现代大学英语听力2Unit 11 Nature 课堂

Lesson ElevenPre-class WorkRead the text a third time. Learn the new words and expressions listed below. Glossaryambitionn. a strong desire for success, power, riches, etc.bandn. a group of musicians who play popular music togethercashierv. to work as a clerk whose job is to receive and pay out money in a shop, bank, hotel, etc.clarityn. clearnessconsciencen. 良心contrastn. a difference between people, ideas or thingsdimen. a silver coin of the U. S., worth ten centsdismaladj. lacking hope or comfort, showing or causing sadnessembracen. the act of holding sb. close to you as a sign of loveemergev. to come out or appear from somewhereenhancev. to increase good qualities in sb. or sth.errandn. a short trip to do sth. for sb.expandv. to become largerfantasyn. imaginationfineryn. beautiful or expensive clothes and jewelry worn for special occas ions freshmann. a first-year student at a high school or universityfrugallyadv. carefully in the way of using money, buying only what is necessary giddyadj. feeling a little sick and unable to balance because everything seems to be movinggrievev. to feel extremely sad, esp. when sb. you love has diedgypsyn. 吉卜赛人hornn. a musical instrument 号；管humbleadj. having a low social class or position, not proudindulgev. to let yourself do or have what you want even if it is bad for you 放纵，纵容intolerableadj. too difficult, unpleasant, annoying, etc. for you to bearlavishadj. A ～meal is a meal that is large and generous and costs a lot of money. licensen. an official paper showing that permission has been given to do sth. 许可证lumpyadj. 疙瘩不平的marvelv. to feel great surprise and admiration formattressn. 床垫miraclen. 奇迹miserlyadj. a ～person is a person who hates to spend moneyonrushn. a strong fast movement forwardparlorn. a sitting room where people may receive guests (old-fashioned) quitv. to leave a jobretirev. to stop working at the end of one's working lifesalonn. beauty ～: a place where you can get your hair cutseekv. to look for or ask forsecond-rateadj. not very goodsentimentaladj. too easily affected by tender feelings such as love, sadness, etc. shabbyadj. looking old and in bad conditionskaten. 冰鞋v. to move on ice wearing ice-skatessmartv. to hurt with stinging painsorrown. unhappiness, sadness or griefsplendidadj. excellentspreen. a short period of time doing sth. you enjoystomachn. an organ in the body where food is digested 胃sufferv. to tolerate or standsuitcasen. a case with flat sides used for carrying clothes when travellingthreadbareadj. worn out; in bad conditiontop-heavyadj. not properly balanced because of too much weight at the toptransformv. to completely change the appearance, form or character of sth. esp. in a way that improves ittrappedadj. in a bad situation from which you can't escapeurgev. to strongly advise sb. to do sth.vagueadj. not clearwardroben. the clothes that sb. haswistfullyadv. sadly and thoughtfully because you want sth. but cannot have itProper NamesBess贝丝（女子名，Elizabeth 的爱称）Lottie洛蒂（女子名，charlotte 的别名）Text AThe Richer, the PoorerRead the text once for the main idea. Do not refer to the notes, dictionaries or the glossary yet.Over the years Lottie had urged her sister Bess to prepare for her old age. Over the years Bess had lived each day as if there were no other. Now they were both past sixty. Lottie had a bank account that had never grown lean. Bess had the clothes on her back, and the rest of her worldly possessions in an old suitcase. Lottie had hated being a child, seeing her parents constantly worrying about money, Bess had never seemed to notice. All she ever wanted was to go outside and play. She learned to skated on borrowed skates. She rode a borrowed bicycle. Lottie couldn't wait to grow up and buy herself the best of everything. As soon as anyone would hire her, Lottie put herself to work. She looked after babies, she ran errands for the old.She never touched a penny of her money, though her child's mouth watered for ice cream and candy. When the dimes began to add up to dollars, she lost her taste for sweets.By the time she was twelve, she was clerking after school in a small variety store. Saturdays she worked as long as she was wanted. She decided to keep her money for clothes. When she entered high school, she would wear a wardrobe that no one else would be able to match.But her freshman year found her unable to indulge this fantasy, particularly when her admiring instructors advised her to think seriously of college. No one in her family had ever gone to college. She would show them all what she could do, if she put her mind to it.She began to bank her money, and her bankbook became her most precious possession.In her third year of high school, she found a job in a small but expanding restaurant, where she cashiered from the busy hour until closing. In her last year of high school, the business increased so rapidly that Lottie was faced withthe choice of staying in school or working full time.She made her choice easily. A job in hand was worth two in the future.Bess had a boy-friend in the school band, who had no other ambition except to play a horn. Lottie expected to be settled with a home and family while Bess was still waiting for Harry to earn enough to buy a marriage license.That Bess married Harry straight out of high school was not surprising. That Lottie never married at all was not really surprising either. Two or three times she was halfway persuaded, but to give up a job that paid well for a homemaking job that paid nothing was a risk she was incapable of taking. Bess's married life was nothing for Lottie to envy. She and Harry lived like gypsies, with Harry playing in second-rate bands all over the country, even getting himself and Bess stranded in Europe. They were often in rags and never in riches.Bess grieved because she had no child, not having sense enough to know she was better off without them. Very likely she would have dumped them on Lottie's doorstep.That Lottie had a doorstep was only because her boss, having bought a second house, offered Lottie his first house at a price so low and terms so reasonable that it would have been like losing money to refuse.She shut off the rooms she didn't use, letting them go to ruin. Since she ate her meals out, she had no food at home, and did not encourage callers, who always expected a cup of tea.Her way of life was mean and miserly, but she did not know it. She thought she lived frugally in her middle years so that she could live in comfort when she most needed peace of mind.The years, after forty, began to race. Suddenly Lottie was sixty, and made to retire by her boss's son, who had no sentimental feeling about keeping her on until she was ready to quit.She made several attempts to find other employment, but nobody would hire her. For the first time in her life Lottie would gladly have worked for nothing, to have some place to go, something to do with her day.Harry died abroad, in a third-rate hotel, with Bess weeping as hard as if he had left her a fortune. He had left nothing but his horn. There wasn't even money for her passage home.Lottie, trapped by the blood tie, knew she would have to send Bess money to bring her home.It took Lottie a week to get a bedroom ready, a week of hard work and hard cash. There was everything to do, everything to replace or paint. When she was through the room looked so fresh and new that Lottie felt she deserved it more than Bess.She would let Bess have her room, but the mattress was so lumpy, the carpet so worn, the curtains so threadbare that Lottie's conscience bothered her. She knew she would have to redo that room, too, and went about doing it eagerly. When she was through upstairs, she was shocked to see how dismal downstairslooked by comparison. She tried to ignore it, but with nowhere to go to escape it, the contrast grew more intolerable.She worked her way from kitchen to parlor, persuading herself she was only improving the rooms to give herself something to do. At night she slept like a child after a long and happy day of playing house. She was having more fun than she had ever had in her life. She was living each hour for itself.There was only a day now before Bess would arrive. Passing her gleaming mirrors, at first with vague awareness, then with painful clarity, Lottie saw herself as others saw her, and could not stand the sight.She went on a spending spree from the specialty shops to beauty salon, emerging transformed into a woman who believed in miracles.She was in the kitchen cooking a turkey when Bess rang the bell. Her heart raced, and she wondered if the heat from the oven was responsible.She went to the door, and Bess stood before her. Stiffly she suffered Bess's embrace, her heart racing harder, her eyes suddenly smarting from the onrush of cold air."Oh, Lottie, it's good to see you," Bess said, but saying nothing about Lottie's splendid appearance. Upstairs Bess, putting down her shabby suitcase, said, "I'll sleep like a rock tonight," without a word of praise for her lovely room. At the lavish table, top-heavy with turkey, Bess said, "I'll take light and dark both," with no marveling at the size of the bird, or that there was turkey for two elderly women, one of them too poor to buy her own bread.With the glow of good food in her stomach, Bess began to tell stories. They were rich with places and people, most of them lowly, all of them magnificent. Her face reflected the joys and sorrows of her remembering, and above all, the love she lived by that enhanced the poorest place, the humblest person.Then it was that Lottie knew why Bess had made no mention of her finery, or the shining room, or the twelve-pound turkey. She had not even seen them. Tomorrow she would see the room as it really looked, and Lottie as she really looked, and the warmed-over turkey in its second-day glory. Tonight she saw only what she had come seeking, a place in her sister's home and heart.She said, "That's enough about me. How have the years used you?""It was me who didn't use them," said Lottie with regret. "I saved for them. I forgot the best of them would go without my ever spending a day or a dollar enjoying them. That's my life story, a life never lived. Now it's too near the end to try."Bess said, "To know how much there is to know is the beginning of learning to live. Don't count the years that are left us. At our time of life it's the days that count. You've too much catching up to do to waste a minute of a waking hour feeling sorry for yourself." Lottie grinned, a real wide open grin, "Well, to tell the truth I felt sorry for you. Maybe if I had any sense I'd feel sorry for myself, after all. I know I'm too old to kick up my heels, but I'm going to let you show me how. If I land on my head, I guess it won't matter. I feel giddy already, and I like it."。

课时：2课时教学目标：1. 培养学生良好的听力习惯，提高听力理解能力。

2. 使学生掌握听力技巧，提高听力效率。

3. 帮助学生了解英美文化背景，增强跨文化交际能力。

教学内容：1. 单元主题：日常生活场景2. 听力材料：包含对话、短文和讲座等形式3. 听力题型：选择题、判断题、填空题等教学过程：第一课时一、导入1. 教师简要介绍本单元主题，激发学生学习兴趣。

