大学体验英语视听说3听力原文

大学体验英语视听说3UNIT 1Don’t Say GoodbyeScriptWhile some visitors to Singapore expect a high-tech city, there are also some parts of the island that still reflect how it used to look before urban development took over.In one of the main Central Nature Reserves, monkeys still roam freely, living side by side with humans. The macaques have grown accustomed to being fed, so they look to humans as a source of food. But this in itself is problematic. As the monkeys depend more on humans for food, they venture further from their natural habitat, a phenomenon that has worried experts.There is just not enough space. Essentially, in much of Southeast Asia we’ve seen a lot of habitat loss where rainforest has been destroyed and converted into human settlement. Singapore is a very urbanized city, and it’s taken a lot of space, so there is not much space left for long-tailed macaques.We really need to stop encroaching into nature reserves. We need to stop building the houses so nearby the reserves, which then causes the problem of the macaques coming into people’s houses and raiding them. These macaques are French species so they live on the edges of the rainforests.If humans keep building the houses so near the reserves, there will definitely be a constant human-macaque conflict issue.After all, the macaques are essential to maintaining the rainforest’s ecosystem. More should be done to protect them.ScriptDuring the whole year’s promotion, a series of acti vities will be held to promote public awareness in protecting biodiversity like summit forums and biodiversity knowledge competitions. Also, the government will conduct supervision to fight illegal hunting and other related conduct in nature reserves nationwide.Wan Bentai, general engineer at the Ministry of Environmental Protection says biodiversity is vital to human life. The Earth is colorful just because of biodiversity. If all the species were gone and there were only us humans left, humans wouldn’t be able to survive.Biodiversity not only refers to all the species, including animals, plants and insects but also the genes and our living environment. However, dozens of species are disappearing on our planet everyday. Currently, 34,000 plants and 5,200 animals are on the edge of extinction.Scientists say many species’ extinction is attributed to human activities. Many animals are endangered because of human activities like hunting and fishing. But many animalshave a close connection with humans, so we should treat them as friends. Besides, many plants make great contributions to human life, some of which are even more precious than gold.In recent years, the number of animal and plant species has declined sharply in China due to various reasons. We need policies which protect biodiversity. And we have to find programs which can encourageand provide incentives for people not to cut down the forest, nor to destroy the habitat of rare birds, nor fisheries. We have to do many things.Home listenlingA conservation group says 163 newly discovered species of plants and animals inthe Greater Mekong region of Southeast Asia where the MekongRiver 1) _flows_____ are atrisk of extinction because of rising global temperatures.Some of the most 2)___unusual_____ animals included a frog with fangs in Thailand that eats birds and a leopard-spotted gecko found on an island in Vietnam. But in a report3)____released______ in Bangkok on Friday, the WWF says that temperatures in the region are4)____expected______ to rise by as much as four degrees Celsius in the next 60 years and thatcould threaten their existence.The WWF says rare and endangered species are at the greatest 5)____risk__ from climate change, because rising temperatures could affect food 6) ___supplies______ or cause weather problems that damage habitats. The newly discovered species that live at the tops of mountains only or low-lying islands only, like this Cat Ba gecko that was just found are 7) ______especially_____ vulnerable to climate-change impacts because of theirrestricted habitats. More than 1,000 new species have been discovered in the GreaterMekong region in the past 8) ____decade____.Changes to wildlife in the Mekong area could also affect many of the 60 millionpeople who depend on the river for their livelihoods. Of all the region’s the WWFworks in, the Mekong region 9) ____probably has the closest link between itsresource and human livelihood than any other region in the world.The WWF report comes just days ahead of a major United Nations meeting inBangkok on climate change. The Bangkok meeting will 10) _____try to narrow downa framework agreement on global emission targets to be negotiatedat the end of this year.UNIT 2Nature or NurtureScriptWhen it comes to intelligence, there has always been one fundamental question: Is intelligence a function of nature? Is it simply encoded in a child’s genes? Or is it a function of nurture? Is it more about the environment that a child grows up in?On the one hand, if we take two people at random from the crowd, it is very likely that their degrees of intelligence will be completely different. However, if we take two identical twins, chances are that they will be as intelligent as each other. Therefore, a conclusion can be drawn that intelligence is to some extent something we are born with. On the other hand, though, if we put identical twins in different environments, we would find differences in their intelligence several years later, which ind icates that environment does play a crucial role in people’s intelligence.Recently, data has clearly indicated that nurture is indeed more than 50% of the equation. That is good news for educators, but even better news for society as a whole.Fortunately, President Obama has come out in strong support of early childhood education,particularly for those children most at risk