超越概念听力第二单元

Book 2 Chapter 1 The PopulationToday we’re going to talk about population in the United States. According to the most recent government census, the population is 281,421,906 people. Now this represents an increase of almost 33 million people since the 1990 census. A population of over 281 million makes the United States the third most populous country in the whole world. As you probably know, the People’s Republic of China is the most populous country in the world. But do you know which is the second most populous? Well, if you thought India, you were right. The fourth, fifth, and sixth most populous countries are Indonesia, Brazil, and Pakistan. Now let’s get back to the United States. Let’s look at the total U. S. population figure of 281 million in three different ways. The first way is by race and origin; the second is by geographical distribution, or by where people live; and the third way is by the age and sex of the population.First of all, let’s take a look at the population by race and origin. The latest U. S. census reports that percent of the population is white, whereas percent is black. Three percent are of Asian origin, and 1 percent is Native American. percent of the population is a mixture of two or more races, and percent report themselves as “of some other race”. Let’s make sure your figures are right: OK, white, percent; black, percent; Asian, 3 percent; Native American, 1 percent; a mixture of two or more races, percent; and of some other race, percent. Hispanics, whose origins lie in Spanish-speaking countries, comprise whites, blacks, and Native Americans, so they are already included in the above figures. It is important to note that Hispanics make up percent of the present U.S. population, however. Finally, the census tells us that 31 million people in the United States were born in another country. Of the 31 million foreign born, the largest part, percent are from Mexico. The next largest group, from the Philippines, number percent.Another way of looking at the population is by geographical distribution. Do you have any idea which states are the five most populous in the United States? Well, I’ll help you out there. The five most populous states, with population figures, are California, with almost 34 million; New York, with 21 million; Texas, with 19 million; and Florida, with 16 million; and Illinois with million people. Did you get all those figures down? Well, if not, I’ll give you a chance later to check your figures. Well, then, let’s move on. All told, over half, or some 58 percent of the population, lives inthe South and in the West of the United States. This figure, 58 percent, is surprising to many people. It is surprising because the East is more densely populated. Nevertheless, there are more people all together in the South and West. To understand this seeming contradiction, one need only consider the relatively larger size of many southern and western states, so although there are more people, they are distributed over a larger area. To finish up this section on geographical distribution, consider that more than three-quarters of the people live in metropolitan areas like Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, and Houston. That means that only 20 percent, or 2 out of 10 people, live in rural areas. An interesting side note is that some 3,800,000 U.S. citizens live abroad, that is, in foreign countries.Before we finish today, I want to discuss the distribution of the U.S. population in terms of age and sex. Just for interest, would you say there are more men or more women in the United States? Well, according to the 2000 census, there are more women. In fact, there are more than five million more women than men in the U.S. population. If we consider that more males than females are born each year, how can this difference be explained? Well, for a variety of complicated reasons that we can’t go into here, there is a progressively higher death rate for males as they get older. This is seen in 2003 life expectancy figures: the life expectancy for women is years whereas for men it is only years. I don’t know how these life expectancy figures compare to those in your countries, but statistically women generally live longer than men worldwide. Now, to finish up, let’s look at the average age of the whole population. Overall, the average age of the population is increasing: from years in 1990 to years in 2000. The average age has been slowly, but steadily, increasing over the past several decades. This trend toward a higher average age can be explained by a decreasing birth rate and an increasing life expectancy for the population as a whole. Well, I’d like to investigate these two subjects further, but I see our time is up, so we’ll have to call it quits for today. You may want to pursue the topic of the aging U.S. population further, so there are some suggestions at the end of the lesson to help you do so. Thank you.Chapter Two Immigration: Past and PresentThe act of immigrating, or coming to a new country to live, is certainly nothing new. Throughout history, people have immigrated, or moved to new countries, for many different reasons. Sometimes these reasons were economic or political. Other people moved because of natural disasters such as droughts or famines. And some people movedto escape religious or political persecution. No matter what the reason, most people do not want to leave their native land and do so only under great pressure of some sort, but a few people seem quite adventuresome and restless by nature and like to move a lot. It seems both kinds of people came to America to live. The subject of immigration is quite fascinating to most Americans, as they view themselves as a nation of immigrants. However, the early Britons who came to what is today the United States considered themselves “settlers” or “colonists,” rather than immigrants. These people did not exactly think they were moving to a new country but were merely settling new land for the “mother country.” There were also large numbers of Dutch, French, German, and Scotch-Irish settlers, as well as large numbers of blacks brought from Africa as slaves. At the time of independence from Britain in 1776, about 40 percent of people living in what is now the United States were non-British. The majority of people, however, spoke English, and the traditions that formed the basis of life were mainly British traditions. This period we have just been discussing is usually referred to as the Colonial Period. Today, we’re a little more interested in actual immigration after this period. Let’s first look at what is often called the Great Immigration, which began about 1830 and ended in 1930. Then let’s consider the reasons for this so-called Great Immigration and the reasons it ended. Finally, let’s talk about the immigration situation in the United States today,As I said, we’ll begin our discussion today with the period of history called the Great Immigration, which lasted from approximately 1830 to 1930. It will be easier if we look at the Great Immigration in terms of three major stages, or time periods. The first stage was from approximate1y 1830 to 1860. Now, before this time, the number of immigrants coming to the United States was comparatively small, only about 10,000 a year. However, the rate began to climb in the 1830s when about 600,000 immigrants arrived. The rate continued to climb during the 1840s with a tota1 of 1,700,000 people arriving in that decade. The rate continued to climb, and during the 1850s 2,600,000 immigrants arrived. During this first stage of the Great Immigration, that is, between the years 1830 and 1860, the majority of immigrants came from Germany, Great Britain, and Ireland. Now let’s consider the second stage of the Great Immigration. The second stage was from l860 to 1890, during which time another 10,000,000 people arrived. Between l860 and 1890 the majority of immigrants continued to be from Germany, Ireland, and Great Britain. However, during the second stage, a smaller but significant number of immigrants came from the Scandinavian nations of Denmark, Norway and Sweden. The third stage of the Great Immigration, which lasted from 1890 to 1930, was the eraof heaviest immigration. Between the years l890 and l930, almost 22 million immigrants arrived in the United States. Most of these new arrivals came from the Southern European countries of Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain and the Eastern European countries of Poland and Russia.Now that we know something about the numbers and origins of immigrants who came to the States during the Great Immigration, let’s consider the reasons why most of these people immigrated to the United States. Why did such large numbers of Europeans leave their homes for life in an unknown country? It would be impossible to discuss all the complex political and economic reasons in any depth today, but we can touch on a few interesting facts that might help to clarify the situation for you. First of all, one of the most important reasons was that the population of Europe doubled between the years 1750 and 1850. At the same time that the population was growing so rapidly, the Industrial Revolution in Europe was causing widespread unemployment. The combination of increased population and the demand for land by industry also meant that farmland was becoming increasingly scarce in Europe. The scarcity of farmland in Europe meant that the abundance of available land in the growing country of the United States was a great attraction. During these years, the United States was an expanding country and it seemed that there was no end to land. In fact, in 1862, the government offered public land free to citizens and to immigrants who were planning to become citizens. In addition to available farmland, there were also plentiful jobs during these years of great economic growth. Other attractions were freedom from religious or political persecution. Some other groups also came to the United States as the direct results of natural disasters that left them in desperate situations. For example, the frequent failure of the potato crop in Ireland between the years 1845 and 1849 led to widespread starvation in that country, and people were driven to immigrate. Another factor that affected the number of immigrants coming to the United States was improved ocean transport beginning in the 1840s. At that time, ships large enough to carry large numbers of people began to make regular trips across the ocean. Now let’s summarize the reasons for the high rate of immigration to the United States during the years we discussed: first, the doubling of the population in Europe between 1750 and 1850; second, the unemployment caused by the Industrial Revolution; and third, the land scarcity in Europe, followed by religious and political persecution and natural disaster. These reasons combined with improved transportation probably account for the largest number of immigrants.I would now like to talk briefly about the period of time following the Great Immigration and the reasons for the decline in the rate of immigration. Although immigration continues today, immigration numbers have never again reached the levels that we discussed previously. There are several reasons for this decline. This decline was in part due to various laws whose aim was to limit the number of immigrants coming from different parts of the world to the United States. The first such law that limited the number of immigrants coming from a certain part of the world was the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. This law was followed by many other laws that also tried to limit the numbers of people immigrating from various countries or parts of the world. In addition to such laws, certainly economic and geopolitical events as important as the Great Depression starting in 1929 and World War II also contributed to the decline in immigration.Let’s conclude our talk by discussing the current situation with respect to immigration, which is quite different from that in the past. To understand some of the changes, it’s important to note that in 1965 strict quotas based on nationality were eliminated. Let’s see how different things are today from the past. As I noted, the greatest number of immigrants to the United States have historically been European. According to . Census figures, in 1860, the percentage of immigrants that were European was 92 percent. But by 1960, the percentage of European immigrants had dropped to percent, and by the year 2002, it had dropped to 14 percent! In 2002, percent of immigrants came from Latin America, that is, from the Caribbean, Central America, and South America. Mexico is ordinarily considered part of North America, but the . Census Bureau considers Mexico as a Central American country in terms of immigration statistics, and estimates that more than one-third of the total of all immigrants to the United States in 2002 came from Mexico or another Central American country. The next largest percentage, percent, of immigrants came from Asia, mainly from the Philippines, China, and India.Although immigration dropped sharply when the United States entered World War I and remained low throughout the Depression and World War II years, at the end of the l940s, immigration began to increase again and has, in general, risen steadily since then. It might surprise you to know that the actual number of immigrants coming yearly to the States in recent years is about the same as the numbers coming yearly between 1900 and 1910. Keep in mind, though, that the population of the United States is much larger now than at the turn of the century, so that while the yearly numbers may be similar, thepercentage of the population that is foreign-born is considerably smaller today than it was a century ago.It might be interesting to speculate on immigration in the future. Will the trend continue for non-Europeans to immigrate to the United States? The answer is probably yes for the foreseeable future. Do these non-European people come to the United States for the same reasons that Europeans came? Well, land is no longer plentiful and cheap. Industry no longer requires large numbers of unskilled workers. In fact, the government usually tries to restrict immigration to those people who already have the skills to be successful in U.S. society. Still, people come for politica1 and economic reasons and probably will continue to do so.Chapter 3 Americans at WorkWhether you love it or hate it, work is a major part of most people’s lives everywhere in the world. Americans are no exception. Americans might complain about “blue Monday,” when they have to go back to work after the weekend, but most people put a lot of importance on their job, not only in terms of money but also in terms of identity. In fact, when Americans are introduced to a new person, they almost always ask each other, “What do you do?” They are asking, what is your job or profession. Today, however, we won’t look at work in terms of what work means socially or psychologically. Rather, we’re going to take a look at work in the United States today from two perspectives. First, we’ll take a historical look at work in America. We’ll do that by looking at how things changed for the American worker from the beginning to the end of the twentieth century, that is, from the year 1900 to the year 1999. Then we’ll look at how . workers are doing today.As we look at the changes over the last century, we’re going to use a lot of statistics to describe these changes. You will need to write down a lot of numbers in today’s lecture. First, let’s consider how the type of work people were involved in changed. At the beginning of the twentieth century, about 38 percent of the workforce was involved in agriculture; that is, they worked on a farm. By the end of the century, only 3 percent still worked on farms. There was also a large decrease in the number of people working in mining, manufacturing, and construction. The number of workers in mining, manufacturing, and construction went down from 31 percent to 19 percent.While the number of people in these goods producing industries went down, the number of people in the service industries went up. As you may know, a service industry is one that provides a service, rather than goods or products. A few examples include transportation, tourism, banking, advertising, health care, and legal services. I’m sure you can think of more. The service industry workforce jumped from 31 percent of the workforce at the turn of the century to 78 percent in 1999.Let’s recap the numbers: in 1900, 38 percent in agriculture; 31 percent in mining, manufacturing, and construction; and 31 percent in the service industries. That should add up to 100 percent. In 1999, 3 percent in agriculture; 19 percent in mining, manufacturing, and construction; and 78 percent in the service industries. Again, that should add up to 100 percent.The labor force changed in other important ways. For example, child labor was not unusual at the beginning of the twentieth century. In 1900 there were 1, 750, 000 children aged ten to fifteen working full-time in the labor force. This was 6 percent of the labor force. Over the years, child labor laws became much stricter and by 1999, it was illegal for anyone under sixteen to work full-time in any of the fifty states. While the number of children in the workforce went down, the number of women went up dramatically. In 1900, only 19 percent of women were employed; in 1999, 60 percent of women were holding down jobs.Let’s see what has happened to wages and salaries. All the numbers I will give you are in terms of 1999 dollars. Let me explain. In 1900 the average per capita income was $4,200 a year. That does not mean that the average worker in 1900 earned $4,200, a year, but that what he or she earned was equal to $4, 200 in 1999. That is, the amount of money the average worker earned in 1900 was worth the same as $4,200 in 1999. The average per capita income in 1999 was $33, 700. Not only did people earn a lot more money at the end of the century, they also received a lot more in benefits than at the beginning of the century. One of the important benefits most workers received later in the century was health insurance. Whereas wages and salaries rose over the century, the average workweek dropped. That is, workers, in general, did not work as long hours in 1999 as they did in 1900.The last area that I’d like to give you a few statistics about is workplace safety. Most of us who go to work every day don’t think a lot about whether we are safe or not, but in 1900 it was a real concernfor a lot of workers. There aren’t many statistics available, but the . government does have statistics on two industries that will give you some idea of the differences today. In 1900 almost 1,500 workers were killed in coal-mining accidents; in 1999, the number was 35. 2,555 railroad workers were killed in 1900, compared to 56 in 1999.People often tend to romanticize the past and talk about “the good old days,” but I think it’s fair to say that by the end of the twentieth century, . workers in general made more money, they enjoyed more benefits, and their working conditions had improved greatly.Now let’s turn our attention to the current situation for . workers. The picture is not so rosy as the one drawn by comparing U.S. workers at the beginning and the end of the twentieth century. I’m going to focus on the current situation in terms of productivity, working hours, and wages and salaries.First let’s consider the number of hours worked. According to a 2003 study released by the United Nations International Labor Organization, U.S. workers are the most productive in the world among industrialized nations, but they work longer hours than European workers to achieve this productivity. Europeans typically have four to six weeks of vacation a year, whereas the average American worker has only about two weeks. This study points out that the longer working hours in the United States is a rising trend, while the trend in other industrialized countries is the opposite.Workers in some European countries actually outproduce American workers per hour of work. It has been suggested that this higher rate of productivity might be because European workers are less stressed than U.S. workers.At any rate, there seems to be general agreement that U.S. productivity has greatly increased over the last thirty years. However, workers have not seen their wages rise at the same rate. A group of sociologists in their book Inequality by Design point out that there is a growing gap between rich Americans and everyone else in the United States. They write that between 1949 and 1974, increases in productivity were matched by increases in wages for workers in both manufacturing and the service industries, but since 1974, productivity increased 68 percent in manufacturing and 50 percent in services, but real wages stagnated. That is, wages moved up little or not at all. So, where does all the money generated by the increased productivity go then? According to the authors of this book, the moneygoes to the salaries for CEOs, to the stock market, and to corporate profits. Workers play a great role in increasing productivity, but no longer see their wages connected to increased productivity. In other words, CEOs’ salaries, the stock market, and the corporate profits go up as work productivity goes up, but workers’ wages don’t.What are the reasons why . workers, who are the most productive in the world, have to work longer hours, have fewer vacation days, and see their wages stagnate and not rising at the same rate as productivity? The answer to this question is complex and controversial, but there are two reasons most people who speak or write about these issues mention: The first is that labor unions in the United States have lost great power since the beginning of the 1980s, and the second is that the government has passed laws that favor the rich and weaken the rights of the workers.I see our time is up. So, I’ll see you next time.Chapter 4 Family in the United StatesA hundred years ago, one heard the same kind of comments about the American family that one hears today --- in short, that the American family is disintegrating. Proof of this disintegration at the end of the nineteenth century included three points: the declining birth rate, a rising divorce rate, and evidence that women were not completely content with their domestic role. It’s a little surprising to me that the same claim about the family is being made today --- that it is disintegrating. And often the same points are mentioned as proof: declining birth rates, increasing divorce rates, and discontent of women with domestic roles. Now, in no way do I mean to imply that cultural, demographic, and economic conditions are the same now as they were 100 years ago. On the contrary, the very nature of the family has changed drastically in the last 50 years, not to mention the last 100 years. But I don’t think the average person’s concept of the family has changed very much over the years. A lot of people have on fixed idea of the family: a married couple where Mother stays home to care for the children and Father works. But this idea is challenged by what we see every day in U.S. society. To be sure, the family is a very sensitive barometer for what is happening in the society, the culture, and the economy of the United States. To make this point clearer, we’ll take a look at how the American family has changed in the last 50 years by looking at three different time periods: there are the mid-1940s to the mid-1960s; the mid-60sto the mid-80s; and finally the present. Sociologist Barbara Dafoe Whitehead labels these three periods: the period of traditional familism, the period of individualism, and the period of the new familism. I will try for each period to show how economic, demographic, and cultural elements interact and, in turn, affect the family.Well, let’s proceed in chronological order and start with traditional familism. We’re talking here of the twenty years from the mid-1940s to the mid-1960s. This was the period after World War II, a period characterized by a very strong economy. This gave the United States a rising standard of living and a growing middle class. Demographically, the predominant configuration of the family from these years was the traditional one: a married couple with children. Some women worked, but divorce rates were low, and birth rates were high. I guess you could say that the country idealized the family in these years. And what I mean is, there was a commitment to the family from its members and a reverence for it from society. TV programs of the era depicted the family in the classical configuration: working father, housewife, and children. Culturally, three characteristics stand out in this period: conformity to social norms, greater male domination of the family than in the later periods, and clear-cut gender roles, that is, clear and separate roles for men and women at home and at work. Well, things changed quite a bit after this period.Let’s move on to the second period, the period of individualism. This period is from the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s. Now, because individualism is so often mentioned in our discussion of U.S. culture and people, I should make a little detour here before we discuss it. Individualism brings to mind two other words: independence and self-reliance. Individualism conveys the idea that one should think and act for himself or herself, according to what one feels is right. Individualism is easily confused with egotism or selfishness, but in its best sense, it is much more. Individualism implies that one has the freedom to decide what is best rather than allowing that decision to be made by a group such as the community or society. Individualism does, of course, conflict with the concept of community, which implies that the group shares in making decisions. And this conflict between the individual and the community is one that comes up again and again in our lecture series about the United States. All right, let’s get back to our discussion about the family.The second period, the period of individualism, saw three important social and political movements. Do you have any idea which movements I might be talking about? Keep in mind that these decadeswere characterized by a lack of conformity to social norms. Well, the movements have in mind are the sexual revolution, in which sex was clearly no longer reserved for marriage; the women’s liberation movement; and the movement against the war in Vietnam. All three movements---the sexual revolution, woman’s liberation, and the antiwar movement --- were typical of the nonconforming nature of these decades. Now, culturally, it is in this period where we see two important developments: one the idealization of one’s career and work and, two, the drive for self-expression and self-fulfillment. In this period, the feminist movement challenged traditional gender roles and male domination of society. Women began to enter professions previously closed to them like medicine, law, and management. Men, for their part, began at least to consider a more active role in raising their children.These cultural changes occurred during a time of economic changes, too. This was a time of rapidly rising cost of living. Together, these forces changed the demographics of the family. The former picture of the family had only one configuration: a married couple with children where Mother stayed home. The new picture of the family had to include new configurations, like families in which the husband and wife both worked, families of single parents with children, and families of cohabiting couples with or without children. With more women pursuing careers and making money, there was less economic pressure for them to stay in an unsuitable marriage. Therefore, divorce rates doubled in a decade. Rising divorce rates and more financial independence for women made marriage a less attractive arrangement for many women. Consequently, the number of single-parent households tripled. Less conformity to social norms paved the way for cohabitation. So the number of unmarried couples living together in this period quadrupled. Can you see how economic, cultural, and demographic aspects of the society interact with each other? I hope so. Well, let’s continue with our agenda.The third period, the new familism, is harder to see because we are living in this period now. And because we are constantly informed by the media about the deteriorating American family, it’s hard to get an objective view of the state of the family. I think that today most people applaud the social changes that came about in the second period of individualism. They are not willing to give up gender equality, the freedom to leave an unsuitable marriage, or the self-fulfillment of an interesting job. At the same time, most experts, if not most people, admit that children paid a high price for the social changes that took place in the second period. It was the。