2. 引导学生回顾上节课所学内容，为新课做好铺垫。

二、新课导入1. 教师播放听力材料，学生集中注意力听。

2. 学生跟读材料，模仿语音、语调。

三、听力训练1. 选择题：教师播放听力材料，学生根据问题选择正确答案。

2. 判断题：教师播放听力材料，学生判断正误。

3. 填空题：教师播放听力材料，学生根据所听内容填写空缺的单词或短语。

四、听力技巧讲解1. 概括归纳：引导学生从整体上把握听力材料的主旨大意。

2. 关键词识别：帮助学生识别听力材料中的关键词，提高听力理解能力。

3. 上下文推断：引导学生根据上下文推测未知信息。

五、课堂小结1. 教师总结本节课所学内容，强调重点。

2. 学生分享自己的学习心得，提出疑问。

第二课时一、复习上节课所学内容1. 教师提问，检查学生对上节课内容的掌握情况。

2. 学生回答问题，巩固所学知识。

二、听力材料分析1. 教师播放听力材料，学生认真听。

2. 学生分析材料中的语言特点、文化背景等。

三、小组讨论1. 将学生分成小组，讨论听力材料中的问题。

2. 各小组汇报讨论结果，教师点评。

四、听力技巧练习1. 教师播放听力材料，学生运用所学技巧进行听力训练。

2. 学生互相交流，分享听力心得。

五、课堂小结1. 教师总结本节课所学内容，强调重点。

2. 学生分享自己的学习心得，提出疑问。

教学评价：1. 学生对听力材料的理解程度。

2. 学生运用听力技巧的能力。

3. 学生对英美文化背景的了解程度。

教学反思：1. 教师根据学生的反馈，调整教学方法和内容。

《现代大学英语听力2》听力原文及题目答案《现代大学英语听力2》听力原文及题目答案《现代大学英语听力2》听力原文及题目答案Unit 3Unit 3Task 1【答案】A.1) Stress on the job costs American companies as much as $150 billion a year in lower productivity, unnecessary employee sick leave, and higher medical costs.2) The most stressful professions are those that involve danger and extreme pressure and those that carry a lot of responsibility without much control.3) The best way to deal with stress is through relaxation, but sometimes the only answer is to fight back or walk away.B.1) Three-quarters2) psychologists, doctors3) nervousness, anger, frequent illness, forgetfulness, mental problems【原文】Stress on the job costs American companies as much as $150 billion a year in lower productivity, unnecessary employee sick leave, and higher medical costs. Three-quarters of the office workers today say they suffer from stress at work. Recently, psychologists and doctors have begun to study the problem more closely. They have discovered that the most stressful professions are those that involve danger, extreme pressure and those that carry a lot of responsibility without muchcontrol.The sign of stress range from nervousness, anger, and frequent illness to forgetfulness or even mental problems. The best way to deal with stress is through relaxation, but sometimes the only answer is to fight back or walk away.Task 2【答案】A.1)give in so easily to hijackers’ demandsa) threaten to blow up a plane, commit some other outageb) hold out against this kind of blackmail, always have terrorists, Start executingterrorists automaticallyc)be prepared to face the consequences of evil2)a) It’s the lesser of two evils. Terrorists have proven often enough that they really mean business.b)Innocent lives, threatening the innocent will achieve its ends.B.She implies that if the first speaker was one of the victims of terrorism, she would want the government to give in to the demands so that she wouldn’t die.【原文】Margaret: Governments give in so easily to hijackers’ demands. A hijacker only has to threaten to blow up a plane or commit some other outrage, and a government gives in to his demands.Valerie: Naturally. It’s the less er of the two evils. What government would risk innocent lives just to see if terrorists will really do what they threaten to do Terrorists have proven often enough that they really mean business. Margaret: Yes, but i f a government doesn’t hold out against this kind of blackmail,we will always have terrorists. Governments are afraid to punish these people. They almost always let them go free. Start executing terrorists automatically wherever they land, and terrorism will stop.Valerie: And what about the innocent lives that will be lost in the process Terrorism is based on the simple idea that threatening the innocent will achieve its ends.Margaret: You can’t get rid of evil without being prepared to face the consequences of evil.Valerie: So long as you’re not one of the victims!Task 3【答案】A.1)thirty-five, natural light, a small window, hot, airless, very noisy2) Mexico3) ought to, shouldn’tB.1)It is located in a narrow street with five-and six-storey buildings eightkilometers from downtown Los Angeles.2) This factory makes shirts and jeans3) She’s already been working for ten hours, but won’t stop for another two hours.4) She can’t complain about those things because she is an illegal immigrant.【原文】Eight kilometers from downtown Los Angeles there is a narrow street with five- and six-storey buildings. Inside one of these buildings there is a small factory making shirts and jeans. The women working in the factory sit close together, each with a small table, each with their own sewing machine. The women say nothing, and work hard. In one of the rooms there are thirty-five women. There is only a littlenatural light, and this comes from a small window in the roof. The room is hot, airless, and very noisy. On the left-hand side of the room there is a young girl sitting next to the wall. Every now and again she closes her eyes, and her fingers stop working. She's already been in her chair for ten hours, but she'll be here until the bell rings — and that won't be for another two hours. Her name is Maria, and she comes from Mexico. She won't complain about her work. She won't say that the working hours ought to be changed; she won't say that the working conditions shouldn't be permitted.Task 4【答案】A.Every year the British government publishes statistics about social trends. Their findings show definite patterns in the British way of life.1)marked differencesa)one hour more every day, three hours more every weekb) 1 percent, cleaning and ironing, keep household accounts, do repairs orimprovementsc)30 percent2)leisure activities, watching television, 20 hours a week, going for walks,Swimming, British womenB.Unlike the other couples, Carla has always kept her won accounts and Adrian has always done his own housework. Neither of them like watching television very much and they both like swimming.【原文】When Adrian Hutton and Carla Leone get married they will move into a new housethat they have bought. But what sort of life will they have What can they expect in modern Britain Every year the British government publishes statistics about social trends. Their findings show definite patterns in the British way of life.In most marriages there are some marked differences between husbands and wives. Working wives, for example, sleep (on average) one hour more a day than working husbands. Housewives, on the other hand, sleep only about three hours more every week than their working husbands. And what about housework The government survey showed that only 1% of men do the household chores — like cleaning and ironing. But they do usually keep household accounts and it is always men who do repairs or improvements in the house. 30% of all marriages end in divorce.The government survey also looked at leisure activities. They found that the two most popular leisure activities in Britain are watching television (the average family spends 20 hours a week in front of the TV set) and going for walks. Swimming is an especially popular activity among British women.Carla and Adrian's life, though, will probably be different from the average marriage. In the first place Carla has always kept her own accounts and Adrian has always done his own housework. Neither of them like watching television very much and they both like swimming.Task 5【答案】A.Topic: How a city in Japan solve the problem of garbage disposal.Supporting details: 160 million, every year, 10 percent, 10 percent, the rest, public cooperation1) garbage that can be easily burned, kitchen and garden trash2) electrical appliances, plastic tools, plastic toys3) are poisonous, cause pollution, batteries4) bottles and glass containers that can be recycled5) metal containers that can be recycled6) furniture and bicycledon different days, on request, fertilizer, to produce electricity, recycled, cleaned, repaired, resold cheaply, give awayB.1) The garbage will be taken to a center that looks like a clean new office buildingor hospital. Inside the center, special equipment is used to sort and process the garbage.2) Official from cities around the world visit Machida to see whether they can use some of these ideas and techniques to solve their own garbage disposal problems.【原文】Disposing of the garbage we produce every day is a major problem in cities around the world. In the United States, over 160 million tons of garbage are produce every year. Ten percent is recycled, ten percent is burned, and the rest is put in landfills. But finding land for new landfills is becoming more difficult.A city that has solved this problem in an unusual way is Machida, in Tokyo, Japan. They have developed a totally new approach to garbage disposal. The key to the operation is public cooperation. Families must divide their garbage into six categories:1. garbage that can be easily burned (that is, combustible garbage) such as kitchen and garden trash
;2. noncombustible garbage, such as small electrical appliances, plastic tools, and plastic toys
;3. products that are poisonous or that cause pollution, such as batteries and fluorescent lights
;4. bottles and glass containers that can be recycled
;5. metal containers that can be recycled
;6. large items, such as furniture and bicycles.The items in categories1 to 5 are collected on different days. Large items are only collected upon request. Then the garbage is taken to a center that looks like a clean new office building or hospital. Inside the center, special equipment is used to sort and process the garbage. Almost everything can be reused: garden or kitchen trash becomes fertilizer; combustible garbage is burned to produce electrical; metal containers and bottles are recycled; and old furniture, clothing, and other useful items are cleaned, repaired, and resold cheaply or given away. The work provides employment for handicapped person and gives them a chance to learn new skills.Nowadays, officials from cities around the world visit Machida to see whether they can use some of these ideas and techniques to solve their own garbage disposal problems.Task 6【答案】1) They were talking about Mrs. Carter.2) She was a tall, handsome woman who used to come into the shop at least twice a week.3) She lived alone in a large house on an old farm---about three miles from the shop.4) He was absolutely certain, otherwise he would never call the police. His evidence was this: First, he saw her do it; second, he found the things in her bag; third, she had done it before.5) Because two young people saw her. The shopkeeper believed that if they didn’t punish her, young people would think that stealing didn’t matter.6) The judge thought that it was difficult case from a humanitarian point of view. The excuses her found for her were: First, the woman was old and she livedalone---she was lonely. Second, she wasn’t poor---she was well-known for her generosity to charities and she didn’t need to steal. Te items were only worth a pound or two. Third, she pleaded not guilty and she didn’t know that she had done it.【原文】Shopkeeper: I knew Mrs. Carter very well. She was a tall, handsome woman who used to come into the shop at least twice a week. She lived alone in a largehouse on an old farm — about three miles from here. People ask me if Iam certain she did it. The answer is yes. I was absolutely certain,otherwise I would never have called the police. In the first place, I sawher do it. I watched her put the things into her bag and I watched her walkout of the store. In the second place, we found the things in her bag, andfinally, she had done it before. It wasn't the first time. I think she wasin such a confused state that she didn’t know what she was doing, but twoother people say her —two young people. We had to punish her, otherwiseyoung p eople would think that stealing didn’t matter.Judge: It was a difficult case from a humanitarian point of view. The woman was old and she lived alone —she was lonely. She wasn’t poor— she was well-known for her generosity to charities and she didn’t nee d to steal. The items were only worth a pound or two. She pleaded not guilty and said she didn’t know that she had done it. From the legal point of view the case was straightforward.The woman stole; she was caught and reported. There were witnesses. She had to be punished or else no one could be punished for stealing.Task 7【答案】A. not all modern cities are alike; modern city.1) a single high-density center, skyscrapers, motorways, as far as you can see2) the low-density multi-center city, a large collection of a number of small centers, shopping centers, factories, businesses, skyscrapersB.1) He thinks that the second type( the Los Angeles model) is more sensible.2) He considers it highly likely that the kind of city we know now will completely disappear.【原文】Interviewer: Would you say then that all modem cities are pretty much alike Urban Planner: Quite definitely not. There seem to be two types of modem city. In type one there is a single high-density centre, and that's where you'llfind the skyscrapers. This is surrounded by motorways. And all aroundthis centre, low-density suburbs stretch as far as you can see. Thisis like Houston, or Calgary, or Toronto. Interviewer: And the secondtypeUrban Planner: The other type is like Los Angeles — the low-density multi-centre city. As I'm sure you know Los Angeles is really a large collectionof a number of small centres, each with its shopping centres, factories,businesses, and skyscrapers scattered everywhere. In a way it's almostone enormous suburb.Interviewer: Do you. think one type is better than the otherUrban Planner: I think the Los Angeles model is more sensible.Interviewer: And so do you think Los Angeles is the city of the futureUrban Planner: Well, it is arguable that the next step after Los Angeles is the complete disappearance of the city, with no real centre, wherewell-designed forms of urban life-modem factories and office blockswhich are clean and quiet, and beautiful forms of rural life — thetrees and parks of suburbs, live side by side.Interviewer: So are you saying that the city as we know it will disappear...Task 8【答案】A.1) He thinks that this country’s problems all come from inflation, which is theresult of the Democrat’s careless spending.2) No, she doesn’t agree with Ned. She believes that the problem is unemployment.If the government cuts spending too much, people will fall into a vicious circle of more unemployment and fewer taxpayers to share the burden.3) She agrees with Barbara. She believes that unemployment is a big problem, especially in the big industrial cities. And the government isn’t doing very much to help the big industries out.4) He believes in the free market system rather than government regulation or protection. He thinks that without a lot of government interference everything will be okay.5) No, they think it’s bad for the weak, the poor and the unprotected/ it’s bad for the underprivileged.B.more and more money, come from somewhere, higher taxes and higher prices【原文】Ned: ... you know, I think this country's problems all come from inflation. That's the main cause of our troubles right now. And what's causing the inflation It's the reckless spending of the Democrats! Every year they spend more and more money, and that money has to come from somewhere. So we pay it in the form of higher taxes and higher prices on the goods we buy.Barbara: Well, I'm not sure that I agree with you. It seems to me that inflation is only one of our problems. What about unemployment If people don't havejobs because the government cuts spending too much, they can't buy things;and then you have a vicious circle of more unemployment and fewer taxpayersto share the burden.Ellen: You know, I think Barbara may have something there. Unemployment is a big problem, especially in the big industrial cities. The auto industry isfighting for its life right now, and the government isn't doing very muchto help it.Ned: Well, it's true that the auto industry is in a mess, but I don't think the answer is in government regulation or protection. I believe in the freemarket system —let the system work without a lot of government interference, and everything will be okay.Ellen: So the strong will win, and the weak will be defeated. Is that what you meanNed: Well, that's the way it goes. The survival of the fittest.Barbara: And too bad about the weak, the poor, the unprotected...Ned: Now you're getting emotional. You have to remain objective about these things. Let me give you an example of what I'm talking about...Task 9【答案】A.1) The problem is whether or not the inner city — the core of most urban areas —will manage to survive at all.2) They moved to the suburbs in search of fresh air, elbow room, and privacy.3) As a result, suburbs began to sprawl out across the countryside. Many cities beganto fall into disrepair. And many downtown areas existed for business only.4) The result was that urban centers declined even further and the suburbs expanded still more.5) Because from the decision of the Taylors and many other young couples, we cansee that some people may be tired of spending long hours commuting, and they may have begun to miss the advantages of culture and companionship provided by city life.B.1) F 2) T 3) F 4) F 5) T 6) TC.1) middle-class, tax money, neighborhoods2) Crime, public transportation3) housing construction costs, was allowed to, constructed【原文】A few years ago, Ann and Walter Taylor thought it might be time to move out of their New York City apartment to the suburbs. They had one young son and another child on the way. But after months of looking, they became discourage and decided to buy an old townhouse right in the middle of Brooklyn, which is a part of New York City. To their delight, they discovered that they weren’t the only young couple to have made such a decision. In fact, their entire area in Brooklyn had been settled by young families. And as a result, the neighborhood, which had been declining for years, was now being restored.Brooklyn isn’t the only city in the United States to experience this kind of renewal. So are Philadelphia and . And Charleston, South Carolina, has so successfully rebuilt its old central area that it now ranks as one of America’s most charming cities. The restoration of the old port city of Savannah, Georgia, is also living proof that downtown areas do not need to die. But encouraging as these developments may be, they are among the few bright spots in a mass of difficulties that today’s cities face. Indeed, their woes are so many that it is fair to ask whether or not the inner city the core of most urban areas will manage to surviveat all.In the 1940s, urban Americans began a mass move to the suburbs in search of fresh air, elbow room, and privacy. Suburbs began to sprawl out across the countryside. Since most of those making the move were middle-class, they took with them the tax money the cities needed to maintain the neighborhoods in which they had lived. The people left in the cities were often those who were too old or too poor to move. Thus, many cities began to fall into disrepair. Crime began to soar, and public transportation was neglected.( In the past sixty years San Francisco is the only city in the United States to have completed a new mass transit system.) Meanwhile, housing construction costs continued to rise higher and higher. Middle-class housing was allowed to decay, and little new housing was constructed.Eventually, many downtown areas existed for business only. During the day they would be filled with people working in offices, and at night they would be deserted. Given these circumstances, some business executives began asking, “Why bother with going downtown at all Why not move the offices to the suburbs so that we can live and work in the same area” Gradually, some of the larger companies began moving out of the cities, with the result that urban centers declined even further and the suburbs expanded still more. This movement of business to the suburbs is not confined to the United States. Businesses have also been moving to the suburbs in Stockholm, Sweden, in Bonn, Germany, and in Brussels, Belgium, as well.But it may well be that this movement to the suburbs has reached its peak. Some people may be tired of spending long hours commuting, and they may have begun to miss the advantages of culture and companionship provided by city life. Perhaps the decision made by the Taylors is a sign that people will return to the cities and begin to restore them. It begins to look as if suburban sprawl may not have been the answer to man’s need to create an ideal environment in which to live and work.Task 10【答案】A.1) 54, 20, 1980, £70,000.2) 30, 19803) a newspaper article, to research the market4) another few months, in April 1981, a 1,500 sq ft5) third, Canada, America, 20 percent, £1 million6) 20, 70, 3B.1) F 2) T 3) F 4)F 5)TC.1) He was deeply involved in the present job and rather enjoyed himself. He thoughtthe shop was his own little baby and thought it was fun to serve behind the counter.However, he also thought that there was a lot more hard work than he was used to; he was working over the weekend doing his books. He called his old job “boring trips to Manchester to sell vast quantities of PVC”.2) He thought that there are far more job satisfaction; and believed that he wasmaking money, rather than making money for other people.3) He was about to diversify into commercial distribution of imported anddomestically produced wine and wines he’s produced himself.【原文】William Rudd, 54, worked for ICI petrochemicals for 20 years until 1980 when he took early retirement with &70,000. He opened his own delicatessen and butcher's shop in Kensington and has just bought a second London shop.I knew about a year before I left that I was going to go, so I looked around for office jobs. I had one of those frustrating periods where I nearly got some jobsbut then I didn't. Actually it was a dinner party conversation which got me into the shop. A woman I knew said she was going to open a delicatessen and thought it sounded fun. So ! said, "Super, I'll come in with you." I'd always thought retailing would be amusing, after a lifetime of industrial selling.We found that the lease of the building stipulated we had to keep it as a butcher's and I added fish and cheese and things like that. I ended up spending far more than I'd ever intended.I didn't really do much research, except for fish, about which I knew nothing.I was clearly going to be the person standing behind the counter filleting, so I talked to one person who showed me a little, supplied me, and kept me under his wing for a little while. But it's quite easy to learn about fish; once you get used to gutting salmon you're on your way. Meat is more difficult; the skill is in the butchery, so I employ people for that. I had to learn about equipment by trial and error.I started in July — the worst time of the year for a shop like this — and the overdraft kept going up. That was rather frightening because there was no one between me and the bank manager. My reaction early on was that it was bound to come right. At the same time I was deeply involved and rather enjoying myself. It was my own little baby and it was fun to serve behind the counter —completely different from boring trips to Manchester to sell vast quantities of PVC. There was a lot more hard work than I was used to; I was working over the weekend doing my books.I remember my accountant saying to me when I was starting up, "What are you going to do for mental stimulation" In fact there's quite a lot of mental stimulation in the sheer terror of losingmoney: I couldn't have conceived of doing this 20 years ago. It was a great leap in the dark. I don'tknow if I'm brave or foolish, or a bit of both I suppose. But I do know that if I'dlistened to anyone I would never have done it.Les Shield, 30, a boiler technician, was made redundant from British Steel at Consett in 1980. 145'th Mike Heywood, a Consett transport manager made redundant at the same time, he started British Brewing Products, manufacturing beer kits and now diversifi2ing into wine production.I read a newspaper article about a company which had done quite well in home brew, and I started to research the market 18 months before the closure at Consett. By the time the steelworks were due to close I had a business plan ready. We bought some products which we had made for us and went out into the wilds of Yorkshire and Lancashire and sold them as a test. It took two months before we got any repeat business and that was a nail-biting period. It took another few months to fend premises and to get financial assistance from BSC industry and the bank. We went into production in April 1981 manufacturing home-brewing kits in a 1,500 sq ft factory.Let's face it, in this area, there wasn't a lot of choice. You could sit and vegetate and spend your redundancy money, you could move away and find new employment, or you could use your redundancy money to sink or swim.We're swimming. We're actually doing very well. I like being self-employed; there's far more job satisfaction. You know that at the end of the day you're getting the full value, personally, of the work you do. That's what you're in business for —to make money, rather than make money for other people. It was obviously a strain when I spent 5 days a week training, but after 18 months, we were able to afford our first salesman.I think my wife was happy for me to do what I've done. She accepted that there would be a certain amount of stress during the early days, but she probably realized that if I was successful the rewards would be there at the end of the day.We're now in our third factory since we started. We export our products to theRepublic of Ireland, Canada and America; exports account for 20 percent of production. Our turnover will exceed &1 million for the first time this year.We're about to diversify into commercial distribution of imported and domestically produced wine and wines we're producing ourselves. We employ 20 people at the moment but that will rise to 70 in the next 3 months.Task 11【原文】I could hear the guard blowing his whistle, so I ran onto the platform and upto the train. Luckily someone saw me coming, a door opened, and I jumped on while the train was mov ing out of the station. “Phew!” I thought. “That was hard work!” I was sure the other passengers could hear my heart beating; it was so loud, and I was in a cold sweat.After a while, I recovered, and had a look at the other passengers. The compartment was full, but I was the only one standing. The people in the carriage turned their eyes away as they noticed me looking at them; all except one, a beautiful woman sitting in the corner. I saw her watching me in the mirror.Automatically, I adjusted my tie. She had seen me running for the train: maybe this was my lucky day after all. I prepared to say hello.She spoke first, however. “Would you like my seat” she asked. “You look rather ill.” That was the day on which I realized I was getting middle-aged.。

