英语听力

Honesty Is the Best Policy

It is usually better to be honest than dishonest. Sometimes honesty may get you in trouble or hurt someone, but usually telling the truth is less hamful than lying. Dishonesty can result in guilty feelings, cause distrust and ruin your reputation.

One of the worst things about lying is that it causes a guilty conscience. Even if on one discovers the lie, you will know about it, and it will bother you for a long time. Is a lie worth all that guilt? Another problem occurs when you lie to someone, and he learns the truth and discovers your lie. Then you will really be in trouble. He will be angry because you were dishonest with him, and he will not feel that he can trust you any more. It is a very sad thing to lost someone’s trust. If you lie a lot, eventually you may gain a reputation as a liar. And once you have gained a reputation as a liar, it is very hard to get rid of it. On the other hand, if you are a very honest person, people will trust you, and you will be known for your honesty. Do you still rember the boy who cried wolf for several times? In the end nobody. Believed him and all his sheep were eaten by the wolf. All that his lies brought him was shame and unhappiness.

Honesty makes you happy and gains a good reputation. A good reputation is better than money in the bank.

True Friends

Friends play a very important part in everyone’s life. Friendship usually develops during childhood. New friends are made when you progress through school. Those frieends that you make as a student can usually last long. Friends influence your developmen, maturity and sense of responsibility. A familiar expression is ―You can tell a lot about a person by knowing who his friends are‖. Friendship is based on common interests. If you like sports, most of oyur friends are likely to be athletic. If you enjoy reading and shopping, most of your frends do the same.

Some people call you their friends for the wrong reasons. These people are not real friends. They are superficial, only ―friends‖ on the outside, not the inside where it counts. Superficial friends only want to be your friends if it is to their advantage. True friends are there whether you are rich or poor. It is easy to have many so-called ―friends‖ if you are rich.

True friends are difficult to find. You can consider yourself licky if you have one true friend. The true friend is eager to help you whenever necessary. True friends support you, take your side, and build up your confidence.

Is Honesty Always the Best Policy?

There is a proverb that goes ―Honesty is the best policy.‖ and it seems as true as it was when it was first coined. The most important element in human relationships, whether business or personal, is trust. If you break that trust and are found out, the relationship will be damaged or destroyed. Futhemore,

if your dishonesty is not discovered, you will have to go to great lengths to conceal it. A breach of trust can quickly grow as you tell lie after lie in an effort to conceal your original deceit. Soon even you may be unable to distinguish the truth. This it is better to stick to the truth.

However, telling lies is often a way of communicationg appropriately with others. This kind of lying is not morally wrong and does not affect our integrity as good human beings. For example, there is a polite formula we use when we meet a person for the first time. We say, ―Your name has been ringing in my ears for a long time.‖ when in fact we have never heard of the person before. But without these nice words, the conversation might not start well. When we meet someone we don’t know, we say, ―Nice to meet you!‖perhaps actually we are not so pleased to meet them. But this kind of expression is indispensable in creating a friendly atmosphere. Sometimes for the sake of politeness, we are obliged to take our feelings.

It is practically unwise to be honest all the time especially when we are dealing with dishonest people. To be dishonest with them does not hurt our credibility. So long as we don’t hurt others, telling lies is an acceptable practice. Therefore, we can say that honesty is not always the best policy. It depends.

Haste Makes waste

Many people believe that the faster the better, because they can save

time in this way. However, as a matter of fact, the trsult is far less than being satisfactory and quite often goes to the opposites. I’d like to say haste makes waste. There are two reasons for it.

Firstly, when one is in a hurry he’s likely ot be heedless and careless. He cannot judge the situation fully and react correctly. Therefore he cannot get what he readily aims at. Secondly, haste may allow accidents to take place. In that case, it will hinder one from reaching his destination.

Consider the following situation which tells something. Suppose a student is expected to show up and give his presentation at class soon. He is in such a hurry that he may leave his presentation at home or on his way rushing to school he may unfortunately have an accident.

