《现代大学英语听力2》听力原文及答案Unit1

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现代大学英语听力UNIT原文及答案

现代大学英语听力UNIT原文及答案

Unit 4Task 1答案A.1 They are farms that grow vegetables for city people to eat fresh.2 It’s a farm that grow plants and flowers to sell.3 They protect the plants from the cold in the winter but let them get plenty of light; so the plants can be grown all through the year.B.1 canned; frozen2 flowers; garden plants; home gardens; yards; window boxes3 buildings; furniture; firewood原文Grain; vegetables and fruits are found on most farms. All of them are food for animals and people.Grain can be fed to animals just as it is harvested. But before people use them grains are usually made into flour or breakfast cereal. Bread; macaroni通心粉; and cereals麦片 all come from grain.Tomatoes; beans; potatoes; beets甜菜; lettuce生菜; carrots and onions are field and garden vegetables. Can you think of any others Vegetables are good for people and for some animals such as pigs and rabbits.Farms that grow vegetables for city people to eat fresh are called truck farms. Truck farms are usually close to big cities. Each day hundreds of loads of fresh vegetables are brought to stores on the farmers' trucks. Without the truck farmers people in cities would not eat well. And without city people who eat fresh vegetables; the truck farmers would have no work.There are many kinds of fruit. Apples; pears; peaches; cherries; oranges; grapefruit; and berries are a few kinds. You will be able to think of other kinds that you like. Most fruit is grown on specialized farms. But many general farms have some fruit to use and sell also.Like vegetables; fruit is sold fresh in markets. But a large part of both fruit and vegetable crops is sent to factories to be canned or frozen.In warm parts of our country farmers grow cotton; rice; tobacco; sugar cane甘蔗; and peanuts.Specialized farms raise flowers and garden plants. They are sold to florists花商 and to families for home gardens; or yards; orwindow boxes. A farm that grow plants and flowers to sell is called a nursery苗圃. Most nurseries have glass buildings; called hothouses or greenhouses. The hothouses are heated to protect the plants from cold in the winter but let them get plenty of light; so they can be grown all through the year.Some farms grow only trees. Some of these are Christmas tree farms. Others are large forests where trees are grown for their wood. The wood is used for buildings; furniture and firewood. Some tree farms grow only nut trees.Task 2答案1 The UN agencies report that the market value of pesticides in developing countries last year was about three thousand million dollars.2 The agencies called for worldwide acceptance of Food and Agriculture and World Health Organization pesticide rules. They say this would help guarantee the safe production of and trade in pesticides.原文Two United Nations agencies are expressing concern about the safety of some pesticides used to kill insects. They report that about thirty percent of all pesticides sold in developing countries fail to meet widely accepted rules for quality. They say these products are a serious threat to human health and the environment.The UN Food and Agriculture Organization and the World HealthOrganization gave the warning.In developing countries; pesticides are used mainly for agriculture. Pesticides kill insects and other organisms that threaten crops. Pesticides also are used for public health. They control insects that spread disease; such as mosquitoes that spread malaria.The UN agencies report that the market value of pesticides in developing countries last year was about three thousand million dollars. They say the estimated market value of pesticides worldwide was thirty-two thousand million dollars.Officials say poor quality pesticides often contain harmful chemicals. These chemicals often are banned or restricted in some countries.Possible causes of low quality in pesticides include production problems and failure to use the right chemicals. Officials say the active chemicals in many pesticides are stronger than those permitted by many governments. They also say poor quality pesticides may contain poisonous substances or substances that are not pure.Officials say the quality of pesticide containers and product information on the containers are other concerns. They say information on the containers often fails to explain the active chemicals and how to use the product safely.The WHO says products listing false information have been sold for years in some areas. The agencies say the problem of poor quality pesticides is widespread in parts of Africa south of the Sahara Desert. They called for worldwide acceptance of Food and Agriculture and World Health Organization pesticide rules. They say this would help guarantee the safe production of and trade in pesticides.Officials say the agencies' rules are especially important for developing countries. They say developing countries often lack systems for testing pesticides.Task 3答案A.1 c 2 d 3 bB.That’s because they’re making an investment all the time; but are still not sure whether or not they can make profits.原文Interviewer: Cattle raising and beef in the US is big business; isn't itBob Beck: Yes; it's the largest business—cattle business.Interviewer: It must be a very profitable business then.Bob Beck: Uh; not necessarily.Interviewer: It's not necessarily a profitable businessBob Beck: At times; it's not profitable. Your production costs get...it's a supply and demand market; and if your supply islarger than your demand...Interviewer: So the price is fluctuating all the time...Bob Beck: Right. It fluctuates; and it can get below production costs.Interviewer: But you never know. For instance; next year; you don't know what it'll bring on the market.Bob Beck: No; technically it takes a year and a half from the time you breed the cow; until you get the calf; until the calf'smarketable.Interviewer: Uh-huh.Bob Beck: You've got a year; to a year and a half; tied up there. Interviewer: So; you're making an investment all the time.Bob Beck: Right. So you're not sure.Interviewer: It sounds like it might be a very insecure kind of existence. Wonder why it is that people want to be farmersor ranchers大农场主 then...Bob Beck: I think the majority of it is you like it. It's one thing.It's a breed kindof people. They like it. If you don'tlike what you're doing; why...Interviewer: What is there about it You live essentially in a rural area. Doesn't that feeling of isolation ever bother you Bob Beck: No. It's getting too crowded.Interviewer: Too crowdedBob Beck: Too many peopleInterviewer: I can see that; for instance; in a city; you have restaurants to go to; movie theaters—all kinds ofthings available to people; a lot of conveniences whichyou don't have in the more rural areas. What do peoplewho farm and ranch do for recreation and relaxation; forinstance... erm...Bob Beck: Well; I think a lot of it is if you're a livestock raiser;you'll go check your cows in the evening instead of goingto a movie.Interviewer: Uh-huh.Bob Beck: That's as much recreation as driving through a bunch or cows; and if you like them; you enjoy that.Interviewer: In terms of the way of life; to a lot of people; it would seem that it's a very hard life. It means a lot ofhard work. I mean; you have a schedule—whether you feellike it or not; you have to get out and feed animals; andso forth. Would you regard that as one of the difficultthings about it; or is that...Bob Beck: No.Interviewer: …just sort of... part of itBob Beck: For me; if I had to go to a desk every morning; that'd kill me.Task 4答案A. paid off; fall back on; a security; operating expenses; complete disasterB.1 Some of them cook the meals; clean the house and take care of the kids every day.2 Yes. That is especially so after they've had one or two bad years when they couldn’t make money.3 When their children are small; they were with their parents to go out to work; when they are very small; Sharon didn’t go out as much as she would later.4 She thinks that in this way the children are a lot more self-reliant. They learn to work and they learn responsibility. They learn a lot about life by being continually in life with animals.原文Bob Beck: I think; for a wife; the same as a husband; they like it or they wouldn't marry a farmer or a rancher.Interviewer: Uh-huh.Bob Beck: They'd get out. I think it's not at all wives. Some of them are just like suburban housewives.Interviewer: Uh-huh.Bob Beck: They cook the meals; and they clean the house and that's it... take care of the kids...Interviewer: Have you known some situations like thatBob Beck: Oh; yeah; I know situations like thatInterviewer: Sharon; is there a problem of the feeling of security Sharon Beck: What kind of security are you talking about—financial securityInterviewer: Uh; yeah; financial security. Uh; the thing is up and down. You don't know what the market's going to bring;er... for beef. You work all year; and so forth... Isthere any problem of that sortSharon Beck: Sure; there's the problem of security. Especially; if you've had one or two bad years. You feel awfullyinsecure.Interviewer: Uh-huh.Sharon Beck: If you've borrowed money to buy a farm or to operate;and there's no money coming in; you feel awfullyinsecure.Interviewer: Uh-huh.Sharon Beck: But if you've got a fairly good amount of your ranch paid off; you've got that to fall back on. You can alwaysthink of that as a security. If everything else fails;if you can’t pay for your operating expenses…Interviewer: Uh-huh.Sharon Beck: ...you can always sell your equity in your ranch. So it isn't complete disaster.Interviewer: But it's not something that bothers you terribly. I mean; it's a fact of life. It's sort of...Sharon Beck: Something you live with; yeah...Interviewer:... part of the thing. The role of the wife in this situation is quite different than that of a suburbanhousewife. You don't have much free time; do you Sharon Beck: No.Interviewer: Because; essentially; you work in much the same way that your husband does.Sharon Beck: Yes; I'm usually with him.Interviewer: How do you handle the whole family-life situation—children You're out almost as much as aworking mother in the city; aren't youSharon Beck: Yes. The only difference is we're together. Interviewer: The children too...Sharon Beck: The children too. When they're not in school; when they were small; they were with us. When they were very small;of course; I didn't go out as much.Interviewer: Do you feel that there are advantages in growing up in this waySharon Beck: Yeah; I definitely feel that there're advantages. There are disadvantages too; but I think the advantages faroutweigh the disadvantages.Interviewer: What are some of those advantages you think thechildren haveSharon Beck: The advantagesInterviewer: Uh-huh.Sharon Beck: Well; they're a lot more self-reliant. They learn to work. Erm; they learn responsibility.Interviewer: Uh-huh.Sharon Beck: They learn a lot about life by being continually in life; with animals; and... I think it makes them...erm... They grow up。

【优质】现代大学英语听力2 原文及答案全

【优质】现代大学英语听力2 原文及答案全
5)He was struckon the head by the master and pushed out of the room.And for a week Olive remained prisoner in the cellar.
【原文】
Oliver Twist had no parents and lived in the workhouse.
"Good morning!" said the stranger.
"Good morning!" said Mark Twain. "Nice weather we're having!"
"Very nice indeed," said the stranger. "How was fishing?"
Task 2
【答案】
A.1) F 2) F 3) T
B.
1) d 2) b
【原文】
Mark Twain was a famous American writer. There were many stories about him. One day MarkTwain was fishing. A stranger came along.
But the Greek ships did not sail far. The Greeks stopped at a place near Troy, where the Trojanscould not see them, and hid their ships. At first the Trojans wanted to burn the wooden horse, but aGreek prisoner said, "Don't bum the horse. Bring it into Troy. It will help you."