《现代大学英语听力2》听力原文及题目答案Unit 2Unit 2Task 1【答案】1) b 2) a 3) d【原文】Texas was the biggest state before Alaska became the forty-ninth state in 1959. One good way to understand the size of Texas is to learn about its weather. Different parts of the state have very different kinds of weather.Laredo is one of the hottest cities in the United States in summer. The best time to visit Laredo is in winter, when it is pleasantly warm.Amarillo gets very cold in winter. Sometimes there is more snow in Amarillo than in New York, which is a northern city. Summers are better, but sometimes it gets quite hot. The best time to visit Amarillo is in the autumn when it is cool.If anyone asks you about the weather in Texas, ask him, “What part of Texas do you mean？”Task 2【答案】A.1)T 2) F 3) FB.1) d 2) c 3) cC.climate, reputation, extraordinary, unreliable, dry, wet, clear, dull, hot, cold, bad, mild【原文】Our friend, Nick, whose English gets better and better, declared solemnly the other day that he thought that the British climate was wonderful, but the British weather was terrible. He went on to explain by pointing out that the British climate was a temperate one. This meant, he said, "that you could always be certain that the weather would never be extreme — at any rate not for any length of time — never very hot and never very cold." He quite rightly pointed out that the rainfall in Britain, according to the statistics, was not very heavy. "Why then," he asked, "has the British climate such a bad reputation?" He answered by saying it was because of the extraordinary, unreliable weather. There was no part of the year at which you could be certain that the weather would be dry or wet, clear or dull, hot or cold. A bad day in July could be as cold as a mild day in January. Indeed you could feel cold at almost any time of the year. Nick blamed drafty British houses for this, but agreed you could also blame the small amount of sunshine and a great amount of dampness. He advised every student coming to Britain to bring an umbrella and to understand the meaning of that splendid word "drizzle".Task 3【答案】I.the country; Trees, grass, lakes and steamsII.A.1. concrete, iron, steel2. take in the heat during the day and throw off heat into the air at nightB. Warmer winters, car engines; electrical applianceⅢ.A. air pollution may stop sunlight from reaching the earthB.1. Ice near the North and South poles to melt2. to be slowly flooded and people living in these cities to move to higher land【原文】Cities change the climate around you. In the country, there are trees, grass, lakes, and streams. In hot weather, the trees and grass cool the area around them. Lakes and rivers also cool the area around them.But cities are not cooled in these natural ways. Cities are built of asphalt, concrete, iron, and steel. There are few trees and usually not much grass. Rain falls onto the streets and into the sewers.When the summer sun shines, streets and buildings take in the heat; after the sun sets, the streets and buildings throw off heat into the street. Once the sun sets, the countryside cools off, but a city may stay hot all night.Cities are hotter than the countryside in winter, too. Standing near a car with its motor running, winter or summer, you will feel the heat thrown off by the engine. The heat comes from the gasoline burned by the engine. This heat warms the air and the ground around the car. Thousands of running cars are almost like thousands of small fires burning.Carefully put your hand near a light bulb or television set. As you can see, electricity creates a lot of heat. This heat from electricity warms the house and the outside air.The heat given off by cities can affect the climate. Some experts even believe that cities can change the climate of the whole world. They think that air pollution may stop sunlight from reaching the earth. If less sunshine reaches the earth, the earth may become cooler.Still other experts think the world will get warmer. If the world did get warmer, great changes would occur. Ice near the North and South poles would melt. This would make the oceans rise. Cities near oceans — like Los Angeles, Boston, and Miami — would slowly be flooded. People living in these cities would have to move to higher land.Task 4【答案】A.1) b 2) cB. night, delight; morning, warning; gray, way, red, headC.1) F 2) T 3) F【原文】A red sky at either dusk or dawn is one of the spectacular and beautiful weather predictors we have in nature. By closely observing this phenomenon, you can achieve short-range accuracy of the weather as good as, or better than your local weatherman. In the Bible, Jesus in Matthew 16, 2-3 is quoted as saying, “When it is evening, it will be fair weather: for the sky is red. And in the morning it will be foul weather today: for the sky is red” when speaking to the Pharisees. An old English weather proverb based on this passage is:Red sky at night, sailors delight.Red sky at morning, sailors take warning.OrEvening red and morning gray,Sends the traveler on his way.Evening gray, morning red,Brings the rain down on his head.At dusk, a red sky indicates that dry weather is on the way. This is due to the sun shining through dust particles being pushed ahead of a high pressure system bringing in dry air. A red sky in the morning is due to the sun again shining through dust. In this case however, the dust is being pushed on by an approaching low reassure system bringing in moisture. Don't confuse a red sky in the morning with a red sun in the morning. If the sun itself is red and the sky is a normal color, the day will be fair.Task 5【答案】1) c 2) b 3) d 4) c 5) c【原文】Mark: I am an avid fly fisherman and frequently find myself on the river in a raft during lightning storms. We always have a debate at these times on where weare safest — pulling into shore or staying on the water. Since I have heard oneis safe in a car when lightning strikes I wonder if the raft floating on the wateris insulated, and therefore the safest place to be.Meteorologist A: We spoke with some scientists about your question, and they all agreed that under no circumstances should you remain on the water during a lightningstorm. If your raft is made of rubber, you might feel that you're .well insulated,but don't kid yourself. Typical lightning flashes travel 10 to 15 kilometers andcan deliver as much as 100,000 amps of current. In comparison, a toaster usesabout 10 amps of current. If lightning strikes the water near you, it will have notrouble traveling through a few extra centimeters of rubber.Meteorologist B: So, if you're on the water and a thunderstorm approaches, get to the shore and seek shelter on land. Try a building or car. If neither is available, look for a cave,cliff, wall, or a group of trees. Never take shelter under an isolated tree-it's also agood target for lightning.Task 6【答案】A.1) F 2) T 3) F 4) T 5) F 6) TB.Incredible, one minute, one kilometer, destroyed, lifted up, carried away, killed, injured【原文】Every spring and summer many inland areas are hit by tornados. A tornado is a kind of storm. It's a revolving, funnel-shaped column of air that moves through the sky at very high speeds. A tornado looks like a huge, black ice cream cone whirling through the sky. The speed of a tornado is very fast-it is believed to be between 200 and 700 kilometers per hour.Tornados form under very special weather conditions, and these special weather conditions occur most often in inland areas, such as the central United States. A tornado forms when a layer of warm, dry air is on top of a layer of cooler, moist air. This combination of dry, warm air above wet, cool air creates a condition that causes the lower layer of air to lift up. As the lower air rises, both layers of air begin to rotate, to turn around and around. The air begins to rotate faster and faster because of centrifugal force. The tornado has a center called an “eye” and the air rotates quickly around this eye.As the air begins to rotate faster and faster, the tornado cloud begins to grow downward; that is, it begins to form a funnel or cone, and this cone goes down toward the ground.The cone of air is dark because it develops from a dark rain cloud. As the cloud gets longer, as the cloud gets closer to the ground, it begins to pull up dirt from the ground. Then the funnel of rotating air becomes very dark because of the dirt in it. As the tornado funnel gets longer, it begins to drag along the ground.When the tornado touches the ground, it does incredible damage. It usually touches the ground for only about one minute, and it usually travels along the ground for only about one kilometer, but during that one minute, buildings are destroyed, trees are lifted up out of the ground, small objects are carried away, and sometimes people are injured or killed.Task 7【答案】A.1) b 2) a 3) bB.1) It has been nice weather during the day, but it is going to change at night.2) Fine weather in southern Europe and not so nice in northern EuropeFor todaySoutheast England---26 degrees Celsius by mid-afternoonSouthern Scotland---Maximum temperatures of around 21 degreesBrighton---15 hours of lovely sunshineMidlands---23 degrees Celsius by early afternoonNorthwest of Scotland---Light showers around middayFor the weekendSpain---34 degrees CelsiusGreece---32 degrees CelsiusFrance---Cloudy with rain, maximum temperatures of 22 degreesNorthern Ireland---Heavy rain, 17 degrees CelsiusMost of England---Cloudy but mainly dry with sunny periods, 23 degrees Celsius【原文】Radio Announcer: You’re listening to Radio Metro. It’s two minutes to nine, and time for the latest weather for cast from Dan Francis at the London Weather Centre.Francis: Hello. It's been another warm and fine day for most of us. Temperatures in southeast England reached 26 degrees Celsius by mid-afternoon, and Brighton had 15 hours of lovely sunshine. Further north it was a little cooler with maximum temperatures of around 21 degrees in southern Scotland, and in the far northwest of Scotland there were some light showers around midday. But the rest of the country, as I said, has been warm and dry with temperatures in theMidlands reaching 23 degrees Celsius by early afternoon though it was a little cooler along the west coast and in Northern Ireland. But already the weather is beginning to change, I'm afraid, and during the night showers will slowly move in from the Atlantic to reach south-west England and the southern coast of Wales by early morning.The rest of the country will have a very mild, dry night with minimum temperatures no lower than 15 degrees in the south, a little cooler — 11degrees or so — in the north. Any remaining showers in northwest Scotland will pass quickly to leave a mild, dry night there too.And now the outlook for Friday and the weekend. Well, southern Europe will, once again, get the best of the weekend weather, and if your holiday starts this weekend, then southern Spain is the place to go, with temperatures of 34 degrees along the Mediterranean coast. At the eastern end of the Med, too, you can expect uninterrupted sunshine and temperatures of up to 32 degrees Celsius in Greece and southeast Italy, but further north the weather's not so settled. Much of France, Belgium and the Netherlands will be cloudy with occasional rain, and maximum temperatures will be around 22 degrees — very disappointing for this time of the year.Scotland and Northern Ireland will have heavy rain for much of the weekend and temperatures will drop to a cool 17 degrees. Across most of England the weather will be cloudy but mainly dry with sunny periods. And when the sun does come out, temperatures could rise to a maximum of 23 degrees.Task 8【原文】As the air pressure around you either rises or falls, many changes in nature occur. Most of these are very obvious changes while others are of a more subtle nature.Mountains and other far away objects will appear to be much closer and more sharply focused as wet weather approaches and the air pressure drops. The dust particles in the air begin to settle to the ground and the air clears, allowing you to see more details of faraway objects. As a high pressure front approaches and the air becomes “thicker,” more dust particles become suspended in air and things take on their normal somewhat hazy appearance.“Sharp horns on the moon threaten bad weather.” This and a bright, clear moon are good indicators that wet weather is on the way. As the air clears of dust particles ahead of a low pressuresystem, the moon appears to come closer and be more sharply focused due to the lack of dust.Sound also becomes sharper and more focused prior to stormy weather. Instead of traveling upward and outward into the atmosphere sound waves are bent back to the earth and their range extended. Bird calls sound sharper, and, at my house, we can hear the blowing of the train horn as it rumbles through the valley below.If you find yourself out in a marsh or swamp and the air really seems to stink more than normal, expect rainy weather. This happens when the pressure drops and the methane trapped on the bottom of the swamp is released in greater quantities. In reverse, as fair weather approaches and the pressure rises, things won't smell quite so strong.Birds and bats have a tendency to fly much lower to the ground right before a rain due to the “thinning” of the air. They prefer to fly where the air is the most dense and they can get greater lift with their wings. With high pressure and dry air, the atmosphere becomes denser and they can easily fly at higher altitudes.Smoke rising straight into the air means fair weather and smoke hanging low means rain is on the way. This is pretty much the same as with the birds and methane in the swamp. When high pressure approaches, smoke will rise whereas with low pressure it can't rise and tends to lay low.Remember a grandparent talking about how their corns, bunions, or joints ached right before a rain? Again, this is due to the decreasing atmospheric pressure allowing the gas in our bodies to expand.Task 9【答案】A. Statements 3, 6, 7 are true.B.f—c—a—d—b—eC.1) F 2) T 3) F 4) FD.1) d 2) b【原文】It was 1974. Richard Nixon was still president. Kidnapped heiress Patty Hearst was still missing. In Xenia, a pretty spot of 25,000 people amid fields of soybeans and corn, American Graffiti was held over at the Cinema. The Xenia Hotel offered a chicken and dumpling dinner for $2.25, but everyone flocked to the A&W drive-in for burgers and root beer floats. That's where five of the bodies were found after the storm.In all, 33 people died in Xenia's tornado, the deadliest of 148 storms that raged through 13 states during the infamous "Super Outbreak'' of tornadoes April 3 to 4, 1974. In 16 hours and 10 minutes, 330 people were killed and nearly 5,550 were injured from Illinois to Georgia.Though the Xenia death toll has been matched by other killer storms, the degree of devastation makes the city's tornado among U.S. history's most destructive. The storm still is studied in colleges by aspiring meteorologists, a textbook case of a rare Category F-5, the most intense of tornadoes.On that fateful day, I was a young boy of 8 years old. We lived in the Arrowhead Subdivision. That afternoon I was around the corner playing with some neighbor kids. I thought I could hear my father calling me, so I ran back to the house. Thinking back now, there is no way I would havebeen able to hear him. I was too far away for a voice to have traveled in the afternoon noise. Besides, Dad had a very bad case of tonsillitis that day. Like I was saying, I went back home and got through the door just in time to answer the ringing phone. On the other end of the phone was my Mother. Mom was working. She told me she heard a bad storm was on the way. She told me to make sure the garage door was shut and to stay inside. After I hung up the phone, I settled down to watch The Dennis Show. To this day I can vividly remember the electricity going out. I looked out the large window in the living room and didn't have a clue as to what I was looking at.Dad was asleep on the couch, so I woke him up to look. Dad looked and said to get into the bathroom. We sat on the floor. Dad had his back to the door and his feet pushing against the wall opposite the door. I remember that as soon as we sat down, the windows broke. Glass blew under the door, and the sound was tremendous. I know it really didn’t take too long for the tornado to go past, but I do remember the conversation we had in the process. I could feel the cool air rushing under the floor through the crawlspace vents. I asked if we were flying. He said he wasn't sure, but he didn't think we were. He said the house was tearing apart. I asked him how he knew. He said he just knew it was.When things calmed down, we opened the door. The odd feeling I had, looking up the street from inside what once was my hallway, is still with me today.I think back often to that day. I think back and wonder what would have happened if my Dad hadn't been sick that day. Like a lot of kids, I stayed home by myself after school back then. I seriously doubt I would be able to tell you my story, if I had been alone that day. I still live in Xenia and wouldn’t trade this town for any other.Task 10【原文】Undoubtedly, Tibet is one of the harshest places for human existence. It is cool in summer but freezing cold in winter. In Lhasa, the mildest city temperature may exceed 29C in summer while plummeting to -16C in winter! Sun radiation is extremely strong in Tibet. The sunlight in Lhasa is so intense that the city is called Sunlight City. The thin air can neither block off nor retain heat so that the temperature extremes can be met in daytime and the same night respectively in Tibet. However it is not impossible to visit the holy snow land. April to October is the best time to visit Tibet, out of the coldest months, which are from December to February usually. The average temperature in north Tibet is subzero and winter arrives in October until the following May or June. July and August are the best time to visit the area, enjoying warm temperature, intense sunshine, beautiful scenery and festive events. May, June and September is the tourist season in east Tibet. In winter, roads are all blocked by heavy snow. Landslides and rock falls frequently occur, which will make travel difficult.。

