听力文本
eslpod 听力文本
eslpod 听力文本ESL Podcast（英语作为第二语言播客）是一个专门为英语学习者设计的听力练习资源。
以下是一个虚构的、符合ESL Podcast风格的500字左右的听力文本示例：ESL Podcast 听力文本示例主题：健康饮食Narrator: Today, we're going to talk about healthy eating habits. Staying healthy is important, and what you eat plays a big role.Dr. Smith: That's right. A balanced diet is key. You should try to eat a variety of foods every day.Narrator: What are some good foods to include in a balanced diet?Dr. Smith: Well, fruits and vegetables are essential. They provide vitamins and minerals your body needs. Whole grains are also important for energy. And don't forget protein. Lean meats, fish, beans, and tofu are all good sources.Narrator: What about fats and sugars? Should we avoid them?Dr. Smith: Not necessarily. Your body does need some fat and sugar, but in moderation. It's best to limit processed foods and choose healthier options like nuts, seeds, and avocado for fats, and fresh fruits for sugar.Narrator: What about drinking? Is water the only thing we should drink?Dr. Smith: Water is definitely the best choice, but you can also include unsweetened tea, coffee in moderation, and low-fat milk or plant-based milks. Just try to avoid sugary drinks like soda and fruit juices with added sugar.Narrator: That's great advice, Dr. Smith. Remember, a balanced diet is the foundation of good health. Make sure to include a variety of nutritious foods in your meals, and limit unhealthy options.这个文本围绕“健康饮食”这一主题展开，包含了对话中常见的问答形式，适合英语学习者进行听力练习和理解。
四年级听力材料范文
四年级英语听力材料(1200字以上)1. Passage 1Tom: Hi, Lucy! What are you doing?Lucy: Hi, Tom! I'm making a card for my grandma's birthday.Tom: That's nice. How old is your grandma going to be?Lucy: She is turning 70 this year.Tom: Wow, that's a big number. I hope she has a great birthday!Lucy: Thank you. I will give her the card and a present.Tom: That's a great idea. She will love it!2. Passage 2Amy: Good morning, Mom. What are we having for breakfast today?Mother: We have cereal, milk, and eggs. What do you want?Amy: I want cereal with milk, please.Mother: Okay. I'll get it for you. Do you want eggs with it?Amy: No, thank you. I'm full from last night's dinner.3. Passage 3Teacher: Class, we're going on a field trip tomorrow. We're going to the zoo.Tom: That's great! I love the zoo.Lucy: Me too! I want to see the lions and tigers.Teacher: We'll see all the animals. Make sure to bring your hats and lunch.Teacher: We'll meet at 8:30 a.m. Don't be late!4. Passage 4Lily: I don't want to go swimming, Dad. I'm scared of water.Father: Don't worry, Lily. I'll stay with you in the pool.It'll be fun.Lily: Okay, I'll try. But please don't let go of my hand.Father: I promise, Lily. Let's go have some fun in the water!5. Passage 5Kate: Hi, Mike. Do you want to play soccer with us after school?Mike: I can't today, Kate. I have piano lessons.Mike: Sure! I love playing soccer.Kate: Great. See you tomorrow!。
T22S3听力文本
Student A:So what do you think of this?Student B:Well, I think it's a good idea, necessary too. Student A:Why is that?Student B:Well, you know Γve actually been up to the admission office a couple of times, like to pick up some information for a friend, you know and every time Γve ever been there, wow, you can tell they are really busy.Student A:Oh, really?Student B:Yeah, those staff members are running around like crazy: on the phone, doing interviews, dealing with tons of paperwork so I can totally believewhat they're saying about the time factor. Seems like having one less thing to worry about would be a good thing.Student A:Sounds like it.Student B:Yep, Oh, and about the other point.Student A:The different perspective thing?Student B:I think people like us would be really good at this. Unlike... you know, I remember when I was first shown around the campus, the guy leading was, well he was super nice, but there were some questions that he couldn't really answer from experience.Student A:Like what?Student B:Well, practical things: which are the noisier dorms or which ones are the quietest, which student cafeteria he'd recommend. Stuffhe didn't have first-hand knowledge about. I mean, how could he?Student A:I see. Our point of view might be more helpful.。
2024初中毕业水平考试听力文本(修订版)(1)
2024年长沙市初中毕业学业水平考试英语听力测试朗读材料2024年长沙市初中毕业学业水平考试英语试卷第一大题听力测试现在开始。
听力材料以中速朗读两遍。
第一节对话理解听下面的对话，从题中所给的A、B、C三个选项中选出最佳答案。
听每段对话前，你将有时间阅读各个小题，每小题5秒钟；听完后，各小题将给出5秒钟的作答时间。
1. W: John, what do you want to be when you grow up?M: I want to be a scientist.2. W: Frank, what is your hobby?M: I like playing chess.3. W: There will be a kite festival on April 17th.M: Yes. I can’t wait to see all kinds of kites flying in the sky.4. M: Welcome to Changsha! Did you have a good time on the train?W: Yeah. Pretty good!5. M: What would you like to drink today, coffee or tea?W: Neither. Just give me a glass of milk, please.第二节对话理解听下面的6段对话或独白，每段对话或对白后有2-3个小题。
从题中所给的A、B、C三个选项中选出最佳答案。
听每段对话或独白前，你将有时间阅读各个小题，每小题5秒钟；听完后，各小题将给出5秒钟的作答时间。
听第六段对话，回答第6、7小题。
M: All well, Betty?W: En…Not so good. I am just feeling worried about writing this report.M: Are you almost done with it?W: Far from it, and I will make a presentation in class tomorrow.听第七段对话，回答第8、9小题。
英语听力50篇文本
听写50篇文本Passage 1 Town and Country Life in England There is a big difference between town life and country life in England. In the country, everybody knows everybody else. They know what time you get up, what time you go to bed and what you have for dinner. If you want help, you will always get it and you will be glad to help others.In a large town like London, however, it can sometimes happen that you have never seen your next door neighbor and you do not know his name or anything about him. People in London are often very lonely. This is because people go to different places in the evenings and at weekends. If you walk through the streets in the centre of London on Sunday, it is like a town without people. One is sorry for old people living on their own. They could die in their homes and would not be discovered for weeks or even months. (154 words.)Passage 2 A Change in Women’s LifeThe important change in women’s life-pattern has only recently begun to have its full effect on women’s economic position. Even a few years ago most girls left school at the first opportunity, and most of them took a full-time job. However, when they married, they usually left work at once and never returned to it. Today the school-leaving age is sixteen, many girls stay at school after that age, and though women tend to marry younger, more married women stay at work at least until shortly before their first child is born. Very many more afterwards return to full-time or part-time work. Such changes have led to a new relationship in marriage, with husband accepting a greater share of the duties and satisfactions of family life and with both husband and wife sharing more equally in providing the money, and running the home, according to the abilities and interests on each of them. (154 words)Passage 3 A Popular Pastime of the English People One of the best means of understanding the people of any nation is watching what they do with their non-working time.Most English men, women and children love growing things, especially flowers. Visitors to England in spring, summer, or autumn are likely to see gardens all the way along the railway lines. There are flowers at the airports and flowers in factory grounds, as well as in gardens along the roads. Each English town has at least one park with beautifully kept flower beds. Public buildings of every kind have brilliant window boxes and sometimes baskets of flowers are hanging on them.But what the English enjoy most is growing things themselves. If it is impossible to have a garden, then a widow box or something growing in a pot will do. Looking at each other’s gardens is a popular pastime with the English. (144words.)Passage 4 British and American Police Officers Real policemen, both in Britain and the U.S., hardly recognize any common points between their lives and what they see on TV—if they ever get home in time.Some things are about the same, of course, but the policemen do not think much of them.The first difference is that a policeman’s real life deals with the law. Most of what he learns is the law. He has to know actually what actions are against the law and what facts can be used to prove them in court. He has to know nearly as much law as a lawyer, and what’s more, he has to put it into practice on his feet, in the dark a nd, running down a narrow street after someone he wants to talk to.Little of his time is spent in talking with beautiful girls or in bravely facing cruel criminals. He will spend most of his working life arranging millions of words on thousands of forms about hundreds of sad, ordinary people who are guilty — or not of stupid, unimportant crimes. (177words)Passage 5 Living SpaceHow much living space does a person need? What happens when his space needs are not met? Scientists are doing experiments on rats to try to determine the effects of overcrowded conditions on man. Recent studies have shown that the behavior of rats is greatly affected by space. If rats have enough living space, they eat well, sleep well and produce their young well. But if their living conditions become too crowded, their behavior and even their health change obviously. They can not sleep and eat well, and signs of fear and worry become clear. The more crowded they are, the more they tend to bite each other and even kill each other. Thus, for rats, population and violence are directly related. Is this a natural law for human society as well? Is enough space not only satisfactory, but necessary for human survival? These are interesting questions.