Section C NEWS BROADCAST
In this section, you will hear everything ONCE ONLY. Listen carefully and then answer the questions that follow. Questions 6 to 7 are based on the following news. At the end of the news item, you will be given 10 seconds to answer each of the two questions. Now listen to the news.
Tony Blair's message to the European Union is that it must change the way it does business if it is to survive. He told the European Parliament that the people of Europe are ahead of the continent's politicians in recognizing the need for change. Mr. Blair's message comes as the EU wonders how it can get out of a crisis caused by French and Dutch voters' rejection of its constitution and its failure at a summit last week to agree on a long-term budget. But for Mr. Blair, the issue is bigger than the constitution or the budget. It is that Europe must adapt itself to changing times in order to compete economically, not just with the United States but also with such rising giants as China and India. Mr. Blair has been accused by the French and the Germans, among others, of wanting to destroy Europe's welfare state and impose unfettered capitalism across the continent. His critics also say Britain wants the EU to be a big common market and is not interested in closer political integration. Mr. Blair said those criticisms are unfair and his aim is not to kill Europe's highly regulated social model but to change it. Question 8 is based on the following news. At the end of the news item, you will be given 10 seconds to answer the question. Now listen to the news. The Nobel prize in literature for 2005 is awarded to the English writer, Harold Pinter. He is regarded as Britain's greatest living playwright. Mr. Pinter has written more than 30 works, and he is best known for his sparse style, dubbed "Pinteresque," which takes full advantage of the pauses and silences that build the dramatic effect. He is widely acknowledged to have influenced an entire generation of British writers. Mr. Pinter also has never shied away from fierce political debate. This human rights campaigner and anti-war activist has in recent years been an outspoken critic of the war in Iraq. Questions 9 and 10 are based on the following news. At the end of the news item, you will be given 10 seconds to answer each of the two questions. Now listen to the news. Astronomers have detected the most distant explosion ever witnessed in the heavens. It was a flash so powerful that they could observe the faint light as it came in from almost the edge of the known universe. The U.S. space agency's Swift satellite was routinely scouring the cosmos for exploding stars on September 4 when it spotted what scientists have since realized is the most distant such burst on record. In astronomy, distance means time. The further something is away, the longer its light has been traveling to get to us. So the star blast is also the most ancient ever observed. The exploding star the Swift satellite observed was typical of the death of a massive star. These blasts are the most powerful in the universe, sending out 100 million times the energy the Sun does in one year. They are not rare, but occur daily, emitting their light in high energy gamma rays. If you could see gamma rays, the sky would twinkle with such bursts.