【答案】1) c2) a3) b4) a【原文】Bali is a beautiful island of mountains, forests and rice fields. It is also an island of artists. Almost everybody there is an artist of some kind. The people work all day at home, in the fields or on their boats, but in the evening they make music, dance, paint or carve things out of wood and stone.For the Balinese, art is part of religion. It is a way of pleasing their gods--and Bali, they believe, is full of gods. There are thousands of temples in Bali, and there are festivals at these temples when people die or get married, or when a child is born. At these festivals the people try to keep their gods happy by giving them food, by dancing, by acting, and by playing music for them.In the past, the Balinese did not care about the outside world. For them Bali was the whole world. But in the 1930s tourists began to visit Bali, and since the 1950s tourism has become big business there. So the islanders have begun to sell their art to tourists. These days the Balinese pro-duce more and more things for tourists; they make fewer things for their temples. They have less time for their gods, so there are fewer festivals.Each year more tourists bring more money to the island; they also bring new ideas and a new way of life. The Balinese know that if fewer tourists come to the island, there will be less money. But they also know if there are too many tourists, the Balinese way of life will change drastically. The authorities are trying hard to organize and control tourism with caution. Bali has to change; nevertheless they want to make sure that it changes for the better, not for the worse.Task 3【答案】A.1) Because until 1980, it had been quiet for more than a hundred years.2) It was strange. No birds were singing, and the air was still.3) He was standing near the summit and reporting the eruption on radio.B.Washington; 35; 1980; 123; recreation; summit; tremors; small eruptions; no danger; 1980; dust; ash; rocks; mud; 40; peaceful; empty【原文】Most volcanoes are quiet. They rest peacefully for hundreds of years. No one pays much attention to them.Mount St. Helens was one of these volcanoes. Until 1980, it was a beautiful recreation area. Its last eruption had been 123 years ago. No one was worried about another one. Then, in March 1980, Mount St. Helens began to make noises. At first, there were tremors. Then, small eruptions occurred. Some residents left immediately. Others felt there was no danger.But on the morning of May 18, 1980, the mountain blew its top. With the power of twenty-five atomic bombs, Mount St. Helens exploded. Clouds of dust and ash rose more than twelve miles into the sky. Rocks and mud crashed down the slopes.Unfortunately, many people were still living, camping, or working in the area. Over forty people lost their lives. Others were rescued.Robert Baker was fishing with his family when the explosion occurred. He reported that the morning of May 18 was strange. No birds were singing. The air was still. Then, he saw a large black cloud coming down toward them. In minutes, day turned into night. He called his family to their van and they started on the slow dark ride away from the mountain. All the time, hot ash was raining on them.But other people were not so lucky. David Johnston, a volcano expert, was standing near the summit of the mountain. At 8:31 a. m. , he radioed, "This is it!" He was never heard from again.Mount St. Helens is peaceful now. But its slopes are empty. It will be many years before fish, plants, and trees will again live on the mountain.Task 4【答案】A.1) Mrs. Rakel Surlien is the Norwegian Minister of Environmental Protection, and she is about to begin a three-day visit to Britain.2) Britain.3) Britain insists the case against acid rain in general and its contribution in particular is far from proven. / Britain insists that neither the disastrous effects of acid rain nor Britain’s responsibility in the issue has been proven.4) Sweden.5) It refers to a group of some 20 nations which are committed to reducing sulfur dioxide by a third.6) Norway is against Britain in the dispute over acid rain in spite of its cordial approach.B.1) fish; aquatic life; forest2) power stations3)remain isolateed【原文】Norway has decided to resume a "softly-softly approach" to Britain in the long-standing dispute over the issue of acid rain, as Mrs. Rakel Surlien, the Norwegian Minister of Environmental Protection, begins a three-day visit to Britain.All the Nordic countries believe that Britain is responsible for as much as a third of the acid deposit failing in southern Scandinavia, killing fish and most other aquatic life in thousands of lakes and rivers and possibly putting large areas of forest at risk. Emissions from coal and oil burning power stations are blamed mostly, but Britain insists the case against acid rain in general and its contribution in particular is far from proven.The issue has become almost fashionable since the Swedes raised it in 1972. More than 20 nations have agreed to join the so-called "30 Percent Club", committed to reducing sulfur dioxide by a third, and Britain is increasingly isolated in Western Europe by its refusal to do so.Mrs. Surlien says there has been no change in the Norwegian position in spite of the cordial approach, and she also scented victory, as she said, "I don't see you can remain isolated in this way for long. It must be very difficult to live with."Task 5【答案】1) four out of five; survive; rosy; forest flower; for centuries2) 2,000; fight cancer; 40; wildlife; the rain forest3) drugs; a South American tree; blood pressure; the snakeroot plant from Indian forests4) foods; tropical forests; winged bean5) rubber; oils; one; examined; 99; threatened【原文】A representative of an ecological organization is talking about the advantages and benefits for humans of the rain forests.Four out of five of all children who got leukemia in 1960 died. Now four out of every five survive. The secret of this miraculous change is the rosy periwinkle,a forest flower which tribal doctors had used for centuries.The United States National Cancer Institute has identified more than 2,000 tropical rain forest plants with the ability to fight cancer. In fact, about 40 percent of all drugs given out in the United States today owe much of their strength to chemicals from wildlife, largely from the rain forest.Other drags include quinine, which comes from a South American tree, and drugs to relieve high blood pressure are derived from the snakeroot plant from Indian forests. The armadillo of South America is helping us find a cure for leprosy. The tropical forests also contain large amounts of new foods. For example, the winged bean of New Guinea is now grown in about 50 different countries. Japanese scientists have found a calorie-free substance in Paraguay which is 300 times sweeter than sugar, and a coffee free of caffeine has been found in the small forests of the Comoros islands.Every day we use products from the rain forests--robber, spices and oils, and of course wood. Less than one percent of the forest plants have been examined for their potential, but the remaining 99 percent is threatened by our endless search for wood. The South American Indians say the trees hold up the sky, and if they come down there will be a catastrophe.Task 6【答案】A.1) A solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the Earth and the sun, and the moon’s shadow covers part of the earth.2) A solar eclipse has occurred at Christmas only 30 times during the past 5,000 years, the last time in 1954.3) The (retina of the) eye can be permanently damaged.4) It works by projecting the sun’s image on a piece of paper through a pinholeon another piece.5) The next eclipse at Christmas will occur in 2307; it can be observed on the west coast of Africa.B.1) T2) F3) T【原文】On December 25, 2000, many people across North America received a rare Christmas treat when the moon passed in front of the sun resulting in a partial solar eclipse.Solar eclipses occur when the moon passes between the earth and the sun, and the moon’s shadow covers part of the earth, and a total solar eclipse takes place when the moon’s shadow blocks out the sun entirely. What made this particular solar eclipse unique was that this event has occurred on December twenty-fifth only 30 times during the past five thousand years, the last time in 1954.But people must be exceptionally careful when attempting to view the solar eclipse. Without taking precautionary measures, one can permanently damage the retina of the eye; however, there are several safe methods of witnessing this heavenly marvel.First, you can view a solar eclipse by using eclipse safety glasses for filtering out the sun’s harmful rays. They should be used when any part of the sun is visible.Sunglasses can block out some of the sun’s ultraviolet rays, but the results can be very deceptive. The eye’s natural reaction to this darken state when wearing sunglasses is to make the pupil larger, which allows in more light and can intensify the damage to the your eye.You c an watch an eclipse by projecting the sun’s image on a piece of paper eitherby using a telescope, or easier yet, by creating a pinhole in a piece of paper and viewing the result on another piece of paper, thus called a pinhole projector.Only during a total eclipse when the sun is completely and briefly covered can you watch the eclipse without eye protection. Even then, extreme caution should be taken.In case you didn’t catch this last spectacular solar eclipse on December twenty-fifth, 2000, there is no need to fret. Your posterity can record the next eclipse on Christmas in the year 2307, but only if they’re visiting the west coast of Africa for the holidays.Task 7【答案】A.1) pottery; metal2) large cities; food production3) the late 1950s; borrow; returnable; one-trip4) pots; pansB.1) Because the food must be shipped from place to place when it is produced, andbecause of the increased variety of foods available and the convenience of precooked meals, it is impossible for the customer to collect many foods in his own container.2) Until the late 1950s Americans had to borrow soft-drink bottles by paying a depositeach time they bought one.3) Yes, beaus sales of soft drink climbed.4) Glass companies gave soft-drink sellers a helping hand. A US company, Consumer'sGlass, made an arrangement with the bottler companies to reimburse them for much of the cost of one-trip bottles.5) Aluminium food packages now have their own electric plugs. After you eat the food,you can just throw them away.6) The writer is mildly criticizing the trend toward one-trip living and thinks itprobably has gone too far.【原文】The product that most people throw out after using only once is packaging. This is not always tree. The pottery or metal container used in Roman times and in most rural areas of the world today is a permanent and valuable household item. Unless a container is accidentally broken, it lasts a lifetime, despite the many journeys from home to market, farm or water well and back. The growth of large cities and modem methods of food production changes all that. Because the food must be shipped from place to place while it is produced, and because of the increased variety of foods available and the convenience of precooked meals, it is impossible for the customer to collect many foods in his own container.It costs a great deal to provide a new container each time we buy milk, wine, beer and other drinks. Yet for a number of reasons the trend towards one-trip bottles for all these items is in full swing. The case of the vanishing returnable soft-drink bottle shows how much these containers add to the rising tide of waste.Until the late 1950s, Americans had to borrow soft-drink bottles by paying a deposit each time they bought one. But several years later, soft-drink bottlers decided that it was more convenient for the customer to throw the bottle away instead.A returnable bottle lasting 30 or more trips was replaced with 30 one-trip cans or bottles. Sales of soft drinks climbed and the container manufacturers smiled all the way to the bank. Glass companies gave soft-drink sellers a helping hand. A US company, Consumer's Glass, made an arrangement with the bottler companies to reimburse them for much of the cost of one-trip bottles.Other manufacturers have joined in promoting the throw-away spirit. TheAluminium Company of America announced that packages would soon replace pots and pans. Food packages were being designed with their own electric plugs. After you eat the food, you just throw away the pan with the messy old grease. What about a camping holiday You can make a bonfire on the last day with the disposable equipment that can now be purchased. In hospitals, there may well be a case on health grounds for disposable syringes. But isn't the use of one-trip sleeping bags and tents taking disposability too farTask 8【答案】A.B.1) F2) F3) T【原文】Jane Goodall, a British field biologist, has devoted her life to wildlife conservation, in particular to the study of chimpanzees. She makes a special effort to reach out to young people. In 1991, Jane started an environmental and humanitarian programme for kids called Roots & Shoots. Today, there are more than 4,000 Roots & Shoots groups in 68 countries all over the world and a programme in every state in the US. The main purpose of the Roots & Shoots programme is to help kids develop a concern for animals, the environment, and their own communities. "Roots creep underground every-where and make a firm foundation. Shoots seem very weak, but to reach the light they can break through brick walls," Jane tells people as she speaks about the programme. Imagine the brick walls are all the problems humans have inflicted on the planet. Young people, like those roots and shoots, can break through those walls to change the world.A hundred years ago, Africa was home to about 2 million wild chimpanzees. Today the population of chimps has dropped to less than 150,000. Jane Goodall knows it will take a worldwide effort to save the species. She is working to sec that this effort is made.In November 2000, the Great Ape Conservation Act was signed into law in the United States. Jane worked hard to persuade members of the US Congress to support this bill. The act provides money for protecting the great apes of Africa and Asia that are in danger of extinction. Experts predict that if we do not protect them now, soon there will be no more great apes living in the Congo Basin, their last stronghold in Africa.Jane Goodall is hopeful about the future. She knows that each of us can do ourpart, no matter where we live, to protect wildlife and our environment. Her story shows us that one person really can make a difference.Task 9【答案】A.1) Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco.2) It’s San Francisco's world-famous landmark3) Because of the gap between the amount of cars and the amount of roadway available. Or: If you think of it as a supply/demand relationship, you’ll find that there’sa lot more demand than supply.4) Texas Transportation Institute.B.1) 852) 62; Los Angeles; 136; Seattle; Houston; New York; Miami; 693) Bigger cities; roadway; transit system4) expensive; $68 billion【原文】James Hattori, the Host:Hi, everybody. I'm James Hattori. Welcome to our program, this week from the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco's world-famous landmark, at the mouth of the Golden Gate straits.42 million vehicles a year cross this bridge. That gives you an idea of the often nightmarish traffic drivers face around here. And, of course, we're not alone. Natalie Pawelski, our environment correspondent, has the numbers on what it costs Americans to cope with rush hour traffic, in time and money.Natalie Pawelski, the Environment correspondent:If you think traffic is getting worse in your town, you're probably right.There's a combination of factors. It's the amount of people, the amount of roadway that is there. It's sort of a demand/supply relationship. You can think of it that way, and there's a lot more demand than there is supply.The annual Urban Mobility Report from the Texas Transportation Institute finds in the average American city people traveled 85 percent more miles by car in the year 2000 than they did in 1982. And rush hour drivers are now wasting an average of 62 hours a year stuck in traffic. Now that's not total travel time, that's just the extra time spent going slow or going nowhere because of traffic congestion.The study says the worst traffic is in Los Angeles where the average rush hour driver loses 136 hours a year, more than three work weeks, to traffic jams. The runners up in the time drained category San Francisco, ., Seattle, Houston, San Jose, Dallas, New York, Atlanta and Miami where the average rush hour driver loses an extra 69 hours a year stuck in traffic.Once you get to a big system, it's difficult to maintain the pace of the roadway and transit system development and you wind up falling behind. More congestion is typical in bigger cities.The report says traffic jams aren't just annoying, they are expensive. For the 75 cities studied, researchers added up all the extra time and fuel wasted because of traffic congestion. The price tag they figure is almost $68 billion a year.Task 10【答案】I.A. common; poor housing; unemployment; traffic problemsB. peculiar1. infrastructure2. urbanizationII.A. MigrationB. Depopulation; decrease; riseC. urban population growth rate1. adults2. large familiesD. social service; health; educationE. labor supply; low-productivityⅢ.A. (Promote a) more equal land distributionB. Improve rural social services; health; educationC. (Give) financial aid to agriculture; small landowners.【原文】Today I want to discuss problems of urbanization and in particular I want to talk about those problems which are peculiar to developing economies and to discuss three possible policies which could be used to control or to stem uncontrolled urbanization in developing countries. Certain urban problems of course are common to both developed and developing countries, for example, problems of poor housing, unemployment and those problems connected with traffic, for example, congestion, pollution and so on. However there are problems which are very peculiar to developing economies and this is due to the fact the developing countries need to create a basic infrastructure which is necessary for industrialization and consequently for economic growth. In fact it is the provision of this infrastructure which constitutes the urbanization process itself and this infrastructure or the provision of this infrastructure may have undesired effects on the economy as a whole. Now it’s these consequences on these effects which um I’d like to deal w ith next. I’m going to talk about five main consequences of this uncontrolled urbanization. In the first instance there’s the problem of the migration of people from the country to thecity. Of course people living in the country see the city as a more desirable place to live, whether they are living in developing or developed countries. But the problem is much more serious in a developing country because there are in fact often more people who wish to migrate to the city.Now the fact of people migrating to the city causes a certain depopulation of rural areas. This is a second consequence if you like, and the result of this is a decrease in the production of food and in the supply of food to the country as a whole. This can in turn also lead to a rise in pricesbecause of the law of supply and demand.As a result of people moving to the city you get a high urban population growth rate. Now this is due not only to the fact of more adults moving to the city but can also be due to traditions of these people from the country because often people from rural areas have a tradition of large families and so on and so the population of the cities increases with these numerous children ofthe large families.This leads to a fourth consequence which is a dramatic pressure on the supply of social services in urban areas, in particular services related to health and education. In relation a health services we can see that there are endemic diseases which could be made worse by overcrowding people coming from the country to the city, and in the stresses on services in education, with more children there’s need for more schools schools and more teachers and so on.A fifth area which is affected by uncontrolled urbanization is that of the labour supply, and often uncontrolled urbanization leads to an excess of labour supply in the cities. This can lead to, in turn, an informal kind of labour activities of, if you like, what might be called lowproductivity activities. For example people selling things in the streets or you often find for instance in large urban areas in developing countries children watching cars and so on and asking for tips fromtheir owners when they come back. This is really a sort of undesirable type of labour. So those are in fact the main consequences of uncontrolled ur banization. Now I’d like to talk more on the three possible policies which could be developed to stem this kind of uncontrolled urbanization in developing countries.The first one would be to promote a more equal land distribution. In this way farmers would be more motivated to stay on the land. They would be able to work more land, and thus be able to feed their families more adequately. Often the reasons why farmers wish to go to the city is that they cannot grow enough food to both feed their families and earn a living. So a more equal land distribution is one such policy to stem this kind of move to the city.A second policy would be to improve the supply of social services in the rural areas particularly in the field of health and education. Country people often move to the city because they feel that these services are better in the city areas and if they could compare the services and feel that there was perhaps not much difference between the two, it would be another reason for not moving.A third possible policy would be to give financial assistance to agriculture especially to the small landowners.Now obviously the problem of uncontrolled urbanization, and the consequences which are not favorable, is a difficult problem to which there is no easy solution, but these three types of policies could help to reduce the problem which is felt in particular in developing countries.Task 11Planet Earth is 4,600,000,000 years old. If we condense this time span we can compare it to a person 46 years old. Only at the age of 42 did the Earth begin to flower. Dinosaurs and the great reptiles did not appear until one year ago, when the planet was 45. Mammals arrived only eight months ago, and in the middle of last week human-like apes developed into ape-like humans, and last weekend the last iceage covered the Earth.Modem man has been around for 4 hours. During the last hour agriculture was discovered. The Industrial Revolution began a minute ago. Since then, we have multiplied our numbers to plague proportions, caused the extinction of 500 species of animals, turned the planet upside down in the search for fuels, and now we stand, arrogant with power, on the edge of a war to end all wars, and close to effectively destroying this oasis of life in the solar system.。