(147 words)Passage 6 The United NationsIn 1945, representatives of 50 nations met to plan this organization. It was called the United Nations. After the war, many more nations joined.There are two major parts of the United Nations. One is called the General Assembly. In the General Assembly, every member nation is represented and has an equal vote.The second part is called the Security Council. It has representatives of just 15 nations. Five nations are permanent members: the United States, Russia, France, Britain and China. The 10 other members are elected every two years by the General Assembly.The major job of the Security Council is to keep peace in the world. If necessary, it can send troops from member nations to try to stop little wars before they turn into big ones.It is hard to get the nations of the Security Council to agree on when this is necessary. But they did vote to try to stop wars. (156 words)Passage 7 PlasticWe use plastic wrap to protect our foods. We put our garbage in plastic bags or plastic cans. We sit on plastic chairs, play with plastic toys, drink from plastic cups, and wash our hair with shampoo from plastic bottles!Plastic doesn’t grow in nature. It is made by mixing certain things together. We call it a produced or manufactured material. Plastic was first made in the 1860s from plants, such as wood and cotton. That plastic was soft and burned easily.The first modern plastics were made in 1930s. Most clear plastic starts out asthick, black oil. That plastic coating inside a pan begins as natural gas.Over the years, hundreds of different plastics have been developed. Some are hard and strong. Some are soft and bendable. Some are clear. Some are many-colored. There is a plastic for almost every need. Scientists continue to experiment with plastics. They hope to find even ways to use them! (160 words)Passage 8 Display of GoodsAre supermarkets designed to persuade us to buy more?Fresh fruit and vegetables are displayed near supermarket entrances. This gives the impression that only healthy food is sold in the shop. Basic foods that everyone buys, like sugar and tea, are not put near each other. They are kept in different aisles so customers are taken past other attractive foods before they find what they want. In this way, shoppers are encouraged to buy products that they do not really need.Sweets are often placed at children’s eye level at the checkout. While parents are waiting to pay, children reach for the sweets and put them in the trolley.More is bought from a fifteen-foot display of one type of product than from a ten-foot one. Customers also buy more when shelves are full than when they a half empty. They do not like to buy from shelves with few products on them because they feel there is something wrong with those products that are there. (166 words)Passage 9 Albert EinsteinAlbert Einstein was born in Germany in 1879. His father owned a factory that made electrical devices. His mother enjoyed music and books. His parents were Jewish but they did not observe many of the religion’s rules. Albert was a quiet child who spent much of his time alone. He was slow to talk and had difficulty learning to read. When Albert was five years old, his father gave him a compass. The child was filled with wonder when he discovered that the compass needle always pointed in the same direction—to the north. He asked his father and his uncle what caused the needle to move. Their answers about magnetism and gravity were difficult for the boy to understand. Yet he spent a lot of time thinking about them. He said later that he felt something hidden had to be behind things. (143 words.)Passage 10 Private CarsWith the increase in the general standard of living, some ordinary Chinese families begin to afford a car. Yet opinions of the development of a private car vary from person to person.It gives a much greater degree of comfort and mobility. The owner of a car is no longer forced to rely on public transport, and hence no irritation caused by waiting for buses or taxis. However, others strongly object to developing private cars. They maintain that as more and more cars are produced and run in the street, a large volume of poisonous gas will be given off, polluting the atmosphere and causing actual harm to the health of people.Whether private cars should be developed in China is a difficult question to answer, yet the desire for the comfort and independence a private car can bring will not be eliminated.(143words)Passage 11 A Henpecked Husband and His WifeThere was once a large, fat woman who had a small, thin husband. He had a job in a big company and was given his weekly wages every Friday evening. As soon as he got home on Fridays, his wife used to make him give her all his money, and then she used to give him back only enough to buy his lunch in his company every day.One day, the small man came home very excited. He hurried into the living-room. His wife was listening to the radio and eating chocolates there.“You will never guess what happened to me today, dear,” he said.He waited for a few seconds and then added, “I won ten thousand dollars on the lottery!”“That is wonderful!” said his wife delightedly. But then she pulled a long face and added angrily, “But how could you afford to buy the ticket?” (148 words)Passage 12 A Young Man’s PromiseOne day a young man was writing a letter to his girl friend who lived just a few miles away in a nearby town. He was telling her how much he loved her and how wonderful he thought she was. The more he wrote, the more poetic he became. Finally, he said that in order to be with her he would suffer the greatest difficulties, he would face the greatest dangers that anyone could imagine. In fact, to spend only one minute with her, he would swim across the widest river, he would enter the deepest forest, and he would fight against the fiercest animals with his bare hands.He finished the letter, signed his name, and then suddenly remembered that he had forgotten to mention something quite important. So, in a postscript below his name, he added:“By the way, I’ll be over to see you on Wednesday night, if it doesn’t rain.” (154 words)Passage 13 A Kind NeighborMr. and Mrs. Jones’ apartment was full of luggage, package, furniture and boxes. Both of them were very busy when they heard the doorbell ring. Mrs. Jones went to open it and she saw a middle-aged lady outside. The lady said she lived next door. Mrs. Jones invited her to come in and apologized because there was no place for her to sit. “Oh, that’s OK,” said the lady. “I just come to welcome you to your new home. As you know, in some parts of this city neighbors are not friendly at all. There are some apartment houses where people don’t know any of their neighbors, not even the ones next door. But in this building everyone is very friendly with everyone else. We are like one big happy family. I’m sue you’ll be very happy here. ” Mr. and Mrs. Jones said, “But madam, we are not new dwellers in this department. We’ve lived her for two years. We’re moving out tomorrow. ” (163 words)Passage 14 That Isn’t Our FaultMr. and Mrs. Williams got married when he was twenty-three, and she was twenty. Twenty-five years later, they had a big party, and a photographer came and took some photographs of them.Then the photographer gave Mrs. Williams a card and said, “They’ll be ready next Wedne sday. You can get them from studio.”“No,” Mrs. William said, “Please send them to us.”The photographs arrived a week later, but Mrs. Williams was not happy when shesaw them. She got into her car and drove to the photographer’s studio. She went inside a nd said angrily, “You took some photographs of me and my husband last week, but I’m not going to pay for them.”“Oh, Why not?” the photographer asked.“Because my husband looks like a monkey,” Mrs. William said.“Well,” the photographer answered, “that isn’t our fault. Why didn’t you think of that before you married him?” (148 words)Passage 15 A Guide’s AnswerIn 1861, the Civil War started in the United States between the Northern and the Southern states. The war continued with great bitterness until 1865, when the Northerners were victorious. However, even today, many Southerners have not forgotten their defeat, or forgiven the Northerners.A few years ago, a party of American tourists were going round one of the battlefield of the Civil War with a guide who came from one of the Southern states. At each place, the guide told the tourists stirring stories about how a few Southern soldiers had conquered powerful forces of Northerners there.At last, one of the tourists, a lady who came from the North, stopped the guide and said to him, “But surly the Northern army must have won at least one victory in the Civil War?”“Not as long as I’m the guide here, madam,” answered the Southern guide.(147 words)Passage 16 A Qualified PilotThe captain of a small ship had to go along a rocky coast, but he was unfamiliar with it, so he tried to find a qualified pilot to guide him. He went ashore in one of the small ports, and a local fisherman pretended that he was a pilot because he needed some money. The captain took him on board and asked him where to steer the ship.After half an hour the captain began to suspect that the fisherman did not really know what he was doing and where he was going.“Are you sure you are a qualified pilot?” he asked.