Hello everyone. Today we’re going to look at another natural food product and that’s maple syrup. What is this exactly? Well, maple syrup looks rather like clear honey, but it’s not made by bees; it’s produced from the plant fluid – or sap – inside the maple tree and that makes maple syrup a very natural product. Maple syrup is a thick, golden 【Q31】, sweet-tasting liquid that can be bought in bottles or jars and poured onto food such as waffles and ice cream or used in the baking of cakes and pastries. It contains no preservatives or added ingredients, and it provides a healthy alternative to refined sugar. 【Q32】
Let’s just talk a bit about the maple tree itself, which is where maple syrup comes from. So, there are many species of maple tree, and they’ll grow without fertilizer in areas where there’s plenty of moisture in the soil. However, they’ll only do this if another important criterion is fulfilled, which is that they must have full or partial sun exposure during the day and very cool nights – and I’ll talk more about that in a minute. There are only certain parts of the world that provide all these conditions: one is Canada, and by that, I mean all parts of Canada, and the other is the north-eastern states of North America. In these areas, the climate suits the trees perfectly 【Q33】. In fact, Canada produces over two-thirds of the world’s maple syrup, which is why the five-pointed maple leaf is a Canadian symbol and has features on the flag since 1964.
So how did maple syrup production begin? Well, long before Europeans settled in these parts of the world, the indigenous communities had started producing maple sugar. They bored holes in the trunks of maple trees and used containers made of tree bark to collect the liquid sap as it poured out. As they were unable to keep the liquid for any length of time – they didn’t have storage facilities in those days – they boiled the liquid by placing pieces of rock that had become scorching hot from the sun into the sap 【Q34】. They did this until it turned into sugar, and they were then able to use this to sweeten their food and drinks. Since that time, improvements have been made to the process, but it has changed very little overall.
So let’s look at the production of maple syrup today. Clearly, the maple forests are a valuable resource in many Canadian and North American communities. The trees have to be well looked after and they cannot be used to make syrup until the trunks reach a diameter of around 25 centimetres. This can take anything up to 40 years 【Q35】. As I’ve already mentioned, maple trees need the right conditions to grow and also to produce sap. Why is this? Well, what happens is that during a cold night, the tree absorbs water from the soil, and that rises through the tree’s vascular system. But then in the warmer daytime, the change in temperature causes the water to be pushed back down to the bottom of the tree. This continual movement – up and down – leads to the formation of the sap needed for maple syrup production.
When the tree is ready, it can be tapped and this involves drilling a small hole into the trunk and inserting a tube into it that ends in a bucket 【Q36】. The trees can often take several taps, though the workers take care not to cause any damage to the healthy growth of the tree itself. The sap that comes out of the trees consists of 98 percent water and 2 percent sugar and other nutrients. It has to be boiled so that much of that water evaporates, and this process has to take place immediately, using what are called evaporators. These are basically extremely large pans – the sap is poured into these, a fire is built and the pans are then heated until the sap boils 【Q37】. As it does this, the water evaporates, and the syrup begins to form. The evaporation process creates large quantities of steam 【Q38】, and the sap becomes thicker and denser, and, at just the right moment, when the sap is thick enough to be called maple syrup, the worker removes it from the heat. After this process, something called ‘sugar sand’ has to be filtered out as this builds up during the boiling and gives the syrup a cloudy appearance 【Q39】 and a slightly gritty taste. Once this has been done, the syrup is ready to be packaged so that it can be used for a whole variety of products. It takes 40 litres of sap to produce one litre of maple syrup 【Q40】 so you can get an idea of how much is needed!
So that’s the basic process. In places like Quebec where …
Complete the notes below.
Write ONE WORD ONLY for each answer.
