英语听力短文

1

Every day I see advertisements in the newspapers and on the buses claiming that it is easy to learn English.

According these advertisements, with very little effort on the student’s part, he will be able to speak the language fluently in three months or even then days. There is often a reference William Shakespeare or Charles Dickens to encourage him even more. When I see advertisements like this, I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. If it were as easy to learn English as they say, I would have to look for another job, because very few qualified teachers would be needed. But a large number of people must believe these ridiculous claims, or else the advertisements would not appear.

2

The elephant is the only animal in the world with a trunk. It uses its trunk in many ways. It pulls leaves off trees with its trunk and then puts them into its mouth. It can even use its trunk to pull up a tree when it wants to make a path through the jungle. It also uses its trunk to get water. When an elephant is angry, its tusk can be very dangerous. The tusks of an elephant are really its front teeth. People pay a lot of m oney for the ivory of an elephant’s tusks. In Africa men have hunted elephants for their tusks. The ivory from tusks is made into many beautiful things.

3

One night at college I sat with a group of students in the dormitory as we shared stories about our lives. We began to talk about the things we hated most about our childhoods. “That’s easy,” I said. “I couldn’t stand growing up in a town where everybody always compared me with my father.”

The girl sitting next to me frowned. “I don’t understand,” she said. “I’d be proud to have a father who’s so well respected. Her eyes filled with tears as she continued, “I’d give anything to be called my father’s child.But I don’t know where he is. He left my mother when I was only four.”There was an awkward silence, and then I changed the subject I wasn’t ready to hear her words.

I returned home for winter break that year, feeling proud of myself. In four months at college, I had made a number of new friends. I had become popular in my own right, without my father’s help.

4

Several days ago three lions escaped from a circus in Knoxvill due to the carelessness of one of the keepers. Two of the lions headed for a nearby grass field where they were immediately caught by their trainer. The third one however, went into town, and when he saw an open window on the first floor of a private home, he jumped in. Inside, he found an elderly lady whose eyesight was failing. She thought the animal was a large dog and patted it on the head. The wild beast paid no attention to her and went into the bedroom, here he fell asleep on the rug. It was there that the trainer found the lion. He and his helper put him in a cage and carried him quietly to the circus.

5

People come in all shapes and sizes. They also come with distinctive personalities. The combination of characteristics that makes you different from every other person is your personality.

One’s personality can be summed up in a word. People might say that harry is shy; Tasha is aggressive; and Shannon is outgoing. Actually, personalities are more complex than this. A closer

look at personalities will show you why they are not so simple, and you will also discover that your personality can be shaped if you make the effort.

A person’s personality is composed of many elements. These elements, in general, fall into three categories-emotional, social, and intellectual.

6

Long long age, so far away, I fell in love with you before the second show. Your guitar sounds so sweet and clear. But you’re not really here, it is just the radio. Don’t you remember you told me you love me? You said you’d be coming back the way again. I love you, I really do. Loneliness is such a sad affair and I can hardly wait to be with you again. What to say, to make you come again, come back to me again, and play your sad guitar.

7

I, too, had a special doll when I was a little girl. I got it one Christmas when I was about your age. I lived in an old farmhouse in Maine, with Mom, Dad and my four sisters, and the very first gift I opened that Christmas was the most beautiful doll you’d ever want to see.

She had an exquisite, hand-painted porcelain face, and her long brown hair was pulled back with a big pink bow. Her eyes were blue as blue could be, and they opened and closed. I remember she had a body of kidskin, and her arms and legs bent at the joints.

My doll was dressed in a pretty pink gown, trimmed with fine lace. But what I especially remember was her petticoat. It was fine linen, trimmed with rows and rows of delicate lace. And the tiny buttons on her boots were real. Getting such a fine doll was like a miracle for a little farm girl like me ---- my parents must have had to sacrifice so much to afford it. But how happy I was that morning!

8

Television has become an indispensable part of our daily life. It has been a means of entertainment which many people count on to kill spare time. It has been an effective channel through which information, whether political or commercial can be passed on at a great speed. It has become an open school via which quite a number of people receive their education. Because of its considerable importance, television itself has attracted an increasing interest among people of different background.

9

That was many years ago now. Mother died soon after that day, before my sons had a chance to know her. I still come to the park, but now I bring my boys. I still sit under that same sturdy pine tree on an old blanket and talk to my sons of family picnics, gatherings and the grandmother they never knew. Just as my mother did with me, I tell my children about their youthful funny behaviors and praise them for their accomplishments as young adults. We come to this special place to create our own memories ---- memories that I know would make my mother smile with pride.

