英语专业四级听写

Passage 1Town and Country Life in EnglandThere is a big difference between town life and country life in England. In the country, everybody knows everybody else. They know what time you get up, what time you go to bed and what you have for dinner. If you want help, you will always get it and you will be glad to help others.In a large town like London, however, it can sometimes happen that you have never seen your next door neighbor and you do not know his name or anything about him. People in London are often very lonely. This is because people go to different places in the evenings and at weekends. If you walk through the streets in the centre of London on Sunday, it is like a town without people. One is sorry for old people living on their own .They could die in their homes and would not be discovered for weeks or even months. (154 words)Useful Words and Expressions:next door n. n．隔壁the neighbors next他 door隔壁邻居lonely adj ．孤独的，寂寞的，偏僻的，人迹罕至的lonely life孤单的生活a lonely old man一位孤独的老人a lonely sand一个孤岛the loneliest night最孤独的夜晚on (one's) own独自；独立地；通过自己的努力She lives on her own．她一个人过。

英语专业四级Dictation听写50篇Town and Country Life in EnglandThere is a big difference between town life and country life in England. In the country, everybody knows everybody else. They know what time you get up, what time you go to bed and what you have for dinner. If you want help, you will always get it and you will be glad to help others.In a large town like London, however, it can sometimes happen that you have never seen your next door neighbor and you do not know his name or anything about him. People in London are often very lonely. This is because people go to different places in the evenings and at weekends. If you walk through the streets in the centre of London on Sunday, it is like a town without people. One is sorry for old people living on their own. They could die in their homes and would not be discovered for weeks or even months.A Change in Women’s LifeThe important change in women’s life-pattern has only recently begun to have its full effect on women’s economic position. Even a few years ago most girls left school at the first opportunity, and most of them took a full-time job. However, when they married, they usually left work at once and never returned to it. T oday the school-leaving age is sixteen, many girls stay at school after that age, and though women tend to marry younger, more married women stay at work at least until shortly before their first child is born. Very many more afterwards return to full-time or part-time work. Such changes have led to a new relationship in marriage, with the husband accepting a greater share of the duties and satisfactions of family life and with bothhusband and wife sharing more equally in providing the money, and running the home, according to the abilities and interests of each of them. Useful Words and Expressions:1. life-pattern生活方式2. shareA Popular Pastime of the English PeopleOne of the best means of understanding the people of any nation is watching what the do with their non-working time.Most English men, women and children love growing things, especially flowers. Visitors to England in spring, summer or autumn are likely to see gardens all they way along the railway lines. There are flowers at the airports and flowers in factory grounds, as well as in gardens along the roads. Each English town has at least one park with beautifully kept flower beds. Public buildings of every kind have brilliant window boxes and sometimes basketsof flowers are hanging on them.But what the English enjoy most is growing things themselves. If it is impossible to have a garden, then a window box or something growing in a pot will do. Looking at each other’s gardens is a popular pastime with the English.Useful Words and Expressions:1. window box:窗台上的花盆箱2.pastime 消遣，娱乐Swimming is my favorite pastime.British and American Police OfficersReal policemen, both in Britain and the U.S., hardly recognize any common points between their lives and what they se on TV—if they ever get home in time.Some things are almost the same, of course, but thepolicemen do not think much of them much of them.The first difference is tha t a policeman’s real life deals with the law. Most of what he learns is the law. He has to know actually what actions are against the law and what facts can be used to prove them in court. He has to know nearly as much law as a lawyer, and what’s more, he has to put it into practice on his feet, in the dark and, running down a narrow street after someone he wants to talk to.Little of his time is spent in talking with beautiful girls or in bravely facing cruel criminals. He will spend most of his working life arranging millions of words on thousands of forms about hundreds of sad, ordinary people who are guilty--- or not of stupid, unimportant crimes.Useful Words and