice."] [Q16] Why does the student say this:

中文翻譯

(與第 12 題共用) [重播：「四十五美元？這……好吧，我想我別無選擇。」] [第 16 題] 學生為什麼說這句話：

NARRATOR: Listen to part of a lecture in a geophysics class. PROFESSOR: Today, we're venturing into a branch of geophysics that bridges meteorology and seismology, focusing on a phenomenon known as a cryoseism—often colloquially referred to as a frost quake. Now, unlike tectonic earthquakes, which are driven by the movement of tectonic plates deep within the Earth's crust, a cryoseism is a non-tectonic seismic event. It's caused by a sudden, rapid freezing of water-saturated soil or rock. When temperatures plummet rapidly, the water trapped underground freezes. And as we know, water expands when it freezes, which exerts immense hydrostatic pressure on the surrounding frozen ground. When this pressure exceeds the shear strength of the soil or rock, it ruptures violently, producing loud booming sounds and localized ground shaking. STUDENT: So, um, does this happen every winter in cold climates, or does it require very specific conditions? PROFESSOR: An excellent question, Aisha. It actually requires a highly precise sequence of meteorological events. First, you need a lack of significant snow cover. Why? Because snow acts as an insulating blanket. If there's a thick layer of snow, it insulates the soil, keeping it at a relatively stable temperature and preventing the rapid deep freeze needed. Second, you need saturated soil—usually from a recent rainstorm or rapid snowmelt—followed immediately by what we call thermal contraction cracking. This is a process where a sudden, extreme drop in temperature—say, a plunge of thirty degrees Celsius within a single day—causes the top layer of soil to rapidly contract and split. This split allows water to seep deeper and freeze almost instantaneously. PROFESSOR: To illustrate this, let's look at a well-documented case from early 2014 in the Great Lakes region. In January of that year, a sudden shift in the polar vortex brought unprecedented arctic air to areas that had just experienced unseasonably warm rain. The ground was completely saturated, and there was virtually no snow cover to protect it. Within twelve hours, temperatures dropped from above freezing to nearly minus twenty-five degrees—uh, actually, it was minus twenty-eight degrees, but the point is the extreme drop. Residents reported hearing loud, explosive booms—some even thought trees were falling on their roofs or that gas lines were exploding. Seismologists analyzed the data and found that these events had incredibly shallow focal depths—literally within the top few meters of the soil. This extremely shallow depth is a key distinguishing feature of cryoseisms. PROFESSOR: Another related concept here is cryoseismic frost-heaving, which is the localized upward displacement of soil that occurs during these rapid freeze-thaw cycles. In the 2014 event, this heaving actually cracked driveways and displaced road signs. Now, because these events are so localized and shallow, their seismic waves decay very quickly. This means while someone standing a hundred meters away might feel a violent jolt and hear a deafening bang, a standard seismic station ten kilometers away might barely register it. And that, of course, presents a major challenge for geophysicists trying to map these occurrences. They have to rely heavily on citizen science—on-the-ground reports from the public—to supplement their instrument data. [Q17] What is the lecture mainly about?

