综合英语第二册短文听写文本

1、综合英语第二册短文听写文本Unit1 A pet is an animal tamed and kept as a favorite and treated with love. The range of animals kept by people as pets today is very wide. For example, rabbits, mice, goldfish, pigeons, horses, pigs, or even snakes are kept as pets by different people. However, dogs and cats are still

2、 the most popular pets, and about half the households in Britain own one or the other. The importance of pets in British life is reflected in many ways. In the past, landowners liked to be portrayed with their dogs and horses and many such pictures can be seen in art. In many families, pets are rega

3、rded as family members. Thats why British people often say “Love me, love my dog.”Unit2Today, the old attitudes toward how children should be brought up have largely disappeared. For many children, family life has become more relaxed and less strict. Many young people in Britain and the US have a co

4、nsiderable amount of freedom and they can enjoy the things they are interested in: music, sports, television, even money and fashion. Life has become easier and more enjoyable. However, along with an easy life and permissive families, a number of social problems have arisen for the young. For exampl

5、e, some schools have problems with discipline and motivation; and crime and drug taking in some areas have reached serious levels. During the 1980s and early 1990s unemployment among school-dropouts was a particular problem, with many facing a bleak future and having little hope of finding a decent

6、job.Unit 3A fisherman had caught a little fish. The poor creature begged him to throw it back again to the water, saying, “What is the use of catching me? I am not large enough yet. Throw me back into the river, and you will catch me when I am bigger. Then I shall be a fine dish for you.” The fisher

7、man answered, “Theres no use of talking. If I let you into the water again, it is doubtful whether I may ever see you anymore. You shall go into the frying pan and be fried this evening.” This fable illustrates an idea: A bird in hand is worth two in the bush.Unit 4The computer performs simple and f

8、ast calculations under the control of a set of instructions called a program. The programs are usually stored within, and processed by, the computer. The calculation results which are sent to output devices, such as monitors or printers, are mechanically precise. Because of its extraordinary speed a

9、nd accuracy, the computer finds application in a wide range of activities in business, industry, and scientific research. Besides, computers can also provide entertainment, creating sound on stereo systems or cartoons from a VCD. Computer programs can as well aid every level of education by teaching

10、 everything from simple addition or sentence construction to advanced courses.Unit 5We all hope for a better life, to be happier one day. However hopeful we may be, events do come that dash our fondest hopes and cause us to lose heart. We may be in low spirits for quite some time, but we take heart

11、again. We start looking forward to the future: there is a ray of hope, however faint. Hopes are important to us since they can relieve our feelings of frustration and give us courage to face the future. We believe that where there is life, there is hope. Lets hold on to it until our hopes become a r

12、eality.Unit6 In the 1970s, Pel retired from the national team of Brazil and became a professional player for a team in New York. Soccer wasnt very popular in the United States at that time. Few North Americans knew about this fast-moving sport. There was no money to pay professional players, and the

13、re was little interest in soccer in the high schools and colleges. When Pel and other international stars began playing in various U.S. cities, people saw how interesting the game was and began to go to the matches. Today there is a professional league called the North American Soccer League. It is

14、common for important games to have 50 to 60 thousand fans. Unit7There is no place like the English countryside for those who love it: its firm yet gentle lines of hills and valleys, its ordered confusion of features, its parks and lowland, its ancient castles and houses, its cottages and churches, i

15、ts farms and trees, its pools and ponds and shining riversall present a peaceful and lovely sight. Much of the countryside is of course farmland but there are often paths through the fields, called public footpaths, which you can walk along. It is good for people to walk through such a land, forgett

16、ing for a time all the worries of the world, and become just happy wanderers in a world of pleasant breezes and song-birds and shady trees.Unit 8People often ask what beauty is and how the beautiful can be distinguished from the ugly. In fact, these questions all deal with matters of evaluation rath

17、er than facts. A hairstyle can be considered by one as beautiful, but by another as ugly. The nature of beauty is associated with so many things that scientific investigation is only of slight help in determining what beauty is. However, different people will find beauty in different things because

18、their response to beauty is closely related to their upbringing, education, and taste.Unit 9People believe that there are two reasons for making inventions or discoveries. The first reason is that an invention is the result of social development. In other words, if a society has prepared the conditi

19、ons in economy, technology and culture, something will be invented by one person or another. Who does it is just a historical accident. This theory has some support in the invention of the steamboat and the airplane. However, this reason does not explain why a great inventor can observe more things

20、than others. Therefore, there must be another reason for inventions, and the second theory considers the individual as the most important element in the inventive process.Unit10Music has been called the most abstract of the arts. Unlike words, pictures, and bodily movements, musical tones in themsel

21、ves have no concrete references. To understand and enjoy a musical performance, one must be familiar with its choice of sounds and its organizing principles. Although some musical works are difficult to understand, music has become a necessity of life. People are keen on music because it brings fun

22、to them. Different people like different music: some are fond of classical music, and others take pleasure in pop music. Nevertheless, most people love light music.Unit 11The term education has had a variety of definitions. The traditional view of education is expressed in the formal teaching activi

23、ties conducted in schools and universities. A better definition is that education is a lifelong process that includes both formal schooling and the broad range of other experiences, including television viewing, out-of-class activities, and family living, that usually take more time and often have m

24、ore powerful influences than the formal schooling does.Unit 12Most people love trees for their beauty, but trees are valuable in many practical ways, too. Wood from trees provides fuel for heating or cooking and lumber for houses, furniture, and tools. Trees produce most fruits and nearly all nuts.

25、They supply many raw materials for industry. Trees also help preserve the land. The roots of trees keep soil from being washed or blown away. Thick carpets of leaves and roots on the ground soak up rainwater and keep it from draining rapidly into streams and rivers. Thus forests act as reservoirs of

26、 rainwater.Unit 14New York Metropolitan Museum of ArtThe “Museum Mile,” a stretch of Fifth Avenue that runs along Central Park on New Yorks Upper East Side, is the location of some world-class museums. The most famous of these is the Metropolitan Museum of Art, commonly known as “The Met.” It is an enormous museum, the largest in the United States. The Mets holdings cover all periods and styles of art, and its permanent collection contains more than two million pieces. A few of the highlights of the collection include the hall of Egypt