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Section C
Directions: In this section, you will hear a passage three times. When the passage is read for the first time, you should listen carefully for its general idea. When the passage is read for the second time, you are required to fill in the blanks numbered from 36 to 43 with the exact words you have just heard. For blanks numbered from 44 to 46 you are required to fill in the missing information. For these blanks, you can either use the exact words you have just heard or write down the main points in you own words. Finally, when the passage is read for the third time, you should check what you have written.
Coal has not been used very extensively as an energy source recently. However, it (36)
will become a very important source of energy in the future because of dwindling (37) of natural gas and oil. Although coal (38) to be black, it actually has black, yellow, orange, and red bands of color when it is examined under a powerful microscope.
Coal probably was formed about 300 million years ago by (39) trees and other plant life growing in (40) . These trees and plants died and then fell into the water. They contained the elements oxygen, hydrogen, and (41) . As the earth changed its (42) , the weight of the ground (43) down on the trees and plants. Thus seams of coal were formed.
(44) . Strip mining is quicker and safer than underground mining, but it can leave the surface of the earth bare and ugly. (45) . While both underground and strip mines still can be hazardous, there no longer are as many accidents in coal mining as there once were. (46) . Many of today’s coal miners are earning good wages in an occupation which is quite safe and very important.
