听力原文：
…That would be Stratigraphy. Stratigraphy is used for dating portable art. When archaeologists are digging at a site, they make very careful notes about which stratum (strata), which layer of earth they find things in. And, you know, the general rule is that the oldest layers are at the lowest level. But this only works if the site hasn’t been touched, and the layers are intact. A problem with this dating method is that an object could have been carried around, used for several generations before it was discarded. So it might be much older than the layer or even the site where it was found. The stratification technique gives us the minimum age of an object, which isn’t necessarily its true age. Tom, in your archaeology class, did you talk about radiocarbon dating? …
Fortunately, they did, at least some of the time. So it turns out that radiocarbon dating works for a lot of prehistoric art. But again there’s a problem. This technique destroys what it analyzes, so you have to chip off bits of the object for testing. Obviously we are reluctant to do that in some cases. And apart from that, there’s another problem. The date tells you the age of the material, say, a bone or a tree, the object is made from, but not the date when the artist actually created it. So, with radiocarbon dating, we get the maximum possible age for the object, but it could be younger.
这篇听力题算是比较难的一篇，涉及艺术品鉴定，专业性较强。里面可能会出现考生比较陌生的词汇，比如Stratigraphy(地层学)，stratum(岩层)，radiocarbon dating(碳定年法)等等。在这里，考生注意放听力的考试界面，一般会有图片，上面写着与考试内容紧密相关的学术性词汇。这些词大部分对考生来说是比较陌生的，所以建议大家尝试着读一下这个词，发音不准没关系，只要脑海中有印象即可。在听到这个词时，注意教授的解释，将这个词符号化，听不懂不必慌。在记笔记时，大家可以按照以下格式将此段重点清晰地罗列出来：
技1: Stra..: portbl art if × 碰
老²
→ min age, 不准
技2: RCD: 史前art
Prbl: dstry材
年代：材I/O 创
→ max age 年轻²
如果能够按照上面的笔记框架记录，那么考点就一目了然了，节约了寻找内容的时间。考生们一定要注意，笔记是协助做题的，而非适得其反。在教学过程中发现，有不少学生片面追求笔记的量，生怕一个不小心漏记一个单词或细节就会丢分，这就是所谓的“只见树木，不见森林”。在听听力段子时，一定要把握主线，只记有用信息，重点关注与主旨有关的细节，抓各种逻辑关系。当然这需要大量的听写练习和真题演练才能形成做题的系统技能和感觉。所以建议考生们在备考时一定要坚持练习听写和完成相关考题。
实际上，新托福听力考试的革新体现了一种与时俱进和以人为本的理念。考试内容与国外课堂相接轨，考生在备考的同时其实就等于提前适应国外的学习和生活。不少同学抱怨新托福听力难度太大，实际上这正是为广大考生出国打好基础。试想若这个困难都无法克服，那么在留学生活中遇到各种学习和生活问题该如何招架?所以，留美第一步，搞定新托福听力，会让你受益匪浅。
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