Expressions:1. think much of 重视，尊重2. in court 在法庭上3. criminal 罪犯，犯罪者4. guilty 犯罪的，有罪的Living SpaceHow much living space does a person need? What happens when his space needs are not met? Scientists are doing experiments on rats to try to determine the effects of overcrowded conditions on man. Recent studies have shown that the behavior of rats is greatly affected by space. If rats have enough living space, they eat well, sleep well and produce their young well. But if their living conditions become too crowded, their behavior and eventheir health change obviously. They can not sleep and eat well, and signs of fear and worry become clear. The more crowded they are, and more they tend to bite each other andeven kill each other. Thus, for rats, populations and violence are directly related. Is this a natural law for human society as well? Is enough space not only satisfactory, but necessary for human survival? These are interesting questions.The United NationsIn 1945, representatives of 50 nations met to plan this organization. It was called the United Nations. After the war, many more nations joined.There are two major parts of the United Nations. One is called the General Assembly. In the General Assembly, every member nation is represented and has an equal vote.The second part is called the Security Council. It has representatives of just 15 nations. Five nations are permanent members: the United States, Russia, France, Britain, and China. The 10 other members are elected every two years by the General Assembly.The major job of the Security Council is to keep peace in the world. If necessary, it can send troops from member nations to try to stop little wars before they turn into big ones.It is hard to get the nations of the Security Council to agree on when this is necessary. But they did vote to try to stop wars.Useful Words and Expressions:1. representative 代表2. General Assembly 联合国大会3. permanent 永久的，持久的4. Security Council 联合国安全理事会PlasticWe use plastic wrap to protect our foods. We put our garbage in plastic bags or plastic cans. We sit on plastic chairs, play with plastic toys, drink from plastic cups, and wash our hairwith shampoo from plastic bottles!Plastic does not grow in nature. It is made by mixing certain things together. We call it a produced or manufactured material. Plastic was first made in the 1860s from plants, such as wood and cotton. That plastic was soft and burned easily.The first modern plastics were made in the 1930s. Most clear plastic starts out as thick, black oil. That plastic coating inside a pan begins as natural gas.Over the years, hundreds of different plastics have been developed. Some are hard and strong. Some are soft and bendable. Some are clear. Some are many-colored. There is a plastic for almost every need. Scientists continue to experiment with plastics. They hope to find even ways to use them!Display of GoodsAre supermarkets designed to persuade us to buy more?Fresh fruit and vegetables are displayed near supermarket entrances. This gives the impression that only healthy food is sold in the shop. Basic foods that everyone buys, like sugar and tea, are not put near each other. They are kept in different aisles so customers are taken past other attractive foods before they find what they want. In this way, shoppers are encouraged to buy products that they do not really need.Sweets are often placed at children’s eye level at the checkout. While parents are waiting to pay, children reach for the sweets and put them in the trolley.More is bought from a fifteen-foot display of one type of product than from a ten-foot one. Customers also buy more when shelves are full than when they are half empty. They do not like to buy from shelves with few products on them because they feel there is something wrong with those products that are there.Useful Words and Expressions:1. aisle 走廊，过道2. trolley 手推车3. checkout 收款台Albert EinsteinAlbert Einstein was born in Germany in 1879, His father owned a factory that made electrical devices. His mother enjoyed music and books. His parents were Jewish but they did not observe man y of the religion’s rules. Albert was a quite child who spent much of his time alone. He was slow to talk and had difficulty learning to read. When Albert was five years old, his father gave him a compass. The child was filled with wonder when he discovered that the compass needle always pointed in the same direction—to be north. He asked his father and his uncle what caused the needle to move. Their answers about magnetism and gravity were difficult for the boy to understand. Yet he spent a lot of time thinking about them. He said later that he felt something hidden had to be behind things.Useful expressions and words:1. device 装置，设备leave to one’s own devices 听任某人自行其是，允许某人按自己的意愿做事She left the child to her own devices for an hour in the afternoon.她允许孩子在下午有一个小时的自由支配时间。

