A: Spot Dictation
Directions: In this part of the test, you will hear a passage and read the same passage with blanks in it. Fill in each of the blanks with the word or words you have heard on the tape. Write your answer in the corresponding space in your ANSWER BOOKLET. Remember you will hear the passage ONLY ONCE.
In size, Canada is the second largest country on earth. In terms of (1) , it is a member of Big Seven, the world’s leading industrial nations, (2) the United States, France, the United Kingdom, (3) Canada plays an active role (4) , often taking part in peacekeeping and humanitarian missions and spearheading (5) . Its scenery of mountains, oceans, forests and prairies is (6) . It has a lively and rich culture, with many world famous actors, pop stars and writers. In annual "quality of life", Canada regularly is rated as having (7) of living in the world because of its health care, education, (8) , social welfare, and so on.
(9) its physical size, economic power and international prestige, Canada’s population is very small. The current population is (10) . This paradox of having a small number of people in a very large, resource-rich area gives rise to some of (11) people have about Canada.
Most people do not know very much about Canada. Mention the country and usually (12) will spring to mind. On the one hand, you might picture (13) , frozen country where people live in igloos, eat fish, hunt bears and (14) snow and cold. On the other, you might think Canada is a country that is "just like America." Even Americans (15) Canada as the 51st state, a part of America that through some quirk of history is not one of the United States.
It is easy to understand how such (16) of Canada have become engrained. It is true that most of Canada lies very far north. Large areas of the country are wild, virtually unpopulated (17) , full of dangerous animals and freezing temperatures. But most Canadians live in the south of the country: about (18) of the population is estimated to live within (19) of the Canadian-American border, in a climate that is much (20) .