Not long ago my oldest son wanted to come to the park and talk, so we came and sat under our tree. He hemmed and hawed for a few minutes, then he finally told me he was getting married. I cried tears of joy as my son hugged me ---- his hug a rare and special treat. I told him how proud I was of the man he had become.

10

The Olympic games were first held at Olympia in ancient Greece as long age as 776 B. C. They were held once every four years. The custom lasted for more than 1000 years, but died out under

the rule of Rome and ceased with the decline of ancient Greek civilization. Then in 1896 the Games were revived. In that year, a Frenchman decided to try to start the Games again. He wished to renew those ideas of excellence of body, mind, and spirit shown in the classic Greek Olympics. He succeeded, and the modern Olympic Games began in Athens, Greece, in 1896. Since then the Olympic Games have grown steadily with more and more nations and athletes taking part. Because of the world wars, they were not held in 1916 nor in 1940 and 1944. They have been regularly held ever since then.

11

Straightening up, he came to our table, holding the other flower in front of him. “Sir,” he said to me, “may I have permission to present this flower to your beautiful daughter?” In one quick motion he gave my wife the flower, wished us a Merry Christmas, and departed.

Everyone had stopped eating. Everyone had been watching the sailor. Everyone was silent. A few seconds later, Christmas exploded throughout the restaurant like a bomb.

People crowded from the street until many customers were standing. The walls shook as hands and feet kept time to the Christmas carols.

The miserable evening in a dull restaurant ended up being the very best Christmas Eve we had ever experienced just because of a young sailor who had Christmas spirit in his soul. He released the love and joy that had been smothered within us by anger and disappointment. He gave us Christmas.

12

The English of speech tends to be different from the English of writing in some fairly obvious ways, for example, in writing we usually have time to plan our message, to think about it carefully while writing and to revise it afterwards if necessary. In speech (unless it is, say, a lecture prepared in advance), we have no time to do this, but must shape our message as we go ··· Often we use in speech words and phrases like “well”, “you see” and “kind of” which add little information, but tell us something of the speaker’s attitude to his audience and to what he is saying.

13

To become a good listener begins with concentration. That looks easy on the surface. In too many cases, we have to listen to other people with physical and mental distractions around us. The ring of the telephone, the slam of a door or other human voices are some of the common physical distractions. The mental –distractions in one’s own mind, on the other hand, are much more difficult to overcome, for many reasons. A speaker may not be able to keep pace with the working of the listener’s mind. The average person’s rate of thinking is faster than the average rate of speech. With much free time left at their disposal, the listeners are likely to be carried away by their own thoughts and they soon lose their way. That is where the problem lies: listening too quickly.

14

A farmer who lived in a small village had a bad pain in the chest. He decided he would see a doctor in the nearest town. He was told that a patient had to pay three pounds for the first visit and one pound for the second visit. The farmer thought about this for a long time, then he went to see the doctor. As he entered the doctor’s room, he said, “Good morning, doctor. Here I am again.” The doctor was a little surprised. He asked him some questions, examined his chest and then took the pound the farmer gave him. Then the doctor said with a smile, “Well, sir. There’s

nothing new. Please continue to take the same medicine I gave you the first time you came to see me.”

15

The students at the top of the class attain academic excellence by mastering a few basic principles that others can easily learn. To begin with, top students know how to set their priorities right. Study time is never compromised for phone calls, television programs or snacks. In other words, it is always placed above recreation. In addition, top students make a point of studying anywhere or everywhere. A top student who is also a top athlete memories biology terms as he works out every day. Another student learns a new word every morning while brushing his teeth. Among all the students interviewed, everyone agreed that study times are strictly a matter of personal preference. Some thrive at night when all is silent. Others prefer to study as soon as they come home from school when the lessons are fresh in their minds. However, all agreed that consistency is a main factor if one is to perform well at all times.

16

In addition to the need for food, man also has need of some kind of protection from heat and cold and from wind and rain. The first homes of man were very simple. The size and kind of buildings which he built were limited by his technical knowledge and also by the kind of building materials which were available to him. Climate also had an important influenced. In some places, man’s home would be nothing more than a cave in the side of a hill, with a fire at the entrance to give light and warmth and to keep dangerous wild animals away. In warmer areas primitive man could use branches to make a framework which he then covered with leaves.