Unit 2 Fitness and HealthSection 1 Listening StrategiesPart II ConsolidationListen and identify the difference between two words ineach pair and circle the word you hearA. / s / vs. / θ/1. thing2. tense3. think4. path5. sick6. sankB. /ɪ/ vs. / i:/1. he’s2. each3. sit4. lead5. it6. live7. seek8. a pill9. bit10.teenC. /æ/ vs. /ɑ/ or /ɒ/1. hat2. ad3. box4. racket5. mop6. pat7.sock8. cot9. blackSection II Listening ComprehensionPart I DialoguesDialogue 1Listening to a financial trader talking about the stress of his job and how he handles stress.Listen to the dialogue and answer the following questions.1. Stress is generally driven by the feelingof being out of control of a situation and the feeling of a situation controlling you.2. The feeling of uncertainty, being out of control.3. Cooking a meal.4. Watching some TV before going to bed.5. At least once a week.Dialogue 21. Yes. Because of stress-related factors.2.It can lead to a change in direction, success, and stimulate you to do something new.3. It keeps him on his toes and makes him concentrated and focused.4. Trading.5. No. It remains constant.Dialogue 3A. Listen to the dialogue once and jot down the key words relating to the main idea.obesity, diet, less active, more food, lose weight, fad dietsB. Listen again and decide whether each of the followingstatements is true [T] or false [F].1.T2. F3. T4. F5. TPart II PassagesPassage 11. F (A study found that only four percent of elementary schools provideddaily physical education all year for all grades. )2. T3. T4. F (Yet many parents today still have bad memories of being chosen lastfor teams because teachers favored the good athletes in class. )5. T6. F (Some parents like the idea of avoiding competitive sports in P.E. class. Yet others surely dislike that idea.) Passage 2Our first word is “diet”. It has four l etters and four sounds: D-I-E-T. Diet. Diet can be a noun or a verb. There are some important (1) differences in meaning.Firstly “diet” as a noun. This mean s the food and drink (2) taken by a person or group of people.—Footballers have to eat a good diet in order tostay healthy.—The Japanese diet is (3) said to be very healthy. People live to an old age.People often use an adjective before diet. For example you may hear the expression “ a (4) balanced diet”. It means eating a (5) range of all the food types necessary to keep healthy.Secondly, we can use diet as a (6) countable noun—a diet. It means when someone eats less of certain foods so they can lose weight. It’s used in (7) combination with the words “to go on” or “to be on” a diet.A: I’m getting really fat. I can’t (8) fit into my trousers! B: You should go on a diet.Thirdly, we can use it as a verb—to diet. This is another, less (9) common way of saying “to go on a diet”. It means to eat (10) less in order to lose weight.—So many people diet these days. I’m not really sure if it’s good for them.Passage 31. Martina e2. Rachel c3. Romeshb4. Mark a5. John dPart III NewsNews 1Listen to the recording once to get the main ideas. Listen again and take notes to answer the following questions.1. More than four hundred fifty.2. The study looked at changes in genes that govern an important cell-signaling pathway.3. The animals do not grow as big as others of their kind but they live longer.4. Ashkenazi Jews are more genetically similar than most other groups, so any differences are easier to find.5. No one had the mutations.News 2Listen to the news about vitamin D once to get the main ideas. Listen again and answer the following questions briefly.1. From sunlight.2. They worry about getting skin cancer or skin damage.3. No. They produce more.4. Oily fish such as salmon, tuna and mackerel, and fish liver oils.5. Six hundred international units.News 3Listen to the news about obesity. Decide whether each of the following statements is true [T] or false [F]1. T2. F (At present, according to Professor Philip James, an expert on nutrition, obese children outnumber the malnourished by two to one.)3. T4. F (According to Professor James, there is no point in blaming individuals for being overweight.)5. T6. TPart IV DictationA. SentencesYou will hear each sentences three times. First, listen and try to understand the meaning of the whole sentence. Second, listen and write. Third, listen and check.1. It sounds like we’re both trying to raise our finalgrades in this class.2. You should see if there are any openings so you can enroll in it.3. The new school year that begins this fall will cost fifty-two thousand dollars for undergraduates.4. Students may also need to take SAT subject tests in areas like history.5. Three million three hundred thirty thousand students are expected to graduate.B. ParagraphYou will hear a paragraph three times. First, listen and try to understand the meaning of the whole paragraph. Second, listen and write. Third, listen and check.Research in the last several years has shown that low levels of vitamin D may increase the risk of heart attacks in men and deaths from some cancers. Other studies have shown that people with rheumatic diseases often have low levels of Vitamin D. More doctors are now having their patients tested for their vitamin D levels. But as research continues, some experts worry that if people take too much vitamin D, it might act as a poison.Part V Video ClipWatch and write down the three idioms mentioned in the video and explain each of them.Number Idioms Meanings1 He’s a bad egg.Someone is bad or dishonest.2 Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.You should never rely on only one plan—in case it goes wrong.3 He got egg on his face.Someone makes a mistake which makes him look stupid. Section IVSupplementary ListeningListen to each sentence and write down the words which contain phonemic sound /s/, /θ/, /ɪ/, /i:/, /æ/, /ɑ/ or /ɒ/.1. think, if, watch2. it, is, really, see3. what, departure4. me, family5.topic, is, not, money, handle, that, have Section V Story SeriesListen to Chapter 2 of Robinson Crusoe and answer thefollowing questions.1. At first, he felt seasick because of the rain and the wind, and he thought it was the punishment form God. But later the storm ended and he slept deeply at night.2. The second storm made the first storm look like a gentle wind. For days the storm went on with the terrible waves, lightening and thunders. Others agreed that they had never seen storms like this.3. The captain lighted a firework and a boat came and rescued them.。

