Listening 8: Making Inferences Answer Key
Activity 8.1: Making Inferences Excerpt A The manager thinks it would be an easy decision. We know this because she points out the clear advantages to the job she is offering (flexible hours, in a good location, the same salary). Excerpt B The student is not interested in the job, He likes working as a waiter, where he could meet professors informally outside of class . Excerpt C The manager thinks the student will accept the job offer. We know because she mentions scheduling the student’s hours, and also she says she will tell the manager at the student’s current place of employment that a new waiter will be needed (which implies that the student will be taking the job as a prep worker.) Excerpt D The professor is not going to explain it further. When he says, “It will take me a million years to explain” he’s implying that it’s too complicated and an explanation would take too long. Activity 8.2: Biology Lecture 1. C ; direct; At the beginning, the professor says, “animals can evolve in pretty interesting ways… Take, for example, the snowshoe hare .” And then the rest of the lecture is about the different ways that the snowshoe hare has adapted to survive in Maine. The correct answer is C because it says that directly (but in different words) . 2. A ; direct; The professor says, “And, it’s the amount of daylight that triggers the changing of the hare’s coat . As the days get shorter—that is, as the Sun is up for a shorter and shorter time each day—the snowshoe hare starts growing white fur and shedding its brown fur,” which is paraphrased in answer A . 3. C ; indirect; The lecture does not refer to “predators” making early snowfall dangerous for snowshoe hares, so we need to make the connection based on the fact that we know being noticeable means that predators can see them and more easily hunt them). So, the idea is strongly suggested, but it is not directly stated. 4. C ; indirect; The professor contrasts hopping on snow and sinking into it, but then the listener needs to make the connection that sinking makes them slower (because hopping on top is “easier”). 5. B ; direct; The professor says, “…unlike many animals in winter, snowshoe hares can stay lean and lightweight…. It’s because, like I said, food is almost always within reach and they don’t have to store up a lot of food energy for the harsh winters .” This point is paraphrased in answer B . 6. C ; indirect; We must consider the professor’s statement in order to understand what the student was implying . The student is saying the opposite of what the professor said, which signals that the student doesn’t agree with the professor’s explanation. Note that half of the questions ask for the meaning or implication of something not directly stated in the lecture. This isn’t always true of a Listening set, but it does indicate how important it is to make inferences based on what is said in the conversations and lectures.
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