复合式听写试题_doc

1、Test 1 For some of our nations most important workers, there is a major disconnect between pay and priorities. Many teachers and firefighters are (26)_ just to make a living. While there may be a (27)_ sense of heroism for the nations firefighters, they are not compensated for the (28)_ risks that t

2、hey face daily. And teaching is one of the lowest paying among (29)_ professionals. Teaching is no 9-to-5 job. Don ONeil leaves the house and arrives at Weaver High in Hartford by 7. To connect with inner-city students, the science teacher helps coach the football team and he (30)_ students, meets w

3、ith parents and grades paper. When the bell goes on, he is on stage. He is an actor, a (31)_, an instructor, a parent, a (32)_ worker, and he has to do it five to six periods a day, five days a week, (33)_ of how he feels. For all of this, the 50-year-old, six-year veteran gets paid just $36,000, ev

4、en though his state (34)_ the third highest in teachers pay. His paycheck shrank by a third when he switched careers from managing a paint store to managing students. (35)_, he teaches night and summer school as well. Teachers just dont make the grade when it comes to pay. The pay gap between teache

5、rs and other professionals keeps growing.There have been explanations that a lot of the new money is going into special education, which tend to have smaller class sizes, which means you end up hiring more teachers instead of paying the teachers you have more. Test 2 Theres a new business in a trend

6、y Washington D. C. neighborhood thats kind of hard to categorize. It could be (26)_ as a store with no employees inside, or perhaps the worlds biggest (27)_ machine. Our Bob Franken, quarters in hand, checked it out. ATMs, who (28)_ bank tellers? Travel is becoming almost (29)_. Reservations are boo

7、ked on the Internet. Boarding passes picked up at (30)_ ticket kiosks. And now, an automated convenience store. The (31)_ ranges from the proverbial soup to nuts, from electrical (32)_ to any large equipment. About 200 items compared to the more than 2,000 in a (33)_ convenience store, like the one

8、a couple of blocks from her. But thats not the biggest difference. Its convenient. You dont have to (34)_ a sort of surly clerk. These are more common in Europe and Asia, but this is the only one in the United States. Most of New Yorks food automats of (35)_ past were driven out of business by the f

9、ast food chains. The irony is that, the behind-the-scenes owner of this new age automat is McDonalds. It is a one-machine test, said a McDonalds spokesman. Well see what happens.Test 3 Water projects in the United States gained a new principle in the 1930s. And during this time the nation suffered i

10、ts worst economic (26)_ and the Great Plains regions suffered its worst (27)_ in recorded history. As the economy sank into a deep depression and (28)_ rates increased, the political climate for direct federal government (29)_ in water projects improved. President Franklin Roosevels first 100 days i

11、n office brought a (30) _ of new laws to deal with the (31)_ economic depression. The natural pattern of the Tennessee River was (32)_ by large spring flows that produced (33)_ floods and low summer flows that inhibited navigation. The intensity and frequency of the events discouraged development an

12、d (34)_ persistent poverty in the valley. To counter these natural obstacles, the Tennessee Valley Authority Act of 1933 created the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), a public agency with broad powers to (35)_ development in the region. This organization used its authority to transform the river int

13、o one of the most highly regulated rivers in the world within about two decades. The TVA inherited the Wilson Dam, and by the beginning of the Second World War it had completed six additional multipurpose dams with power plants and locks for navigation. Test 4 Friendship with oneself is all importan

14、t, because without it one cannot be friends with anyone else in the world. We often (26)_ on building relationships with others that we forget the essential first step: being friends of ourselves. That is the (27)_ first step if we are to have good relationships with others. How can be have good (28

15、)_ with others if we dont even have good relationships with ourselves? The problem might be (29)_ than we expect. Maybe we dont like ourselves without (30)_it. Maybe you have made mistakes in the past which make you feel bad. You might be (31)_ with yourself on why you could make such mistakes. Even

16、 if that happened in the (32)_ past, your subconscious mind still has a (33)_ not to like yourself. You might wish that you were born in a different family, or that you have different background. Maybe you could not accept the fact that you are not as lucky as others, who (34)_ get whatever they wan

17、t effortlessly because of their background. Others might have better achievements than you, and no matter how hard you tried, it might seem impossible for you to match them. You might then think that its because you are not smart enough or dont have enough (35)_. All these give reasons to you not to

18、 like yourself. That in turn makes it difficult for you to be a good friend to yourself. Test 5 When you think of American culture, what first comes to your mind? McDonalds? Coca Cola? Levis? Disneyland? Michael Jordan? Julia Roberts? Many people (26)_ American culture is a collection of popular (27

19、)_ like these. (28)_, these symbols are only one small part of American culture“pop culture”. What is pop culture? Well, pop is short for popular. The (29)_ of pop culture can often be (30)_ to popular movies, television shows, music stars and sports (31)_. Pop culture is also promoted by business a

