英语专四历年听写文本

TEM4听写50篇文本Town and Country Life in EnglandThere is a big difference between town life and country life in England. In the country, everybody knows everybody else. They know what time you get up, what time you go to bed and what you have for dinner. If you want help, you will always get it and you will be glad to help others.In a large town like London, however, it can sometimes happen that you have never seen your next door neighbor and you do not know his name or anything about him. People in London are often very lonely. This is because people go to different places in the evenings and at weekends. If you walk through the streets in the center of London on Sunday, it is like a town without people. One is sorry for old people living on their own. They could die in their homes and would not be discovered for weeks or even months.A Change in Women’s LifeThe important change in women’s life-pattern has only recently begun to have its full effect on women’s economic position. Even a few years ago most gi rls left school at the first opportunity, and most of them took a full-time job. However, when they married, they usually left work at once and never returned to it. Today the school-leaving age is sixteen, many girls stay at school after that age, and though women tend to marry younger, more married women stay at work at least until shortly before their first child is born. Very many more afterwards return to full-time or part-time work. Such changes have led to a new relationship in marriage, with the husband accepting a greater share of the duties and satisfactions of family life and with both husband and wife sharing more equally in providing the money, and running the home, according to the abilities and interests of each of them.Useful Words and Expressions:1.life-pattern生活方式2.shareA Popular Pastime of the English PeopleOne of the best means of understanding the people of any nation is watching what they do with their non-working time.Most English men, women and children love growing things, especially flowers. Visitors to England in spring, summer or autumn are likely to see gardens all the way along the railway lines. There are flowers at the airports and flowers in factory grounds, as well as in gardens along the roads. Each English town has at least one park with beautifully kept flower beds. Public buildings of every kind have brilliant window boxes and sometimes baskets of flowers are hanging on them.But what the English enjoy most is growing things themselves. If it is impossible to have a gard en, then a window box or something growing in a pot will do. Looking at each other’s gardens is a popular pastime with the English.Useful Words and Expressions:1. window box:窗台上的花盆箱2.pastime 消遣，娱乐Swimming is my favorite pastime.British and American Police OfficersReal policemen, both in Britain and the U.S., hardly recognize any common points between their lives and what they see on TV—if they ever get home in time.Some things are almost the same, of course, but the policemen do not think much of them.The first difference is that a policeman’s real life deals with the law. Most of what he learns is the law. He has to know actually what actions are against the law and what facts can be used to prove them in court. He has to know nearly as much law as a lawyer, and what’s more, he has to put it into practice on his feet, in the dark and, running down a narrow street after someone he wants to talk to.Little of his time is spent in talking with beautiful girls or in bravely facing cruel criminals. He will spend most of his working life arranging millions of words on thousands of forms about hundreds of sad, ordinary people who are guilty--- or not of stupid, unimportant crimes.Useful Words and Expressions:1.think much of 重视，尊重2.in court 在法庭上3.criminal 罪犯，犯罪者4.guilty 犯罪的，有罪的Living SpaceHow much living space does a person need? What happens when his space needs are not met? Scientists are doing experiments on rats to try to determine the effects of overcrowded conditions on man. Recent studies have shown that the behavior of rats is greatly affected by space. If rats have enough living space, they eat well, sleep well and produce their young well. But if their living conditions become too crowded, their behavior and even their health change obviously. They can not sleep and eat well, and signs of fear and worry become clear. The more crowded they are, the more they tend to bite each other and even kill each other. Thus, for rats, population and violence are directly related. Is this a natural law for human society as well? Is enough space not only satisfactory, but necessary for human survival? These are interesting questions.The United NationsIn 1945, representatives of 50 nations met to plan this organization. It was called the United Nations. After the war, many more nations joined.There are two major parts of the United Nations. One is called the General Assembly. In the General Assembly, every member nation is represented and has an equal vote.The second part is called the Security Council. It has representatives of just 15 nations. Five nations are permanent members: the United States, Russia, France, Britain, and China. The 10 other members are elected every two years by the General Assembly.The major job of the Security Council is to keep peace in the world. If necessary, it can send troops from member nations to try to stop little wars before they turn into big ones.It is hard to get the nations of the Security Council to agree on when this is necessary. But they did vote to try to stop wars.Useful Words and Expressions:1.representative 代表2.General Assembly 联合国大会3.permanent 永久的，持久的4.Security Council 联合国安全理事会PlasticWe use plastic wrap to protect our foods. We put our garbage in plastic bags or plastic cans. We sit on plastic chairs, play with plastic toys, drink from plastic cups, and wash our hair with shampoo from plastic bottles!Plastic does not grow in nature. It is made by mixing certain things together. We call it a produced or manufactured material. Plastic was first made in the 1860s from plants, such as wood and cotton. That plastic was soft and burned easily.The first modern plastics were made in the 1930s. Most clear plastic starts out as thick, black oil. That plastic coating inside a pan begins as natural gas.Over the years, hundreds of different plastics have been developed. Some are hard and strong. Some are soft and bendable. Some are clear. Some are many-colored. There is a plastic for almost every need. Scientists continue to experiment with plastics. They hope to find even ways to use them!Display of GoodsAre supermarkets designed to persuade us to buy more?Fresh fruit and vegetables are displayed near supermarket entrances. This gives the impression that only healthy food is sold in the shop. Basic foods that everyone buys, like sugar and tea, are not put near each other. They are kept in different aisles so customers are taken past other attractive foods before they find what they want. In this way, shoppers are encouraged to buy products that they do not really need.Swee ts are often placed at children’s eye level at the checkout. While parents are waiting to pay, children reach for the sweets and put them in the trolley.More is bought from a fifteen-foot display of one type of product than from a ten-foot one. Customers also buy more when shelves are full than when they are half empty. They do not like to buy from shelves with few products on them because they feel there is something wrong with those products that are there.Useful Words and Expressions:1.aisle 走廊，过道2.trolley 手推车3.checkout 收款台Albert EinsteinAlbert Einstein was born in Germany in 1879, His father owned a factory that made electrical devices. His mother enjoyed music and books. His parents were Jewish but they did not observe many of the religion’s rules. Al bert was a quite child who spent much of his time alone. He was slow to talk and had difficulty learning to read. When Albert was five years old, his father gave him a compass. The child was filled with wonder when he discovered that the compass needle always pointed in the same direction—to be north. He asked his father and his uncle what caused the needle to move. Their answers about magnetism and gravity were difficult for the boy tounderstand. Yet he spent a lot of time thinking about them. He said later that he felt something hidden had to be behind things.Useful expressions and words:1.device 装置，设备leave to one’s own devices 听任某人自行其是，允许某人按自己的意愿做事She left the child to her own devices for an hour in the afternoon.她允许孩子在下午有一个小时的自由支配时间。

四级听写1. InsectsNobody likes insects. They are annoying and sometimes dangerous. Some of them bite us and give us diseases; others bite us and give us big red spots. Some do not bite, but just fly around our heads or crawl around our houses and gardens. /Indeed, we do not like most of them except those lovely butterflies. / But insects are interesting. Firstly, they are very old animals. Three hundred and twenty million years ago, there were no man in the world, but there were insects. Today, on every square mile of land there are millions of them flying and crawling about. Secondly, insects are very adaptable to their surroundings, so that today there are about a million different species in the world.Why then do some people try to kill insects? After all, not many of them hurt us. The reason is that they eat so much of man’s food and there are so many of them. (158 words)2. A Protest against InjusticeIt all started on a bus one day in 1955. A black woman was returning home from work after a long hard day. She sat near the front of the bus because she was tired and her legs hurt. But in those days, black people could sit only in the back of the bus. So the driver ordered the woman to give up her seat. But the woman refused, and she was arrested.Incidents like this had happened before. But no one had ever spoken out against such treatment of blacks. This time, however, a young black preacher organized a protest. He called on all black citizens to stop riding the buses until the laws were changed. He led the protest movement to end such injustice to the blacks. The protest marked the beginning of the civil rights movement in the United States. (146 words)3. Foolish TestsCenturies ago, a man accused of a crime / often had to go through a strange test. / In one country, for instance, a metal bar was dropped into boiling oil. / The prisoner had to put his hand into the oil and take out the bar. / It was believed that the oil would not burn an innocent man. / If the prisoner got his hand burned, he would be found guilty of the crime he was accused of. / Another foolish method was used in Europe. / When a man was accused of a crime, he was thrown into a pool or river. / If he floated, people declared that he was guilty. / They took him out of the water and punished him. / However, if the man sank, people claimed that he was innocent. / They pulled him out of the water quickly and released him. / We do not know what would have happened / if the man had learned to swim under the water. (160 words)4. Why Do People Want Work?People work because they need money to live. / They need money for food and clothes and to pay for their houses, flats or the rooms where they live. / People need money formany different things / and they can earn money if they work. / Work makes people feel important. / Work makes them feel that they are useful. /But machines can not do many things that people used to do. / Technology is giving us more cars, roads and food but less work. / Many businessmen believe that we will soon have robots / which will work all the time. / The robots will never complain or stop work. / Some scientists think that by the year 2025 / intelligent animals will do the work that many people do now. /In tomorrow’s world, / people will need to learn new things / because life will be changing so fast. / People will have to change their ideas about work. / (152 words)5. The Great DepressionThe stock market crash in October 1929 / marked the beginning of the worst economic crisis in American history. / For the first year, the economy fell very slowly. / But it dropped sharply in 1931 and 1932. / By the end of 1932, the economy collapsed almost completely. /During the three years following the stock market crash, / the American gross national product dropped by almost half. / Millions of people lost their jobs. / Tens of thousands lost their homes. / Men with wives and children begged for money on the streets. / During the next several years, / a large part of the richest nation on earth / learned what it meant to be poor. /Hard times found their way into every area and every job. / Workers struggled as factories closed. / Farmers hit with falling prices and natural disasters / were forced to give up their farms. / Businessmen lost their stores, and sometimes their homes. / All the gains of the 1920s were washed away. (154 words)6. Learning to describeAll through my boyhood and youth, I was known as an idle person, / and yet I was always busy with my own private affairs, / which was to learn to write. / I always kept two books in my pocket, / one to read, and the other to write in. / As I walked, my mind was busy / fitting what I saw with appropriate words. / When I sat by the roadside, / I would either read, / or note down the features of the scene / or write some lines of verse. / Thus I lived with words. / What I wrote was not for future use, / but was written consciously for practice. / Description was the principal field of my exercise. That was a proficiency that tempted me, and I practiced to acquire it. To anyone with sense, there is always something worth describing. (138 words)7. Angel FallsAngel Falls, deep in the jungles of Latin America, is the highest waterfall in the world. / It is over 1,000 feet higher / than any other fall in the world. / Imagine that you are goingthere by plane. / For hundreds of miles you fly southeast over green plains, / mountains with forests, and high plateaus. / Suddenly you see a silver thread in the distance. / As your plane flies closer, / you see water falling over half a mile straight down the cliff. / It is such an impressive sight that you will never forget it. /No one knew about the waterfall until 1930, / when James Angel, an American pilot, / was flying over the mountains and canyons in the area. / He suddenly saw a waterfall. / The water seemed to be dropping straight out of the clouds. /In 1941 an American expedition explored and measured the falls. / From the top to the bottom, / the water falls more than 3,200 feet. / (152 words)8. Fixing a Flat TireI was coming home along the motorway the other night / when I heard a sudden bang. / Immediately I realized that I had a flat tire. /I managed to stop without falling off, / but I still had the problem of what to do about the tire. / With a motorbike, you have to take the wheel off, / find the hole, cover it with a little piece of rubber, / then put the whole lot hack together again. / It takes ages and you get very dirty. / As I didn't have any choice, I set to work. / It didn't take long to get the wheel off / and it wasn't too hard to remove the tire from the wheel. / Finding the hole took longer / but the fun really began / when I had to put the wheel back on the bike. / You’ve no idea how easy it is to lose / small pieces of a motorbike in the dark. / (155 words)9. Pace of Public SpeechPace refers to how fast or how slow you speak. / If you speak too fast, you may be difficult to follow. / If you speak too slow, / you risk losing the attention of your audience. / If audience attention seems to be drifting away, / try picking up your pace. / Usually you don't know / that you have been going too fast until someone tells you so / after your speech is over. / If you are told this, guard against this mistake in the future. / In your next speech / write reminders on your note cards to slow down. /Ideally the speaker varies his or her pace. / Speaking fast and then slowing down helps keep the attention of the audience. / Also, don't forget the benefits of pausing. / A pause before or after a dramatic moment is a highly effective technique. / The next time you are watching a comedian on television, / watch how he or she uses pauses. / (154 words)10. The Wolf and the ShepherdA wolf had long hung about a flock of sheep, / and had done them no harm. / The shepherd, however, had his suspicions, / and for a while was always on the lookout for him / as a dangerous enemy. / But as the wolf continued for a long time to follow his flock / without making any attempt to annoy them, / the shepherd began to look upon him more as a friend than an enemy. / One day the shepherd happened to have to go into the city, / sohe entrusted the sheep to the care of the wolf. / The wolf saw his opportunity and fell upon the sheep and ate them up. / On his return, the shepherd saw his flock destroyed / and exclaimed: "What a fool I am! / I deserve no less for trusting my sheep to a wolf! " / The moral of the fable is: / There is more danger from a pretended friend than from an open enemy. / (159 words)11. A Strange ManThere is a story about a man who behaves very strangely. / What others like, he dislikes, / and what most people enjoy, he doesn’t care for. /He is extremely particular about selecting the correct tie to wear with his suit, / but it doesn't bother him if his shirt is dirty / or his suit isn’t pressed. /He always sees the negative side of things. / He finds fault with the best movie of the year, / but stays awake until two o’clock in the morning / watching very old movies on television. / Even his taste in food is peculiar. / He drinks warm water and cold tea, / eats raw eggs and can't stand fresh fruit.Last week his uncle died and left him a million dollars. / In his will, the old man insisted that the nephew spend / half the inheritance within the next five years. / If he didn’t, the money would be given to a university. / Everyone is anxious to know what the nephew will do. / (163 words)12. Why Should I Take a Part-time job?The first obvious reason is the money. / I am not one of those rich kids / whose parents could give them cars as birthday presents. / My parents have worked all their lives / and saved every penny to pay my tuition and living expenses. / Although they would be willing to give me some pocket money, / if I asked, I prefer to earn it myself. / I feel good that I can in a way / lighten the burden of my parents.The second reason is the experience my part-time job provides. / Sooner or later, I'll have to enter the job market and sell myself. / And if I am to sell myself for a good price, / experience will make a difference. / While working, I get to know people / employers as well as workers. / I learn how to deal with the bosses / and how to get along with my fellow workers. / All this experience gained from my part-time job / will be valuable to my future. / (169 words)13. BadmintonBadminton is a fast game played by two or four persons. / It can be played both indoors and outdoors. / The outdoor game is more suitable for family enjoyment at home. / Badminton is an ancient game, which took its name from the place where the game was played indoors for the first time. / There are several explanations of how the modern game began. / One is that English army officers brought the game home from India in the1870s and it soon became popular in England. /Badminton trains the player's ability to react quickly with his eyes, his mind, his feet and his hand. / Becoming a good player requires physical fitness and mental effort. / Constant practice and habits of concentration and confidence are necessary. / The great players of the game have often been great sportsmen. / This is apparent in their conduct both on and off the court. / (146 words)14. Animated CartoonsWhen we see Mickey Mouse on the screen, / we all know that he is not a real mouse at all. / Yet like a living creature, he moves and talks. / How can Mickey Mouse move around, / tell jokes and do tricks in an animated cartoon? /The first thing that needs to be done / is to divide the script or the movie story into sections / and illustrate each section separately. / A full-length cartoon feature needs hundreds of thousands of drawings. / When all the drawings are completed, they are photographed by a motion picture camera. /There is much more to a cartoon film than drawings. / It sometimes takes hundreds of artists to work for years to produce one. / Actors and singers are selected to give voices to the drawn pictures. / Music is specially composed and fitted into the movie. / No wonder cartoon characters are fun to watch, / whether seen at home on television or in a movie theater. / (158 words)15. The Nursing StaffThe physicians in a hospital form the core of the medical staff. / But they could not provide effective medical care to their patients without the help of numerous nurses. / For the patients, the nursing staff is particularly important. / Nurses are usually in close contact with patients / as long as they are in the hospital. /The nursing staff is usually quite large and diverse. / The general term “nurse” refers to a person / trained to offer bedside care to sick persons. /A nurse does not study for as many years as a doctor. / However, she must be very dedicated. / Caring for the sick requires a great deal of patience and concern. / Most nurses work long days, / and they often must work at odd hours or during the night. / Serving as a nurse in a hospital can be a very rewarding job. / But not every person is suited to become one. / (151 words)16. The SupermarketIn almost all supermarkets there are shopping carts with a special space to put the baby. In the early days, before there were carts, it was noticed that as soon as a woman shopper had her arms full of goods, she stopped buying. Thus carts were introduced. Later a space for the baby was provided in the cart because it was observed that with the babysitting comfortably in the cart the mother felt less need to hurry through the store and consequently bought more.The average American housewife goes to the supermarket twice a week. On the average she spends one or two hours there each week. Women don’t go to the supermarket just to buy food. Visiting the supermarket is the housewife's chance to get away from home for a while. In the supermarket she feels that she is part of the outside world. She gets to know all the new products. Frequently she meets a number of her friends in the supermarket. (167 words)17. Changes in FashionsWomen's fashions tend to change more rapidly and radically than men’s. In the early 1900s, all women wore their skirts down to the ankle. Today, skirt length varies from floor-length to ten inches above the knee. Women’s shoes have also gone through all sorts of changes in the last seventy years. For example, boots for women were very common around the turn of the century. Then, for years, they were not considered fashionable. Today they are back in style again in all colors, lengths, and materials. In fact, today's women can wear all sorts of clothes, even slacks and shorts, on almost any occasion. While all of these changes were taking place in women's fashions, men's clothing remained pretty much the same until a couple of years ago. In fact, most men still wear the traditional suit though bright colors and varieties in cut are now more common. (153 words)18. The Future of the CinemaThe cinema became the greatest entertainment industry in the world because millions of people paid to see films. But today, in many countries, more and more people prefer to watch television. In countries where a lot of people watch television, fewer and fewer films are made, and there are fewer and fewer cinemas to show them. But this does not mean that there will come a time when no films are made and there are no cinemas left.The cinema did not really become a form of art for many years. Most films were made for entertainment only. But a number of film directors have always tried to do more than entertain. And their films have been works of art. In the future this kind of film will become more and more important. The cinema, which began as entertainment, may perhaps live on as art. (151 words)19. Football in EnglandWhat is surprising about football in England is the great knowledge of the game which even the smallest boys seem to have. They can tell you the names of the players on most of the important teams. They know the results of large numbers of matches. They will tell you, with an air of authority, who will win such and such a match, and their opinion is usually as valuable as that of men three or four times their age.Most schools in England take football seriously. They believe that education is not merely a matter of filling a boy's mind with facts in the classroom. It also means character training. And one of the best ways of training character is by means of games, especially such team games as football. The schools, therefore, regularly arrange games and matches for their pupils. (145 words)20. LifeLife is difficult. Life is a series of problems. What makes life difficult is that the process of facing and solving problems is a painful one. Problems, depending on their nature, cause in us sadness or loneliness or regret or anger or fear. And since life poses an endless series of problems, life is always difficult and full of pain as well as joy.Yet, it is in this process of solving problems that life has its meaning. It is only because of problems that we grow mentally. When we desire to encourage the growth of the human spirit, we challenge and encourage the human capacity to solve problems, just as in school we set problems for our children to solve. It is through the pain of meeting and working out problems that we learn. It is for this reason that wise people learn not to dread but actually to welcome the pain of problems. (157 words)21. Going on a TourHave you ever been a tourist? If so, did you enjoy every part of your tour? Your tour was almost certainly easier and more comfortable than the journeys of a hundred years ago. Today you can fly in comfortable planes and stay in good hotels. The countries that you visit all try to make your tour as enjoyable as possible.Not very long ago, a tourist had to be either rich or ready to bear very rough conditions. Today it is not necessary to be rich in order to be a tourist. More and more people leave their own countries for holidays in foreign lands. The tourist industry has become very important.At present most of these tourists go to countries in Europe. Italy usually attracts most tourists. Mountain lovers go to Switzerland in winter and sun-lovers from northern lands crowd the shores of the Mediterranean Sea in summer. (153 words)22. My First Day AbroadWhen the plane finally touched down on the runway, I was terribly scared. I didn't know how they were going to receive me. At the airport I passed through immigration and customs, and entered a big hall. Sitting next to me were a young man and a woman and three children running about. A singing group sang a welcome song for a group of students from America. I was green with jealousy and was very disappointed since nobody was there waiting for me! I found a telephone, called Friendship Ambassadors, and told them I had arrived. Later that night the founder of the organization told me that they hadn'treceived my telegram, so they couldn't meet me on my arrival. I felt better when some warm-hearted people treated me very kindly that night. I will never forget my first experience going abroad. (147 words)23. Senior CitizensPeople over the age of sixty-five in the United States are called senior citizens. The number of these people is increasing rapidly because people are living longer than before. Their life is different from that of younger Americans. Most of them are retired or no longer work full time.For many senior citizens, the years after sixty-five are not enjoyable. They feel that their lives lose meaning after retirement. In addition, they may feel lonely being away from their families and the contacts they had in their work. Moreover, they become more worried about their health as they grow older, and about their safety if they live in big cities. Other senior citizens enjoy their lives. They feel free to do what they were not able to when they were working and raising families. They now have time to enjoy hobbies and sports and travel. (148 words)24. Thanksgiving DayThe American Thanksgiving Day goes back to 1621. In that year a special feast was prepared in Plymouth, Massachusetts. The colonists who had settled there had left England to find religious freedom. They experienced many difficulties in coming across the Atlantic. After arriving in the new land, they were assisted by the Indians. They had much to be thankful for. Their religious practices were no longer forbidden. They learned to adjust their farming habits to the climate and soil. When they selected the fourth Thursday of November for their Thanksgiving celebration, they invited the Indians to join them in dinner and a prayer of gratitude for the new life. They recalled the group of 102 men, women and children who left England. They remembered their dead who did not live to see the shores of Massachusetts. They reflected on the 35-day journey which tested their strength. (146 words)25. Chinese FoodThe first time I ever ate Chinese food I loved it. From then on, it tasted better and better. The first thing I noticed was the fresh taste of the meat and vegetables. When I learned more about the food, I began to understand why it is so.In ancient times, China lost much of its wood due to overpopulation and poor management of its forests. Wood became very expensive and hard to get, so the Chinese had to either find something else to use, or learn how to use wood better. In order to use as little wood as they could, they started cutting their meat and vegetables into small pieces before they put them into the hot oil. In that way the food cooked faster and they savedwood. The food kept its fresh flavor, and it’s this flavor that attracts people to the art of Chinese cooking. (152 words)26. SugarSugar has been known to man for at least 3,000 years, but has come into common use only in modern times. Until quite recently, it was considered a medicine and a luxury for the very rich.But what exactly is sugar? Of course, most of us recognize it immediately as the sweet material we put in coffee or cakes. This common form of sugar is derived from such plants as the sugar cane. But in fact there are many kinds of sugar, and the chemist recognizes hundreds of different varieties.About 90% of the sugar produced is used as food. Only 10% is used in industry for purposes other than food production. Yet sugar has great possibilities for use as the basis of chemicals. It can even be used for making plastics. In the future, these potential uses of sugar will certainly be developed more fully than in the past. (149 words)27. Working WivesShould married women work outside the home? The question seems almost odd today although it was a serious one in the past. More and more married women are working and for most of them the reason is obvious. They must work if their families are to survive in an age of soaring inflation and unemployment. But what about those who don't really have to work? Do the rewards justify their efforts? The answer is pretty clearly yes.In families in which the wife has a choice, the extra paycheck may ease the financial burden on her husband. For young couples, it may mean the possibility of buying a house of their own. Unless the wife works, buying a house is simply out of the question. Another important reason is that a job provides a wife with additional security, psychological as well as financial, in the event of the illness or death of her husband. (157 words)28. Benefits of Urban LifeIn spite of the city's image as an unhealthy place, city living often provides benefits that country living lacks. That's why people living in urban areas often live longer than those in the country.One factor which seems to contribute to their long life is exercise. In the cities it is often faster and less frustrating to walk short distances than to wait for a bus. Even taking public transportation often requires some walking. Smaller apartment houses have no elevators and so tenants must climb stairs. City dwellers usually have to walk to local supermarkets. Since parking space is hard to find, there is often no alternative to walking.On the other hand, those who live in the country do not have to walk every day. In fact, the opposite is often true. To go to work, school or almost anywhere else, they must ride incars. (152 words)29. Disadvantages of Living in Big CitiesAlthough big modern cities provide people with many facilities, they certainly have their disadvantages.The first serious problem is the traffic. During the rush hours, wherever you look it’s people, people, people. All the streets are jammed with packed buses and endless lines of cars. As a result, traffic accidents often occur. Next comes the problem of pollution. Factories and vehicles are constantly giving off harmful smoke, so that urban people seem to have forgotten what fresh air is like. Every year, millions of people die of cancer or other diseases caused by air-pollution.Apart from these, there are many more. For example, there is the housing problem. And another is the high crime rate. Finally, urban dwellers are so far away from nature that most of them just lose track of seasons !(140 words)30. The Great American GameBaseball is called the great American game. Hardly a boy in the U. S. has grown up without playing it. The game is so much a part of American life that its terms have become the common everyday speech of the people. Scores of baseball terms are used by people who may never have seen a game in their life.During World War II, Germans dressed in American uniforms turned up behind the American lines. Many of them spoke English so well that they passed themselves off as American soldiers. However, the U. S. Army found a way to tell which were false and which were real. They halted strange soldiers at check-points and asked them questions about baseball and some of the star players. Genuine Americans could answer the questions easily. But the Germans, who couldn't, were promptly made prisoners of war. (146 words)31. The U.S. Coast GuardThe U. S. Coast Guard does what its name says. It has responsibility for many different duties. The Coast Guard can be found at many large lakes in America and in coastal waters. It enforces laws controlling navigation, immigration, and fishing. It enforces other laws that affect the thousands of privately-owned boats in the United States. Coast Guard planes, boats, and helicopters search for missing boats and rescue people in dangerous situations. It also does scientific research on the ocean and clears ice from rivers or lakes, so boats can travel safely.One of the Coast Guard's most important duties now is to stop drug trafficking into the United States. Armed Coast Guard boats use radio and radar to find boats that may carry drugs. They stop the boats suspected of carrying drugs and search them. They seizethe drugs and arrest the people if they find any illegal drugs aboard. (158 words)32. Encounter with StrangersTalking with a stranger will often enrich our knowledge. For instance, a gardener I met in a park told me more about how plants grow than I had ever learned before. Once a taxi driver invited me to tea at his home and helped me learn about a way of life different from my own.Through talking with strangers, we can learn something about ourselves, for an encounter with a stranger, at its best, is a meeting of hearts and minds. To a stranger, we may say things that we have always wanted to say, but never dared mention to our family members or friends, and thus see ourselves through new eyes.Meeting a stranger by chance can result in a life-long friendship. Thirty years ago I met a stranger at a station while waiting for a train, and we’ve been friends ever since. Come to think of it, weren't nearly all our friends once strangers? (160 words)33. LawsBefore laws were written, there was no sure way of knowing what was permitted and what was forbidden. One judge might apply one set of rules to a case while another judge might apply completely different rules to a similar case. It all depended on the personal judgment of one person.Today we follow the custom of recording our laws. Rules passed by our lawmakers are printed and available for everyone to see. Unless laws are publicly available, we do not regard them as binding.Each of us is subject to many different sets of laws. Some laws say what is permitted, such as how fast you may drive. Other laws say what is required, such as paying a federal income tax. Still other laws say what is prohibited, such as smoking in elevators. In the United States, federal laws apply to everyone and state laws apply to activities within each state. (154 words)34. What Can We Do about the Water Pollution Problem?Water pollution has become a serious problem. Industrial wastes have already made many rivers lifeless. Oil spills in the seas are killing enormous numbers of fish and birds. What is more, polluted water is an increasing danger to public health. It causes people to become ill with all kinds of diseases.What can we do about it in order to survive on earth? First, we can make great efforts to clean up polluted water and limit further pollution. Second, we can insist that water pollution control laws be passed and strictly enforced. Third, we can personally help to prevent water pollution by not throwing anything into streams or lakes. Finally, we can also protect ourselves against polluted water. If we go on a camping trip, for instance, we。