《现代大学英语听力2》听力原文及题目答案Unit 2Unit 2Task 1【答案】1) b 2) a 3) d【原文】Texas was the biggest state before Alaska became the forty-ninth state in 1959. One good way to understand the size of Texas is to learn about its weather. Different parts of the state have very different kinds of weather.Laredo is one of the hottest cities in the United States in summer. The best time to visit Laredo is in winter, when it is pleasantly warm.Amarillo gets very cold in winter. Sometimes there is more snow in Amarillo than in New York, which is a northern city. Summers are better, but sometimes it gets quite hot. The best time to visit Amarillo is in the autumn when it is cool.If anyone asks you about the weather in Texas, ask him, “What part of Texas do you mean？”Task 2【答案】A.1)T 2) F 3) FB.1) d 2) c 3) cC.climate, reputation, extraordinary, unreliable, dry, wet, clear, dull, hot, cold, bad, mild【原文】Our friend, Nick, whose English gets better and better, declared solemnly the other day that he thought that the British climate was wonderful, but the British weather was terrible. He went on to explain by pointing out that the British climate was a temperate one. This meant, he said, "that you could always be certain that the weather would never be extreme —at any rate not for any length of time —never very hot and never very cold." He quite rightly pointed out that the rainfall in Britain, according to the statistics, was not very heavy. "Why then," he asked, "has the British climate such a bad reputation?" He answered by saying it was because of the extraordinary, unreliable weather. There was no part of the year at which you could be certain that the weather would be dry or wet, clear or dull, hot or cold. A bad day in July could be as cold as a mild day in January. Indeed you could feel cold at almost any time of the year. Nick blamed drafty British houses for this, but agreed you could also blame the small amount of sunshine and a great amount of dampness. He advised every student coming to Britain to bring an umbrella and to understand the meaning of that splendid word "drizzle".Task 3【答案】I.the country; Trees, grass, lakes and steamsII.A.1. concrete, iron, steel2. take in the heat during the day and throw off heat into the air at nightB. Warmer winters, car engines; electrical applianceⅢ.A. air pollution may stop sunlight from reaching the earthB.1. Ice near the North and South poles to melt2. to be slowly flooded and people living in these cities to move to higher land 【原文】Cities change the climate around you. In the country, there are trees, grass, lakes, and streams. In hot weather, the trees and grass cool the area around them. Lakes and rivers also cool the area around them.But cities are not cooled in these natural ways. Cities are built of asphalt, concrete, iron, andsteel. There are few trees and usually not much grass. Rain falls onto the streets and into the sewers.When the summer sun shines, streets and buildings take in the heat; after the sun sets, the streets and buildings throw off heat into the street. Once the sun sets, the countryside cools off, but a city may stay hot all night.Cities are hotter than the countryside in winter, too. Standing near a car with its motor running, winter or summer, you will feel the heat thrown off by the engine. The heat comes from the gasoline burned by the engine. This heat warms the air and the ground around the car. Thousands of running cars are almost like thousands of small fires burning.Carefully put your hand near a light bulb or television set. As you can see, electricity creates a lot of heat. This heat from electricity warms the house and the outside air.The heat given off by cities can affect the climate. Some experts even believe that cities can change the climate of the whole world. They think that air pollution may stop sunlight from reaching the earth. If less sunshine reaches the earth, the earth may become cooler.Still other experts think the world will get warmer. If the world did get warmer, great changes would occur. Ice near the North and South poles would melt. This would make the oceans rise. Cities near oceans — like Los Angeles, Boston, and Miami —would slowly be flooded. People living in these cities would have to move to higher land.Task 4【答案】A.1) b 2) cB. night, delight; morning, warning; gray, way, red, headC.1) F 2) T 3) F【原文】A red sky at either dusk or dawn is one of the spectacular and beautiful weather predictors we have in nature. By closely observing this phenomenon, you can achieve short-range accuracy of the weather as good as, or better than your local weatherman. In the Bible, Jesus in Matthew 16, 2-3 is quoted as saying, “When it is evening, it will be fair weather: for the sky is red. And in the morning it will be foul weather today: for the sky is red” when speaking to the Pharisees. An old English weather proverb based on this passage is:Red sky at night, sailors delight.Red sky at morning, sailors take warning.OrEvening red and morning gray,Sends the traveler on his way.Evening gray, morning red,Brings the rain down on his head.At dusk, a red sky indicates that dry weather is on the way. This is due to the sun shining through dust particles being pushed ahead of a high pressure system bringing in dry air. A red sky in the morning is due to the sun again shining through dust. In this case however, the dust is being pushed on by an approaching low reassure system bringing in moisture. Don't confuse a red sky in the morning with a red sun in the morning. If the sun itself is red and the sky is a normal color, the day will be fair.Task 5【答案】1) c 2) b 3) d 4) c 5) c【原文】Mark: I am an avid fly fisherman and frequently find myself on the river in a raft during lightning storms. We always have a debate at thesetimes on where we are safest —pulling into shore or staying on thewater. Since I have heard one is safe in a car when lightning strikesI wonder if the raft floating on the water is insulated, and thereforethe safest place to be.Meteorologist A: We spoke with some scientists about your question, and they all agreed that under no circumstances should you remain on the waterduring a lightning storm. If your raft is made of rubber, you mightfeel that you're .well insulated, but don't kid yourself. Typicallightning flashes travel 10 to 15 kilometers and can deliver as muchas 100,000 amps of current. In comparison, a toaster uses about 10amps of current. If lightning strikes the water near you, it willhave no trouble traveling through a few extra centimeters of rubber. Meteorologist B: So, if you're on the water and a thunderstorm approaches, get to the shore and seek shelter on land. Try a building or car. If neitheris available, look for a cave, cliff, wall, or a group of trees. Nevertake shelter under an isolated tree-it's also a good target forlightning.Task 6【答案】A.1) F 2) T 3) F 4) T 5) F 6) TB.Incredible, one minute, one kilometer, destroyed, lifted up, carried away, killed, injured【原文】Every spring and summer many inland areas are hit by tornados. A tornado is a kind of storm. It's a revolving, funnel-shaped column of air that moves through the sky at very high speeds. A tornado looks like a huge, black ice cream cone whirling through the sky. The speed of a tornado is very fast-it is believed to be between 200 and 700 kilometers per hour.Tornados form under very special weather conditions, and these special weather conditions occur most often in inland areas, such as the central United States. A tornado forms when a layer of warm, dry air is on top of a layer of cooler, moist air. This combination of dry, warm air above wet, cool air creates a condition that causes the lower layer of air to lift up. As the lower air rises, both layers of air begin to rotate, to turn around and around. The air begins to rotate faster and faster because of centrifugal force. The tornado has a center called an “eye” and the air rotates quickly around this eye.As the air begins to rotate faster and faster, the tornado cloud begins to grow downward; that is, it begins to form a funnel or cone, and this cone goes down toward the ground.The cone of air is dark because it develops from a dark rain cloud. As the cloud gets longer, as the cloud gets closer to the ground, it begins to pull up dirt from the ground. Then the funnel ofrotating air becomes very dark because of the dirt in it. As the tornado funnel gets longer, it begins to drag along the ground.When the tornado touches the ground, it does incredible damage. It usually touches the ground for only about one minute, and it usually travels along the ground for only about one kilometer, but during that one minute, buildings are destroyed, trees are lifted up out of the ground, small objects are carried away, and sometimes people are injured or killed.Task 7【答案】A.1) b 2) a 3) bB.1) It has been nice weather during the day, but it is going to change at night.2) Fine weather in southern Europe and not so nice in northern EuropeFor todaySoutheast England---26 degrees Celsius by mid-afternoonSouthern Scotland---Maximum temperatures of around 21 degreesBrighton---15 hours of lovely sunshineMidlands---23 degrees Celsius by early afternoonNorthwest of Scotland---Light showers around middayFor the weekendSpain---34 degrees CelsiusGreece---32 degrees CelsiusFrance---Cloudy with rain, maximum temperatures of 22 degreesNorthern Ireland---Heavy rain, 17 degrees CelsiusMost of England---Cloudy but mainly dry with sunny periods, 23 degrees Celsius 【原文】Radio Announcer: You’re listening to Radio Metro. It’s two minutes to nine, and time for the latest weather for cast from Dan Francis at the London Weather Centre. Francis: Hello. It's been another warm and fine day for most of us. Temperatures in southeast England reached 26 degrees Celsius by mid-afternoon, and Brighton had 15 hours of lovely sunshine. Further north it was a little cooler with maximum temperatures of around 21 degrees in southern Scotland, and in the far northwest of Scotland there were some light showers around midday. But the rest of the country, as I said, has been warm and dry with temperatures in the Midlands reaching 23 degrees Celsius by early afternoon though it was a little cooler along the west coast and in Northern Ireland. But already the weather is beginning to change, I'm afraid, and during the night showers will slowly move in from the Atlantic to reach south-west England and the southern coast of Wales by early morning.The rest of the country will have a very mild, dry night with minimum temperatures no lower than 15 degrees in the south, a little cooler — 11degrees or so —in the north. Any remaining showers in northwest Scotland will pass quickly to leave a mild, dry night there too.And now the outlook for Friday and the weekend. Well, southern Europe will, once again, get the best of the weekend weather, and if your holiday starts this weekend, then southern Spain is the place to go, with temperatures of 34 degrees along the Mediterranean coast. At the eastern end of the Med, too, you can expect uninterrupted sunshine and temperatures of up to 32 degrees Celsius in Greece and southeast Italy, but further north the weather's not so settled. Much of France, Belgium and the Netherlands will be cloudy with occasional rain, and maximum temperatures will be around 22 degrees — very disappointing for this time of the year.Scotland and Northern Ireland will have heavy rain for much of the weekend and temperatures will drop to a cool 17 degrees. Across most of England the weather will be cloudy but mainly dry with sunny periods. And when the sun does come out, temperatures could rise to a maximum of 23 degrees.Task 8【答案】【原文】As the air pressure around you either rises or falls, many changes in nature occur. Most of these are very obvious changes while others are of a more subtle nature.Mountains and other far away objects will appear to be much closer and more sharply focused as wet weather approaches and the air pressure drops. The dust particles in the air begin to settle to the ground and the air clears, allowing you to see more details of faraway objects. As a high pressure front approaches and the air becomes “thicker,” more dust particles become suspended in air and things take on their normal somewhat hazy appearance.“Sharp horns on the moon threaten bad weather.” This and a bright, clear moon are good indicators that wet weather is on the way. As the air clears of dust particles ahead of a low pressure system, the moon appears to come closer and be more sharply focused due to the lack of dust.Sound also becomes sharper and more focused prior to stormy weather. Instead of traveling upward and outward into the atmosphere sound waves are bent back to the earth and their range extended. Bird calls sound sharper, and, at my house, we can hear the blowing of the train horn as it rumbles through the valley below.If you find yourself out in a marsh or swamp and the air really seems to stink more than normal, expect rainy weather. This happens when the pressure drops and the methane trapped on the bottom of the swamp is released in greater quantities. In reverse, as fair weather approaches and the pressure rises, things won't smell quite so strong.Birds and bats have a tendency to fly much lower to the ground right before a rain due to the “thinning” of the air. They prefer to fly where the air is the most dense and they can get greater lift with their wings. With high pressure and dry air, the atmosphere becomes denser and they can easily fly at higher altitudes.Smoke rising straight into the air means fair weather and smoke hanging low meansrain is on the way. This is pretty much the same as with the birds and methane in the swamp. When high pressure approaches, smoke will rise whereas with low pressure it can't rise and tends to lay low.Remember a grandparent talking about how their corns, bunions, or joints ached right before a rain? Again, this is due to the decreasing atmospheric pressure allowing the gas in our bodies to expand.Task 9【答案】A. Statements 3, 6, 7 are true.B.f—c—a—d—b—eC.1) F 2) T 3) F 4) FD.1) d 2) b【原文】It was 1974. Richard Nixon was still president. Kidnapped heiress Patty Hearst was still missing. In Xenia, a pretty spot of 25,000 people amid fields of soybeans and corn, American Graffiti was held over at the Cinema. The Xenia Hotel offered a chicken and dumpling dinner for $, but everyone flocked to the A&W drive-in for burgers and root beer floats. That's where five of the bodies were found after the storm.In all, 33 people died in Xenia's tornado, the deadliest of 148 storms that raged through 13 states during the infamous "Super Outbreak'' of tornadoes April 3 to 4, 1974. In 16 hours and 10 minutes, 330 people were killed and nearly 5,550 were injured from Illinois to Georgia.Though the Xenia death toll has been matched by other killer storms, the degree of devastation makes the city's tornado among U.S. history's most destructive. The storm still is studied in colleges by aspiring meteorologists, a textbook case of a rare Category F-5, the most intense of tornadoes.On that fateful day, I was a young boy of 8 years old. We lived in the Arrowhead Subdivision. That afternoon I was around the corner playing with some neighbor kids.I thought I could hear my father calling me, so I ran back to the house. Thinking back now, there is no way I would have been able to hear him. I was too far away for a voice to have traveled in the afternoon noise. Besides, Dad had a very bad case of tonsillitis that day. Like I was saying, I went back home and got through the door just in time to answer the ringing phone. On the other end of the phone was my Mother. Mom was working. She told me she heard a bad storm was on the way. She told me to make sure the garage door was shut and to stay inside. After I hung up the phone, I settled down to watch The Dennis Show. To this day I can vividly remember the electricity going out. I looked out the large window in the living room and didn't have a clue as to what I was looking at.Dad was asleep on the couch, so I woke him up to look. Dad looked and said to get into the bathroom. We sat on the floor. Dad had his back to the door and hisfeet pushing against the wall opposite the door. I remember that as soon as we sat down, the windows broke. Glass blew under the door, and the sound was tremendous.I know it really didn’t take too long for the tornado to go past, but I do remember the conversation we had in the process. I could feel the cool air rushing under the floor through the crawlspace vents. I asked if we were flying. He said he wasn't sure, but he didn't think we were. He said the house was tearing apart. I asked him how he knew. He said he just knew it was.When things calmed down, we opened the door. The odd feeling I had, looking up the street from inside what once was my hallway, is still with me today.I think back often to that day. I think back and wonder what would have happened if my Dad hadn't been sick that day. Like a lot of kids, I stayed home by myself after school back then. I seriously doubt I would be able to tell you my story, if I had been alone that day. I still live in Xenia and wouldn’t trade this town for any other.Task 10【原文】Undoubtedly, Tibet is one of the harshest places for human existence. It is cool in summer but freezing cold in winter. In Lhasa, the mildest city temperature may exceed 29C in summer while plummeting to -16C in winter! Sun radiation is extremely strong in Tibet. The sunlight in Lhasa is so intense that the city is called Sunlight City. The thin air can neither block off nor retain heat so that the temperature extremes can be met in daytime and the same night respectively in Tibet. However it is not impossible to visit the holy snow land. April to October is the best time to visit Tibet, out of the coldest months, which are from December to February usually. The average temperature in north Tibet is subzero and winter arrives in October until the following May or June. July and August are the best time to visit the area, enjoying warm temperature, intense sunshine, beautiful scenery and festive events. May, June and September is the tourist season in east Tibet. In winter, roads are all blocked by heavy snow. Landslides and rock falls frequently occur, which will make travel difficult.。

现代大学英语语音教程（第二版）引言《现代大学英语语音教程（第二版）》是一本为大学生设计的英语语音教材。

本教材综合了语音学的理论和实践，通过系统的课程和练习，旨在帮助学生提高英语语音技能和流利程度。

课程概述本教材包含10个主题单元，涵盖了英语发音的基础知识和技能。

每个单元都包括教学目标、教学内容、教学方法和练习题。

学生将通过理论学习、实践训练以及课堂互动来提升他们的语音技巧。

教学目标•通过本教材学习，学生将掌握英语语音的基本知识和技能。

•学生将能够正确地发音并准确表达英语单词和句子。

•学生将提高他们的语音认知和听力理解能力。

教学内容1.英语语音的基本概念和分类2.元音和辅音的发音规则和特点3.连读、重音和节奏的应用4.语音变化和语调的表达5.口语练习和模仿教学方法•讲授理论知识：教师将通过讲解和演示的方式介绍英语语音的基本概念和分类，以及发音规则和技巧。