of school failure. Investing in quality pre-school opportunities clearly helps give children from poverty-stricken areas the chance at a stronger start in school and in life.If we are serious about helping our children succeed in school, if we are truly interested in ―Leaving No Child Behind,‖ we will take a hard look at this compelling data and begin investing greater sums at the early childhood level.ScriptAlbert Einstein was a German-born physicist, although most people probably know him as the most intelligent person who ever lived. His name has become part of many languages when we want to say someone is a genius, as in the phrase, ―She’s a real Einstein‖. He must have been pretty brainy to discover the Theory of Relativity and the equation E=MC2.In 1999, Time Magazine named Einstein as the Person of the Century. No one could have guessed this would happen when he was in school. He was extremely interested in science but hated the system of learning things by rote memory. He said it destroyed learning and creativity. He had already done many experiments but failed the entrance exams to a technical college. He didn’t le t this setback stop him. When he was 16, he performed his famous experiment of imagining traveling alongside a beam of light. He eventually graduated from university, in 1900, with a degree in physics.Twelve years later he was a university professor and in 1921, he won the Nobel Prize for Physics. He went on to publish over 300 scientific papers. Einstein is the only scientist to become a cult figure, a household name and part of everyday culture. He once joked that when people stopped him in the street, h e always replied, ―Pardon me, sorry! Always I am mistaken for Professor Einstein.‖ Today, he is seen as the typical mad, absentminded professor, who just happened to change our world.Home ListeningMost people know that Albert Einstein was a famous scientist who came up with the formula E=MC2. But do you know other facts about this 1) genius?___________When Einstein died in 1955, his body was cremated and his ashes 2) ___scattered______ according to his wishes. However, before his body was cremated, Thomas Harvey at Princeton Hospital 3) _______conducted_____ an autopsy in which he removed Einstein’s brain.Rather than putting the brain back in the body, Harvey decided to keep it for study. Harvey did not have 4) _____permission________ to keep E instein’s brain, but days later, he 5) ____convinced________ Einstein’s son that it would help science. Shortly thereafter, Harvey was fired from his position at Princeton because he refused to give up Einstein’s brain. For the next four 6) ______decades,____ Harvey kept Einstein’s chopped-up brain in two mason jars with him as he moved around the country.In Einstein’s mother, Pauline, was an 7) _____accomplished_______ pianist and wanted her sonto love music too, so she started him on violin lessons when he was six years old. Unfortunately, at first, Einstein hated playing the violin. 8) ____He would much rather build houses of cards, which he was really good at, or do just about anything else._. When Einstein was 13 years old, he suddenly changed his mind about the violin when he heard the music of Mozart. 9) ____With a new passion for playing,Einstein continued to play the violin until the last few years of his life.Part of Einstein’s charm was his disheveled look. In addition to his uncombed h air, one of Einstein’s peculiar habits was to never wear socks. 10) ____Whether it was while out sailingor at a formal dinner at the White House, Einstein went without socks everywhere.. To Einstein, socks were a pain because they often would get holes in them. Plus, why wear both socks and shoes when one of them would do just fine?Unit3 home of the futureScriptTo imagine life in the future, you have to know what might be possible. You also need a lot of imagination. There have been many exhibits, such as those at World’s Fairs and theme parks, showing how future homes might look and work, sponsored by builders, developers or technology companies. Science fiction is another way to predict the future. It’s a kind of writing that blends real science with fantasy. Over the years, science fiction writers, artists and engineers have had many ideas about what life would be like in the future. Here’s a look at what some of the leading scientists are working on today to bring into your homes tomorrow.On the outside a home might look like any other. But inside, it can be high-tech all the way! Computer scientists have found new ways to use technology to make people’s lives easier. For instance, sensors can show if someone is in your home and where they are at all times. You can check in from any computer — anywhere. The stuff of cutting-edge scientific research today is tomorrow’s household technology, and high-tech consumer products could be available in your future home!ScriptWhat if we could wear bodysuits to give us super strength? Own an identical robot twin to work for us? What if we could travel through time? Technology is pushing from every direction, getting faster with each passing second. Prepare yourself! The future is closer than you think.A robot conducting a symphony orchestra! Amazing as that is, it’s just one way reality is outpacing science fiction. Every day robots become even more sophisticated, taking on additional human traits. Until now, robots have mostly gotten the toughest jobs. They work at the assembly line and defuse or even detonate explosive devices.The traditional tasks for a robot have always been the 3-D’s: dull, dirty, dangerous. But as technology improves and as researchers are work towards developing these intelligent humanoids, we are going to see our homes and offices occupied by robots. It makes sense that if you are going to build a general-purpose robot that can perform any