1专四听写训练20篇Dictation 1 Forest Fire 150 wordsForest fire or wildfire is often used to signify an uncontrolled intense fire / that breaks out inthe wooded areas / due to many factors ranging from natural to manmade causes. / Wildfires canbe witnessed throughout the world and they usually occur in cycles. / Mild forest fires are often considered beneficial, / as growth of many plant species depend on it. / Many plant species also depend on wildfires for reproduction. / However, the large fore st fires can have serious damagingeffect on the surrounding environment. /Due to the extensive size and the immense speed, / a forest fire can easily spread to a vast area. / Besides, it can also change its direction / and overcome occasional barriers like roads, rivers and fire breaks. / Forest fires break out in areas like grassland, woodland and bush. / Some important causes of it are lightning and volcanic eruptions. / Besides these, sparks from rock falls can also ignite forest fires. /Dictation 2 Job Hunting 150 wordsJob hunting is a stressful problem for everyone. / Whether someone getting a job right out of school / or someone seeking a better position than the one they just left, / it is not something thatcomes easy to most people. / However, with preparation and planning, / the difficulties can be focused on / and the situation can become less stressful. / For example, dressing correctly is an important step for any applicant. / Also, if you dress correctly, / you will feel more confident in your ability to get the job. / Men should wear a dress shirt and tie or even a suit if they possess one./ Women should wear a suit or other clothing suitable for the occasion. / It is better to dress too conservatively than not conservatively enough. / Always use honesty as some interviewers will beable to detect problems in your resume. / Good manners and correct speech are essential in impressing the interviewer. /Dictation 3 Vocational Schools 150 wordsThe universities are not able to meet / all the growing needs of the society for future development. / Vocational schools have arisen to fill these needs / by providing a more detailed knowledge than that provided by universities. / This has led to a weak base of theory for many workers. / Their focus, practical application, is much more detailed / than the theory provided at college. / Many students choose to go to vocational schools instead of universities. / This has led many college graduates to question the value of their degrees. / They should not, as the levels of education offered by different vocational schools are unequal. / Some of these schools are privateand offer a flexible schedule for students / who may be working or are even in school at university./ On the other hand, because they are run by individuals, / the teaching quality and the teaching resources / offered by many vocational schools maybe of low quality. /2Dictation 4 National Race 150 wordsThe whole question of the changing role of Blacks in American society / as been the sub jectof newspaper articles around the world so frequently / that visitors to the United States do not know / what to expect when they arrive. / They may be surprised when they see that Blacks and Whites work side by side / in offices, factories, and schools across the country. / The majority of Blacks in the United States, however, / live in and around only a small number of American cities./Many dark-skinned visitors arrive in the United States / fearing personal attack or expecting various degrees of racial prejudice. / Some forms of discrimination still exist, unfortunately, / especially in the areas of the housing, schools, and jobs. / The school equality is still more a dreamthan a reality. / There are still too many areas of the country / where Black Americans do not enjoythe same full opportunities as White Americans. /Dictation 5 A Positive View of Every Day 149 wordsIf your life feels like it is lacking the power that you want and the motivation that you need, / sometimes all you have to do is shift your point of view. /By training your thoughts to concentrate on the bright side of things, / you are more likely to have the incentive to follow through on your goals. / You are less likely to be held back by negative ideas / that might limit your performance. /Your life can be enhanced, and your happiness enriched, / when you choose to change your perspective. / Don’t leave your future to chance, / or wait for things to get better mysteriously ontheir own. / You must go in the direction of your hopes and aspirations. / Begin to build your confidence, / and work through problems rather than avoid them. / Remember that power is not necessarily control over situations, / but the ability to deal with whatever comes your way. / Dictation 6 Languages in America 151 wordsThe United States is primarily an English speaking country. / The majority of the population speaks English as their native language. / Business, education and most public aspects of life are conducted in English. / Across the country, people pronounce English sounds in several different ways / and some regional vocabulary differences exist, / but for the most part, Americans speak one common language. / This language is sometimes called American English. / However, not everyone in the U.S. is a native speaker of English. / Most immigrants to the country are speakers of other languages. / There are hundreds of communities around the U.S. / where English is not the most commonly used language. / Chinese, Italian, German, Armenian, Greek, Vietnamese andFrench / are all spoken in numerous communities in the U.S. / Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language after English in the U. S. / It is widely spoken in New York and across the southern part of the country. /Dictation 7 Halloween 151 wordsIt’s October the 31st, and across Britain and the USA, / thousands of children are dressing up3as monsters, ghosts / and witches and going to their neighbors’ houses / to ask for sweets or to play tricks on them if they refuse. /Many houses have lanterns made from pumpkins in their windows. / These lanterns have frightening faces cut into them. /What is the reason for all of this? It’s Halloween! / To an outsider, this may seem a strange festival, / but it is a very popular one and an important part of the culture in Britain and the USA. /The holiday once had a religious significance. / November the 1st is All Saint’s Day, / and October the 31st was believed to be a day / when all the spirits came back to the world of the living. / In modern times, this has changed to be a day / when children dress up as monsters, ghosts and witches. /Dictation 8 Universities in the UK 151 wordsUniversities in Britain are a magnet for overseas students. / There are currently over 200 000 from outside Britain studying at British universities. / The largest single group is Chinese students./ There are currently 50 000 in the UK. /The British government expects the total number of overseas students to be around 900 000by 2020, / and also thinks that a quarter of these will be Chinese. / But why is the UK such a popular destination for university students? /Well, the quality of your course is guaranteed. / All courses are assessed by an independent system, / so you can be assured that your course is officially approved / and has wide internationalrecognition. / The British education system is very flexible / in order to provide for the needs of a modern, complex society. / Degree courses are usually 3 years long, which is shorter and more intensive than in other countries. / There are lots of scholarships available. /Dictation 9 Money and Happiness 151 wordsIt seems only natural that happiness should flow from having more money. / Even if theydon’t admit it, / people still be have as though it were true. / More money means you can have what you want and do what you want. / The house you dream of? It’s yours. / The new car you desire? Here are the keys. / The freedom to enjoy your favorite pastimes? / Here’s your racket, thecourt is down there, just past the pool. /So the puzzle is this: why do social scientists consistently find only moderate relationships / between having more money and being happy? / Some have even suggested that this moderate connection might be exaggerated. / In reality money might have very little to do with happiness atall. /Most puzzling, though, is that people often seem aware at some level / that money won’tmake them happy. / And yet they continue to work away earning money they don’t objectively need. /Dictation 10 Tea Party Food 151 wordsA tea party without good food is just as distasteful as a cake without sugar. / So along with4cups of tea, / you need to arrange variety of party foods, / like cookies, snacks, chips and starters. /A bite of sugar and spice will always enhance the flavor of tea party. / Sandwiches, pizzas, finger chips and French fries serve as good side dishes for tea. / Cream cheese salad, pudding and saladsare good delicacies for tea parties. / Children love to relish chicken pies, apple pies, cakes and chocolates. / Above all, remember it’s a tea party, / so serve different varieties of tea to your guests./ Black, green and white will be the ideal for your guests. / You can also brew some spicy herbal tea or flavored tea. / For kids, you can serve cream, honey, milk and sugar. / You can organize glasses of wine late in the evening / or punch a bottle of champagne also. /Dictation 11 Adventure 151 wordsThe idea of adventure has always captured the imagination. / The idea that just over the nexthill there will be excitement and mystery / is a big part of what makes us human. / This is just as true of ancient times as it is today. / Famous explores set out in small boats / or journeyed across immense deserts and oceans. / Early explorers like Christopher Columbus or Zheng He / traveled to foreign places for the glory of their nations. / More importantly, they set out to test themselvesagainst the forces of nature and the pursuit of knowledge. / Other explorers today do the same thing. / People are going to space in pursuit of the last frontier / or seeking in the depths of sciencefor new knowledge. / Most people, in their daily lives, / do not have the opportunity to truly test themselves in these ways. / Modern living has given them the opportunity, however, with adventuring events. /Dictation 12 Office Conflict 148 wordsThe office can be very demanding on the lives of the workers. / Stress can build up andexplode into problems. / This can seriously influence the productivity and efficiency of a business./ The problems that upset an office can vary drastically / depending on the nature of the employeesor even the employers. / Employees may feel that they are being overworked or underpaid. / Theymay also feel that this signals the loss of appreciation on their work, / causing increasing tension as they complain about work. / They may also have personality differences which can cause conflict. / This can be seen in offices where too close relationships develop. / People in authority may tend to place more value / on these relationships than on the work itself. / They may have lostsight of the goal / of forwarding the development of the company. / Gossiping about co-workers and the company is a frequent example of this. /Dictation 13 Food and Culture 148 wordsThe culture of food and dining in the West is a little different from that in China. / The proper western dinner at a fine restaurant / is one of manners, focusing on conversation. / You are expected to have knowledge of table manners / such as what folk or knife to use as these are essential in western dining. / The meal would consist of several courses including a soup or salad,/ an appetizer, the main dish, and a dessert. / The atmosphere will be filled with light music / thatwould only serve as background as people converse with each other. / The decorations are usually5sparse / and are only meant to highlight the atmosphere / that is being created by the music. / Thistype of dining is different from the dining experience in most restaurants in China. / However, with the increase in internationalism, / more restaurants are opening which reflect the more western dining style. /Dictation 14 In-service Education and Vocational Development 148wordsMany people feel that the successful finding of a job is the end of their schooling. / This ideais rarely true, however, / as each field of work requires a thorough knowledge of it. / This may go beyond that which could be learned in high school or university. / Universities, with their complete curriculum, / are intended to first teach us about everything. / Later studies fill in the gapof knowledge by offering more specialized courses. / Universities, however, are meant to teach thetheories of any particular field, / not the practical knowledge needed to do our jobs. / The rise of vocational school has risen / to fill a gap of practical knowledge. / Vocational schools can aid us in this / by teaching us to be especially good at one thing. / If a person has enough health and energy,as well as determination, / he may go to Night School or take a self-teaching program. / Dictation 15 Hospitality 148 wordsAn American friend has invited you to visit his family. / You’ve never been to an American’s home before, / and you’re not sure what to do. / Should you take a gift? How should you dress? / What time should you arrive? / What should you do when you get there? Glad you asked. / Whenyou’re the guest, you should just make yourself at home. / That’s what hospitality is al l about: / making people feel at home when they’re not. /The question of whether or not to bring a gift often makes guests nervous. / Giving your hosta gift is not just a social nicety in some culture it’s expected. / But in American culture, a guestis not obligated to bring a present. / Of course, some people do bring a small token of appreciationto their host. / Appropriate gifts for general occasions might be flowers, candy or / if the family has small children toys. /Dictation 16 The Football Field Length 148 wordsKnowledge about the football field length / does not seem like something fans and players have to be aware of, / but it is certainly something that the most passionate fans will know. / The length of a football field, / be it American football or soccer, / is universally known and all professional stadiums and grounds adopt these measurements. / In soccer, there may be some minor differences in the football field length from stadium to stadium, / and this occurs because these stadiums are historical monuments / that have been around before the measurementswerestandardized. /On the other hand, American football requires that the football field length / be uniformacross all the grounds and the stadiums in the country. / The National Football League has laid down / particular guidelines and rules about the football field length, / and this cannot be altered. /6As a player, one must be completely aware about these football field dimensions. /Dictation 17 Culture 152 wordsThe cultural values of a community give it an identity of its own. / A community gains a character and a personality of its own, / because of the culture of its people. / Culture is shared bythe members of a community. / It is learned and passed from the older generations to the newer ones. / For an effective transfer of culture from one generation to another, / it has to be translatedinto symbols. / Language, art and religion serve as the symbolic means of / transfer of cultural values between generations. /Culture is a bond that ties the people of a region or community together. / It is that one common bond, / which brings the people of a community together. / The customs and traditions that the people of a community follow, / the festivals they celebrate, the kind of clothing they wear,the food they eat, / and most importantly, the cultural values they adhere to, bind them together. /Dictation 18 Fashion 152 wordsEvery year London Fashion Week attracts retailers, fashion leaders, / and the press to showsof all that’s new in British fashion. / Outrageous designs, original fabrics, and beautiful slim models / are displayed on the catwalk / in an atmosphere of extravagant elegance. / However, howmuch of this gets translated into street fashion, appearing in high street shops? / And how many ofus actually follow the trends we see? /We all need to be comfortable with what we wear. / After all, first impressions count, / andwe want our appearance to be consistent with the image we would like to project. / How can we do this without becoming a fashion slave? / We are bombarded with magazines that show us the new fashions for each season, / and where we can buy trendy clothes for reasonable prices. / Thedistinction between what we see on the catwalk / and what’s on displ ay in the high street is becoming increasingly blurred. /Dictation 19 American Society 147 wordsThe United States, like other countries has its rich and poor people, its rich and poor neighborhoods. /Americans love and many are themselves living example s of the “self-made man.” /You will hear this expression often. / But for every person who is successful, / they are usually better educated than their parents / and therefore more likely to have good, well paying jobs. /In addition to the fact that the United States includes people / whose families originally came from many other parts of the world, / Americans move across the nation in great numbers. / One study reported that one of every five families / in the United States moves every three years. / Thiscontinuous mixing of people into new communities is an important observation / to consider whentrying to understand the meaning of class in America. / We have already discussed the questioning,/ “do-it-yourself” American personality that is another important consideration. /7Dictation 20 Recreation 147 wordsRecreations are an important part of people’s life. / For example, after hours of attentive study, / students feel like having a football game to relax their nerves. / Workers, too, find it very satisfying to sit in front of a TV set for an hour or two / when they come back from a day’s tiring work. / Besides, recreations serve as a pleasing way for the retired people / to pass their excessivetime. / Everywhere you go, you will find that during their spare time, / people are engaged in recreational activities of one kind or another. /Generally speaking, there are two kinds of recreations: / physical activities and intellectual activities. / Physical activities, on the one hand, keep one fit and develop team spirit. / Basketball is an example. / On the other hand, intellectual activities such as playing chess and reading novels/ can train one’s brains and provide temporary escape from one’s troubles. /。

1.IdiomsAn idiom is defined as a group of words / whose meaning must be known as a whole, / because it cannot be learned from the meaning of the same words used separately. / Obviously, there is problem / when you cannot look up individual words in a dictionary and find the meaning, / the usual strategy we all employ when we come across a word or words that are unfamiliar. / With idioms, however, we must learn the group of words. / In every English, idioms are in common use. / In fact, idioms are so common that / most native speakers do not even realize that they are using idioms. / It is particularly important to recognize idioms / when you hear them or read them. / When you are able to use them comfortably in your own speech and writing, / and then you have achieved a higher level of mastery / and fluency in the language.2. Legal Age for MarriageThroughout the United States, the legal age for marriage shows some difference. / The most common age without parents’consent is 18 for both females and males. / However, persons who are underage in their home state can get married in another state, / and then return to the home state legally married. / Each state issues its own marriage license. / Both residents and non-residents are qualified for such a license. / The fees and ceremonies vary greatly from state to state. / Most states, for instance, have a blood test requirement, / but a few do not. / Most states permit either a civil or religious ceremony, but a few requires the ceremony to be religious. / In most states a waiting period is required before the license is issued. / This period is from one to five days, depending on the state. / A three-day wait is the most common. / In some states there is no required waiting period.3.The Railway in BritainThe success of early railways, such as the lines between big cities, / led to a great increase in railway building in Victorian times. / Between 1835 and 1865 about 25, 000 kilometers of track were built, / and over 100 railway companies were created. / Railway travel transformed people’s lives. / Trains were first designed to carry goods. / However, a law in the 19th century forced railway companies to run one cheap train a day / which stopped at every station and cost only a penny a mile. / Soon working class passengers found they could afford to travel by rail. / Cheap day excursion trains become popular and seaside resorts grew rapidly. / The railways also provided thousands of new jobs: / buiding carriages, running the railways and repairing the tracks. / Railways even changed the time. / the need to run the railways on time meant that local time was abolished / and clocks showed the same time all over the country.4. How to Gain Fluency in another LanguageTo gain fluency in another language, / many people will tell you the only solution is / to travel to a foreign country and immerse yourself completely. / This advice may be greatly appealing for some people. / But for the majority of people, this solution is both inconvenient and costly. / Thankfully, the Internet has brought us new and exciting options for communicating in another language. / To expand your vocabulary, try reading free articles and original books in another language. / To begin with, reading may be a slow and frustrating process / as you will have to stop to look up the meanings for many unfamiliar words. / Before you begin, find an online dictionary / that will offer you quick translations. / Hearing a language is the key to learn how to speak it. / Popular music downloading sites offer free audio files / that you can download and take with you wherever you go. / And most importantly, one must actually practice speaking the language.5.Differences between Chinese and Western Eating HabitsThere are great differences between Chinese and Western eating habits. / Unlike the West, where everyone has their own plate of food, / in China the dishes are placed on the table and everyone shares. / If you are being treated by a Chinese host, / be prepared for a ton of food. / Chinese are very proud of their culture of cuisine / and will do their best to show their hospitality. / And sometimes the Chinese hosts use their chopsticks to put food in your bowl or plate. / This is a sign of politeness. / The appropriate thing to do would be to eat the whatever-it-is / and say how tasty it is. / If you feel uncomfortable with this, / you can just say a polite thank-you and leave the food there. / And you should never tap on your bowl with your chopsticks, / which can be very insulting to the host.。