现代大学英语听力2Unit

现代大学英语听力2Unit

Task 1News Item 1The United States central bank, the Federal Reserve, has raised interest rates for the third time this year. The Federal Reserve raised the overnight bank lending rate by 0.25 percent (one fourth of one percent) to 5.5 percent. It raised the discount rate also by 0.25 percent to 5 percent. The Federal Reserve said it had no plans to raise interest rates again any time soon. It said the increase today should reduce the danger of inflation.News Item 2The merce Department says the American economy has shrunk for the first time in eight years. The total value of goods and services produced in the United States fell by four tenth of one percent (0.4 percent) in the period of July through September. A recession is monly defined as at least six months where the economy shrinks.News Item 3A fall in the New York market had been widely predicted following Friday's better than expected US employment figures. US bonds from which the government funds long-term borrowing fell nearly two points on the news that more jobs had been created in March than had been expected. The Dow Jones Index was closed on Friday for the Easter holiday, so today was the first chance for the share market to react.News Item 4And we go straight to Wall Street where share prices closed higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up nearly 1 percent or 89 points at 10,205. Shares made up for some of the losses they incurred in the past week, thanks to what was interpreted as "signs the US inflation is under control".Task 2News Item 1China has launched a manned space flight, being the third country to do so 40 years after the Soviet Union and the United States. A single astronaut was on board the Shenzhou V Craft, which took off from the Gobi Desert. It's expected to go round the earth 14 times during a 24-hour period before landing in Inner Mongolia. President Hu Jintao watched the launch, a sign of the importance China attaches to its space programme. Francis Marguez reports from Beijing.Half an hour after the spacecraft blasted off, China's state television showed footage of the launch, the rocket climbing slowly into the clear blue sky. And many Chinese will feel their country has taken a proud step towards modernity.News Item 2China's first man in space has returned to Earth. Reports say Chinese officials declared the space flight a success. Astronaut Yang Liwei is also reported to be in good health. On Tuesday, China became only the third nation to send a person into orbit. Astronaut Yang and his spacecraft landed in China's Inner Mongolia early Thursday. He had orbited the earth 14 times in about 20 hours. The United States and Russia praised China for the launch. Russia and the United States were the first two nations to send people into space.Task 3Negotiators have agreed to the wording of a proposed international treaty on tobacco control. Delegates from more than 170 countries approved the final wording earlier this month in Switzerland. This came after four years of negotiations. The proposed treaty is called the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. It will be presented in May at the yearly meeting of the World Health Organization, a UN agency. The final version approved there will also require individual approval by WHO members. Once 40 nations have approved it, the treaty will go into effect in those countries.Member states cannot make any amendments once the WHO approves a final version of the treaty. They must either accept or reject the agreement as it is written. The proposed Framework Convention on Tobacco Control is part of the efforts to reduce deaths and diseases from smoking.The WHO estimates that almost five million people die each year from lung cancer and other tobacco-related diseases. That number could rise to ten million a year by 2020. Developing nations are the biggest growth areas for tobacco-related diseases. These nations are calling for the strongest laws possible to control tobacco. The treaty would ban advertising and other marketing campaigns for tobacco products, where doing so would not violate a country's constitution. It also calls for high tobacco taxes. It would even require panies to make public all the substances they use to make cigarettes.In addition, tobacco panies would have to place health warnings on at least thirty percent of their products. These warnings could not include information that might lead people to believe that some cigarettes are less harmful than others. In addition, governments would have to support treatment programs to help people stop smoking. And, there would have to be education campaigns to get people not to start. The proposed treaty also calls for measures to protect non-smokers from secondhand smoke, that is, smoke from other people's tobacco.Task 4Thank you. And thank you for asking me to share in your weekly address to the American people.Britain and America have so much in mon: language, values, belief in family and munity, in a real sense of national pride. We share many problems, too. And it has been clear from our discussions thatwe are agreed, in general terms, about some of the solutions.You took the tough decisions needed for long-term economic stability. We are doing so. You have focused on education, welfare reform, a new approach to crime. So are we. Together, we are breaking down boundaries of left and right and creating a new politics of the radical centre.Task 5Each year, the Nobel mittee in Oslo, Norway announces the winners of its famous Nobel Prizes. Most winners of the Nobel Peace Prize have been men. Only ten percent have been women since the prize was first presented in 1901.Now the United Nations Development Fund for Women and the human rights group International Alert have presented a new award to honor women peacemakers. It is called the Millennium Peace Prize for Women. Officials will present the award every three years. The award recognizes women's actions in building peace, protecting women's human rights and supporting munity life during and after war.Experts say women are usually not as involved in the peace process as men are. However, their work to reestablish normal munity life after peace has been reached is very important. Because of this, International Alert says women also need to be recognized as leaders in peace building.Earlier this month, six women and organizations received the Millennium Peace Prize for Women. One of the winners is the Colombian group "Ruta Pacifica de las Mujeres", or Women's Road to Peace. This group has organized protests against the violence between rebel groups and the Colombian government.The group "Leitana Nehan Women's Development Agency" also won the peace prize. It helped in the peace process between the military and rebel forces in Papua New Guinea. Another winner is the group "Women in Black". It is an international organization that organizes protests against violence, aggression and war.Flora Brovina also received the peace prize. She organized the "League of Albanian Women of Kosovo". Doctor Brovina has taught emergency medical skills to people in Kosovo.Asma Jahangir and Hina Jilani are also peace prize winners. They worked to support human rights and women's rights in Pakistan. And the leader of the women's movement in Rwanda also won the Millennium Peace Prize, after her death. Veneranda Nzambazamariya helped rebuild Rwanda after the mass killings in 1994. She died in a plane crash last year.Task 6News Item 1Brazil's new Health Minister Hosein Selar has sacked two senior health officials in Rio de Janeiro amid growing concern about the epidemic of dengue fever. More than 80,000 people in southeast Brazil have caught the mosquito-born disease which causes severe headaches, fever and vomiting. In some cases, it can be fatal. Our Brazil correspondent Steven Switch reports that President Fernando Henrique Cardoso regards the issue of health care as his government's biggest political weakness.News Item 2In agriculture news. The European Union has banned all imports of animal products from the Netherlands. The ban was ordered after the Dutch government confirmed four cases of foot-and-mouth disease there. Dutch officials have had all infected animals destroyed. Until now, only Britain and France have been affected by the animal disease. Also, in the American State of Vermont, officials seized some sheep suspected of having mad cow disease. More than 230 sheep were taken from a farm. The animals will be destroyed and tested for the disease.Task 7Announcer: ... in Garderers' Question Time at 2 o'clock. And now over to Gordon Chartwell in the newsroom.Newsreader: Here is the news, read by Gordon Chartwell. The cruise liner, Princess of Wales , which ran aground last night off the island of St. Catherine in the Caribbean, is reported to be sinking. Here's a report from our correspondent in Jamaica, Graham Smith.Graham Smith: A weak radio signal was received here in Kingston a few hours ago from the radio operator on the 28,000-ton luxury cruise ship, the Princess of Wales. According to this message, the ship is taking in water and is starting to sink. All the passengers have been ordered into the lifeboats and told to make for the nearby island of St. Catherine, the coast of which is some 20 miles from the scene of the accident. In normal circumstances this would be an easy 3-hour trip, but with Hurricane Zelda approaching fast and blowing away from the island, it's feared that some boats may not make it in time to the safety of the island. Once on the island, it would be possible for passengers and crew to shelter from the wind and await rescue. The Royal Navy frigate Steadfast is heading for St. Catherine at full speed but it may take her up to 24 hours to get there. So things look pretty grim for the 700 passengers and 420 crew at the moment. This is Graham Smith in Kingston, Jamaica. Newsreader: As soon as we have any further news we will interrupt our programmes to bring it to you. And now the rest of the news. In Liverpool today the Prime Minister said in a speech...Part TwoAnnouncer: We interrupt this programme to take you over to the newsroom for a newsflash. Newsreader: This is Gordon Chartwell in the newsroom with a further report from our correspondent Graham Smith in Jamaica about the stranded liner, Princess of Wales.Graham Smith: A further signal has been picked up from the Princess of Wales within the past few minutes. According to this, the ship is now out of danger. Apparently the damage to the liner is not as serious as was originally thought and she is still pletely seaworthy and out of danger. However, before this was realized, 5 of the lifeboats had been launched and about 200 passengers and crew had made their way to the island of St. Catherine where they are reported to be safe. For the time being they are likely to remain on the island. The remaining 920 people are still on board the liner and in no danger. Although Hurricane Zelda has reached the island, the wind seems to have blown itself out tosome extent and although there are heavy seas, there is no danger for a ship of the size of the Princess of Wales. The ship is now clear of the rocks. The passengers and crew sheltering on the island will be brought off by the Royal Navy frigate Steadfast, which is now close to the area. Apart from a few minor injuries there are no casualties. This is Graham Smith returning you to the studio. Newsreader: There will be a further report in our main news at one o'clock. And now back to Down Your Way...Task 8News Item 1The European Union has officially approved the Kyoto Treaty on climate change. Officials from all 15 EU states attended a ceremony Friday at the United Nations in New York. However, the treaty still needs the approval of more countries to e into effect. The treaty limits the release by industrial countries of gases blamed for trapping heat in the atmosphere. The United States was one of the first countries to sign the Kyoto Treaty, but has since withdrawn. President Bush says the treaty could harm the American economy.News Item 2Wele to BBC World News, I'm Nick Gowing. Environment ministers from 180 countries will start trying to rescue the Kyoto Treaty on global warming shortly. They join their officials who have been meeting all week in the German city of Bonn. The 1997 Kyoto agreement mits industrialized countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The protocol was undermined in a major way in March when US President George W. Bush said it would weaken America's economy.It's Beethoven who dominates the town square here and it's unlikely that he'll have to give up his place to a monument celebrating a conference which halted global warming. Ministers from over 180 countries have already agreed to global cuts in emissions of greenhouse gases 5 percent below the 1990 levels. But here they must decide how this will be achieved. Since George Bush pulled out of the deal, the argument is between Japan and Europe. The Japanese want flexible rules allowing them to plant more trees in place of steep cuts in pollution and weaker penalties for missing targets. Europe doesn't like it but really wants a deal.News Item 3A major international conference on climate change is to open in Moscow shortly with Russia ing under renewed pressure to sign the Kyoto Protocol. That's the agreement to limit the industrial pollutants that are believed to contribute to global warming. The Kyoto Protocol of 1997 can only e into force when 55 percent of countries have signed up to it. With United States refusing to sign, ratification by Russia is crucial to the treaty's success. From Moscow our environment correspondent Tim Hersch reports.President Putin himself called this conference in his own capital to discuss the latest signs of climatechange and it had been thought he might use the opportunity to announce that his government was finally prepared to sign up to Kyoto, but ments from senior Kremlin officials have played down expectations, saying Russia wanted firm guarantees of foreign investment in clean technology before pressing ahead with ratification. The European Union and UN bodies have been putting pressure on Mr. Putin to end the delays so that international action against global warming could finally start six years after the Kyoto agreement was signed.Task 9The United Nations General Assembly will hold a special session on children beginning September 19th. The meeting will bring together government leaders, child activists, non-governmental organizations and many young people. The three-day gathering will give officials a valuable chance to change how the world thinks about children.Eleven years ago, the UN held a similar meeting called the "World Summit for Children". During that conference, seventy-one heads of state and government signed a treaty aimed at improving the lives of children around the world. Efforts to reach the goals established in that treaty have made the rights of children an important issue.The UN agency for children, UNICEF, is supporting the special session. Officials are expected to produce a plan of action to guarantee that three important goals are reached. The goals are the best possible start in life for all children, a good education for all children and the chance for all children to bee an important part of their munities. The session will also examine progress made since the 1990 World Summit for Children.Former South African President and Nobel Peace Prize winner Nelson Mandela is working toward these goals. He is joined by his wife Graca Machel who is an activist for children. They are calling on munity, business and government leaders to form an international movement aimed at improving the world for young people.The movement is hoping to build international support for a public campaign to help children. Several world leaders have joined the movement. Movie stars, professional sports teams, and the creators of children's television programs and books also have joined the movement.The group's public campaign lists ten ways to improve the lives of young people. These include educating children, protecting them from war and fighting the disease AIDS. UNICEF officials say the goal of the movement is for people around the world to get involved, take action and work for change. They say that for every child who es into the world, the hopes and dreams of the human race are reborn.Task 10The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization says hunger kills millions of people each year—especially children. The UN organization says millions more people will die unless more money is invested to fight against hunger.This is based on the results of a new UN study called "The State of Food Insecurity in the World, 2002". It found that more than nine million people die each year from hunger. Six million of them are children younger than age five. Researchers also found that the number of starving people is growing in some parts of the world.The report says that about eight hundred and forty million people around the world are not getting enough food to eat. Ninety-five percent of these people are in developing countries.。