•实践训练：学生将通过个人和小组练习来巩固所学的语音知识和技能，包括口语练习和模仿。

•课堂互动：教师将鼓励学生积极参与课堂讨论和活动，以提高他们的语音认知和听力理解能力。

练习题样例1.下列单词中，哪一个音标代表的是元音？a./p/b./i/c./t/d./n/2.请根据拼写给出的单词，选择正确的发音。

ughb.toughc.schoold.thought总结《现代大学英语语音教程（第二版）》是一本全面介绍英语语音的教材，通过理论讲授和实践训练，帮助学生掌握英语语音的基础知识和技能。

同时，通过课堂互动和练习题，提高学生的语音认知和听力理解能力。

这本教材将成为学生在大学英语学习中的重要辅助教材，为他们打下坚实的语音基础。

The street on the western side of the park, Central Park West, has large and unusual apartment buildings. When the first one was being built, people laughed. They said nobody with money would live in an apartment house, especially when it was so far from the center of town that it might as well be in the Dakotas. The builder had the last laugh; he named his building the Dakota, and when it opened, every apartment was occupied.The Dakota has had many famous residents, including actress Lauren Bacail and conductor/ composer Leonard Bernstein. But, above all, the building makes people think of John Lennon, who lived there and was killed right outside on December 8th, 1980.Task 2【答案】A.1) twelve miles; several hundred; eight hundred thousand2) over a thousand3) far; grander; biggerB.1) F2) T3) T【原文】Constantinople and the Medieval SocietyIn the ninth and tenth centuries Constantinople was one of the biggest, richest and most sophisticated cities in the world. The city was surrounded by about twelve miles of walls, and inside were several hundred churches and chapels and about eight hundred thousand inhabitants. The river and harbor were crowded with sailing ships from all over the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. Above it all was the dome of Sancta Sophia. At night, lit by over a thousand lamps hanging from its dome and arches, the whole building glowed.Paris and the Leisure SocietyThe crowds of fashionable people going around in coaches or walking in the Tuileries gardens were a new development in the European city. They formed what was called "society": a group of people who did things together, entertained each other and behaved in a certain way. Society became an extremely important element in cities: theatres, opera houses, pleasure gardens, racecourses, cof-fee houses, shops, entire neighbourhoods and finally entire towns grew up as a result of it.Manchester and the Industrial SocietyOut of the Industrial Revolution grew Manchester and other industrial cities. For a newcomer the first view of Manchester and its smoking chimneys must have been as amazing as the first view of Constantinople in the tenth century. In Manchester factory chimneys far outnumbered church towers, and warehouses were grander and bigger than the town hall.Task 3【答案】【原文】Well, I love Greece and I'd really love to go back to Greece. It's so nice, and so warm, and the people are lovely, and I love swimming.Nepal. I like the purity of soul of the people there. They're the nicest, most direct, most unneurotic people that I've ever met anywhere in the world.Gee, I don't know, I mean I like Turkey. I liked Austria, but I wasn't there long enough to really enjoy it. Switzerland, Switzerland, Switzerland was it. Yeah, I was hiking in Switzerland. Switzerland was grand.Cyprus. The food was wonderful. The people were wonderful. The sun was wonderful, and the sea was wonderful. Cyprus is a lovely placa.It has to be Brazil. I was lucky enough to go there a couple of years ago. The thing that impressed me most of all were the people and how friendly they were.Task 4【答案】A.1) The majority of Australians are of English, Irish, Italian, Greek, Dutch, and Polish descent. Over the past 50 years, a large number of Asian and African immigrants have poured in. Besides, about one percent of the population is Aborigine.2) Because much of the land in Australia, particularly in the Outback, is so arid that people are unable to live there.B.1) T2) TC.1) Make friends with; Explore; Marvel at; be awed by2) vast; amazing; peaceful; unique3) relax on our beautiful beaches; thousands of years ago; meet interesting people【原文】Is Australia the world's largest island or its smallest continent? Actually, it's both. In fact, Australia is the only country that is also a continent. Although roughly the size of the United States mainland, Australia has a population of about 16.5 million people. That makes this island nation one of the least densely populated countries.What ethnic groups make up the Australian population? The majority of Australians are of English, Irish, Italian, Greek, Dutch, and Polish descent. However, over the past 50 years, some 4 million people from more than 120 countries have made Australia their home. This includes a large number of Asian and African immigrants. About 1 percent of the population is Aborigine. The Aboriginal people were the first settlers in Australia. They came from Asia about 40,000 yearsago.In addition to being the smallest continent, Australia is also the driest inhabited continent, Lush green pastures may be typical in sheep farming areas (there are, by the way, more sheep than people in Australia). However, much of the land, particularly in the Outback, is so arid that people are unable to live there. That explains why most Australians live in metropolitan areas, many of which line the coast, and why Australia is considered one of the world's more urbanized countries.Make friends with a koala at one of our wildlife parks. Explore the lush, green bush land areas of the Blue Mountains. Marvel at the coral of our magnificent Great Barrier Reef. Or be awed by our ancient landscapes and strange land formations. Whatever your interests are, Australia has what you're looking for.Lining our coast are some of the world's most sophisticated cities like Melbourne, Brisbane, and Sydney. There you can enjoy all the best in food, fashion, the arts, theater, and sports. But you won't want to miss the wonders of the vast and amazing Outback or the peaceful beauty of the bush. Australia has a variety of unique trees, plants, and wildlife. Discover them at any of our magnificent wildlife reserves and parks.No matter where you go in Australia, you'll find something to delight you. So surf or ski, relax on our beautiful beaches, see Aboriginal rock art painted thousands of years ago, and meet interesting people. Don't wait. It's always a good time to visit Australia.Task 5【答案】B.1) Columbus thought he had arrived in the Indies (the name then used for Asia) when he arrived in the Bahamas.2) It was named after another Italian explorer, Amerigo Vespucci, who was a friend of Columbus's and who later explored the coastline of the New World.C. T【原文】For many years, people believed that the Italian explorer Christopher Columbus discovered America. But, in fact, others had reached America before him. Thousands of years ago, Asians crossed the Bering Strait to Alaska and then moved through North America and on to South America. Others have claimed that travelers from Europe and China also visited America. According to some people, sailors from China crossed the Pacific to Mexico in A.D. 459. Irish explorers also may have visited America in the ninth and tenth centuries. Irish people reachedIceland in the ninth century before the Norsemen, who came from Scandinavia. They may have sailed from Iceland to America after the Norsemen arrived.The Norsemen themselves may also have visited America. They were used to sailing long distances in their ships. Some Norse stories tell of a Norseman called Bjarni Herjolfsson who visited America in A.D. 986. Another Norseman named Leif Ericsson probably lived for a time in Newfoundland in Canada but then returned to Greenland. However, the first Western explorer we can be sure about was Christopher Columbus. He left Spain on August 3rd, 1492, and on October 12th, he arrived in the Bahamas. Columbus thought he had arrived in the Indies (the name then used for Asia). That is why he called the people Indians. He spent many weeks sailing around the Caribbean and then went back to Spain. He made several more voyages to the New World, though he never actually landed in North America.So, who was America named after? It was named after another Italian explorer, Amerigo Vespucci, who was a friend of Columbus's and who later explored the coastline of the New World.Task 6【答案】A.1) a few hundred metres off the coast of2) 64,000; 8,000B.1) Because the population of Skye is getting smaller. Its young people are being tempted by mainland life and the chance of better jobs and better pay.2) His plan is to build a bridge linking Skye with the mainland. He thinks this will bring new work to the island, and stop people from going away from their homes.3) Because they think that the bridge will bring in too many tourists and take away the island's independence and character.C. c【原文】The island of Skye is one of the most romantic places in the British Isles, but it is suffering a crisis and a local businessman has got an idea to save it. The island of Skye stands just a few hundred metres off the coast of Western Scotland and it is one of the most beautiful parts of the British Isles. In the summer it is bathed in sunshine, and in the winter it is covered in mists. There is mystery in its hills and valleys, and a strange, almost dream like beauty.Like so many other rural communities, however, Skye is in danger. The population is getting smaller. A hundred years ago there were 64,000 inhabitants on the island; now there are only 8,000. Skye's young people are being tempted by mainland life and the chance of better jobs and better pay."If you come back in twenty years," says Skye businessman Colin Stuart, "there'll be nobody here." That is why he is trying to get support for a new scheme — a bridge linking Skye with the mainland. He thinks this will bring new work to the island, and stop people from “going over the water" and away from their homes.But Colin Stuart's scheme has not been popular with many of the islanders. "They have not been persuaded yet," says Stuart. "They think that the bridge will bring in too many tourists and take away the island's independence and character. I tell them that unless we bring new business to Skye there will be nobody here to enjoy our independence." Colin Stuart has been to Norway andseen how islands there are joined by sea bridges; and that's what he wants to do in Skye. "If enough money can be raised by interested people, the decline of Skye can be stopped." Only time will tell if Colin Stuart's idea will be accepted.Task 7【答案】A.1) parks; museums and shops; in the centre of; further out2) 4503) in the 16th century; in 1835【原文】London is famous for its parks, as well as its museums and shops. These parks are both in the centre of the city and further out. It is the central parks which are the most famous.St. James's Park was first opened 450 years ago. It is very close to Buckingham Palace, and to the government offices in Whitehall. Unlike Green Park, which is also very close to the Palace, St. James's Park is very attractive, with a long, narrow lake, which is occupied by ducks and other water birds. Green Park, on the other hand, is very bare. There is a story it was once used by a leper colony, and since then no flowers and plants have grown.Hundreds of years ago, deer, bears and wild bulls were kept in Hyde Park, and for centuries the Kings and Queens of England went there to hunt. Now it's famous for the Serpentine — the lake, and for Speaker's Comer, where people can, and do, say anything about almost every subject under the sun. Now there are still deer in one of London's parks--Richmond Park in the southwest of London.Kensington Gardens is next to Hyde Park, and it is very popular with both the old and the young. On warmer days there are always people at the Round Pond, where they come to sail their model boats.The last of the large central parks is Regent's Park. This was used by Henry VIII in the 16th century as a hunting park, but it was first opened as Regent's Park in 1835. Today, the park is famous for its lake and its flowers, as well as for London Zoo, which is in the northeast comer. There is also an open-air theatre, where the public can see many of Shakespeare's plays in the summer months.Task 8【答案】A.1) They are in the desert in southern Peru near the Nazca city2) The lines were discovered in the early 1930s.3) Because the forms were so big, they were difficult to see from the ground, only visible from theair. They were not discovered until aircraft flew over this region.B.37 miles long; 1 mile wide; straight lines; parallel; strange symbols; on a giant scale; 200 B.C.; 600 A.D.【原文】In the southern desert of Peru, about 200 miles south of Lima, there lies a plain near the Nazca city. Across this plain, in an area measuring 37 miles long and 1 mile wide, is an assortment of perfectly straight lines, many running parallel, others intersecting, forming a grand geometric form. In and around the lines there are also strange symbols, and pictures of birds and beasts all etched on a giant scale that can only be appreciated from the sky. They are called the Nazca Lines, made some-time between 200 B.C. and 600 A.D.The forms are so difficult to see from the ground that they were not discovered until aircraft, being used to survey for water, spotted them in the early 1930s.The Nazca Lines are an enigma. No one knows who had built them or indeed why. Since their discovery, the Nazca Lines have inspired fantastic explanations from ancient gods, a landing strip for returning aliens, a celestial calendar, used for rituals probably related to astronomy, to a map of underground water supplies. These lines still remain a mystery to this day.Task 9【答案】A.1) It erupted on August 24th, 79 A.D.2) 2,0003) In Pompeii, there are lots of shops for clothes and shoes, and all kinds of food. The city is also full of workshops. People make many things like tables, chairs and pots. There are hotels, restaurants and bars for all the summer visitors. There are theaters too.B.1) F2) T3) F【原文】In the year 79 A.D. the volcano V esuvius erupted. A Roman writer, Pliny, was near Vesuvius at the time. Many years later he wrote a letter to a friend about it."... My mother and I were at my uncle's house in Misenum. On August 24th, after lunch, mymother said to my uncle, 'Look at that cloud! Look at the shape!' It came from one of the mountains. It was like a giant umbrella, white in some places, black in others. My uncle was very interested in the cloud. He wanted to take a boat and go close to the mountain. He invited me, but I said no. I wanted to study. Then a message came from one of his friends whose house was at the foot of Vesuvius. She wanted to leave, but she hadn't got a boat, so my uncle immediately went to her. But the sea near V esuvius was full of stones from the volcano. My uncle spent the night at Stabiae, south of Pompeii. The next morning, suddenly, he died by the sea. I was 17 at the time..."Most people left Pompeii on that day. But 2,000 didn't — and they all died. Between 3 and 5 meters of stone and ash fell on the city. It was dark for two days: Then the sun came back, but no one could see Pompeii.1,700 years later people found the ancient city of Pompeii. So now you can visit Pompeii and see a city from the past. It's not very different from our cities today. There were lots of shops for clothes and shoes, and all kinds of food. The city was also full of workshops. People made many things like tables, chairs and pots. There were hotels, restaurants and bars for all the summer visitors. There were theaters too. Life was good in ancient Pompeii — before August 24th 79!Task 10【答案】How did New York become America’s largest city; geography; history; economics1) northeast; heavily; seaports2) raw materials; finished goods3) 1815; the ports; the central regions of the country4) the best solution; 18255) were cut to about one-tenth of what they had been; the leading city of the coast6) the railroads; tied; even more closely7) Exports; imports; were eager to; as a result; receiving people from European countries; homes; goods; services; labor【原文】In the 18th century New York was smaller than Philadelphia and Boston. Today it is the largest city in America. How can the change in its size and importance be explained？To answer this question we must consider certain facts about geography, history, and economics. Together these three will explain the huge growth of America's most famous city.The map of the Northeast shows that four of the most heavily populated areas in this region are around seaports. At these points materials from across the sea enter the United States, and the product of the land are sent there for export across the sea.Economists know that places where transportation lines meet are good places for making raw materials into finished goods. That is why seaports often have cities nearby. But cities like New York needed more than their geographical location in order to become great industrial centers. Their development did not happen simply by chance.About 1815, when many Americans from the east coast had already moved toward the west, trade routes from the ports to the central regions of the country began to be a serious problem．The slow wagons of that time，drawn by horses or oxen, were too expensive for moving heavy freight very far. Americans had long admired Europe's canals. In New York State a canal seemed the best solution to the transportation problem. From the eastern end of Lake Erie all the way across the state to the Hudson River there is a long strip of low land. Here the Erie Canal wasconstructed. After several years of work it was completed in 1825.The canal produced an immediate effect. Freight costs were cut to about one-tenth of what they had been. New York City, which had been smaller than Philadelphia and Boston, quickly became the leading city of the coast. In the years that followed, transportation routes on the Great Lakes were joined to routes on the Mississippi River. Then New York City became the end point of a great inland shipping system that extended from the Atlantic Ocean far up the western branches of the Mississippi.The coming of the railroads made canal shipping less important，but it tied New York even more closely to the central regions of the country. It was easier for people in the central states to ship their goods to New York for export overseas.Exports from New York were greater than imports. Consequently, shipping companies were eager to fill their ships with passengers on the return trip from Europe. Passengers could come from Europe very cheaply as a result.Thus New York became the greatest port for receiving people from European countries. Many of these people remained in the city. Others stayed in New York for a few weeks, months, or years, and then moved to other parts of the United States. For these great number of new Americans New York had to provide homes, goods, and services. Their labor helped the city be come great.Task 11【原文】London is one of the biggest cities in the world. It has a population of over 8 million. Some people like it very much because there is a lot to do there and it is very interesting. There are hundreds of cinemas, theatres, museums and restaurants there. But other people don't like it because there is so much traffic and noise everywhere.Brighton is a medium-sized town with a population of around 300,000. It is on the coast, about 50 miles from London. Of course it isn't as interesting as London, but the air is a lot cleaner and better. There are a few factories, but not many. It isn't very easy to find a good job there. But there are a lot of hotels and language schools in the town, and in the summer the town is full of tourists.。