英语专四听写英语专四听写01ReadingNowadays few of us read books after we leave school.This is rather disturbing, for one should know that books are no less necessary to one’s mental life than fresh air is to one’s physical life. From good reading we can derive companionship, experience and instruction. A good book is our faithful friend. It can increase our contentment when we are cheerful and happy, and lessen our pain when we are sad or lonely. Books can also offer us a wide range of experience. Few of us can travel far from home or live long over 100,’s more, but all of us can live many lives through the pages of books. Whatreading books can increase our intellectual ability, broaden our minds and make us wise.With the coming of TV,, books are no longer read as widely as they once were. However, nothing can replace the role that books play in our lives.Useful words and expressions:1. leave school 离校，中学毕业2. disturbing 烦扰的3. mental 精神的4. derive 得到5. companionship 伴侣6. intellectual 智力的02 Natural ResourcesThrough the changes in the ways of making a living in a family over several generations, the cartoon aims at sounding a warning against man’s wasteful use of natural resources and emphasizing the urgent need to preserve these resources.Ever since man appeared on the earth, man’s survival has been heavily dependent on nature. Almost everything we use in our everyday life comes from nature, ranging from the food we eat, the water we drink, to the wood which is turned into furniture. With the development of technology and population growth, the amount and range of materials used has increased at an alarming rate.However, natural resources are not inexhaustible. Some reserves are already on the brink of exhaustion and there is no hope of replacing them. The widespread water shortage is an example in point. If man continued to squander natural resources with no thought for the future, the whole world would be in a mess.Useful Words and Expressions:谋生1. make a living 谋生2. aim at 瞄准3. aim high 胸怀大志4. alarming使人惊动的5. inexhaustible 无穷无尽的6. squander 浪费乱七八糟7. be in a mess 乱七八糟03 Population GrowthIt is well-known that there has been a drastic increase in world population. But it is probably les well-known that the extinction rate of wildlife species is experiencing a parallel trend.T ake the United States for instance. In 1990, U.S. population reached an unprecedented level of 250 million, which is approximately 250 times of that of 1800. On the other hand, wildlife species are disappearing from the country at an alarming rate. By 1990, about 70 wildlife species would never be seen in U.S. We are fully justified in declaring that the explosive population growth has had an adverse effect on the survival of wildlife species and will be a constant threat to the wildlife resources if no immediate actions are taken.Nothing has ever equaled the magnitude and speed with which the human species is altering the physical and chemical world. It has been demolishing the environment we are living in.Useful words and expressions:1. drastic 激烈的2. parallel 平行的3. trend 倾向4. unprecedented 空前的5. magnitude 大小，数量6. alter 改变7. demolish 毁坏04House and Home“House”and “home”are two words that have similar meanings.“House”and “home”both refer to places where people live. However, thereis a difference between them. “Home”is often referred to as the place that we live in with our families. Sadly, in our society, people can hardly distinguish a home from a house because they often see no difference between them. This confusion can be traced back to the indifference between family members. Therefore, we can say that love is an important factor in a home. A home is a shelter, not only for our bodies but also for our minds. Whenever we are depressed, we can go home for comfort. Everyone in the family will do his best to take care of each other and share their happiness as well as sorrow. Without love, a home is merely a house where loneliness is all that can be found. And a house can never be a home unless there is love.Useful words and expressions:1. refer to 提到2. distinguish区别，辨别3. confusion 混乱，混淆4. trace back 追溯到5. indifference 不关心6. depressed 沮丧的05 AutomobilesIt is impossible to say that any one man invented the automobile. Many individuals living and working in different countries and at different times contributed to its development. Many of the discoveries that went into thecreation of the automobile were small in themselves. But together they were important. Here are two examples.“Carriage is running at a speed of 8 to 9 miles an hour.”It was almost unheardof in those days. According to automobile historians, this was the first practical use of mechanical power to move a vehicle. After its first run, the machine reportedly burned up while the inventor and his friends were celebrating its success at a pub.Henry Ford is considered the father of modern automobiles mass production. His famous Model-T car,, because of its low price, made it possible to produce cars on a large scale and his efforts made it accessible to ordinary people. Useful words and expressions:1. reportedly 据传说，据传闻2. mass production大规模生产大规模地3. on a large scale 大规模地4. accessible 易接近的，可到达的accessible to 与……接近06 The Influence of LifeIn the early times when human beings hunted and gathered food, they were not in control of their environment. They could only interact with their surroundings as the other lower animals did.When they learned to make fire, however, they became capable of altering their environment. To provide themselves with fuel, they cut down trees. They also burned clearings in forests to increase the growth of grass and to provide a greater grazing area for the wild animals that human beings fed upon. Thisdevelopment led to farming and the domestication of animals. Fire provided the means for cooking plants which had previously been inedible. Only when the process of meeting the basic need for food reached a certain level was it possible for humans to follow other pursuits such as setting up families, forming societies and founding cities.Useful words and Expressions:1. interact with 与……组合2. clearing 空旷地3. grazing 放牧，牧草4. domestication 驯养，驯服5. previously 先前，以前6. inedible 不能吃的，不适于食用的7. pursuit 追击8. set up 设立07 Gardening in AmericaBelieve or not, 43,000,000 Americans are gardening. That is about one in six. Gardeners, of course, come in many varieties. Not surprisingly, most of them are people who live in the suburbs, and enjoy planting flowers, or maybe a small vegetables garden.The average age of gardeners in America is about 45 years old; they usually fall somewhere in the middle class. But the fastest growing groups are city dwellers. Urban residents are finding ways of gardening even in their crowded areas. Many go to large public gardens, as a place designed by the city for garden, and you can actually ranch your own plot.Still other people use their balconies or roof tops, wherever they can find the space to plant small patches of green.Useful Words and Expressions:1. suburb 郊区2. dweller 居民3. ranch 经营牧场4. balcony 阳台5. patch小块地08 Our ConcernThe history of life on earth has been a history of interaction between living things and their surroundings. T o a large extent, the physical form and the habits of the earth’s vegetation and its animal life have been molded by the environment. Only in the present century has one species of man acquired significant power to alter the nature of his world.The rapidity of change follows the pace of man rather than the pace of nature. Radiation is now the unnatural creation of man’s tampering with the atom. The chemicals are the creations of man’s inventive mind, having no counterparts in nature.We have put poisonous and biologically potent chemicals into the hands of persons largely ignorant of their potentials for harm. We have subjected enormous numbers of people to contact with these enormous numbers of people to contact with these poisons, without their consent and often without their knowledge. We have allowed these chemicals to be used with little or noadvance investigation of their effect. Future generations are unlikely to forgive our lack of concern.Useful Words and Expressions:1. interaction 交互作用，交感2. vegetation 植被3. mold 塑造，浇铸4. species 种类5. unnatural 不自然的6. temper with 损害，影响7. counterpart 配对物8. poisonous 有毒的9. potent 有力的，有效的10. consent 同意，赞成09 SleepWhy is it so difficult to fall asleep when you are overtired? There is no one“tired”physically answer that applies to every individual. It is possible to feeland still be unable to fall asleep, because while your body may be exhausted,“turn off”.you do not feel sleepy. It is not so easy to simplyLack of sleep complicates matters even more. Experts say adults need at least seven to eight hours of sleep a night to function properly. When you get less“sleep sleep than that on consecutive three nights, you begin to accrue four debt”. As sleep debt increases your body experiences a stress response. Now a vicious cycle has been created: You experience the feeling of being more and more tired, but your body is increasingly stimulated. “Power sleeping”formore hours on weekends is only a temporary solution. There is no substitute for getting a good night’s sleep on a regular basis.Useful Words and Expressions:1. overtire 使过度疲劳2. apply to 将……应用于3. consecutive 连续的，连贯的4. accrue 自然增加，产生5. vicious恶的vicious cycle 恶性循环6. stimulate 刺激，激励7. substitute for 代替……，替换……10 Apology HelpsIt is never easy to admit you are in the wrong. Being human, we all need to know the art of apologizing. Look back with honesty and think how often you have judged roughly, you said unkind things, and pushed yourself ahead at the expense of a friend. Then count the occasions when you indicated clearly and truly that you were so sorry. A bit frightening, isn’t it? It is frightening, isn’tit? It is frightening because some deep wisdom in us knows that when even a small wrong has been committed, some mysterious moral feeling is disturbed; and it stays out of balance until fault is acknowledged and regret expressed.A heartfelt apology can not only heal a damaged relationship but also make it stronger. If you can think of someone who deserves an apology from you, someone you have wronged, or judged too roughly, or just neglected, do something about it right now.1. push ahead 捉紧进行在损害……的情况下2. at the expense of 在损害……的情况下3. mysterious神秘的4. moral 道德的5. disturbed 扰乱的不参与……，置身于……之外6. stay out of 不参与……，置身于……之外7. heartfelt 衷心的，真心真意的8. roughly粗糙地，概略地11 How High Can You Jump?Fleas trainers have observed a strange habit of fleas while training them. Fleas are trained by putting them in a cardboard box with a top on it. The fleas will jump up and hit the top of the cardboard box over and over and over again. As you watch them jump and hit the lid, something very interesting becomes obvious. The fleas continue to jump, but they are no longer jumping high enough to hit the top.When you take off the lid, the fleas continue to jump, but they will not jump out of the box. They will not jump out because they cannot jump out. Why? The reason is simple. They have conditioned themselves to jump just so high. Once they have conditioned themselves to jump just so high. Once they have conditioned themselves to jump just so high, that is all they can do!Many times, people do the same thing. They restrict themselves and never reach their potential. Just like the fleas, they fail to jump higher, thinking they are doing al they can do.1. cardboard 纸板2. lid 盖子3. conditioned 有条件的，习惯于……的4. restrict 限制，约束限于狭窄的范围内be restricted within narrow limits 限于狭窄的范围内be restricted in one’s movements 行动受限制12Don’t give upIf we would ever accomplish anything in life, let us not forget that we must persevere. If we would learn our lessons in school, we must be diligent and not give up whenever we come to anything difficult. We shall find many of our lessons very hard, but let us consider that the harder they are the better they will do to us if we will preserve and learn them thoroughly.But there are some among us who are ready to give up when they come to a hard example in mathematics, and say, “I can’t do this.”They never will if they feel so. “I can’t”never does anything worthwhile, but “I’ll try”accomplishes wonders.Let us remember that we shall meet with difficulties all through life. They are in the pathway of everyone. If we will only try and keep trying, we shall be sure to conquer and overcome very difficulty we meet.13“How to”BooksBooks which give instructions on how to do things are popular in the United States today. Thousands of these “how to”books are available. In fact, there“how to’.are about for thousand books with titles that begin with the wordsMany “how to”books give advice on careers. They tell you how to choose a career and how to succeed in it. Many of these books help people to use their free time better.. Some people want book which will give them useful information about sports, hobbies and travel. Other people use their free time to make repairs and improvements on their homes. They prefer books which give step-by-step instructions on how to repair things like plumbing and electrical wiring or on how to redecorate or enlarge a house.Why have “how to”books become so popular? Probably because life has become more complex. T oday people have far more free to use, more choices to make, and more problems to solve, “how to”books help people to deal with modern life.1. step-by-step 按部就班的Useful words and Expressions:1.2. redecorate 重新装饰，再装饰3. complex 复杂的，综合的14Professioanl Sports in the U.S.Professional sports are not only very popular in the United States, but also a big business. The most popular sports are baseball, football and basketball. Each sport has its own season and individual teams have millions of supporters. Professional teams are named for the cities where they are located. For example, the Lakers are in Los Angeles. The strongest supporters of the Lakers are residents of Los Angeles and Southern California. When the Lakers play, many people in Los Angeles enthusiastically follow the game. When we mention “NBA”, almost every one knows it ahs some relationship with U.S. professional basketball. However, what does it really stand for? N.B.A is gainingnew fans and supporters around the world. Basketball has been called the “national pastime”. However, football is the most popular professional sport in the U.S.. American football is different from international football, which Americans call “soccer”. Both games require strength and specialized skills. Useful Words and Expressions:被指定为1. be named for 被指定为是……的简称2. be short for 是……的简称3. stand for代表15 ArtistsEvery artist knows in his heart that he is saying something to the public. Not only does he want to say it well, but he wants it to be something which has not been said before.What visual artists, like painters, want to say is easy to make out but difficult to explain, because painters translate their experiences into shapes and colors, not words. They seem to feel that a certain selection of shapes and colors, out of the countless billions of possible, is exceptionally interesting for them and worth showing to us.Most artists take their shapes and colors from the world of nature and from human bodies in motion and response; their choices indicate that these aspects of the world are worth looking at, that they contain beautiful sights. Contemporary artists might say that they merely choose subjects that provide an interesting pattern, that there is nothing more in it. Yet even they do not choose entirely without reference to the character of their subjects.Useful words and Expressions:1. visual artist 视觉艺术家2. selection 挑选，选择3. exceptional 例外的，异常的4. motion 运动，动作5. indicate显示，象征6. contemporary 当代的，同时代的7. without reference to 不论，与……无关16 SoccerSoccer has had a slow start in America. In fact, the majority of schools still have no official soccer teams or coaches. But the blossoming popularity of the game cannot be denied. Thanks to the efforts of some world-famous soccer stars, soccer is soon to have its place in American culture.Although soccer has enjoyed decades of popularity elsewhere, it was literally ignored in America. Instead, a variation of the game called “football”was most popular in the U.S. and still is to this day. But the obvious advantages of playing soccer instead will soon win even the most avid football enthusiasts. For one thing, soccer is a much safer game to play than football. No one deliberately tries to knock an opponent down in soccer. In fact, they players are discouraged from even touching each other.Soccer is a game that requires skill and dexterity in controlling the ball. Since no one may use hands to do this, soccer players soon acquire incredible control of their heads, knees, and feet.Useful Words and Expresisons:1. slow start 缓慢起动2. blossom 兴旺，发展3. ignore 忽视4. avid 渴望的5. discourage from 劝阻6. dexterity 灵巧，机敏17 Will Computers Replace Human Beings?We are in the computer age today. The computers are working all kinds ofwonders now. They are very useful in automatic control and data processing. Atthe same time, computers are finding their way into the home. They seem to beso clever and can solve such complicated problems that some people think sooner or later they will replace us.But I do not think that there is such a possibility. My reason is very simple:computers are machines, not humans. And our tasks are far too various andcomplicated for any one single kind of machine to perform.Probably the greatest difference between man and computer is that the former can do things of his own while the latter can do nothing without beingprogrammed. In my opinion, computers will remain nothing but an extension ofour human brains, no matter how clever and complicated they may become.18 Where Do the British LiveNearly everyone in Britain would like to own their own home and, whether theydo or not, they are prepared to put time and money into decorating andfurnishing it or even making structural alterations to it. Because of the climateand because of the expense involved in going out for the evening, the British spend a lot of time at home and a large part of their social life takes place there. Young people tend to stay with their families longer these days as accommodation is expensive but, when they move away to a job or college, there are various options open to them. They can get lodgings with a landlady. This means that they rent a room in someone’s house and have breakfast with the family. They can also get a bed-sitting room, that is to say one self-contained room in which they can cook, live and sleep. Alternatively, they can share a rented flat or house with a group of young people, perhaps the most popular option of all.Useful Words and Expressions:1. lodging 寄宿处2. bedsit 卧室兼起居室3. bed-sitting 卧室兼起居室的4. self-contained 设备齐全的19 Making a ComplaintComplaining about faulty goods or bad services is never easy. But if something you have brought is faulty or does not do what was claimed for it, you are not asking for a favor to get it put right.Complaints should be made to a responsible person. Go back to the shop where you bought the goods, taking with you any receipt you may have. In a small store the assistant may also be the owner so you can complain direct. In a chain store, ask the manager. If you telephone, ask the name of the person who handles your enquiry, otherwise you may never find out who dealt with the. Stick to the complaint later. If you do not want to do it in person, write a letterfacts and keep a copy of what you write. At this stage you should give any receipt numbers, but you should not need to give receipts or other papers to prove you bought the article.20Water PollutionWater is very important to us. Factories and plants need water for industrial uses and large pieces of farmland need it for irrigation. Without water to drink, people die in a short time.Today most water sources are so dirty that people must purify water before drinking. Water becomes dirty in many ways: industrial pollution is one of them. With the development of industry, plants and factories pour tons of industrialwasters into rivers every day. The rivers have become seriously polluted, and the water is becoming unfit for drinking or irrigation. The same thing has also happened to our seas and oceans. So, the problem of water pollution is almost worldwide.Scientists of many countries have done a lot of work to stop pollution. The polluted water in some places has become clean and drinkable again. Perhaps. That day, one day the people in all towns and cities will be drinking clean waterwe believe, is not very far off.21 CartoonistsIn a good cartoon, the artist can tell in a few lines as much as a writer can tell inhalf a dozen paragraphs. The cartoonist not only tells a story but he also tries topersuade the reader to his way of thinking. He has great influence on publicopinion. In a political campaign, he plays an important part. Controversial issues in Congress or at meetings of the United Nations may keep the cartoonist well-supplied with current materials.A clever cartoonist may cause laughter because he often uses humor in his drawings. If he is sketching a famous person, he takes a prominent feature and exaggerates it. Cartoonists, for instance, like to lengthen an already long nose and to widen an already broad grin. This exaggeration of a person’s characteristics is called caricature. The artist uses such exaggeration to put his message across.Useful Words and Expressions:1. cartoonist 漫画家2. campaign 活动3. controversial 争论的，争议的4. sketch 素描5. prominent 卓越的6. exaggerate 夸张7. lengthen 延长8. grin 露齿笑22 TimeTime is tangible. One can gain time, spend time, waste time, save time, or evenkill time. Common questions in American English reveal this concrete quality as though time were a possession. “Do you have any time?”, “Can you get sometime for this?”, “How much free time do you have?”The treatment of time asa possession influences the way that time is carefully divided.Generally, Americans are taught to do one thing at a time and may be uncomfortable when an activity is interrupted. In businesses, the careful scheduling of time and the separation of activities are common practices. Appointment calendars are printed with 15-,30-, and 60-minute time slots. The idea that “there is a time and place for everything”extends to American social life. Visitors who drop by without prior notice may interrupt their host’svisiting them is personal time. Thus, calling friends on the telephone before v isitinggenerally preferred to visitors’dropping by.Useful words and expressions:1. tangible 切实的2. kill time 消磨时间3. reveal 显示，揭示4. scheduling 行程安排5. slot 缝隙6. drop by 随便访问7. preferred 首选的23 A Free Dress Every Week Thetemptationtostealisgreaterthaneverbeforeespeciallyinlargeshopsandpeople arenotsohonestastheyoncewere.Adetectiverecentlywatchedawell-dressedwomanwhoalwayswentintoalargestor eonMondaymornings. OneMonday, therewerefewerpeopleintheshopthanusualwhenthewomancamein, soitwaseasierforthedetectivetowatchher. Thewomanfirstboughtafewsmallarticles. Afteralittletime,shechoseoneofthemostexpensivedressesintheshopandhandedittoanassistantw howrappeditupforherasquicklyaspossible. Thewomansimplytooktheparcelandwalkedoutoftheshopwithoutpaying. Whenshewasarrested, thedetectivefoundoutthattheshopassistantwasherdaughter. Believeitornot, thegirl“gave” hermotherafreedresseveryweek!24 Are some people born clever, and others born stupid? Or is intelligence developed by our environment and our experience?Strangely enough, the answer to these questions is yes. To some extent our intelligence is given us at birth, and no amount of special education can make a genius out of a child born with low intelligence. On the other hand, a child who lives in a boring environment will develop his intelligence less than one who lives’s intelligence arein rich and varied surroundings. Thus, the limits of a personfixed at birth, whether or not he reaches those limits will depend on his environment. This view, held by most experts now, can be supported in a number of ways. As is easy to show that intelligence is to some extent something we are born with. The closer the blood relationship between two people is, the closer they are likely to be in intelligence.25 Travel for WorkYou can see them in every airport in the world. They are businessmen and women who have to travel for their work.When they first applied for the job, they may have thought of good food and hotels, huge expense accounts and fashionable cities. Now they have to sit in airport lounges, tired and uncomfortable in their smart clothes, listening to theloudspeaker announce “The fight of T okyo, or Berlin, or New York is delayed for another two hours.”Some people say to me, “How lucky you are to be able to travel abroad in your work! You can go sightseeing without paying any money by yourself!”They think that my job is like a continual holiday. It is not.There are advantages, of course, and I do thin I am lucky, but only because I can go to places I would never visit if I was a tourist.26 A Place of Our OwnWe are all usually very careful when we buy something for the house. Why? Because we have to live with it for a long time. We paint a room to make it brighter, so we choose the colors carefully.We buy new curtains in order to match the newly decorated room, so they must—orbe the right color. We move the furniture round so as to make more spacewe buy new furniture—and so on. It is an endless business.Rich or poor,, we take time to furnish a room. Perhaps some people buy furniturein order to impress their friends. But most of us just want to enjoy our surroundings. We want to live as comfortably as we can afford to. We spend a large part of our lives at home. We want to make a small corner in the world which we can recognize as our own27 Great Depression in the U.S.In 1929, the bills started to come in. American industry had produced too many goods. Americans could not afford to buy all of them. So factories had to cut down on their production. Many workers lost their jobs. Investors tried to get their money back. But businesses did not have enough money to pay them.Banks tried to get their money back from investors. But the investors could not pay, either. T oo many people owed money. And few of them could pay their bills. During the next few years, business got worse and worse. By 1932, banks all over the country were closing.People without money could not buy goods. So more businesses closed. More and more people lost their jobs. By 1932, more than 12 million Americans were jobless. Millions more were earning barely enough to live on. The country was in a great depression they had never experienced before.Useful Words and Expressions:1. bill 帐单，票据foot the bill付账，负责减少2. cut down on 减少3. depression 沮丧，萧条Great Depression大萧条28 America’s Worst SurpriseDecember 7, 1941 was one of the worst days in American history. Nearly allAmericans who are old enough to remember that day can still remember what they were doing at the moment they heard “the news”. The news was that America had been attacked!.M., a radio dispatch came into Washington from Honolulu, Shortly before 2:00 P.M.,Hawaii. “Air Raid, Pearl Harbor—This is no drill.”Japanese planes had begunan attack on the largest American military base in the Pacific. They first. destroyed planes on the ground. Then they bombed the ships in the harborNo one had expected the attack. So no one was prepared for it. And it did not。