《现代大学英语听力2》听力原文及题目答案Unit--6Word版

《现代大学英语听力2》听力原文及题目答案Unit--6Word版

I had two months until my new job began. It was like waiting an entire summer for school to start. I spent those two months talking to figure skating coaches and judges. I read boring rule books. I drove to the rinks where the skaters trained, and made notes about our conversations. I even took a lesson, which made some of the skaters laugh.Unit 6Task 1【答案】A.[d]—[b]—[a]—[e]—[c]B.a【原文】Laura usually leaves the offices of Quest Productions at about 5 o'clock, but last Monday she left at 5:30. She wanted to get home by 6:30 and she ran to the bus stop but she couldn't get on a bus. There were too many people and not enough buses. Laura was desperate to get home so she decided to go by tube.In the station she went to one of the automatic ticket machines but she didn't have enough change, so she had to join the queue at the ticket window. She bought her ticket and ran to the escalator. Laura went to the platform and waited for the tube. It arrived and the crowd moved forward.Laura was pushed into the train. It was almost full but she was given a seat by a man with a moustache. Laura thanked him and sat down. She started to read her newspaper. In the tunnel the train stopped suddenly and Laura was thrown to the floor together with the man with the moustache. Somebody screamed. The lights went out. It was quarter past 6 on a cold, wet December evening.Task 2【答案】A.1) a 2) b 3) d 4) cB.1) T 2) T 3) FC.wondered; television plays; exciting; every cigarette lighter; tape recorder; held in a certain way; the touch of a gold ring against the hand of; reveal; How wrong they were【原文】X was a secret agent. He had rented a furnished room in a provincial town not far from the public park and had been there two weeks. He was standing at the window looking out at the dull beds of geraniums, the park gates and the cold, uninviting statue of Queen Victoria that stood across the street from him, It was raining hard and the few people who passed by looked wet and miserable. X was miserable, too. How, he wondered, could anybody think there was anything interesting about the life of a secret agent? He knew it was because people had seen so many television plays about glamorous spies that they thought the life of a secret agent was exciting.They were convinced that every cigarette lighter concealed a secret tape recorder; that a fountain pen held in a certain way would open alocked door, that the touch of a gold ring against the hand of an enemy would make him reveal all his secrets. How wrong they were! He looked round his room. The wallpaper was in the worst possible taste, the pictures horrible, the carpet worn, dirty and faded; and he was cold. This was the third Monday he had come to the window to look out. He prayed it would be the last.As if in answer to his prayer, a certain meeting he had been sent to investigate was about to take place. He took out his camera. Just beneath the statue two women had stopped to speak. He knew one of them, and it was she who pointed in his direction. The other woman looked up towards him and in that brief moment he photographed her.Task 3【答案】B.1) a 2) b 3) c 4) b 5) d【原文】Harry: Well, Robert, have you made up your mind yet what you want to do when you leave college?Nora: Oh Harry. Surely he's a bit young to decide on his career. He hasn't even got to college yet.Harry: Not at all, Nora. It's wisest to decide in good time. Look at me, for example.I really wanted to be a sailor, but now I spend my days sitting at a desk inan office. Yes, it's silly to train for the wrong job. And after all, Robert will be going to college soon.Nora: Now if I were a man I'd be a farmer. To see the crops growing--that's my idea of a good life.Harry: Yes, and to see the money rolling in is more important still.Robert: Well, that's not the way I look at it, Dad. It's the job I care about, not the money.Harry: Maybe not; but you'll learn to care about the money too, when you've gota family to keep.Nora: And of course Peter — well, he's keen to be a racing driver, or else an explorer.Robert: Oh, Peter's not old enough to make up his mind about such things.Harry: You haven't answered my question yet, Robert. What would you like to do? Nora: Are you sure you don't want to be a farmer, Robert? Or a market gardener? Robert: No, I'm sorry Mum, but I don't want to at all. I'd rather be a civil engineer.I want to buildroads and bridges.Harry: Not ships? Isn't it better to be a shipbuilding engineer?Robert: Look here, is it my career we're planning, or yours?Harry: All fight, all right, there's no need to lose your temper. But you'd better win that scholarship first.Task 4【答案】I. correspondents; columnistA. may not need eitherB. to go to places where events take place and write stories about themII. first; bigger; better; who will soon leave to work for other peopleIII. working hours; free time; work long hours to begin with【原文】Here are some of the things a young man or woman should not do when he first asks an editor for a job:He should not tell the editor that he wants to be a foreign correspondent or a columnist. Very probably the editor does not need either. He wants a reporter who will go to such places as government offices and police stations and write a true story of what is happening there. Being a foreign correspondent or a columnist will come later.A young person should not tell tile editor that newspaper work is only the first step on the way to bigger and better jobs, such as those in government. The editor must take a lot of time and trouble teaching someone to be a good newspaperman or woman. He does not like the idea of teaching people who are soon going to leave him to work for someone else.A young journalist should accept the working hours and free time the editor gives him. As a new journalist, it is very probable that he will work longer hours than others and work on weekends. The editor did the same when he was a young newspaperman with no experience. He expects a journalist to understand how things are on a newspaper.Task 5【答案】A.1) acd 2) abeB.1) she is the wrong sex 2) she wears the wrong clothes【原文】SYLVIA: We've got a new manager in our department.LARRY: Oh? You hoped to get that job, didn't you?SYLVIA: Yes, I did.LARRY: I'm sorry. That's too bad. Who is it? Who got the job, I mean?SYLVIA: Someone called Drexler. Carl Drexler. He's been with the company onlytwo years. I've been here longer. And I know more about the job, too!LARRY: Hmm. Why do you think they gave it to him and not to you?SYLVIA: Because I'm the wrong sex, of course !LARRY: You mean you didn't get the job because you're a woman?SYLVIA: Yes, that was probably it! It isn't fair.LARRY: What sort of clothes does he wear?SYLVTA: A dark suit. White shirt. A tie. Why?LARRY: Perhaps that had something to do with it.SYLVIA: You mean you think I didn't get the job because I come to work in jeans and a sweater?LARRY: It's possible, isn't it?SYLVIA: Do you really think I should wear different clothes?LARRY: Well. . . perhaps you should think about it.SYLVTA: Why should I wear a skirt? Or a dress?LARRY: I'm not saying you should. I'm saying you should think about it. That's all!SYLVIA: Why should I do that? I'm good at my job! That's the only important thing!LARRY: Hmm. Perhaps it should be the only important thing. But it isn't. Not inthis company.Task 6【答案】B.1st speaker(bcd) 2nd speaker(ae)C.1) F 2) F【原文】Al: Is this the right line to file a claim?Bob: Yeah. It's the same line for everything. You just stand here and wait.Al: Oh. Is there always such a long line?Bob: Every week. Sometimes longer. Is this your first time here?Al: Yes.Bob: What happened? Your plant closed down?Al: No. I'm a car salesman, or, I was a car salesman. But we just aren't selling cars. It's the interest rates. Two years ago, I averaged ten new cars a month.Do you know how many carsI sold last month? One. One car to a lady who had the cash. But the interest ratesare up again. The boss let three of us go. How about you?Bob: I worked at a vacuum cleaner plant with about fifty workers. We put in a good day's work. But the machinery was getting old. As a matter of fact, the whole plant was old. So the management decided to build a new plant. You know where?In Singapore. The workers here made about seven dollars an hour, a couple of people made eight or nine an hour. You know how much they're paying the workers in Singapore? $2.50 an hour! Anyway, all fifty of us got laid off.Al: How long ago was that?Bob: They closed down ten months ago.Al: Any luck finding another job?Bob: Nothing. I have one, sometimes two, interviews a week. Last week I thought I had something. They liked my experience with machines. But I never heard from them again.Al: At least you know something about machines. All I can do is talk.Bob: Maybe you'll talk yourself into another job. Good luck. I'll see you here next week.Al: I hope not. I hope I'll have something by then.Task 7【答案】A.1) F 2) F 3) T 4) F 5) T 6) FB.1) According to the first speaker, it is frustrating because the teacher cannot see clearly the results of his efforts.2) According to the second speaker, English language teaching is a good job, because it guarantees a stable income and regular working hours and means less pressure. He also likes the way elderly teacher are.【原文】Interviewer: Do you prefer what you're doing to teaching?John Smith: Yes, one of the things I found a bit frustrating about teaching was that it was rather,very intangible than um, especially if you're teaching in England and most of the students know quite a lot of English before they arrive. They learn a lot of English outside the classroom, in pubs or coffee shops or other places, with the families they're living with. It's very difficult to pin down how much they learn from your actual lesson, whereas in marketing um, again there are lots of areas that are gray rather than black or white, but there are quite a few other areas where one can see quite clearly the results of one's efforts.Interviewer: What did you do after you quit your job in advertising?Second Man: In fact, I became a journalist and I worked as a freelance. I didn't have a full-time job with any newspaper. I just had to contribute thingsas they came along and 1wrote for magazines, and I did quite a lot of broadcasting for the VOA. Well, this was in a way the opposite of advertising because I enjoyed it a lot butI found it very hard to earn enough money to live on.Interviewer: And then you decided to be a teacher?Second Man: Well, and so I thought. Well, I must do something which produces an income that I can be sure of. While I was working as a journalist I had donean article for a magazine about the English language teaching world andm fact I had come to the school where I now teach as a journalist andinterviewed a lot of the people. And I thought it seemed a very nice placeand I thought that the classes I visited had a very, very nice feelingabout them, and so I thought, well, I'll see if they'll have me.Interviewer: Why do you prefer teaching to advertising?Second Man: Well, partly because in teaching you work regular hours. It I advertising you just had to stay at the office until the work was finished [I see.]and it could be three o'clock in the morning. [Oh, dean] Also you werevery often made to work at weekends. Often some job would come up thatwas very important and they said it had to be finished — it had to gointo the newspapers next week.Interviewer: So there was a lot mom pressure.Second Man: There was a lot more pressure in advertising. Also, the people I worked with when I was first in advertising were young hopeful people like myself.By the end I was working with a lot of old people who quite honestly wereawful. And I kept looking at them and saying, "Am I going to be like that?"And I thought if I am I'd better get out, whereas the English languageteachers I saw, who were older people I thought, well, they seemed quitenice. And I wouldn't