2023英语专业四级真题及答案2023年英语专业四级考试（听写）答案Part 1DictationThink Positively and Feel PositivelyAre you confident or insecure in a difficult situation? Do you react positively or negatively? The answer may depend in part on whom you are around.A study found that negative thinking can be contagious in some cases. For example, the researchers studied 103 college roommates. They measured each roommate's tendency towards negative thinking. It was found that thinking patterns can be contagious. Students with a negative thinking roommate became more depressed themselves and students with more positive thinking roommates were more likely to become more positive as well.2023年英语专业四级考试（听力）答案5.B.11 thursday7.A.increased 6 to2023年英语专业四级考试（语言知识）答案PART III LANGUGAGE KNOWLEDGE11-30 :A DADBDBABCAD ABA CDBDC2023年英语专业四级考试（完形填空〕答案31-40: H L I E DK O C M G2023年英语专业四级考试（阅读理解）答案PART V READING COMPREHENSION41-50: BADBD ADCBD51 .Keep wits together in the presence of that food.52 .The author was given the million-pound bank-note.53 .lt symbolizes peace and unity.54 .Meeting basic needs and making low-paid work.55 .Good things will happen by taking care of the present.2023年英语专业四级考试（作文）答案When it comes to whether parents should take their children to spend holidays during term-time, views on the issue vary from person to person. Parents claim that by doing so, they can save a lot of money born of busy school holidays. Educational officials strongly oppose this tendency on the ground that it encourages truancy, which in turn damages a child5s education. From my perspective, the merits of banning term-time holidays outweigh its demerits.To begin with, taking tough measures on this kind of truancy is conducive to the normal teaching process, one of the key elements to guarantee kid's academic performance. As we know, currently, teachers have the discretion to approve a certain time of absence from school for each child, which is supposed to be forillness and is not supposed to be granted for holidays. By definitely abolishing the right of hea d teachers to “authorize absence" from the classroom, those teachers can rarely be pestered by parents who want to take children to go on a holiday just to save money, which severely disrupts teaching process. What *s more, without strict penalties imposed on the parents who lead to their kid's playing truant, those parents can gradually view asking for holiday leave as a right. Once this cultural expectation is formed, the level of truancy will dramatically increase.Accordingly, the growing trend of term-time holidays should be banned with no delay. In this way, teachers can impart knowledge without disturbance and parents will be deterred from saving money at the expense of sacrificing their kid's education.。

CONTENTSPassage 1 Town and Country life in England Passage 2 A Change in Women's LifePassage 3 A Popular Pastime of the English People Passage 4 British and American Police Officers Passage 5 living SpacePassage 6 The United NationsPassage 7 PlasticPassage 8 Display of GoodsPassage 9 Albert EinsteinPassage 10 Private CarsPassage 11 A Henpecked Husband and His Wife Passage 12 A Young Man's PromisePassage 13 A Kind NeighborPassage 14 That Isn't Our FaultPassage 15 A Guide's AnswerPassage 16 A Qualified PilotPassage 17 Living Things ReactPassage 18 Flowering PlantsPassage 19 Finding the Direction and Location Passage 20 WavesPassage 21 SoilsPassage22 CrisisPassage 23 America's Worst SurprisePassage 24 Great Depression in the U.S.Passage 25 A Place of Our OwnPassage 26 Travel for WorkPassage 27 IntelligencePassage 28 A Free Dress Every WeekPassage 29 TimePassage 30 CartoonistsPassage 31 Water PollutionPassage 32 Making a ComplaintPassage 33 Where Do the British LivePassage 34 Will Computers Replace Human Beings Passage 35 SoccerPassage 36 ArtistsPassage 37 Professional Sports in the U.S. Passage38 "How to" BooksPassage 39 Don't Give UpPassage 40 How High Can You JumpPassage 41 Apology HelpsPassage 42 SleepPassage 43 Our ConcernPassage 44 Gardening in AmericaPassage 45 The Influence of LifePassage 46 AutomobilesPassage 47 House and HomePassage 48 Population GrowthPassage49 Natural ResourcesPassage50 Reading1 Town and Country Life in EnglandThere is a big difference between town life and country life in England. In the country, everybody knows everybody else. They know what time you get up, what time you go to bed and what you have for dinner. If you want help, you will always get it and you will be glad to help others.In a large town like London, however, it can sometimes happen that you have never seen your next door neighbor and you do not know his name or anything about him. People in London are often very lonely. This is because people go to different places in the evenings and at weekends. If you walk through the streets in the centre of London on Sunday, it is like a town without people. One is sorry for old people living on their own .They could die in their homes and would not be discovered for weeks or even months. (154 words)Useful Words and Expressions:next door n. n．隔壁the neighbors next他 door隔壁邻居lonely adj ．孤独的，寂寞的，偏僻的，人迹罕至的lonely life孤单的生活a lonely old man一位孤独的老人a lonely sand一个孤岛the loneliest night最孤独的夜晚on (one's) own独自；独立地；通过自己的努力She lives on her own．她一个人过。

听写，顾名思义，既听又写，它渗透在各种形式的语言活动中，是最常用到的基本功之一。

听写测试要求考生把听到的内容准确无误地以笔头的形式表达出来，虽无需考生自己遣词造句，但由于牵涉到语言（听力﹑单词拼写﹑篇章结构等）与非语言能力（如记忆力﹑速记等）也决非易事。