“Oh, yes,” answered the fisherman. “I know every rock on this part of the coast.”Suddenly there was a terrible crash from under the ship. At once the fisherman added, “And that’s one of them.” (138 words)Passage 17 Living Things ReactYou and all organisms live in an environment. An environment is made up of everything that surrounds an organism. It can include the air, the water, the soil, and even other organism.An organism responds to changes in its environment. When an organism responds to a change, it reacts in a certain ways. All living things respond in some way.Have you ever noticed how plants and insects respond to light? Plants bend toward light. Insects fly toward light.Living things also respond in other ways. The leaves on some trees respond to a change in season. In autumn, they change colors and then fall off the branches. Animals also respond to a change in season. Squirrels save nuts for the winter. Bears sleep through the winter in a cave.You respond to your environment in many ways, too. You may shiver if you are cold. What other ways do you respond to changes in your environment? (156 wordsPassage 18 Flowering PlantsWhat are the parts of a flower?Flowers can have male parts and female parts. The female parts make eggs that become seeds. The male parts make pollen. Pollen is a powdery material that is needed by the eggs to make seeds. To make seeds, pollen and eggs must come together. The wind, insects, and birds bring pollen to eggs. Many animals love flowers’ bright colors. They also like a sugary liquid in flowers. This is called nectar. While they drink nectar, pollen rubs off on their bodies. As they move, some of this pollen gets delivered to the female flower parts.Over time, the female parts turn into fruits that contain seeds. Animals often eat the fruits and the seeds pass through their bodies as waste. The animals do not know they are working for the plants by planting seeds as they travel to different places. (147 words)Passage 19 Finding the Direction and Location How can you tell which direction? By day, look for the Sun. It is in the east in the morning and the west in the afternoon. At night, use the Big Dipper to help you find the North Star. It would be better to bring a compass because its needle always points north.How do you know how far you have gone? You could count every step. Each step is about two feet. You’d better wear a pedometer which is a tool that counts steps. If you know where you started, which direction you are heading, and how far you have gone, you can use a good map to figure out exactly where you are.Today there is a new way for travelers to figure out where they are. It is the GPS. It has 24 satellites that orbit the earth and constantly broadcast their positions. Someday you may carry a small receiver as you hike and use GPS to find out if you are there yet!Passage 20 WavesHow does light get from the sun to the earth? How does music get from the stage to the audience? They move the same way — in waves!Light and sound are forms of energy. All waves carry energy, but they may carry it differently. Light and sound travel through different kinds of matter. For example, light waves cannot move through walls, but sound waves can. That is why you can hear people talking in another room even though you cannot see them. The energy of some waves is destructive. An earthquake produces seismic waves.Catch a wave. Ask a friend to stand a few feet away from you. Stretch a spring between you. Shake the spring to transfer energy to it. What happens? The spring bounces up and down in waves. When the waves reach your friend, they bounce back to you!Light waves travel 300,000 kilometers (186,000 miles) per second! They can also travel through a vacuum. That is why light from the sun and distant stars can travel through space to the earth.(175 words)Passage 21 SoilsThere are many different kinds of soils. Different soils have different types of rock and minerals in them than other. Some soils have more water in them than others. Some soils might have more plant and animal material in them, too.Different kinds of soils are found in different parts of the world. There are several kinds of soils found in the United States. In some areas, the soil has a lot of clay. Other soils are very sandy. Loam is a kind of soil that has a good mixture of clay and sand.In some places, soil layers are very thick. Lots of plants grow in places with a thick soil layer. In dry and windy places soil layers are much thinner. Layers of soil on mountains are thin because gravity pulls the soil downhill.The type of soil in a particular place affects what kinds of plants can grow there. (150 words)Passage 22 CrisisLife is a contest! Who will win? A bluebird and sparrow both compete for space to build their nests. A fast-growing maple tree and slower-growing dogwood compete for the sunlight they both need. Oil competes with coal and nuclear power as an energy source for electric power plants.There is a problem. There is a limited amount of space for birds, sunlight for trees, and energy for people! If we do not cut back on our uses of some of our resources, someday they will be gone!How can we use energy today and know we will have enough to go around in the future? We can choose alternate, or replacement, energy resources. It takes the earth millions of years to create coal, oil, and gas. They are nonrenewable resources.Solar energy, wind energy and water energy are renewable. What other ways we conserve our resources? How can we make sure there is always enough to go around? (159 words.)Passage 23 America’s Worst SurpriseDecember 7, 1941 was one of the worst days in American history. Nearly all Americans who are old enough to remember that day can still remember what they were doing at the moment they heard “the news”. The news was that America had been attacked!Shortly before 2:00 P.M., a radio dispatch came into Washington from Honolulu, Hawaii. “Air Raid, Pearl Harbor —This is no drill.” Japanese planes had begun an attack on the largest American military base in the Pacific. They first destroyed places on the ground. Then they bombed the ships in the harbor.No one had expected the attack. So no one was prepared for it. And it did not take long for the Japanese to do their damage. When the smoke cleared, the Navy counted its losses. Eighteen ships had been sunk or badly damaged. Nearly 150 planes had been destroyed. More than 2,400 Americans had been killed and more than 1,200 wounded. (157 words)Passage 24 Great Depression in the U.S.In 1929, the bills started to come in. American industry had produced too many goods. Americans could not afford to buy all of them. So factories had to cut down on their production. Many workers lost their jobs. Investors tried to get their moneyback. But businesses did not have enough money to pay them. Banks tried to get their money back from investors. But the investors could not pay, either. Too many people owned money. And few of them could pay their bills.During the next few years, business got worse and worse. By 1932, banks all over the country were closing.People without money could not buy goods. So more businesses closed. More and more people lost their jobs. By 1932, more than 12 million Americans were jobless. Millions more were earning barely enough to live on. The country was in a great depression they had never experienced before. (151 words)Passage 25 A Place of Our OwnWe are all usually very careful when we buy something for the house. Why? Because we have to live with it for a long time. We paint a room to make it brighter, so we choose the colours carefully.We buy new curtains in order to match the newly decorated room, so they must be the right colour. We move the furniture round so as to make more space — or we buy new furniture — and so on. It is an endless business.Rich or poor, we take time to furnish a room. Perhaps some people buy furniture in order to impress their friends. But most of us just want to enjoy our surroundings. We want to live as comfortably as we can afford to. We spend a large part of our lives at home. We want to make a small corner in the world which we can recognize as oPassage 26 Travel for WorkYou can see them in every airport in the world. They are businessmen and women who have to travel for their work.When they first applied for the job, they may have thought of good food and hotels, huge expense accounts and fashionable cities. Now they have to sit in airport lounges, tired and uncomfortable in their smart clothes, listening to the loudspeaker announce “The flight to Tokyo, or Berlin, or New York is delayed for another two hours”. Some people say to me, “How lucky you are to be able to travel abroad in your work! You can go sightseeing without paying any money by yourself!” They think that my job is like a continual holiday. It is not.There are advantages, of course, and I do think I am lucky, but only because I can go to places I would never visit if I was a tourist. (149 words)Passage 27 IntelligenceAre some people born clever, and others born stupid? Or is intelligence developed by our environment and our experience?Strangely enough, the answer to these questions is yes. To some extent our intelligence is given us at birth, and no amount of special education can make a genius out of a child born with low intelligence. On the other hand, a child who lives in a boring environment will develop his intelligence less than one who lives in rich and varied surroundings. Thus, the limits of a person’s intelligence are fixed at birth, whether or not he reaches those limits will depend on his environment. This view, held by most experts now, can be supported in a number of ways. As is easy to show that intelligence is to some extent something we are born with. The closer the blood relationship between two people is, the closer they are likely to be in intelligence.