Haste makes waste. Everything has its rules in it. We can not strain our efforts and ignore the rules. Remember: Take heed and you will surely speed. It doesn’t mean we can just sit and wait it to happen. Instead, we should try our est and at the same time comply with the objective rules.

The Best Age to Be

Each age has its pleasure, and its pains. The happies person is the one who enjoys what each age gives him without wasting his time in useless regrets.

Childhood is a time when there are few responsibilities to make life difficult. A child finds pleasure in doing almost anything. But a child has

his pains: he is not free as he wishes, as he thinks people are.

A young man becomes free from the discipline of school and parents, when he starts to earn his his own living; but at the same time he is forced to accept responsibilities. He has to work hard if he wants to live comfortably. If he breads the laws of the society as he used to break the laws of his parents, he may be put into prison. If he works hard, he may have a happiness of seeing his own success.

Old age has always been thought of as the worst age to be, but the old can have the joy of seeing their children making progress in life. And perhaps best of all, they can have the happiness of having come through the battle of life safely and of having reached a time when they can lie back and rest, seeing outher to continue the fight.

Success

Success is life depends to great extent on what we mean by success. To some people, money is the only real indication of achievement in the modern world and therefore their estimation of success is based on the state of their bank balance and the power that goes with it. Their life is devoted to making money and they are at a loss to understand people whose ideas are different from their own. There are people, however, who consider their lives successful if they’re doing what they enjoy doing that may not bring them any great financial reward. A man who spends his time gardening maght

consider himself successful if the flowers blossomed and his trees gave fruit, and nursing, teaching, running a youth club all bring their own kind of success to those engaged in them. Success can be found in painting a picture nobody will eever see. Sailing a boat, watching the stars, collecting stamps-almost anything that involves personal endeavor can give you a sense of success. The great thing is to believe that success is not necessarily public.

The Rabbit and the Fox

Once there was a very naughty rabbit. He liked to play tricks. And this made other beasts angry. But it was very difficult to catch him.

One day a fox said to a wolf, ―Let’s think of a way to catch the rabbit for our supper.‖ After a while, the wolf said, ―I’ve got an idea. You go back home and get into bed. I’ll go to the rabbit and tell him that you are dead. Then he’ll come near you to see if you are dead or not. You can then jump up and catch him.‖

―That’s a good idea,‖ said the fox. ―I’ll do that.‖ The fox ran home and got into bed. The wolf went to the rabbit’s house. He stood at the door and called. ―Mr.Rabbit, Mr. Rabbit!‖

―What is it?‖said the rabbit.

―Have you heard the fox is dead?‖ said the wolf, then he went away.

―Really? I haven’t heard anything about it.‖ the rabbit said to himself. So he decided to go and see if it was true. He went to the fox’s house. He

looked in through the window, and there he saw the fox lying in bed. He opened the door and went in. he looked at the fox and said, ―Mr. Wolf says Mr. Fox is dead, but he doesn’t look like a dead fox. You can always tell if a fox is dead, for the dead fox always opens his mouth.‖

When the fox heard this, he thought, ―I’ll show him that I’m dead.‖ So he opened his mouth.

When the rabbit saw the fox open his mouth, he knew that the fox was not dead. He jumped up and ran out of the house as fast as he could.

Dreams

A dream is made up of a series of mind-pictures that form during sleep. The people and actions in these pictures seem real to the person who is dreaming.

When a person is asleep, he has little or no control over his mind. Then ideas and feelings come out to form the mind picture known as dreams.

Dream may be influenced by different things that are present during sleep. If a person is cold, he may dream that he is out in a snowstorm. Worries or anger may also influence the content of a dream.

Some people think that they seldom dream, and other people are quite sure that they do not dream at all. Studies of human sleep have shown, though, that everyone dreams every night. If a person thinks he does not dream, it is because he does not remember dreaming when he wakes up.

Usually, a person may dream three to seven times for a total of one to two hours of dreaming every night.