mind being like that myself.Task 8【答案】The interview with Michale:【原文】Matthew: Michael, do you go out to work?Michael: Not regularly, no. I... I used to; I used to have a job in a publishing company, but Idecided it wasn't really what I wanted to do and that what I wanted to do wouldn't earn me much money, so I gave up working and luckily I had a private income from my family to support me and now I do the things I want to do. Some of them get paid like lecturing and teaching, and others don't.Matthew: What are the advantages of not having to go to work from nine till five? Michael: Ah... there' re two advantages really. One is that if you feel tired you don't have to get up, and the other is that you can spend your time doing things you want to do rather than being forced to do the same thing all the time. Matthew: But surely that's in a sense very self-indulgent and very lucky because most of us have to go out and earn our livings. Do you feel justified in having this privileged position?Michael: Yes, because I think I use it well. I do things which I think are useful to people and the community and which I enjoy doing.Matthew: Chris, what do you think the value of work is?Chris: Well, I think in our present-day society, for most people, work has very little value at all. Most of us go out to work for about eight to nine hours of our working day. We do things which are either totally futile and totally useless or have very little justification whatsoever, and for most of us the only reason for working is that we need to keep ourselves alive, to pay for somewhere to live, to pay to feed our children.Matthew: But surely people wouldn't know what to do if they didn't have to go to work?Chris: Well, again this raises the sort of two main aspects of work. Should we think of 'work only as a sort of bread-winning process, and this is very much the role it has in current society, or should we take a much wider perspective on work and think of all the possible sort of activities that human beingscould be doing during the day? I think the sort of distinction currently is between say, someone who works in a car factory and who produces cars which are just adding to pollution, to over-consumption of vital resources, who is doing something which is very harmful, both to our environment and to, probably society, to contrast his work with someone perhaps like a doctor, who I think in any society could be justified as doing a very valuable job and one which incidentally is satisfying to the person who is doing it.Matthew: What do you do? Is your job just a breadwinning process or do you get some satisfaction out of doing it?Chris: Well, in the job I do find that most of the satisfaction is a mental one;it's coming to grips with the problems of my subject and with the problems of teaching in the University. Clearly this is the type of satisfaction that most people doing what we call in England "white-collar" jobs. This is quite different from the sort of craftsman, who is either working that his hands or with his skills on a machine, or from people perhaps who are using artistic skills, which are of a quite different character. Certainly it's becoming a phenomena that people who do "white-collar jobs during the day, who work with their minds to some extent, people who work on computers, people who are office clerks, bank employees, these people have fairly soul-destroying jobs which nevertheless don't involve much physical effort, that they tend to come home and do "do-it-yourself" activities at home. They make cupboard, paint their houses, repair their cars, which somehow provide the sort of physical job satisfaction that they're denied in their working day.Task 9【答案】A.B.1) No major change. For some→“less paperwork”Some:→less working hoursOthers:→earn more money.2) Most adults→would go on working.Esp. young adults (18 to 24)→9 out of 10 would go on working【原文】Are most workers today feeling bored and dissatisfied with their jobs? It is often claimed that they are. Yet a study conducted by Parade magazine more than 20 years ago showed that people at that time felt the opposite.Parade asked questions of a representative sampling of adult Americans from coast to coast. The sampling included different sexes, age groups, and occupations. The interviewees were asked to make a choice from one of the following three to describe their feelings towards their work.A. Like their jobs.B. Dislike their jobs.C. Like their jobs in part,Results showed that 91 percent of the male interviewees and 84 percent of the females chose A, while only 5 percent men and 12 percent women interviewed chose B. The rest said that they liked their jobs in part and they comprised a very tow percentage.In all the three age groups — from 18 to 24, from 25 to 29 and 30 to 39 —those who liked theirjobs made up the majority. 70 percent, 88 percent and 92 percent respectively choose A. Those choosing B accounted for 20 percent, 9 percent and 8 percent of different age groups. And the rest, 6 percent, 3 percent and 0 percent respectively claimed that they only liked their jobs in part.The difference in responses among people with different occupations is small. Among the white-collar employees, those choosing A, B and C are 87 percent, 8 percent and 4 percent of the total. And for the blue-collar employees, 91 percent, 5 percent and 3 percent choose A, B and C respectively.It is interesting to note that there are few differences in attitude between men and women, professionals and factory workers. In each group, the largest number reported that they liked their jobs.Next, Parade asked, "If there were one thing you could change about your job, what would it be?" It was expected that many would wish to make their jobs less boring, but very few gave this reply. No major changes were reported. Some wished for "less paperwork"; many would shorten their working hours, but others would like more hours in order to earn more money. No serious complaints were made.Most people have to work in order to live. But what would happen if someone had enough money to stop working? Parade asked, "If you inherited a million dollars, would you go on working — either at your present job or something you liked better--or would you quit work?" The answers showed that most adults would prefer to work, even if they didn't have to. This is true especially of the younger adults aged 18-24. Of these, nine out often said they would go on working, even if they suddenly became millionaires.Task 10【答案】B.1) F 2) TC.1) b 2) aD.1. She really enjoyed meeting new people.2. She had good qualifications in English and Maths.3. She did not mind hard work, even if it was not always pleasant.4. She liked living away form home.【原文】Officer: Come in, please take a seat. I'm the careers officer. You're Cathy, aren't you?Mother: That's right. This is Catherine Hunt, and I'm her mother.Officer: How do you do, Mrs. Hunt? Hello, Catherine.Cathy: Hello. Pleased to meet you.Officer: And you'd like some advice about choosing a career?-Mother: Yes, she would. Wouldn't you, Catherine?Cathy: Yes, please.Officer: Well, just let me ask a few questions to begin with. How old are you, Catherine?Mother: She's nineteen. Well, she's almost nineteen.Officer: And what qualifications have you got?Mother: Well, qualifications from school, of course. Very good results she got. And she got certificates for ballet and for playing the piano.Officer: Is that what you're interested in, Catherine, dancing and music? Cathy: Well...Mother: Ever since she was a little girl, she's been very keen on music and dancing. She ought tobe a music teacher or something. She's quite willing to train for a few more years to get the right job, aren't you, Catherine?Cathy: Well, if it's a good idea.Mother: There you are, you see. She's a good girl really, a bit lazy and disorganized sometimes,but she's very bright. I'm sure the careers officer will have lots of jobs for you.Officer: Well, I'm afraid it's not as easy as that. There are many young people these days who can'tfind the job they want.Mother: I told you, Catherine. I told you, you shouldn't wear that dress. You have to look smart toget a job these days.Officer: I think she looks very nice. Mrs. Hunt, will you come into the other office for a momentand look at some of the information we have there. I'm sure you'd like to see how we can help young people.Mother: Yes, I'd love to. Mind you, I think Catherine would be a nice teacher. She could work with young children. She'd like that. Or she could be a vet. She's always looking after sick animals.Officer: I'm afraid there's a lot of competition. You need very good results to bea vet. This way, Mrs. Hunt. Just wait a minute, Catherine.(The mother exits.)Officer: There are just one or two more things, Catherine.Cathy: Do call me Cathy.Officer: OK, Cathy. Are you really interested in being a vet?Cathy: Not really. Anyway, I'm not bright enough. I'm reasonably intelligent, but I'm not brilliant. I'm afraid my mother is a bit over-optimistic.Officer: Yes, I guessed that. She's a bit overpowering, isn't she, your mum? Cathy: A bit. But she's very kind.Officer: I'm sure she is. So, you're interested in ballet and music, are you? Cathy: Not really. My mother sent me to lessons when I was six, so I'm quite good,I suppose. But I don't think I want to do that for the rest of my life, especiallymusic. It's so lonely.Officer: What do you enjoy doing?Cathy: Well, I like playing tennis, and swimming. Oh, I went to France with the school choir last year. I really enjoyed that. And I like talking to people. But I suppose you mean real interests — things that would help me to get a job? Officer: No. I'm more interested in what you really want to do. You like talking to people, do you?Cathy: Oh yes, I really enjoy meeting new people.Officer: Do you think you would enjoy teaching?Cathy: No, no, I don't really. I was never very interested in school work, and I'd like to do something different. Anyway, there's a teacher training college very near us. It would be just like going to school again.Officer: So you don't want to go on training?Cathy: Oh, I wouldn't mind at all, not for something useful. I wondered about beinga hairdresser — you meet lots of people, and you learn to do somethingproperly—but I don't know. It doesn't seem very worthwhile.Officer: What about nursing?Cathy: Nursing? In a hospital? Oh, I couldn't do that, I'm not good enough. Officer: Yes, you are. You've got good qualifications in English and Maths. But it is very hard work.Cathy: Oh, I don't mind that.Officer: And it's not very pleasant sometimes.Cathy: That doesn't worry me either. Mum's right. I do look after sick animals. Ilooked after our dog when it was run over by a car. My mother was sick, but I didn't mind. I was too worried about the dog. Do you really think I could be a nurse?Officer: I think you could be a very good nurse. You'd have to leave home, of course. Cathy: I rather think I should enjoy that.Officer: Well, don't decide all at once. Here's some information about one or two other things which might suit you. Have a look through it before you make up your mind.Task 11【原文】I began my career during college, reporting on news stories at a Toronto radio station. The station’s program manager was also a professor who taught one of my classes. I convinced him that she needed a youth reporter because that year was International Youth Year. After graduation, I took a job as a television news reporter and later, news anchor. But sports reporting was something different, so I decided to try it. Figure skating was my first assignment.I had two months until my new job began. It was like waiting an entire summer for school to start. I spent those two months talking to figure skating coaches and judges. I read boring rule books. I drove to the rinks where the skaters trained, and made notes about our conversations. I even took a lesson, which made some of the skaters laugh.(注:可编辑下载,若有不当之处,请指正,谢谢!)。

