Dictation提高

1、Dictation 01-40 (提高版)Passage 1Everything Matters In life, one step creates the next. Each day is of equal importance, no matter how good or bad. There is no moment in life that does not matter. No matter how insignificant it is, each choice, each day, or each idea, is the birth of the next. Somethin

2、g simple can completely reshape your life. It is just like the Butterfly Effect and you never know what is at the end. It is a signpost in life, a trail marker. It is a day you will never forget, the day you opened that envelope and your future was revealed. But what about all those days in between

3、the ones that make and break you, the days that are nothing special. If I have learned anything, it is that everything matters.Passage 2AbundanceAbundance is a life style, a way of living your life. It is not something you buy now and then pull down from the cupboard, dust off and use once or twice,

4、 and then return to the cupboard. Abundance is a philosophy. It appears in your physiology, your value system, and it carries its own set of beliefs. You walk with it, sleep with it, bathe with it, feel with it, and need to maintain and take care of it as well. Abundance doesnt always require money.

5、 Many people live with all that money can buy yet live empty inside. Abundance begins inside with some main self-ingredients like love, care, kindness and gentleness, thoughtfulness and compassion. Abundance is a state of being. It radiates outward. It shines like the sun among the many moons in the

6、 world. Abundance is seeing people for their gifts and not what they lack or could be. Passage 3American English vs. British English In the early 18th century, English spelling was not standardized. Differences became noticeable after the publishing of influential dictionaries. Today's British E

7、nglish spellings follow, for the most part, those of Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language, whereas many American English spellings follow Noah Webster's An American Dictionary of the English Language.Webster was a strong proponent of English spelling reform for reasons both

8、philological and nationalistic. Many spelling changes proposed in the United States by Webster himself, and in the early 20th century by the Simplified Spelling Board, never caught on. Among the spelling reform supporters in England, the influence of those who preferred the Norman (or Anglo-French)

9、spellings of words proved to be decisive. Later spelling adjustments in the United Kingdom had little effect on today's American spellings and vice-versa. In many cases, American English strayed in the 19th century from mainstream British spelling, but it has also kept some older spellings.Passa

10、ge 4We Are Standing Here “We are reading the first verse of the first chapter of a book whose pages are infinite.” I do not know who wrote those words, but I have always liked them as a reminder that the future can be anything we want to make. We can take the mysterious, hazy future and carve out of

11、 it anything that we can imagine, just like a sculptor carving a statue from a shapeless stone. The past is gone and static. The future is before us and dynamic. Each day will bring with it new frontiers, in our homes and in our business, if we will only recognize them. We are just at the beginning

12、of the progress in every field of human endeavor. We are all in the position of the farmer. If we plant a good seed, we reap a good harvest. If our seed is poor and full of weeds, we reap a useless crop. If we plant nothing at all, we harvest nothing at all. Passage 5Get a Thorough Understanding of

13、Oneself In all one's lifetime it is oneself that one spends the most time being with or dealing with. But it is precisely oneself that one has the least understanding of. When you are going upwards in life you tend to overestimate yourself. When you are going downhill you tend to underestimate y

14、ourself. It's likely that you think it wise for yourself to know your place and stay aloof from worldly wearing a mask of cowardice, behind which the flow of sap in your life will be retarded.To get a thorough understanding of oneself is to gain a correct view of oneself and be a sober realist -

15、 aware of both one's strength and shortage. You may look forward hopefully to the future but be sure not to expect too much, for ideals can never be fully realized. You may be courageous to meet challenges but it should be clear to you where to direct your efforts. Passage 6How to Maintain Your

16、Love RelationshipIn order to experience everlasting love in life, you ought to first figure out what is missing in your life and then fill in the gaps. People fall in and out of love because they expect their lovers to be everything to them and do everything for them. They then become dissatisfied w

17、hen the partners fail to meet all their requirements. If you have a dream of achieving everlasting love you would better create your very own life crowned by hobbies, interests and beneficial passions. This makes you a full lover when you enjoy a complete, interesting life on your own. Create a worl

18、d of your own. On your to-do lists add forgiveness. Some people find it hard to forgive their partners especially if they happened to catch them cheating on them. Seek professional help from a marriage and relationship counselor. This is an important move towards search for everlasting love. It is a

19、lways healthy to forgive while you can. Disappointments and sadness are part of life.Passage 7Releasing the Past Do you condemn yourself for things which you did or failed to do in the past? Everyone does this at some point. However, if you want to lead a successful and productive life, it is impera

20、tive that you release the past and do not blame yourself for events which have already transpired and which cannot be changed.The successful person takes this approach: Learn from past mistakes and make adjustments in future behavior. The strategy of berating yourself for past conduct solves nothing