task that a human can do, you’d like to give it a human shape. It can walk gracefully. His creators study motion-capture video of both humans and animals. I believe that humanoid technologies will improve our lives in the 21st century. Home listeningSome people don’t stop at imagining the future. They start building it. Thathappened when people wanted better ways to get around. They made 1) ___models___ of machines that would change the world. Or so they thought. Take the jetpack. It’s a backpack that carries a small rocket engine. You put it on, rev it up and soar. No need to ask for a ride to school or wait for the bus. But real life turned out to be more 2)____ complicated______ —doesn’t it always?For starters, jetpacks couldn’t carry much fuel. So the 3)__ average______trip was maybe half a minute. You can’t get very far in that time. Then there were problems with safety. Jetpack fuel can be dangerous stuff. It heats up to about 700°Celsius (1300°Fahrenheit). The roaring engine can also 4) ___damage_______ your hearing.Of course, there are some 5) ________incredible_____problem solvers in this world. Someday, a clever 6) ___inventor______ may come up with a jetpack that truly takes off. It may be a while, though. So you’d better hold on to your bus pass.The dreamers of the 1950s also had ideas about how people mightcommunicate. One idea turned up in the ―Dick Tracy‖ comic strip. Tracy was a tough, smart 7____detective.________. He had a special way of staying in touch with people. On his wrist Tracy wore an 8) ___amazing____ watch. It had a telephone that he could use anywhere. Even better, it had a two-way television. This meant he could see people while he was talking to them.The two parts of Tracy’s watch — telephone and television — existed in the1950s. 9) _____Yet it took an artist to put them together in a new way, – slowly, real life caught up with the comics_. Today, people have cell phones. Some are even videophones. People also use webcams to see each other while they ―talk‖ over theInternet. 10) ____As ―Dick Tracy‖ exemplified, pieces of what was in the present can come together later in the future.Unit4 Technology: A Blessing or a Curse?ScriptA leading US scientist has predicted that computers will be as intelligent as humans by 2029. Futurologist Dr Ray Kurzweil told the American Association for the Advancement of Science that in the near future, machine intelligence will overtake the power of the human brain. He said that within two decades computers will be able to think quicker than humans. Dr Kurzweil painted a picture of us having tiny robots called nanobots implanted in our brain to boost our intelligence and health. He told reporters that these microscopic nanobots would work with our brains to make us think faster and give us more powerful memories. Kurzweil explained that we are already ―a human machine civilization‖ and that the upcoming technology ―will be a further extension of that.‖Dr Kurzweil was one of 18 top intellectuals asked by the US National Academy of Engineering to identify our greatest technological challenges. Other experts included Google founder Larry Page and the human genome pioneer Dr Craig Venter. Kurzweil has a very impressive background in science and innovation. He was an innovator in various fields of computing, including the technology behind CDs. He also pioneered automatic speech recognition by machines. He predicts the pace of new inventions will increase greatly from now, saying: ― … the next half century will see 32 times more technical progress than the past half century.‖ This means scenes from science fiction movies, like Blade Runner, The Terminator and I, Robot, will become more and more a part of our everyday lives.ScriptThe scientists who launched the Human Genome Project believed in the power of genetic information to transform health care to allow earlier diagnosis of diseases than ever before and to fuel the creation of powerful new medicines.But it was also clear that genetic information could potentially be used in ways that are hurtful or unfair —for example denying health insurance because of an increased risk for developing a particular disease.Aware of the danger and hoping to ward it off, the founders of the Human Genome Project created a program to explore the ethical, legal, and social implications of new genetic knowledge. The goal was to anticipate problems that might arise and to prompt solutions.For example, in the future, doctors will li kely be able to give each of us a ―genetic report card‖ that will spell out our risk of developing a variety of different diseases. But will we really want that information? How will it be used? Who will have access to our genetic information? How will it affect our lives, our families, and our communities?The challenge of addressing these issues is not reserved for scientists. We all have a stake in making sure that everyone will benefit from genetic research and no one is harmed.Home listeningWhat has science done for you lately? Plenty. If you think science doesn’t mattermuch to you, think again. Science affects us all, every day of the year, from themoment we wake up, all day long, and through the night.Because of science, we have 1) ______complex devices________ like cars, X-ray machines, computers, and phones. But the technologies that science has 2)______inspired_____ include more than just hi-tech machines. The notion of technology includes any sort of 3)_______designed innovation._____________. Whether a flu vaccine, the 4) __antibiotics_______ that treat your sore throat, the technique and tools to perform open 5) ______heart surgery,______, or a new system of crop rotation, it’s all technology. Even simple things that one m ight easily 6) _______take for granted________ are, in fact, science-based technologies: the clean water that comes from your faucet, and the light that you turn off at the end of the day, the plastic that makes up a sandwich bag, —it’s all here because o f science. To make it clear how deeply science is 7) ______interwoven with__________ our lives, just try imagining a day without scientific progress.8) _Though the impact of technology on our lives___ is often clearly positive (e.g.,it’s hard to argu e with the benefits of being able to effectively mend a broken bone), in some cases the payoffs are 9) ____less clear-cut.