(154 words)Passage 28 A Free Dress Every WeekThe temptation to steal is greater than ever before especially in large shops and people are not so honest as they once were.A detective recently watched a well-dressed woman who always went into a large store on Monday mornings. One Monday, there were fewer people in the shop than usual when the woman came in, so it was easier for the detective to watch her. The woman first bought a few small articles. After a little time, she chose one of the most expensive dresses in the shop and handed it to an assistant who wrapped it for her as quickly as possible. The woman simply took the parcel and walked out of the shop without paying. When she was arrested, the detective found out that the shop assistant was her daughter.. Believe it or not, the girl “gave” her mother a free dress every week. (148 words)Passage 29 TimeTime is tangible. One can gain time, spend time, waste time, save time, or even kill time. Common questions in American English reveal this concrete quality as though time were a possession. “Do you have any time?”, “Can you get some time for this?”, “How much free time do you have?” The treatment of time as a possession influences the way that time is carefully divided.Generally, Americans are taught to do one thing at a time and may be uncomfortable when an activity is interrupted. In businesses, the careful scheduling of time and the separation of activities are common practices. Appointment calendars are printed with 15-, 30-, and 60-min ute time slots. The idea that “there is a time and place for everything” extends to American social life. Visitors who drop by without prior notice may interrupt their host’s personal time. Thus, calling friends on the telephone before visiting them is gen erally preferred to visitors’ dropping by. (157 words)Passage 30 CartoonistIn a good cartoon, the artist can tell in a few lines as much as a writer can tell in half a dozen paragraphs. The cartoonist not only tells a story but he also tries to persuade the reader to his way of thinking. He has great influence on public opinion. In a political campaign, he plays an important part. Controversial issues in Congress or at meetings of the United Nations may keep the cartoonist well-supplies with current materials.A clever cartoonist may cause laughter because he often uses humour in his drawings. If he is sketching a famous person, he takes a prominent feature and exaggerates it. Cartoonists, for instance, like to lengthen an already long nose and to widen a n already broad grin. This exaggeration of a person’s characteristics is called caricature. The artist uses such exaggeration to put his message across. (144 words)Passage 31 Water PollutionWater is very important to us. Factories and plants need water for industrial uses and large pieces of farmland need it for irrigation. Without water to drink, people die in a short time.Today most water sources are so dirty that people must purify water beforedrinking. Water becomes dirty in many ways: industrial pollution is one of them. With the development of industry, plants and factories pour tons of industrial wastes into rivers every day. The rivers have become seriously polluted, and the water is becoming unfit for drinking or irrigation. The same thing has also happened to our seas and oceans. So, the problem of water pollution is almost worldwide.Scientists of many countries have done a lot of work to stop pollution. The polluted water in some places has become clean and drinkable again. Perhaps one day the people in all towns and cities will be drinking clean water. That day, we believe, is not very far off. (161 words)Passage 32 Making a ComplaintComplaining about faulty goods or bad services is never easy. But if something you have bought is faulty or does not do what was claimed for it, you are not asking for a favour to get it put right.Complaints should be made to a responsible person. Go back to the shop where you bought the goods, taking with you any receipt you may have. In a small store the assistant may also be the owner so you can complain direct. In a chain store, ask the manager. If you telephone, ask the name of the person who handles your enquiry, otherwise you may never find out who dealt with the complaint later. If you do not want to do it in person, write a letter. Stick to the facts and keep a copy of what you write. At this stage you should give any receipt number, but you should not need to give receipt or other papers to prove you bought the article. (164 words)Passage 33 Where Do the British LiveNearly everyone in Britain would like to own their own home and, whether they do or not, they are prepared to put time and money into decorating and furnishing it or even making structural alterations to it. Because of the climate and because of the expense involved in going out for the evening, the British spend a lot of time at home and a large part of their social life takes place there.Young people tend to stay with their families longer these days as accommodation is expensive but, when they move away to a job or college, there are various options open to them. They can get lodgings with a landlady. This means that they rent a room in someone’s house and have breakfast with the family. They can also get a bed-sitting room, that is to say one self-contained room in which they can cook, live and sleep. Alternatively, they can share a rented flat or house with a group of young people, perhaps the most popular option of all. (172 words)Passage 34 Will Computer Replace Human Beings?We are in the computer age today. The computers are working all kinds of wonders now. They are very useful in automatic control and data processing. At the same time, computers are finding their way into the home. They seem to be so clever and can solve such complicated problems that some people think sooner or later they will replace us.But I do not think that there is such a possibility. My reason is very simple: Computers are machines, not humans. And our tasks are far too various and complicated for any one single kind of machine to perform.Probably the greatest difference between man and computer is that the former。
2022年9月大学英语四级考试真题听力文本
2022年9月大学英语四级考试真题Part ⅡListening ComprehensionNews Report One【听力原文】White meat, such as chicken, may raise blood cholesterol levels as much as red meat does. [1]This finding surprised researchers who admitted they didn’t expect that eating white meat would lead to higher blood cholesterol levels. In the study, researchers looked at 113 healthy people. The participants ate three different diets. These were a red meat diet which is primarily beef, a white meat diet which is mostly chicken and turkey, and a vegetarian protein diet. Each diet period was four weeks. Between the diet periods, participants had a break, during which they ate theirregular foods. In addition, participants had blood tests at the start and finish of each new diet.The results showed that white and red meat diets had the same effects on blood cholesterol levels. Further, both diets increased blood cholesterol levels compared with the diet built on vegetarian protein sources. [2]The team acknowledged that it is possible that white meat is better for our health than red meat, despite their findings. This is because other effects of red meat consumption could contribute to heart disease independent of cholesterol. Their main recommendations are that people eat less of both kinds of meat and more vegetarian protein.Questions 1 and 2 are based on the news report you have just heard.1. What do we learn from the news report about the study?2. What did the researchers acknowledge?News Report Two【听力原文】At around half past nine this morning, a trailer attached to a lorry turned over at the crossing of High Street in Milton. Hundreds of [3]frozen turkeys were spilled all over the road. It is reported that nobody was hurt in the incident, but police said it may affect traffic and Christmas dinners. With just one week to go before Christmas, there are worries that local supermarket supplies of this holiday favorite may be affected.A police spokeswoman said that officers were currently in attendance at the scene. She stated that the driver of the lorry had been arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving. The crossing on High Street is a well-known accident black spot. [4]This year alone, there have been seven traffic accidents at this location. Thankfully, none of these accidents have resulted in serious injury.Questions 3 and 4 are based on the news report you have just heard.3. What does the news report say about the accident at the crossing of High Street in Milton?4. What do we learn about the crossing on High Street? News Report Three【听力原文】India launched its helicopter taxi service on Monday, promising to ferry customers the 40 miles between Bangalore’s Electronic City tech hub and the international airport terminal in 15 minutes. Customers can book their helicopter ride through a mobile App. The service, which claims to be the first of its kind in India, offers only one route, [5]but Bangalore airport will add more once it gets approval.Helicopter taxi is not an affordable option for many travelers. [6]A car ride for the same journey costs less than half as much. [7]But Bangalore airport says it is acompetitive alternative to a car ride for tech executives in a hurry. “A large number of high-class travelers, including CEOs, have to spend more than three hours by road to get there—and that is a loss of time,”a Bangalore airport spokesperson said. “This is not a low cost option, but it is an option,” she added. The helicopters ferried around 8 customers to the airport on their first day. The company that owns and operates the service is called Thumby Aviation. It previously specialized in private charter flights for government officials.Questions 5 to 7 are based on the news report you have just heard.5. What is Bangalore airport trying to do about the helicopter taxi service?6. What do we learn from the news about the helicopter taxi ride?7. Who are the targeted customers of the helicoptertaxi service?Conversation One【听力原文】W: [8]Hi, I wish to buy some cheese for a barbecue this weekend.M: What kind would you like?W:Sorry, I don’t know much about cheese. What type do you think would be suitable for a barbecue?M:That’s easy. For a barbecue, you could have any cheese you