现代大学英语听力2 第1单元文本

现代大学英语听力2 第1单元文本

John: I found that living in Japan, people were much busier. They seem to work the whole day.
Etsuko:Yes, that's right. We work from Monday through Satursay, even in summer. You know,
Etsuko Yes, that's right
John Where I was living in Japan, in the north, it was much colder than England, especially in
winter, minus thirty degrees centigrade. Does the winter in Osaka last longer than winter in England?
4) Before Lent (a time on the Christian Calendar) the people of Ponti. Italy ate an omelet made with 1.000 eggs. People Could not cat meat, eggs or dairy products during Lent. so they tried to use up these things before Lent began.
Etsuka: Yes , if you like mountains.
John: And therefore the towns and the villages tend to be more crowded.

现代大学英语听力2听力原文及题目答案Unit

现代大学英语听力2听力原文及题目答案Unit

《现代大学英语听力2》听力原文及题目答案Unit 2Unit 2Task 1【答案】1) b 2) a 3) d【原文】Texas was the biggest state before Alaska became the forty-ninth state in 1959. One good way to understand the size of Texas is to learn about its weather. Different parts of the state have very different kinds of weather.Laredo is one of the hottest cities in the United States in summer. The best time to visit Laredo is in winter, when it is pleasantly warm.Amarillo gets very cold in winter. Sometimes there is more snow in Amarillo than in New York, which is a northern city. Summers are better, but sometimes it gets quite hot. The best time to visit Amarillo is in the autumn when it is cool.If anyone asks you about the weather in Texas, ask him, “What part of Texas do you mean?”Task 2【答案】A.1)T 2) F 3) FB.1) d 2) c 3) cC.climate, reputation, extraordinary, unreliable, dry, wet, clear, dull, hot, cold, bad, mild【原文】Our friend, Nick, whose English gets better and better, declared solemnly the other day that he thought that the British climate was wonderful, but the British weather was terrible. He went on to explain by pointing out that the British climate was a temperate one. This meant, he said, "that you could always be certain that the weather would never be extreme —at any rate not for any length of time —never very hot and never very cold." He quite rightly pointed out that the rainfall in Britain, according to the statistics, was not very heavy. "Why then," he asked, "has the British climate such a bad reputation?" He answered by saying it was because of the extraordinary, unreliable weather. There was no part of the year at which you could be certain that the weather would be dry or wet, clear or dull, hot or cold. A bad day in July could be as cold as a mild day in January. Indeed you could feel cold at almost any time of the year. Nick blamed drafty British houses for this, but agreed you could also blame the small amount of sunshine and a great amount of dampness. He advised every student coming to Britain to bring an umbrella and to understand the meaning of that splendid word "drizzle".Task 3【答案】I.the country; Trees, grass, lakes and steamsII.A.1. concrete, iron, steel2. take in the heat during the day and throw off heat into the air at nightB. Warmer winters, car engines; electrical applianceⅢ.A. air pollution may stop sunlight from reaching the earthB.1. Ice near the North and South poles to melt2. to be slowly flooded and people living in these cities to move to higher land 【原文】Cities change the climate around you. In the country, there are trees, grass, lakes, and streams. In hot weather, the trees and grass cool the area around them. Lakes and rivers also cool the area around them.But cities are not cooled in these natural ways. Cities are built of asphalt, concrete, iron, andsteel. There are few trees and usually not much grass. Rain falls onto the streets and into the sewers.When the summer sun shines, streets and buildings take in the heat; after the sun sets, the streets and buildings throw off heat into the street. Once the sun sets, the countryside cools off, but a city may stay hot all night.Cities are hotter than the countryside in winter, too. Standing near a car with its motor running, winter or summer, you will feel the heat thrown off by the engine. The heat comes from the gasoline burned by the engine. This heat warms the air and the ground around the car. Thousands of running cars are almost like thousands of small fires burning.Carefully put your hand near a light bulb or television set. As you can see, electricity creates a lot of heat. This heat from electricity warms the house and the outside air.The heat given off by cities can affect the climate. Some experts even believe that cities can change the climate of the whole world. They think that air pollution may stop sunlight from reaching the earth. If less sunshine reaches the earth, the earth may become cooler.Still other experts think the world will get warmer. If the world did get warmer, great changes would occur. Ice near the North and South poles would melt. This would make the oceans rise. Cities near oceans — like Los Angeles, Boston, and Miami —would slowly be flooded. People living in these cities would have to move to higher land.Task 4【答案】A.1) b 2) cB. night, delight; morning, warning; gray, way, red, headC.1) F 2) T 3) F【原文】A red sky at either dusk or dawn is one of the spectacular and beautiful weather predictors we have in nature. By closely observing this phenomenon, you can achieve short-range accuracy of the weather as good as, or better than your local weatherman. In the Bible, Jesus in Matthew 16, 2-3 is quoted as saying, “When it is evening, it will be fair weather: for the sky is red. And in the morning it will be foul weather today: for the sky is red” when speaking to the Pharisees. An old English weather proverb based on this passage is:Red sky at night, sailors delight.Red sky at morning, sailors take warning.OrEvening red and morning gray,Sends the traveler on his way.Evening gray, morning red,Brings the rain down on his head.At dusk, a red sky indicates that dry weather is on the way. This is due to the sun shining through dust particles being pushed ahead of a high pressure system bringing in dry air. A red sky in the morning is due to the sun again shining through dust. In this case however, the dust is being pushed on by an approaching low reassure system bringing in moisture. Don't confuse a red sky in the morning with a red sun in the morning. If the sun itself is red and the sky is a normal color, the day will be fair.Task 5【答案】1) c 2) b 3) d 4) c 5) c【原文】Mark: I am an avid fly fisherman and frequently find myself on the river in a raft during lightning storms. We always have a debate at thesetimes on where we are safest —pulling into shore or staying on thewater. Since I have heard one is safe in a car when lightning strikesI wonder if the raft floating on the water is insulated, and thereforethe safest place to be.Meteorologist A: We spoke with some scientists about your question, and they all agreed that under no circumstances should you remain on the waterduring a lightning storm. If your raft is made of rubber, you mightfeel that you're .well insulated, but don't kid yourself. Typicallightning flashes travel 10 to 15 kilometers and can deliver as muchas 100,000 amps of current. In comparison, a toaster uses about 10amps of current. If lightning strikes the water near you, it willhave no trouble traveling through a few extra centimeters of rubber. Meteorologist B: So, if you're on the water and a thunderstorm approaches, get to the shore and seek shelter on land. Try a building or car. If neitheris available, look for a cave, cliff, wall, or a group of trees. Nevertake shelter under an isolated tree-it's also a good target forlightning.Task 6【答案】A.1) F 2) T 3) F 4) T 5) F 6) TB.Incredible, one minute, one kilometer, destroyed, lifted up, carried away, killed, injured【原文】Every spring and summer many inland areas are hit by tornados. A tornado is a kind of storm. It's a revolving, funnel-shaped column of air that moves through the sky at very high speeds. A tornado looks like a huge, black ice cream cone whirling through the sky. The speed of a tornado is very fast-it is believed to be between 200 and 700 kilometers per hour.Tornados form under very special weather conditions, and these special weather conditions occur most often in inland areas, such as the central United States. A tornado forms when a layer of warm, dry air is on top of a layer of cooler, moist air. This combination of dry, warm air above wet, cool air creates a condition that causes the lower layer of air to lift up. As the lower air rises, both layers of air begin to rotate, to turn around and around. The air begins to rotate faster and faster because of centrifugal force. The tornado has a center called an “eye” and the air rotates quickly around this eye.As the air begins to rotate faster and faster, the tornado cloud begins to grow downward; that is, it begins to form a funnel or cone, and this cone goes down toward the ground.The cone of air is dark because it develops from a dark rain cloud. As the cloud gets longer, as the cloud gets closer to the ground, it begins to pull up dirt from the ground. Then the funnel ofrotating air becomes very dark because of the dirt in it. As the tornado funnel gets longer, it begins to drag along the ground.When the tornado touches the ground, it does incredible damage. It usually touches the ground for only about one minute, and it usually travels along the ground for only about one kilometer, but during that one minute, buildings are destroyed, trees are lifted up out of the ground, small objects are carried away, and