英语专业四级考试听写自我测试100篇（1-50为英式发音；51-100为美式发音）1. Education in ChinaEducation in China today has been developing rapidly. In many provinces, it is compulsory and free. Most children start school at the age of six. They attend 5 years of elementary school and 6 years of high school.After graduation from high school, a student can start his higher education in a two-year college, a four-year college, a university, or a specialized professional school. Most colleges admit students on the basis of their entrance examination records. The cost of a college education is not very high. And the greater part of it is met by their families, though students can get support from their college. Many students receive scholarships from the school, the government, private foundations and organizations.Though great progress has been made in China in the field of education, there is still a comparatively large part of the population in the country who cannot read and write.2.DreamsDreams are a product of the sleeper’s mind. They include events and feelings that he has experienced. Most dreams are related to events of the day before the dream and the strong wishes of the dreamer. Many minor incidents of the hours before sleep appear in dreams. Few events more than two days old turn up. Deep wishes or fears, especially those held since childhood, often appear in dreams, and many dreams fulfill such wishes. Events in the sleeper’s surroundings, a loud noise, for example, may become part of a dream, but they do not cause dreams.Some dreams involve deep feelings that a person may not realize he has. Psychiatrists often use material from a patient’s dreams to help the person understand himself better.Dreaming may help maintain good learning ability, memory, and emotional adjustment.3. EmotionsAccording to psychologists, an emotion is aroused when a man or animal views something as either bad or good. When a person feels like running away from something he thinks will hurt him, we call this emotion fear. If the person wants to remove the danger by attacking it, we call the emotion anger. The emotions of joy and love are aroused when we think something can help us. An emotion does not have to be created by something in the outside world. It can be created by a person’s thoughts.Everyone has emotions, but many psychologists believe that infants are born without emotions. They believe children learn emotions just as they learn to read and write. A growing child not only learns his emotions but learns how to act in certain situations because of an emotion.4. Re-employment of Laid-off WorkersThe issue of re-employment has emerged with large numbers of surplus laborers having been laid off. There is no doubt that it would lead to endless trouble if the surplus were not reorganized properly. In order to maintain social stability and to secure people’s normal living standards, it is essential to work out solutions to the problem.Solving the problem is a two-way operation as far as the government and workers are concerned.On the one hand, the government at all levels should try every possible means to create a wide range of employment options open to laid-off workers; on the other hand, these workers ought not to sit idle and wait for opportunities to come. So long as they don’t lose heart and constantly strive to better themselves, their futures will be bright.5. Describing PeopleFaces, like fingerprints, are unique. Did you ever wonder how it is possible for us to recognize people? Even a skilled writer probably could not describe all the features that make one face different from another. Yet a very young child- even an animal, such as a pigeon—can learn to recognize faces. We all take this ability for granted.We also tell people apart by how they behave. When we talk about someone’s personality, we mean the ways in which he or she acts, speaks, thinks and feels that make that individual different from others.Like the human face, human personality is very complex. But describing someone’s personality in words is somewhat easier than describing his face. If you were asked to describe what a “nice face”looked like, you probably would have a difficult time doing so. But if you were asked to describe a “nice person”, you might begin to think about someone who was kind, considerate, friendly and warm.6. Physical ActivityMost young people enjoy some form of physical activity. It might be walking, cycling or swimming, or in winter, skating or skiing. It might be a game of some kind like football, hockey, golf or tennis, or it might be mountaineering.Those who have a passion for climbing high and difficult mountains are often looked upon with astonishment why are men and women willing to suffer cold and hardship, and to take risks on high mountains? This astonishment is probably caused by the difference between mountaineering and other forms of activity to which men give their leisure.If we compare mountaineering and other more familiar sports, we might think that one big difference is that mountaineering is not a “team sport”. We should be mistaken in this. There are, it is true, no “matches” between “t eams” of climbers. However, when climbers are on a rock face linked by a rope on which their lives may depend, there is obviously teamwork.7. The Clever Man NasreddinAn old man died and left his son a lot of money. But the son was a foolish young man: he quickly spent all the money, and soon he had nothing left. Of course, when that happened, all his friends left him. When he was quite poor and alone, he went to see Nasreddin, who was a kind, clever old man and often helped people when they had troubles.“My money is finished and my friends have gone,” said the young man. “What will happen to me now?”“Don’t worry, young man,”answered Nasreddin, “Everything will soon be all right again and you will soon feel much happier.”The young man was very glad. “Am I going to get rich again then?” he asked Nasreddin.“No, I didn’t mean that, ” said the old man. “I meant that you would soon get used to being poor and to having no friends.”8. A Man and His CarA man was traveling abroad in a small red car. One day he left the car and went shopping. When he came back, its roof was badly damaged.Some boys told him that an elephant had damaged it. The man did not believe them, but theytook him to a circus which was near there. The owner of the elephant said, “I am very sorry! My elephant has a big, round, red chair. He thought that your car was his chair, and he sat on it!” then he gave the man a letter, in which he said that he was sorry and that he would pay for all the damage.When the man got back to his own country, the customs officers would not believe his story. They said, “You sold your new car while you were abroad and bought this old one!” it was only when the man showed them the letter from the man at the circus that they believed him.9. The SunA long time ago people thought that the sun went round the earth. In some countries people even said that the sun was a god. They thought the god drove across the sky each day on a golden horse. Now we know the earth goes round the sun. It takes the earth a year to go all the way round the sun. Today men even know how far it is for the earth to go round the sun. They tell us that the earth travels over a thousand miles a minute on its journey round the sun.The sun is really a star. It is much bigger than the earth and it is very hot. Some people have been to the moon but we know that no one can ever go to the sun. It is far too hot for people to live anywhere near it. The sun is three hundred thousand times heavier than the earth and more than a million times larger.10. Can Animals Be Made to Work for Us?Can animals be made to work for us? Some scientists think that one day animals may be taught to do a number of simple jobs. They say that in a film or on TV we may see elephants, or monkeys, dogs, bears, or other animals doing a lot of things. If you watch carefully, you may find that those animals are always given something to eat in return for doing them. The scientists say that many different animals may be taught to do a number of simple jobs if they know they will get something to eat in return. Of course, as we know, dogs can be used to guard a house, and elephants can be used to do some heavy jobs. And we can also teach animals to work in factories. Apes, for example, have been used in America to help make cars and scientists believe that these large monkeys may one day get in crops and even drive trains.11. Man’s Best FriendAlmost everyone likes dogs, and almost everyone likes reading stories about dogs. I have a friend who has a large police dog. Its name is Jack. Police dogs are often very clever. Every Sunday afternoon my friend takes Jack for a long walk in the park. Jack likes these long walks very much. One Sunday afternoon a young man came to visit my friend. He stayed a long time. He talked and talked. Soon it was time for my friend to take Jack for his walk. But the visitor still stayed. Jack became very worried. He walked around the room several times and then sat down in front of the visitor and looked at him. But the visitor paid no attention. He continued talking. Finally Jack couldn’t stand it. He went out of the room and came back a few minutes later. He sat down again in front of the visitor but this time he held the visitor’s hat in his mouth.12. CommunicationYou speak, write a letter, make a telephone call. Your words carry a message. People communicate with words. Do you think you can communicate without words? A smile on your face shows you are happy or friendly. Tears in your eyes tell others that you are sad. When you raise your hand in class, the teacher knows you want to say something or ask questions. You shake your head, and people know you are saying “No”. You nod and people know you are saying, “Yes”. Other things can also carry messages. For example, a sign at the bus stop helps you to know which bus totake. A sign on the wall of your school helps you to find the library. Signs on doors tell you where to go in or out. Have you ever noticed that there are a lot of signs around you and that you receive messages from them all the time?13. Weather and MenEverybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it. It is true. People usually begin their conversations with “Isn’t it a nice day?”“Do you think it will rain?”“What a fine day!”etc.Many people think they can tell what the weather is going to be like. But they rarely agree with each other. One man may say, “Do you see how cloudy it is in the east? It’s going to rain tomorrow.”Another man will say, “No, it’s going to be fine tomorrow.”People often look for the weather they want. When a farmer needs water, he looks for something to tell him it’s going to rain; he won’t believe anything else. When friends have planned a trip, they are sure the weather is going to clear up very quickly.Almost everyone listens to what the weatherman says. But he does n’t always tell us what we want, and once in a while he makes a mistake.14. A Selfish ManSmith was a landlord. He loved money very much and never gave anything to anybody. One day the landlord was walking along a river with his friends and fell into it. He cried, “Help! Help!” one of his friends held out his hand and said, “Give me your hand and I will pull you out.” But he did not give his hand to his friend. Then another of his friends tried but the same thing happened. Just then a farmer came over and saw all this. He knew the landlord very well. He said to the others, “Let me try.” He held out his hand and said to the landlord, “Take my hand and I will pull you out.” Hearing this, the landlord took the farmer’s hand, and in a minute the farmer pulled the landlord out of the water. All the others were very surprised at this and asked the farmer, “Why did he give his hand to you but not to us? The farmer said, “You don’t know your friend very well, when you say ‘give’ to him, he does nothing, but when you say ‘take’, he takes.”15. The Benefits of Class ParticipationDifferent teachers have different styles of teaching. Some prefer to deliver a prepared lecture, while others expect some participation from their students. Likewise, some students learn best in the former situation, while others do so in the latter. Perhaps the best learning environments is one in which the preferred styles of teacher and students match. For me, that is a class in which the teacher encourages class participation.I prefer to participate in class for several reasons. One is that students’ participation makes the class more lively and interesting. I can hear not only my teacher’s opinions on a subject, but also those of my classmates. Another reason is that I believe the teacher can better understand the students when they interact with him in class. Rather than wait for exam results to indicate how much the students have absorbed, the teacher can learn immediately whether the students understand what he is talking about. Finally, I acquire more knowledge in this kind of class. I can ask more in-depth questions and satisfy my curiosity.16. OilAlmost everyone in the world uses oil in some way. Cars, buses, planes and many trains and ships also need oil. Even our bicycles need oil. Indeed the whole world would stop if there was no oil.Today there is a growing need for oil in the world. So people are looking for it everywhere. Theylook for oil in deserts, in the mountains and under the sea. Quite often they find nothing, but the search for oil always goes on.Who are the largest oil producers in the world? The U. S., the former Soviet Union, and the countries of the Middle East. But China is catching up fast. Before liberation we used to buy nearly all our oil from the U S.. Many foreign people said China was “oil-poor”. But since liberation oil has been found in many parts of the country. Today everyone agrees that China is rich in oil. Our oil not only meets the great need in our country, but also be sold to other countries.17. Time ZonesStrange things happen from time to time when you travel, because people divide the earth into twenty-four time zones, one hour apart. You can have days with more or fewer than twenty-four hours, and weeks with more or less than seven days. If you make a five-day trip across the Atlantic Ocean, your ship enters a different time zone every day. As you enter each zone, the time changes one hour. If you travel westward, you put your watch back; and if you travel eastward, you put it ahead. Each day of your trip has either twenty-five or twenty-three hours. If you travel by ship across the Pacific, you cross the International Date Line. By agreement a new day begins at this line. When you cross the line, you change your calendar one full day, backward or forward. If traveling eastward, today becomes yesterday; if westward, it is tomorrow.18. Building Houses in the Early DaysIn the early days of the old west in North America, life was difficult. People lived on farms far away from other families. They went to town once a week or one time a month. Then they saw their friends and neighbors. On their farms everyone had lots of work. But there were some big problems. How did one family make a house? How could they build a barn alone? Those were big jobs.What did families do to build houses? They asked for help. They asked their friends and neighbors. They invited them to a work party for a few days. The women cooked together. They made breakfast, lunch and dinner. The men worked on the building. For the children it was like a holiday. They enjoyed it very much. They all helped one another for the good of everyone.19. FriendshipFriendship is one of the greatest pleasures that people can enjoy. It is very difficult to find a better definition of friendship. A true friend does indeed find pleasure in our joy and share sorrow in our grief. In times of trial, he or she is always at our side to give us his or her help and comfort.Knowing how valuable friendship is, we should be very careful in our choice of a friend. We must choose someone who has a good character, whose actions are good and who shows kind-heartedness. We should avoid those shallow people who change in the face of adversity or misfortune.A true friend can always be trusted, loved and respected. The most important thing is that a friend always understands you. In conclusion, when you have made a good friend, don’t forget him or her.20.Maintaining Your MemoryIf you do not use your arms or your legs for some time, they will become weak. When you start using them again, they slowly become strong again. Everybody knows this. Yet many people do not seem to know that memory works in the same way.When someone says that he has a good memory, he really means that he keeps his memory in practice by using it. When someone else says that his memory is poor, he really means that he does not give it enough chance to become strong.Have you ever found that some people can’t read or write, but usually they have better memories?This is because if they cannot read or they cannot write things down in a small notebook, then they have to remember them by heart. So if you want to have a good memory, learn from the people: practice remembering things in the way other people do.21.SOS Children’s VillagesIn Europe many people died during the Second World War. As a result, at the end of the war there were many orphans there. A man called Hermann V oss wanted to help these children. His idea was simple. He wanted the orphans to have a home, and he wanted them to have the care and kindness of parents. V oss asked people to give him some money. With this money he built the first SOS Children’s Village started. The letters SOS stand for “Save Our Souls”. This means “Please help us!” and SOS Children’s Villages gives help to orphans.Hermann V oss’s idea for helping orphans soon spread all over the world. By 1983 there were 170 SOS Children’s Villages in the world. People in many countries give money to help the villages. Today the children from the first village are gown up. Now some of them work in other SOS Children’s Villages.putersWe are already familiar with computers. Computers work for us at home, in offices and in factories. But it is also true that children today are using computers at school before they can write. What does this mean for the future? Are these children lucky or not?Many people who do not know about computers think of them as machines that children play with. They worry that children do not learn from experience, but just from pressing a button. They worry that this is not good for them. They think children are growing up not knowing about the real world.But people who understand more about computers see that computers can be very good for children. A computer can help them to learn about the real world more quickly, to learn what then want to learn and to think for themselves. And for the future, don’t we need people who can think clearly, who know how to get information quickly?23.Dick’s JobDick was a clever and hard-working student, but his parents were poor, so he had to work after class and during his holidays to get enough money for his studies.One summer he got a job in a butcher’s shop during the daytime, and another in a hospital at night. In the shop, he learned to cut and sell meat. In the hospital, of course, Dick was told to do only the easiest jobs. He helped to lift people and carry them from one part of the hospital to another. Both in the butcher’s shop and in the hospital, Dick had to wear white clothes.One evening in the hospital, Dick had to help to carry a woman from her bed to the operating room. The woman already felt frightened when she thought about the operation. When she saw Dick coming to get her, she felt even more frightened. “No! No!” she said, “Not my butcher! I won’t let my butcher operate on me!” with these words, she fainted away.24. OpportunityOpportunities don’t come often. They come every once in a while. Very often, they come quietly and go by without being noticed. Therefore, it is advisable that you should value and treat them withcare. When an opportunity comes, it brings a promise but never realizes it on its own. If you want to achieve something or intend to fulfill one of your ambitions, you must work hard, make an effort and be prepared. Otherwise, you will take no advantage of opportunities when they come to visit you. The difference between a man who succeeds and one who does not lies only in the way each treats opportunities. The successful person always makes adequate preparations to meet opportunities as they duly arrive. The unsuccessful person, on the other hand, works little and just waits for opportunities to pass by. In my opinion, there are plenty of opportunities for everyone in our society, but only those who are adequately prepared and highly qualified can make use of them for their own purposes.25.Living Life at a Slower PaceIt seems that everyone is in a hurry these days. In our fast-paced and competitive society, many people feel that they must do things as quickly as possible or they will fall behind. Certainly, there are many things for us to do. However, it is not necessary to always hurry to get them done. In fact, living life at a slower pace has many advantages.First of all, slowing down allows us to think more clearly about what we must do. With careful consideration we will make better decisions and make fewer mistakes. And when we do not have to correct the mistakes that we make in haste, we will actually save time. Secondly, when we take our time we can do things more carefully and thoroughly. And when we do a better job we feel more satisfied with our efforts. Finally, if we do not rush through life, we will have more time to enjoy the things that we do. And when we take pleasure in our work, we will live happier lives.26.Owning a CarNowadays, any Chinese can enjoy the luxury of owning a private car, if he or she can afford it. Having a car of your own means no more traveling to work on crowded buses or subway trains, and you can drop the children off at school on the way. Moreover, it also means that you can enjoy the weekends and holidays better, because with a car you can go to places where the regular buses and trains do not go, and so you can find a quiet scenic spot with no crowds.However, there are drawbacks to owning a car. For on thing, with the increase in car ownership in recent years, the roads are becoming more and more crowded. This often makes the journey to work more of a nightmare than a dream. For another, it is not cheap to run a car, as the prices of petrol and repairs are constantly rising, not to mention the price you have to pay for a license and insurance coverage.27．TourismTourism, a “smokeless industry”, is developing rapidly in China. With the “open and reform”policy being carried out, thousands upon thousands of foreign visitors are crowding into our country. They are eager to see this old mysterious land with a splendid culture of more than 5,000 years. Tourism is bringing China a lot of benefits. First, it enables the Chinese people to learn more about the outside world and promotes friendship and mutual understanding. Second, it is financially beneficial to China, which needs more foreign currency for its modernization program. Tourism, however, is giving rise to a number of problems. For instance, it is becoming a burden on our inefficient transport system. Besides, the standard of living of the average Chinese person is still not high enough to be able to afford the many different sorts of expenses met on long distance travel.But it is believed that with the development of our national economy, all these problems will certainly be solved step by step. A much better and brighter future awaits us.28.TimeAs a popular saying goes, “Time is money.” In fact, time is more precious than money. When money is spent, you can earn it back if you want to. However, when time is gone, it will never come back. As the pace of modern life continues to accelerate, the time at our disposal is quite limited. But there are a lot of things to be done in our lives. We should make full use of our time to complete what is useful to us. For instance, as students we should devote most of our time to our academic studies. In this way we can acquire the new knowledge and skill necessary for our future careers. In my opinion, wasting time means wasting our valuable life. But many of us don’t realize this. They think time is inexhaustible. I’m not in favour of such a view. Hence, my conclusion is that we should never put off what can be done today until tomorrow.29.Keeping a Diary in EnglishKeeping a diary in English is one effective way to improve our English writing ability. Compared with other forms of writing, it is shouter and takes less time. If we persist in this practice, gradually we’ll learn how to express ourselves in English. In keeping a diary in English, we inevitably come up against a lot of difficulties. In the first place, it often happens that we have trouble finding appropriate words and phrases to express ourselves. Secondly, there are many idiomatic ways of saying things in Chinese. And it is extremely hard for us to put them into English properly. Certainly, there are some other obstacles we may come across in keeping a diary in English. So I suggest we should always have a notebook and a Chinese-English dictionary within easy reach. Whenever something gets the better of us, we can first put it down in our notebook and then consult our dictionary. We can also turn to our English teacher for help, if necessary.30 The Tuition Fee System in ChinaThe system of tuition fees has become one of the hottest topics in China since it was put into effect. Different people have different opinions of it. Some people think that there is no university in the world which is open to students without tuition fees. The Chinese government is unable to allocate enough funds to pay for various teaching facilities and many different kinds of expenses. One of the ways to relieve the problem is for students to pay tuition fees. The money raised in this way can be used to improve school’s operating conditions. Others, however, are opposed to the system of tuition fees. They argue that compared with that in the Western World, the living standard of Chinese people, especially of those in the poor rural areas, is still low. The university tuition fees will certainly add to the already heavy burden on parents, who live on their salaries or wages. Moreover, tuition fees hinder some talented people from entering university only on account of their poverty.31. SmokingIt is known to almost all that smoking is bad for people’s health. Scientific research has shown that smoking can lead to heart disease, cancer and other problems. The World Health Organization says diseases linked to smoking kill at least two million five hundred thousand people each year.Still, many people find it difficult to stop smoking. One reason is that smoking usually becomes a habitual behavior, and habits, whether good or bad are not easy to give up. Another reason is that the effect of nicotine, the substance found in cigarettes works on people somewhat as drugs do.Measures have been taken to help people keep away from the harmful effects of smoking. In many cities, smoking is forbidden in public places. The danger of smoking is warned of everywhere. And newspapers are asked not to publish advertisements for cigarettes. World “No Tobacco Day” is observed every year as the biggest campaign against smoking.32. My First JobBefore I started at university, I took my first job as a waitress in a nice restaurant. The night before my first day, I was too excited to go to sleep and as a result, I got up late in the morning. I threw on my clothes and rushed over to the restaurant.In a great hurry, I didn’t hear clearly the head waiter’s instruction that we should go into the kitchen through one door and out from the other. So when I took two plates of eggs and bacon and an orange juice out to the restaurant, I went straight towards the wrong door and collided with another waiter coming in!Worst of all was that I wore a pair of smart shoes with high heels! A few hours later I was in agony, yet had no time to change them. By the time we finished serving dinner at about 10: 30, I was completely exhausted. Nevertheless, I learnt something from my experience.33. Birth ControlSince the Chinese government singled out family planning as one of the basic state policies in 1978, the country has adopted various measures and achieved great success in birth control. The total birth rate has been decreasing gradually.However, at present China’s population is still growing very rapidly. It is reported that every year the population of this country increases by an extra 15 million. And China encountered a birth peak during the 1990s. it is obvious that China’s economic development and the improvement of people’s standards of living have been and will be greatly affected by the size of population.Therefore, to control population growth more strictly is clearly essential to the country’s reforms and economic development. We should restress the importance of birth control and call on the whole nation to take more effective action.34. AdvertisementsAdvertisements are making their way into people’s lives. People depend on advertisers in their daily lives because they are consumers. The advertisers are not always manufacturers. Sometimes they are salesmen. Their merchandise needs advertising. Thus nearly every product is advertised. To some extent, good advertising means success while bad advertising can mean failure. There are many ways to advertise and “ads” come in different forms. Newspapers carry advertisements. Some products are announced on TV and radio, both of which have a wide audience. Billboards also carry advertising. Advertising is a big industry now and many agencies have been set up to provide a variety of related services. However, advertising is not always truthful. A product is often misrepresented. The advertiser exaggerates the benefits of the merchandise he wants to sell. Thus, he misrepresents the truth. The consumer falls victim to such advertising. Millions of people have。

英语专业四级听写50篇文本（Oct. 22, 2011）Passage 1 Professor BumbleProfessor Bumble is not only absent-minded but short-sighted as well. His mind is always busy with learned thoughts and he seldom notices what is going on around him.On a fine day recently, he went for a walk in the countryside. But as always, he read the book as he walked. He hadn't gone far when he ran into a large cow and fell down. He had lost his spectacles in the fall, and he thought he had stumbled over a fat lady. "I beg your pardon, madam," he said politely before searching for his glasses. As soon as he had put the glasses on，he realized his mistake.Soon he was concentrating on his book again and paying no attention to anything else. He had scarcely been walking for five minutes when he fell over again, losing both his book and his glasses. This time he became very angry. Seizing his umbrellas, he struck the "cow" in anger. Then, after finding his glasses, he realized with horror that he had made a second mistake. A large fat woman was running away from him in terror. （187 words）Passage 2 TeamworkTeamwork is just as important in science as it is on the playing field or in the gym. Scientific investigations are almost always carried out by teams of people working together. Ideas are shared, experiments are designed, data are analyzed, and results are evaluated and shared with other investigators. Group work is necessary, and is usually more productive than working alone.Several times throughout the year you may be asked to work with one or more of your classmates. Whatever the task your group is assigned, a few rules need to be followed to ensure a productive and successful experience.What comes first is to keep an open mind, because everyone's ideas deserve consideration and each group member can make his or her own contribution. Secondly, it makes a job easier to divide the group task among all group members. Thirdly, always work together, take turns, andencourage each other by listening, clarifying, and trusting one another. Mutual support and trust often make a great difference.（166 words）Passage 3 Mistakes Are Good TeachersAfter the birth of my second child，I got a job at a restaurant. Having worked with an experienced waitress for a few days，I was allowed to wait on tables on my own. When Saturday night came，I was luckily given the tables not far from the kitchen. However，I still felt a little hard to carry the heavy trays. So I moved slowly, minding every step. I remembered how happy I was when I saw a tray standing next to the tables. It looked different from the one I was trained on，and it had nice handles which made it easier to move around. I was pleased with everything and began to believe I was natural at this job. Then, an old man came to me and said that was his wife's walker. I stood frozen as ice，but my face was on fire. Since then, I have learned to be more careful and not to be too sure of myself. (164 words)Passage 4 Time Has the Power to Change AttitudeLast week, my youngest son and I visited my father at his new home.My earliest memories of my father are of a tall, handsome, successful man devoted to his work and family but uncomfortable with his children. As a child, I loved him； as a school girl and young adult, I feared him and felt bitter about him.On the first day of my visit, we did some shopping，ate on the street table，and laughed over my son's funny facial expressions. Gone was my father's critical air and strict rules. Who was this person I knew as my father who seemed so friendly and interesting to be around？The next day, my dad pulled out his childhood pictures and told me quite a few stories about his own childhood. Although our times together became easier over the years, I never felt closer to him until that moment. After so many years, I'm at last seeing another side of my father. (162 words)Passage 5 Experiences SpeakThere are many different ways of seeing a town for the first time. One of them is to walk around it, guidebook in hand. Of course, we may study with our guidebooks the history and special developments of a town and get to know them. But then, if we take our time and stay in a townfor a while, we may get to know it better. When we look at it as a whole, we begin to have some questions, which even the best guidebooks do not answer. Why is the town just like this, this shape, this plan, and this sizeHere even the best guidebooks fail us. We can’t find in it the information about how a town has developed to the present appearance. However, we may get some idea of what it used to look like by walking around the town. A personal visit to a town may help us better understand why it is attractive than just reading about it in a guidebook. (167 words)Passage 6 Representatives of Civilization: Pottery Ancient people made clay pottery because they needed it for their survival. They used the pots they made for cooking, storing food, and carrying things from place to place. Pottery was so important to early cultures that scientists now study it to learn more about ancient civilizations. The more advanced the pottery in terms of decoration, materials, glazes and manufacture, the more advanced the culture itself.The artisan who makes pottery in North America today utilizes his or her skill and imagination to create items that are beautiful as well as functional, transforming something ordinary into something special and unique.The potter uses one of the Earth's most basic materials, clay. Clay can be found almost anywhere. Good pottery clay must be free from all small stones and other hard materials that would make the potting process difficult.The most important tools potters use are their own hands; however, they also use wire loop tools, wooden modeling tools, plain wire, and sponges. (162 words)Passage 7 Words Can Make a DifferenceOn August 26，1999, New York City was struck by a terrible rainstorm during the morning rush hour that caused the streets to flood. Many people who were going to work were forced to go home. Some battled to call a taxi, get a bus or walk miles to get to work.I soon discovered most of the subway lines had stopped service. I finally found an operating line, but there were so many people that I could not initially get to the platform. Finally, I got to my office, wet through, and exhausted.After an unenjoyable day, Garth, my Director, sent an e-mail to everyone:Thanks to everyone who reported to work. It is always reassuring when employees show their devotion to their jobs, Thank you.”Garth's email was short, but welcomed. It made me realize that even when times are tough, a few kind words can make a big difference. (151 words)Passage 8 Fairy TalesTales of the supernatural are common in all parts of Britain. In particular, there was a belief in fairies. Not all of these fairies are the friendly, people-loving sprites that appear in Disney films. In some folktales, they are cruel and cause much human suffering. This is true in the tales about the Changeling. These tell the story of a mother whose baby grows sick and pale and is changed so much that it is almost unrecognizable to the parents. It was then feared that the fairies had come and stolen the baby away and replaced the human baby with a fairy Changeling. In those cases, there was often a way to get the real baby back. You could place the Changeling on the fire--then it would rise up the chimney, you would hear the sound of fairies' laughter and soon after, you would find your own child safe and sound nearby. (153 words)Passage 9 Self-imageSelf-image is your own mind’s picture of yourself. This image includes the wa y you look, the way you act, the way you talk and the way you think. Interestingly, our self-images are often quite different from the images others hold about us. Unfortunately, most of these images are more negative than they should be. Thus changing the way you think about yourself is the key to changing your self-image and your whole world.It might be that you are experiencing a negative self-image because you can’t move past one flaw or weakness that you see about yourself. Well, roll up your sleeves and make a change of it as your primary task. The best way to get rid of a negative serf-image is to realize that your image is far from objective, and to actively convince yourself of your positive qualities. Changing the way you think and working on those, you will go a long way towards promoting a positive self-image. (161 words)Passage 10 ShopaholicsThe word addiction usually makes you think of alcohol or drugs, but in modern day society we are seeing some new kinds of addictions. Some people are compulsive shoppers. Others find it impossible to pull themselves away from their work. Still others spend countless hours watching TV or playing computer games.Over the years, shopping has become a very common activity. Many people enjoy going to malls or stores more and more every day, but it's more than a common hobby for some of them. They have turned into shopaholics. They are people who simply enjoy shopping and walking around spending money without being able to stop doing it. They are hooked on shopping and usually buy things that they don't need. Even though they don't have enough money, they want to buy everything they want.Why do they have this addiction There isn't a specific answer. Some people go shopping when they are sad, worried, upset or lonely. Some even tend to have this addiction when they feel guilty. (167 words)Passage 11 Time ManagementTime is something from which we can’t escape. Even if we ignore it, it’s still going by, ticking away, second by second, minute by minute, hour by hour. So the main issue in using your time well is, “Who’s in charge” We can allow time to slip by and let it be our enemy. Or we can take control of it and make it our ally.By taking control of how you spend your time, you’ll increase your chances of becoming a more successful student. Perhaps more importantly, the better you are at managing the time you devote to your studies, the more time you’ll have to spend on your outside interests.The aim of time management is not to schedule every moment so we become slaves of a timetable that governs every waking moment of the day. Inside, the aim is to make informed choices as to how we use our time. (153 words)Passage 12 Charity ShopsThe charity shop is a British institution, selling everything from clothes to electric goods, all at very good prices. You can get things you won’t find in the shops any more. The thing I like best about them is that your money is going to a good cause and not into the pockets of profit-driven companies, and you are not damaging the planet, but finding a new home for unwanted goods.Most of the people working in the charity shops are volunteers, although there is often a manager who gets paid. Over 90% of the goods in the charity shops are donated by the public.The shops have very low running costs: all profits go to charity work. Charity shops raise more than ￡110 million a year, funding medical research, overseas aid, supporting sick and poor children, homeless and disabled people, and much more. (153 words)Passage 13 Passive LearningWe can achieve knowledge either actively or achieve it actively by direct experience, by testing and proving an idea, or by reasoning. We achieve knowledge passively by being told by someone else. Most of the learning that takes place in the classroom and the kind that happens when we watch TV or read newspapers or magazines is passive. Conditioned as we are to passive learning, it’s not surprising that we depend on it in our everyday communication with friends and co-workers.Unfortunately, passive learning has a serious problem. It makes us tend to accept what we are told even when it is little more than hearsay and rumor.That’s what happens in daily life. The simple fact that people repeat a story in their own words changes the story. Then, too, most people listen imperfectly. And many enjoy adding their own creative touch to a story, trying to improve on it, stamping it with their own personal style. Yet those who hear it think they know. (168 words)Passage 14 Different "Styles" of DirectionsI travel a lot, and I find out different “styles” of directions every time I ask “How can I get to th e post office”In Japan, people use landmarks in their directions instead of street names. For example, the Japanese will say to travelers, " Go straight down to the corner. Turn left at the big hotel and go past a fruit market. The post office is across from the bus stop."In the countryside of the American Midwest, instead of landmarks, people will tell you directions and distances. For example, people will say, “Go north two miles. Turn east, and then go another mile.”People in Los Angeles, California, have no idea of distance on the map; they measure distance in time, not miles. “How far away is the post office” you ask. “Oh,” they answer, “it’s about five minutes from here.” You say, “Yes, but how many miles away is it” They don’t know. (155 words)Passage 15 RainforestsRainforests are the lungs of the planet – storing large quantities of carbon dioxide and producing a significant amount of the world’s oxygen. Rainforests have their own perfect system for guaranteeing their own survival. The tall trees make a cover of branches and leaves which protect themselves, smaller plants, and the forest animals from heavy rain, dry heat and strong winds.Amazingly, the trees grow in such a way that their leaves and branches, although close together, never actually touch those of another tree. Scientists think this is a deliberate method to prevent the spread of any tree diseases and make life more difficult for leaf-eating insects.They are not called rainforests for nothing! Rainforests can produce 75% of their own rain. At least 80 inches of rain a year is normal – and in some areas there may be as much as 430 inches of rain annually. This is real rain. In just two hours, streams can rise ten to twenty feet. (165 words)Passage 16 Juana Lopez’s InventionOne day, Juana Lopez had an idea for a dish washing machine that worked without using water. She went to see several dishwasher manufacturers about producing the machine, but none of them were interested. Juana found investors to back her idea and founded her own production company. She spent millions of dollars on developing her own dishwasher and it was launched three years later. From then on, sales were very good, better even than Juana had hoped. But Global Domestic, one of the companies that she had been to, made its own waterless dishwasher. Juana obtained one and found that it used the technical ideas she had developed. She had obtained legal protection for legal process. Global Domestic was forced to stop making its competing dishwasher and to pay Juana several million dollars. Now Juana’s waterless dishwasher has 40% of the worldwide dishwasher market and this is increasing every year. (164 words)Passage 17 Rising Sea LevelLatest research predicts that the global sea level is expected to rise 9 to 88 centimeters by 2100, with a “best estimate” of 50 centimeters. This is due to global warming which is causing the ice caps to melt.This great rise of close to one meter would threaten huge areas of low-lying coastal land as well as major cities such as London, New York and Tokyo.In many places, 50 centimeters would see entire beaches being washed away. On low-lying Pacific islands, the highest point is only two or three meters above the current sea level. If the sea level was to rise by 50 centimeters, big parts of these islands would disappear under the water.Even if they remain above the sea, many island nations will have their supplies of drinking water reduced because sea water will pollute their freshwater.There are also tens of millions of people living in low-level coastal areas of southern Asia, such as the coastlines of Pakistan and India, who would be in danger. (172 words) Passage 18 What Is a FatherA father is a person who is forced to endure childbirth without an anesthetic. He growls when he feels good, and laughs very loud when he is scared half-to-death.A father never feels entirely worthy of the worship in a child's eyes. He is never quite the hero his daughter thinks. Never quite the man his son believes him to be, and this worries him sometimes.A father is a person who goes to war sometimes and would run the other way except that war is part of his only important job in his life, which is making the world better for his child than it has been for him.I don't know where father goes when he dies, but I've an idea that, after a good rest, wherever it is, he won't just sit on a cloud and wait for the girl he's loved and the children she bore. He'll be busy there too, repairing the stars, oiling the gates, improving the streets, smoothing the way. (173 words)Passage 19 Little Boy's Big IdeaThe Intellectual Property Owners Association(IPO) is running a project to encourage young inventors. Samuel Houghton, a five-year-old boy has become the youngest Briton to hold a patent after watching his father struggling in the garden. Samuel developed a garden tool after watching his father Mark use two brushes to sweep up leaves outside their house. His father used a largebrush to gather leaves and small branches, and then got a small brush to pick up what was left. Samuel came up with the idea for a labor-saving tool, which has been patented and named the Improved Broom.It is a simple idea that combines two ordinary brooms with different-sized bristles and brush-heads to enable different-sized dirt to be swept up more efficiently. “The small one gets the first bits and the one at the back gets those left behind, Samuel explains.The IPO says that Samuel is its youngest known patent holder. (154 words)Passage 20Cultural DifferencesMeeting people from another culture can be difficult. Different cultures emphasize the importance of relationship building to a greater or lesser degree. For example, business in some countries is not possible until there is a relationship of trust. Even with people at work, it is necessary to spend a lot of time in "small talk", usually over a glass of tea, before they do any job.In many European countries—like the UK or France—people find it easier to build up a lasting working relationship at restaurants or cafes rather than at the office.Even within Northern Europe, cultural differences can cause serious problems. Certainly, English and German cultures share similar value; however, Germans prefer to get down to business more quickly. We think that they are rude. In fact, this is just because one culture starts discussions and makes decision more quickly. (146 words)Passage 21 StressStress is what you feel when you react to pressure, either from the outside world or from inside yourself. Stress is a normal reaction for people of all ages.Most people think that pressure is always a bad thing. In fact, a little bit of stress is good. Without stress, most of us couldn’t push ourselves to do well, especially in difficult things.People usually complain about feeling pressed for time when they are under certain pressure. It is true t hat you can’t always control the things that are stressing you out, but you can control how you react to them. The way you feel about things results from the way you think about things. If you change how you think, you can change the way you feel. Try the following tips to deal with your stress:Make a list of the things that are causing your stress.Give yourself an excuse.Don't promise to do things you can't do or don't want to do.Find someone to talk to. (170 words)Passage 22 Love Is a TelephoneLove is a telephone which is always silent when you are hoping for a call, but rings when you are not ready for it. As a result, we often miss the love coming from the other end.Love is a telephone which is seldom program-controlled or directly dialed. You cannot get an immediate answer with a simple “hello”, let alone go deep into your lover’s heart with one call. Usually it has to be relayed by an operator, and you have to wait patiently.Love is a telephone that is always busy. When you are ready to dial for love, you only find, to your disappointment, the line is already being used by someone else.Love is a telephone, but it is difficult to know when to dial. You will miss the opportunity if your call is either too early or too late. (143 words)Passage 23 JealousyThe experience of jealousy varies enormously from age to age, from culture to culture, from couple to couple, from person to person, and can be different within the same person from time to time. In the United States, there has been a change of attitude toward jealousy in recent years. “Normal” jealousy, which has been seen as an inevitable accompaniment of love and support of marriage, has come to be seen by some as evidence of personal insecurity and weakness in the relationship, and therefore a threat to the partnership.1111Most jealous flashes come from feeling left out of an activity involving your partner and another person or other people. When your partner pays attention to another, your first reaction is to note that they are “in” and you are “out”. You feel excluded, ignored, unappreciated.This kind of experience is not uncommon, and dealing with it gracefully is part of the etiquette of our time.(157 words)Passage 24 Differences Between Television and Radio AnnouncersWhen television first began to expand, very few of the people who had become famous as radio announcers were able to be equally effective on television. Some of the difficulties they experienced when they were trying to adjust themselves to the new medium were technical. When working on radio, for example, they had become used to seeing on behalf of the listener. This art of seeing for others means that the announcer has to be very good at talking.In the case of television, however, the announcer sees everything with the viewer. His duty, therefore, is completely different. He is there to make sure that the viewer does not miss any point of interest, to help him focus on particular things, and to help him understand the images on the television screen. Unlike his radio colleague, he must know the value of silence and how to use it at those moments when the pictures speak for themselves. (157 words)Passage 25 The African ElephantThe African elephant, the largest land animal remaining on earth, is of great importance to African ecosystem. As a big plant-eater, it largely shapes the forest-and-savanna surroundings in which it lives, setting the terms of existence for millions of other animals that live in its habitat.It is the elephant's great desire for food that makes it a disturber of the environment and an important builder of its habitat. In its continuous search for the 300 pounds of plants it must have every day, it kills small trees and underbushes, and pulls branches off big trees.1212This results in numerous open spaces in both deep tropical forests and in the woodlands that cover part of the African savannas.What worries scientists now is that the African elephant has become an endangered species. If the elephant disappears, scientists say, many other animals will also disappear from vast areas of forest and savanna, greatly changing and worsening the whole ecosystem. (159 words) Passage 26Operations on the BrainIt is difficult for doctors to help a person with a damaged brain. Without enough blood, the brain lives for only three to five minutes.Dr. White thinks doctors should try to make the brain very cold. If it is very cold, the brain can live without blood for 30 minutes. This gives the doctors a longer time to do something for the brain.Dr. White tried his idea on 13 monkeys. First he taught them to do different jobs. Then he operated on them. He made the monkeys' blood go through a machine which cooled the blood, and then sent the blood back to the monkeys' brains. When the brain temperature was 50 degrees, Dr. White stopped the blood to the brain. After 30 minutes he turned the blood back on. He warmed the blood again. After their operations the monkeys were like they were before. They were healthy and busy. Each one could still do the jobs the doctor had taught them. (163 words)Passage 27 DepressionThe dictionary describes depression as the state of feeling very sad, anxious and hopeless. The question here is why one gets depressed. Is the inability to deal with the situation or the high stress levels that come with success or failureLife is full of twists and turns. Some are pleasant and some are not so pleasant, and sometimes even terrible.1313Seasonal changes are the main reason for depression in nature. Change is unavoidable. It may happen in nature or in life. But the way the change makes us feel is subjective. They differ from person to person, along with the ways we deal with them.Feeling depression is a normal phenomenon, but letting it overtake us completely is not the best thing. There are no specific rules or concepts in dealing with it. A person should adopt whatever way he or she feels is the best, but be sure it will not hurt another person. (157 words)Passage 28 White NoiseThere are different kinds of noise with distinct frequencies that are classified by color，namely: white noise, pink noise, brown noise, blue noise, and gray noise. Below is an overview of white noise.Generally speaking, white noise is a part of the full scale of sound frequencies a human ear can recognize. White noise is a mixture of sound frequencies in equal levels. It is a very quiet sound that is relaxing and pleasant to the ears of anyone. A number of people say that it is similar to the sound of the rain or the ocean waves.White noise offers countless benefits. The noise comes in different forms that serve different purposes. Some white noise works better than others for particular uses. Some people may find some white noise sounds more pleasing than others. Moreover, white noise is said to have a more calming effect than music does. (149 words)Passage 29 Cell PhonesNowadays, with the rapid development of IT and information industry, cell phones play a dominant role in people’s life. On the one hand, the mobile phone is portable and convenient. Being wireless, you can carry them everywhere with great ease. You can reach a person wherever and however far away he is. On the other hand, it is a friend indeed. Whenever you come across trouble, you can call for help immediately.1414However, just as every coin has two sides, the cell phone also has its many disadvantages. Some people complain that mobile phones give unpleasant noise on some important occasions when the owner forgets to turn them off. And it also cuts into people’s spare time, because with the mobile phone the boss can easily reach them and call them to duty during their spare time. Worst of all, the electromagnetic wave emitted from the phone is said to be harmful to people’s health and does often cause headaches to the owner. (163 words)Passage 30 Facing the Enemies WithinWe are not born with courage, but neither are we born with fear. Maybe some of your fears are brought on by your own experiences, by what someone has told you, by what you’ve read in the papers. Fears, even the most basic ones, can totally destroy your ambitions, fortunes, relationships, and even life.Another enemy we face is indecision. Indecision is the thief of opportunity and enterprise. It will steal your chances for a better future.The third enemy inside is doubt. Sure you can’t believe everything. But don’t let doubt take over you. It will destroy your life and your chances of success. It will empty both your bank account and your heart.Also, there are indifference, worry and overcaution that you should do battle with. Be courageous in your life and in your pursuit of the things you want and the person you want to become. (149 words)Passage 31 The Tower of LondonIn 1078, King William began to build a large stone building on the north bank of the Thames River and named it the Tower of London. The tower was finished 20 years later.Around 1240, King Henry III made it his home. He painted the tower white, and widened the grounds to include a church, a great hall and other buildings.In 1381, Richard II became King of England. A group of farmers attacked the tower. In the end, Richard was forced to give up his power to Henry IV.1515。