Unit 2答案仅供参考，请做完在核定答案：The answer is for reference only. Please check the answer after finishingWarm upAnswer the questions.1.Soccer/Football2.Yes/No3.See Language Note for a list of popular sportsLesson A »ListeningA.Listening for gistThey are talking about the most popular sports in their countries.B.Listening for detailsWrite them in the table1.basketball, golf, soccer, tennis2.taekwondo, yoga3.bowling, running, skateboarding, skiing, surfing, swimmingWrite them in the table1.golf2.skiing, skateboarding3.baseball4.taekwondo5.soccer6.swimming, surfingLesson B » Listening 1A.New words and expressions1.kilometer2.amazing3.fun4.must5.race6.Celsius7.Vegas Strip8.rock and roll9.marathon10.band11.costume12.KayakC: Listening comprehension 11.They are talking about amazing races2.They think the amazing races have both good points and bad points.C: Listening comprehension 23.Novembers Vegas5.It’ a race and a party. Bands play music and runners dress in costumes6.It’s crowded and cold7.February8.Patagonia9.It has amazing scenery, and is an exciting race10.It’s long and tiringLesson B » Listening 2A.Listening for gistBB.Listening for detailsListen again and choose the correct answers1.badly2.Mark3.funListen to the recording again and then write down the answers to following question.1.No, not really2.No, he thinks it boring3.Channel 5Listening SkillsExercise1.Yes2.No3.Yes4.No5.Yes6.No7.No8.NoVideo » before you watchA.Watch the video1. B2. AB.Watch the video again1.202.253.(1) while （2）yellow4.Na mjin’s5.(1) whip (2) fifthC.Watch again1.It is famous for its horse race.2.Outside Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia.3. A great horse trainer.4.Almost 50 kilometers an hour.Unit TestPart I Vocabulary and Important Language Section A1.steep2.traditional3.start4.channel5.gymnastics6.famous7.festival8.capital9.prize10.terriblySection B3 4 1 2 5Part II Listening Comprehension Section AC BSection BD D A BSection CA D C DCET-Oriented Study Listening practiceC BD C。