中文翻譯

旁白：聽一段地球物理學課堂的部分內容。 教授：今天，我們要深入探討地球物理學的一個分支，它結合了氣象學和地震學，重點關注一種被稱為「冰震」（cryoseism）的現象——俗稱「霜震」（frost quake）。現在，與由地殼深處板塊運動所驅動的構造地震不同，冰震是一種非構造性的地震事件。它是由於飽含水分的土壤或岩石突然且快速結冰所引起的。當溫度急劇下降時，被困在地下深處的水就會結冰。正如我們所知，水結冰時會膨脹，這會對周圍結凍的地面產生巨大的靜水壓力。當這種壓力超過土壤或岩石的剪切強度時，它就會劇烈破裂，產生巨大的轟鳴聲和局部地面的震動。 學生：所以，呃，這是在寒冷氣候的每個冬天都會發生，還是需要非常特定的條件？ 教授：問得好，艾莎。它實際上需要一系列非常精準的氣象事件。首先，需要缺乏顯著的積雪覆蓋。為什麼呢？因為雪就像一條保暖的毯子。如果有一層厚厚的雪，它就會隔絕土壤，使土壤保持在相對穩定的溫度，從而阻止所需的快速深層凍結。第二，需要飽和的土壤——通常來自最近的暴雨或快速融雪——緊接著發生我們所說的「熱收縮開裂」。在這個過程中，溫度的突然極端下降——比方說，在一天內暴跌攝氏三十度——會導致表層土壤迅速收縮並裂開。這種裂縫使水分能滲透到更深的地方，並且幾乎在瞬間結冰。 教授：為了說明這一點，我們來看看2014年初五大湖地區一個記錄完備的案例。那年一月，極地渦旋的突然轉移給剛經歷過反常溫暖降雨的地區帶來了史無前例的北極冷空氣。當時地面完全飽和，而且幾乎沒有積雪覆蓋來保護它。在十二小時之內，溫度從冰點以上下降到將近零下二十五度——呃，實際上是零下二十八度，但重點是這種極端的降溫。居民報告聽到巨大、爆炸般的轟鳴聲——有些人甚至以為有樹倒在他們的屋頂上，或者是瓦斯管線爆炸了。地震學家分析了數據，發現這些事件的震源深度令人難以置信地淺——簡直就在土壤表層的幾公尺之內。這種極淺的深度是冰震的一個關鍵區別特徵。 教授：另一個相關的概念是「冰震凍脹」（cryoseismic frost-heaving），這是指在這些快速凍融循環中發生的局部土壤向上位移。在2014年的事件中，這種凍脹實際上使車道開裂並使路標移位。現在，因為這些事件非常局限且表淺，其地震波衰減得非常快。這意味著，雖然站在一百公尺外的人可能會感受到劇烈的震動並聽到震耳欲聾的巨響，但十公里外的標準地震站可能幾乎記錄不到。當然，這對試圖繪製這些事件地圖的地球物理學家來說是一個重大挑戰。他們必須在很大程度上依賴「公民科學」——即大眾的實地報告——來補充其儀器數據。

(Shared with Q17.) [Q18] According to the professor, why does a thick layer of snow prevent cryoseisms from occurring?

中文翻譯

（與第 17 題共用。）[第 18 題] 根據教授的說法，為什麼厚厚的積雪能防止冰震發生？

(Shared with Q17.) [Q19] Why does the professor mention the sound of falling trees and exploding gas lines reported during the 2014 event?

中文翻譯

（與第 17 題共用。）[第 19 題] 教授為什麼提到 2014 年事件中民眾通報的樹木倒塌與瓦斯管線爆炸聲？

(Shared with Q17.) [Q20] What is the relationship between thermal contraction cracking and cryoseismic frost-heaving?

中文翻譯

（與第 17 題共用。）[第 20 題] 熱收縮龜裂與冰震凍脹之間的關係為何？

(Shared with Q17.) [Q21] What can be inferred about the seismic data recorded during a cryoseism?

中文翻譯

（與第 17 題共用。）［第 21 題］關於冰震期間記錄到的地震資料，可以推論出什麼？

(Shared with Q17.) [Replay: "And that, of course, presents a major challenge for geophysicists trying to map these occurrences."] [Q22] Why does the speaker say this:

