英语专业四级听力

1、I.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 gl

2、ad 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.

3、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.2. A Change in Women s LifeThe important change in women s-pi&itern

4、 has only recently begun to haveits full effect on women s economic position. Even a few years ago most girls lef tschool 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

5、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 marri

6、age, 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:life-pattern生活方式share

7、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

8、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 b

9、askets 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. win

10、dow box: 窗台上的花盆箱2.pastime 消遣，娱乐Swimming is my favorite pastime.4.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 intime.Some things are almost the same, of course, b

11、ut the policemen do not think much of them much of them.The first difference is that a policemans real life deals with the law. Most of whathe 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

12、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 arrang

13、ing millions of words on thousands of fomp3s about hundreds of sad, ordinary people who are guilty- or not of stupid, unimportant crimes.Useful Words and Expressions:think much of 重视，尊重in court在法庭上criminal罪犯，犯罪者guilty犯罪的，有罪的.Living SpaceHow much living space does a person need? What happens when his

14、 space needs are not met? Scientists are doing experiments on rats to try to detemp3ine 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

15、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, popula

16、tions and violence are directly related. Is this a natural law for human society as well? Is enough spacenot 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

17、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 jus

18、t 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

19、 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:representative 代表General Assembly 联合国大会pemp3anent永久的，持久的Security Council联合国安全理事会7.Pl

20、asticWe 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 toget

21、her. 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 pa

22、n begins as natural gas.Over the years, hundreds of different plastics have been developed. Some arehard 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 wa

23、ys to use them!.Display of GoodsAre supemp3arkets designed to persuade us to buy more?Fresh fruit and vegetables are displayed near supemp3arket entrances. Thisgives 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 o

24、ther. 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 parentsare waiting to p

25、ay, 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 theyare half empty. They do not like to buy from shelves with few products on them because

26、 they feel there is something wrong with those products that are there.Useful Words and Expressions:aisle 走廊，过道trolley 手推车checkout 收款台.Albert EinsteinAlbert Einstein was born in Gemp3any in 1879, His father owned a factory thatmade electrical devices. His mother enjoyed music and books. His parents

27、wereJewis h but they did not observe many of the religion s rules. Albert was a quitechild 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

28、 the compass needlealways pointed in the same directionto be north. He asked his father and hisuncle what caused the needle to move. Their answers about magnetism andgravity were difficult for the boy to understand. Yet he spent a lot of timethinking about them. He said later that he felt something

29、hidden had to be behind things.Useful expressions and words: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。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 co

30、mpass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 compas熊人力所能及的within the compass of 在范围内magnetism 磁力.Private 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 per

31、son.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 prod

32、uced 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 ca

33、r can bring will not be eliminated.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 soonas he got home on Fridays, his wife used to make him give her all his money, a

34、nd 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 to day, dear. he said.He w

35、aited for a few seconds and then added,“I won ten thousand dollars on thelottery! “That is wonderful!” said hisdwifghtedly. But then she pulled a long faceand added angrily,“ But how could you afford to buy the ticket?Useful Words and Expressions:henpecked怕老婆的，妻管严的lottery 彩票a great lottery 虚无缥缈的事pul

36、l a long face 拉下脸来have a face to say that 脸皮厚得竟能讲出这种话. A Young Man s Promiset imagine. InOne 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 the

37、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 couldn 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

38、against the fiercest animals with his bare hands.He finished the letter, signed his name and then suddenly remembered that hehad 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.A

39、Kind NeighborMr. and Mrs. Jones apartment was full of luggage, packages, furniture andboxes. 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 shelived next door. Mrs. Jones invited her to come in and apolog

40、ized because therewas no place for her to sit. Oh, that s OK. said the lady.I just come towelcome to your new home. As you know, in some parts of this city, neighborsare not friendly at all. They are some apartment houses where people don tknow any of their neighbors, not even the ones next door. Bu

41、t in this building,everyone is very friendly with everyone else. We are a big happy family. I amsure you will be very happy here. Mr. and Mrs. Jones said,“ But madam, we arenot new dwellers in this apartment. We ve lived here for two years. We aremoving out tomorrow. ”.That Isn t Our FaultMr. and Mr

42、s. 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 readynext Wednesday. You can get them from studio.”No, M

43、rs. Williams said,“ please send them to us.”The photographs arrived a week later, but Mrs. Williams was not happy whenshe saw them. She got into her car and drove to the photographer s studio. Shewent ins ide and said angrily,“ You took some photographs of me and myhusband last week, but I m not goi

44、ng 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 othat before you married him?.A Guides AnswerIn 1861, the Civil War started in the United States betwe

45、en the Northern andthe Southern states. The war continued with great bitterness until 1865, whenthe Northerners were victorious. However, even today, many Southerners havenot forgotten their defeat, or forgiven the Northerners.A few years ago, a party of American tourists were going round one of the

46、battlefields of the Civil War with a guide who came from one of the Southernstates. At each place, the guide told the tourists stirring stories about how a fewSouthern soldiers had conquered powerful forces of Northerners there.At last, one of the tourists, a lady who came from the North, stopped th

47、e guideand said to him,“ But surely that the Northern amp3y must have won at leastone victory in the Civil War?“Not as long as I m the guide here, madam,“ answered the Southern guide.A Qualified PilotThe captain of a small ship had to go along a rocky coast, but he was unfamiliarwith it, so he tried

48、 to find a qualified pilot to guide him. He went ashore in oneof 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 fishemp3a

49、n 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 knowodeon this part of thecoast.”Suddenly there was a terrible crash from under the ship. At once the fishemp3an added,“And that s one of them.”.Livin

50、g Things ReactYou 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 c

51、ertain 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 the

52、n 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?.Flowering

53、 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, a

54、nd 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

55、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!Useful words and Expressions:flowering 开花的pollen 花粉powdery 粉状的sugar 含糖的，甜的nectar 花蜜，甘露rub 磨擦19.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