施心远听力教程2第二单元文本及答案Unit 2Section One Tactics for ListeningPart 1 Phonetics--Stress, Intonation and Accent1. Did you want tea without milk?With milk, please. (f)2. See you at ten past one.At five past one. (c)3. Where’s the newspaper?It’s on top of the bookcase . (e)4. Did you want tea with lemon?With milk, please. (b)5. I thought I put the newspaper on the bookcase.It’s on top of the bookcase. (a)6. See you at five to one.At five past one. (d)Part 2 Listening and Note-takingRalph NaderRalph Nader is a man of few possessions. He owns very little and lives in a small apartment. He doesn’t have a car or a TV set. He doesn’t have many clothes and he doesn’t care about money when he makes a lot of money, he gives it away. He doesn’t smoke and he works from six in the morning until late at night, seven days a week: he is paying back to America his debt as a citizen.When he went to parties as a young man, people complained that all he talked about was the dangers of cars, and how bad car design caused the deaths of so many people each year. After he graduated from Harvard, he published an article entitled “Unsafe at Any Speed,”which was about a car called Corvair. Later, he made a big attack on the car industry and showed how many deaths in car accidents were because of badly-made cars. He said new laws were needed to make cars safer. In 1966, because of Nader’s work, a law was passed to make car safer.After this success, Nader became interested in something very different. This was the quality of meat and the amount of meat that is put into foods like sausages and hamburgers. A year later, in 1967, again because of Nader’s work, a law was passed to ensure that products like sausages and hamburgers containedthe right amount of meat. In 1968, three more laws were passed because of Nader’s efforts. The first was to ensure the safety of gas pipelines -- these are the pipes that take gas across the country from one town to another. The second was to protect people from radiation --that is, the dangerous radiation which may leak from nuclear sources. The third was to ensure the proper standard of poultry -- that is, the chicken and turkey meat.Ralph Nader, now one of the most influential people in the United States, has set a wonderful example of what determined men and women can do to improve the quality of life in their country.Exercise A: Listen to some sentences and fill in the blanks with the missing words.1. Ralph Nader is a man of few possessions.2. He is paying back to America his debt as a citizen.3. He said new laws were needed to make cars safer.4. A law was passed to ensure that products like sausages and hamburgers contained the right amount of meat.5. Ralph Nader has set a wonderful example of what determined men and women can do to improve the quality of life in their country.Exercise B: Take notes and complete the following outline.Ralph NaderI. Ralph Nader, a man of few possessionsA. He owns very little and lives in a small apartment.B. He doesn’t have a car or a TV set.C. He doesn’t have many clothes.D. He doesn’t care about money.II. His early efforts to make car saferA. He talked about the dangers of car, and how bad car design caused thedeaths of so many people each year at parties.B. After he graduated from Harvard, he published an article entitled“Unsafe at Any speed”.C. Later, he made a big attack on the car industry and showed how manydeaths in car accidents were because of badly-made cars.D. In 1966, because of Nader’s work, a law was passed to make car safer. III. His interests in something very differentA. The quality of meat and the amount of meat that is put into foods likesausages and hamburgersB. In 1968, three more laws were passed because of Nader’s efforts.a. The first was to ensure the safety of gas pipelines.b. The second was to protect people from radiation.c. The third was to ensure the proper standard of poultry.IV. Ralph Nader, one of the most influential people in the United StatesA. He has set a wonderful example of what determined men and women cando to improve the quality of life in their country.Section Two Listening ComprehensionPart 1 DialoguesDialogue 1 Give Them Time to Get to Know YouFather: Well, whose fault do you think it is, then?Daughter: I don’t know.Father: It couldn’t be yours?Daughter: What? That I feel lonely because I haven’t any friends there? Father: No, that you haven’t got any friends.Daughter: But I’ve told you! They’re not very friendly there. They never talk to me! They just leave me alone.Father: But why?Daughter: How should I know?Father: Isn’t it possible it’s because you’re not very friendly towards them? Daughter: What do you mean?Father: Have you talked to them? Have you tried to make conversation? Daughter: I’ve told you! They’re not interested in talking to me.Father: How do you know?Daughter: Because ... for example ... at lunch time, they all sit together in groups! Father: Yes, but why don’t you sit with one of the groups?Daughter: Don’t be silly. I couldn’t. It would be awful!Father: Why?Daughter: It just would. That’s all.Father: How do you know?Daughter: I just do!Father: Well, you’ll never make friends if you don’t try, will you? I mean, you’ve got to meet them, too, at least half way.Daughter: It just wouldn’t work!Father: You know what I think. I think you’re just saying that because you’re impatient.Daughter: Impatient? Me?Father: Yes, impatient. You always have been, ever since you were a child. If you don’t get what you want immediately, you get depressed and you give up too easily!Daughter: Look, if you came with me some morning, you’d understand... Father: You’ve only been there for four weeks. These things take time. Daughter: I know, but I still feel...Father: Listen, give them time to get to know you ... and give yourself time get to know them, and things will change. Believe me!Exercise: Listen to the dialogue and decide whether the Followings statements are true or false.1. T2. T3. F4. T5. T6. TDialogue 2 GesturesNumber 1Woman: You know, a “nod” -- moving your head up and down -- means “yes” in most places, but not everywhere. Did you know that in Greece a nod means “no”?Man: It means “no” in Greece? I’m surprised.Number 2Man: I didn’t know “raised eyebrows”means “yes”in Tonga. It means something very different in Peru.Woman: Yeah? What does it mean there?Man: Money. “Raised eyebrows” is a gesture for money in Peru.Woman: Hmm.Number 3Woman: Um, Alberto, you said that “tapping your head” means “I’m thinking”in Argentina.Man: That’s right.Woman: You’d better be careful about using that gesture here in Canada. It means someone is crazy.Man: Oh, it means “crazy” in Canada? I didn’t know that. I’ll be careful. Number 4Man: You know, it’s interesting that in the Netherlands, “tapping your elbow”means you can’t depend on someone. In Colombia, they use the same gesture, but it has a different meaning.Woman: What does it mean in Colombia?Man: Well, it means someone is cheap. That person doesn’t like to spend money. Woman: Oh.Number 5Woman: Here’s an interesting one. You know how “circling your head” means that a person’s crazy?Man: Yeah.Woman: Guess what it means in the Netherlands.Man: The Netherlands? I have no idea.Woman: It means someone is calling on the telephone. You know, like dialing a phone.Man: That’s interesting.Number 6Man: So “flicking your chin” means “go away” in Italy, right?Woman: Yes.Man: Guess what it means in Brazil.Woman: In Brazil? I don’t know.Man: That’s right.Woman: Huh?Man: In Brazil, “flicking your chin” means “I don’t know.”Woman: “I don’t know” is the meaning?Man: Right.Number 7Woman: Well, everything is “thumbs up” for my trip to Nigeria. I’ve never been to Africa before. I’m really looking forward to it.Man: Ah, you’d better be careful with that expression in Nigeria.Woman: Huh?Man: “Thumbs up.” In Nigeria, it means ... um ... well, it has a very bad meaning. Don’t use that gesture. It will get you into a lot of trouble.Woman: Oh, thanks for telling me.Number 8Man: You said “tossing your head” means “come here” for Germans?Woman: That’s right. But there axe some other meanings. In India, it means “yes.” But it has the opposite meaning in Italy. In Italy it means "no."Man: Hmm, “yes” in India, “no” in Italy. Isn’t it interesting how the same thing can have such different meanings?Woman: It sure is.Exercise: Listen to some short conversations and match each gesture and meaning with the country. There is one example given in the first line of the following chart.Part 2 PassageWhy Shouldn’t You Go by First Impressions?One shouldn’t always go by* first impressions. In my hometown there lived a giant of a man with huge hands and a manner so fierce and unfriendly that he always sat alone in any public place. Yet to those who knew him, he was a kindand generous friend. In the same way one should never assume* that somebody who looks inoffensive is always going to behave in an inoffensive manner.Recently my young brother, who works for a famous American airline, was reminded of this truth. The plane was overbooked and for once all the passengers turned up. So my brother had the difficult task of choosing three passengers and informing them that they couldn’t travel on the flight in question*.Knowing that the young are generally impatient and often aggressive, my brother chose three elderly travellers, an English couple and a little old American lady.The English couple accepted the situation and went to have a drink while waiting for the next flight. Then my brother approached the American lady, whose name was Mrs. Pepper, with a sad smile on his face, “Mrs. Pepper? May I have a few words? I’m afraid we have a problem.”“A problem? What de you mean, we have a problem, young man?”“Would you like to come into the office?” asked my brother, sensing that this was not going to be easy.“Oh, very well, but only for a moment. I have a plane to catch, you know.”“Er ...yes.” My brother explained the position.The little lady looked at him with steely, blue eyes. “Young man,” she said. “I don’t believe you are aware that you are talking to Mrs. Katherine Pepper, widow of General Arnold Pepper, of the United States Army Air Force and I’d like to inform you, further, that the President of your airline was a personal friend of the General’s. In the circumstances I’d advise you to sort this out* right away, otherwise you’re going to be in a lot of trouble. Do I make myself clear?”A: Pre-listening questionWhy shouldn’t you go by first impression?Appearances are often deceptive. In this passage, the two examples tell us the reason why we shouldn’t go by first impression.B: Choose the best answer.1. C2. C3. A4. B5. C6. D7. A8. BC: Listen to the passage again and discuss the following questions.1. What did people who knew the giant man think of him?To those who knew him, he was a kind and generous friend.2. What was the difficult task the narrator’s brother had recently?Recently the narrator’s brother, who works for a famous American airline, remembered the truth that the plane was overbooked and for once all the passengers turned up. So he had the difficult task of choosing three passengers and informing them that they couldn’t travel on the flight in question.3. What do we know about the relationship between Mrs. Pepper and the airline? They had a very close relationship.4. What would the narrator’s brother probably do next time?Probably he would never trust his first impressions again.Part 3 NewsNews Item 1The simultaneous* bombings of three underground trains and a double-decker bus in London three years ago are imprinted* on the minds of many people in Britain.But our memories of the attacks are unreliable, according to a study from Portsmouth University. 40% of British students questioned about the events remembered seeing CCTV footage* of the bus bomb -- footage which never existed. A further 28% claimed to have seen a non-existent computerized reconstruction.Some even recalled specific details of the attacks, which none of them witnessed.“Memories are not like videotape you can rewind and replay for perfect recall,”said lead researcher James Ost. “Because of this, they are not reliable enough to form the basis of legal decisions.”A: Listen and summarize the news item.This news item is about the false memories that British people have about the attacks happened in London three years ago.B: Complete the following passage.The simultaneous bombings of three underground trains and a double-decker bus in London some years ago are well remembered by many people in Britain.But our memories of the attacks cannot be trusted, according to a study from Portsmouth University. When questioned about the events 40% of British students remembered seeing CCTV(闭路监控) footage (片段) of the bus bomb——footage which never existed. A further 28% claimed to have seen anon-existent computerized reconstruction. Some even recalled specific details of the attack, which none of them witnessed. James Ost, the lead researcher, therefore concluded that memories are not reliable enough to form the basis of legal decisions."News Item 2China begins three days of mourning for earthquake victims in Sichuan province, with a three-minute silence and half-mast flags.For three minutes a collective wail * was heard across the town of Beichuan as raid sirens* and car horns sounded the exact time when the earthquake hit China one week ago. Workers here laid wreaths* outside the town's school. At 2:28 in the afternoon, last Monday, it was engulfed* in a landslide*, hundreds of children died.To the side of the mourners, bodies lay waiting to be buried. Rescue work has resumed and two women were found alive here this morning, but these glimmer of hope are increasingly rare. The aftershocks* continue.A: Listen and summarize the news item.This news item is about the mourning for earthquake victims in Sichuan, China.B: Listen again and answer the questions.1. How did the Chinese people mourn the earthquake victims?The Chinese mourning for earthquake victims with a three-minute silence and half-mast flags.2. When did that strong earthquake occur?At 2: 28 in the afternoon, last Monday.3. How many children were killed in a landslide?Hundreds of children were killed in a landslide.4. What happened to the rescue work as time went by?The hope of finding more people alive were increasingly rare.5. Did the quake stop completely one week after the strong quake happened? No, aftershocks continue.News item 3Indonesia is expected to announce stronger security measures Wednesday after a deadly bombing in Jakarta. At least 13 people were killed when a car bomb exploded near a hotel. 149 people were injured. The hotel is operated by aUnited States company. The governor of Jakarta said it was very likely that the bomber was killed in the attack. Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri visited the damaged hotel. Buildings nearby also were damaged. The explosion comes 2 days before an Indonesian court decides the first case connected to the deadly bombings last year in Bali*. Those attacks killed 202 people.Exercise A:This news item is about the 2nd serious bombing that took place in Indonesia within 2 years.Exercise B:F 1. Indonesia is going to reduce security measures Wednesday.T 2. A fatal car bombing happened in Jakarta.F 3. At least 30 people were killed and 148 people were injured.F 4. The damaged hotel is run by a European country.T 5. Two days later an Indonesian court would rule the former bombing case in Bali.T 6. More than 200 people were killed in the attacks of Bali Island.Section Three Oral WorkRetellingAs Susan and her daughter Jenny walked around the park they were hound ed by beggars. The girl was shocked when she saw a skeletal young beggar woman wrapped in a gray shawl*. Her eyes were sunken* and she held out a bony hand like she was receiving communion. As she did, her shawl fell away revealing a young child standing under it. Jenny just started throwing her money into that bony hand. Susan grabbed her before she could start taking off her jewelry, and the mother decided to have a talk with her about the beggars when they got back to the hotel.They boarded the return bus. They were stopped at a red light when Jenny stood straight up and screamed, “Mother!” Susan went to her window and she pointed to a taxi next to the bus. There, in air conditioned comfort, sat the beggar woman with her child next to her, eating an ice cream cone.Section Four Supplementary ExercisesPassage 1College Costs in the U.S.A new report says the cost of studies at public colleges in the United States increased 14 percent this year. This is the biggest increase in tuition* in 30 years. But the study also found that the average student pays a lot less than the published costs of a college education, because of grants*. And it points out that American students received a record amount of financial aid last year.Students do not have to repay grants, unlike financial aid in the form of loans. About half of American college students receive grants. This means that education costs differ from student to student.The report is from the College Board. This is a non-profit membership group of schools and other educational organizations. One of its best-known jobs is to administer* college entrance tests.The College Board says tuition at two-year public colleges rose at the same rate as four-year schools.The College Board says the increases were mainly caused by cuts in state spending on education. But a congressman says colleges have increased their prices in both good and bad economic times. John Baehner of Ohio is chairman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. He says colleges do not want to talk about their decisions to spend money to build things like rock-climbing walls.The College Board collected information from 4,000colleges and universities. It says the average total charge for students who live at a public college in their state is 10,600dollars. While tuition rose 14percent this year, housing and other costs increased at a lower rate.At a private college, total charges are almost 27,000dollars. That is an increase of about six percent over last year.David Ward is president of the American Council on Education. His group represents colleges and universities. Mister Ward called the College Board findings bad news. But he says percentage increases in tuition do not tell the whole story. He says there was good news about grants and other student aid.The College Board says financial aid for the last school year reached 105,000 million dollars. That amount was up sharply from the year before.Exercise A:1. Because of grants, the average student pays a lot less than the published costs of a college education.2. Two forms of financial aid for the students are grants and loans.3. When students receive loans, they have to repay them later.4. The increases in tuition are mainly caused by cuts in state spending on education.5. The total charge for the students who live at a college includes tuition, housing and other costs.Exercise B:l. This year the cost of studies at public colleges in the United States increased 14 percent.2. The average total charge for students who live at a public college in their state is 10,600 dollars. While at a private college, total charges are almost 27,000 dollars.3. The above information is collected from 4,000 colleges and universities.4. It is said that this year’s increase in the cost of studies is the biggest one in 30 years.5. American students received a record amount of financial aid last year, which reached 105,000 million dollars.Passage 2My GrandfatherI opened the door. My Grandfather was in the front room. He was wearing the ceremonial beaded deerskin shirt which had belonged to his grandfather. “Welcome back,” he said.I embraced my parents warmly, letting go only when I saw my cousin Roger sprawled on the couch. His eyes were red and swollen. He’d lost weight. His feet were an unsightly mass of blood and blisters, and he was moaning: “I made it, see. I made it. I’m a warrior.”My grandfather looked at me strangely. I was clean, obviously well-fed, and radiantly healthy. My parents got the message. My uncle and aunt gazed at me with hostility.Finally my grandfather asked, “What did you eat to keep you so well?”I sucked in my breath and blurted* out the truth: “Hamburgers and milk shakes.”“Hamburgers!” my grandfather growled*.“Milk shakes!” Roger moaned.“You didn’t say we had to eat grasshoppers,” I said sheepishly.“Tell us all about your Ta-Na-E-Ka,” my grandfather commanded.I told them everything, from borrowing the five dollars, to Ernie’s kindness, to observing the beaver.“That’s not what I trained you for,” my grandfather said sadly.I stood up. “Grandfather, I learned that Ta-Na-E-Ka is important. I didn’t think so during training. I was scared stiff of it. I handled it my way. And I learned I had nothing to be afraid of. There’s no reaso n in 1947 to eat grasshoppers when you can eat a hamburger.”I was inwardly shocked at my own audacity*. “Grandfather, I’ll bet you never ate one of those rotten berries yourself.”Grandfather laughed!“Those berries -- they are terrible,” Grandfather admitted. “I could never swallow them. I found a dead deer on the first day of my Ta-Na-E-Ka -- shot by a soldier, probably -- and he kept my belly full for the entire period of the test!”My grandfather called me to Roger. “You should have done what you r cousin did. But I think you are more alert to what is happening to our people today than we are. I think you would have passed the test under any circumstances, in any time. Somehow, you know how to exist in a world that wasn’t made for Indians. I don’t think you’re going to have any trouble surviving.”A: Pre-listening questionWhat is Ta-Na-E-Ka? Could you tell us something about it?B: Choose the best answer.1. A2. B3. D4. C5. D6. B7. B8. DC: Listen and answer the questions.1. Where was her grandfather when the writer came back to the house?Her grandfather was in the front room.2. How was her cousin Roger when she met him there?He sprawled on the couch with red and swollen eyes. He lost weight, his feet being an unsightly mass of blood blisters. He was moaning.3. How was the writer when she had an experience of Ta-Na-E-Ka?She was clean, obviously well-fed, and radiantly healthy.4. How did her grandfather survive his Ta-Na-E-Ka?At that time, he found a dead deer on the first day of my Ta-Na-E-Ka. This deer might have been shot by a soldier, and it kept her grandfather’s belly fullfor the entire period of the test.5. What was her grandfather’s comment on her Ta-Na-E-Ka?The writer’s grandfather told her that she should have done what her cousin did. But he thought that she was more alert to what was happening to the people today than they were. He thought she would have passed the test under any circumstances, in any time. Somehow, she knew how to exist in a world that wasn’t made for Indians. He didn’t think she was going to have any trouble surviving.。