sometimes people are injured or killed.Task 7【答案】A.1) b 2) a 3) bB.1) It has been nice weather during the day, but it is going to change at night.2) Fine weather in southern Europe and not so nice in northern EuropeFor todaySoutheast England---26 degrees Celsius by mid-afternoonSouthern Scotland---Maximum temperatures of around 21 degreesBrighton---15 hours of lovely sunshineMidlands---23 degrees Celsius by early afternoonNorthwest of Scotland---Light showers around middayFor the weekendSpain---34 degrees CelsiusGreece---32 degrees CelsiusFrance---Cloudy with rain, maximum temperatures of 22 degreesNorthern Ireland---Heavy rain, 17 degrees CelsiusMost of England---Cloudy but mainly dry with sunny periods, 23 degrees Celsius 【原文】Radio Announcer: You’re listening to Radio Metro. It’s two minutes to nine, and time for the latest weather for cast from Dan Francis at the London Weather Centre. Francis: Hello. It's been another warm and fine day for most of us. Temperatures in southeast England reached 26 degrees Celsius by mid-afternoon, and Brighton had 15 hours of lovely sunshine. Further north it was a little cooler with maximum temperatures of around 21 degrees in southern Scotland, and in the far northwest of Scotland there were some light showers around midday. But the rest of the country, as I said, has been warm and dry with temperatures in the Midlands reaching 23 degrees Celsius by early afternoon though it was a little cooler along the west coast and in Northern Ireland. But already the weather is beginning to change, I'm afraid, and during the night showers will slowly move in from the Atlantic to reach south-west England and the southern coast of Wales by early morning.The rest of the country will have a very mild, dry night with minimum temperatures no lower than 15 degrees in the south, a little cooler — 11degrees or so —in the north. Any remaining showers in northwest Scotland will pass quickly to leave a mild, dry night there too.And now the outlook for Friday and the weekend. Well, southern Europe will, once again, get the best of the weekend weather, and if your holiday starts this weekend, then southern Spain is the place to go, with temperatures of 34 degrees along the Mediterranean coast. At the eastern end of the Med, too, you can expect uninterrupted sunshine and temperatures of up to 32 degrees Celsius in Greece and southeast Italy, but further north the weather's not so settled. Much of France, Belgium and the Netherlands will be cloudy with occasional rain, and maximum temperatures will be around 22 degrees — very disappointing for this time of the year.Scotland and Northern Ireland will have heavy rain for much of the weekend and temperatures will drop to a cool 17 degrees. Across most of England the weather will be cloudy but mainly dry with sunny periods. And when the sun does come out, temperatures could rise to a maximum of 23 degrees.Task 8【答案】【原文】As the air pressure around you either rises or falls, many changes in nature occur. Most of these are very obvious changes while others are of a more subtle nature.Mountains and other far away objects will appear to be much closer and more sharply focused as wet weather approaches and the air pressure drops. The dust particles in the air begin to settle to the ground and the air clears, allowing you to see more details of faraway objects. As a high pressure front approaches and the air becomes “thicker,” more dust particles become suspended in air and things take on their normal somewhat hazy appearance.“Sharp horns on the moon threaten bad weather.” This and a bright, clear moon are good indicators that wet weather is on the way. As the air clears of dust particles ahead of a low pressure system, the moon appears to come closer and be more sharply focused due to the lack of dust.Sound also becomes sharper and more focused prior to stormy weather. Instead of traveling upward and outward into the atmosphere sound waves are bent back to the earth and their range extended. Bird calls sound sharper, and, at my house, we can hear the blowing of the train horn as it rumbles through the valley below.If you find yourself out in a marsh or swamp and the air really seems to stink more than normal, expect rainy weather. This happens when the pressure drops and the methane trapped on the bottom of the swamp is released in greater quantities. In reverse, as fair weather approaches and the pressure rises, things won't smell quite so strong.Birds and bats have a tendency to fly much lower to the ground right before a rain due to the “thinning” of the air. They prefer to fly where the air is the most dense and they can get greater lift with their wings. With high pressure and dry air, the atmosphere becomes denser and they can easily fly at higher altitudes.Smoke rising straight into the air means fair weather and smoke hanging low meansrain is on the way. This is pretty much the same as with the birds and methane in the swamp. When high pressure approaches, smoke will rise whereas with low pressure it can't rise and tends to lay low.Remember a grandparent talking about how their corns, bunions, or joints ached right before a rain? Again, this is due to the decreasing atmospheric pressure allowing the gas in our bodies to expand.Task 9【答案】A. Statements 3, 6, 7 are true.B.f—c—a—d—b—eC.1) F 2) T 3) F 4) FD.1) d 2) b【原文】It was 1974. Richard Nixon was still president. Kidnapped heiress Patty Hearst was still missing. In Xenia, a pretty spot of 25,000 people amid fields of soybeans and corn, American Graffiti was held over at the Cinema. The Xenia Hotel offered a chicken and dumpling dinner for $, but everyone flocked to the A&W drive-in for burgers and root beer floats. That's where five of the bodies were found after the storm.In all, 33 people died in Xenia's tornado, the deadliest of 148 storms that raged through 13 states during the infamous "Super Outbreak'' of tornadoes April 3 to 4, 1974. In 16 hours and 10 minutes, 330 people were killed and nearly 5,550 were injured from Illinois to Georgia.Though the Xenia death toll has been matched by other killer storms, the degree of devastation makes the city's tornado among U.S. history's most destructive. The storm still is studied in colleges by aspiring meteorologists, a textbook case of a rare Category F-5, the most intense of tornadoes.On that fateful day, I was a young boy of 8 years old. We lived in the Arrowhead Subdivision. That afternoon I was around the corner playing with some neighbor kids.I thought I could hear my father calling me, so I ran back to the house. Thinking back now, there is no way I would have been able to hear him. I was too far away for a voice to have traveled in the afternoon noise. Besides, Dad had a very bad case of tonsillitis that day. Like I was saying, I went back home and got through the door just in time to answer the ringing phone. On the other end of the phone was my Mother. Mom was working. She told me she heard a bad storm was on the way. She told me to make sure the garage door was shut and to stay inside. After I hung up the phone, I settled down to watch The Dennis Show. To this day I can vividly remember the electricity going out. I looked out the large window in the living room and didn't have a clue as to what I was looking at.Dad was asleep on the couch, so I woke him up to look. Dad looked and said to get into the bathroom. We sat on the floor. Dad had his back to the door and hisfeet pushing against the wall opposite the door. I remember that as soon as we sat down, the windows broke. Glass blew under the door, and the sound was tremendous.I know it really didn’t take too long for the tornado to go past, but I do remember the conversation we had in the process. I could feel the cool air rushing under the floor through the crawlspace vents. I asked if we were flying. He said he wasn't sure, but he didn't think we were. He said the house was tearing apart. I asked him how he knew. He said he just knew it was.When things calmed down, we opened the door. The odd feeling I had, looking up the street from inside what once was my hallway, is still with me today.I think back often to that day. I think back and wonder what would have happened if my Dad hadn't been sick that day. Like a lot of kids, I stayed home by myself after school back then. I seriously doubt I would be able to tell you my story, if I had been alone that day. I still live in Xenia and wouldn’t trade this town for any other.Task 10【原文】Undoubtedly, Tibet is one of the harshest places for human existence. It is cool in summer but freezing cold in winter. In Lhasa, the mildest city temperature may exceed 29C in summer while plummeting to -16C in winter! Sun radiation is extremely strong in Tibet. The sunlight in Lhasa is so intense that the city is called Sunlight City. The thin air can neither block off nor retain heat so that the temperature extremes can be met in daytime and the same night respectively in Tibet. However it is not impossible to visit the holy snow land. April to October is the best time to visit Tibet, out of the coldest months, which are from December to February usually. The average temperature in north Tibet is subzero and winter arrives in October until the following May or June. July and August are the best time to visit the area, enjoying warm temperature, intense sunshine, beautiful scenery and festive events. May, June and September is the tourist season in east Tibet. In winter, roads are all blocked by heavy snow. Landslides and rock falls frequently occur, which will make travel difficult.。

