Listening Comprehension Questions:


1.  What were morality plays of the Middle Ages?


2.  How did morality plays differ from Greek and Roman plays?


3.  How does the main character of a morality play differ from most plays?


4.  What do morality characters represent?


5.  What is the term personified mean?


[Lesson Credits:  Listening Building MP3 TOEFL, Track 18]

05 Literature

W: Today, we’re going to talk about the morality plays of the Middle Ages. These were plays in which the main character had to choose between right and wrong choices. They differed a lot from Greek and Roman plays. First off, morality plays didn’t really deal with complex characters. They also . . . yes, Tom, did you have a question?

M: Yeah, what do you mean that morality plays didn’t have complex characters?

W: Well, in most plays, the characters have personalities, feelings, likes, and dislikes. But the main character of morality plays is different. Instead of having a character that’s an individual, its main character represents humanity as a whole. He’s called “Everyman.” Everyman’s supposed to represent each and every man in general. Now, the other characters in the play weren’t traditional characters either. Instead, they were morals. They represented virtues and vices . . . you still look confused, Tom.

M: Well, yeah. The characters were . . . um, morals? You’ve lost me.

W: Okay. Take the villain of the play. Every play has to have a villain. But the villain in morality plays was always something like Greed. Now, in morality plays, Greed would be personified. Um, he would act like an actual person instead of a characteristic. He would try to persuade Everyman into following an evil path. Remember that in earlier plays, the downfall of the main character was always some flaw within himself. But in morality plays, Everyman actually encounters Greed like you or I would encounter an actual person. Everyman then has a choice to make. He can choose to follow Greed, or he can choose to do the right thing.


1.  What are hotspots?


2.  How does a hotspot work?


3.  Does a hotspot move?


4.  What are the Hawaiian Island chains an example of?


5.  What happened to the Midway islands?


[Lesson Credits:  Listening Building MP3 TOEFL, Track 19]

06 Geology

M: Moving on, let’s talk about the . . . uh . . . let’s talk about the Hawaiian Islands, and more specifically how they were formed.
To begin, there are specific locations on the Earth’s surface, called hotspots. These hotspots are areas that experience long periods of volcanic activity. One of these hotspots is located in the Pacific Ocean underneath the Hawaiian chain of islands.

Here is how the Hawaiian hotspot works. First, a stream of hot lava from underneath the Earth erupts onto the ocean floor. Then the lava cools, and as it cools, it hardens into rock. Eventually, this rock forms volcanoes. Now, as lava keeps erupting, a larger and larger volcano is produced until finally, the volcano forms an island.

Now the last step is a bit more complicated. You already know that the outer layer of the Earth is broken up into large segments called plates. These plates move a few centimeters each year. But, um, the Hawaiian hotspot, it never moves. It stays in the same place forever. But the plate above the hotspot, which has the islands on it, that does move. It moves right over that hotspot. So basically, the islands move. Meanwhile, the hotspot keeps spewing out lava. So once one island has moved, the hotspot begins to create another island. Hence, we get a chain of islands like the Hawaiian Island chain.

Now, how many of you know where the Midway Islands are? Well, they’re about 2,090 miles from Hawaii. Today, that is. You see, they used to be in the spot the Hawaiian Islands are in now. But the plates moved and moved and moved, and now they’re over 2,000 miles from where they started. 

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