新世纪英语高级视听说上册原文第二单元1.引言1.1 介绍新世纪英语高级视听说上册第二单元的内容和重要性新世纪英语高级视听说上册第二单元是一个重要的学习内容，主要包括了听力、词汇和口语部分。

该单元的内容涉及到日常生活中的各种场景和对话，能够帮助学生更好地了解和运用英语。

该单元还有许多实用的词汇和表达方式，能够帮助学生提高英语应用能力。

在学习该单元的过程中，学生将会接触到各种不同的听力材料，包括短对话和长对话，能够帮助他们提高听力理解能力。

词汇部分也包括了大量的实用词汇和短语，学生可以通过学习这些词汇来丰富自己的词汇量，同时提高自己的语言运用能力。

在口语部分，学生将会学习到如何进行日常生活中的对话和表达，帮助他们更好地应对各种交流场景。

本文将通过对该单元内容的介绍，帮助学生了解该单元的重要性，指导学生如何学习和应用该单元的内容，使其能够更好地掌握英语，并提高英语应用能力。

希望学生能够重视该单元的学习，加强练习，从而提高自己的英语水平。

1.2 强调学习该单元内容的必要性学习新世纪英语高级视听说上册第二单元的内容是非常必要的。

这一单元涵盖了丰富多彩的听力、词汇和口语技巧，对于提高学生的英语综合能力具有重要意义。

通过学习该单元内容，学生可以提升自己的听力理解能力，丰富词汇量，增强口语表达能力，对于日常交流和学术研究都有着重要的作用。

在当今全球化的背景下，掌握一门国际通用的语言至关重要。

英语作为全球通用的语言之一，学好英语已成为现代人的基本素质和必备能力。

而新世纪英语高级视听说上册第二单元的内容涵盖了真实场景下的听力材料、精选词汇和实用口语，是非常有针对性和实用性的内容。

通过学习该单元，学生不仅可以提高自己的英语水平，还可以更好地适应现代社会的发展需求。

在面对各种英语交流场景时，学生能够更加自信和流利地表达自己的观点，与他人进行有效的交流。

强调学习新世纪英语高级视听说上册第二单元的内容是十分必要的，也是对未来发展有着重要意义的一环。

《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 Britishweather 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 higherland.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 reassuresystem 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 dustparticles 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 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 pressureallowing 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 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.。

新目标九年级Unit 2单元测试题 -by David ,一．听力测试（20分） I.根据所听内容，选择正确的选项。

(5分，每小题1分) ( )1. A. running B. swimming C. walking ( )2. A. long straight hair B. short straight hair C. long curly hair ( )3. A. wear jeans B. wear shoes C. wear glasses ( )4. A. play the piano B. play the guitar C. play the violin ( ) B. soccer C. tennis II. 听对话及问题。

选择正确的答案。

（5分，每小题1分） ( ) 1. A. do homework B. play ping pang C. play the instrument D. play every day ( ) 2. A. Yes , she does B. No, she doesn ’t C. Yes, he does D. No, he doesn ’t ( ) 3. A. Steven ’s B. Lilian ’s C. Bruce ’s D. Denny ’s ( ) , he did B. No , he didn ’t C. Yes, she did D. No, she didn ’t ( ) 5. A. two months B. more than two months C. less than two monthD. a month III. 短文理解，根据短文内容，选择正确的答案（10分，每小题2分） ( )11. My life _______ a lot now. A. changed B. changes C. has changed D. have changed ( )12. When I was a child, I ________ have lots of time to play. A. used B. to use C. using D. used to ( )13. I used to read a lot of ________ books. A. comic B. cartoon C. English D. story ( )14. I enjoy listening to ________music now . A.pop B. classical C. school D. country ( )15. I ‘m busy ________ my tests these days. A. prepare B. preparing C. to prepare D. prepared 二．选词填空（5分，每小题1分） 1 .It’s _____ outside now. I can see nothing.2. Don’t _____the snake. I’ll give you a hand.3. I’m ____ that he can come here on time.4. Tracy____ being left alone in the house.学校_______________ 班级____________ 姓名_____________ 得分_______________5. Paul_____ everything new he meets.三．根据所给汉语和首字母填空（10分，每小题1分）1.They ______ ______ (过去常常) visit the old people’s home.2. It’s very expensive to go on trips ______ ________(乘飞机).3. I’m ______ (在…队里) the swim team.4. Some students like c________ with each other online.5. Children like to read c_________.6. Our hometown _________(change) a lot in the last few years.7. I spend half an hour _________(watch) TV.8. The little girl is interested in _________(read) books.9. He won’t give up__________(smoke).10. The little boy is t________ of going out at night.四．句型转换（10分，每空1分）1. Philip used to play soccer very well.(改为一般疑问句)________ Philip _________to play soccer very well ?2. Miss Liu used to be easygoing.(改为反意疑问句)Miss Liu used to be easygoing, __________ ____________?3. Alice shows great interest in playing the violin.(改为同义句)Alice ___________ ___________ in playing the violin.4. I used to be outgoing. (改为否定句)I ____________ ___________ to be outgoing.5. Maria used to help Mom do housework.(对画线部分提问)What_________ Maria _________ to do ?五．单项选择。