want. I imagine there will bedifferent foods and people will just helpthemselves and eat at their own pace, right?W: Yes, exactly. It will be very casual. [8]We will just be a small group of friends gatheringtogether at Washington Park. There will bearound 20 of us, including children.M: Great. [9]So you could have different types ofcheese. How much would you like to spend? W:Not very much. Let’s say $30.M: [9]I would suggest having at least one soft cheese and one hard cheese. That will offer you a good variety to suit different people’s tastes. W:That sounds good. What’s the di fference between a soft cheese and a hard cheese?M: Well, it depends. But generally speaking, soft cheeses are creamy and go well with sweet things like honey and jam. I would suggest something like this Spanish goat cheese. I t’s only $15, a very good price. You can spread it on bread with a knife, and then add a tiny bit of honey on top. It’s delicious. [10]Children love it. W: Okay, great. What about a hard cheese?M: Yes, for hard cheese, I would recommend this Italian one here. It has a very strong smell and a dry flavor. You can cut it into thin slices and eat it on its own. It’s $16.W:[11]Okay, I’ll take both. Thank you for your help.Questions 8 to 11 are based on the conversation you have just heard.8. What does the woman plan to do for the weekend?9. What does the man suggest the woman do?10. What does the man say about Spanish goat cheese?11. What is the woman going to do at the end of the conversation?Conversation Two【听力原文】M:Our school is replacing printed textbooks with e-textbooks next semester. I can’t wait.W:Really? What about the cost? [12]Not only buying all those tablets, but the software andelectronic infrastructure that goes with it, not tomention retraining all the teachers andadministration staff.M:Sure, the initial expenditure will be high, butmuch lower afterwards. Besides that, tabletprices continue to drop and are becomingincreasingly affordable. [13]Anyway, tabletshelp students learn up to 80% faster.W:Not necessarily. [14]Tablets have too many distractions. Students may pay attention to Apps, games, and websites instead of their teachers. Infact, research suggests that people who readprinted texts comprehend more, remembermore and learn 30% more than those who readdigital texts.M:Yes, but tablets contain many technological features that are not found in printed textbooks.Think about it. [13]Students are able to highlightand edit text, write notes and search forinformation much more quickly than they canwith printed textbooks. And what about all thosetrees that are cut down to make printed books? W:Actually, manufacturing tablets is environmentallydestructive and dangerous to human health. Thehealth impacts from making one electronicreader are 70 times greater than those frommaking a single printed book. A lot of mineralsare extracted from the earth to make electronicreaders. [15]It does far more damage to theenvironment.M:Yes, but the software for electronic readers can be updated instantly without the need forbuying a whole lot of new books. That’s betterfor the environment.W:But the core curriculum doesn’t change that much. Printed textbooks that are not brand newstill contain the basic relevant information ofcore subjects.M:Well, I’m looking forward to the change.W:I’ll stick wit h my printed books.Questions 12 to 15 are based on the conversation you have just heard.12. What does the woman say about using e-textbooks?13. According to the man, how can the use of tablets benefit students?14. What does the woman say about students using tablets?15. What does the woman say about making electronic readers?Passage One【听力原文】[16]In social psychology, the term “person perception” refers to the mental processes that we use to form impressions of other people. It includes not just how we form these impressions, but the conclusions we make about other people based on our impressions.[16]Consider how often you make this kind of judgment every day. When you meet with a new coworker, you immediately begin to develop an initialimpression of this person. When you visit the grocery store, you might draw conclusions about the cashier who checks you out.Obviously, [17]person perception is a very subjective process that can be affected by a number of variables, including the characteristics of the person you are observing, the context of the situation, your own personal traits and your past experiences. [18]One of the techniques we use in person perception is social categorization. In this process, we mentally categorize people into different groups based on common characteristics. [18]Problems with this technique include the fact that it can lead to errors and prejudice. Imagine that you are getting on a bus. There are only two seats available. One is next to a small elderly woman; the other is next to a muscular, fierce-looking man. You sit next to the elderly woman, who unfortunately turns out to be quite skilled at picking pockets. Because of social categorization, youimmediately judge the woman as harmless and the man as threatening, leading to the loss of your wallet.Questions 16 to 18 are based on the passage you have just heard.16. What does the passage say we tend to do every day?17. What do we learn about person perception from this passage?18. What is the problem with using social categorization in person perception?Passage Two【听力原文】Despite smartphones and social media, young people today are as socially competent as those from the previous generation. At least this is what a new study suggests. [19]For the study, researchers compared teacher and parent evaluations of American children who started kindergarten in 1998 with those who began school in 2010. The former group entered kindergartenwhen mobile phones were luxuries. The latter group started school when mobile devices were widespread.[19]Results showed both groups of children were rated similarly on important social skills. These included the ability to form and maintain friendships and get along with people who are different. They were also rated similarly on self-control, such as the ability to regulate their temper. In virtually every comparison made, ratings of social skills either remained constant or improved for the children born later. There was one exception: [20]Social skills were slightly lower for children who accessed online games and social networking sites many times a day. [21]Adults are worried when technological change starts to undermine traditional relationships, particularly the parent-child relationship. The introduction of telephones, automobiles and radio all led to moral panic among adults of the time, because the technology allowed children to enjoy more freedom.Fears over screen-based technology represent the most recent panic in response to technological change. But overall, the study found little evidence that time spent on screens was hurting social skills for most children.Questions 19 to 21 are based on the passage you have just heard.19. What does the new study suggest about young people today and those from the previous generation?20. What did the study find about children who accessed social networking sites many times a day?21. What is adults’ worry about technological change? Passage Three【听力原文】It’s easy to spend all day searching for inspiration. You can find incredible videos, articles and news stories about the success of others. [22]The problem is that consuming the success and ideas of others is passive inspiration. Every time you read an article or listen toan interview, you are practicing passive inspiration. You might learn something, but you don’t actually have to do anything. Hearing about other people’s success isn’t the same as creating your own. Instead, it is through the process of active inspiration—the act of creating things, applying new ideas to our goals and making mistakes—that we discover who we are and what is important to us. [23]Furthermore, active inspiration is what results in long-term passion and enthusiasm. Watching someone else’s success might leave you feeling excited for a few minutes. However, taking action and applying a new idea to your life will inspire you more than anything someone else could say. Learning and listening can help you think about things in a different way, but creating, producing and experimenting is what drives you forward. [24]Passive inspiration can give you ideas, but active inspiration will give you power. Too often we spend our lives consuming the world around us instead of creating it.And what matters is the power your actions have to inspire you. [25]The best inspiration comes from the application of ideas, not the consumption of them.Questions 22 to 25 are based on the passage you have just heard.22. What does the speaker say about inspiration from consuming others’ ideas and success stories?23. What do we learn from the passage about active inspiration?24. What does the passage say passive inspiration can do?25. Where does the best inspiration come from according to the passage?。
TPO听力文本完整版