20、nd (32)_. The most common examples of American pop culture (33)_ among high school and college students. Trends set by famous figures quickly become part of young peoples lifestyles. American pop culture has spread around the world. One major reason for its (34)_ is that English is a universal langu

21、age. English is the language of diplomacy, international business and transportation. Since language and culture go together, learning English means (35)_ English-speaking countries cultures. Also, America is a world leader in movies, music and magazines. The kind of American culture communicated in

22、 those media is pop culture. Finally, pop culture is easy to package and to export. For that reason, it is easy to “sell” to the world.Test 6 The world is divided into two main parts. The (26)_ is that one part is rich and the other is poor. In the poor part, a lot of people never get enough to eat.

23、 In the rich part, a lot of people eat too much. In one part, children (27)_ and in the other, a lot of people get (28)_ and fatter and have to go on diets, or do special exercises in order to lose (29)_. The poor countries have (30)_ problems. Sometimes the land is too poor to grow (31)_on. The lan

24、d can be (32)_, but a lot of things must be done first. The people there must be (33)_ and the water must be found to feed the generations. And the rich countries have problems, too. There are not always pleasant places to (34)_. Sometimes the air is too dirty to be breathed in, and the rivers are t

25、oo dirty to swim in or to take water from. The roads are too (35)_ to drive along. Large numbers of people do not have decent houses to live in. some things will have to be done to solve these problems. The air and the river will have to be cleaned, and more houses will have to be built. Test 7 One

26、in four Australian parents regularly “borrow” money from their childrens money boxes in order to pay for anything from bread to expensive holidays, this is a survey made by a research group. Mums are more likely to (26)_ their childrens savings than Dads, with 35 percent of mothers (27)_ to the crim

27、e compared with 16 percent of fathers. Fund (28)_ firm Bankwest surveyed almost 400 parents or guardians of children aged 17 or under. An employee in Bankwest said she was very (29)_ of the crime herself, and she hasnt (30)_ it until then. If you cant find any money, you know the one place you can a

28、lways (31)_ on is the kids money boxes. But many wives always make sure they put it backwith (32)_. These are the most common excuses for the adults to borrow money from their kids. Of those who (33)_ to raiding money boxes, more than half of the money they raided were used to buy (34)_ such as petr

29、ol, milk and bread. Another 20 percent were used to pay off water and electricity bills and so on. But only 16 percent were put into their childrens savings for the extravagances such as holidays or new cars. The survey follows the findings from Research Bank of Australia that many Australians spent

30、 more than they earned in the past three years. (35)_, Australians saved only 2.9 percent of their annual income. Test 8 American society is not nap friendly. In fact, says David Dinges, a sleep (26)_ at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. “Theres even a (27)_ against admitting we nee

31、d sleep.” Nobody wants to be caught napping or (28)_ asleep at work. To quote a proverb: “Some sleep five hours, nature requires seven, laziness nine and (29)_ eleven.” The way not to fall asleep at work is to take naps when you need them. “We have to totally change our (30)_ toward napping,” says D

32、r. William Dement of Stanford University. Last year a national commission led by Dement (31)_ an “American sleep debt” which one member said was as important as the national debt. The commission was (32)_ about the dangers of sleepiness: people causing (33)_ accidents or falling asleep while driving

33、. This may be why we have a new sleep policy in the White House. According to recent reports, the President is trying to take a half hour nap every afternoon. About 60 percent of American adults nap when given the (34)_. We seem to have “a mid-afternoon quiet phase” also called “a secondary sleep ga

34、te”. Sleeping 15 minutes to two hours in the early afternoon can (35)_ and make us refreshed. Clearly, we were born to nap. We superstars of snooze dont nap to replace lost shut-eye or to prepare for a night shift. Rather, we “snack” on sleep, whenever, wherever and at whatever time we feel like it.

35、 I myself have napped in buses, cars, planes and on boats; on floors and beds; and in libraries, offices and museums.Test 9 Children are getting so fat, they may be the first generation to die before their parents, an expert claimed recently. Todays (26)_ are already falling prey to (27)_ killers su

36、ch as diabetes because of their weight. Fatty fast-food (28)_ combined with sedentary lifestyles (29)_ by televisions and computers could mean kids will die (30)_ young. At the same time, the shape of the Human body is going through a huge (31)_ shift because adults are getting so fat. Here in Brita

37、in, the latest research shows that the average (32)_ size for a man is 36-38 inches and may be 42-44 inches by 2032. This compares with only 32.6 inches in 1972. Womens waists have grown from an average of 22 inches in 1920 to 24 inches in the 50s and 30 inches now. One of the major reasons why chil