Dialogue 1Main ideas1. This is not a naturally-occuring conversation; this is a conversation in a movie written by a film writer.2. The conversation most probably takes place in Ruth's home. The two speakers are friends. The firstspeaker's name is Barbara and the second speaker's name is Ruth. The conversation is about work relatedissues. Ruth doesn't like her job and is thinking of looking for another job.3. Barbara feels terrible about her job while Ruth likes her job.4. Barbara's attitude towards her job is not quite right. For her, meeting the public was tiresome andunpleasant because her attitude was cold and uncooperative, sometimes even antagonistic.5. Narrator: It was as simple as that. For Ruth, meeting the public was pleasant because she enjoyed peopleand greeted them with a smile. For Barbara, meeting the public was tiresome and unpleasant because herattitude was cold and uncooperative, sometimes even antagonistic.Details and Inferences1.F2.T3.F4.T5_FDialogue 2Main Idea1. Her work came home last week and this job means their daughter's bedroom has been turned into a mini- studio and their house suddenly seems like the Bethesda bureau of NPR. In fact, she loves the fact that she is sitting at home right now. She has had a cup of coffee, and she is sitting m a very comfortable armchair. She has a home office. Despite all these, she is questioning how one can set psychological boundaries in the home to keep work from interfering, aside from athe lines are blurring.2. The second speaker's name is Maggie Jackson. Her new book is called Balancing Work, Life and Refuge in the Information Age. She states that "[B]ecause of technology, we are able to have our bodies at home, but our minds in a different place... You are doing work that separates you mentally from the home." She thinks that we're making the boundaries more flexible ;boundary-making is important, but we don't make enough boundaries In that sense, we are facing all kinds of problems and dilemmas while working at homeDetails and Inferences1. Maggie says, "For me, I was writing about the world of the workplace, the work/life balance,and noticing that the lines were blurring and also, at the same time at home, I was gaining the technology to be more Ilexible in my work. I could come home for dinner, put the kids to bed, finish a story or interview people in California-and I'm on the East fhme, I felt as though my work was seeping and leaking and bleeding into the rest of my house."}} JQ`llcIt supports Maggie's point of view that the kind of experience of home is being lost if we work at homebecause the lines, the boundaries between the work and life at home are becoming blurring.II.1.C 2. B 3.A 4.BPart iiPassage IMain IdeaThe passage mainly tells us that U..S. job growth has ended in November 2001. But rath much, or at all, at least for the foreer than strengthening anytime soon, the labor marketand Wall Street economists. been well below normal since, seeable future,the last recessionmay not pick up according to a growing number of labor market experts。

Unit 2 The new space raceA plan to build the world's first airport for launching commercial spacecraftin New Mexico is the latest development in the new space race, a raceamong private companies and billionaire entrepreneurs to carry payingpassengers into space and to kick-start a new industry, astro tourism. The man who is leading the race may not be familiar to you, but toastronauts, pilots, and aeronautical engineers – basically to anyone whoknows anything about aircraft design – Burt Rutan is a legend, anaeronautical engineer whose latest aircraft is the world's first privatespaceship. As he told 60 Minutes correspondent Ed Bradley when he first met him a little over a year ago, if his idea flies, someday space travel maybe cheap enough and safe enough for ordinary people to go where onlyastronauts have gone before.The White Knight is a rather unusual looking aircraft, built just for thepurpose of carrying a rocket plane called SpaceShipOne, the first spacecraftbuilt by private enterprise.White Knight and SpaceShipOne are the latest creations of Burt Rutan. They're part of his dream to develop a commercial travel business in space."There will be a new industry. And we are just now in a beginning. I will predict that in 12 or 15 years, there will be tens of thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands of people that fly, and see that black sky," says Rutan.On June 21, 2004, White Knight took off from an airstrip in Mojave, Calif., carrying Rutan's spaceship. It took 63 minutes to reach the launch altitude of 47,000 feet. Once there, the White Knight crew prepared to release the spaceship one.The fierce acceleration slammed Mike Melvill, the pilot, back in his seat. He put SpaceShipOne into a near vertical trajectory, until, as planned, the fuel ran out.Still climbing like a spent bullet, Melvill hoped to gain as much altitude as possible to reach space before the ship began falling back to earth.By the time the spaceship one reached the end of its climb, it was 22 miles off course. But it had, just barely, reached an altitude of just over 62 miles— the internationally recognized boundary of space.It was the news Rutan had been waiting for. Falling back to Earth from an altitude of 62 miles, SpaceShipOne's tilting wing, a revolutionary innovation called the feather, caused the rocket plane to position itself for a relatively benign re-entry and turned the spaceship into a glider.SpaceShipOne glided to a flawless landing before a crowd of thousands."After that June flight, I felt like I was floating around and just once in a while touching the ground," remembers Rutan. "We had an operable space plane."Rutan's "operable space plane" was built by a company with only 130 employees at a cost of just $25 million. He believes his success has ended the government's monopoly on space travel, and opened it up to the ordinary citizen."I concluded that for affordable travel to happen, the little guy had to do it because he had the incentive for a business," says Rutan.Does Rutan view this as a business venture or a technological challenge?"It's a technological challenge first. And it's a dream I had when I was 12," he says.Rutan started building model airplanes when he was seven years old, in Dyenuba, Calif., where he grew up."I was fascinated by putting balsa wood together and see how it would fly," he remembers. "And when I started having the capability to do contests and actually win a trophy by making a better model, then I was hooked."He's been hooked ever since. He designed his first airplane in 1968 and flew it four years later. Since then his airplanes have become known for their stunning looks, innovative design and technological sophistication.Rutan began designing a spaceship nearly a decade ago, after setting up set up his own aeronautical research and design firm. By the year 2000, he had turned his designs into models and was testing them outside his office."When I got to the point that I knew that I could make a safe spaceship that would fly a manned space mission -- when I say, 'I,' not the government, our little team -- I told Paul Allen, 'I think we can do this.' And he immediately said, 'Go with it.'"Paul Allen co-founded Microsoft and is one of the richest men in the world. His decision to pump $25 million into Rutan's company, Scaled Composites, was the vote of confidence that his engineers needed to proceed."That was a heck of a challenge to put in front of some people like us, where we're told, 'Well, you can't do that. You wanna see? We can do this," says Pete Sebold.Work on White Knight and SpaceShipOne started four years ago in secret. Both aircraft were custom made from scratch by a team of 12 engineers using layers of tough carbon fabric glued together with epoxy. Designed to be light-weight, SpaceShipOne can withstand the stress of re-entry because of the radical way it comes back into the atmosphere, like a badminton shuttlecock or a birdie.He showed 60 Minutes how it works."Feathering the wing is kind of a dramatic thing, in that it changes the whole configuration of the airplane," he explains. "And this is done in space, okay? It's done after you fly into space.""We have done six reentries. Three of them from space and three of them from lower altitudes. And some of them have even come down upside down. And the airplane by itself straightens itself right up," Rutan explainsBy September 2004, Rutan was ready for his next challenge: an attempt to win a $10 million prize to be the first to fly a privately funded spacecraft into space, and do it twice in two weeks."After we had flown the June flight, and we had reached the goal of our program, then the most important thing was to win that prize," says Rutan.That prize was the Ansari X Prize – an extraordinary competition created in 1996 to stimulate private investment in space.The first of the two flights was piloted, once again, by Mike Melvill.September's flight put Melville's skill and training to the test. As he was climbing out of the atmosphere, the spacecraft suddenly went into a series of rolls.How concerned was he?"Well, I thought I could work it out. I'm very confident when I'm flying aplane when I've got the controls in my hand. I always believed I can fix this no matter how bad it gets," says Melville.SpaceShipOne rolled 29 times before he regained control. The remainder of the flight was without incident, and Melvill made the 20-minute glide back to the Mojave airport. The landing on that September afternoon was flawless.Because Rutan wanted to attempt the second required flight just four days later, the engineers had little time to find out what had gone wrong. Working 12-hour shifts, they discovered they didn't need to fix the spacecraft, just the way in which the pilots flew it.For the second flight, it was test pilot Brian Binnie's turn to fly SpaceShipOne.The spaceship flew upward on a perfect trajectory, breaking through to space.Rutan's SpaceShipOne had flown to space twice in two weeks, captured the X Prize worth $10 million, and won bragging rights over the space establishment."You know I was wondering what they are feeling, 'They' being that other space agency," Rutan says laughing. "You know, quite frankly, I think the big guys, the Boeings, the Lockheeds, the nay-say people at Houston, I think they're looking at each other now and saying 'We're screwed!' Because, I'll tell you something, I have a hell of a lot bigger goal than they do!""The astronauts say that the most exciting experience is floating around in a space suit," says Rutan, showing off his own plans. "But I don't agree. A space suit is an awful thing. It constrains you and it has noisy fans running. Now look over here. It's quiet. And you're out here watching the world go by in what you might call a 'spiritual dome.' Well, that, to me, is better than a space suit because you're not constrained."He also has a vision for a resort hotel in space, and says it all could be accomplished in the foreseeable future. Rutan believes it is the dawn of a new era.He explains, "I think we've proven now that the small guys can build a space ship and go to space. And not only that, we've convinced a rich guy, a very rich guy, to come to this country and build a space program to take everyday people to space."That "rich guy" is Richard Branson, the English billionaire who owns Virgin Atlantic Airlines. Branson has signed a $120 million deal with Rutan to build five spaceships for paying customers. Named "Virgin Galactic," it will be the world's first "spaceline." Flights are expected to begin in 2008."We believe by flying tens of thousands of people to space, and making that a profitable business, that that will lead into affordable orbital travel," says Rutan.Rutan thinks there "absolutely" is a market for this.With tickets initially going for $200,000, the market is limited. Nevertheless, Virgin Galactic says 38,000 people have put down a deposit for a seat, and 90 of those have paid the full $200,000.But Rutan has another vision. "The goal is affordable travel above low-Earth orbit. In other words, affordable travel for us to go to the moon. Affordable travel. That means not just NASA astronauts, but thousands of people being able to go to the moon," he says. "I'd like to go. Wouldn't you?"。