专四听写30篇专四听写30篇Dictation1Superstition迷信（144words）One person in four in Britain is,apparently,superstitious,/and they’ll do everything from hanging horseshoes over their fireplace to crossing their fingers,/touching wood and absolutely never walking under a ladder./And they’re careful about cats./Black cats are supposed to be the familiars of witches,/so if one is following you it’s definitely bad luck—a witch is after you!/ On the other hand,if one crosses your path and continues/then it’s good luck because it hasn’t noticed you./However,in some places the beliefs are different/—so it pays to know where your black cat comes from!/Old superstitions linger even in today’s modern world./The author Philip Pullman drew on them/in his award winning novel“His Dark Materials”./The novel,which appeals to both children and adults,/has been adapted for radio and also the theatre./Dictation2Graduate Student研究生（157words）Graduate students specialize in a particular field of study./They study to become experts in this field/and to learn new advances in their fields while they earn an M.A.or Ph.D./Sometimes when they get an M.A.in one field they begin studying another field./They hope that when they earn their graduate degrees/they will succeed in finding important jobs./They hope to get jobs that are interesting and high paying./The life of a graduate student is often difficult./They are usually too busy studying to make a good living./Often they have to pay high tuition fees for their education./Some give upstudying before they get their degrees./But most keep on working at their studies until they graduate./In today’s world,most graduate students don’t regret spending time with their studies./They are finding that new developments are occurring in all fields./For many graduate study has become a necessity./Dictation3April Fool’s Day愚人节（157words）1st April is a day to be careful,or you could easily get tricked by someone./It’s April Fool’s Day,a day when people traditionally like to try/to make a fool of someone else and laugh at them./ There are lots of theories surrounding the origins of the day,/but one explanation is connected with the change in the calendar in the16th century,/which meant that1st April was no longer the beginning of the year./Those who still celebrated the New Year on1st April were called fools./ So what kind of pranks do people play on April Fool’s Day?/Well,there are lots of simple tricks/that you can play on your friends./For example,you could wear a black sweater/and pull a piece of white thread through it,/so that people try to pull it off./You could change the time on someone’s alarm clock/so that they’re late for work./ Dictation4Living Online网上生活（159words）How do you meet new people,make new friends,or find out about the latest bands?/Here in the UK young people have traditionally done their socializing in bars,pubs and clubs./ However,there is a new generation growing up/that finds it easier to manage their social liveson the net,/using free websites like MySpace,Bebo or MSN Spaces./Welcome to the social networking website/—a place where you can present yourself to the digital community and meetother like-minded people./The most successful social networking website in the UK is /doc/ec12483279.html,./As of July2006, MySpace is the world’s fourth most popular English-language website,/attracting almost3million visitors per month./MySpace claims to have95million members/with500,000new members joining the community each week./So how has it become so successful?/Perhaps its secret is in its simplicity./Each new member can build their own page simply—uploading photos,videos and MP3files./Dictation5Mother’s Day母亲节（160words）Does your mother know how much you appreciate her?/Well,Mother’s Day is the time to show her./It’s a chance to say‘thank you’,or to tell your mum how much you love her./ In Britain,Mother’s Day,or Mothering Sunday,/falls on a different day each year,/because it takes place a few weeks before the festival of Easter./But it is always in the early springtime, which seems appropriate,/as the season when new plants emerge,/and baby birds and animals are born./In the USA,Mother’s Day takes place a little later,in May,/and many other countries also celebrate their mothers on different days of the year./It began many years ago,when children,/especially girls,as young as10would live and work away from home/as housemaids and other types of servant./Mothering Sunday was a day when everyone was allowed to go to their home village or town,and visit their mothers./Dictation6Online Shopping网上购物（159words）With only two weeks to go before Christmas,/buying presents is a high priority for a lot of people./However,this yearnot so many people are leaving their homes to browse around the shops./These days lots of people can do their shopping/in the comfort of their own home with the help of the internet./ Online shopping is becoming more and more popular for a number of reason s;/prices are often lower online,/you don’t have to queue up in busy shops/and you can buy almost any product imaginable/with just a few clicks of your mouse./ Computer trends are often male-dominated/but this year women are expected to do more shopping on the internet than men./It seems women are now more attracted to the convenience of online shopping than they used to be./ Average spending online this Christmas by women will rise to￡240/compared to the slightly lower average of￡233for men./Dictation7Reality TV真实电视（155words）The latest fashion on British TV is Reality TV./Reality TV means that shows follow and film ordinary people in an artificial situation./This could be at work,or in some kind of competition./ One of the first and most popular Reality TV shows is Big Brother./In this show,15complete strangers have to live together in a house for11weeks./They are filmed24hours a day,/and shown on television./Each week,the viewers vote to evict one of the housemates./Finally,onlyone is left,/and they win the prize money!/The show was an instant hit,and runs in several countries./The housemates often become stars as a result of the show,/and appear in national newspapers and on other shows./ Another very popular show is I’m a Celebrity—Get Me Out Of Here!/In this show,10 celebrities have to complete tasks each week,such as eating insects./Dictation8School学校（160words）September is traditionally the end of summer/and the beginning of autumn in the UK./It is also the month when children go back to school after their long summer holidays./ There are two types of school in England./State-run schools are paid for by the government, so are free to attend./Independent Schools are private,which means you have to pay to attend./ The school day usually starts at9in the morning and finishes around4,/with breaks for lunch of course!/In many schools,you have to wear a uniform too./Children start school when they are5years old./This is called primary school,/and lasts until the child is11when he or she will go on to senior school./Secondary school is compulsory from11until16years of age./At16,students take national examinations called GCSE’s./After this,students can stay at school for another2years and take A Level examinations./Dictation9The Modern Family现代家庭（154words）Father leaves for work in the morning after breakfast./The two children take the bus to school, /and mother stays home cooking and cleaning/until father and the kids return home in the evening. /This is the traditional picture of a happy family living in Britain./The past20years have seen enormous changes in the lives and structure of families in Britain./ The biggest change has been caused by divorce./As many as2out of3marriages now end in divorce,/leading to a situation where many children live with one parent/and only see the other at weekends or holidays./ There has also been a huge rise in the number of women with children who work./The large rise in divorces hasmeant/many women need to work to support themselves and their children./ Even when there is no divorce,/many families need both parents to work in order to survive./Dictation10Mid-Autumn Festival中秋节（146words）On25th September this year,people all over China/will be getting together to eat with their families,/look at the moon and celebrate one of the biggest festivals in the Chinese lunar calendar./ However,the celebrations stretch far beyond the borders of China./Here in the UK events are taking place for Chinese people living here,/and to teach the people of Britain more about this popular festival./The Soho Theatre in London conducted a study/which showed that Chinese Londoners don’t engage much with the arts world./As a result,‘Moon walking In China’has been created to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival./This is no normal theatre production though,/as it doesn’t take place in the theatre./Theatre professionals and volunteers from the local community/will take audiences around the streets ofSoho/on a magical lantern-lit walk/through the landmarks and backstreets of Chinatown./Dictation11The Dragon龙（160words）When many people in the west think of China,/the animal that they think of is the dragon./ For them,the dragon is an aggressive monster that breathes fire./Many popular legends tell of how dragons killed brave knights and ate beautiful maidens./ For Chinese people however,the dragon is not an evil monster./It’s a cultural and spiritual symbol for prosperity and good luck./The dragon’s main task is to create harmony and bring rain./ Dragons are celebrated in art and architecture,/andof course the dragon dance is a very popular ritual./Millions of Chinese have the word‘long’,meaning dragon,as part of their name./ China isn’t the only country to have the dragon as its symbol./Wales,one of the four countries in the UK,/has a red dragon proudly displayed on its flag./The only other country in the world with a dragon on its flag is Bhutan,/the tiny country between China and India./Dictation12Rainy Britain阴雨的英国（153words）Britain is famous around the world for its rainy weather,/but many parts of the country this June/are experiencing much more rain than they have ever seen before./Torrential downpours have caused rivers to burst their banks,/roads have been closed and many people have been evacuated/from their homes because of the floods./The worst hit area seems to be the north of England./There have even been fatalities as people got stuck in the rain/or were washed away by the floodwaters./Flood warnings have been issued in many parts of the UK/and it is said that over a month’s worth o f rain has fallen in just the last couple of days./The rain has also caused chaos at some of Britain’s famous June events./The Glastonbury festival is a four-day-long outdoor music festival/and while it is traditionally quite rainy and muddy there,/this year was particularly bad./Dictation13Christmas Traditions圣诞节传统（145words）There are many ways to celebrate Christmas,/and some British people like to go on holiday,/ go out for lunch to a restaurant,or spend the day with friends./But most people’s idea of a traditional Christmas/involves spending a few days with their family/—sometimes their extended family./The day is the most exciting for the children./They may have spent weeks or even months dreaming of the presents they want most./Since the beginning of December,they may have opened their advent calendars,/finding a new festive picture,chocolate,or small gift,/to count down each day until25th December./ On Christmas Eve,they hang up stockings,/ready to be filled with presents by Santa Claus./ Often a thank you gift of a mince pie and a glass of sherry will be left,/as well as a carrot for those hungry reindeer./Dictation14Olympic Slogan奥运口号（140words）Beijing unveiled the slogan for the2008Olympics as far back as2005./“One World,OneDream”was finally sel ected/from more than210,000entries from around the world./ Beijing’s original bid to host the2008games/had a different slogan“New Beijing,Great Olympics”./The organizers felt the new slogan shifted the focus nicely/from the city of Beijing itself to the spirit of the Olympics/—unity,friendship amongst nations and progress./ It was also felt that the“One World,One Dream”slogan/captured the traditional Chinese values of peace and harmony./ The Olympics hasn’t always had a slogan attached to each host country./In fact it wasn’t until 1988at the Seoul Olympics in South Korea/that the first slogan appeared./“Harmony and Progress”was chosen/and it seems to have been a popular theme over the years./Dictation15Sunbed太阳床（159words）In the UK,a country known for its bad weather and lack of sunshine,/there appears to be an ever increasing number of very tanned young people./So just how are they achieving their golden tans?/Some areopting for the sun-free option/ and are getting their tan from a bottle./However,it appears that others are turning to tanning salons, /of which there are thousands in the UK./While in China young people often prefer to remain fair,/in the UK there seems to be a growing desire for tanned skin./So why do the British prefer to be bronzed?/Often,they are trying to emulate their favorite celebrities,footballers,or footballers’wives./Research from the British Sunbed Association suggests that/many people believe a tan makes them feel and look healthier./This is a belief that is most definitely not shared by Cancer Research UK./They firmly state that being tanned is not a sign of health./Dictation16Speechwriting写演讲稿（143words）The success of a speech is often attributed to the skill of the speaker,/with merit being given to speakers who are confident,articulate,/knowledgeable and able to deliver a speech with conviction./But often it is not the speakers who write these moving speeches,/it is a speechwriter./And one industry in which this practice is common is that of politics./So what does it take to be a political speechwriter?/Well according to a recent job advertisement from the US Embassy in Britain,/a political speechwriter needs to have exceptional interpersonal skills,/be detail oriented and able to demonstrate a deep knowledge of their subject./They must also work closely with speakers/and be able to relate to their style./ Some believe that the best speechwriters have an inherent talent,/a natural creative instinct,/ and that speechwriting is an art form./Dictation17A Walk in the Park在公园散步（141words）Exercising in natural areas is not only good for your physical health/—it can improve your mood/and sense of well-being in as little as five minutes./So says research in the journal Environmental Health and Technology./Exercise alone is known to make you happier./So is being in a natural setting./So scientists wanted to see the effect of combining the two./They evaluated10different UK studies involving more than1,200people./Participants had taken part in activities such as gardening,/sailing and country walks,and rated their mood and self-esteem./The research showed that both areas get a significant boost/with as little as five minutes of outdoor exercise./And people with mental disorders benefited the most./The study authors say this is the first study/to quantify the amount of time needed to get a positive effect./Dictation18Fast Food Makes Us Less Patient快餐使我们失去耐性（146words）Fast food is a multibillion-dollar industry,/and for some of us,drive-through dinner has become a way of life./Granted,sometimes we grab something quick because we really don’t have time./But psychologists got to wondering/whether all this speed eating might actually make us less patient./In a series of experiments,the scientists showed volunteers logos/from several fast-food chains or asked them to recall the last time they’d visited./And they found that folks who had thought about fast food would then read faster,/even though no one told them to hurry./And they also expressed a preference for time-saving products,/like shampoo plus conditioner./And theytended to opt for immediate rewards,/like getting a small cash payment right away/rather than waiting a week for a larger sum./So if you want to ease the pace,forget meditation.Try a slow cooker./Dictation19Light All Night Not Alright整夜开灯并非好事（159words）A nightlight may keep those monsters under the bed./But it may also open the door to the blues./If you have access to electricity,you no doubt switch on a lamp,/maybe even watch a little TV,after the sun goes down./But our bodies use cues about lightness and dark to regulate our hormones/and of course our sleep cycles./So what might these extra photons be doing to our health?/To find out,scientists housed mice in a room/where the lights were always on./After three weeks,they found that mice who lived in the spotlight showed symptoms of depression,/more so than mice who enjoyed eight hours of darkness at night./Interestingly,mice who could escape the light by ducking into a dark tube/also escaped the worst of the depression./ So flip that light switch at your own risk./Because the artificial brightness that helps keep us up could also bring us down./Dictation20London2012Olympic Games伦敦2012奥运会（154words）After a hard-fought campaign,/London has been awarded the right to host the2012Olympic Games./The UK capital saw off competition from four rival cities:/Paris,Madrid,Moscow and New York./Londoners can now look forward to the transformation of their city/in the same way as their counterparts in Beijing./Indeed,there are many similarities in the twocities’approach to hostingthe games./Both cities need to invest in developing their infrastructure/in order to cope with the demands of the event./ However,this kind of investment is far from cheap/—it is estimated that it will cost around $40billion to prepare for the2008games,/much of which will be spent on transport links./ Nevertheless,the benefits of becoming an Olympic city can be enormous/—Barcelona,which hosted the1992games,/was completely regenerated and has since become one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world./Dictation21Picnic野餐（155words）As summertime begins in Britain,people start to feel the urge to go outside to eat./People love to have a picnic whenever the weather is good enough,/especial ly people with children./It’s a great way to spend a sunny afternoon./Even in the centre of London,on a sunny day,/the parks are full of office workers eating their lunch outside on the grass./That might be a pretty basic picnic/—a shop-bought sandwich and a bottle of water./But if people are planning a picnic on the beach or at the park,/they would probably pack a cool bag/with a whole variety of home-made sandwiches,snacks,cake,fruit and soft drinks./ They might have a picnic rug to sit on,and paper plates and cups./ University students enjoy having picnics,/and usually take along some kind of sports equipment,/such as a ball in order to burn off some energy after lunch./Dictation22Changing Name after Marriage婚后改名（155words）Getting married is one of the most important decisions that a person takes in one’s life./This is because it is a step that hasthe potential to alter or change one’s life altogether./Right from the wedding dress to the house/that the couple will live after their wedding,/is decided with utmost care./An important decision that the person has to make along with the other arrangements for the wedding/is to choose between one’s maiden name and spouse’s name./Though traditionally, women are expected to change their name/from their maiden name to their husband’s name,/ many women nowadays opt to keep their maiden name after marriage,/mostly for professional reasons./Apart from this,there are women who adopt their husband’s last name/and keep their maiden name as their second name./Also,there are couples who make a new name with both their names,/by separating the names with a hyphen./ Dictation23The Compass指南针（153words）A magnetic compass is a device that has been used for centuries now,/and its utility in helping people find their way is undoubted./Before technology gave us the privilege of GPS navigation systems,/the act of finding out where you are and which side is north/was carried out simply with the help of a compass./We’ve all seen a compass at some point or the other,/and this has alm ost always led us to the question“How does a compass work?”/The answer to this question can be explained/through the concept of the earth’s electromagnetism./Simply speaking,a compass is basically a small magnet/that has a needle attached on one end. /The other end of the magnet is attached to a freely moving pin./When the compass is held out steadily,/the magnet becomes parallel with the magnetic field of the Earth,/and this causes it to point north./Dictation24Ball Games球类运动（157words）Ball games have become an integral part of modern society./They give us entertainment providing us a means to safely free ourselves from stress./There are many different ball games that can do this for us./Some people enjoy football,while others like basketball./These two ball games are the most popular in China./Other games such as baseball are growing in appeal,yet have not become popular./The development of these games is interesting./Basketball is one of the few sports with a known date of birth./Football,or soccer,originally developed from traits found in both China and Europe./It has grown to become the world’s most popular sport./In Europe, football clubs have been established,/which in turn has been copied in the rest of the world./ These football clubs train players/who may later go to play for their nations in the World Cup./ This is the most watched ballgame championship on the planet./Dictation25Water Sports水上运动（145words）The history of man’s involvement with water sports/stretches back before history was written down./It is a history of the development of technology as well as human physical achievement./ Man first took to water in boats that sailed around the world/with nothing but the stars to guide them./The seas and rivers were a mystery to be feared,/for lurked unknown creatures and death by drowning./Few actually ventured into the water./As a sport,however,water sports such as swimming,diving,/and water polo are new comparatively to those on land./Probably the oldest one is rowing in a rowboat./This is seen in modern games such as competitions/between rowing clubs in British and American universities./Olympic Water Sports began with swimming but did not end there./The different kinds of water sports such as divingor water skiing came later./Dictation26Famous Universities名校（140words）Many countries have excellent universities./There are,however,few world famous ones./ These universities have achieved their fame/through a combination of both their age/and the high levels of quality in their instruction./Throughout their histories,/each one has been a testing ground for the leadership of the nation./In the United States,Harvard and Yale attract thousands of foreign students/who would use what they learn for the advancement of their own nations./In this way,these schools have developed an interesting method of international communication./ Graduates around the world are able to connect with each other/by having graduated from one of the finest universities in the world./Leaders in every field,whether government officials or ground-breaking scientists,/who graduated from the same school have a direct link to each other/ and understand each other much better./Dictation27Ideal Life理想人生（157words）The ideal life is one that many people would like to pursue,yet few achieve./The balance between dreams and reality is one that is difficult to overcome./Many people choose a vocation in the hopes/that it would bring them wealth and success./However,after years of labor in theirchosen field,they begin to hate their jobs./This is mainly because they have neglected other parts of their lives in search of this success./These people devote their lives to working/and are unable to separate themselves from their work./They find that it may not be enough./Some have jobs where their principles and emotional health/are challenged by dishonesty or bad workenvironments./These people can begin to become influenced by the environment in which they work,/leading to personal or health problems./This choice is not a permanent situation,however, /as many people have chosen to change the values of their lives./Dictation28Reeducation and Employment再教育和就业（160words）During the course of our lives,we must make many choices that we may come to regret./This is especially true when choosing a career./Jobs that sound exciting or rewarding become dull or not worth it/as we live our daily existence./This is where reeducation can help./Occupational schools have been set up to train people in jobs/that they may be better suited for./People can adapt their interests and talents through selected courses./They can learn cooking skills,which are always in great demand./Gardening is an option for those who enjoy the outdoors or have a green thumb./If a person is interested in motors or cars,they can get training as a mechanic./Even more, the learning of a foreign language/would allow them the opening of a dream life./The job qualification certificates they earn can also be used too enhance their resumes,/so that they are trained in a variety of skills./Dictation29Made in China中国制造（160words）The label,Made in China,is one that is becoming increasing common/in shopping centers all over the world./In the United States,shoppers at Wal-Mart the nation’s largest retailer/have a wide selection of products mostly produced in China./The large amount of Chinese imports have created a large selection of goods in other countries/as people begin to buy more and more products made in China./These goods are even readily availablein other Asian nations,/where Chinese-made goods are quite popular./Chinese brand names are also becoming more well-known outside of China./The development of China has amazed the world with its growth./And also,as China is a developing economy with large amounts of labor,/industries are beginning to relocate in an effort to minimize costs and increase profits./The results of these relocations are that/nations are beginning to try to limit the flow of Chinese goods/with the use of taxes and import restrictions./Dictation30Glaciers冰川（153words）Glaciers are formed in places where the temperatures are extremely cold./This could even include places that are at sea level,/but are mostly places that are high up on mountains./ In such cold places it snows most of the year./This snow will settle down and when it snows again/the lower layer of snow gets compressed./Every time it snows,the below layers will compress more,/finally turning into hard ice./This ice is what forms the glacier./ When the temperature rises slightly,/the outer edges of the formed glacier and fresh snow will melt./For a glacier to form and sustain itself it is of prime importance/that the amount of snow that falls on it must be more than the amount of glacier that has melted./This is the only way in which the glacier will be able to maintain itself/and keep increasing in size year after year./。