TPO26Listening ScriptConversation1Listen to a conversation between a student and a university print shop employee.StudentHi.I saw your ad in the campus newspaper.EmployeeOh.We don’t have any job openings right now.StudentOh,no.I meant the other ad,about the services you provide for students.You see,I have been working at the campus tutoring center as a maths tutor.But things have changed,including my schedule.And now I want to start doing tutoring work independently.But in order to,basically,start my own business,I need to get the word out.EmployeeOK.StudentI was thinking I should get something printed up that I can hand out to people.EmployeeAh.Well,actually,I just printed up some great-looking fliers for someone doing the same thing.StudentFliers.Yeah,that’s an idea.I guess then I could post themEmployeeYeah.And you can hand them out too.But,oh,you know what?I did something really neat for someone last week.She didn’t want to go the traditional route,you know,business cards,fliers,so we customized pencils for her.StudentPencils?EmployeeYeah.You know,a little message printed on the pencil.StudentOh,that’s cool.EmployeeYeah.But you should know,it’s not our cheapest option.Oh,and you know those little sticky notes?StudentYou do those too?EmployeeWell,we did once.I think those bright pieces of paper would be real attention getters.You know,students use them all the time,so they should be good for business.I don’t know why we haven’t done more.StudentWow.EmployeeSo you’ve got some options.StudentRight.Well,what about business cards?My friend has these business cards.She does tutoring too.And she got them at this place in town,but they were kind of expensive.EmployeeFor business card?Well,I don’t know what your friend paid.But we could do something real simple and it wouldn’t be much.Like for a batch of250for one of our standard designs,20dollars maybe.Student20dollars sound EmployeeEmployeeNow,there are some other choices that’ll affect the cost.You know,like different background patterns,using color ink, that sort of thing.And it also depends on how many words you want to include.StudentOK.Well,I know what I want them to say.But I am just thinking,I kind of like that pencil idea.EmployeeYeah.I thought it was neat.Now,of course you can only fit your name and phone number,and like,in your case,maths tutoring on it.StudentRight.Well,I could custom design the business cards though right?That’s what my friend did.She said she designed them at the computer right there at the print shop.EmployeeWell,you can do that here too.But accustomed design would be a bigger investment for your business than one of our standard designs.StudentWell,I don’t know.I am interested in business cards,so can I look att he standard designs?Lecture1-Advertising(Green Marketing)Narrator:Listen to part of a lecture in an advertising class.ProfessorLast class someone asked about green marketing.Green marketing refers to companies promoting the product as environmentally panies often turn to advertising experts to help them do this.Green marketing seems recent,but advertising professionals grew interest in it several decades ago.The seeds for green marketing were probably planted in1970,when the first Earth Day took place.Rallies all over the United States were organized to protest environmental degradation.Some20million demonstrators participated in that first Earth Day. And it helped spark dozens of environmental laws.The biggest was the Endangered Species Act of1973,which protects imperiled animal species from extinction.There was also passage of the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act was strengthened.Earth Day,environmental laws,environmental issues in the news,being green was entering the mainstream.And businesses started saying,hey,we can get involved in this.So in1975,a major advertising trade group held its first workshop on ecological marketing.A few years later,we began seeing ads tapping into people’s environmental concerns.But as some green marketers learned the hard way,green marketing must still involve all the same principles of a traditional marketing campaign.Your ad must attract attention,stimulate consumers’interest,create a desire for your product,and motivate people to take action,to buy your product.So let me tell you about one green marketing campaign that failed at first and explain why.It was for a compact fluorescent light bulb.We’ll call it the eco-light.It was first introduced,I believe,in the late90s.It cost far more than a regular incandescent bulb.The advertising message was basically,use this eco-light and save the planet.But that message wasn’t effective.Research shows that consumers don’t want to let go of any traditional product attributes, like convenience,price and quality.Even though surveys indicate that almost everybody cares about the environment.So the company reintroduced the eco-light with a new message,one that emphasized cost savings,that the eco-light lowers electric bills and lasts for years.So it’s good for the Earth,cost-effective and convenient because it doesn’t have to be changed every few months.This ad campaign worked like a charm.Something else,uh,the company that makes the eco-light,researchers would consider it an’extreme green company’,not only because its products are energy-efficient,but because the company tries to reduce its environmental impact in other ways too.Like in addition to selling Earth-friendly products,its offices and factories are designed to conserve energy and use all sorts of recycled materials.A company that only recycles office paper,researchers would classify as a’lean green company’.And there are other degrees of greenness in between.So if your green marketing strategy’s gonna work,your message should be valid on all dimensions.When a company as a whole is credited for reducing its environmental impact,this can lead to brand loyalty.People will come back and buy your product more and more.However,let’s say you’re fined for violating the Clean Water Act while manufacturing products from recycled materials.The public would eventually find out.You can’t just make the claim that a product is environmentally friendly and not follow through on.Lecture2-Biology(Carbon Cycling)Narrator:Listen to part of a lecture in a biology class.ProfessorOK.Just before the end of the last class,we started talking about trace metals,metals found in living organisms in very small quantities that serve an important biological,important nutritive function in those organisms.And one trace metal that serves a nutritive function is zinc.Zinc assists in a number of processes in humans,but we are going to focus on just one,one that applies to a number oforganisms,not just humans.See,zinc plays a major role in carbon cycling,the conversion of various kinds of molecules with carbon,like carbon dioxide,into other kinds of molecules with carbon that organisms can use.So,take respiration.Our bodies,our cells produce carbon dioxide when they break down sugars.We need to get the C02out of our bodies,so the C02is converted into carbonic acid,which the blood is able to carry to the lungs.Once the carbonic acid reaches the lungs,it’s converted back into carbon dioxide so that we can breathe it out.Now,this whole conversion process relies on a particular enzyme.Uh,who remembers what an enzyme is?Bob?Uh,it’s a protein,a specific kind of protein,one that speeds up chemical reactions.ProfessorExactly.Different enzymes assist indifferent chemical reactions.Now,the one that speeds up the conversion of carbon dioxide has zinc in it.So this zinc enzyme is critical for gettingC02out of our bodies through the lungs.And it’s also extremely important for plants.Bob,can you tell us why?StudentFor making food,for photosynthesis?ProfessorExactly.For photosynthesis.Plants also convert carbon dioxide into different forms ofcarbon-containing molecules and the conversion process used relies on the very same enzyme that work in humans.So zinc is also important for plants.OK.But zinc is scarce in certain environments.And it’s particularly scarce in waters near the surface of river sand lakes and shallower parts of oceans,which might make us wonder how plants could live there at all.In fact,there are a lot of marine plants that survive,that grow and reproduce in surface waters.In particular,there are a lot of diatoms.Diatoms are microscopic,photosynthetic organisms and they are a major source of food for other organisms in the ocean.There are a number of different types of diatoms,and,well,diatoms play a very important role in the carbon cycling process,because they help make carbon available to other organisms in deeper parts of the ocean.The carbon that these diatoms use in photosynthetic is transferred to other parts of the ocean when the diatoms are eaten,say,by a fish that absorbs the carbon and then swims to another part of the ocean,or when diatoms die and fall to the ocean floor.So how did diatoms survive if zinc is so scarce?Well,recently researchers discovered that a specific type of diatom makes a different enzyme that serves the same purpose.But this enzyme doesn’t contain zinc.Instead this new enzyme incorporates another trace metal,cadmium.Kelly,you’ve got a question?StudentYeah.I thought cadmium was toxic.Didn’t you say that?It is poisonous to humans.Uh,actually,we used to think that it was toxic to all biological life,that it didn’t serve any biological purpose.But new study suggests that cadmium can actually substitute for zinc,that organisms can use it instead of zinc when there isn’t enough zinc in their environment.Now,the discovery of this cadmium-based enzyme is really important for a number of reasons.It’s actually the first enzyme we have discovered that uses cadmium.So it’s possible that other not so typical trace metals may be used in chemical processes,that marine organisms might make enzymes from other trace metals when the essential one is scarce.And there may be other types of diatoms that use cadmium to cycle carbon.But there’s something else to think about.What is one of the most common greenhouse gases in our atmosphere,one of the major culprits in global warming.Carbon dioxide,right?Now,if all these diatoms are taking carbon dioxide from the surface,converting it and transporting it to the bottom of the ocean,well,maybe there’s more to that whole process,that cycle,something that we’ve overlooked.So further research might tell us more about these warming cycles too.Convcrsation2Hi,Jean.How was the...uh,the conference,right?the conference on volunteerism?That’s where you were last week. Good.And let me