Not only does everyone dream, but it seems that we all need to dream. One theory is deaming gives us a chance to escape from the rules of our real world. In dreams we can see our wishes come true. We can be rich, powerful, and successful.

The seasons

The year is divided into four seasons: spring, summer, autumn and winter.

In spring, nature wakes from her long winter sleep. The trees are filled with new life, the earth is warmed by the rays of the sun, and the weather gets gradually milder. The woods and forests are filled with the songs birds. The sky is blue and cloudless. At night millions of stars shine in the darkness.

When summer comes, the weather gets warmer still and sometimes it’s very hot. It’s the farmer’s busy season——he works in his fields from morning till night. The grass must be cut and the hay must be made, while the dry weather lasts.

Autumn brings with its harvest-time, when the crops are gathered in and the fruit is picked in the orchards. The days get shorter and the nights longer. The woods turn yellow, and leaves begin to fall from the trees.

When winter comes, we spend more time indoors because outdoors it’t

cold. Rivers and lakes are frozen, and the roads are sometimes covered with slippery ice or deep snow.

Mother’s Love

Only a mother’s love is selfless love. Anyone can see how sincerely mothers love their children. When you were a baby, your mother protected you as much as she could. In your waking hours she held you in her arms. Whenever you made the least noise, she stopped her work to attend to you. Sometimes, when she slept at night, the least stir on your part would awake her, she gave her whold heart to you.

When you were old enough to go to school you might think it was natural, but your mother would never forget that day. When the weather grew a little colder, she would think that you might be wearing too little clothing. When it became a little warmer, she would be afraid that you wre wearing too much. When there was anything nice to eat in the family, she would wish you were at home to eat it. When she heard of your good health and work at school, she would feel happy. In case your health and work were not very good, she would feel sorry for you – even more sorry than you felt yourself. When you went home for a vacation, she would make your bed and prepare foods for you as if you were a guest. When you were about to go back to school at the end of a vacation she prepared something for you to take back. If you searched the trunk carefully you might find some tears in a corner,

which your mother had shed for your leaving.

Talking aobut Sports

A: What about cycling?

B: Well, as you can see, cycling is one of the most pleasant forms of physical exercise, especially cycling in the country.

A: Why do you like that?

B: Because of the fresh air. Besides, cycling tests our endurance.

A: What about country sports? Do you like them?

B: Do you mean sports like hunting, shooting and fishing?

A: Yes.

B: I don’t approve of killing animals for sport. And I don’t approve of boxing and bullfighting either. I don’t call these real sports.

A: Lots of people would disagree with you!

B: No doubt, but I still don’t like thme.

A: What about aquatic sports? Do you like sailing?

B: Yes, it’s a marvellous sport! I also like swimming and I’m very fond of rowing. For me the great sporting event of the year is the Boat Race. I watch that every year with great pleasure.

A: So do I.

Smoking

Children as young as 11 are suffering lung damage from too much smoking.

A survey of 10,500 London schoolchildren aged between 11 and 15 shows lung damage and illness from smoking. The research was carried out by a hospital team led by professor Guz. The team was worried that most reports on the dangers of smoking have concentrate on adults. The scientists wanted to find out how children were affected and whether they understood smoking could make them seriously ill. The number of adults has gone down steadily, but the number of children smoking remained constant. This is mainly because children find in hard to believe that health wamings apply to them. The research was carried out n 13 Hounslow secondary schools. Analysis showed 15 per sent of regular smokers coughed every day. Even a little exercise, brought on breathlessness among 40 percent of regular smokers aged 11 to 13.

But Professor Guz’s team was surprised at the children’s ignorance of the damage caused by smoking. Both non-smokers and smokers knew cigarettes could cause cancer, but few know of the other health risks.

Professor Guz said: ―We believe that health education may be improved by making full use of knowledge concerning the breathing disorders in children who are regular smokers. This information must be presented early, even at primary school.‖

Teacher-Student Relationship

A good teacher-student relationship is essential to teaching and learning.

Only with a good relationship can they cooperate well, that is, the teacher’s teaching can achieve the desired effect, and students can do well in their studies.