38、dren now are at greater risk is that we are getting fatter younger. In the UK alone, more than one million under-16s are classes as (33)_ or obesedouble the number in the mid-80s. One in ten four-year-olds are also medically (34)_ as obese. Many nations now record more than 20 percent of their popul

39、ation as clinically obese and well over half the population as overweight. The change in our shape has been caused by a glut of easily available high-energy foods combined with a dramatic drop in the energy we use (35)_ technology development. An averagely obese persons lifespan is shortened by arou

40、nd nine years while a severely obese person by many more.Test 10 Theres new research on the hair color and cancer issue. Has a (26)_been established? The (27)_ word on this continuing concern comes from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), which has (28)_ that working regularly wi

41、th hair (29)_ in hair salons and barbershops probably increases the risk of cancer and that long term (30)_ in these establishments is “(31)_causing cancer to humans.” However, the IARC, a World Health Organization (32)_, reported that these is not enough evidence to conclude that (33)_ personal use

42、 of hair coloring raises the risk of cancer. This new report, published in the April, 2008, issue of Lancet Oncology, is the first scientific word on the subject since 2005, when Spanish researchers reported that their review of 79 studies from 11 countries yielded no strong (34)_ of a link between

43、hair dye and cancer risk. The only connection the Spanish team observed was the possibility of a slight increase in the risks of leukemia, but they concluded that the causal effect was too weak to be a major concern. In general, people discourage the use of hair dyes containing artificial coloring a

44、gents, which are as suspect in cosmetic products as they are in food. Hair dyes (35)_ the head are absorbed through the scalp, where theres very rich blood supply that may carry them throughout the body. Its sure that the new IARC report wont be the last word on this subject. Test 11 People study th

45、eir family history for different reasons. For some, genealogy is important to their (26)_. Other people may want to confirm stories they heard about a family member. Or they may just want to learn more about the strange people in old family pictures. How exactly does someone start a genealogical (27

46、)_? Experts say you should start with yourself. (28)_your own history. Then, work back to your parents and grandparents, and ask your parents what they can remember about their parents and grandparents. You can often find a lot of information in family pictures, letters and other (29)_. Some of thes

47、e things may be hidden inside old books. Large libraries may have hundreds of helpful books on local history which (30)_ useful information. Also, local governments usually keep (31)_ copies of birth, marriage and death records, which are often the most helpful materials. Useful information might al

48、so be found in local court and tax records. And local governments may have copies of (32)_. These statements of final wishes often (33)_ details about a persons life and possessions. Many people use the Internet to research their family history. But the information that people get from genealogy sit

49、es is often limited or (34)_ because many websites may be operated by businesses and groups that are trying to sell products and services. People who want to (35)_ their roots say it is a lot of work, but also a lot of fun, because it can help people learn more about history and better understand th

50、emselves and their familys place in history as well. Test 12 In January 1986, Basit and Amjad Alvi, wrote a piece of code to safeguard the latest version of their heart monitoring software from piracy. They called it Brain, and it was (26)_ a wheel clamp (固定夹) for PCs. Computers that ran their progr

51、am, plus this entirely new bit of code, would stop working after a year, though they (27)_ provided three telephone numbers, against the day. If you were a legitimate (28)_, and could prove it, theyd unlock you. But in the way of all creative technologies, something unintended happened. The Alvis wh

52、eel clamp was soon copied by some computer hobbyists, who began to (29)_ it, concealed within various digital documents that people might be expected to want to open. Because almost all these booby-trapped files (30)_ on floppy disks, the virus spread at a pre-Internet snails pace. Still, it did cau

53、se a certain amount of low-grade (31)_, freezing computers across the world. The hobbyists did it because they could, or to see what would happen, or simply because they thought it was great. This proved (32)_ for the Alvi brothers, whose three telephone numbers were often included in the files, and

54、 eventually they had to cut all three lines. There were far too many angry callers, mainly from the United States and Britain. (33)_, the road to our present universe teeming with viruses was (34)_, a quarter century ago, with the Alvi brothers good (35)_ of securing their intellectual property. And

55、 today, it wont be a surprise to see a notice that you should keep yourself from being attacked by virus.Test 13 Theres nothing like the instinctive roar of the crowd when thousands of people all sing, or shout together. But translating that unique feeling to an event that is (26)_ online is tricky.

56、 Now a new project at MITs Media Lab (27)_ give online gamers something to shout about. Roar works much like any other chat software, where users can write messages to (28)_ gamers and are visible to all. Roar also allows users to group messages by “section”, which could be subject matter or (29)_ r

57、egion, whatever the users want. Each section can be thought of as the different parts of the same (30)_. They are not private and you can see the list of the most popular sections and how active they (31)_ are. What differentiates Roar from other chat services is that users can choose whether to chat their message or “shout” it. A chat goes to every