know if you have any questions.StudentWell,there is something that I wanted to ask you now.It’s about something I noticed at the beach.ProfessorOh,what’s that?StudentWell,see,there are a lot of jellyfish there,floating in the water.ProfessorThat couldn’t have been pleasant.StudentNot for swimming.But it was interesting.I mean,the jellyfish were glowing.I swear they were.And I am wonderwhat that’s about.ProfessorAh,glowing jellyfish.That is interesting.Uh,it’s called bioluminescence.And actually we are going to talk about it later in the semester.Basically,bioluminescence is light that’s produced by a chemical reaction.StudentReally?Inside the jellyfish?ProfessorWell,not all jellyfish,about half of them.Actually,a lot of marine organisms have the ability,especially in deeper parts of the ocean.StudentOh,I get it.Like the darker it gets,the more the fish needs light,right?ProfessorWell,bioluminescence serves a number of functions.Most aquatic organisms use it for communication and for attracting prey.But jellyfish usually use it as a defense against predators.Some jellyfish produce bright flashes of light that confuse predators,to,uh,to startle them.But jellyfish closer to the surface,probably like the jellyfish you saw, they use bioluminescence to hide.The light they produce matches the color of the dim sunlight,so they blend in,and, uh,and predators can’t see them.StudentWow,really?Well,I am looking for a topic for my term paper,so maybe I could do it on these glowing jellyfish.That’s why I wanted to ask you about them,you know,to find out if there was really something to write about.ProfessorIt’s a great topic.But you’ll have to make sure the topic is manageable.Like I said,about half of all jellyfish are bioluminescent,so you may want to look at a particular type of jellyfish or several types that benefit from bioluminescence in the same way,or you could investigate current research on bioluminescence,on,on the chemical process,or...Here’s an idea.You seem to be very involved in local issues.See if you can identify the jellyfish you observed on the beach and how they fit into the local ecosystem.StudentYeah,you know,some of the environmental groups I met last week might even able to help me.Lecture3-Astronomy(Comets)Narrator:Listen to part of a lecture in an astronomy class.ProfessorOK.We have been looking at some of the smaller members of our solar system,comets.You already know about the structure of comets.Let’s continue our discussion now by talking about orbits,especially those of the so-called periodic-orbit comets.These are the comets that circle around the Sun pretty regularly.They return again and again, predictably,after a certain period of time.That’s why we say their orbits are periodic.Probably the most famous and brightest of these is Hailey’s comet.Hailey’s comet comes from far out in the solar system,goes in close to the Sun,and then out again.At its closest approach to the Sun,Hailey’s comet is about twice as close to the Sun as Earth is.And at its farthest,it’s about thirty-five times farther from the Sun than we are,which puts it out beyond Neptune.Basically,the idea here is that a periodic comet,with its very elongated orbit,just keeps coming back around again and again.With Hailey’s comet, well,it returns every75years,roughly.But where is Hailey’s comet during most of this time?Well,like all orbiting bodies,a comet moves faster when it’s closer to the Sun.So it only spends about a year or two in our neighborhood,inside the orbit of Jupiter.Most of its time is spent way out beyond Jupiter’s orbit,poking along near the farther reaches of it own orbit.Because of this,we can only see Hailey’s for a few months every75years,first on its way in toward the Sun,and then on its way out again.Now,you remember from our previous discussion that a comet’s nucleus,its core,is made up of ice and dust,like a frozen snowball.And as it approaches the Sun,it starts to heat up.And some of the ice vaporizes into gas and spreads out from the nucleus.The gases that vaporize from the comet,the comet never collects them back again,so on every orbit,the comet leaves part of itself behind.OK.How old is this solar system?Four and a half billion years,remember?AndHailey’s is going around the Sun once every75years and losing stuff each time.Sothe comet should be long gone by now,right?I mean,how come Hailey’s is still there?After four and a half billion years.How could it be?Well,the answer is that this comet hasn’t always been in such a short periodic orbit,since once a comet gets into an orbit that keeps it coming in close to the Sun quite frequently.Well,that comet’s probably not going to be around too much longer.So this kind of periodic orbit is only a phase in a comet’s life.A phase that just precedes its final breakup We’ve seen comets do that,going toward the Sun and then come back around, torn into pieces.But lots of comets aren’t like that.They come in,pass behind the Sun,and then travel back out.But with an orbit so large,and its farthest place so far away from the Sun that we just don’t know how far out it goes.We just can’t determine that very accurately from the close-in part of the orbit that we do see.So these are often called parabolic-orbit comets.Parabolic means the orbit is open at the far end.Actually the orbit probably does close and return the comet to the vicinity of the Sun eventually,but the period might be tens of thousands of years.And basically,we can’t determine it.So we just,we refer to them as open-ended parabolic-orbit comets.So,what can change a comet with one of these long orbits where they only come by the Sun occasionally into a much more frequent periodic visitor?Well,gravitational interaction with planets,right?If a comet on one of these long period orbits at some point comes close to Jupiter or Saturn or one of the other planets,then the pull of that planet’s gravity might alter the orbit,maybe make it much shorter.So this comet,if it happens to pass by a planet just the right way,it can be drawn into a new orbit,one that’ll capture it and keep it coming back around the Sun much more often.Lecture4-Art Conservation(Archimcdes Palimpsest)Narrator:Listen to part of a lecture in an art conservation class.ProfessorSo far we have been talking all semester about restoring and preserving pieces of art,like ancient frescos,early oil paintings,etc.But although our field is called art conservation,it also involves...what?StudentUm...preserving other types of cultural materials too.ProfessorVery good.Not just art.Old artifacts are very valuable when they represent early technologies,all contain important historical information.In fact,let me give you an example.You’ve heard about the Greek scholar,Archimedes,who lived more than2,000years ago,I am sure.Archimedes was a great mathematician.For example,he discovered the formula for the volume of a sphere.Not much of his work has survived,but what has survived is brilliant.And then in 1906,a Palimpsest of Archimedes’writing was discovered.Now,a palimpsest is a type of manuscript that contains writing that’s hidden because something else was written over it later.I’ll explain in a minute.This Archimedes palimpsest,as it’s now called,is by far the most important palimpsest anyone has ever seen.Because it contains the only known existing copy of Archimedes’treatise,called Method. Archimedes shows in it how maths can be applied to physics and physical reasoning back to maths problems,which is how he calculated the volume of the sphere,for example.This maybe commonplace today,but was revolutionary in his time.A few years ago,the palimpsest was sold at an auction for2million dollars.It could have ended up tucked away in a private collection,but fortunately,the collector who bought it has agreed to have experts restore every single word Archimedes wrote,so the contents can be shared with the world and studied.But there are two main problems.What do you think the first one might be?Jennifer?StudentUrn....well,it sounds like it’s extremely old.So probably some pages are at the point of crumbling into dust?ProfessorTrue.And some are moldy,and some were eaten away at by bookworms.This thing’s really decayed.But on top|of that,there’s another issue.And this is the reason why it’s a palimpsest.You see,the text apparently sat around in a library in Constantinople until1229A.D.But then a scribe erased,scraped away the writing as clean as he could in order to use the pages to write his own book on.Why would he do that?Take a guess.ProfessorWell,they used parchment to write on,but yes,there was a parchment shortage.StudentSo you are saying the parchment was basically recycled?ProfessorCorrect.Then,even later on,in the twentieth century,a forger painted ancient-looking pictures on several of the pages in order to make the book seem older and increase its value.So unfortunately,that’s quite a history.StudentBut professor Wilkens,if the scribe scraped away Archimedes’words and if these paintings covered the pages,how can the original work be recovered?ProfessorAh,that’s why I am telling you the story.That’s our task as conservationists,isn’t it?To find a way.There were still faint traces of Archimedes’words on the pages.First,we tried to make the Archimedes’words stand out with a variety of technologies,using ultraviolet light.But that didn’t work on every page.But then,there was this new idea that came from a scientist studying spinach.Student:Spinach?ProfessorYes.Spinach.This physicist,Uwe Bergman,does research that involves studying iron in spinach.He was reading an article about problems with the palimpsest and it said that there is iron in the original Archimedes’ink.So he came up with an idea to use the same method of looking at iron in spinach to view the iron on the palimpsest pages.And his idea worked.Bergman’s technique allows X-rays to pass through the forged paintings,pass through the scribe’s writing to hit the iron traces from the ink of the original Archimedes’text and create an image just of the iron on the pages.The iron-based letters seem to just pop off the page.The original text and diagrams emerged,line by line,diagram after diagram.And that’s kind of typical of our field.There’s a lot of interdisciplinary work.People from several different fields might be involved in working with a single art.。