This ideal relationship depends on the mutual efforts of both sides. First, students should respect their teachers and what their teachers do for them. They must be polite to teachers should also be kind, patient and impartial to all students. They should be responsible for their teaching and ready to help any student who is in trouble. They must also be kind and patient to each student no matter whether he does excellently or badlly. Partiality and prejudice are not recommendable.

Of course, things sometimes are not so siimple; unhappy misunderstanding may arise now and then. In this case, both sides should make efforts to remove it. They can explain what they think to each other and learn to think more for other people. If both sides treat each other in a friendly way, misunderstandings will be easily cleared up.

The Education of TV Children

Many children act in TV shows. They work several hours everyday, so they cannot go to a regular school. How do they get an education?

In Hollywood, where many TV shows are made, about forty teachers give lessons for the children in the shows. They teach wherever their pupils are working.

The teacher’s job is very important. She is responsible for making sure that the child works only the pemitted hours each week; she is responsible for making sure that the child learns the required subjects. She makes sure, too, that the child gets enough rest and play, along with his education.

Child actors are required to attend classes twenty hours each week. California law says that they must be taught from September to the middle of June. If they do not get good marks in school they are not permitted to continue working in TV shows.

TV children are usually good pupils, and most of their teachers like this special kind of work. Their classes are held in many interesting places. Sometimes the ―classroom‖is a Mississippi river boat. Sometimes it is the inside of a spaceship. Often the pupils become famous stars.

Reading

Reading is very important for enriching one’s knowledge. If people who can read don’t keep reading, they will only have an empty mind. The world is changing rapidly. Great progress is made in every field. Different people have different experiences and opinions about everything. All these can be written in books. The books are treasures of human race. Reading makes people not only wise but also informed.

There are so many books in the world. Even if a person read all his life and didn’t do anything else, he couldn’t read all the books published. On ther

hand, some books are not useful. Some books are even harmful. Therefore, it is quite necessary for everyone who begins to read to choose good books. The books chosen should be beautiful in both content and language.

Another thing is that one should pay attention to the method used when reading books. Some books that are useful to one’s profession should be read attentively and prpeatedly. If the book belongs to the person, he can even make marks in the margin of each page, writing down his own opinions. Some books are only fancy stories and we can just read them in our leisure time. In this way we can obtain and enjoy what is interesting from most of the books we read.

It’s Never Too Late for Success

Some parent worry very much that their children will amount to mothing since they are given to daydreaming in decision, and they show no promise of being a doctor, lawyer or manager. Meanwhile the teenagers themselves also despair of the future and the success for they are constantly scomed and blamed.

But the truth is that many of the greater finures were practically beatniks, when they were teenagers. Mozart never showed talent in any direction whatsoever during his formative years until he was 22 when he suddenly became fired with a great passion for music. Edison finally attracted worldwide attention for his great contribution although his teacher had tried

to get him out of the class saying that his brain was addled.

Therefore, it’s never too late for success. Teenagers, however disappointing and disappointed, have that one special advangage over the greatest men-alive—time. They surely can arrive at the peak of their career in the near future as long as they avail themselves of valuable time and exert themseles to accomplish their share of work carefully and persistently.

Learning English

As we all know, English is the most widely used language in the world. It’s important for us to study English well. But how?

I like English as well as maths and physics. At the beginning of my English study, I spent a lot of time in memorizing the grammatical rules of English. I wasn’t interested in listening or speaking. Many times the marks I got in English tests were not as good as those in my maths tests, so I dicided to change my way of study.

From then on, I have begun to pay attention to listening. In my spare time, I often listen to English tapes and watch some English programmes on TV, I try my best to grasp the main idea.

Reading is an important step in learning English well. I read text books, and other reading materials. When I am free, I often read English magazines and newspapers. Although there are lots of new words, I often go through what I read without paying much attention to the new words or difficult

sentences. In this way, I’ve improved my reading comprehension. How glad I am! The more I read, the more I understand; the more I understand, the more I read.