现代大学英语听力2听力原文及题目答案Unit

现代大学英语听力2听力原文及题目答案Unit
Robert: Well, that's not the way I look at it, Dad. It's the job I care about, not the money.
Harry: Maybe not; but you'll learn to care about the money too, when you've got a family to keep.
In the station she went to one of the automatic ticket machines but she didn't have enoughchange, so she had to join the queue at the ticket window. She bought her ticket and ran to theescalator. Laura went to the platform and waited for the tube. It arrived and the crowd moved forward.
Nora: Now ifI were a man I'd be a farmer. To see the crops growing--that's my idea of a goodlife.
Harry: Yes, and to see the money rolling in is more important still.
Ihad two months until my new job began.It was like waiting an entire summer for school to start.Ispent those two months talking to figure skating coaches and judges.Iread boring rule books.Idrove to the rinks where the skaters trained, and made notes about our conversations.Ieven took a lesson, which made some of the skaters laugh.

《现代大学英语听力2》听力原文及答案unit1

《现代大学英语听力2》听力原文及答案unit1

《现代大学英语听力2》听力原文及答案Unit 1Unit 1Task 1【答案】A.1) She wanted to see St. Paul’s Cathedral.2) She was so surprised because she saw so many Englishmen who looked alike.3) They were all wearing dark suits and bowler hats, carrying umbrellas and newspapers.4) Because she had often read about them and seen photographs of them, who all looked as if they were wearing a uniform.5) No, he didn’t.6) He used the English saying “It takes all kinds to make a world” to prove his opinion.B.If all the seas were one sea, what a great sea it would be! And if all the trees were one tree, what a great tree it would be! And if this tree were to fall in the sea, what a great splash there would be!【原文】Yesterday morning Gretel went to the City of London. She wanted to see St. Paul's Cathedral. She was surprised to see so many Englishmen who looked alike. They were all wearing dark suits and bowler hats. They were all carrying umbrellas and newspapers. When she returned home she asked Mr clark about these strange creatures. "They must be typical English gentlemen," she said." I have often read about them and seen photographs of them. They all look as if they are wearing a uniform. Does the typical English gentleman still exist"Mr. Clark laughed. "I've never thought about it," he answered." It's true that many of the men who work in the City of London still wear bowler hate and Isuppose they are typical Englishmen. But look at this." Mr. Clark picked up a magazine and pointed at a photo of a young man. "He's just as typical, perhaps. It seems as if there is no such thing as a 'typical' Englishman. Do you know the English saying 'It takes all kinds to make a world' That's true of all countries-including England."“Oh, just like the poem ‘If All the Seas Were One Sea’,” Gretel began to hum happily. If all the seas were one sea, what a great sea that would be! If all the trees were one tree, what a great tree that would be! And if this tree were to fall in the sea, w hat a great splash that would be!”Task 2【答案】A.1) people were much busier2) colder than England; minus thirty degrees; last longer3) much more mountainous; much higher and much more rocky; more beautiful4) tend to be more crowded5) the houses; smallerB.1) T 2) T 3) F 4) F 5) F【原文】John is British but has worked in Japan. Etsuko is Japanese from Osaka, but she is studying in Britain. In the following passage you are going to hear, they are comparing life as they see it in the two countries. But before listening to it, think of the two countries and try to answer the following pre-listening questions.John: I found that living in Japan, people were busier. They seem to work the whole day.Etsuko: Yes, that’s right. We work from Monday through Saturday, even in summer.You know, summer in Japan is just horrible. It’s very, very humid and hot, and you need to shower three times a day.John: So you find it cooler in England?Etsuko: Yes, that’s right.John: Where I was living in Japan, in the North, it was much colder than England, especially in winter, minus thirty degrees centigrade. Does the winter in Osaka last longer than the winter in England?Etsuko: No, I don’t think so. December, January, February, March.John: Yes. It’s a little bit shorter if anything.Etsuko: Ever since I came here, I noticed that the countryside here in England is very beautiful.John: It’s much flatter than in Japan.Etsuko: Yes. Japan is a mountainous country and our cities are full of people. There are lots of people in a limited flat area.John: Yes, I found Japan much more mountainous than Britain, especially in the north. The mountains are much higher and much more rocky. I found it more beautiful than Britain, I think.Etsuko: Yes, if you like mountains.John: And therefore the towns and villages tend to be more crowded.Etsuko: Yes, that’s right.John: Yes. So because the cities are more crowded, the houses tend to be smaller, don’t they?Etsuko: Yes, they are very compact, and we don’t hav e a lot of space. In big cities we have a lot of taller buildings now.John: Is this a problem because there are more earthquakes in Japan?Etsuko: Yes, that’s right and…Task 3【答案】A.1) In the US, people usually dance just to enjoy themselves; they don’t invite other people to watch them.2)Usually eight people dance together.3)Because people form a square in dancing with a man and a woman on each side ofthe square.4) He usually makes it into a song.5) They wear old-fashioned clothes.B.1) F 2) T 3) F 4) F 5) TC.1) eight people form a square; on each side of the square2) what they should do; makes it into a song; sings it3) don’t have much time to think4) old-fashioned clothes【原文】Rosa: Why don’t you have folk dances in the United States Most countries have special dances that the people have done for many years. The dancers wear clothes from the old days. Everyone likes to watch them dance.Steve: We have folk dances, too. A lot of people belong to folk dancing groups. But when they dance, they usually do it just to enjoy themselves. They don’t invite other people to watch them.Rosa: Is there a folk dancing group hereSteve: I think so. There must be. There’s one in almost every city, and some big cities have several.Rosa: What are the dances likeSteve: Usually eight people dance together, four men and four women. When they start, they form a square, with a man and a woman on each side of the square. That’s why it’s called square dancing.Then there’s a man who tells the dancers what they should do. He usually makes it into a song. He sings it while they dance.Rosa: Oh, that should make the dances easy!Steve: Yes, but they are very fast. They don’t have much time to think. I like to watch them, though. The dancers wear old-fashioned clothes. That makes the dances pretty to watch.Rosa: I’d like to watch a group dance.Steve: I’ll take you sometime.Task 4【答案】1) It was a time to celebrate the end of winter and the beginning of spring.2) They burned the picture of their kitchen god to bring good luck.3) The custom said the brides must wear “something old, something new, somethingborrowed, and something blue” to bring good luck.4)Because they could not eat meat, eggs or dairy products during Lent, so theytried to use up these things before Lent began.5)It was a straw man made by children in Czech; it was a figure of death.6)People brought their animals to church. And before the animals went into thechurch people dressed them up in flowers and ribbons.【原文】1) On the evening of February 3rd, people in Japanese families took one dried bean for each year of their age and threw the beans on the floor, shouting "Good luck in! Evil spirits out!" This was known as "Setsubun", a time to celebrate the endof winter and the beginning of spring.2) Before the Chinese Lunar New Year in the old days, many Chinese families burned the picture of their kitchen god to bring good luck. When Lunar New Year's Day came, they put ancw picture of the kitchen god on the wall.3) When American women got married, they sometimes followed an old custom in choosing what to wear on their wedding day. The custom said the bride must wear "something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue". This was to bring good luck.4) Before Lent (a time on the Christian calendar), the people of Ponti, Italy ate an omelet made with 1,000 eggs. People could not eat meat, eggs or dairy products during Lent, so they tried to use up these things before Lent began.5) When winter ended in Czech, the children made a straw man called "Smrt", which was a figure of death. They burned it or threw it in the river. After they destroyed it, they carried flowers home to show the arrival of spring.6) January 17th was St. Anthony's Day in Mexico. It was a day when people brought their animals to church. But before the animals went into the church, the people dressed them up in flowers and ribbons. This ceremony was to protect people's animals.Task 5【答案】A.1) F 2) T 3) F 4) T 5) F 6) T 7) TB.【原文】Man: Well, I think life used to be much more fun than it is now. I mean, look at the Victorians. They had lots of servants to do all the work; they never had to do any cooking or cleaning; they just wore those beautiful dresses and went to tea parties.Woman: You must be joking! Their clothes were terribly uncomfortable and their tea parties were very formal and boring. They used to wear their hats and long gloves even when they were eating cakes and biscuits. And men were not usually invited.Man: Really Weren't theyWoman: And think of the poor servants. What a terrible life — just cleaning and cooking for other people all the time!Man: But you hate housework!Woman: Yes, I know, but there are lots of machines now to help you with the housework.People don't need servants.Man: Maybe they don't, but life then was much slower than it is now-people nowadays are always rushing, and they never have time to stop and enjoy themselves. Woman: Life then was fine for the rich, but it was dreadful for the poor. There was much more illness. They didn't have the money to pay doctors, and they often used to die of illnesses that don't exist in England now.Man: Maybe. But people used to talk to each other, play the piano or play cards together. Nowadays people just sit in front of the television for hours and never talk to each other.Woman: I agree with you about television; but what about their children They left their Children with the servants all day. Children hardly ever saw their parents! And the clothes they had to wear! Horrible, tight, uncomfortable, grown-up clothes. Children have a much better life now than they used to, and schools and education are much better too.Man: I hate school.Woman: And look at opportunities for women. In those days, women used to stay at home, play the piano, change their clothes several times a day and have tea parties. What a life! They didn't have any freedom at all. I'm very happy living now. I can work, have a career, do what I want to.Man: You mean you can work hard all your life like a Victorian servant. Woman: Life isn't all tea parties, you know.Task 6【答案】A.1) b 2) a 3) c 4) aB.1) family unit; process; change; used to be; the extended; the nuclear2) job patterns; progressed; agricultural; industrial; forced; job opportunities; split up3) traditional; family; expanded; other living arrangementsC.1) mother, father, children, and some other relatives, such as grandparents, livingin the same house or nearby2)only the parents and the children3)previously married men and women marry again and combine the children from formermarriages into a new family【原文】The American family unit is in the process of change. There used to be mainly two types offamilies: the extended and the nuclear. The extended family most often included mother, father, children, and some other relatives, such as grandparents, living in the same house or nearby. Then as job patterns changed and the economy progressed from agricultural to industrial, people were forced to move to different parts of the country for job opportunities. These moves split up the extended family. The nuclear family became more prevalent; this consisted of only the parents and the children. Now besides these two types of traditional groupings, the word "family" is being expanded to include a variety of other living arrangements.Today's family can be made up of diverse combinations. With the divorce rate nearly one in two, there is an increase in single parent homes: a father or mother living with one or more children. "Blended families" occur when previously married men and women marry again and combine the children from former marriages into a new family. On the other hand, some couples are deciding not to have any children at all, so there is an increase in childless families. There are also more people who live alone: single, widowed, divorced. Now one in five Americans lives alone.Task 7【答案】A.B.1) c 2) c 3) a 4) b 5) c 6) c 7) c【原文】In Japan both men and women go to university and both men and women study the arts such as history or English. But very few women study science, medicine or engineering. In engineering classes of thirty or forty students, there may be only one or two women. Men and women both go to university in order to get good jobs: men want to work for a big company, be successful, earn a lot of money and support a family; women, on the other hand, want to work for a big company because they have a better chance of meeting a successful man and getting married. This is changing, however, as Japanese women begin to think about their own careers. They have beganto take jobs which they like rather than jobs in order to find a husband.Men work for their whole lives and usually stay with the same company. A woman may work up to ten years, but after that she usually gets married. Most women are married by the age of twenty seven, then they stay at home and look after the children.A man does not cook or look after the children. When he comes home, his meal must be ready. The woman may go out in the afternoon, shopping with her friends or having a chat, but she must go back home by four o'clock to prepare the meal. Then she may have to wait a long time for her husband to come home. Often he has to go out for a drink after work: if he doesn't he may not rise very high in the company. After her children grow up, a woman can go back to work, but it is not easy. If her former company takes older women back, she might be lucky. But most women find it difficult to find a job when they are older.Task 8【答案】A.1) a 2) c 3) b 4) c 5) c 6) b 7) c 8) bB.1) T 2) T 3) F 4) F 5) T 6) F 7) F 8) F 9) T 10) F【原文】Matthew: Geth, how do people set about getting married in EnglandGeth: I suppose the most common way is still for people to go home. For example, people who live in London now will go back to their homes in the provinces where they'll meet all their relatives and their parents, and they'll get married in a church, with the bride wearing white, the traditional white.Then they'll go off and have a booze-up with their relatives and friends and a jolly good time will be had by all. Otherwise you can get married ina registry office, which means you turn up with your bride-to-be orbridegroom-to-be with two witnesses only. The ceremony takes about five minutes, I suppose. You sign the form and that's it.Matthew: There are many today who say that marriage is a complete waste of time.What's your view of marriage in the twentieth centuryGoth: Well, I live in London as you know. I think in London, the tendency is to...for a... boy and girl, man or woman to live together before marriage and often to live together without any prospect of marriage at all. I think this probably is... is true of London and the other big cities than elsewhere, because after all people in London are living in a big place where home ties are obviously less restrictive. They can do more or less as they please andI think this is the pattern.Matthew: But do you think it helps for people to live together before taking their vowsGeth: I think in a sense the habit of living together before marriage may, ina strange sort of way, make marriage stronger, because after all the peoplewill know each other better when they do get married and it might be suggested that divorce would be less likely between such a couple.Matthew: Sue, you've been married for two or three years now. How's it working out Sue: I think it's a successful marriage. It's... I mean, it's difficult to say why, because we basically suit each other very much. We have a goodfriendship, apart from anything else, and, you know, we just go together very well because we respect each other's freedom and individuality, but on the other hand we really need each other, you know, it's... Matthew: What about.., have you thought of having childrenSue: Well, obviously, like most young couples, we have thought about it, but, you know, we both feel rather, sort of, loath to lose our freedom just yet.I think we'll probably wait another few years.Matthew: Is it easy in England today to people to get divorced, or is that quite difficultChris: I think technically it's probably fairly easy, I think, because I'm not English but, I think technically it's fairly easy to be... to get divorced.But it's not just the technicality of it which is the problem. Divorce is...is a social stigma which people can probably Cope with to varying degrees, but it's also a lot easier for the man because the woman, after she is divorced is, in fact, frowned upon by... by a lot of people in society. She is... is...at a... a much more difficult social position in terms of... of meeting other men, or whatever, simply because she is a divorcee.Task 9【原文】Social customs and ways of behaving change. But they do not necessarily always change for the better. Things which were considered impolite many years ago are now acceptable. Just a few years ago, it was considered impolite behaviour for a man to smoke on the street. No man who thought of himself as being a gentleman would make a fool of himself by smoking when a lady was in the room.The important thing to remember about social customs is not to do anything that might make other people feel uncomfortable — especially if they are your guests. There is a story about a rich nobleman who had a very formal dinner party. When the food was served, one of the guests started to eat his peas with a knife. Other guests were amused or shocked, but the nobleman calmly picked up his knife and began eating in the same way. It would have been bad manners to make his guest feel foolish or uncomfortable.。