中文翻譯

（與第 17 題共用。）[重播：「而這當然為試圖繪製這些現象分佈圖的地球物理學家帶來了重大挑戰。」][第 22 題] 說話者為什麼這麼說？

NARRATOR: Listen to part of a lecture in a linguistics class. PROFESSOR: Today, we are going to explore a rather counterintuitive aspect of psycholinguistics—specifically, how we perceive silence in spoken language. When you listen to someone speak, you probably feel like you're hearing a continuous, unbroken stream of sounds, occasionally punctuated by pauses between words. But acoustic measurements show that natural speech is actually riddled with tiny silences. PROFESSOR: Take, for instance, what linguists call stop gaps. A stop gap is a brief period of absolute silence—often lasting just a few milliseconds—that occurs right before we articulate voiceless plosive consonants, like the sound of 'p', 't', or 'k'. During a stop gap, your vocal tract completely blocks the airflow to build up pressure. Now, your brain doesn't register this silence as an empty void in the conversation. Instead, it interprets this micro-pause as a structural cue, recognizing it as the silent preparation phase of the upcoming consonant. If we artificially erase this tiny silence from a recording of the word 'split,' listeners will actually hear the word 'slit' instead. The silence is, quite literally, perceived as part of the consonant itself. PROFESSOR: Now, this brings us to an even more fascinating phenomenon: how our cognitive system actively manages external interruptions in speech. When a sound is completely obliterated by a loud noise, say, a door slamming, we don't just lose that part of the message. Our brain often restores it. This is known as the phonemic restoration effect, where listeners hear a missing speech sound as if it were actually present, provided it is replaced by a louder, non-speech sound like a cough or static. PROFESSOR: But here is the catch. This restoration only occurs if the missing segment is replaced by another sound. If we replace that same speech sound with absolute silence—with a literal gap in the acoustic signal—our brain fails to fill it in. We clearly hear the gap, and the word sounds fractured. Why does this happen? Well, it relates to what cognitive psychologists call acoustic occlusion. This is the perceptual assumption that a louder background sound is merely blocking, or occluding, a continuous underlying signal, rather than the signal itself having stopped. Our auditory system operates on a sort of continuity rule. If there's a loud noise, the brain assumes the speech signal is still there behind the noise, so it reconstructs the missing phonemes using contextual clues. But if there is pure silence during that gap, the brain has no acoustic excuse, so to speak, to assume the signal continued. It knows the speaker actually stopped producing sound. Yes, Aisha? STUDENT: So, wait... does this mean our brain is actually generating the acoustic frequency of the missing sound? Like, do our ears physically process it, or is it purely a mental projection? PROFESSOR: That's an excellent question, Aisha. Neurological studies suggest that the auditory cortex—the part of the brain that processes sound—actually fires in a way that closely mirrors the missing sound. It's not just a cognitive guess or a logical deduction after the fact; the brain genuinely reconstructs the sensory experience of the sound. It literally hears the missing consonant. PROFESSOR: Let's look at a classic experiment conducted by Richard Warren in 1970. He presented participants with a recorded sentence: 'The state governors met with their respective legislatures.' However, he deleted the 's' sound... uh, actually, the first 's' in 'legislatures'... and replaced it with a brief cough. Remarkably, nearly all participants reported hearing the complete word 'legislatures' and couldn't even pinpoint where the cough had occurred. But when the cough was removed and replaced with a silent gap of the exact same duration... well, the illusion vanished. The participants easily identified the gap and struggled to comprehend the word. This shows how crucial that masking sound is. Without it, our brains can't apply the continuity rule, leaving us with a fragmented stream of speech. [Q23] What is the lecture mainly about?