Recently, I have also been trying to write. Though I often make mistakes, I am not discouraged. I’m determined to study English well. I’m sure I will know it well in the future.

Practice Makes Perfect

We all know that practice makes perfect is a very popular saying both in Chinese and in English. It means that when you want to learn some knowledge, you have to repeat them many times, and then you may remember what you learn. Also we can say the more you know something, the better you can do it. Whether we study or work, those words are very useful to us.

We can take English study as an example. When we want to learn some new words or some good sentences by heart, we will read them and write them again and again until we can remember, but once we remembered, we can use them skillfully whereas when you are afraid that you cannot remember some words and you do not want to try your best, you will not remember them well. However when you take an English examination and come across some words meanings and usage you don’t remember, what will you feel at that time? You must regret. So English study means that you have

to practice more and more.

Still we can look at another example in learning. When we have heard the same story for many times we can remember it very well and we can recite it to others. At the same time, we can also imagine some stories according to what we have heard. So in our study and life, we should bear in our minds the sentence: ―Practice Makes Perfect.‖ In this way we can study well and live a better life.

The Teacher-Student Relationship

The relationship between a teacher and a student can be either good or bad, helpful or harmful. Either way, the relationship can affect the student for the rest of his life. A good teacher student relationship will make learning enjoyable and interesting for the student and will make the teacher’s job worthwhild. A bad relationship can discourage the student from learning and make teaching an umpleasant task.

In order to have a good teacher-student relationship, it is important that the teacher and the student respect each other. If the teacher is too strict, he frightens the student. The student will not learn well. On the other hand, if the teacher is too frinedly, the student may become lazy and stop working as hard as possible. The teacher’s attitude and approach should be in between. He should encourae the student without forcing or pushing him to learn. He needs patience and understanding. It is part of the teacher’s job to help

develop a good positive attitude in his students. As for the student, in order to have a good relationship with his teacher, he must always show his proper respect. He should be eager to learn and willing to work hard. If he learns form the teacher modestly, he will be able to profit fully from his teacher’s knowledge and assistance.

In conclusion, a good teacher-student relationship can be mutually beneficial. The student gains knowledge eagerly and enjoyably, and the teacher gains satisfaction from his job.

Hobbies

A hobby can be almost anything a person likes to do in his spare time. They watch birds, hunt animals, climb mountains, raise flowers, fish, ski, skate and swim, they paint pictures, go to concerts, collect everything from books to butterflies, and from sheels to stamps.

People take up hobbies because these activities offer enjoyment, friendship, knowledge and relaxation. Anyone, rich or poor, old or young, sick or well, can follow a satisfying hobby. Besides, hobbies can help a person’s mental and physical health. Doctors have found that hobbies are valuable in helping patients recover from physical or mental illness.

In early times, most people were too busy making a living to have many hobbies. But some persons did enjoy hoobies. The ancient Egyptians played games with balls made of wood, and some Greeks and Romans collected

things. People today have more time than ever before for hobbies. Machines and automation have reduced the amount of time they must spend on their jobs.

Once a famous Canadian doctor expressed the value of hobbies by saying ―so le t’s take up a hobby and be really a happy man!‖

My Favorite Program

With the living standards of people rising year by year, television is now playing a very important role in people’s lives and TV programs have been an essential part of our environment. Of many TV programs, news broadcast, sports competition, talk shows are to my liking, and my favorite program is ―Animal World‖, which is broadcasted on CCTV.

In this program, a large quantity of animals are introduced. The variety of animals ranges from large to smeall, and from herbivore to carnivore. There are animals swimming in the water, running on the land and flying in the sky. From this program I can also get to know smoething about the most precious animals in the world.

For many years I have regarded ―Animal World‖as my favorite TV program because it is both interesting and instructive. When the program is on TV, it is not only showing some very beautiful pictures but also telling many new things and what the animals feed on, how the butterfiles grow up and even how the ants share their work. I’m so impressed by this program

that I can tell you many things about animals. I think it is hard to imagine a world without animals.