从90 年开始第一次TEM4测试，听写就作为一项测试项目，占有10 分, 比重为10%, 91 ,92年，93年上升到15 分, 比重为10%，从94年起（由于难度问题，本次取消了proof reading）, 听写尽管仍为15 分, 但比重上升为15%，其间制定的新的考试大纲，正式明确了这一点。

从教纲到考纲，听写都是一项不可或缺的部分，且所占比重上升，与写作相同。

在TEM4 中，考虑到基础阶段的特点及信度要求，采用的是录音式标准听写，根据考纲，长度为150字（word）左右，为一段或多段，答题纸上印有题目便于联想，所选题材广泛而不生僻，体裁多样，可以为叙述性、描写性、说明性，难度适中。

全文共分15个意群（chunk），每个意群可能是词组、分句或句子。

共念四遍，第一遍为正常速度朗读（wpm=120词），考生在此时要从整体理解全文内容，抓住中心大意，而不要着急写。

第二、三遍为慢读，根据意群停顿，分句或长句之间停10-15秒，考生此时要准确，逐字逐句迅速写下听到的内容。

第四遍又是正常语速（wpm=120词）, 便于考生校对，四遍全部听写结束后，留有2分钟作为复查时间。

考生利用此时可检查全文是否有单词遗漏，拼写是否有误，标点符号是否选择正确，直到录音中听到“That is the end of dictation”, 便可进行下一项听力内容了。

根据调查，听写中的几个明显错误是：1. 考生对这种标准听写形式陌生, 对听写材料进行改写甚至加工成作文；2. 第一遍听音时不知如何把握全文的大意(top-down approach), 而是着急写，丢了西瓜捡芝麻(bottom-up)，只见部分单词而缺少骨架结构；3. 同样，在第四遍结束后的两分钟复查时间里，不会很好地利用分析逻辑能力对有些明显的或介词搭配或词语进行校正，小错不断，或丢词，或写出的内容前后不通顺；4. 由于朗读中没有念出标点，而是靠学生自己听，判断选择，于是就出现全文没有标点符号，没有大小写，或所有的停顿处都是一种符号，或中文标点混用在英文短文里的情况。

英语专业四级分值分布大学英语四级考试有六个部分:听写、听力理解、语言知识、完形填空、阅读理解和写作。

整个考试需要130分钟。

英语专业四级分值分布如下图所示：一、专四听写(Dictation)1.测试要求：(a)能在全面理解内容的基础上逐字逐句写出所听材料(b)拼写和标点符号正确无误,错误率不超过8%(c)考试时间10分钟，分值为十分2. 测试形式：这部分分为主观题，材料读了四遍。

第一次以正常速度朗读，录音速度为每分钟120字，让学生理解材料的主旨。

第二遍和第三遍朗读时，在意群分句和句子之间留出15秒左右的间隙让学生书写，然后以正常速度朗读，供学生第四遍检查。

3. 测试目的：测试学生的听力理解、拼写能力和正确使用标点符号的能力。

4. 选材原则：(a )题材广泛体裁多样(b)听写材料难度以不超过<<大纲>>规定为准(c) 听写材料长度约150个单词二、专四听力理解(Listening Comprehension)1. 测试要求：(a)能听懂英语国家人士关于日常生活和社会生活的谈话，以及中等难度(如TOEFL中的短文)的听力材料。

能理解大意，领会说话者的态度感情和真实意图(b)能听懂相当于正常语速和新闻节目的主要内容(c)能辨别各种英语变体(如美国英语英国英语澳大利亚英语等)(d)考试时间约15分钟2.测试形式：本部分采用多项选择题，分三节:Section A，Section B，共20题。

Section A: Talk本部分由一个500个单词的微型讲座(mini-lecture)和一项填空任务组成。

要求学生边听边做笔记，然后完成填空任务。

考试时间10分钟。

本部分共10道填空题。

Section B: Conversations本部分由两个450个单词的会话组成。

会话后有10道多项选择题。

本部分每道题后有10秒的间隙，要求学生听到问题后从所给的四个选项中选出一个最佳答案，录音语速为每分钟约120个单词，念一遍。

听写，顾名思义，既听又写，它渗透在各种形式的语言活动中，是最常用到的基本功之一。

听写测试要求考生把听到的内容准确无误地以笔头的形式表达出来，虽无需考生自己遣词造句，但由于牵涉到语言（听力﹑单词拼写﹑篇章结构等）与非语言能力（如记忆力﹑速记等）也决非易事。