21、 and only serves to lower your self-esteem. If you insist on dwelling in the past, I suggest that you focus on your past successes. Visualizing and thinking about past successes is an excellent way to build confidence and self-esteem. What you think about is what you become. Therefore, when you conc

22、entrate on your successes, you help to create future successes.Passage 8ChangeIn life, change is inevitable. To find a smooth sail in your love life you have to learn to forgive and move on with a clean slate. Accept changes when they arrive instead of fighting the reality. No matter how settled you

23、 might be it is good to know that things can change in an instant. Always accept the unexpected. Always find happiness in what you have and be grateful to own what you have.It is a great secret to everlasting love. Despite the greatest fear and uncertainties of the unknown, when the inevitable thing

24、s happen you will look back on the good old times and wish that you had been more grateful when things were more colorful. To enjoy your love life you should give thanks every moment and learn to appreciate the small problems you experience because unknown to you they can get worse and some time the

25、y probably will. Passage 9 Have Faith, and Expect the BestFaith begins by believing in your heart that what is right has a chance. Faith is knowing in your heart that good can overcome evil, that the sun can shine in a rainstorm. Faith is peaceful and comforting, because it comes from within where n

26、o one can invade your private dreams. Faith is not something you can demand or command; it is a result of commitment to belief. Faith is believing in something you cannot see or hear, something deep inside that only you understand and only you control. Faith is trusting in yourself enough to know th

27、at no matter how things turn out, you will make the best of them. To have faith where you cannot see; to be willing to work on in the dark; to be conscious of the fact that so long as you strive for the best, there are better things on the way this in itself is success.Passage 10The Art of Forgivene

28、ssTo forgive may be divine, but no one ever said it was easy. When someone has deeply hurt you, it can be extremely difficult to let go of your grudge. But forgiveness is possible and it can be surprisingly beneficial to your physical and mental health. People who forgive show less depression, anger

29、 and stress and more hopefulness. So it can help save on the wear and tear on our organs, reduce the wearing out of the immune system and allow people to feel more vital.So how do you start the healing? Try following these steps: Calm yourself. To defuse your anger, try a simple stress management te

30、chnique. Take a couple of breaths and think of something that gives you pleasure: a beautiful scene in nature, someone you love. Don't wait for an apology. Many times the person who hurt you has no intention of apologizing.Passage 11Why Americans Dont Really Want To Break up?Independence movemen

31、ts are on the march in many Western countries, but the secessionists who have been making news in the US since last month's election are not, realistically, going anywhere. Americans are, in fact, unusually keen to stick together. Why is this?The USA is a divided country, we're often told, p

32、olarized in a cultural civil war between the blue and red bits on its map. Unlike almost all of their Western counterparts, however, Americans appear remarkably happy to stay together despite their differences.While the states and the federal government may have come into conflict from time to time

33、most notably during the civil war and the civil rights reforms of the 1960s the constitution has helped to prevent friction between parts of the nation with different governing philosophies. While separatist parties are thriving in Canada and Europe, recent bids to take individual states out of the

34、union have only served to demonstrate just how little appetite there for this kind of politics in the US.Passage 12The Happy Door Happiness is like a pebble dropped into a pool to set in motion an ever-widening circle of ripples. As Steven has said, being happy is a duty. There is no exact definitio

35、n of the word happiness. Happy people are happy for all sorts of reasons. The key is not wealth or physical well-being, since we find beggars, invalids and so-called failures, who are extremely happy. Being happy is a sort of unexpected dividend. But staying happy is an accomplishment, a triumph of

36、soul and character. It is not selfish to strive for it. It is, indeed, a duty to ourselves and others. Being unhappy is like an infectious disease. It causes people to shrink away from the sufferer. He soon finds himself alone, miserable and embittered. There is, however, a cure so simple as to seem

37、, at first glance, ridiculous; if you dont feel happy, pretend to be! Passage 13The Love of Beauty The love of beauty is an essential part of all healthy human nature. It is a moral quality. The absence of it is not an assured ground of condemnation, but the presence of it is an invariable sign of g

38、oodness of heart. In proportion to the degree in which it is felt will probably be the degree in which nobleness and beauty of character will be attained. Natural beauty is an all-pervading presence. The universe is its temple. It unfolds into the numberless flowers of spring. It waves in the branch

39、es of trees and the green blades of grass. This beauty is so precious that it is painful to think of the multitude of people living in the midst of it and yet remaining almost blind to it. All people should seek to become acquainted with the beauty in nature. The beauty of the world helps us to seek