【答案】1) c2) a3) b4) a【原文】Bali is a beautiful island of mountains, forests and rice fields. It is also an island of artists. Almost everybody there is an artist of some kind. The people work all day at home, in the fields or on their boats, but in the evening they make music, dance, paint or carve things out of wood and stone.For the Balinese, art is part of religion. It is a way of pleasing their gods--and Bali, they believe, is full of gods. There are thousands of temples in Bali, and there are festivals at these temples when people die or get married, or when a child is born. At these festivals the people try to keep their gods happy by giving them food, by dancing, by acting, and by playing music for them.In the past, the Balinese did not care about the outside world. For them Bali was the whole world. But in the 1930s tourists began to visit Bali, and since the 1950s tourism has become big business there. So the islanders have begun to sell their art to tourists. These days the Balinese pro-duce more and more things for tourists; they make fewer things for their temples. They have less time for their gods, so there are fewer festivals.Each year more tourists bring more money to the island; they also bring newideas and a new way of life. The Balinese know that if fewer tourists come to the island, there will be less money. But they also know if there are too many tourists, the Balinese way of life will change drastically. The authorities are trying hard to organize and control tourism with caution. Bali has to change; nevertheless they want to make sure that it changes for the better, not for the worse.Task 3【答案】A.1) Because until 1980, it had been quiet for more than a hundred years.2) It was strange. No birds were singing, and the air was still.3) He was standing near the summit and reporting the eruption on radio.B.Washington; 35; 1980; 123; recreation; summit; tremors; small eruptions; no danger; 1980; dust; ash; rocks; mud; 40; peaceful; empty【原文】Most volcanoes are quiet. They rest peacefully for hundreds of years. No one pays much attention to them.Mount St. Helens was one of these volcanoes. Until 1980, it was a beautiful recreation area. Its last eruption had been 123 years ago. No one was worried about another one. Then, in March 1980, Mount St. Helens began to make noises. At first, there were tremors. Then, small eruptions occurred. Some residents left immediately. Others felt there was no danger.But on the morning of May 18, 1980, the mountain blew its top. With the power of twenty-five atomic bombs, Mount St. Helens exploded. Clouds of dust and ash rose more than twelve miles into the sky. Rocks and mud crashed down the slopes.Unfortunately, many people were still living, camping, or working in the area. Over forty people lost their lives. Others were rescued.Robert Baker was fishing with his family when the explosion occurred. He reported that the morning of May 18 was strange. No birds were singing. The air was still. Then, he saw a large black cloud coming down toward them. In minutes, day turned into night. He called his family to their van and they started on the slow dark ride away from the mountain. All the time, hot ash was raining on them.But other people were not so lucky. David Johnston, a volcano expert, was standing near the summit of the mountain. At 8:31 a. m. , he radioed, "This is it!" He was never heard from again.Mount St. Helens is peaceful now. But its slopes are empty. It will be many years before fish, plants, and trees will again live on the mountain.Task 4【答案】A.1) Mrs. Rakel Surlien is the Norwegian Minister of Environmental Protection, and she is about to begin a three-day visit to Britain.2) Britain.3) Britain insists the case against acid rain in general and its contribution inparticular is far from proven. / Britain insists that neither the disastrous effects of acid rain nor Britain’s responsibility in the issue has been proven.4) Sweden.5) It refers to a group of some 20 nations which are committed to reducing sulfur dioxide by a third.6) Norway is against Britain in the dispute over acid rain in spite of its cordial approach.B.1) fish; aquatic life; forest2) power stations3)remain isolateed【原文】Norway has decided to resume a "softly-softly approach" to Britain in the long-standing dispute over the issue of acid rain, as Mrs. Rakel Surlien, the Norwegian Minister of Environmental Protection, begins a three-day visit to Britain.All the Nordic countries believe that Britain is responsible for as much as a third of the acid deposit failing in southern Scandinavia, killing fish and most other aquatic life in thousands of lakes and rivers and possibly putting large areas of forest at risk. Emissions from coal and oil burning power stations are blamed mostly, but Britain insists the case against acid rain in general and its contribution in particular is far from proven.The issue has become almost fashionable since the Swedes raised it in 1972.More than 20 nations have agreed to join the so-called "30 Percent Club", committed to reducing sulfur dioxide by a third, and Britain is increasingly isolated in Western Europe by its refusal to do so.Mrs. Surlien says there has been no change in the Norwegian position in spite of the cordial approach, and she also scented victory, as she said, "I don't see you can remain isolated in this way for long. It must be very difficult to live with."Task 5【答案】1) four out of five; survive; rosy; forest flower; for centuries2) 2,000; fight cancer; 40; wildlife; the rain forest3) drugs; a South American tree; blood pressure; the snakeroot plant from Indian forests4) foods; tropical forests; winged bean5) rubber; oils; one; examined; 99; threatened【原文】A representative of an ecological organization is talking about the advantages and benefits for humans of the rain forests.Four out of five of all children who got leukemia in 1960 died. Now four out of every five survive. The secret of this miraculous change is the rosy periwinkle, a forest flower which tribal doctors had used for centuries.The United States National Cancer Institute has identified more than 2,000tropical rain forest plants with the ability to fight cancer. In fact, about 40 percent of all drugs given out in the United States today owe much of their strength to chemicals from wildlife, largely from the rain forest.Other drags include quinine, which comes from a South American tree, and drugs to relieve high blood pressure are derived from the snakeroot plant from Indian forests. The armadillo of South America is helping us find a cure for leprosy.The tropical forests also contain large amounts of new foods. For example, the winged bean of New Guinea is now grown in about 50 different countries. Japanese scientists have found a calorie-free substance in Paraguay which is 300 times sweeter than sugar, and a coffee free of caffeine has been found in the small forests of the Comoros islands.Every day we use products from the rain forests--robber, spices and oils, and of course wood. Less than one percent of the forest plants have been examined for their potential, but the remaining 99 percent is threatened by our endless search for wood. The South American Indians say the trees hold up the sky, and if they come down there will be a catastrophe.Task 6【答案】A.1) A solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the Earth and the sun, and the moon’s shadow covers part of the earth.2) A solar eclipse has occurred at Christmas only 30 times during the past 5,000years, the last time in 1954.3) The (retina of the) eye can be permanently damaged.4) It works by projecting the sun’s image on a piece of paper through a pinhole on another piece.5) The next eclipse at Christmas will occur in 2307; it can be observed on the west coast of Africa.B.1) T2) F3) T【原文】On December 25, 2000, many people across North America received a rare Christmas treat when the moon passed in front of the sun resulting in a partial solar eclipse.Solar eclipses occur when the moon passes between the earth and the sun, and the moon’s shadow covers part of the earth, and a total solar eclipse takes place when the moon’s shadow blocks out the sun entirely. What made this particular solar eclipse unique was that this event has occurred on December twenty-fifth only 30 times during the past five thousand years, the last time in 1954.But people must be exceptionally careful when attempting to view the solar eclipse. Without taking precautionary measures, one can permanently damage the retina of the eye; however, there are several safe methods of witnessing thisheavenly marvel.First, you can view a solar eclipse by using eclipse safety glasses for filtering out the sun’s harmful rays. They should be used when any part of the sun is visible.Sunglasses can block out some of the sun’s ultraviolet rays, but the results can be very deceptive. The eye’s natural reaction to this darken state when wearing sunglasses is to make the pupil larger, which allows in more light and can intensify the damage to the your eye.You can watch an eclipse by projecting the sun’s image on a piece of paper either by using a telescope, or easier yet, by creating a pinhole in a piece of paper and viewing the result on another piece of paper, thus called a pinhole projector.Only during a total eclipse when the sun is completely and briefly covered can you watch the eclipse without eye protection. Even then, extreme caution should be taken.In case you didn’t catch this last spectacular solar eclipse on December twenty-fifth, 2000, there is no need to fret. Your posterity can record the next eclipse on Christmas in the year 2307, but only if they’re visiting the west coast of Africa for the holidays.Task 7【答案】A.1) pottery; metal2) large cities; food production3) the late 1950s; borrow; returnable; one-trip4) pots; pansB.1) Because the food must be shipped from place to place when it is produced, andbecause of the increased variety of foods available and the convenience of precooked meals, it is impossible for the customer to collect many foods in his own container.2) Until the late 1950s Americans had to borrow soft-drink bottles by paying adeposit each time they bought one.3) Yes, beaus sales of soft drink climbed.4) Glass companies gave soft-drink sellers a helping hand. A US company,Consumer's Glass, made an arrangement with the bottler companies to reimburse them for much of the cost of one-trip bottles.5) Aluminium food packages now have their own electric plugs. After you eat thefood, you can just throw them away.6) The writer is mildly criticizing the trend toward one-trip living and thinks itprobably has gone too far.【原文】The product that most people throw out after using only once is packaging. This is not always tree. The pottery or metal container used in Roman times and in most rural areas of the world today is a permanent and valuable household item. Unless a container is accidentally broken, it lasts a lifetime, despite the manyjourneys from home to market, farm or water well and back. The growth of large cities and modem methods of food production changes all that. Because the food must be shipped from place to place while it is produced, and because of the increased variety of foods available and the convenience of precooked meals, it is impossible for the customer to collect many foods in his own container.It costs a great deal to provide a new container each time we buy milk, wine, beer and other drinks. Yet for a number of reasons the trend towards one-trip bottles for all these items is in full swing. The case of the vanishing returnable soft-drink bottle shows how much these containers add to the rising tide of waste.Until the late 1950s, Americans had to borrow soft-drink bottles by paying a deposit each time they bought one. But several years later, soft-drink bottlers decided that it was more convenient for the customer to throw the bottle away instead. A returnable bottle lasting 30 or more trips was replaced with 30 one-trip cans or bottles. Sales of soft drinks climbed and the container manufacturers smiled all the way to the bank. Glass companies gave soft-drink sellers a helping hand. A US company, Consumer's Glass, made an arrangement with the bottler companies to reimburse them for much of the cost of one-trip bottles.Other manufacturers have joined in promoting the throw-away spirit. The Aluminium Company of America announced that packages would soon replace pots and pans. Food packages were being designed with their own electric plugs. After you eat the food, you just throw away the pan with the messy old grease. What about a camping holiday? You can make a bonfire on the last day with thedisposable equipment that can now be purchased. In hospitals, there may well be a case on health grounds for disposable syringes. But isn't the use of one-trip sleeping bags and tents taking disposability too far?Task 8【答案】A.B.1) F2) F3) T【原文】Jane Goodall, a British field biologist, has devoted her life to wildlife conservation, in particular to the study of chimpanzees. She makes a special effort to reach out to young people. In 1991, Jane started an environmental and humanitarian programme for kids called Roots & Shoots. Today, there are more than 4,000 Roots & Shoots groups in 68 countries all over the world and a programme in every state in the US. The main purpose of the Roots & Shoots programme is to help kids develop a concern for animals, the environment, and their own communities. "Roots creep underground every-where and make a firm foundation. Shoots seem very weak, but to reach the light they can break through brick walls," Jane tells people as she speaks about the programme. Imagine the brick walls are all the problems humans have inflicted on the planet. Young people, like those roots and shoots, can break through those walls to change the world.A hundred years ago, Africa was home to about 2 million wild chimpanzees. Today the population of chimps has dropped to less than 150,000. Jane Goodall knows it will take a worldwide effort to save the species. She is working to sec that this effort is made.In November 2000, the Great Ape Conservation Act was signed into law in the United States. Jane worked hard to persuade members of the US Congress to support this bill. The act provides money for protecting the great apes of Africa and Asia that are in danger of extinction. Experts predict that if we do not protect them now, soon there will be no more great apes living in the Congo Basin, their last stronghold in Africa.Jane Goodall is hopeful about the future. She knows that each of us can do our part, no matter where we live, to protect wildlife and our environment. Her story shows us that one person really can make a difference.Task 9【答案】A.1) Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco.2) It’s San Francisco's world-famous landmark3) Because of the gap between the amount of cars and the amount of roadway available. Or: If you think of it as a supply/demand relationship, you’ll find that there’s a lot more demand than supply.4) Texas Transportation Institute.B.1) 852) 62; Los Angeles; 136; Seattle; Houston; New York; Miami; 693) Bigger cities; roadway; transit system4) expensive; $68 billion【原文】James Hattori, the Host:Hi, everybody. I'm James Hattori. Welcome to our program, this week from the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco's world-famous landmark, at the mouth of the Golden Gate straits.42 million vehicles a year cross this bridge. That gives you an idea of the often nightmarish traffic drivers face around here. And, of course, we're not alone. Natalie Pawelski, our environment correspondent, has the numbers on what it costs Americans to cope with rush hour traffic, in time and money.Natalie Pawelski, the Environment correspondent:If you think traffic is getting worse in your town, you're probably right.There's a combination of factors. It's the amount of people, the amount of roadway that is there. It's sort of a demand/supply relationship. You can think of it that way, and there's a lot more demand than there is supply.The annual Urban Mobility Report from the Texas Transportation Institute finds in the average American city people traveled 85 percent more miles by car in the year 2000 than they did in 1982. And rush hour drivers are now wasting an average of 62 hours a year stuck in traffic. Now that's not total travel time, that's just the extra time spent going slow or going nowhere because of traffic congestion.The study says the worst traffic is in Los Angeles where the average rush hour driver loses 136 hours a year, more than three work weeks, to traffic jams. Therunners up in the time drained category San Francisco, D.C., Seattle, Houston, San Jose, Dallas, New York, Atlanta and Miami where the average rush hour driver loses an extra 69 hours a year stuck in traffic.Once you get to a big system, it's difficult to maintain the pace of the roadway and transit system development and you wind up falling behind. More congestion is typical in bigger cities.The report says traffic jams aren't just annoying, they are expensive. For the 75 cities studied, researchers added up all the extra time and fuel wasted because of traffic congestion. The price tag they figure is almost $68 billion a year.Task 10【答案】I.A. common; poor housing; unemployment; traffic problemsB. peculiar1. infrastructure2. urbanizationII.A. MigrationB. Depopulation; decrease; riseC. urban population growth rate1. adults2. large familiesD. social service; health; educationE. labor supply; low-productivityⅢ.A. (Promote a) more equal land distributionB. Improve rural social services; health; educationC. (Give) financial aid to agriculture; small landowners.【原文】Today I want to discuss problems of urbanization and in particular I want to talk about those problems which are peculiar to developing economies and to discuss three possible policies which could be used to control or to stem uncontrolled urbanization in developing countries. Certain urban problems of course are common to both developed and developing countries, for example, problems of poor housing, unemployment and those problems connected with traffic, for example, congestion, pollution and so on. However there are problems which are very peculiar to developing economies and this is due to the fact the developing countries need to create a basic infrastructure which is necessary for industrialization and consequently for economic growth. In fact it is the provision of this infrastructure which constitutes the urbanization process itself and this infrastructure or the provision of this infrastructure may have undesired effects on the economy as a whole. Now it’s these consequences on these effects which um I’d like to deal with next. I’m going to talk about five main consequences of this uncontrolled urbanization. In the first instance there’s the problem of themigration of people from the country to the city. Of course people living in the country see the city as a more desirable place to live, whether they are living in developing or developed countries. But the problem is much more serious in a developing country because there are in fact often more people who wish to migrate to the city.Now the fact of people migrating to the city causes a certain depopulation of rural areas. This is a second consequence if you like, and the result of this is a decrease in the production of food and in the supply of food to the country as a whole. This can in turn also lead to a rise in pricesbecause of the law of supply and demand.As a result of people moving to the city you get a high urban population growth rate. Now this is due not only to the fact of more adults moving to the city but can also be due to traditions of these people from the country because often people from rural areas have a tradition of large families and so on and so the population of the cities increases with these numerous children ofthe large families.This leads to a fourth consequence which is a dramatic pressure on the supply of social services in urban areas, in particular services related to health and education. In relation a health services we can see that there are endemic diseases which could be made worse by overcrowding people coming from the country to the city, and in the stresses on services in education, with more children there’s need for more schools schools and more teachers and so on.A fifth area which is affected by uncontrolled urbanization is that of the labour supply, and often uncontrolled urbanization leads to an excess of labour supply in the cities. This can lead to, in turn, an informal kind of labour activities of, if you like, what might be called lowproductivity activities. For example people selling things in the streets or you often find for instance in large urban areas in developing countries children watching cars and so on and asking for tips from their owners when they come back. This is really a sort of undesirable type of labour. So those are in fact the main consequences of uncontrolled urbanization. Now I’d like to talk more on the three possible policies which could be developed to stem this kind of uncontrolled urbanization in developing countries.The first one would be to promote a more equal land distribution. In this way farmers would be more motivated to stay on the land. They would be able to work more land, and thus be able to feed their families more adequately. Often the reasons why farmers wish to go to the city is that they cannot grow enough food to both feed their families and earn a living. So a more equal land distribution is one such policy to stem this kind of move to the city.A second policy would be to improve the supply of social services in the rural areas particularly in the field of health and education. Country people often move to the city because they feel that these services are better in the city areas and if they could compare the services and feel that there was perhaps not much difference between the two, it would be another reason for not moving.A third possible policy would be to give financial assistance to agricultureespecially to the small landowners.Now obviously the problem of uncontrolled urbanization, and the consequences which are not favorable, is a difficult problem to which there is no easy solution, but these three types of policies could help to reduce the problem which is felt in particular in developing countries.Task 11Planet Earth is 4,600,000,000 years old. If we condense this time span we can compare it to a person 46 years old. Only at the age of 42 did the Earth begin to flower. Dinosaurs and the great reptiles did not appear until one year ago, when the planet was 45. Mammals arrived only eight months ago, and in the middle of last week human-like apes developed into ape-like humans, and last weekend the last ice age covered the Earth.Modem man has been around for 4 hours. During the last hour agriculture was discovered. The Industrial Revolution began a minute ago. Since then, we have multiplied our numbers to plague proportions, caused the extinction of 500 species of animals, turned the planet upside down in the search for fuels, and now we stand, arrogant with power, on the edge of a war to end all wars, and close to effectively destroying this oasis of life in the solar system.。