从90 年开始第一次TEM4测试，听写就作为一项测试项目，占有10 分, 比重为10%, 91 ,92年，93年上升到15 分, 比重为10%，从94年起（由于难度问题，本次取消了proof reading）, 听写尽管仍为15 分, 但比重上升为15%，其间制定的新的考试大纲，正式明确了这一点。

从教纲到考纲，听写都是一项不可或缺的部分，且所占比重上升，与写作相同。

在TEM4 中，考虑到基础阶段的特点及信度要求，采用的是录音式标准听写，根据考纲，长度为150字（word）左右，为一段或多段，答题纸上印有题目便于联想，所选题材广泛而不生僻，体裁多样，可以为叙述性、描写性、说明性，难度适中。

全文共分15个意群（chunk），每个意群可能是词组、分句或句子。

共念四遍，第一遍为正常速度朗读（wpm=120词），考生在此时要从整体理解全文内容，抓住中心大意，而不要着急写。

第二、三遍为慢读，根据意群停顿，分句或长句之间停10-15秒，考生此时要准确，逐字逐句迅速写下听到的内容。

第四遍又是正常语速（wpm=120词）, 便于考生校对，四遍全部听写结束后，留有2分钟作为复查时间。

考生利用此时可检查全文是否有单词遗漏，拼写是否有误，标点符号是否选择正确，直到录音中听到“That is the end of dictation”, 便可进行下一项听力内容了。

根据调查，听写中的几个明显错误是：1. 考生对这种标准听写形式陌生, 对听写材料进行改写甚至加工成作文；2. 第一遍听音时不知如何把握全文的大意(top-down approach), 而是着急写，丢了西瓜捡芝麻(bottom-up)，只见部分单词而缺少骨架结构；3. 同样，在第四遍结束后的两分钟复查时间里，不会很好地利用分析逻辑能力对有些明显的或介词搭配或词语进行校正，小错不断，或丢词，或写出的内容前后不通顺；4. 由于朗读中没有念出标点，而是靠学生自己听，判断选择，于是就出现全文没有标点符号，没有大小写，或所有的停顿处都是一种符号，或中文标点混用在英文短文里的情况。