___________. It’s important to remember that10) _science builds knowledge about the world,___, but that people decide how thatknowledge should be used.Unit 5 the power of artsScript―Art does not solve problems, but makes us aware of their existence,‖ sculptor MagdalenaAbakanowicz has said. Arts education, on the other hand, does solve problems. Years of research show that it’s closely linked to almost everything that we as a nation say we want for our children and demand from our schools: academic achievement, social and emotional development, civic engagement, and equal opportunity. Involvement in the arts is associated with gains in math, reading, cognitive ability, critical thinking, and verbal skill. Arts learning can also improve motivation, concentration, confidence, and teamwork. A 2005 report by the Rand Corporation about the visual arts argues that the intrinsic pleasures and stimulation of the art experience do more than sweeten an individual’s life —according to the report, they ―can connect people more deeply to the world and open them to new ways of seeing,‖ creating the foundation to forge social bonds and community cohesion. Comprehensive, innovative arts initiatives are taking root in a growing number of school districts. Many of these models are based on new findings in brain research and cognitive development, and they embrace a variety of approaches: using the arts as a learning tool, incorporating arts into other core classes and creating a school environment rich in arts and culture. ―When you think about the purposes of education, there are three,‖ an educator says. ―We’re preparing kids for jobs. We’re preparing them to be citizens. And we’re teaching them to be human beings who can enjoy the deeper forms of beauty. The third is as important as the other two.‖ScriptThe arts are windows of the world in the same way that science helps us see the world around us.Literature, music, theater, the visual arts, the media, architecture, and dance reveal aspects about ourselves, the world around us, and the relationship between the two. In 1937, German planes flying for Franco in the Spanish civil war bombed a defenseless village as a laboratory experiment, killing many of the inhabitants. In Guernica, Pablo Picasso painted his outrage in the form of a vicious bull surveying a scene of human beings screaming, suffering, and dying. These powerful images mark in our minds the horror of a senseless act of war.Today, one major goal of education has become very practical: employability. Children should knowhow to read, write, and compute so that they can assume a place in the work force. Few would argue with that. But this objective should not allow us to overlook the importance of the arts and what they can do for the mind and spirit of every child and the function of schooling.Educational administrators need to be reminded that schools have a fundamental responsibility toprovide the fuel that will ignite the mind, spark the aspirations, and illuminate the human spirit. The arts can often serve as that fuel. They are the ways we apply our imagination, thought, and feeling through a range of ―languages‖ to illuminate li fe in all its mysteries, miseries, delights, pities, and wonders.Home listeningThe arts not only contribute richly to the development of human intelligence,but also offer the means to achieve a great diversity of characteristics in humanbeings in every school today. It would be easier to achieve 1) ___significant____________ educational achievements if everyone learned in the same way, but not everyone does. In all schools today there is a growing diversity of students with different 2) _____cultural____, social, and economic backgrounds that result in very different ways of thinking, learning, and 3)_____behaving_____. Children with different kinds of abilities and disabilities are in the same classrooms. Children from 4) ___disadvantaged_______ families learn together with more economically privileged students. School systems that rely on teaching 5) ____primarily_______ through the spoken and written words simply do not reach all these kinds of students. Even students with similar backgrounds 6) _____perceive____ and process information differently.We have known for a long time that there are major perceptual differences inhow people take in information. Some students can learn 7) ____effectively_____ by listening, and they do very well in traditional classrooms where most of the information ispresented 8) ___orally___. Studies show that these students whose strongest learningchannel is auditory comprise less than 15% of the population. On the other hand,9) __students who demonstrate a visual learning style are about 40% ofthe population____. It is important for them to have illustrations, charts, and diagrams along with words and numbers. Understandably, many of them have difficulty learning in conventional classrooms since very little hands-on learning is available in most classes after early primary grades. The arts offer especially valuable tools to facilitate learning for those who are primarily visual, in addition to making it possible for all students to learn more effectively, 10) _retain what they have learned,know how to apply what they have learned in a variety of situations___ , and feel more positive about learning.。