Unit 11. Sportsmanship and ChampionshipPart ⅠGetting readyA The following words and phrases will appear in this unit. Listen carefully and study the definitions.1. sports fan: a very keen follower or supporter of a sport2. championship: a competition held to find the champion3. dynamic: of force or power that causes movement4. referee: a judge in charge of some games5. foul: an act that is against the rules6. penalty area: (in football) a space in the shape of a rectangle which is in front of the goal7. commentary: spoken description (with opinions and explanations) that is broadcast with, and at the same time as, an event, occasion, football match, etc.8. final: the last and most important in a set of matches9. stamina: the strength of body or mind to fight tiredness, discouragement, or illness10. deuce: (in tennis) 40 : 40; 40 points to each player. After deuce has been reached, one of the players must then get two points in a row to win the game.B You are going to hear a news item about a basketball tournament. Write the scores in the circles. Which team wins each game? Which is the champion team? Write the teams’ names in the squares.Hello, sports fans, and welcome to "This Week's Sports". The big news this week, of course, is the basketball championship. It started on Friday. The Lions beat the Hawks, ninety-four to sixty-eight. That score again: The Lions won. Lions ninety-four, Hawks sixty-eight.Things were closer with the Tigers and the Eagles. The Eagles won. They won by just four points. The score: one hundred and three to ninety-nine. Again, the Eagles one-oh-three, the Tigers ninety-nine.Next, the Panthers played the Bears. The Panthers won over the Bears, eighty-seven to seventy-three. The Panthers eighty-seven, the Bears seventy-three.And in the last game, the Rockets beat the Comets. The Rockets won, seventy-two to sixty-five. Rockets seventy-two, Comets sixty-five.Then on Saturday, we saw some real action. It was the Lions against the Eagles. And the Lions won, with ninety-two points. The Eagles had eighty points. The score: Lions ninety-two, Eagles eighty.And in the other big game on Saturday, the Rockets beat the Panthers one hundred and seven to eighty-six. The Rockets won. Rockets one-oh-seven, Panthers eighty-six.That brings us to the championship game on Sunday. It was the Lions against the Rockets. It was a good game. And in the end, the Rockets won; they had one hundred and nine points. The Lions had ninety-eight. So the new champions are the Rockets. Rockets one-oh-nine, Lions ninety-eight.That's it for basketball action. Turning now to the excitement of professional bowling ...Part ⅡYoga exercisesA. You are going to hear a conversation between two students Paul and Lisa about some yoga exercises. Listen carefully. Match the names of the yoga postures with proper pictures.Paul: Hey, Lisa! Lisa.Lisa: Phew! Take it easy!Paul: Oh, it's, well, I just realized, after the yoga session, that the only notes I'd taken were the names of the yoga postures, and now I don't remember which was which ...Lisa: You are a dream, aren't you. You'll forget your head one day.Paul: You couldn't just run through the list with me and tell me what ... Lisa: ... OK, OK. But I haven't got long.Paul: Thanks a lot. I write down number one as the "Candle".Lisa: The "Candle"? Oh, that's the shoulder-stand ... where you start by lying on your back and then lift your legs up till all your weight's resting on your shoulders, and your legs are straight up in the air.Paul: Shoulder-stand.Lisa: Yes, and you do it for a minute. The second one was the "Plough", which you start by lying on your back and then ...Paul: Hold on a minute ... this is the "Plough" you're talking about?Lisa: Number two on your list, and mine. Start on your back and then stretch your legs over till your toes touch the floor behind you. And that takes two minutes including the dynamic stage.Paul: Two ... minutes ... including ... the ... dynamic ... stage. Right. And the "Fish"?Lisa: The "Fish" is the one where you start by lying on your back and then you arch your back and take the weight on the crown of your head.Paul: How long for?Lisa: She said one minute.Paul: And what are the "Plough" and the "Fish" good for?Lisa: Lots of things. Everything. Well, she said the "Plough" was especially good for the circulation of blood to the brain, so that would do you a lot of good. Might even make you less absent-minded.Paul: Thank you very much.Lisa: You're welcome.Paul: The "Forward Bend"?Lisa: In the "Forward Bend", you start by sitting straight and then you bend forward. What else did you think it was?Paul: And how long do you do it for?Lisa: Two minutes, including the dynamic bit where you hold on to your feet anduse your hands to pull yourself down till your head touches your knees. Paul: Right. Got that. What about the "Cobra"?Lisa: What does a real cobra do?Paul: Lie on its stomach and then raise its head into the air. And look at you, trying to hypnotize you.Lisa: Correct. One minute, including the dynamic bit.Paul: And what's it good for?Lisa: For you? Well, as you live on hamburgers and Coke, the "Forward Bend" would do your stomach and your whole digestive system a lot of good, and the "Cobra" might do a miracle and straighten your back.Paul: What about the, er, "Locust"?Lisa: Lie flat on your stomach with your arms by your sides and then raise your legs. One minute, including the half-locust. Good for your Coke circulation (I)mean your blood circulation, and for your back, since you seem to spend most of the day sitting down in a chair.Paul: I get the impression that you don't have a very high opinion of me. Lisa: I get the impression that you're not really interested in yoga at all. Paul: But I am, I am. What about the "Bow"?Lisa: The "Bow" is the one where you lie on your stomach and then raise your legs and your trunk till you can catch your feet with your hands and look like a bow. One minute of that is enough.Paul: What's it good for?Lisa: In your case, losing weight, losing all that fat you get from eating hamburgers. Now can we finish please because I've got another class to go to? Paul: And the "Headstand"?Lisa: In the "Headstand", Paul, you stand on your head, and you can do it for anything from one to ten minutes, and it does everything good. Now I must go, so good-bye.Paul: Thank you Lisa ... thank you. She looks so lovely when she's angry!B. Listen to the conversation again. While you listen, add more key words in the left-hand column. After listening, complete the descriptions for each yoga posture.C. Listen to the conversation once more. Complete the following chart with the help of the above notes.Part ⅢSignals used by referees and linesman in footballA You are going to hear a conversation between a football course tutor and several students about signals used by referees and linesmen. Listen carefully. Which signals in the following pictures are mentioned? Match them with the explanations by writing the correct numbers in the brackets.Course Tutor: Right. Now, you've all come on this course for referees and linesmen, so I ... or I suppose I should say "linespersons", should I? ... so I expect you've all watched quite a lot of football. But, I wonder if you've ever paid much attention to the signals that referees and linesmen give? I mean, now, they're not very complicated, but, of course, it's vital that they're used in the correct manner so that all the people involved in the game — the players and the officials — know exactly what's going on. So, I want to start off by seeing how much you already know about these signals. Now, for instance, does anyone know what signal to give if the referee wants play to continue — that's to say, if he doesn't want play to stop?Woman 1: Er, doesn't he put his hands forward, like this?Course Tutor: Yes. yes, that's right. The arms are held forwards, at waist height, with the palms upwards. That's good. And, can anyone tell me what this signal means: when I blow my whistle and point with the other hand down towards the ground?Man 1: Some sort of free kick, isn't it?Course Tutor: Yes, that's right. It is. What sort of a free kick is it, though? Man 2: Direct. Direct free kick.Course Tutor: That's right. That's right. A direct free kick. So, in that case, what is the signal for an indirect free kick?Woman 2: Oh ...Course Tutor: Yes?Woman 2: It's one palm raised up, and one down.Course Tutor: That's right — one hand held firmly beside ... down at the side, and the right hand held straight up in the air.Man 2: Palm up.Course Tutor: That's right. That's an indirect free kick. Good. Well now, going on to linesmen. What would a linesman do if he saw a foul?Man 1: Put his flag up.Course Tutor: Yes ...Woman 2: Yeah, but, but ... Held right up.Course Tutor: Yeah. Anything else? Does more than just ...?Woman 2: Wave it about — backwards and forwards.Course Tutor: That's ... yes. Now that is important. He waves it about, but he waves it backwards and forwards. The object, of course, is to catch the referee's eye, so the movement is more likely to catch the eye. That's why that signal is the way it is. Excellent! ...Man 3: Excuse me ...Course Tutor: Yes?Man 3: Doesn't it depend where the foul is?Course Tutor: Ah, well, yes. That's perfectly right, because if the foul is in the penalty area — if you obviously know the difference — you can tell me what the signal is.Man 3: Well, the linesman holds the flag across his body.Course Tutor: Yes. That's right. He holds it across his body, up towards his shoulder. Now ... another of the linesman's signals: what would he signal if he sees a player offside?Man 3: I used to know that.Woman 2: Isn't it when he holds it straight out in front of him? He's got the ...Course Tutor: That's right, that's right. Holding the flag straight out across the line of play in the direction in which the offside took place. Fair enough. Now then, moving back to referees for a moment, what does this signal mean — if the referee holds his hands up, palms outwards, in front of his chest?Man 1: That's when he ... That's when he wants a new ball, isn't it?Course Tutor: That's right, yes. He actually looks as though he's asking for the ball to be put in his hands. So, that's good. Right now, then — there's another signal that linesmen give. A linesman standing with the flag straight down by his right hand side and his hand in front of his thigh with two fingers pointing downwards, flat against his leg.Woman 1: Ti ... Oh! ...Course Tutor: What does that mean?Woman 1: Time up?Course Tutor: No, not time up. He's got two fingers pointing downwards.Woman 1: Two ... two minutes until ...Course Tutor: Two minutes ...Woman 1: ... till the end of the match.Course Tutor: Till the end of the match, according to his timing. That's right. He's indicating to the referee ...B Listen to the conversation again. While you listen, add more key words in the left-hand column. After listening, complete the descriptions for each signal. Part ⅣMore about the topic: Women in SportsThe following short passage is about professional women basketball players in America. Supply the missing words while listening.The Woman's National Basketball Association played its first season this past summer. The WNBA was organized by the man's National Basketball Association. The WNBA is called the little sister of the NBA. There're eight teams in the women's league. They play in eight major American cities.The women's basketball games have been more popular than expected. An average of almost 9 000 people attended the 28 games during the two-month-long season. Three American television networks also broadcast some of the games. Millions of people watch them. Major companies pay to advertise their products during the broadcasts of the games. The WNBA employs a lot of women. Female announcers describe the action during the games. Female referees make sure the players follow the rules.The WNBA is the second professional women's basketball league now playing in the United States. An independent group started the American Basketball League last fall. The nine ABL teams play in the autumn and winter in smaller cities. An average of 3 500 people attended the ABL games last year. The League is not as well known as the WNBA. However, several members of both the leagues are well known. They played for the United States on the women's basketball team that won a gold medal during the Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia.How is women's basketball different from men's basketball? One former college men's basketball coach says, "Women's basketball is easier to watch than men's basketball. It is more traditional. It has more structure. And the players work together more as a team. It costs much less to attend a WNBA game than a men's professional basketball game. So many families attend the women's games. More women and young girls also attend the games. Many young girls consider the women's basketball players to be their heroes. The players are evidence of another thing that women can do well."Another difference between men's and women's basketball is that female players have a closer relationship to the people who come to watch them play. For example, female players spend hours after the games meeting their fans and signing their names for them. However female players earn much less money than male professional basketball players. Last year ABL players earned an average of $70 000. The average pay for a male NBA player's is more than $2 000 000 a year.A star of the New York Liberty Team of the WNBA explains the difference between men's and women's basketball this way: "Women play a clean game —pure basketball. Right now women are still playing for the love of the game." People who attended the WNBA games could buy many kinds of basketballclothing and other products. One shirt described professional basketball this way: "Invented by man, perfected by woman."Part ⅤMemory test: Which Sport?A Below is a list of popular sports and a set of sports pictures. Listen carefully. Match the sports with their pictures.First commentator: ... and McAlister bringing up the rear. And Brown is a good 4 yards ahead at the half-way mark and he's still jumping smoothly and confidently. Smith is moving up steadily, though I think he's tiring. And Brown glances back over his shoulder, he's still got a good lead. Oh, my goodness me! He's fallen, what a tragedy, he's on the ground and Smith's going past him with a smile on his face. Oh this really is a terrible disappointment for young Leroy Brown from Croydon, who had such high hopes of making the final …Second commentator: ... backhand across court to Bradford, return across the net, Davis just reaches it at full stretch with a forehand low across the net, Bradford lobs and Davis smashes the ball into the net. Oh, what a bad mistake at this stage of the match by this 22-year-old New Zealander ...Umpire: Deuce.Commentator: And Bradford serves from the left-hand court, quick passing shot from Davis who smashes that one down ...Third commentator: ... and with sixty seconds left in this final round, Robson is still very much on the attack. A left-hand jab to the shoulder has Leonard staggering back onto the ropes and Leonard is really in trouble now as Robson moves in with that lethal right hand of his, he's really punishing this 18-year-old Scot. And the referee's moving forward pushing Robson away — he's having a word with him, I think he may be going to warn him, no he's not, he's having a word with Leonard now. Leonard is shaking his head and looking terribly tired ... and the referee ... he's stopped the fight ... it's all over and so Robson is now the new ...Fourth commentator: ... a fine shot puts the red into the center pocket and leaves him in a good position to take the pink and he's going to try to put it into the far pocket he may be making a big mistake here, but Thompson is a very experienced player and he doesn't usually make mistakes ... Oh dear, he's pocketed the cue ball ... a very bad error there and that really does leave it wide open for Donovan to take the frame ...Fifth commentator: ... so it's the All Stars in the lead at the beginning of thethird quarter and it's still anyone's match. Anderson with a high ball to Sampson who takes it up towards the Rochester net and passes to Green for a shot but it goes wide and the loose ball is picked up by Thomas for Rochester, across to Hunter, the 21-year-old Welsh international, who tries a long shot and it's in! 23 all now and everything to play for ...Sixth commentator: ... Williams takes the throw and St Mary's get the ball, it goes back to Murphy and out to Green and then to Jones, who's unmarked. He's got a clear run to the far corner if ... Oh, he's making for the post. This could be dangerous because the Richmond fullback is gaining on him now. He looks back but he's not going to make it. He tries a kick and ... he's just managed to make touch. Lucky there. And now there's a lineout on the far side, 20 yards from the Richmond goal line ...Seventh commentator: ... not a good start for the British girl but she's managing to make it up and the Russian girl is now only about five strokes ahead. And at the turn, Debbie is closing the gap, the Russian girl is visibly tiring, this is where stamina really counts and at 24 Ludmilla may well be less fit than 15-year-old Debbie Woods. And it's between the two of them, they're side by side now and with 10 yards to go ... what a finish! Come on Debbie, you can do it ... Come on Debbie ...B Listen to some extracts of sports commentaries. Decide which sport is being played in each extract you hear. You may find the above list helpful.。