专四第一篇Town and Country Life in EnglandThere is a big difference between town life and country life in England. In the country, everybody knows everybody else. They know what time you get up, what time you go to bed and what you have for dinner. If you want help, you will always get it and you will be glad to help others.In a large town like London, however, it can sometimes happen that you have never seen your next door neighbor and you do not know his name or anything about him. People in London are often very lonely. This is because people go to different places in the evenings and at weekends. If you walk through the streets in the centre of London on Sunday, it is like a town without people. One is sorry for old people living on their own. They could die in their homes and would not be discovered for weeks or even months.专四第二篇A Change in Women’s LifeThe important change in women’s life-pattern has only recently begun to have its full effect on women’s economic position. Even a few years ago most girls left school at the first opportunity, and most of them took a full-time job. However, when they married, they usually left work at once and never returned to it. Today the school-leaving age is sixteen, many girls stay at school after that age, and though women tend to marryyounger, more married women stay at work at least until shortly before their first child is born. V ery many more afterwards return to full-time or part-time work. Such changes have led to a new relationship in marriage, with the husband accepting a greater share of the duties and satisfactions of family life and with both husband and wife sharing more equally in providing the money, and running the home, according to the abilities and interests of each of them.专四第三篇A Popular Pastime of the English PeopleOne of the best means of understanding the people of any nation is watching what the do with their non-working time.Most English men, women and children love growing things, especially flowers. Visitors to England in spring, summer or autumn are likely to see gardens all they way along the railway lines. There are flowers at the airports and flowers in factory grounds, as well as in gardens along the roads. Each English town has at least one park with beautifully kept flower beds. Public buildings of every kind have brilliant window boxes and sometimes baskets of flowers are hanging on them.But what the English enjoy most is growing things themselves. If it is impossible to have a garden, then a window box or something growing in a p ot will do. Looking at each other’s gardens is a popular pastime with the English.专四第四篇British and American Police OfficersReal policemen, both in Britain and the U.S., hardly recognize any common points between their lives and what they se on TV—if they ever get home in time.Some things are almost the same, of course, but the policemen do not think much of them much of them.The first difference is that a policeman’s real life deals with the law. Most of what he learns is the law. He has to know actually what actions are against the law and what facts can be used to prove them in court. He has to know nearly as much law as a lawyer, and what’s more, he has to put it into practice on his feet, in the dark and, running down a narrow street after someone he wants to talk to.Little of his time is spent in talking with beautiful girls or in bravely facing cruel criminals. He will spend most of his working life arranging millions of words on thousands of fomp3s about hundreds of sad, ordinary people who are guilty--- or not of stupid, unimportant crimes.专四第五篇Living SpaceHow much living space does a person need? What happens when his space needs are not met? Scientists are doing experiments on rats to try to detemp3ine the effects of overcrowded conditions on man. Recent studieshave shown that the behavior of rats is greatly affected by space. If rats have enough living space, they eat well, sleep well and produce their young well. But if their living conditions become too crowded, their behavior and even their health change obviously. They can not sleep and eat well, and signs of fear and worry become clear. The more crowded they are, and more they tend to bite each other and even kill each other. Thus, for rats, populations and violence are directly related. Is this a natural law for human society as well? Is enough space not only satisfactory, but necessary for human survival? These are interesting questions.专四第六篇The United NationsIn 1945, representatives of 50 nations met to plan this organization. It was called the United Nations. After the war, many more nations joined. There are two major parts of the United Nations. One is called the General Assembly. In the General Assembly, every member nation is represented and has an equal vote.The second part is called the Security Council. It has representatives of just 15 nations. Five nations are pemp3anent members: the United States, Russia, France, Britain, and China. The 10 other members are elected every two years by the General Assembly.The major job of the Security Council is to keep peace in the world. If necessary, it can send troops from member nations to try to stop little wars before they turn into big ones.It is hard to get the nations of the Security Council to agree on when this is necessary. But they did vote to try to stop wars.专四第七篇PlasticWe use plastic wrap to protect our foods. We put our garbage in plastic bags or plastic cans. We sit on plastic chairs, play with plastic toys, drink from plastic cups, and wash our hair with shampoo from plastic bottles! Plastic does not grow in nature. It is made by mixing certain things together. We call it a produced or manufactured material. Plastic was first made in the 1860s from plants, such as wood and cotton. That plastic was soft and burned easily.The first modern plastics were made in the 1930s. Most clear plastic starts out as thick, black oil. That plastic coating inside a pan begins as natural gas.Over the years, hundreds of different plastics have been developed. Some are hard and strong. Some are soft and bendable. Some are clear. Some are many-colored. There is a plastic for almost every need. Scientists continue to experiment with plastics. They hope to find even ways to use them!专四第八篇Display of GoodsAre supemp3arkets designed to persuade us to buy more?Fresh fruit and vegetables are displayed near supemp3arket entrances. This gives the impression that only healthy food is sold in the shop. Basic foods that everyone buys, like sugar and tea, are not put near each other. They are kept in different aisles so customers are taken past other attractive foods before they find what they want. In this way, shoppers are encouraged to buy products that they do not really need.Sweets are o ften placed at children’s eye level at the checkout. While parents are waiting to pay, children reach for the sweets and put them in the trolley.More is bought from a fifteen-foot display of one type of product than from a ten-foot one. Customers also buy more when shelves are full than when they are half empty. They do not like to buy from shelves with few products on them because they feel there is something wrong with those products that are there.专四第九篇Albert EinsteinAlbert Einstein was born in Gemp3any in 1879, His father owned a factory that made electrical devices. His mother enjoyed music and books. His parents were Jewish but they did not observe many of the religion’s rules. Albert was a quite child who spent much of his time alone. He was slow to talk and had difficulty learning to read. When Albert was fiveyears old, his father gave him a compass. The child was filled with wonder when he discovered that the compass needle always pointed in the same direction—to be north. He asked his father and his uncle what caused the needle to move. Their answers about magnetism and gravity were difficult for the boy to understand. Y et he spent a lot of time thinking about them. He said later that he felt something hidden had to be behind things.专四第十篇Private CarsWith the increase in the general standard of living, some ordinary Chinese families begin to afford a car. Y et opinions of the development of a private car vary from person to person.It gives a much greater degree of comfort and mobility. The owner of a car is no longer forced to reply on public transport, and hence no irritation caused by waiting for buses or taxis. However, others strongly object to developing private cars. They maintain that as more and more cars are produced and run in the street, a large volume of poisonous gas will be given off, polluting the atmosphere and causing actual hamp3 to the health of people.Whether private cars should be developed in Chicago is a difficult question to answer, yet the desire for the comfort and independence a private car can bring will not be eliminated.专四第十一篇A Henpecked Husband and His WifeThere was once a large, fat woman who had a small, thin husband. He had a job in a big company and was given his weekly wages every Friday evening. As soon as he got home on Fridays, his wife used to make him give her all his money, and then she used to give him back only enough to buy his lunch in his company every day.One day, the small man came home very excited. He hurried into the living-room. His wife was listening to the radio and eating chocolates there.“Y ou will never guess what happened to me to day, dear.” he said.He waited for a few seconds and then added, “I won ten thousand dollars on the lottery!”“That is wonderful! ” said his wife delightedly. But then she pulled a long face and added angrily, “But how could you afford to buy the ticket?专四第十二篇A Y oung Man’s PromiseOne day, a young man was writing a letter to his girlfriend who lived just a few miles away in a nearby town. He was telling her how much he loved her and how wonderful he thought she was. The more he wrote themore poetic he became. Finally he said that in order to be with her, he would suffer the greatest difficulties, he would face the greatest dangers that anyone couldn’t imagine. In fact, to spend only one minute with her, he would swim across the widest river, he would enter the deepest forest, and he would fight against the fiercest animals with his bare hands.He finished the letter, signed his name and then suddenly remembered that he had forgotten to mention something quite important. So, in a postscript below his name, he added:“By the way, I’ll be over to see you on Wednesday night, if it doesn’t rain.”专四第十三篇A Kind NeighborMr. and Mrs. Jones’ apartment was full of luggage, packages, furniture and boxes. Both of them were very busy when they heard the doorbell ring. Mrs. Jones went to open it and she saw a middle-aged lady outside. The lady said she lived next door. Mrs. Jones invited her to come in and apologized because there was no place for her to sit. “Oh, that’s OK.” said the lady. “I just come to welcome to your new home. As you know, in some parts of this city, neighbors are not friendly at all. They are some apartment houses where people don’t know any of their neighbors, not even the ones next door. But in this building, everyone is very friendlywith everyone else. We are a big happy family. I am sure you will be very happy here.” Mr. and Mrs. Jones said, “But madam, we are not new dwellers in this apartment. We’ve lived here for two years. We are moving out tomo rrow.”专四第十四篇That Isn’t Our FaultMr. and Mrs. Williams got married when he was twenty-three, and she was twenty. Twenty-five years later, they had a big party, and a photographer came and took some photographs of them.Then the photographer gave Mrs. Williams a card and said, “They’ll be ready next Wednesday. Y ou can get them from studio.”“No,” Mrs. Williams said, “please send them to us.”The photographs arrived a week later, but Mrs. Williams was not happy when she saw them. She got into her car and drove to the photographer’s studio. She went inside and said angrily, “Y ou took some photographs of me and my husband last week, but I’m not going to pay for them.”“Oh, why not?” the photographer asked.“Because my husband looks like a monkey,” Mrs. Williams said.“Well,” the photographer answered, “that isn’t our fault. Why didn’t you think of that before you married him?”专四第十五篇A Guide's AnswerIn 1861, the Civil War started in the United States between the Northern and the Southern states. The war continued with great bitterness until 1865, when the Northerners were victorious. However, even today, many Southerners have not forgotten their defeat, or forgiven the Northerners.A few years ago, a party of American tourists were going round one of the battlefields of the Civil War with a guide who came from one of the Southern states. At each place, the guide told the tourists stirring stories about how a few Southern soldiers had conquered powerful forces of Northerners there.At last, one of the tourists, a lady who came from the North, stopped the guide and said to him, “ But surely that the Northern amp3y must have won at least one victory in the Civil War?”“Not as long as I’m the guide here, madam,” answered the Southern guide.专四第十六篇A Qualified PilotThe captain of a small ship had to go along a rocky coast, but he was unfamiliar with it, so he tried to find a qualified pilot to guide him. He went ashore in one of the small ports, and a local fishemp3an pretended that he was a pilot because he needed some money. The captain took him on board and asked him where to steer the ship.After half an hour, the captain began to suspect that the fishemp3an did not really know what he was doing and where he was going.“Are you sure you are a qualified pilot?” he asked.“Oh, yes,” answered the fishemp3an. “I know every rock on this part of the coast.”Suddenly there was a terrible crash from under the ship. At once the fishemp3an added, “And that’s one of them.”专四第十七篇Living Things ReactY ou and all organisms live an environment. An environment is made up of everything that surrounds an organism. It can include the air, the water, the soil, and even other organisms.An organism responds to changes in its environment. When an organism responds to a change, it reacts in certain ways. All living things respond in some way.Have you ever noticed how plants and insects respond to light? Plants bend toward light. Insects fly toward light.Living things also respond in other ways. The leaves on some trees respond to a change in season. In autumn, they change colors and then fall off the branches Animals also respond to a change in season. Squirrels save nuts for the winter. Bears sleep through the winter in acave.Y ou respond to your environment in many ways, too. Y ou may shiver if you are cold. What other ways do you respond to changes in your environment?专四第十八篇Flowering PlantsWhat are the parts of a flower?Flowers can have male parts and female parts. The female parts make eggs that become seeds. The male parts make pollen. Pollen is a powdery material that is needed by the eggs to make seeds. To make seeds, pollen and eggs must come together. The wind, insects, and birds bring pollen to eggs. Many animals love flowers’ bright colors. They also like a sugary liquid in flowers. This is called nectar. While they drink nectar, pollen rubs off on their bodies. As they move, some of this pollen gets delivered to the female flower parts.Over time, the female parts turn into fruits that contain seeds. Animals often eat the fruits and the seeds pass through their bodies as waste. The animals do no know they are working for the plants by planting seeds as they travel to different places!专四第十九篇Finding the Direction and LocationHow can you tell which direction? By day, look for the Sun. It is in the east in the morning and the west in the afternoon. At night, use the Big Dipper to help you find the North Star. It would be better to bring a compass because its needle always points north.How do you know how far you have gone? Y ou could count every step. Each step is about two feet. Y ou’d better wear a pedometer wh ich is a tool that counts steps. If you know where you started, which direction you are heading, and how far you have gone, you can use a good map to figure out exactly where you are.Today there is a new way for travelers to figure out where they are. It is the GPS. It has 24 satellites that orbit the earth and constantly broadcast their positions. Someday you may carry a small receiver as you hike and use GPS to find out if you are there yet!专四第二十篇WavesHow does light get from the sun to the earth? How does music get from the stage to the audience? They move the same way-----in waves!Light and sound are fomp3s of energy. All waves carry energy, but they may carry it differently. Light and sound travel through different kinds of matter. For example, light waves cannot move through walls, but sound waves can. That is why you can hear people talking in another room eventhough you cannot see them. The energy of some waves is destructive. An earthquake produces seismic waves.Catch a wave. Ask a friend to stand a few feet away from you. Stretch a spring between you. Shake the spring to transfer energy to it. What happens? The spring bounces up and down in waves. When the waves reach your friend, they bounce back to you!Light waves travel 300,000 kilometers (186,000 miles) per second! They can also travel through a vacuum. That is why light from the sun and distant stars can travel through space to the earth!专四第二十一篇SoilsThere are many different kinds of soils. Different soils have different types of rock and minerals in them. Some soils have more water in them than others. Some soils might have more plant and animal material in them, too.Different kinds of soils are found in different parts of the world. There are several kinds of soils found in the United States. In some areas, the soil has a lot of clay. Other soils are very sandy. Loam is a kind of soil that has a good mixture of clay and sand.In some places, soil layers are very thick. Lots of plants grow in places with a thick soil layer. In dry and windy places soil layers are much thinner. Layers of soil on mountains are thin because gravity pulls the soildownhill.The type of soil in a particular place affects what kinds of plants can grow there.专四第二十二篇CrisisLife is a contest! Who will win? A bluebird and sparrow both compete for space to build their nests. A fast-growing maple tree and slower-growing dogwood compete for the sunlight they both need. Oil competes with coal and nuclear power as an energy source for electric power plants!There is a problem. There is a limited amount of space for birds, sunlight for trees, and energy for people! If we do not cut back on our uses of some of our resources, someday they will be gone!How can we use energy today and know we will have enough to go around in the future? We can choose alternate, or replacement, energy resources. It takes the earth millions of years to create coal, oil, and gas. They are nonrenewable resources.Solar energy, wind energy and water energy are renewable resources. It takes the earth millions of years to create coal, oil, and gas. They are nonrenewable resources.Solar energy, wind energy and water energy are renewable. What other ways can we conserve our sources? How can we make sure there is always enough to go around?专四第二十三篇America’s Worst SurpriseDecember 7, 1941 was one of the worst days in American history. Nearly all Americans who are old enough to remember that day can still remember what they were doing at the moment they heard “the news”. The news was that America had been attacked!Shortly before 2:00 P.M., a radio dispatch came into Washington from Honolulu, Hawaii. “Air Raid, Pearl Harbor—This is no drill.” Japanese planes had begun an attack on the largest American military base in the Pacific. They first destroyed planes on the ground. Then they bombed the ships in the harbor.No one had expected the attack. So no one was prepared for it. And it did not take long for Japanese to do their damage. When the smoke cleared, the Navy counted its losses. Eighteen ships had been sunk or badly damaged. Nearly 150 planes had been destroyed. More than 2,400 Americans had been killed and more than 1,200 wounded.专四第二十四篇Great Depression in the U.S.In 1929, the bills started to come in. American industry had produced too many goods. Americans could not afford to buy all of them. So factories had to cut down on their production. Many workers lost their jobs.Investors tried to get their money back. But businesses did not have enough money to pay them. Banks tried to get their money back from investors. But the investors could not pay, either. Too many people owed money. And few of them could pay their bills.During the next few years, business got worse and worse. By 1932, banks all over the country were closing.People without money could not buy goods. So more businesses closed. More and more people lost their jobs. By 1932, more than 12 million Americans were jobless. Millions more were earning barely enough to live on. The country was in a great depression they had never experienced before.专四第二十五篇A Place of Our OwnWe are all usually very careful when we buy something for the house. Why? Because we have to live with it for a long time. We paint a room to make it brighter, so we choose the colors carefully.We buy new curtains in order to match the newly decorated room, so they must be the right color. We move the furniture round so as to make more space—or we buy new furniture—and so on. It is an endless business.Rich or poor, we take time to furnish a room. Perhaps some people buyfurniture in order to impress their friends. But most of us just want to enjoy our surroundings. We want to live as comfortably as we can afford to. We spend a large part of our lives at home. We want to make a small corner in the world which we can recognize as our own.专四第二十六篇Travel for WorkY ou can see them in every airport in the world. They are businessmen and women who have to travel for their work.When they first applied for the job, they may have thought of good food and hotels, huge expense accounts and fashionable cities. Now they have to sit in airport lounges, tired and uncomfortable in their smart clothes, listening to the loudspeaker announce “The fight of Tokyo, or Berlin, or New Y ork is delayed for another two hours.” Some people say to me, “How lucky you are to be able to travel abroad in your work! Y ou can go sightseeing without paying any money by yourself!” They think that my job is like a continual holiday. It is not.There are advantages, of course, and I do thin I am lucky, but only because I can go to places I would never visit if I was a tourist.专四第二十六七篇IntelligenceAre some people born clever, and others born stupid? Or is intelligence developed by our environment and our experience?Strangely enough, the answer to these questions is yes. To some extent our intelligence is given us at birth, and no amount of special education can make a genius out of a child born with low intelligence. On the other hand, a child who lives in a boring environment will develop his intelligence less than one who lives in rich and varied surroundings. Thus, the limits of a person’s intelligence are fixed at birth, whether or not he reaches those limits will depend on his environment. This view, held by most experts now, can be supported in a number of ways. As is easy to show that intelligence is to some extent something we are born with. The closer the blood relationship between two people is, the closer they are likely to be in intelligence.专四第二十八篇A Free Dress Every WeekThe temptation to steal is greater than ever before especially in large shops and people are not so honest as they once were.A detective recently watched a well-dressed woman who always went into a large store on Monday mornings. One Monday, there were fewer people in the shop than usual when the woman came in, so it was easier for the detective to watch her. The woman first bought a few smallarticles. After a little time, she chose one of the most expensive dresses in the shop and handed it to an assistant who wrapped it up for her as quickly as possible. The woman simply took the parcel and walked out of the shop without paying. When she was arrested, the detective found out that the shop assistant was her daughter. Believe it or not, the girl “gave” her mother a free dress every week!专四第二十九篇TimeTime is tangible. One can gain time, spend time, waste time, save time, or even kill time. Common questions in American English reveal this concrete quality as though time were a possession. “Do you have any time?”, “Can you get some time for this?”, “How much free time do you have?” The treatment of time as a possession influences the way that time is carefully divided.Generally, Americans are taught to do one thing at a time and may be uncomfortable when an activity is interrupted. In businesses, the careful scheduling of time and the separation of activities are common practices. Appointment calendars are printed with 15-,30-, and 60-minute time slots. The idea that “there is a time and place for everything” extends to American social life. Visitors who drop by without prior notice may interrupt their host’s personal time. Thus, calling friends on the telephone before visiting them is generally preferred to visitors’ dropping by.专四第三十篇CartoonistsIn a good cartoon, the artist can tell in a few lines as much as a writer can tell in half a dozen paragraphs. The cartoonist not only tells a story but he also tries to persuade the reader to his way of thinking. He has great influence on public opinion. In a political campaign, he plays an important part. Controversial issues in Congress or at meetings of the United Nations may keep the cartoonist well-supplied with current materials.A clever cartoonist may cause laughter because he often uses humor in his drawings. If he is sketching a famous person, he takes a prominent feature and exaggerates it. Cartoonists, for instance, like to lengthen an already long nose and to widen an already broad grin. This exaggeration of a person’s characteristics is called caricature. The artist uses such exaggeration to put his message across.专四第三十一篇Water PollutionWater is very important to us. Factories and plants need water for industrial uses and large pieces of famp3land need it for irrigation. Without water to drink, people die in a short time.Today most water sources are so dirty that people must purify water before drinking. Water becomes dirty in many ways: industrial pollution is one of them. With the development of industry, plants and factoriespour tons of industrial wasters into rivers every day. The rivers have become seriously polluted, and the water is becoming unfit for drinking or irrigation. The same thing has also happened to our seas and oceans. So, the problem of water pollution is almost worldwide.Scientists of many countries have done a lot of work to stop pollution. The polluted water in some places has become clean and drinkable again. Perhaps one day the people in all towns and cities will be drinking clean water. That day, we believe, is not very far off.专四第三十二篇Making a ComplaintComplaining about faulty goods or bad services is never easy. But if something you have brought is faulty or does not do what was claimed for it, you are not asking for a favor to get it put right.Complaints should be made to a responsible person. Go back to the shop where you bought the goods, taking with you any receipt you may have. In a small store the assistant may also be the owner so you can complain direct. In a chain store, ask the manager. If you telephone, ask the name of the person who handles your enquiry, otherwise you may never find out who dealt with the complaint later. If you do not want to do it in person, write a letter. Stick to the facts and keep a copy of what you write. At this stage you should give any receipt numbers, but you should not need to give receipts or other papers to prove you bought the article.。

专四听写原文01. Town and Country Life in EnglandThere is a big difference between town life and country life in England. In the country, everybody knows everybody else. They know what time you get up, what time you go to bed and what you have for dinner. If you want help, you will always get it and you will be glad to help others.In a large town like London, however, it can sometimes happen that you have never seen your next door neighbor and you do not know his name or anything about him. People in London are often very lonely. This is because people go to different places in the evenings and at weekends. If you walk through the streets in the centre of London on Sunday, it is like a town without people. One is sorry for old people living on their own. They could die in their homes and would not be discovered for weeks or even months.O2. A Change in Women’s LifeThe important change in women’s life-pattern has only recently begun to have its full effect on women’s economic position. Even a few years ago most girls left school at the first opportunity, and most of them took a full-time job. However, when they married, theyusually left work at once and never returned to it. Today the school-leaving age is sixteen, many girls stay at school after that age, and though women tend to marry younger, more married women stay at work at least until shortly before their first child is born. V ery many more afterwards return to full-time or part-time work. Such changes have led to a new relationship in marriage, with the husband accepting a greater share of the duties and satisfactions of family life and with both husband and wife sharing more equally in providing the money, and running the home, according to the abilities and interests of each of them.Useful W ords and Expressions:1. life-pattern生活方式2. share03 A Popular Pastime of the English PeopleOne of the best means of understanding the people of any nation is watching what they do with their non-working time.Most English men, women and children love growing things, especially flowers. V isitors to England in spring, summer or autumn are likely to see gardens all the way along the railway lines. There are flowers at the airports and flowers in factory grounds, as well as in gardens along the roads. Each English town has at least one park with beautifully kept flower beds. Public buildings of every kindhave brilliant window boxes and sometimes baskets of flowers are hanging on them.But what the English enjoy most is growing things themselves. If it is impossible to have a garden, then a window box or something growing in a pot will do. Looking at each other’s gardens is a popular pastime with the English.Useful W ords and Expressions:1. window box:窗台上的花盆箱2.pastime 消遣，娱乐Swimming is my favorite pastime.04 British and American Police OfficersReal policemen, both in Britain and the U.S., hardly recognize any common points between their lives and what they see on TV—if they ever get home in time.Some things are almost the same, of course, but the policemen do not think much of them.The first difference is that a policeman’s real life deals with the law. Most of what he learns is the law. He has to know actually what actions are against the law and what facts can be used to prove them in court. He has to know nearly a s much law as a lawyer, and what’s more, he has to put it into practice on his feet, in the dark and, running down a narrow street after someone he wants to talk to.Little of his time is spent in talking with beautiful girls or in bravely facing cruel criminals. He will spend most of his working life arranging millions of words on thousands of forms about hundreds of sad, ordinary people who are guilty--- or not of stupid, unimportant crimes.Useful W ords and Expressions:1. think much of 重视，尊重2. in court 在法庭上3. criminal 罪犯，犯罪者4. guilty 犯罪的，有罪的05 Living SpaceHow much living space does a person need? What happens when his space needs are not met? Scientists are doing experiments on rats to try to determine the effects of overcrowded conditions on man. Recent studies have shown that the behavior of rats is greatly affected by space. If rats have enough living space, they eat well, sleep well and produce their young well. But if their living conditions become too crowded, their behavior and even their health change obviously. They can not sleep and eat well, and signs of fear and worry become clear. The more crowded they are, and more they tend to bite each other and even kill each other. Thus, for rats,populations and violence are directly related. Is this a natural law for human society as well? Is enough space not only satisfactory, but necessary for human survival? These are interesting questions.06 The United NationsIn 1945, representatives of 50 nations met to plan this organization. It was called the United Nations. After the war, many more nations joined.There are two major parts of the United Nations. One is called the General Assembly. In the General Assembly, every member nation is represented and has an equal vote.The second part is called the Security Council. It has representatives of just 15 nations. Five nations are permanent members: the United States, Russia, France, Britain, and China. The 10 other members are elected every two years by the General Assembly.The major job of the Security Council is to keep peace in the world. If necessary, it can send troops from member nations to try to stop little wars before they turn into big ones.It is hard to get the nations of the Security Council to agree on when this is necessary. But they did vote to try to stop wars.Useful W ords and Expressions:1. representative 代表2. General Assembly 联合国大会3. permanent 永久的，持久的4. Security Council 联合国安全理事会07 PlasticW e use plastic wrap to protect our foods. W e put our garbage in plastic bags or plastic cans. W e sit on plastic chairs, play with plastic toys, drink from plastic cups, and wash our hair with shampoo from plastic bottles!Plastic does not grow in nature. It is made by mixing certain things together. W e call it a produced or manufactured material. Plastic was first made in the 1860s from plants, such as wood and cotton. That plastic was soft and burned easily.The first modern plastics were made in the 1930s. Most clear plastic starts out as thick, black oil. That plastic coating inside a pan begins as natural gas.Over the years, hundreds of different plastics have been developed. Some are hard and strong. Some are soft and bendable. Some are clear. Some are many-colored. There is a plastic for almost every need. Scientists continue to experiment with plastics. They hope to find even ways to use them!08 Display of GoodsAre supermarkets designed to persuade us to buy more?Fresh fruit and vegetables are displayed near supermarket entrances. This gives the impression that only healthy food is sold in the shop. Basic foods that everyone buys, like sugar and tea, are not put near each other. They are kept in different aisles so customers are taken past other attractive foods before they find what they want. In this way, shoppers are encouraged to buy products that they do not really need.Sweets are often placed at ch ildren’s eye level at the checkout. While parents are waiting to pay, children reach for the sweets and put them in the trolley.More is bought from a fifteen-foot display of one type of product than from a ten-foot one. Customers also buy more when shelves are full than when they are half empty. They do not like to buy from shelves with few products on them because they feel there is something wrong with those products that are there.Useful Words and Expressions:1. aisle走廊，过道2. trolley 手推车3. checkout 收款台09 Albert EinsteinAlbert Einstein was born in Germany in 1879, His father owned a factory that made electrical devices. His mother enjoyed music and books. His parents were Jewish but they did not observe many of the religion’s rules. Albert was a quite child who spent much of his time alone. He was slow to talk and had difficulty learning to read. When Albert was five years old, his father gave him a compass. The child was filled with wonder when he discovered that the compass needle always pointed in the same direction—to be north. He asked his father and his uncle what caused the needle to move. Their answers about magnetism and gravity were difficult for the boy to understand. Y et he spent a lot of time thinking about them. He said later that he felt something hidden had to be behind things.Useful expressions and words:1. device装置，设备leave to one’s own devices 听任某人自行其是，允许某人按自己的意愿做事She left the child to her own devices for an hour in the afternoon.她允许孩子在下午有一个小时的自由支配时间。

