英語教育・英語学習に関する独り言33　ー　模擬TOEFL問題作成について⑨

昨日、悪魔のささやきで ElevenLabs にサブスクしてしまった。と言っても、一番安いプランで月5ドル（初月は1ドル）だが。

なので、せっかくだから色々と遊んでみたが、ふと思い立って、2020年頃に生成AIの力を何も借りず、自力で作ったTOEFL iBT の模擬リスニング問題をあらためて音声化してみようと思って、やってみた。使用したのは ElevenLabs と Revoicer。教授と女子大生は ElevenLabs で、男子学生は Revoicer である。 

それが以下。TOEFLer な方が、TOEICer な方々、あるいは英語が好きという方にチャレンジしてもらえれば幸いである。Enjoy!

Question 01
What was the discussion mainly about?
(A) How astronomy is an interdisciplinary science
(B) How to analyze historical records
(C) The history of Halley’s Comet observation
(D) The importance of powerful telescopes

Question 02

(A) It is a famous anagram.
(B) It is a humorous remark.
(C) It implies something positive for astronomers.
(D) It implies something negative for astronomers. 

Question 03
What does the professor imply about human longevity?
(A) It is long enough.
(B) It is not long enough.
(C) People should long for nature.
(D) Human civilization would not exist if it had not been for astronomy.

Question 04

(A) He wants the students to give it a second thought.
(B) He wants the students to take a moment to think.
(C) He wants the students to know that astronomy was popular with medieval people.
(D) He wants the students to vindicate the help of medieval people.

Question 05
What point does the professor make about Halley’s Comet?
(A) It was first found by an English astronomer.
(B) It was discovered in 1986.
(C) He is not sure if he can see it again.
(D) He wants to name a comet after himself.

難易度的やクオリティの面では Official Guide などには当然劣るが、Longman や Barron's にはまあまあ近いのではないかと勝手に自負している。以下はスクリプトと正答。Again, enjoy!

Listen to part of a discussion in an astronomy class.

Prof: Good morning, class. Today, I wanna talk about a very unique aspect of astronomy. First, let me ask you this. As students of astronomy, what do you use when trying to find out about astronomical phenomena? 

John: Well, obviously telescopes. Astronomers look at stars, and observe stars. There’s an anagram, you know, the word astronomers can be rearranged to get ‘moon starers’. 

Prof: Rearranging it differently, you also get “no more stars.” It’s such an irony, isn’t it? All right, anyone else?

Nancy: Umm, professor. I think astronomers use cameras a lot, too. We take photos almost every time we observe the moon, the planets, stars and what have you. 

Prof: Good point, Nancy. Well, telescopes and cameras. They really do help astronomers to better understand the universe. But when we do astronomy, we tend to forget the fact that the universe is so tremendously vast that, often times, it takes hundreds of years even for light to travel from one star system to another, which means what? John?

John: Ah, what we are observing right now actually happened hundreds of years ago. Right?

Prof: Precisely! On an astronomical scale of time, hundreds of years is a blink of an eye. What we see in the night sky, you know, the stars. They are thousands, millions, even billions of light-years away. Of course, stars in super-distant galaxies are invisible to the naked eye due to the decrease in light radiation density.… Anyways, astronomy is a field of science where research and observation need to be conducted for a very long time. One astronomer might be able to continue to observe the same star for 50 years. But is 50 years enough? Nancy?

Nancy: No, I don’t think so, because, well, considering the average lifespan of stars and the distance between the Earth and those stars, I think you want to live for, like, a thousand years, maybe? 

Prof: You bet. So, let’s go back to my first question. What do you use when trying to find out about astronomical phenomena? 

John: Um, old records?

Prof: Right! We astronomers surely use historical records, written records from a thousand years ago, and even two thousand years ago. Let me talk about three very intriguing records of astronomical events. Ptolemaeus, an ancient Roman scholar, said that Sirius was reddish. Sirius, you know, the Dog Star, is known as the brightest star in the night sky, and it is undeniably white to blue-white. Today’s scientists believe that there was a time when Sirius actually looked red. Intensive and extensive studies were carried out as to what made Sirius look reddish. As a result, we now have a workable theory for how Sirius was red at one point in time, but that’s another story. 

Well, the other two are from Asia. The Crab Nebula, you know, the colorful celestial structure, is known as a supernova remnant. In the early twentieth century, scientists and researchers discovered that this nebula was expanding. They calculated the rate of the expansion, and decided that the start of the expansion, the explosion, began around the middle of the eleventh century, and it must have been visible on Earth. So, they went on to examine old written records all over the world and found a Chinese record which said there was suddenly a bright ‘Guest Star’ in the sky in 1054, bright enough to be seen even in the daytime. The same star was recorded by Japanese and Korean observers at the time. Astronomers concluded that this star was what later formed the Crab Nebula. Now, just let this sink in for a second. A modern scientific theory was vindicated with the help of medieval people.

OK, the last one. You know what the most famous comet is?

Nancy: I bet it’s Halley’s Comet.

Prof: Thank you Nancy. I agree with you. Well, Halley’s Comet goes around the sun about every 75.3 years. I saw it with my own eyes in 1986. Back then I was a ten-year-old boy. Hmm, will I get to see it again? Anyways, this comet was first sighted and recorded by a Chinese historian in 240 BC. This is believed to be the oldest record of Halley’s Comet. The comet was named after English astronomer Edmond Halley, who lived in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Halley predicted, and demonstrated the periodicity of the comet based on historical records. But before him, there were many more amateur astronomers who observed the same comet all over the world throughout history. As a professional student of astronomy, I want all of you to keep in mind that we owe so much of our work not only to the advancement of science and technology, but also to the historical records made by numerous past amateur astronomers.

Q1   (A)
Q2   (B)
Q3   (B)
Q4   (B)
Q5   (C)