中文翻譯

旁白：請聽一段語言學課程的講座片段。 教授：今天，我們要探討一個相當違反直覺的心理語言學層面——具體來說，就是我們如何感知口說語言中的「靜音」。當你聽別人說話時，你可能會覺得自己聽到的是一串連續、不間斷的聲音流，偶爾會被字與字之間的停頓所打斷。但聲學測量結果顯示，自然言語中其實充斥著極其微小的靜音。 教授：以語言學家所稱的「閉止期」為例。閉止期是指在我們發出無聲塞音（例如「p」、「t」或「k」的發音）之前，所出現的一小段絕對靜音，通常只持續幾毫秒。在閉止期期間，你的聲道會完全阻斷氣流以累積壓力。此時，大腦並不會將這段靜音解讀為對話中的空白。相反地，它會將這種微小的停頓詮釋為一種結構性線索，將其視為即將發出的子音之無聲準備階段。如果我們人為地從單字「split」的錄音中刪除這段微小的靜音，聽眾實際上聽到的會是「slit」這個字。這段靜音，字面意義上地，被感知為子音本身的一部分。 教授：現在，這帶領我們走向一個更迷人的現象：我們的認知系統如何主動處理言語中受到的外部干擾。當一個聲音被巨大的噪音（例如摔門聲）完全抹去時，我們並不只是失去了那部分的信息。我們的大腦通常會將其修復。這被稱為「音素復原效應」，即只要缺失的語音被更響亮的非言語聲音（如咳嗽聲或雜音）所取代，聽眾就能聽到該缺失的聲音，彷彿它實際上存在一樣。 教授：但關鍵就在這裡。這種修復只有在缺失的部分被另一個聲音取代時才會發生。如果我們用絕對的靜音來取代同一個語音——也就是在聲學訊號中留下一個字面上的缺口——我們的大腦就無法將其填補。我們會清楚地聽到這個缺口，單字聽起來也會變得支離破碎。為什麼會這樣？這與認知心理學家所稱的「聲學遮蔽」有關。這是一種知覺上的假設，認為較響亮的背景聲音僅僅是阻擋或遮蔽了原本連續的底層訊號，而不是訊號本身已經停止。我們的聽覺系統運作於一種「連續性規則」之上。如果有巨大的噪音，大腦會假設語音訊號仍然存在於噪音背後，因此會利用上下文線索來重建缺失的音素。但如果該缺口期間是純粹的靜音，大腦就沒有所謂的「聲學藉口」去假設訊號仍在繼續。它知道說話者實際上已經停止發聲。是的，艾莎？ 學生：所以，等等……這是否意味著我們的大腦實際上正在產生缺失聲音的聲學頻率？像是，我們的耳朵有實體處理它，還是這純粹是一種心理投射？ 教授：這是一個很好的問題，艾莎。神經學研究指出，聽覺皮質——大腦中處理聲音的部分——其放電方式實際上與缺失的聲音非常相似。這不僅僅是事後的認知猜測或邏輯推論；大腦真實地重建了該聲音的感官體驗。它字面意義上聽到了缺失的子音。 教授：讓我們來看看理查·華倫於 1970 年進行的一項經典實驗。他向受試者播放了一句錄音：「The state governors met with their respective legislatures.」。然而，他刪除了「s」的音……呃，實際上是「legislatures」中的第一個「s」……並用短暫的咳嗽聲取而代之。值得注意的是，幾乎所有受試者都表示聽到了完整的單字「legislatures」，甚至無法準確指出咳嗽聲發生在哪裡。但當咳嗽聲被移除，並被替換為相同時長的無聲空隙時……嗯，幻覺就消失了。受試者很容易就辨識出這個空隙，並難以理解該單字。這表明了遮蔽聲音有多麼關鍵。沒有它，我們的大腦就無法應用連續性規則，從而留給我們一段破碎的語音流。

(Shared with Q23.) [Q24] According to the professor, what happens when the silent "stop gap" is artificially removed from a recording of the word "split"?

中文翻譯

（與第 23 題共用題幹。）[第 24 題] 根據教授的說法，若將單字「split」錄音中的無聲「閉止音隙」（stop gap）以人工方式去除，會發生什麼情況？

(Shared with Q23.) [Q25] According to the professor, what conditions must be met for the phonemic restoration effect to occur? Choose 2 answers.

中文翻譯

（與第 23 題共用。）[第 25 題] 根據教授的說法，必須滿足哪些條件才會發生「音素復原效應」？請選出兩個答案。

(Shared with Q23.) [Q26] Why does the professor discuss the "continuity rule" used by our auditory system?

中文翻譯

（與第 23 題共用。）[第 26 題] 教授為什麼要討論我們聽覺系統所使用的「連續性規則」（continuity rule）？

(Shared with Q23.) [Q27] What does the professor imply about the brain's reconstruction of missing speech sounds during phonemic restoration?

中文翻譯

（與第 23 題共用。）[第 27 題] 關於大腦在「音素復原」過程中對缺失語音的重構，教授暗示了什麼？

(Shared with Q23.) [Replay: "But if there is pure silence during that gap, the brain has no acoustic excuse, so to speak, to assume the signal continued."] [Q28] Why does the speaker say this:

中文翻譯

（與第 23 題共用。）［重播：「但如果那個間隙中是完全的靜音，大腦就沒有所謂的『聲學藉口』去假設訊號仍在持續。」］