英语专业四级考试听写自我测试100篇（1-50为英式发音；51-100为美式发音）1. Education in ChinaEducation in China today has been developing rapidly. In many provinces, it is compulsory and free. Most children start school at the age of six. They attend 5 years of elementary school and 6 years of high school.After graduation from high school, a student can start his higher education in a two-year college, a four-year college, a university, or a specialized professional school. Most colleges admit students on the basis of their entrance examination records. The cost of a college education is not very high. And the greater part of it is met by their families, though students can get support from their college. Many students receive scholarships from the school, the government, private foundations and organizations.Though great progress has been made in China in the field of education, there is still a comparatively large part of the population in the country who cannot read and write.2.DreamsDreams are a product of the sleeper’s mind. They include events and feelings that he has experienced. Most dreams are related to events of the day before the dream and the strong wishes of the dreamer. Many minor incidents of the hours before sleep appear in dreams. Few events more than two days old turn up. Deep wishes or fears, especially those held since childhood, often appear in dreams, and many dreams fulfill such wishes. Events in the sleeper’s surroundings, a loud noise, for example, may become part of a dream, but they do not cause dreams.Some dreams involve deep feelings that a person may not realize he has. Psychiatrists often use material from a patient’s dreams to help the person understand himself better.Dreaming may help maintain good learning ability, memory, and emotional adjustment.3. EmotionsAccording to psychologists, an emotion is aroused when a man or animal views something as either bad or good. When a person feels like running away from something he thinks will hurt him, we call this emotion fear. If the person wants to remove the danger by attacking it, we call the emotion anger. The emotions of joy and love are aroused when we think something can help us. An emotion does not have to be created by something in the outside world. It can be created by a person’s thoughts.Everyone has emotions, but many psychologists believe that infants are born without emotions. They believe children learn emotions just as they learn to read and write. A growing child not only learns his emotions but learns how to act in certain situations because of an emotion.4. Re-employment of Laid-off WorkersThe issue of re-employment has emerged with large numbers of surplus laborers having been laid off. There is no doubt that it would lead to endless trouble if the surplus were not reorganized properly. In order to maintain social stability and to secure people’s normal living standards, it is essential to work out solutions to the problem.Solving the problem is a two-way operation as far as the government and workers are concerned.On the one hand, the government at all levels should try every possible means to create a wide range of employment options open to laid-off workers; on the other hand, these workers ought not to sit idle and wait for opportunities to come. So long as they don’t lose heart and constantly strive to better themselves, their futures will be bright.5. Describing PeopleFaces, like fingerprints, are unique. Did you ever wonder how it is possible for us to recognize people? Even a skilled writer probably could not describe all the features that make one face different from another. Yet a very young child- even an animal, such as a pigeon—can learn to recognize faces. We all take this ability for granted.We also tell people apart by how they behave. When we talk about someone’s personality, we mean the ways in which he or she acts, speaks, thinks and feels that make that individual different from others.Like the human face, human personality is very complex. But describing someone’s personality in words is somewhat easier than describing his face. If you were asked to describe what a “nice face”looked like, you probably would have a difficult time doing so. But if you were asked to describe a “nice person”, you might begin to think about someone who was kind, considerate, friendly and warm.6. Physical ActivityMost young people enjoy some form of physical activity. It might be walking, cycling or swimming, or in winter, skating or skiing. It might be a game of some kind like football, hockey, golf or tennis, or it might be mountaineering.Those who have a passion for climbing high and difficult mountains are often looked upon with astonishment why are men and women willing to suffer cold and hardship, and to take risks on high mountains? This astonishment is probably caused by the difference between mountaineering and other forms of activity to which men give their leisure.If we compare mountaineering and other more familiar sports, we might think that one big difference is that mountaineering is not a “team sport”. We should be mistaken in this. There are, it is true, no “matches” between “t eams” of climbers. However, when climbers are on a rock face linked by a rope on which their lives may depend, there is obviously teamwork.7. The Clever Man NasreddinAn old man died and left his son a lot of money. But the son was a foolish young man: he quickly spent all the money, and soon he had nothing left. Of course, when that happened, all his friends left him. When he was quite poor and alone, he went to see Nasreddin, who was a kind, clever old man and often helped people when they had troubles.“My money is finished and my friends have gone,” said the young man. “What will happen to me now?”“Don’t worry, young man,”answered Nasreddin, “Everything will soon be all right again and you will soon feel much happier.”The young man was very glad. “Am I going to get rich again then?” he asked Nasreddin.