新标准大学英语视听说教程(2)听力原文_U n i t+2-CAL-FENGHAI.-(YICAI)-Company One1Unit 2-Conversation 1Kate: Come in. Hey, Janet.Ja n et: Hi Kate, are you busyKate: Yes, I'm just doing an essay. But it's great to see you. So what's newJanet: Well, nothing much.Kate: You look a bit fed up. What's bugging youJanet: Well, I had a phone call from my parents and it made me feel homesick. It happens every time they call, and it gets me down.Kate: I'm sorry to hear that. I know how you feel. I love speaking to my mum and dad, but I always feel miserable after the call.Janet: My dad doesn't say much, and I want to speak to him, but I wish I knew what to say.Kate: Don't let it get to you. My dad doesn't say much on the phone either. I call, he answers the phone, and says, "Hi, I'll pass you to your mother."It's really irritating.Janet: But I miss him and my mother a lot, and I like to hear his voice.Kate: Just tell him what you're up to. Janet: Sometimes I feel as if I made a mistake leaving home and coming to Oxford. Sometimes I feel like a moody teenager.Kate: Try not to worry about it, Janet. It's normal to feel like that. I understand how you feel, but I bet everything will be fine next term. You'll get used to it. Hey, why don't you do what I doJanet: What's thatKate: When my dad calls, I ask him for more money! He usually says no, but at least I get to hear his voice! Janet: Maybe. I'm sorry to take up your time, Kate, but I must go now. Bye!Kate: Wait a minute ...!Unit 2-Conversation 2Kate: I think I may have upset Janet last night. Mark: What happenedKate: She came to see me. I was busy doing an essay but I was really pleased to see her. She'd had a call fromhome, and said she was feeling homesick.Mark: Poor kid! It must be tough when you guys living so far away from home.Kate: I tried to make her laugh, told her not to worry about it, and that it was normal to feel miserable. Suddenlyshe looked miserable, and then she got up and said, "I must go now" and left my room. It was really sudden. I feltas if I'd said something wrong.Mark: Maybe she was just being polite. It was probably because she realized you were working and didn't want todisturb you.Kate: I just wonder if she found it difficult to talk about her feelings with me. Maybe I shouldn't have tried tomake her laugh Perhaps she thought I wasn't taking her seriously.Mark: I wouldn't worry about it. Put yourself in her shoes. How would you feel if you were a student at college inChinaKate: I know. That's why I feel bad. If only she had stayed longer! I wish I could have helped her more. Janet: Hey, everyone!Mark: Hi Janet, you look cheerful!Janet: Yes, I've just got my essay back. I got an alpha minus!Kate: What an amazing grade! Well done.Mark: I'm really happy for you, Janet. Janet: I feel on top of the world!Unit 2-Outside viewSebastienHi. I'm Sebastien. I'm from Germany. Um, the idea of IQ of a measure of your brain power has been around for a while, but recently there's been this new idea of the EQ - your emotional quotient. And by now, it's actually almost being regarded as more important. If you look at it, businesses will... Well, they will prefer employing people with great EQ. Well, of course, IQ cannot be disregarded, but um, EQ does have its importance as well. Uh, I believe that, um, (I)mean, people, most people will have, um, their basic means of communicating with other people. Most people are somewhat socially adept, and just like most people have, you know, a basic general knowledge. But then, what I think really is the difference between IQ and EQ, I mean, you can have a "brainiac", and they will be great at most things they do, but if you just can't get along with him, if you just can't communicate with him, I mean, you know, he's not really that useful.KimHi. This is Kim. I'm originally from Korea, and I wasraised in California. And today, we are going to talk about the differences between IQ and EQ -IQ meaning your intelligence, EQ meaning youremotions. Now, in ... When I was, when I was a little, little boy in Korea, I had to take ... I think I'd taken like two or three IQ tests before the age often, which is when I moved to California. So, I guess we stress a lot of importance on intelligence, on having great IQ1 scores. But after I moved to the States, I learnt how to associate with people, and along the lines that this word EQ came up, you know, emotional, caring lout... It's basically how you deal with people, how you make people feel, and how people make you feel. t hink they're equally as, as important, but it seems that in the Eastern world they kind of stress on that a lot more back in the days. But I think again, you know, now that with Internet and people are communicating so much faster, there's a better mixture of the two I link. There's a stress on EQ in Korea as well, and a stress on IQ in the State s. Thank you.TedHello. My name is Ted, and I'm from the United States of America. Today, I'm going to talk a little bit about IQ or EQ - which is most important, or which is more important. Now, for a long time when I was growing up, people said, "IQ. What's your IQ Take an IQ test." But then EQ, your emotions, how you interact with people, that became very important. And I think they're ... that people might be onto something with that, because your EQ - how you deal with people, how you interact with people - is important. Now, a big part of this, in my opinion, is listening. I know I'm talking a lot right now, but if you want to get along well with people, you have to listen to them, so just take a minute, maybe shut your mouth for a minute, and listen to others, and then you can understand and communicate with them in a better way. So, part of EQ, I think, is listening - listening to others - and it can be more important than IQ.Unit 2-Listening inNews reportAccording to recent studies, the number one fear people have above everything else, including death, is of public speaking. People can become very anxious when they have to speak in front of an audience. The symptoms can range from slight nervousness with hands shaking or sweating to full-on panic: the heart beating very quickly, the body shaking, the inability to speak or move.The symptoms of fear of public speaking can begin before the event. People imagine that they will forget what they are going to say, or imagine that the audience will see how nervous they look and will think badly of them. The cause of their fear of publicspeaking is their belief that they will fail and be embarrassed.Researchers say that the fear of public speaking is associated with the fear of rejection. People who have to stand up in front of an audience believe that the audience will not like them or will not like what they say, and will reject or make fun of them.1 What is the news report mainly about?2 Why do people fear public speaking according to researchers?Passage 1Presenter We're fortunate to have as our guesttoday DrJenna Hudson, who has just written a book abouthow coloursaffect us in our surroundings, especially in the world ofadvertising. It's called Market Colours. Dr Hudson,which arethe most common colours in advertising andmarketing?Dr Hudson Well, of course, it depends what image themarketing team wish to project with their products.So for example, we often think of blue as a cold colour, but it alsomakes you feel peaceful, quiet, and it doesn'tsuggest strongemotions. So it's a favourite for banks and insurance companies, who wish to suggest the image that they aretrustworthy. And for selling products, it's often used tosuggest something is pure and fresh.Presenter What about red?Dr Hudson You can sell almost anything with red.It's a hot colour, which suggests a feeling of energy and even passion. It grabs your attention, and can make people buy almost anything. You often see red on magazine covers. But if you use it too much, it looks cheap and may make people tired. And orange has a similar effect to red, it's upbeat and happy, it suggests pleasant feelings and images. Most people react well to orange, and it's especially popular in advertising and on packaging for baked food. Presenter What about yellow, for instance?Dr Hudson Yellow is the colour of sunshine and it's a positive, happy colour, so it's used a lot in advertising. But it's also often used for warning signs, direction signs, and so on, where you have to read the message quickly and at a distance.Presenter What about less popular colours for advertising?Dr Hudson Surprisingly, green isn't used much in advertising except for garden products, It's friendly and restful. It can be cool and soothing, the colour of apples and mint, but it can also be quite strong and many people associate it with unpleasant ideas of decay or slimy creatures.Presenter But most colours are not primary colours, they're a combination.Dr Hudson Absolutely. So yellow-orange is common, and often used to give an impression of style and class, it looks like gold. But it's not often used in letters because it's not very strong. And yellow-green reminds people of feeling sick. Blue-green works well as a cool colour, suggesting freshness, and is sometimes used for toothpaste products, bathroom products, food and household cleaning products. It has many of the advantages of blue without the disadvantages of green. Presenter Fascinating. Thank you very much, Dr Hudson. Market Colours by Dr Jenna Hudson is on sale from next week, priced £15.99...Passage2Presenter What makes you embarrassed, Sally Sally Oh, I'm easily embarrassed. If anybody notices me or looks at me, I get very embarrassed. When people sing me Happy Birthday on my birthday, I get very embarrassed.Presenter And what makes you upsetSally When people are selfish, people who think only of themselves. And cruelty -I can't bear people who are cruel, especially to animals or children. Presenter Jake, what makes you depressedJake I hate it when it rains, and I don't like people who look down on me, who think they're superior to me without any reason.Presenter And what makes you angryJake When people don't behave properly in public, bad behaviour like dropping litter or people pushing each other on the bus or the train.Presenter Andrew, what makes you cheerfulAndrew I like to see everyone around me being happy and having a positive attitude towards the future, optimistic people.Presenter And what makes you jealousAndrew Well, to be honest, I just never feel jealous.I can't see the point of it.Presenter Monica, what makes you proudMonica I'm proud when I'm successful, especially in my work. Being recognized by my boss for what I can do makes me feel really proud. Oh, and my family. I'm very proud of them.Presenter And what makes you nervousMonica Every time I teach a new class. Thenight before I'm very nervous. You don'tknow what the kids are going to be like andhow they might behave, or if they're going tolike you.Presenter Anything elseMonica Doing interviews like this.。

