PART I DICTATION [15 MIN]
Listen to the following passage. Altogether the passage will be read to you four times. During the first reading, which will be done at normal speed, listen and try to understand the meaning. For the second and third readings, the passage will be read sentence by sentence, or phrase by phrase, with intervals of 15 seconds. The last reading will be done at normal speed again and during this time you should check your work. You will then be given 2 minutes to check through your work once more.
Please write the whole passage on ANSWER SHEET ONE.
The Wrist Watch
It is generally believed that wrist watches are an exception to the normal sequence in the evolution of man's jewelry. Reversing the usual order, they were first worn by women, and then adopted by men. In the old days, queens included wrist watches among their crown jewelry. Later, they were worn by Swiss workers and farmers. Until World War I, Americans associated the watch with fortune hunters. Then army officers discovered that the wrist watch was most practical for active combat. Race car drivers also loved to wear wrist watches, and pilots found them most useful while flying. Soon men dared to wear wrist watches without feeling self-conscious. By 1924, some 30 percent of man's watches were worn on the wrist. Today, the figure is 90 percent. And they are now worn by both men and women / for practical purposes rather than for decoration