40、 and find the beauty of goodness.Passage 14Giving Life MeaningHave you thought about what you want people to say about you after youre gone? One of the strangest phenomena of life is to engage in a work that will last long after death. Isnt that a lot like investing all your money so that future gen

41、erations can bare interest on it? Perhaps, yet if you look deep in your own heart, youll find something drives you to make this kind of contribution something drives every human being to find a purpose that lives on after death. A child alive today will die tomorrow. We are not all meant to live lif

42、e through to old age. Weve grown to perceive life as a full cycle with a certain number of years in between. If all of those years arent lived out, it's a tragedy. Because a humans potential was never realized.Passage 15Meaning of LifeWhat meaning stands behind the dramatic unfolding of life? Wh

43、at single truth can we grasp and hang onto for dear life when all other truths around us seem to fade with time? These moments are strung together in a series we call events. These events are strung together in a series we call life. When we seize the moment and bend it according to our will, a will

44、 driven by the spirit deep inside us, then we have discovered the meaning of life, a meaning for us that shall go on long after we depart the Earth. We are alive; let us live. We have the ability to experience; let us experience. We have the ability to learn; let us learn. The meaning of life can be

45、 grasped in a moment. A moment so brief it often evades our perception.Passage 16Free to SoarOn one windy spring day, I observed young people having fun using the wind to fly their kites. Multicolored creations of varying shapes and sizes filled the skies like beautiful birds dancing. As the strong

46、winds gusted against the kites, a string kept them in check.How much like kites we sometimes are! The Heaven gives us adversity and restrictions, rules to follow from which we can grow and gain strength. Restraint is a necessary counterpart to the winds of opposition. Some of us restrict to the rule

47、s so hard that we never soar to reach the heights we might have obtained. We keep part of the commandment and never rise high enough to get our tails off the ground. Let us each rise to the great heights, recognizing that some of the restraints that we may chafe under are actually the steadying forc

48、e that helps us ascend and achieve. Passage 17Which Comes First Trust or Trustworthiness？During the past year, the headlines have publicized lots of cases of untrustworthy behavior, some of it lurid, even criminal, some of it merely squalid and routine. Some bankers and some care-home workers, some

49、journalists and some politicians and assorted others have been exposed as untrustworthy. Once again the slightly plaintive question "How can we restore trust?" is on everyone's lips.Taken in one way, the answer is pretty obvious. First, be trustworthy. Second, provide others with good

50、evidence that you are trustworthy. As Abraham Lincoln pointed out, "You may fool all of the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all of the time; but you can't fool all of the people all of the time."I think it's perverse to think of trust as more basic tha

51、n trustworthiness. To place and refuse trust intelligently we need first to judge others' trustworthiness, or their lack of trustworthiness, in specific matters. Only when we can do so, will we be in a position to place and refuse trust intelligently.Passage 18Five Enemies Let me tell you about

52、five of the enemies you face from within. The first enemy that youve got to destroy before it destroys you is indifference.The second enemy you 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. Y

53、ou cannot believe everything. But you also cannot let doubt take over. Many people doubt the past, doubt the future, doubt each other, doubt the government, doubt possibilities and doubt opportunities. The fourth enemy within is worry. Weve all got to worry some. Just dont let it conquer you. Instea

54、d, let it alarm you.The fifth interior enemy is overcaution. It is the timid approach to life. If you let it go, itll conquer you. Be courageous in your life and in your pursuit of the things you want and the person you want to become.Passage 19The Goodness of Life (1)Though there is much to be conc

55、erned about, there is far, far more for which to be thankful. Though lifes goodness can at times be overshadowed, it is never outweighed. For every single act that is senselessly destructive, there are thousands more small, quiet acts of love, kindness and compassion. For every person who seeks to h

56、urt, there are many, many more who devote their lives to helping and to healing. There is goodness to life that cannot be denied. In the most magnificent vistas and in the smallest details, look closely, for that goodness always comes shining through. There is no limit to the goodness of life. It gr

57、ows more abundant with each new encounter. Even when the cold winds blow and the world seems to be covered in foggy shadows, the goodness of life lives on. Open your eyes, open your heart, and you will see that goodness is everywhere.Passage 20The Goodness of Life (2)Though the goodness of life seem

58、s at times to suffer setbacks, it always endures. For in the darkest moment it becomes vividly clear that life is a priceless treasure. And so the goodness of life is made even stronger by the very things that would oppose it. Time and time again when you feared it was gone forever you found that th

59、e goodness of life was really only a moment away. Around the next corner, inside every moment, the goodness of life is there to surprise and delight you. Take a moment to let the goodness of life touch your spirit and calm your thoughts. For the goodness of life grows more and more magnificent each time it is given away. Though the problems constantly scream fo