视听说原文unit214Directions: In this section, you will hear several conversations. At the end of each conversation, onethe and the conversations what or more questions will be asked about was said. Bothquestion questions will be spoken only once. After each there will be a pause. During thepause, you must read the four choices marked A), B), C) and D), and decide which is the best answer.How are you getting along, Julie? A:B: After the vacation? Much refreshed.．AIt is interesting.．It is tiring.B It is exciting.．C It is refreshing.D．A: Why are you so cheerful while I'm so stressed all day?B: Well, you should work off your stress.work not so hardA．work on easier problemsB．．eat healthyC get rid of her stressD．B: Oh Eric. I'm ... reading a comic book.A: Comic book? I didn't know you are interested in it.B: Well, it's a recent interest. When I was low in spirit three months ago, a friend gave me a comicbook to read. And I became instantly addicted to such books. You know ... the pictures are so funny ...now I feel much better.A: I didn't know that. No wonder you are always in good spirits these days.B: Yes, and maybe you should read them, too, Eric.A: I ... I don't know. I'm just too busy with my thesis. It's for my master's degree and time is runningout ... Ah, pretty much stress on me.It amusing. read a break to something yourself you see B: Now you Eric? That's why need to givehelps, I promise.A: Really? Can reading comic books reduce your stress?B: Of course. I'm a living example. Actually I'm having stress too ... you know, the tests, the job, thingslike that. But when reading the fun stuff, I just forgot all my worries. Later I find myself more powerfulto deal with the issues in my life.A: That sounds magical. I'd like to try. Er ... what are you reading now?B: <i>Garfields</i>, the cat. It's good. There's another one and you can borrow it.A: Oh, thank you, Penny. You're very helpful.Questions 3 to 5 are based on the conversation you have just heard.1.Three months ago, a friend gave Penny _____ when she was in low spirits. （岭师分享群391337364发布）A．a flowera comic book．B．．a comic DVDC．a hatD2.Eric is working on his _____.．final examinationsA．novelB．master's thesisC．family problemD 3.What happens at the end of the conversation?Penny lends Eric a comic book. A．Eric lends Penny a comic book.B．They go to the library.C．They read the book together.D．At the end of several short passages. Directions: In this section, you will hearthe passage and some questions. Both the each passage, you will hearquestions will be spoken only once. After you hear a question, you must choosethe best answer from the four choices marked A), B), C) and D).Passage OneThe gestures are used to emphasize an idea or emotion, especially while speaking. Gestures are of great help as people are in a lack of words while trying to express their thoughts, emotions and feelings. While one is talking, he or she considers every sentence and word. Before one says some words, he thinks them over in order notto hurt someone or say something wrong. The vocabulary of a person is rather broad and contains millions of words that help us to express anything we want. According to the scientists, the average person uses about thirteen thousand of words in his everyday communication. One may say that thirteen thousand is a rather big number, but consider the fact that the average dictionary of a certain language contains about 600,000 words. That means we don't use even a half of the words in our language. So, it is common that sometimes we are in a lack of words to express something. As it happens, we start to express our feelings through different gestures. Gestures are the reflection of inner feelings we have but not able to express or try to hide. So, the gestures are a silent language. During our entire life we are wearing masks that help us to hide the feelings and thoughts. But, no matter what a skilful liar a person is, no one is able to control his gestures. Questions 6 to 10 are based on the passage you have just heard.1.Gestures will help people _____ to express their thoughts and feelings.A．who cannot speak a foreign languageB．who are not well educatedwho are not good speakers．C．who are in a lack of wordsD．2.Before one says some words, _____. one makes sure they won't hurt peopleA．B．one tries to use the simplest words C．one makes sure that the grammar is correct D．one uses gestures to tell what is to be saidin how one use many words does 3.On average,his daily communication?13,000.A．16,000.B．C30,000.D．60,000.4.Gestures are the reflections of _____.．spoken languageA．daily problemsB our moodsC．hidden feelingsD．5.What can't be controlled no matter how skillful one is?A．Manners.B．Behaviors.．Gestures.C Pronunciations.D．Passage Two ishappiness. is a be question whether work a cause of There may It certainly much work which is troublesome, and too much work is always very painful. But I think that even the most boring work is less painful to work, kinds are all. work than most people no at There different of according to the nature of the work and the abilities of the worker. Most of the work that most people have to do is not in itself interesting, but even such work has certain great advantages. To begin with, it fills the day without the need of deciding what one shall do. Most people, when they are left free to fill their own time, are at a loss to think of anything are they whatever they decide on, pleasant to be worth doing. And more been else would have feeling troubled by the that something very a make choice is pleasant. What's more, always having to troublesome. For many common people, it is better to be told what to who rich people Most of the the at do each hour of day.find may boredom. kind of At times they suffer no have work to do a relief by hunting in Africa, or by flying round the world, but the number of such experiences is limited. So the clever rich people work as hard as if they were poor to kill the bad feelings.Questions 11 to 15 are based on the passage you have just heard.1.To most people, the most boring work is _____than no work at all.A．more painfulB．no more painfulC．as painful asD．less painful2.What is TRUE about most work that most people do?They are not very interesting.．A．B．They cause unhappiness.C．They are troublesome.D．They are exciting.3.For most people, when they are free to fill their own time, they will probably _________.A．not know what is worth doingB．know how to kill the timeC．fill their time wellD．get lost in the streets4.Work has certain advantages because _____.A．it keeps people healthyB．people can be told what to do at every hour ofthe dayC．people find a reason to enjoy their vacations D．everyone should work5.What do the clever rich people do to kill the badfeelings of boredom?A．They travel around the world.B．They seek adventures in Africa.C．They work hard.D．They watch others work.Directions: In this section, you will hear（可跳过不做：several sentences. Listen carefully and then repeat.Stop yawning. This is serious!I'm stressed. I have an important test tomorrow.I'm doing my Ph.D Programme. It's taking ages to finish and it's pretty stressful.I'm a sales manager at an American company. It's pretty exciting.I wish I were working already. I'm sick of studying. Directions: There is a short text shown on thecomputer screen (as is shown below). You arerequired to read the text aloud. Your voice will be recorded into the system. You'll have 1 minute for preparation and then you are required to beginreading when hearing the beginning signal sound andstop it when hearing the ending signal sound. Yourreading should be limited within 1.5 minutes.Now you have 1 minute to prepare.I'm a freshman in a Chinese university. I'm justhappy to spend the next four years of my life here,with so many interesting guys. In my eyes,everything about the campus is cool: tall buildings,paths,clean classrooms, big libraries, largeplaygrounds and tracks, trees, lakes, birds. And of course there're the people, I mean my roommates.every fun of each other We tell jokes and makeStudy is also day. We're a happy family.Not not worried. life. a part of college But I'mworried at all. Now I learn for myself, not for thein the days it's better that I enjoy So grades.college and not to worry about my grades.Directions: Look at the picture below, which is aboutJack. Why is he feeling that way? Suppose you are hisFirst better. to help him feel want cousin and youdiscuss his problem with him and then make specific suggestions as to how he can feel better. You'll haveto and another 2 minutes 1 minute to prepare1 Now you have complete your presentation.minute to prepare.）clip video or <b>Directions:</b> True False. Watch theand decide whether the following statements are True (T)or False (F).cell live without a days Catherine: Cell Phones I think these you can'tmy can so with cell have I phone. Brad: always my phone me I call friends. I also can browse the Internet and download music. Jackie: My a have it. cell phone has a camera on It's very useful when I don'twith me and if there's something funny happening, there I camera are that can take a picture. Dayanne: I think sometimes cell phones unnecessary, however, they're very good for business. Alex: What I like you you about cell phones is you can contact anybody want anytime phones. feel want. Calvin: I like I lost some privacy because of celland Lourdes: I don't like cell necessary ... that much. They're phones they're they're very useful in emergencies ... but in general, I think that you Dennis: I like cell phones because they connect thing. not a good with people. Wherever you are, people can reach you. What I don't like times. they ring at the most unexpected is about cell phones when Alejandra: I like cell phones because they allow me to call people when like late. I don't I'm let I'm running late and them know that running when cell phones ring in theaters, or movie theaters, or important talks,or even in the classroom. That's ... I think ... a lack of respect, so that's when I hate cell phones.Catherine thinks we cannot live without a computer these days.TFJackie can take a picture with her cell phone.TF．Dayanne thinks that cell phones are not always necessary.T F Alex thinks he can contact anybody anytime with his cell phone.T F Calvin doesn't like cell phones.T FFill in the blanks. Watch the video clip a and fill in the blanks with the words you hear. Brad: I always have my cell phones with meso I can call my friends. I... Lourdes: ... and can also browse the Internet download music .in emergencies ... but useful necessary... They're and they're very in ... good Dennis: thing. ... a are that I general , think they notreach you. What I Whereveryou are, people can 发布）391337364（岭师分享群unexpected don't like about cell phones is when they ring at the most times ... Alejandra: ... That's ... I think ... a ack of respect, so that's when I hatecell phones.。

英语六年级上册第二单元目标测试（2014.9）听力材料及参考答案一、听对话。

根据所听内容选择相应图片，将所选图片的标号填写在括号内。

（2×6）Dialogue 1. --- What do you often do on weekends?--- I play with my friends.Dialogue 2. --- What shall we have for breakfast?--- I can make a cake.Dialogue 3. --- Do you like playing volleyball?--- Yes. That’s my favorite sport.Dialogue 4. --- Do you feed the fish every day?--- No, I hardly ever do it. I walk the dog.Dialogue 5. --- Did you go to Japan before?--- Never. I went to the USA last year.Dialogue 6. --- Do you have to do chores?--- I don’t have to. But I often clean my room.答案：B B A C C A二、听短文。

根据听到的内容，将人物与图片连线。

（1×5）It’s 6:30 in the evening. My friends are all at home. Look! Jim is eating dinner with his family. He likes all the dishes very much. Mike is going shopping with his mother. He likes shopping at weekends. Helen is taking out the trash. She does it every morning. Rose is washing the dishes. She likes to do chores for family. How about Tony? Oh! He is doing his homework. Linda is cooking a birthday cake. She likes cooking a lot.JimMike HelenRoseTonyLinda三、听对话。

Unit 2 SportsPart II LISTENING AND SPEAKINGLESSON A Do You Play Any Sports?ScriptM: In Japan, a lot of people watch baseball and soccer. Golf, too.F: Here in Mexico City, soccer is the most popular sport. Everyone loves it. And baseball and basketball are also popular, but mostly to watch. Not so many people play them.M: In Australia, a lot of people watch rugby and cricket. Soccer is popular, too.Mexico City墨西哥城（墨西哥首都）ScriptM: In Japan, a lot of people watch baseball and soccer. Golf, too. But my favorite sport is skiing. I like skateboarding, too.F: Here in Mexico City, soccer is the most popular sport. Everyone loves it. And baseball and basketball are also popular, but mostly to watch. Not so many people play them. I’m not really into sports, but I do like taekwondo. Some of my friends do it, and now I do it, too. It’s great exercise.M: In Australia, a lot of people watch rugby and cricket. Soccer is popular, too. Me? I love water sports; swimming and surfing are my favorites.1. be not really into sth.并不是真正喜欢某事be into sth.非常喜欢某事2. water sports水上运动CONVERSATIONSCRIPT （无注释）A: Do you play any sports?B: Yeah, I play tennis. I also do gymnastics. How about you?A: No, not really. Sometimes, I go bowling with my friends.B: Do you like soccer?A: Yeah, it’s OK. I don’t play it, but sometimes I watch it on TV.B: Me too.LESSON B Amazing RacesListening 1ScriptAmazing Races—The Rock and Roll MarathonGood points: It’s fun. At 42 kilometers (26.2 miles), a marathon isn’t easy to run. Luckily, the Rock and Roll Marathon in Las Vegas is fun. It’s a race and a party.The “Vegas Strip” (the city’s famous main street) closes so people can run. Along the race, over thirty bands play music. Many runners also wear costumes—Elvis is a popular one.Bad points: It’s crowded. There are a lot of people in the race—44,000 from all over the world—so it can be hard to run. Also, it’s cold. The race is in late November, and it’s sometimes only 5 degrees Celsius (42 degrees Fahrenheit). Warm clothes are a must!Amazing Races—The Patagonian Expedition RaceGood points: It’s beautiful. Racers go through Patagonia. This place is famous for its amazing scenery. The race is also really exciting.Bad points: It’s really hard. Some say this is the world’s most difficult race. It starts on February 14 and ends on the 22nd—eight days and five hundred sixty kilometers (three hundred fifty miles) later.People from around the world work in teams of four. They mountain bike, hike, and kayak for days. For many, it’s very long and tiring. In fact, only half the teams finish this race each year.1.The Rock and Roll Marathon摇滚马拉松，起源于1998年美国圣地亚哥。