大学英语Unit 11 Famous People

Unit 11 Famous PeoplePart ANow you are going to hear three short passages. Choose one or two words from the following box to describe the speaker’s attitude towards the character discussed in each passage.1. What is the speaker’s attitude towards Napoleon?Neutral. (The speaker mainly gives a factual account of Napoleon’s life even t hough he holds that Napoleon waged wars against many countries.)2. What is the speaker’s attitude towards Tom Cruise?Positive. (“W orld renowned actor”, “almost everyone respects him” and “international star” show the speaker’s attitude.)3. What is the speaker’s attitude towards Warren Edward Buffett?Positive, respectful. (In “regarded as one of the world’s greatest stock market investors”,the choice of the word “great” indicates the speaker’s attitude.)Script:1. Napoleon was many things but he was, first of all, remembered as a military leader. Rising from an artillery officer to the commander of the French army, he waged war after war against neighboring countries. In 1804, he declared himself emperor and became the most powerful man in the world. At one time he controlled most of Europe. But Napoleon’s power was short-lived. His defeat came when he decided to attack Russia. Soon the whole of Europe rose against him, eventually forcing him to give up his throne. In 1821, he died alone on the small island of St. Helena.2. Tom Cruise has always represented cool, but somehow over the last couple of years, he has gone from just another Hollywood pretty boy to a certified world-renowned actor. It seems that everything he touches turns to gold. Not everyone likes him, but at least now almost everyone respects him. His movies make millions; he is an international star — men envy him, and women love him.3. Warren Edward Buffett is an American investor, businessman and philanthropist. He is regarded as one of the world’s greatest stock market investors, and is the largest shareholder and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. With an estimated net worth of around US$62 billion, he was ranked by Forbes as the richest person in the world as of February 11, 2008.Part B Listening TasksA Musician-turned EconomistScriptAlan Greenspan, who served as Chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve Board for about two decades from 1987 to 2006, was regarded in those days as one of the most important men by many people in the world.Greenspan was born on March 6, 1926. His father was a stockbroker and his mother worked in retailing. When he was four years old, his parents divorced and he was raised by his mother in New York.Young Alan was a shy boy but he was very good at large numbers. When he was only five, his mother would get him to add two three-digit numbers in his head.He loved baseball and tennis. And, like his mother, he developed a deep appreciation for music. In the mid-1940s he studied briefly at a music school in New York, and then toured the country for a year with a music band. Then he entered New York University’s School of Commerce and graduated with a degree in economics. He got a Master’s degree at NYU in 1949, and shifted to Columbia University to work on his PhD. When his money ran low, he withdrew from graduate school and went to work for the National Industrial Conference Board. He eventually earned a PhD from NYU in 1977.In the mid-1950s Greenspan opened an economic consulting company. In 1987 he began to work in the Federal Government. His work as Chief of Federal Reserve Board was much the same as the work he did on Wall Street, trying to understand how the economy worked and what drove it, offering suggestions for improvement. He was, however, making less money.Exercise 1Listen to the passage and choose the right answers to the questions.1. How long has Greenspan been Chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve Board according to the passage?a. Almost 20 years.b. 12 years.c. 5 years.d. 4 years.2. What do you know about his parents?a. They were poor.b. They divorced.c. They deserted him.d. They moved to New York.3. What was young Greenspan fond of?a. Baseball and basketball.b. Tennis and baseball.c. Movies and tennis.d. Sports and music.4. Which of the following does the passage imply?a. It is a pity that Greenspan has given up his career as a musician.b. Greenspan as Chief of Federal Reserve Board could do whatever he liked to do.c. Greenspan’s income was higher when he worked on Wall Street.d. Greenspan wasn’t v ery good at his studies since he earned his PhD at the age of 51.5. Which of the following describes the speaker’s attitude towards Greenspan?a. Positive.b. Neutral.c. Negative.d. Critical.Exercise 2Listen to the passage again and fill in the blanks in the following chart with the missing information.Alan GreenspanPart CTest Your ListeningA Compound DictationListen to the passage three times and supply the missing information.On June 28, 2008, amid cheers and tears 52-year-old Gates said good-bye to his 1) Microsoft employees.The following is his closing remarks during his 2) farewell event in Redmond:“My life’s work really is about 3) software and working with incredible people. I love working with smart people. I love working with Steve. I love working with all the incredible people here. Even the times that were the 4) toughest, in some ways those are the ones that bond you the most — when IBM decides to attack you, or when some 5) legal ruling isn’t quite right. And you have to do a press conference afterwards.“The work here combines two things that I think are just so special. One is the 6) long-term impact — the impact on the world of what we do — is incredible. We can always go out and see things that remind us of that. See blind people who, using our accessibility, can browse the Internet. You know, their lives are just totally different because of that. So we can say, wow, this is so 7) impactful.“But I think the second thing, 8) which is that the day-to-day work is fun and enjoyable, that’s actually what’s made it so easy to want to work hard, to want to always improve things, to face up to whatever it is that needs to be done better. 9) So it’s a special group of people who put so much into it.“So let me just close by saying you’ve made it so much for me. 10) There won’t be a day of my life that I’m not thinking about Microsoft, and the great things that it’s doing, and wanting to help. So thank you for making it the center of my life, and so much fun. Thank you.”。