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听⼒⽂本1.Dining Customs in the USAAmericans, like many people elsewhere in the world,ike to invite friends to their homes for an evening of food, drink and conversation. Formal dinners in fine homes and hotels in the US are much the same as formal dinners anywhere in the world. But as most people in the US have no servants, their dinner parties at home tend to be informal. Guests may sit down at a table,or as many new small homes have no separate dining room or very small dining space. Guests can also serve themselves and eat in the living room, holding their plates or trays on their knees.A more enjoyable form of entertainment is the picnic.Americans are great picnickers and almost every family has a picnic basket.Summer invitations are often for a picnic at a park or in the open countryside, and less hamburgers or hot dogs are cooked over a fire.Picnic food is usually cold.2. Costs in Colleges and UniversitiesNearly all American students in colleges and universities pay for their educations.There are many costs. First of all, there is tuition.At some schools, the tuition is very high, ten thousand dollars a year or more.At other schools, it may only be a few hundred dollars a year. At some community colleges, tuition is free. There are other costs as well.Many students leave their homes to go to schools in other cities. They may live in dormitories or apartments, and they must pay for it.Finally, students must buy textbooks for their courses.Going to college or university can be a big expensSome families start saving money for their children's education when the children are small. Many students work to save money for tuition.They can also get loans from the government. They pay the money back to the government when they finish their education. Now you have 2 minutes to check through your work.That is the end of PART I Dictation.3. RainbowYou will not always see a rainbow when it rains while the sun shines.The sun must be in the right position over the horizon. And remember to turn your back to the sun when you look toward the sky. A rainbow will never appear in the path between you and the sun. If you are on the ground, you will only see a part of the rainbow. This is because the earth blocks the rest of the circle.You can see the whole circle if you are flying high in a plane when a rainbow happens. The shadow of the plane would be in the center. Rainbows hold an important place in the traditional stories and beliefs that make up many cultures.For example, some cultures say the rainbow represents a bridge between life and death.Still others see the rainbow as a sign of good things to come. Now you have 2 minutes to check through your work.That is the end of PART I Dictation.4. ]The Color of SnowGenerally, the color of snow appears white.This is because the light we see from the sun is white.Most natural materials take in some sunlight. This gives them their color.However, when light travels from air to snow, some light is sent back, or reflected.Snow crystals have many surfaces to reflect sunlight.Yet the snow does take in a little sunlight.It is this light that gives snow its white appearance. Sometimes, snow may appear to be blue. The blue light is the product of a long travel path through the snow.In simple terms, think of snow as a filter. A filter is designed to reject some substances, while permitting others to pass through.In the case of snow, all the light makes it through if the snow is only a centimeter thick.If it is a meter or more thick, however, blue light often can be seen.Now you have 2 minutes to check through your work.That is the end of PART I Dictation.5.CampsMany children spend weeks at traditional camps by lakes in the mountains.There are camps for all interests:horseback riding, rock climbing, and science, to name a few. There are even camps to learn how to be a clown.Many Americans have happy memories of going away to camp as kids. Now, grown-ups can relive those times. In some state, for example, adults can spend a week at a snowboarding camp. Snowboarding is a mix between skiing and skateboarding.The campers spend most of the day on the mountain with coaches to teach them. In the afternoon, they return to camp for other activities.Some ride bicycles, others swim or play volleyball.The adults share cabins and meals just like kids at camp do.But, for some adults, the best camps are the ones where they can be with their kids. There are some weekend camp programs for parents and children together. Now you have 2 minutes to check through your work.That is the end of PART I Dictation.6.]Cars in the FutureAs big cars cause many problems,such as pollution, shortage of parking space, crowded traffic, scientists are now trying to design some small cars that may some day replace today's big automobiles. If more people begin to drive such cars in the future, there will be less air pollution.There will also be more space for parking cars in cities,and the streets will be less crowded.Three such cars can fit in the space that is now needed for one car of the usual size.The little cars will cost much less to own and to drive.Driving will be safer as these cars can only go 60 kilometers per hour.The cars of the future will be fine for driving around the city. However, they will not be suitable for long trips, because these cars by petrol can only go 450 kilometers before needing to stop for refueling.Now you have 2 minutes to check through your work.That is the end of PART I Dictation.7.The Greenhouse EffectTo get a better understanding of global warming, it is important to understand the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect is the rise in the temperatures caused by absorption of the Sun's heat and light by the Earth's surface which then is reflected back and trapped within the Earth's atmosphere. The greenhouses gases, help to keep the Earth warm, and this is the reason why life on Earth has existed, and still thrives. However, with an increase in the gases like carbon dioxide, ozone, and water vaporin the atmosphere, as an outcome to growing environmental pollution; industrial, domestic, and loss of vast stretches of grassland and rain forest, Earth has gotten nearly 14% hotter than what it used to be 50 years ago,with 2005 being recorded as the hottest year ever. Besides humans and plants, global warming effects on animals is a cause of concern.8.Christmas CandlesFrankly speaking, Christmas candles are no different from any other decorative candle that you might find in the shops all through the year. But the very fact that they are lit up during Christmastime gives them the look of a festival. Christmas candles are big in size and designed in several shapes. You will find the common round shapes -Christmas candles tend to play up on the thickness so that they can burn longer,all through the Christmas Eve if desired.Traditional colors of Christmas candles are preferably red or golden, the colors of the season. But you will find all colors on the shelves nowadays.However, if other colors are used, they are often decorated with obvious Christmas designs to make them part of the season. Red and golden candles are usually kept as they are, because the colors themselves lend grace to the season.Now you have 2 minutes to check through your work.That is the end of PART I Dictation.9.Bread-makingPeople make bread in different ways,but the bread that's made in Britain contains five ingredients.There's water, flour of course,and then there's salt, sugar and something called yeast.A long time ago, people made bread just from flour and water,and their bread looked and tasted very different from the bread we make today. It was a different shape-like large flat biscuit and it was dark brown in colour. But it was too heavy to digest.Then the Egyptians discovered that yeast,which is a kind of fungus, will make bread rise.Well, in fact, if you look at a modern loaf of breadthrough a microscope,it looks a bit like a sponge, doesn't it? Full of little holes.Well, the holes make the bread lighter,of course, and easier to digest. Now you have 2 minutes to check through your work.That is the end of PART I Dictation.。
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3 Listen and write the number. (5 marks)
doll and train – 5,
car and computer – 2, computer and pencil – 6, doll and box – 3, chair and ball – 4
3 They’re my grandmother and grandfather. They’re oldhite T-shirt and black trousers. 5 It’s long. It has no arms or legs. 6 She’s got a big black and white dog.
1 The pencil is on the chair. 2 The car is on the computer. 3 The doll is in the box. 4 The ball is under the chair. 5 The train is next to the doll. 6 The pencil is next to the computer.
5 Listen and colour. (5 marks)
Boy – red T-shirt, green trousers Girl – yellow T-shirt, purple skirt, orange socks
He’s got black shoes. He’s got a red T-shirt and green trousers. She’s got a yellow T-shirt and a purple skirt. She’s got orange socks.
4 Listen and number. (5 marks)
Mr Star – 4, Grandpa and Grandma – 3, Suzy and dog – 6, snake – 5, elephants – 2
1 It hasn’t got arms. 2 They’ve got big ears and long noses. They’re grey.
听力文本
1.Listen and write the number
1. I'm six. 2. I'm three. 3. I'm five. 4. I'm nine. 5. I'm seven. 6. I'm ten.
2. Listen and tick or cross. (5 marks)
1. √ 2 √, 3 ×, 4 ×, 5 ×, 6 √