New from NPR! 美國大學生找室友，現在也能上網配對喔！

                                             

對於從來沒有透過NPR廣播練習過聽力的同學，在你開始練習前，請記得採用下列步驟：

1.先下載聲音檔。

2.播放聲音檔，第一遍可以直接聽，什麼都不看，測試一下自己聽得懂多少。

3.第二次聽的時候，記得邊聽邊對著解析版閱讀。耳朵聽到什麼地方，眼睛也要跟到。

4.第三次聽的時候，請留意相關的單字或是特別的說法與措詞。

5.第四次聽的時候，請邊聽邊跟述。就是對方念一句，你也跟著念。不用特別刻意，跟不上的地方就算了，同一個地方多聽幾次也可以。

6.第五次聽的時候，請將transcript英文稿放一邊，看看這次到底聽懂多少，可以跟第一次做個比較。

聽完第五次之後，請花點時間好好研讀稿子。把單字或是不懂的地方背起來。可以找個小筆記本，將單字或是新學到的字詞抄下來，以便整理或是將來再研讀用。

這時候你可以休息一下了。今天的聽力訓練到此結束。

記得第二天再播放同一個聲音檔再聽一次，這次記得只聽不看稿，解此測試一下這回聽懂多少。

最後我建議各位朗誦這篇文章，模仿報導中的對話與語調。

若大家有心強化聽力的實力，願意每周聽兩篇NPR(可以挑選不同主題聽到爛熟為止)，兩三個月後，你會很訝異自己聽力進步神速。我敢這麼說，是因為有太多同學回報，跟我說真的有效。聽力強化了，將來無論是考托福還是去國外生活，面對聽力這一塊，你都不會再有陰影。最後教練給大家加油!

下載聲音檔請點我

下載填空卷請點我

下載解析版請點我

Forget Random Matches: Find A Dorm Mate Online

From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Michele Norris.

I'm Robert Siegel.

And it's time now for All Tech Considered.

SIEGEL: Most college-bound要上大學的 young people spend several months hovering by為了等待而盤旋或停留 the mailbox. They're waiting for not one, but two letters. The first, obviously, tells them they got into the school of their choice - or didn't. The second letter, which has been going out in recent weeks, says whom they'll be rooming with.

But as Shannon Mullen reports, some schools are trying a new method, letting kids choose their own roommates online.

SHANNON MULLEN: This fall, 17-year-old Jamella Connell will be a freshman at Mount Ida College, a small liberal arts school文理學院near Boston. She's filling out a roommate selection form that asks how often she does laundry洗衣服, whether she minds overnight guest帶人回來過夜.

Ms. JAMELLA CONNELL: How do you feel about sharing stuff? Sharing is caring. I mean, we learned this when we were five.

MULLEN: Instead of mailing in her answers, Connell has an online profile網路個人資料 with her picture - like a Facebook page. And instead of the school choosing a random隨機 roommate for her, she can pick one herself.

Ms. CONNELL: I just clicked點 search and I found someone named Ashley. Let's see her profile basics: She's 18, clean. Oh, she likes to study in the library. Nice. Someone I can get along with already.

MULLEN: A growing number of colleges and universities are offering Web-based以網路為主的 programs課程 that let students pick their own roommates. Two dozen schools, including Rutgers, Tulane, Sacred Heart and Mount Ida College use a service called RoommateClick. Mount Ida's Residence Life Director Laura DeVeau says it saves loads of paperwork. She calls it Facebook with a purpose.

Ms. LAURA DEVEAU (Residence Life Director, Mount Ida College): I love Facebook, I'm not going to lie. Friend me, that's cool. What this does is it narrows down縮小 the functionality of Facebook in terms of the networking社交網絡. For this particular generation, they feel more comfortable because they've connected online.

Sophomores Warren Zimmer and Dan Fissel bonded on RoommateClick over their love of video games when Mount Ida first offered the service last year. Zimmer says it made moving in less awkward尷尬.

Mr. WARREN ZIMMER: The first week really set the tone for定調 the rest of the year. That's how it was going to be, and it worked out great.

Mr. DAN FISSEL: And the first week there wasn't too much laundry, so he didn't really know that I'm not as moderately clean算是愛乾淨(moderately有適當或是中切的意思) as I said.

Mr. ZIMMER: I also learned that I wasn't as clean as I thought I was.

Mr. FISSEL: It was a pretty good match, yeah.

MULLEN: Zimmer and Fissel have heard of a few bad matches亂配(不好的搭檔), but they say most of their friends have had positive outcomes.With RoommateClick, schools can customize量身訂做 the site's features to try to curb 約束/抑制misuse. Rutgers doesn't let students post profile pictures, to prevent discrimination防止歧視 based on factors like race or sexual orientation性傾向(同性戀、異性戀或是雙性戀等). And RoommateClick's parent company, Lifetopia, monitors students' profiles for offensive會冒犯到人的 material. But VP of sales Bill Schneider says there's no foolproof非常簡單或是安全的 way to prevent discrimination.

Mr. BILL SCHNEIDER (Vice President of Sales, Lifetopia): Everybody knows that they will go to Facebook and they will find their potential roommate - what they look like - and maybe get into more depth than our site would serve them.

MULLEN: At Mount Ida College, Laura DeVeau's concern was that students who self-select might miss out on失去了 something formative讓人(的性格或是特質)得以發展的機會. When she was in college, she was randomly matched with a girl from Texas.

Ms. DEVEAU: She put on mascara loud塗睫毛膏的時候非常吵. I've never seen a person in my life who could be so loud. And there were times where I learned through that experience how to speak up for為自己的權益發聲 myself.

MULLEN: But DeVeau says kids who pair up湊做堆 online still have to learn how to live together in person. Some students don't want to choose their own roommates. DeVeau matches them the old-fashioned way傳統的方式, but she warns it won't be totally random. She likes to put Red Sox 紅襪隊and Yankees fans洋基隊的粉絲 in the same room.

For NPR News, I'm Shannon Mullen.