听前预测：定位词为 sap、maple tree、colour；提示词为 colour，此处应填与颜色有关的名词或形容词。
题目解析：本题定位不难，开篇不久考生便可以听到小标题相关信息“What is this exactly?”引出正题，接着定位词 sap、maple tree 依次出现，然后听到预期的表达颜色的词 golden，符合题干要求，填写。等考生听到 food，说明本题结束，下题内容开始。至此只有一个表达颜色的词，进一步确认答案。
听前预测：定位词为 food、cooking、refined sugar；提示词为 very，此处应填形容词。
题目解析：本题建议结合此前信息定位，考生可以听到 food 原词出现，接着根据题干要求捕捉形容词，只有 healthy 能够代入题干，随后可听到另一定位信息 refined sugar，进一步确认答案。注意题干中的 cooking 被具象化替换为 baking of cakes or pastries，但本题不需要该词也能够明确定位。
听前预测：定位词为 conditions、Canada、North America；提示词为 and，此处应填名词。
题目解析：本题定位稍难，主要原因在于与上题录音间隔较久，但考生可以利用题干中的已知信息辅助定位。考生可以在录音中听到题干信息依次出现：species、fertilizer、soil、sun、nights 等。接着考生可听到本题 3 组定位词依次出现，随后听到“In these areas, the climate suits the trees perfectly.”，climate 代入题干语义通顺，且在定位信息附近，因此为正确答案。
听前预测：定位词为 hot；提示词为 hot、to heat，此处应填名词。
题目解析：本题与上题录音间隔较久，但考生可依次听到题干已知信息原词出现：holes、 trunks、container、bark 等，接着可以听到“… they boiled the liquid by placing pieces of rock that had become scorching hot from the sun into the sap.”，其中 scorching hot 对应题干中的 hot，因此 rock 为正确答案。本题有一定的难度，定位词 hot 虽没有被替换但在答案之后出现，因此要求学生能够利用前面信息并结合题干提前捕捉答案。另外，本题答案词 rock 在录音中发的是美音 /rɑːk/，部分发英音 /rɒk/ 的考生可能不熟。因本题题干没有明确的语法限制，因此也可填写复数形式 rocks。
听前预测：定位词为 trunks、40 years；提示词为 not、correct，此处应填名词。
题目解析：考生先听到该题上面的小标题 The trees 原词出现，接着听到否定词 cannot，对应题干中的否定词 not，提醒考生需关注接下来的信息。考生随后可听到的名词有 diameter 和 25 centimeters，diameter（直径）符合题干要求。随后考生可以听到定位词 40 years，进一步确认答案。本题词汇难度较大，diameter 日常较少见，注意积累词汇。
听前预测：定位词为 tap、trunk、bucket；提示词为 a，此处应填单数可数名词。
题目解析：本题与上题音频间隔较久，但考生可依次听到题干已知信息原词出现：temperature、water、production 等。接着可以听到定位词 tap 变为过去分词 tapped，随后依次听到的名词有：hole、trunk、tube，其中 trunk 为题干信息，排除，符合题干要求的只有 tube。随后考生可以听到 bucket 原词出现，进一步确认答案。
听前预测：定位词为 pans、evaporators；提示词为 a，此处应填单数可数名词。
题目解析：本题定位词 evaporate、evaporators 先反复出现，随后 pans 原词出现，接着听到 “… a fire is built …”，结合题干要求 heated by means 可以判断 fire 代入题干是合理的。注意 fire 既可以作可数名词，又可以作不可数名词，本录音提到 a fire， 语法上是正确的。随后题干中 heated 在录音原词出现，进一步确认 fire 为答案。
听前预测：定位词为 evaporation process；提示词为 A lot of、is，此处应填不可数名词。
题目解析：本题定位不难，考生可以听到定位词原词出现，随后听到 large quantities of steam，其中 large quantities of 对应题干信息 a lot of，替换难度不大，因此本题答案为 steam。
听前预测：定位词为‘Sugar sand’、removed、taste；提示词为 look，此处应填形容词。
题目解析：录音提到“… something called‘sugar sand’ has to be filtered out …”，定位词 ‘Sugar sand’ 原词出现，be filtered out 对应题干中的 removed，根据题干要求，考生随后能抓取到的形容词只有 cloudy，并且搭配 appearance 出现，cloudy 符合题干搭配要求，为正确答案。随后录音提到 a slightly gritty taste，对应题干中的 affects the taste，进一步确认答案。
听前预测：提示词为 a，此处应填单数可数名词。
题目解析：本题没有特别明确的定位词，考生需利用上句题干定位。上题结束后，考生可以听到“Once this has been done, the syrup is ready to be packaged so that it can be used …”，对应上句题干“The syrup is ready for use.”，随后考生听到的名词依次有 litres、sap、litre，其中 litre 符合题干搭配要求，为正确答案。题干中的 A huge quantity 被具象化替换为 40 litres，较难识别。