“No, I didn’t mean that, ” said the old man. “I meant that you would soon get used to being poor and to having no friends.”8. A Man and His CarA man was traveling abroad in a small red car. One day he left the car and went shopping. When he came back, its roof was badly damaged.Some boys told him that an elephant had damaged it. The man did not believe them, but theytook him to a circus which was near there. The owner of the elephant said, “I am very sorry! My elephant has a big, round, red chair. He thought that your car was his chair, and he sat on it!” then he gave the man a letter, in which he said that he was sorry and that he would pay for all the damage.When the man got back to his own country, the customs officers would not believe his story. They said, “You sold your new car while you were abroad and bought this old one!” it was only when the man showed them the letter from the man at the circus that they believed him.9. The SunA long time ago people thought that the sun went round the earth. In some countries people even said that the sun was a god. They thought the god drove across the sky each day on a golden horse. Now we know the earth goes round the sun. It takes the earth a year to go all the way round the sun. Today men even know how far it is for the earth to go round the sun. They tell us that the earth travels over a thousand miles a minute on its journey round the sun.The sun is really a star. It is much bigger than the earth and it is very hot. Some people have been to the moon but we know that no one can ever go to the sun. It is far too hot for people to live anywhere near it. The sun is three hundred thousand times heavier than the earth and more than a million times larger.10. Can Animals Be Made to Work for Us?Can animals be made to work for us? Some scientists think that one day animals may be taught to do a number of simple jobs. They say that in a film or on TV we may see elephants, or monkeys, dogs, bears, or other animals doing a lot of things. If you watch carefully, you may find that those animals are always given something to eat in return for doing them. The scientists say that many different animals may be taught to do a number of simple jobs if they know they will get something to eat in return. Of course, as we know, dogs can be used to guard a house, and elephants can be used to do some heavy jobs. And we can also teach animals to work in factories. Apes, for example, have been used in America to help make cars and scientists believe that these large monkeys may one day get in crops and even drive trains.11. Man’s Best FriendAlmost everyone likes dogs, and almost everyone likes reading stories about dogs. I have a friend who has a large police dog. Its name is Jack. Police dogs are often very clever. Every Sunday afternoon my friend takes Jack for a long walk in the park. Jack likes these long walks very much. One Sunday afternoon a young man came to visit my friend. He stayed a long time. He talked and talked. Soon it was time for my friend to take Jack for his walk. But the visitor still stayed. Jack became very worried. He walked around the room several times and then sat down in front of the visitor and looked at him. But the visitor paid no attention. He continued talking. Finally Jack couldn’t stand it. He went out of the room and came back a few minutes later. He sat down again in front of the visitor but this time he held the visitor’s hat in his mouth.12. CommunicationYou speak, write a letter, make a telephone call. Your words carry a message. People communicate with words. Do you think you can communicate without words? A smile on your face shows you are happy or friendly. Tears in your eyes tell others that you are sad. When you raise your hand in class, the teacher knows you want to say something or ask questions. You shake your head, and people know you are saying “No”. You nod and people know you are saying, “Yes”. Other things can also carry messages. For example, a sign at the bus stop helps you to know which bus totake. A sign on the wall of your school helps you to find the library. Signs on doors tell you where to go in or out. Have you ever noticed that there are a lot of signs around you and that you receive messages from them all the time?13. Weather and MenEverybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it. It is true. People usually begin their conversations with “Isn’t it a nice day?”“Do you think it will rain?”“What a fine day!”etc.Many people think they can tell what the weather is going to be like. But they rarely agree with each other. One man may say, “Do you see how cloudy it is in the east? It’s going to rain tomorrow.”Another man will say, “No, it’s going to be fine tomorrow.”People often look for the weather they want. When a farmer needs water, he looks for something to tell him it’s going to rain; he won’t believe anything else. When friends have planned a trip, they are sure the weather is going to clear up very quickly.Almost everyone listens to what the weatherman says. But he does n’t always tell us what we want, and once in a while he makes a mistake.14. A Selfish ManSmith was a landlord. He loved money very much and never gave anything to anybody. One day the landlord was walking along a river with his friends and fell into it. He cried, “Help! Help!” one of his friends held out his hand and said, “Give me your hand and I will pull you out.” But he did not give his hand to his friend. Then another of his friends tried but the same thing happened. Just then a farmer came over and saw all this. He knew the landlord very well. He said to the others, “Let me try.” He held out his hand and said to the landlord, “Take my hand and I will pull you out.” Hearing this, the landlord took the farmer’s hand, and in a minute the farmer pulled the landlord out of the water. All the others were very surprised at this and asked the farmer, “Why did he give his hand to you but not to us? The farmer said, “You don’t know your friend very well, when you say ‘give’ to him, he does nothing, but when you say ‘take’, he takes.”15. The Benefits of Class ParticipationDifferent teachers have different styles of teaching. Some prefer to deliver a prepared lecture, while others expect some participation from their students. Likewise, some students learn best in the former situation, while others do so in the latter. Perhaps the best learning environments is one in which the preferred styles of teacher and students match. For me, that is a class in which the teacher encourages class participation.I prefer to participate in class for several reasons. One is that students’ participation makes the class more lively and interesting. I can hear not only my teacher’s opinions on a subject, but also those of my classmates. Another reason is that I believe the teacher can better understand the students when they interact with him in class. Rather than wait for exam results to indicate how much the students have absorbed, the teacher can learn immediately whether the students understand what he is talking about. Finally, I acquire more knowledge in this kind of class. I can ask more in-depth questions and satisfy my curiosity.16. OilAlmost everyone in the world uses oil in some way. Cars, buses, planes and many trains and ships also need oil. Even our bicycles need oil. Indeed the whole world would stop if there was no oil.Today