Town and Country Life in EnglandThere is a big difference between town life and country life in England. In the country, everybody knows everybody else. They know what time you get up, what time you go to bed and what you have for dinner. If you want help, you will always get it and you will be glad to help others.In a large town like London, however, it can sometimes happen that you have never seen your next door neighbor and you do not know his name or anything about him. People in London are often very lonely. This is because people go to different places in the evenings and at weekends. If you walk through the streets in the centre of London on Sunday, it is like a town without people. One is sorry for old people living on their own. They could die in their homes and would not be discovered for weeks or even months.A Change in Women’s LifeThe important change in women’s life-pattern has only recently begun to have its full effect on women’s economic position. Even a few years ago most girls left school at the first opportunity, and most of them took a full-time job. However, when they married, they usually left work at once and never returned to it. Today the school-leaving age is sixteen, many girls stay at school after that age, and though women tend to marry younger, more married women stay at work at least until shortly before their first child is born. Very many more afterwards return to full-time or part-time work. Such changes have led to a new relationship in marriage, with the husband accepting a greater share of the duties and satisfactions of family life and with both husband and wife sharing more equally in providing the money, and running the home, according to the abilities and interests of each of them.Useful Words and Expressions:1.life-pattern生活方式2.shareA Popular Pastime of the English PeopleOne of the best means of understanding the people of any nation is watching what the do with their non-working time.Most English men, women and children love growing things, especially flowers. Visitors to England in spring, summer or autumn are likely to see gardens all they way along the railway lines. There are flowers at the airports and flowers in factory grounds, as well as in gardens along the roads. Each English town has at least one park with beautifully kept flower beds. Public buildings of every kind have brilliant window boxes and sometimes baskets of flowers are hanging on them.But what the English enjoy most is growing things themselves. If it is impossible to have a garden, then a window box or something growing in a pot will do. Looking at each other’s gardens is a popular pastime with the English.Useful Words and Expressions:1. window box:窗台上的花盆箱2.pastime 消遣，娱乐Swimming is my favorite pastime.British and American Police OfficersReal policemen, both in Britain and the U.S., hardly recognize any common points between their lives and what they se on TV—if they ever get home in time.Some things are almost the same, of course, but the policemen do not think much of them much of them.The first difference is that a policeman’s real life deals with the law. Most of what he learns is the law. He has to know actually what actions are against the law and what facts can be used to prove them in court. He has to know nearly as much law as a lawyer, and what’s more, he has to put it into practice on his feet, in the dark and, running down a narrow street after someone he wants to talk to.Little of his time is spent in talking with beautiful girls or in bravely facing cruel criminals. He will spend most of his working life arranging millions of words on thousands of forms about hundreds of sad, ordinary people who are guilty--- or not of stupid, unimportant crimes.Useful Words and Expressions:1.think much of 重视，尊重2.in court 在法庭上3.criminal 罪犯，犯罪者4.guilty 犯罪的，有罪的Living SpaceHow much living space does a person need? What happens when his space needs are not met? Scientists are doing experiments on rats to try to determine the effects of overcrowded conditions on man. Recent studies have shown that the behavior of rats is greatly affected by space. If rats have enough living space, they eat well, sleep well and produce their young well. But if their living conditions become too crowded, their behavior and even their health change obviously. They can not sleep and eat well, and signs of fear and worry become clear. The more crowded they are, and more they tend to bite each other and even kill each other. Thus, for rats, populations and violence are directly related. Is this a natural law for human society as well? Is enough space not only satisfactory, but necessary for human survival? These are interesting questions.The United NationsIn 1945, representatives of 50 nations met to plan this organization. It was called the United Nations. After the war, many more nations joined.There are two major parts of the United Nations. One is called the General Assembly. In the General Assembly, every member nation is represented and has an equal vote.The second part is called the Security Council. It has representatives of just 15 nations. Five nations are permanent members: the United States, Russia, France, Britain, and China. The 10 other members are elected every two years by the General Assembly.The major job of the Security Council is to keep peace in the world. If necessary, it can send troops from member nations to try to stop little wars before they turn into big ones.It is hard to get the nations of the Security Council to agree on when this is necessary. But they did vote to try to stop wars.Useful Words and Expressions:1.representative 代表2.General Assembly 联合国大会3.permanent 永久的，持久的4.Security Council 联合国安全理事会PlasticWe use plastic wrap to protect our foods. We put our garbage in plastic bags or plastic cans. We sit on plastic chairs, play with plastic toys, drink from plastic cups, and wash our hair with shampoo from plastic bottles!Plastic does not grow in nature. It is made by mixing certain things together. We call it a produced or manufactured material. Plastic was first made in the 1860s from plants, such as wood and cotton. That plastic was soft and burned easily.The first modern plastics were made in the 1930s. Most clear plastic starts out as thick, black oil. That plastic coating inside a pan begins as natural gas.Over the years, hundreds of different plastics have been developed. Some are hard and strong. Some are soft and bendable. Some are clear. Some are many-colored. There is a plastic for almost every need. Scientists continue to experiment with plastics. They hope to find even ways to use them!Display of GoodsAre supermarkets designed to persuade us to buy more?Fresh fruit and vegetables are displayed near supermarket entrances. This gives the impression that only healthy food is sold in the shop. Basic foods that everyone buys, like sugar and tea, are not put near each other. They are kept in different aisles so customers are taken past other attractive foods before they find what they want. In this way, shoppers are encouraged to buy products that they do not really need.Sweets are often placed at children’s eye level at the checkout. While parents are waiting to pay, children reach for the sweets and put them in the trolley.More is bought from a fifteen-foot display of one type of product than from a ten-foot one. Customers also buy more when shelves are full than when they are half empty. They do not like to buy from shelves with few products on them because they feel there is something wrong with those products that are there.Useful Words and Expressions:1.aisle 走廊，过道2.trolley 手推车3.checkout 收款台Albert EinsteinAlbert Einstein was born in Germany in 1879, His father owned a factory that made electrical devices. His mother enjoyed music and books. His parents were Jewish but they did not observe many of the religion’s rules. Albert was a quite child who spent much of his time alone. He was slow to talk and had difficulty learning to read. When Albert was five years old, his father gave him a compass. The child was filled with wonder when he discovered that the compass needle always pointed in the same direction—to be north. He asked his father and his uncle what caused the needle to move. Their answers about magnetism and gravity were difficult for the boy to understand. Yet he spent a lot of time thinking about them. He said later that he felt something hidden had to be behind things.Useful expressions and words:1.device 装置，设备leave to one’s own devices 听任某人自行其是，允许某人按自己的意愿做事She left the child to her own devices for an hour in the afternoon.她允许孩子在下午有一个小时的自由支配时间。

英语专业四级听写50篇原文Listen to the following passages. Each passage will read for you four times. During the first reading, which will be read at normal speed, listen and try to understand the meaning. For the second and third readings, the passage will be read sentence by sentence or phrase by phrase with intervals of twelve seconds. The last reading will be read at normal speed again, and during this time you should check your work. You will then be given two minutes to check through your work once more.Passage 1Town and Country Life in EnglandThere is a big difference between town life and country life in England. In the country, everybody knows everybody else. They know what time you get up, what time you go to bed and what you have for dinner. If you want help, you will always get it and you will be glad to help others.In a large town like London, however, it can sometimes happen that you have never seen your next door neighbor and you do not know his name or anything about him. People in London are often very lonely. This is because people go to different places in the evenings and at weekends. If you walk through the streets in the centre of London on Sunday, it is like a town without people. One is sorry for old people living on their own. They could die in their homes and would not be discovered for weeks or even months. (154 words.)Passage 2A Change in Women’s LifeThe important change in women’s life-pattern has only recently begun to have its full effect on women’s economic position. Even a few ye ars ago most girls left school at the first opportunity, and most of them took a full-time job. However, when they married, they usually left work at once and never returned to it. Today the school-leaving age is sixteen, many girls stay at school after that age, and though women tend to marry younger, more married women stay at work at least until shortly before their first child is born. Very many more afterwards return to full-time or part-time work. Such changes have led to a new relationship in marriage, with husband accepting a greater share of the duties and satisfactions of family life and with both husband and wife sharing more equally in providing the money, and running the home, according to the abilities and interests on each of them. (154 words)Useful Words and Expressions:1. life-pattern生活方式2. sharePassage 3A Popular Pastime of the English PeopleOne of the best means of understanding the people of any nation is watching what they do with their non-working time.Most English men, women and children love growing things, especially flowers.Visitors to England in spring, summer, or autumn are likely to see gardens all the way along the railway lines. There are flowers at the airports and flowers in factory grounds, as well as in gardens along the roads. Each English town has at least one park with beautifully kept flower beds. Public buildings of every kind have brilliant window boxes and sometimes baskets of flowers are hanging on them.But what the English enjoy most is growing things themselves. If it is impossible to have a garden, then a widow box or something growing in a pot will do. Looking at each other’s gardens is a popular pastime with the English. (144words.)Useful Words and Expressions:1. window box:窗台上的花盆箱2.pastime 消遣，娱乐Swimming is my favorite pastime.Passage 4British and American Police OfficersReal policemen, both in Britain and the U.S., hardly recognize any common points between their lives and what they see on TV—if they ever get home in time.Some things are about the same, of course, but the policemen do not think much of them.The first difference is that a policeman’s real life deals with the law. Most of what he learns is the law. He has to know actually what actions are against the law and what facts can be used to prove them in court. He has to know nearly as much law as a lawyer, and what’s more, he has to put it into practice on his feet, in the dark and, running down a narrow street after someone he wants to talk to.Little of his time is spent in talking with beautiful girls or in bravely facing cruel criminals. He will spend most of his working life arranging millions of words on thousands of forms about hundreds of sad, ordinary people who are guilty — or not of stupid, unimportant crimes. (177words)Useful Words and Expressions:1. think much of 重视，尊重2. in court 在法庭上3. criminal 罪犯，犯罪者4. guilty 犯罪的，有罪的Passage 5Living SpaceHow much living space does a person need? What happens when his space needs are not met? Scientists are doing experiments on rats to try to determine the effects of overcrowded conditions on man. Recent studies have shown that the behavior of rats is greatly affected by space. If rats have enough living space, they eat well, sleep well and produce their young well. But if their living conditions become too crowded, their behavior and even their health change obviously. They can not sleep and eat well, and signs of fear and worry become clear. The more crowded they are, the more they tend to bite each other and even kill each other. Thus, for rats, population and violence are directly related. Is this a natural law for human society as well? Is enough space not only satisfactory, but necessary for human survival? These are interesting questions.(147 words)Passage 6The United NationsIn 1945, representatives of 50 nations met to plan this organization. It was called the United Nations. After the war, many more nations joined.There are two major parts of the United Nations. One is called the General Assembly. In the General Assembly, every member nation is represented and has an equal vote. The second part is called the Security Council. It has representatives of just 15 nations. Five nations are permanent members: the United States, Russia, France, Britain and China. The 10 other members are elected every two years by the General Assembly. The major job of the Security Council is to keep peace in the world. If necessary, it can send troops from member nations to try to stop little wars before they turn into big ones.It is hard to get the nations of the Security Council to agree on when this is necessary. But they did vote to try to stop wars. (156 words)Useful Words and Expressions:1. representative 代表2. General Assembly 联合国大会3. pemp3anent 永久的，持久的4. Security Council 联合国安全理事会Passage 7PlasticWe use plastic wrap to protect our foods. We put our garbage in plastic bags or plastic cans. We sit on plastic chairs, play with plastic toys, drink from plastic cups, and wash our hair with shampoo from plastic bottles!Plastic doesn’t grow in natur e. It is made by mixing certain things together. We call it a produced or manufactured material. Plastic was first made in the 1860s from plants, such as wood and cotton. That plastic was soft and burned easily.The first modern plastics were made in 1930s. Most clear plastic starts out as thick, black oil. That plastic coating inside a pan begins as natural gas.Over the years, hundreds of different plastics have been developed. Some are hard and strong. Some are soft and bendable. Some are clear. Some are many-colored. There is a plastic for almost every need. Scientists continue to experiment with plastics. They hope to find even ways to use them! (160 words)Passage 8Display of GoodsAre supermarkets designed to persuade us to buy more?Fresh fruit and vegetables are displayed near supermarket entrances. This gives the impression that only healthy food is sold in the shop. Basic foods that everyone buys, like sugar and tea, are not put near each other. They are kept in different aisles so customers are taken past other attractive foods before they find what they want. In this way, shoppers are encouraged to buy products that they do not really need.Sweets are often placed at children’s eye level at the checkout. While parents are waiting to pay, children reach for the sweets and put them in the trolley.More is bought from a fifteen-foot display of one type of product than from a ten-foot one. Customers also buy more when shelves are full than when they are a half empty. They do not like to buy from shelves with few products on them because they feel there is something wrong with those products that are there. (166 words)Useful Words and Expressions:1. aisle 走廊，过道2. trolley 手推车3. checkout 收款台Passage 9Albert EinsteinAlbert Einstein was born in Germany in 1879. His father owned a factory that made electrical devices. His mother enjoyed music and books. His parents were Jewish but they did not observe many of the religion’s rules. Albert was a quiet child who spent much of his time alone. He was slow to talk and had difficulty learning to read. When Albert was five years old, his father gave him a compass. The child was filled with wonder when he discovered that the compass needle always pointed in the same direction—to the north. He asked his father and his uncle what caused the needle to move. Their answers about magnetism and gravity were difficult for the boy to understand. Yet he spent a lot of time thinking about them. He said later that he felt something hidden had to be behind things. (143 words.)Useful expressions and words:1. device 装置，设备leave to one’s own devices 听任某人自行其是，允许某人按自己的意愿做事2. compass 指南针beyond one’s compass某人力所不及catch/fetch/take a compass兜圈子，绕道，拐弯抹角keep sth within compass 把某种事物限制在适当的范围内speak within compass 谨慎小心地说within sb’s compass 某人力所能及的within the compass of 在……范围内3.magnetism 磁力Passage 10Private CarsWith the increase in the general standard of living, some ordinary Chinese families begin to afford a car. Yet opinions of the development of a private car vary from person to person.It gives a much greater degree of comfort and mobility. The owner of a car is no longer forced to rely on public transport, and hence no irritation caused by waiting for buses or taxis. However, others strongly object to developing private cars. They maintain that as more and more cars are produced and run in the street, a large volume of poisonous gas will be given off, polluting the atmosphere and causing actual harm to the health of people.Whether private cars should be developed in China is a difficult question to answer,yet the desire for the comfort and independence a private car can bring will not be eliminated.(143words)Passage 11A Henpecked Husband and His WifeThere was once a large, fat woman who had a small, thin husband. He had a job in a big company and was given his weekly wages every Friday evening. As soon as he got home on Fridays, his wife used to make him give her all his money, and then she used to give him back only enough to buy his lunch in his company every day.One day, the small man came home very excited. He hurried into the living-room. His wife was listening to the radio and eating chocolates there.“You will never guess what happened to me today, dear,” he said.He waited for a few seconds and then added, “I won ten thousand dollars on the lottery!”“That is wonderful!” said his wife delightedly. But then she pulled a long face and added angrily, “But how could you afford to buy the ticket?” (148 words)Useful Words and Expressions:1. henpecked 怕老婆的，妻管严的2. lottery 彩票a great lottery 虚无缥缈的事 3. pull a long face 拉下脸来have a face to say that脸皮厚得竟能讲出这种话Passage 12A Young Man’s PromiseOne day a young man was writing a letter to his girl friend who lived just a few miles away in a nearby town. He was telling her how much he loved her and how wonderful he thought she was. The more he wrote, the more poetic he became. Finally, he said that in order to be with her he would suffer the greatest difficulties, he would face the greatest dangers that anyone could imagine. In fact, to spend only one minute with her, he would swim across the widest river, he would enter the deepest forest, and he would fight against the fiercest animals with his bare hands.He finished the letter, signed his name, and then suddenly remembered that he had forgotten to mention something quite important. So, in a postscript below his name, he added:“By the way, I’ll be over to see you on Wednesday night, if it doesn’t rain.” (154 words)Passage 13A Kind NeighborMr. and Mrs. Jones’ apartment was full of luggage, package, furniture and boxes. Both of them were very busy when they heard the doorbell ring. Mrs. Jones went to open it and she saw a middle-aged lady outside. The lady said she lived next door. Mrs. Jones invited her to come in and apologized because there was no place for her to sit. “Oh, that’s OK,” said the lady. “I just come to welcome you to your new home. As you know, in some parts of this city neighbors are not friendly at all. There aresome apartment houses where people don’t know any of their neighbors, not even the ones next door. But in this building everyone is very friendly with everyone else. We are like one big happy family. I’m sue you’ll be very happy here. ” Mr. and Mrs. Jones said, “But madam, we are not new dwellers in this department. We’ve lived her for two years. We’re moving out tomorrow. ” (163 words)Passage 14That Isn’t Our FaultMr. and Mrs. Williams got married when he was twenty-three, and she was twenty. Twenty-five years later, they had a big party, and a photographer came and took some photographs of them.Then the photographer gave Mrs. Williams a card and said, “They’ll be ready nex t Wednesday. You can get them from studio.”“No,” Mrs. William said, “Please send them to us.”The photographs arrived a week later, but Mrs. Williams was not happy when she saw them. She got into her car and drove to the photographer’s studio. She went i nside and said angrily, “You took some photographs of me and my husband last week, but I’m not going to pay for them.”“Oh, Why not?” the photographer asked.“Because my husband looks like a monkey,” Mrs. William said.“Well,” the photographer answered, “that isn’t our fault. Why didn’t you think of that before you married him?” (148 words)Passage 15A Guide’s AnswerIn 1861, the Civil War started in the United States between the Northern and the Southern states. The war continued with great bitterness until 1865, when the Northerners were victorious. However, even today, many Southerners have not forgotten their defeat, or forgiven the Northerners.A few years ago, a party of American tourists were going round one of the battlefields of the Civil War with a guide who came from one of the Southern states. At each place, the guide told the tourists stirring stories about how a few Southern soldiers had conquered powerful forces of Northerners there.At last, one of the tourists, a lady who came from the North, stopped the guide and said to him, “But surely the Northern army must have won at least one victory in the Civil War?”“Not as long as I’m the guide here, madam,” answered the Southern guide.(147 words)Passage 16A Qualified PilotThe captain of a small ship had to go along a rocky coast, but he was unfamiliar with it, so he tried to find a qualified pilot to guide him. He went ashore in one of the small ports, and a local fisherman pretended that he was a pilot because he needed somemoney. The captain took him on board and asked him where to steer the ship.After half an hour the captain began to suspect that the fisherman did not really know what he was doing and where he was going.“Are you sure you are a qualified pilot?” he asked.“Oh, yes,” answered the fisherman. “I know every rock on this part of the coast.”Suddenly there was a terrible crash from under the ship. At once the fisherman added, “And that’s one of them.” (138 words)Passage 17Living Things ReactYou and all organisms live in an environment. An environment is made up of everything that surrounds an organism. It can include the air, the water, the soil, and even other organisms.An organism responds to changes in its environment. When an organism responds to a change, it reacts in certain ways. All living things respond in some way.Have you ever noticed how plants and insects respond to light? Plants bend toward light. Insects fly toward light.Living things also respond in other ways. The leaves on some trees respond to a change in season. In autumn, they change colors and then fall off the branches. Animals also respond to a change in season. Squirrels save nuts for the winter. Bears sleep through the winter in a cave.You respond to your environment in many ways, too. You may shiver if you are cold. What other ways do you respond to changes in your environment? (156 words) Passage 18Flowering PlantsWhat are the parts of a flower?Flowers can have male parts and female parts. The female parts make eggs that become seeds. The male parts make pollen. Pollen is a powdery material that is needed by the eggs to make seeds. To make seeds, pollen and eggs must come together. The wind, insects, and birds bring pollen to eggs. Many animals love flowers’ bright colors. They also like a sugary liquid in flowers. This is called nectar. While they drink nectar, pollen rubs off on their bodies. As they move, some of this pollen gets delivered to the female flower parts.Over time, the female parts turn into fruits that contain seeds. Animals often eat the fruits and the seeds pass through their bodies as waste. The animals do not know they are working for the plants by planting seeds as they travel to different places. (147 words)Useful words and Expressions:1. flowering 开花的2. pollen 花粉3. powdery 粉状的4. sugar 含糖的，甜的5. nectar花蜜，甘露6. rub 磨擦Passage 19Finding the Direction and LocationHow can you tell which direction? By day, look for the Sun. It is in the east in the morning and the west in the afternoon. At night, use the Big Dipper to help you find the North Star. It would be better to bring a compass because its needle always points north.How do you know how far you have gone? You could count every step. Each step is about two feet. You’d better wear a ped ometer which is a tool that counts steps. If you know where you started, which direction you are heading, and how far you have gone, you can use a good map to figure out exactly where you are.Today there is a new way for travelers to figure out where they are. It is the GPS. It has 24 satellites that orbit the earth and constantly broadcast their positions. Someday you may carry a small receiver as you hike and use GPS to find out if you are there yet!Useful Words and Expressions:1. dipper北斗七星2. compass 罗盘3. pedometer 步数计4. GPS= Global Position System全球定位系统5. orbit 轨道，绕……轨道而行6. receiver 接收器Passage 20WavesHow does light get from the sun to the earth? How does music get from the stage to the audience? They move the same way — in waves!Light and sound are forms of energy. All waves carry energy, but they may carry it differently. Light and sound travel through different kinds of matter. For example, light waves cannot move through walls, but sound waves can. That is why you can hear people talking in another room even though you cannot see them. The energy of some waves is destructive. An earthquake produces seismic waves.Catch a wave. Ask a friend to stand a few feet away from you. Stretch a spring between you. Shake the spring to transfer energy to it. What happens? The spring bounces up and down in waves. When the waves reach your friend, they bounce back to you!Light waves travel 300,000 kilometers (186,000 miles) per second! They can also travel through a vacuum. That is why light from the sun and distant stars can travel through space to the earth.(175 words)Useful Words and Expressions1. destructive 破坏的2. seismic地震的3. vacuum真空Passage 21SoilsThere are many different kinds of soils. Different soils have different types of rock and minerals in them than other. Some soils have more water in them than others. Some soils might have more plant and animal material in them, too.Different kinds of soils are found in different parts of the world. There are several kinds of soils found in the United States. In some areas, the soil has a lot of clay.Other soils are very sandy. Loam is a kind of soil that has a good mixture of clay and sand.In some places, soil layers are very thick. Lots of plants grow in places with a thick soil layer. In dry and windy places soil layers are much thinner. Layers of soil on mountains are thin because gravity pulls the soil downhill.The type of soil in a particular place affects what kinds of plants can grow there. (150 words)Useful Words:1. clay 黏土，泥土2. loam 肥土3. layer 层4. gravity 地心引力，重力5. downhill 往下Passage 22CrisisLife is a contest! Who will win? A bluebird and sparrow both compete for space to build their nests. A fast-growing maple tree and slower-growing dogwood compete for the sunlight they both need. Oil competes with coal and nuclear power as an energy source for electric power plants.There is a problem. There is a limited amount of space for birds, sunlight for trees, and energy for people! If we do not cut back on our uses of some of our resources, someday they will be gone!How can we use energy today and know we will have enough to go around in the future? We can choose alternate, or replacement, energy resources. It takes the earth millions of years to create coal, oil, and gas. They are nonrenewable resources.Solar energy, wind energy and water energy are renewable. What other ways we conserve our resources? How can we make sure there is always enough to go around? (159 words.)Useful words and expressions:1. bluebird 蓝知更鸟2. sparrow 麻雀3. dogwood 山茱萸4. power plant 发电厂，发电站5. alternate 替换物6. nonrenewable resources 不可再生资源7. conserve 保存，保藏Passage 23America’s Worst SurpriseDecember 7, 1941 was one of the worst days in American history. Nearly all Americans who are old enough to remember that day can still remember what they were doing at the moment they heard “the news”. The news was that America had been attacked!Shortly before 2:00 P.M., a radio dispatch came into Washington from Honolulu, Hawaii. “Air Raid, Pearl Harbor —This is no drill.” Japanese planes had begun an attack on the largest American military base in the Pacific. They first destroyed places on the ground. Then they bombed the ships in the harbor.No one had expected the attack. So no one was prepared for it. And it did not take long for the Japanese to do their damage. When the smoke cleared, the Navy counted its losses. Eighteen ships had been sunk or badly damaged. Nearly 150 planes hadbeen destroyed. More than 2,400 Americans had been killed and more than 1,200 wounded. (157 words)Useful Words and Expressions:1. dispatch 派遣，急件2. air raid 空袭3. drill 军事训练，操练4. Pearl Harbor 珍珠港Passage 24Great Depression in the U.S.In 1929, the bills started to come in. American industry had produced too many goods. Americans could not afford to buy all of them. So factories had to cut down on their production. Many workers lost their jobs. Investors tried to get their money back. But businesses did not have enough money to pay them. Banks tried to get their money back from investors. But the investors could not pay, either. Too many people owned money. And few of them could pay their bills.During the next few years, business got worse and worse. By 1932, banks all over the country were closing.People without money could not buy goods. So more businesses closed. More and more people lost their jobs. By 1932, more than 12 million Americans were jobless. Millions more were earning barely enough to live on. The country was in a great depression they had never experienced before. (151 words)Useful Words and Expressions:1. bill 帐单，票据foot the bill付账，负责2. cut down on 减少3. depression 沮丧，萧条Great Depression大萧条Passage 25A Place of Our OwnWe are all usually very careful when we buy something for the house. Why? Because we have to live with it for a long time. We paint a room to make it brighter, so we choose the colours carefully.We buy new curtains in order to match the newly decorated room, so they must be the right colour. We move the furniture round so as to make more space — or we buy new furniture — and so on. It is an endless business.Rich or poor, we take time to furnish a room. Perhaps some people buy furniture in order to impress their friends. But most of us just want to enjoy our surroundings. We want to live as comfortably as we can afford to. We spend a large part of our lives at home. We want to make a small corner in the world which we can recognize as our own. (151 words)Passage 26Travel for WorkYou can see them in every airport in the world. They are businessmen and women who have to travel for their work.When they first applied for the job, they may have thought of good food and hotels, huge expense accounts and fashionable cities. Now they have to sit in airport lounges,tired and uncomfortable in their smart clothes, listening to the loudspeaker announce “The flight to Tokyo, or Berlin, or New York is delayed for another two hours”. Some people say to me, “How lucky you are to be able to travel abroad in your work! You can go sightseeing without paying any money by yourself!” They think that my job is like a continual holiday. It is not.There are advantages, of course, and I do think I am lucky, but only because I can go to places I would never visit if I was a tourist. (149 words)Passage 27IntelligenceAre some people born clever, and others born stupid? Or is intelligence developed by our environment and our experience?Strangely enough, the answer to these questions is yes. To some extent our intelligence is given us at birth, and no amount of special education can make a genius out of a child born with low intelligence. On the other hand, a child who lives in a boring environment will develop his intelligence less than one who lives in rich and varied surroundings. Thus, the limits of a person’s intelligence are fixed at birth, whether or not he reaches those limits will depend on his environment. This view, held by most experts now, can be supported in a number of ways. As is easy to show that intelligence is to some extent something we are born with. The closer the blood relationship between two people is, the closer they are likely to be in intelligence. (154 words)Passage 28A Free Dress Every WeekThe temptation to steal is greater than ever before especially in large shops and people are not so honest as they once were.A detective recently watched a well-dressed woman who always went into a large store on Monday mornings. One Monday, there were fewer people in the shop than usual when the woman came in, so it was easier for the detective to watch her. The woman first bought a few small articles. After a little time, she chose one of the most expensive dresses in the shop and handed it to an assistant who wrapped it for her as quickly as possible. The woman simply took the parcel and walked out of the shop without paying. When she was arrested, the detective found out that the shop assistant was her daughter.. Believe it or not, the girl “gave” her mother a free dress every week. (148 words)Passage 29TimeTime is tangible. One can gain time, spend time, waste time, save time, or even kill time. Common questions in American English reveal this concrete quality as though time were a possession. “Do you have any time?”, “Can you get some time for this?”, “How much free time do you have?” The treatment of time as a possession influences the way that time is carefully divided.。