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《现代大学英语听力2》听力原文及答案Unit 1Unit 1Task 1【答案】A.1) She wanted to see St. Paul’s Cathedral.2) She was so surprised because she saw so many Englishmen who looked alike.3) They were all wearing dark suits and bowler hats, carrying umbrellas and newspapers.4) Because she had often read about them and seen photographs of them, who all looked as if theywere wearing a uniform.5) No, he didn’t.6) He used the English saying “It takes all kinds to make a world” to prove his opinion.B.If all the seas were one sea, what a great sea it would be! And if all the trees were one tree,what a great tree it would be! And if this tree were to fall in the sea, what a great splash therewould be!【原文】Yesterday morning Gretel went to the City of London. She wanted to see St. Paul's Cathedral.She was surprised to see so many Englishmen who looked alike. They were all wearing dark suitsand bowler hats. They were all carrying umbrellas and newspapers. When she returned home sheasked Mr clark about these strange creatures. "They must be typical English gentlemen," she said." I have often read about them and seen photographs of them. They all look as if they are wearing a uniform. Does the typical English gentleman still exist?"Mr. Clark laughed. "I've never thought about it," he answered." It's true that many of the menwho work in the City of London still wear bowler hate and I suppose they are typical Englishmen.But look at this." Mr. Clark picked up a magazine and pointed at a photo of a young man. "He'sjust as typical, perhaps. It seems as if there is no such thing as a 'typical' Englishman. Do youknow the English saying 'It takes all kinds to make a world'? That's true of all countries-including England."“Oh, just like the poem ‘If All the Seas Were One Sea’,” Gretel began to hum happily. If allthe seas were one sea, what a great sea that would be! If all the trees were one tree, what a greattree that would be! And if this tree were to fall in the sea, w hat a great splash that would be!”Task 2【答案】A.1) people were much busier2) colder than England; minus thirty degrees; last longer3) much more mountainous; much higher and much more rocky; more beautiful4) tend to be more crowded5) the houses; smallerB.1) T 2) T 3) F 4) F 5) F【原文】John is British but has worked in Japan. Etsuko is Japanese from Osaka, but she is studyingin Britain. In the following passage you are going to hear, they are comparing life as they see it inthe two countries. But before listening to it, think of the two countries and try to answer thefollowing pre-listening questions.John: I found that living in Japan, people were busier. They seem to work the whole day.Etsuko: Yes, that’s right. We workfrom Monday through Saturday, even in summer. You know,, and you need to shower three timessummer in Japan is just horrible. It’s very, very humid and hota day.John: So you find it cooler in England?Etsuko: Yes, that’s right.John: Where I was living in Japan, in the North, it was much colder than England, especially inwinter, minus thirty degrees centigrade. Does the winter in Osaka last longer than the winter inEngland?Etsuko: No, I don’t think so. December, January, February, March.s a little bit shorter if anything.John: Yes. It’Etsuko: Ever since I came here, I noticed that the countryside here in England is very beautiful.John: It’s much flatter than in Japan.Etsuko: Yes. Japan is a mountainous country and our cities are full of people. There are lots ofpeople in a limited flat area.John: Yes, I found Japan much more mountainous than Britain, especially in the north. Themountains are much higher and much more rocky. I found it more beautiful than Britain, I think.Etsuko: Yes, if you like mountains.John: And therefore the towns and villages tend to be more crowded.Etsuko: Yes, that’s right.John: Yes. So because the cities are more crowded, the houses tend to be smaller, don’t they?e a lot of space. In big cities we have a lot ofEtsuko: Yes, they are very compact, and we don’t havtaller buildings now.John: Is this a problem because there are more earthquakes in Japan?Etsuko: Yes, that’s right and…Task 3【答案】A.1) In the US, people usually dance just to enjoy themselves; they don’t invite other people towatch them.2)Usually eight people dance together.3)Because people form a square in dancing with a man and a woman on each side of the square.4) He usually makes it into a song.5) They wear old-fashioned clothes.B.1) F 2) T 3) F 4) F 5) TC.1) eight people form a square; on each side of the square2) what they should do; makes it into a song; sings it3) don’t have much time to think4) old-fashioned clothes【原文】Rosa: Why don’t you have folk dances in the United States? Most countries have special dances that the people have done for many years. The dancers wear clothes from the old days.Everyone likes to watch them dance.Steve: We have folk dances, too. A lot of people belong to folk dancing groups. But when they dance, they usually do it just to enjoy themselves. They don’t invite other people towatch them.Rosa: Is there a folk dancing group here?every city, and some big cities have Steve: I think so. There must be. There’s one in almostseveral.Rosa: What are the dances like?Steve: Usually eight people dance together, four men and four women. When they start, they formlleda square, with a man and a woman on each side of the square. That’s why it’s caHe square dancing. Then there’s a man who tells the dancers what they should do.usually makes it into a song. He sings it while they dance.Rosa: Oh, that should make the dances easy!Steve: Yes, but they are very fast. They don’t have much time to think. I like to watch them, though. The dancers wear old-fashioned clothes. That makes the dances pretty to watch. Rosa: I’d like to watch a group dance.Steve: I’ll take you sometime.Task 4【答案】1) It was a time to celebrate the end of winter and the beginning of spring.2) They burned the picture of their kitchen god to bring good luck.3) The custom said the brides must wear “something old, something new, something borrowed,and something blue” to bring good luck.4)Because they could not eat meat, eggs or dairy products during Lent, so they tried to use upthese things before Lent began.5)It was a straw man made by children in Czech; it was a figure of death.6)People brought their animals to church. And before the animals went into the church peopledressed them up in flowers and ribbons.【原文】1) On the evening of February 3rd, people in Japanese families took one dried bean for each yearof their age and threw the beans on the floor, shouting "Good luck in! Evil spirits out!" This was known as "Setsubun", a time to celebrate the end of winter and the beginning of spring.2) Before the Chinese Lunar New Year in the old days, many Chinese families burned the pictureof their kitchen god to bring good luck. When Lunar New Year's Day came, they put ancw picture of the kitchen god on the wall.3) When American women got married, they sometimes followed an old custom in choosing whatto wear on their wedding day. The custom said the bride must wear "something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue". This was to bring good luck.4) Before Lent (a time on the Christian calendar), the people of Ponti, Italy ate an omelet madewith 1,000 eggs. People could not eat meat, eggs or dairy products during Lent, so they tried touse up these things before Lent began.5) When winter ended in Czech, the children made a straw man called "Smrt", which was a figureof death. They burned it or threw it in the river. After they destroyed it, they carried flowershome to show the arrival of spring.6) January 17th was St. Anthony's Day in Mexico. It was a day when people brought their animalsto church. But before the animals went into the church, the people dressed them up in flowers and ribbons. This ceremony was to protect people's animals.Task 5【答案】A.1) F 2) T 3) F 4) T 5) F 6) T 7) TB.Advantages DisadvantagesLots of servants to do the work Terrible life for servantsbeautiful clothes to wear very uncomfortable clotheslots of tea parties boring and formal tea parties — often no menbeing invitedlife being slower much more illnessplenty of time to talk to each other children left with servants all dayvery poor educationno freedom for women【原文】Man: Well, I think life used to be much more fun than it is now. I mean, look at the Victorians.They had lots of servants to do all the work; they never had to do any cooking or cleaning;they just wore those beautiful dresses and went to tea parties.Woman: You must be joking! Their clothes were terribly uncomfortable and their tea parties were very formal and boring. They used to wear their hats and long gloves even when they were eating cakes and biscuits. And men were not usually invited.Man: Really? Weren't they?Woman: And think of the poor servants. What a terrible life — just cleaning and cooking for other people all the time!Man: But you hate housework!Woman: Yes, I know, but there are lots of machines now to help you with the housework. People don't need servants.Man: Maybe they don't, but life then was much slower than it is now-people nowadays are always rushing, and they never have time to stop and enjoy themselves.Woman: Life then was fine for the rich, but it was dreadful for the poor. There was much more illness. They didn't have the money to pay doctors, and they often used to die of illnessesthat don't exist in England now.Man: Maybe. But people used to talk to each other, play the piano or play cards together.Nowadays people just sit in front of the television for hours and never talk to each other. Woman: I agree with you about television; but what about their children? They left their Children with the servants all day. Children hardly ever saw their parents! And the clothes they hadto wear! Horrible, tight, uncomfortable, grown-up clothes. Children have a much betterlife now than they used to, and schools and education are much better too.Man: I hate school.Woman: And look at opportunities for women. In those days, women used to stay at home, play the piano, change their clothes several times a day and have tea parties. What a life! Theydidn't have any freedom at all. I'm very happy living now. I can work, have a career, dowhat I want to.Man: You mean you can work hard all your life like a Victorian servant.Woman: Life isn't all tea parties, you know.Task 6【答案】A.1) b 2) a 3) c 4) aB.1) family unit; process; change; used to be; the extended; the nuclear2) job patterns; progressed; agricultural; industrial; forced; job opportunities; split up3) traditional; family; expanded; other living arrangementsC.1) mother, father, children, and some other relatives, such as grandparents, living in the same house or nearby2)only the parents and the children3)previously married men and women marry again and combine the children from formermarriages into a new family【原文】The American family unit is in the process of change. There used to be mainly two types of families: the extended and the nuclear. The extended family most often included mother, father, children, and some other relatives, such as grandparents, living in the same house or nearby. Then as job patterns changed and the economy progressed from agricultural to industrial, people were forced to move to different parts of the country for job opportunities. These moves split up the extended family. The nuclear family became more prevalent; this consisted of only the parents and the children. Now besides these two types of traditional groupings, the word "family" is being expanded to include a variety of other living arrangements.Today's family can be made up of diverse combinations. With the divorce rate nearly one in two, there is an increase in single parent homes: a father or mother living with one or more children. "Blended families" occur when previously married men and women marry again and combine the children from former marriages into a new family. On the other hand, some couplesare deciding not to have any children at all, so there is an increase in childless families. There are also more people who live alone: single, widowed, divorced. Now one in five Americans lives alone.Task 7【答案】A.Men Women Both Study subjects like history or English √Study engineering √Go to university to get good jobs √Look for a good job because they want a good husband √Look for a good job because they want to be successful √Work for a lifetime √Work up to ten years √Get married by twenty-seven √Cook the meals √Look after the children √Go out for a drink after work √Come home by four o'clock in the afternoon √B.1) c 2) c 3) a 4) b 5) c 6) c 7) c【原文】In Japan both men and women go to university and both men and women study the arts such as history or English. But very few women study science, medicine or engineering. In engineering classes of thirty or forty students, there may be only one or two women. Men and women both goto university in order to get good jobs: men want to work for a big company, be successful, earn alot of money and support a family; women, on the other hand, want to work for a big company because they have a better chance of meeting a successful man and getting married. This is changing, however, as Japanese women begin to think about their own careers. They have beganto take jobs which they like rather than jobs in order to find a husband.Men work for their whole lives and usually stay with the same company. A woman may workup to ten years, but after that she usually gets married. Most women are married by the age of twenty seven, then they stay at home and look after the children. A man does not cook or look after the children. When he comes home, his meal must be ready. The woman may go out in the afternoon, shopping with her friends or having a chat, but she must go back home by four o'clockto prepare the meal. Then she may have to wait a long time for her husband to come home. Often he has to go out for a drink after work: if he doesn't he may not rise very high in the company.After her children grow up, a woman can go back to work, but it is not easy. If her former company takes older women back, she might be lucky. But most women find it difficult to find ajob when they are older.Task 8【答案】A.1) a 2) c 3) b 4) c 5) c 6) b 7) c 8) bB.1) T 2) T 3) F 4) F 5) T 6) F 7) F 8) F 9) T 10) F【原文】Matthew: Geth, how do people set about getting married in England?Geth: I suppose the most common way is still for people to go home. For example, people who live in London now will go back to their homes in the provinces where they'll meet alltheir relatives and their parents, and they'll get married in a church, with the bridewearing white, the traditional white. Then they'll go off and have a booze-up with theirrelatives and friends and a jolly good time will be had by all. Otherwise you can getmarried in a registry office, which means you turn up with your bride-to-be orbridegroom-to-be with two witnesses only. The ceremony takes about five minutes, Isuppose. You sign the form and that's it.Matthew: There are many today who say that marriage is a complete waste of time. What's your view of marriage in the twentieth century?Goth: Well, I live in London as you know. I think in London, the tendency is to... for a... boy and girl, man or woman to live together before marriage and often to live togetherwithout any prospect of marriage at all. I think this probably is... is true of London andthe other big cities than elsewhere, because after all people in London are living in a bigplace where home ties are obviously less restrictive. They can do more or less as theyplease and I think this is the pattern.Matthew: But do you think it helps for people to live together before taking their vows?Geth: I think in a sense the habit of living together before marriage may, in a strange sort of way, make marriage stronger, because after all the people will know each other betterwhen they do get married and it might be suggested that divorce would be less likelybetween such a couple.Matthew: Sue, you've been married for two or three years now. How's it working out?Sue: I think it's a successful marriage. It's... I mean, it's difficult to say why, because we basically suit each other very much. We have a good friendship, apart from anythingelse, and, you know, we just go together very well because we respect each other'sfreedom and individuality, but on the other hand we really need each other, you know,it's...Matthew: What about.., have you thought of having children?Sue: Well, obviously, like most young couples, we have thought about it, but, you know, we both feel rather, sort of, loath to lose our freedom just yet. I think we'll probably waitanother few years.Matthew: Is it easy in England today to people to get divorced, or is that quite difficult?Chris: I think technically it's probably fairly easy, I think, because I'm not English but, I think technically it's fairly easy to be... to get divorced. But it's not just the technicality of itwhich is the problem. Divorce is... is a social stigma which people can probably Cope with to varying degrees, but it's also a lot easier for the man because the woman, after sheis divorced is, in fact, frowned upon by... by a lot of people in society. She is... is... at a...a much more difficult social position in terms of... of meeting other men, or whatever,simply because she is a divorcee.Task 9【原文】Social customs and ways of behaving change. But they do not necessarily always change for the better. Things which were considered impolite many years ago are now acceptable. Just a few years ago, it was considered impolite behaviour for a man to smoke on the street. No man who thought of himself as being a gentleman would make a fool of himself by smoking when a ladywas in the room.The important thing to remember about social customs is not to do anything that might make other people feel uncomfortable — especially if they are your guests. There is a story about a rich nobleman who had a very formal dinner party. When the food was served, one of the guests started to eat his peas with a knife. Other guests were amused or shocked, but the nobleman calmly picked up his knife and began eating in the same way. It would have been bad manners to makehis guest feel foolish or uncomfortable.。

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