历届英语专四听力听写原文Package Holidays (1993)Package holidays, covering a two weeks' stay in an attractive place, are increasingly popular. Once you get to the airport, it is up to the tour operator to see that you get safely to your destination．Everything is laid on for you．There is, in fact, no reason for you to bother to arrange anything yourselves．You make friends and have a good time. But there is very little chance that you will really get to know the local people．This is even less likely on a coach tour, when you spend almost your entire time traveling．Of course, there are carefully planned stops for you to visit historic buildings and monuments. You may visit the beautiful, the historic, the ancient. But time is always short．There is also the added disadvantage of being obliged to spend you holiday with a group of people you have never met before．The American Family (1994)The American family unit is changing. There used to be mainly two types of families, the extended and the nuclear. The former included mother, father, children, and some other relatives such as grandparents, living in the same house or nearby. Then as the economy progressed from agricultural to industrial, people began moving to different parts of the country in order to search for job opportunities. These moves split up the extended family. The nuclear family consisting of only parents and children has therefore become far more wide spread. Today’s family, however, can be composed of diverse combinations. With the divorce rate nearly one in two, there's an increase in single-parent homes—a father or mother living with one or more children. Blended families occur when divorced menand women remarry and combine the children from former marriages into a new family. On the other hand, there is an increase in childless couples while one in rive Americans lives alone.Unidentified Flying Objects (1995)There are many explanations for why UFOs visit the Earth. / The most popular one is that they maybe visitors from other planets./ To fly such aircraft, their builders must develop different forms of aviation,/because they seem to fly much faster than normal aircraft./ The UFOs, it is believed, must contain scientists/ from other planets who are studying life on earth./ It is even believed that several such aircraft may have landed on earth/ and the space visitors may be living amongst us./ But there are also less fantastic explanations available./ Although some sightings of UFOs are difficult to explain, most can be explained quite easily./ In many cases the observersmight have made a mistake./ They might have seen a weather balloon or an aircraft./ Or the light they saw in the sky might have been light from the ground,/ reflected on to the clouds./ However, the exact cause of many sightings still remained a mystery.The Indian Medicine Man (1996)Among the Indians of North America, the medicine man was a very important person. He could cure illness and he could speak to the spirits. The spirits were the supernatural forces that controlled the world. The Indians believed that bad spirits made people ill. So when people were ill, the medicine man tried to help them by using magic. He spoke to the good spirits and asked for their help. Many people were cured, because they thought the spirits were helping them, but really these peoplecured themselves. Sometimes your own mind is the best doctor for you. The medicine men were often successful for another reason, too. They knew about plants that really can cure illness.A lot of medicines are made from the plants that were used by medicine men hundred of years ago.Legal Age for Marriage (1997)Throughout the United States, the legal age for marriage shows some difference. The most common age without parents’ consent is 18 for both females and males. However, persons who are under age in their home state can get married in another state, and then return to the home state legally married. Each state issues its own marriage license. Both residents and non-residents are qualified for such a license. The fees and ceremonies vary greatly from state to state. Most states, for instance, have a blood test requirement, but a few do not. Most states permit either a civil or religious ceremony, but a few require the ceremony to be religious. In most states a waiting period is required before the license is issued. This period is from one to five days depending on the state. A three-day-wait is the most common. In some states there is no required waiting period.The Railways in Britain (1998)The success of early railways, such as the lines between big cities,/ led to a great increase in railway building in Victorian times. / Between 1835 and 1865 about 25000 kilometers of track were built,/ and over 100 railway companies were created. / Railway travel transformed people's lives. / Trains were first designed to carry goods. / However, a law in the 19th century forced railway companiesto run one cheap train a day / which stopped at every station and cost only a penny a mile. / Soon working class passengersfound they could afford to travel by rail. / Cheap day excursion trains became popular and seaside resorts grew rapidly. / The railways also provided thousands of new jobs:/ building carriages, running the railways and repairing the tracks. / Railways even changed the time. / The need to run the railways on time meant that local time was abolished/ and clocks showed the same time all over the country. /United Nations Day (1999)The 24th of October is celebrated as United Nations Day. h is a day that belongs to everyone. And it is celebrated in most countries of the world. Some countries celebrate for a week instead of a day. In many parts of the world, schools have special programs for the day. Boys and girls in some communities decorate a UN tree. In other communities, young people put on plays about the UN. Some libraries exhibit children’s art works from around the world. Schools celebrate with the songs and dances of other countries or give parties where foods of other countries are served. No matter how the day is celebrated, the purpose of these celebrations is to help everyone understand the UN, and the important roles it plays in world affairs. The UN encourages people to learn about other lands and their customs. In this way, people can gain a better understanding and appreciation of peoples all over the world.What We Know About Language (2000)Many things about language are a mystery and will remain so. However, we now do know something about it. First, we know that all human beings have a language of some sort. No human race anywhere on earth is so backward that it has no language of its own at all. Second, there is no such thing as a primitive language. There are many peoples whose cultures areundeveloped but the languages they speak are by no means primitive. In all the languages existing in the world today, there are complexities that must have been developed for years. Third, we know that all languages are perfectly adequate. Each is a perfect means of expressing its culture. And finally, we know that language changes over time, which is natural and normal if a language is to survive. The language which remains unchanged is nothing but dead.Characteristics of A Good Reader (2001)To improve your reading habits, you must understand the characteristics of a good reader. First, the good reader usually reads rapidly. Of course, he does not read every piece of material at the same rate. But whether he is reading a newspaper or a chapter in a physics text, his reading rate is relatively fast. He has learned to read for ideas rather than words one at a time. Next, the good reader can recognize and understand general ideas and specific details. Thus he is able to comprehend the material with a minimum of effort and a maximum of interest. Finally, the good reader has in his command several special skills, which he can apply to reading problems as they occur. For the college student, the most helpful of these skills include making use of the various aids to understanding that most text books provide and skim-reading for a general survey.Disappearing Forests (2002)The world’s forests are disappearing. As much as 1/3 of the total tree cover has been lost since agriculture began some 10,000 years ago. The remaining forests are home to half of the world’s species, thus becoming the chief resource for their survival. Tropical rain forests once covered 12% of the land of the planet, as well as supporting at least half of the world’s speciesof plants and animals. These rain forests are home to millions of people. But there are other demands on them. For example, much has been cut for timber. An increasing amount of forest land has been used for industrial purposes or for agricultural development such as crop-grow ing. By the 1990’s less than half of the earth’s original rain forests remained, and they continued to disappear at an alarming rate every year. As a result the world’s forests are now facing gradual extinction.Salmon (2003)Every year, millions of salmon swim from the ocean into the mouths of rivers and then steadily up the rivers. Passing through waters, around rocks and waterfalls, the fish finally reach their original streams or lakes. They dig out nests in the riverbed and lay their eggs. Then, exhausted by their journey, the parent salmon die. They have finished the task that nature has given them. Months, or years later, the young fish start their trip to the ocean. They live in the salt water from 2-7 years, until they, too are ready to swim back to reproduce. Their life cycle helps man provide himself with a basic food-fish. When the adult salmon gather at the river mouths for the annual trip up the rivers, they are in the best possible condition, and nearly every harbor has its salmon fishing fleet ready to catch thousands for markets.Money (2004)Money is accepted across the world as payment for goods or services. People use money to buy food, clothes and hundreds of other things. In the past, many different things were used as money. People on Pacific islands once exchanged shells for goods. The Chinese used cloth and knives. In Africa, elephant tusks or salt were used. Even today, some people in Africa are still paid in salt. Coins were first invented by the Chinese. Originally,they were round pieces of metal with a hole in the center, so that a piece of string could keep them together. This made doing business much easier, but people still found coins inconvenient to carry when they wanted to buy something expensive. To solve this problem, the Chinese again came up with the solution. They began to use paper money for coins. Now paper notes are used throughout the world.The Wrist Watch （2005）It is generally believed that wrist watches are an exception / to the normal sequence in the evolution of man's jewelry. / Reversing the usual order, they were first worn by women, / and then adopted by men. / In the old days, queens included wrist watches among their crown jewelry. / Later, they were worn by Swiss workers and farmers. / Until World War I, Americans associated the watch with fortune hunters. / Then army officers discovered that the wrist watch was most practical for active combat. / Race car drivers also loved to wear wrist watches, / and pilots found them most useful while flying. / Soon men dared to wear wrist watches without feeling self-conscious. / By 1924, some 30 percent of man's watches were worn on the wrist. / Today, the figure is 90 percent. / And they are now worn by both men and women / for practical purposes rather than for decoration.The Internet (2006)The Internet is the most significant progress in the field of communications. / Imagine a book that never ends, a library with a million floors, / or imagine a research project with thousands of scientists / working around the clock forever. / This is the magic of the Internet. / Yet the Internet has the potential for good and bad. / One can find well-organized, information-richwebsites. / At the same time, one can also find wasteful websites. / Most websites are known as different Internet applications. / These include online games, chat rooms (chatrooms) and so on. / These applications have great power, too. / Sometimes the power can be so great / that young people may easily become victims to their attraction. / So we need to recognize the seriousness of the problem. / We must work together to use its power for better ends.2007AdvertisingAdvertising has already become a specialized activity in modern times. In today’s business world, supply is usually greater than demand. There is great competition between manufacturers of the same kind of product because they want to persuade customers to buy their particular brand. They always have to remind their customers of the name and qualities of their products by advertising. The manufacture advertises in newspapers and on the radio. He sometimes employs sales girls to distribute samples of their products. He sometimes advertises on the Internet as well. In addition, he always has advertisements put into television programs that will accept them. Manufactures often spend huge sums of money on advertisements. We buy a particular product because we think that is the best. We usually think so because the advertisements say so. People often don’t ask themselves if the advertisements are telling the truth when they buy advertised products from shops.2008Choosing a CareerWhen students graduate from college, many of them do not know how they want to spend their working lives and they sometimes move from job to job, until they find something that suits them and of equal importance to which they are suited.Others never find the job in which they are really happy. They remain all their lives square pegs in round holes. When we choose our careers we need to ask ourselves two questions. First, what do we think we would like to be? Second, what kind of people are we? The idea, for example, of being a painter or a musician may seem very attractive. But unless we have great talent and are willing to work very hard, we are certain to fail in these occupations and failure will lead to unhappiness in life. So it is important to assess our suitability for a certain career in job search.2009New Year's EveFor many people in the west, New Year's Eve is the biggest party of the year. /lt's the time to get together with friends or family/and welcome in the coming year. / New Year's parties can take place in different places. /Some people hold a house party; others attend street parties;/ while some just go for a few drinks with their friends. /Big cities have large and spectacular fireworks displays. / There is one thing that all New Year's Eve parties have in common,/ the countdown to midnight./ When the clock strikes 12, people give a loud cheer and sing songs./ It's also popular to make a promise in the New Year. /This is called a New Year's resolution. / Typical resolutionsinclude giving up smoking and keeping fit. /However, the promise is often broken quite quickly /and people are back into their bad habits within weeks or days.2010 British educational systemBritain has a well-respected higher education system / and some of the top universities and research institutions in the world. / But to those who are new to this system, it can sometimes be confusing. / October is usually the busiest month in the academiccalendar. / Universities have something called Freshmen’s Week for their newcomers. / It’s a great opportunity to make new friends, / join lots of clubs and settle into university life. / However, having just left the comfort of home and all your friends behind, / the prospect of meeting strangers in classrooms and dormitories can be worrying. / Where do you start and who should you make friends with? / Which clubs and societies should you join? / Luckily, there will be thousands of others in the same boat as you. / They worry about starting their university social life on the right foot. / So just take it all in slowly. / Don’t rush into anything that you’ll regret for the next three years./。

Passage 1 Town and Country Life in EnglandThere is a big difference between town life and country life in England. In the country, everybody knows everybody else. They know what time you get up, what time you go to bed and what you have for dinner. If you want help, you will always get it and you will be glad to help others. In a large town like London, however, it can sometimes happen that you have never seen your next door neighbor and you do not know his name or anything about him. People in London are often very lonely. This is because people go to different places in the evenings and at weekends. If you walk through the streets in the centre of London on Sunday, it is like a town without people. One is sorry for old people living on their own. They could die in their homes and would not be discovered for weeks or even months. Passage 2A Change in Women’s LifeThe important change in women’s life-pattern has only recently begun to have  most girls its full effect on women’s economic position. Even a few years agoleft school at the first opportunity, and most of them took a full-time job. However, when they married, they usually left work at once and never returned to it. Today the school-leaving age is sixteen, many girls stay at school after that age, and though women tend to marry younger, more married women stay at work at least until shortly before their first child is born. Very many more afterwards return to full-time or part-time work. Such changes have led to a new relationship in marriage, with the husband accepting a greater share of the duties and satisfactions of family life and with both husband and wife sharing more equally in providing the money, and running the home, according to the abilities and interests of each of them. Useful Words and Expressions: 1. life-pattern生活方式生活方式2. sharePassage 3 A Popular Pastime of the English PeopleOne of the best means of understanding the people of any nation is watching what the do with their non-working time. Most English men, women and children love growing things, especially flowers. Visitors to England in spring, summer or autumn are likely to see gardens all they way along the railway lines. There are flowers at the airports and flowers in factory grounds, as well as in gardens along the roads. Each English town has at least one park with beautifully kept flower beds. Public buildings of every kind have brilliant window boxes and sometimes baskets of flowers are hanging on them. But what the English enjoy most is growing things themselves. If it is impossible to have a garden, then a window box or something growing in a pot will do. Looking at each other’s gardens is a popular pastime with the English. Useful Words and Expressions:1. window box:窗台上的花盆箱窗台上的花盆箱2.pastime 消遣，娱乐消遣，娱乐Swimming is my favorite pastime. Passage 4 British and American Police OfficersReal policemen, both in Britain and the U.S., hardly recognize any common —if they ever get home in points between their lives and what they se on TVtime. Some things are almost the same, of course, but the policemen do not think much of them much of them. The first difference is that a policeman’s real life deals with the law. Most of what he learns is the law. He has to know actually what actions are against the law and what facts can be used to prove them in court. He has to know nearly as much law as a lawyer, and what’s more, he has to put it into practice on his feet, in the dark and, running down a narrow street after someone he wants to talk to. Little of his time is spent in talking with beautiful girls or in bravely facing cruel criminals. He will spend most of his working life arranging millions of words on thousands of forms about hundreds of sad, ordinary people who are guilty--- or not of stupid, unimportant crimes. Useful Words and Expressions:1. think much of 重视，尊重重视，尊重2. in court 在法庭上在法庭上在法庭上3. criminal 罪犯，犯罪者罪犯，犯罪者4. guilty 犯罪的，有罪的犯罪的，有罪的Passage 5 Living SpaceHow much living space does a person need? What happens when his space needs are not met? Scientists are doing experiments on rats to try to determine the effects of overcrowded conditions on man. Recent studies have shown that the behavior of rats is greatly affected by space. If rats have enough living space, they eat well, sleep well and produce their young well. health change obviously. They can not sleep and eat well, and signs of fear But if their living conditions become too crowded, their behavior and even their and worry become clear. The more crowded they are, and more they tend to bite each other and even kill each other. Thus, for rats, populations and violence are directly related. Is this a natural law for human society as well? Is enough space not only satisfactory, but necessary for human survival? These are interesting questions. Passage 6 The United NationsIn 1945, representatives of 50 nations met to plan this organization. It was called the United Nations. After the war, many more nations joined. There are two major parts of the United Nations. One is called the General Assembly. In the General Assembly, every member nation is represented and has an equal vote. The second part is called the Security Council. It has representatives of just 15 nations. Five nations are permanent members: the United States, Russia, France, Britain, and China. The 10 other members are elected every two years by the General Assembly. The major job of the Security Council is to keep peace in the world. If necessary, it can send troops from member nations to try to stop little wars before they turn into big ones. It is hard to get the nations of the Security Council to agree on when this is necessary. But they did vote to try to stop wars. Useful Words and Expressions:1. representative 代表代表2. General Assembly 联合国大会联合国大会3. permanent 永久的，持久的永久的，持久的4. Security Council 联合国安全理事会联合国安全理事会Passage 7 PlasticWe use plastic wrap to protect our foods. We put our garbage in plastic bags or plastic cans. We sit on plastic chairs, play with plastic toys, drink from plastic cups, and wash our hair with shampoo from plastic bottles! Plastic does not grow in nature. It is made by mixing certain things together. We call it a produced or manufactured material. Plastic was first made in the 1860s from plants, such as wood and cotton. That plastic was soft and burned easily. The first modern plastics were made in the 1930s. Most clear plastic starts out as thick, black oil. That plastic coating inside a pan begins as natural gas. Over the years, hundreds of different plastics have been developed. Some are hard and strong. Some are soft and bendable. Some are clear. Some are many-colored. There is a plastic for almost every need. Scientists continue to experiment with plastics. They hope to find even ways to use them! Passage 8 Display of GoodsAre supermarkets designed to persuade us to buy more? Fresh fruit and vegetables are displayed near supermarket entrances. This gives the impression that only healthy food is sold in the shop. Basic foods that everyone buys, like sugar and tea, are not put near each other. They are kept in different aisles so customers are taken past other attractive foods before they find what they want. In this way, shoppers are encouraged to buy products that they do not really need. Sweets are often placed at children’s eye level at the checkout. While parents are waiting to pay, children reach for the sweets and put them in the trolley. More is bought from a fifteen-foot display of one type of product than from a ten-foot one. Customers also buy more when shelves are full than when they are half empty. They do not like to buy from shelves with few products on them because they feel there is something wrong with those products that are there. Useful Words and Expressions:1. aisle 走廊，过道走廊，过道2. trolley 手推车手推车3. checkout 收款台收款台Passage 9 Albert EinsteinAlbert Einstein was born in Germany in 1879, His father owned a factory that made electrical devices. His mother enjoyed music and books. His parents rve many of the religion’s rules. Albert was a were Jewish but they did not obsequite child who spent much of his time alone. He was slow to talk and had difficulty learning to read. When Albert was five years old, his father gave him a compass. The child was filled with wonder when he discovered that the —to be north. He asked compass needle always pointed in the same directionhis father and his uncle what caused the needle to move. Their answers about magnetism and gravity were difficult for the boy to understand. Yet he spent a lot of time thinking about them. He said later that he felt something hidden had to be behind things. Useful expressions and words:1. device 装置，设备装置，设备leave to one’s own devices 听任某人自行其是，允许某人按自己的意愿做事She left the child to her own devices for an hour in the afternoon. 她允许孩子在下午有一个小时的自由支配时间。

专四指南听写20篇专四考试是中国大学英语四级考试的一种，是为了测试考生在英语听力、口语、阅读和写作方面的能力而设立的。

在备考过程中，听写练习是非常重要的一部分。

下面将为大家提供20篇专四指南听写练习材料，希望对大家备考有所帮助。

1. The Internet has become an indispensable part of our daily life. It has greatly facilitated our communication and information access. However, it also brings about some negative effects, such as cyberbullying and privacy invasion. Therefore, it is important for us to use the Internet wisely and responsibly.2. With the rapid development of technology, more and more people are using smartphones. Smartphones have become an essential tool in our daily life. They not only allow us to make phone calls and send messages, but also provide us with various functions, such as taking photos, playing games, and accessing the Internet.3. Environmental protection is a global issue that requires the joint efforts of all countries. It is important for us to reduce pollution, conserve resources, and protect endangered species. By doing so, we can create a sustainable environment for future generations.4. Education plays a crucial role in the development of individuals and society. It not only provides us with knowledge and skills, but also helps us develop critical thinking and problem-solving abilities. Therefore, it is important for us to value and invest in education.5. The rapid urbanization has brought about many challenges, such as traffic congestion, air pollution, and housing shortage. To address these issues, it is important for the government to develop sustainable urban planning and improve public transportation systems.6. With the advancement of technology, online shopping has become increasingly popular. It offers convenience and a wide range of choices for consumers. However, it also poses risks, such as fraud and identity theft. Therefore, it is important for us to be cautious and protect our personal information when shopping online.7. Globalization has brought about both opportunities and challenges. On one hand, it promotes economic growth and cultural exchange. On the other hand, it leads to the loss of traditional cultures and widening income gaps. Therefore, it is important for us to strike a balance between globalization and the preservation of local cultures.8. Health is the most valuable asset in our life. It is important for us to maintain a balanced diet, exercise regularly, and get enough sleep. By doing so, we can improve our physical and mental well-being.9. With the increasing popularity of social media, more and more people are addicted to it. Social media addiction can have negative effects on our mental health and interpersonal relationships. Therefore, it is important for us to use social media in a healthy and responsible way.10. The importance of lifelong learning cannot be overstated. In today's rapidly changing world, it is important for us to continuously update our knowledge and skills. By doing so, we can adapt to new challenges and opportunities.11. The tourism industry plays a significant role in the global economy. It not only creates job opportunities, but also promotes cultural exchange and understanding among different countries. Therefore, it is important for us to develop sustainable tourism practices to protect the environment and local cultures.12. Climate change is a pressing issue that requires immediate action. It is important for us to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, promote renewable energy, and adapt to the changing climate. By doing so, we can mitigate the impacts of climate change and create a sustainable future.13. The importance of teamwork cannot be underestimated. In today's highly competitive world, teamwork is essential for achieving success. It allows us to combine our strengths and skills, and achieve goals that are beyond our individual capabilities.14. The role of women in society has undergone significant changes in recent decades. Women are now playing a more active role in various fields, such as politics, business, and science. It is important for us to promote gender equality and empower women to achieve their full potential.15. The importance of cultural diversity cannot be overstated. It enriches our lives and promotes mutual understanding among different cultures. Therefore, it is important for us to respect and appreciate cultural differences.16. The importance of time management cannot be emphasized enough. Effective time management allows us to prioritize tasks, avoid procrastination, and achieve our goals more efficiently. Therefore, it is important for us to develop good time management skills.17. The importance of financial literacy cannot be underestimated. It is important for us to understand basic financial concepts, such as budgeting, saving, and investing. By doing so, we can make informed financial decisions and achieve financial security.18. The importance of critical thinking cannot be overstated. It allows us to analyze information, evaluate arguments, and make informed decisions. Therefore, it is important for us to develop critical thinking skills.19. The importance of cultural heritage preservation cannot be emphasized enough. It not only helps us understand our history and identity, but also promotes tourism and economic development. Therefore, it is important for us to protect and preserve our cultural heritage.20. The importance of lifelong friendships cannot be underestimated. Friends provide us with emotional support, companionship, and laughter. Therefore, it is important for us to cherish and maintain our friendships throughout our lives.以上是20篇专四指南听写练习材料，希望对大家备考有所帮助。