there is a growing need for oil in the world. So people are looking for it everywhere. Theylook for oil in deserts, in the mountains and under the sea. Quite often they find nothing, but the search for oil always goes on.Who are the largest oil producers in the world? The U. S., the former Soviet Union, and the countries of the Middle East. But China is catching up fast. Before liberation we used to buy nearly all our oil from the U S.. Many foreign people said China was “oil-poor”. But since liberation oil has been found in many parts of the country. Today everyone agrees that China is rich in oil. Our oil not only meets the great need in our country, but also be sold to other countries.17. Time ZonesStrange things happen from time to time when you travel, because people divide the earth into twenty-four time zones, one hour apart. You can have days with more or fewer than twenty-four hours, and weeks with more or less than seven days. If you make a five-day trip across the Atlantic Ocean, your ship enters a different time zone every day. As you enter each zone, the time changes one hour. If you travel westward, you put your watch back; and if you travel eastward, you put it ahead. Each day of your trip has either twenty-five or twenty-three hours. If you travel by ship across the Pacific, you cross the International Date Line. By agreement a new day begins at this line. When you cross the line, you change your calendar one full day, backward or forward. If traveling eastward, today becomes yesterday; if westward, it is tomorrow.18. Building Houses in the Early DaysIn the early days of the old west in North America, life was difficult. People lived on farms far away from other families. They went to town once a week or one time a month. Then they saw their friends and neighbors. On their farms everyone had lots of work. But there were some big problems. How did one family make a house? How could they build a barn alone? Those were big jobs.What did families do to build houses? They asked for help. They asked their friends and neighbors. They invited them to a work party for a few days. The women cooked together. They made breakfast, lunch and dinner. The men worked on the building. For the children it was like a holiday. They enjoyed it very much. They all helped one another for the good of everyone.19. FriendshipFriendship is one of the greatest pleasures that people can enjoy. It is very difficult to find a better definition of friendship. A true friend does indeed find pleasure in our joy and share sorrow in our grief. In times of trial, he or she is always at our side to give us his or her help and comfort.Knowing how valuable friendship is, we should be very careful in our choice of a friend. We must choose someone who has a good character, whose actions are good and who shows kind-heartedness. We should avoid those shallow people who change in the face of adversity or misfortune.A true friend can always be trusted, loved and respected. The most important thing is that a friend always understands you. In conclusion, when you have made a good friend, don’t forget him or her.20.Maintaining Your MemoryIf you do not use your arms or your legs for some time, they will become weak. When you start using them again, they slowly become strong again. Everybody knows this. Yet many people do not seem to know that memory works in the same way.When someone says that he has a good memory, he really means that he keeps his memory in practice by using it. When someone else says that his memory is poor, he really means that he does not give it enough chance to become strong.Have you ever found that some people can’t read or write, but usually they have better memories?This is because if they cannot read or they cannot write things down in a small notebook, then they have to remember them by heart. So if you want to have a good memory, learn from the people: practice remembering things in the way other people do.21.SOS Children’s VillagesIn Europe many people died during the Second World War. As a result, at the end of the war there were many orphans there. A man called Hermann V oss wanted to help these children. His idea was simple. He wanted the orphans to have a home, and he wanted them to have the care and kindness of parents. V oss asked people to give him some money. With this money he built the first SOS Children’s Village started. The letters SOS stand for “Save Our Souls”. This means “Please help us!” and SOS Children’s Villages gives help to orphans.Hermann V oss’s idea for helping orphans soon spread all over the world. By 1983 there were 170 SOS Children’s Villages in the world. People in many countries give money to help the villages. Today the children from the first village are gown up. Now some of them work in other SOS Children’s Villages.putersWe are already familiar with computers. Computers work for us at home, in offices and in factories. But it is also true that children today are using computers at school before they can write. What does this mean for the future? Are these children lucky or not?Many people who do not know about computers think of them as machines that children play with. They worry that children do not learn from experience, but just from pressing a button. They worry that this is not good for them. They think children are growing up not knowing about the real world.But people who understand more about computers see that computers can be very good for children. A computer can help them to learn about the real world more quickly, to learn what then want to learn and to think for themselves. And for the future, don’t we need people who can think clearly, who know how to get information quickly?23.Dick’s JobDick was a clever and hard-working student, but his parents were poor, so he had to work after class and during his holidays to get enough money for his studies.One summer he got a job in a butcher’s shop during the daytime, and another in a hospital at night. In the shop, he learned to cut and sell meat. In the hospital, of course, Dick was told to do only the easiest jobs. He helped to lift people and carry them from one part of the hospital to another. Both in the butcher’s shop and in the hospital, Dick had to wear white clothes.One evening in the hospital, Dick had to help to carry a woman from her bed to the operating room. The woman already felt frightened when she thought about the operation. When she saw Dick coming to get her, she felt even more frightened. “No! No!” she said, “Not my butcher! I won’t let my butcher operate on me!” with these words, she fainted away.24. OpportunityOpportunities don’t come often. They come every once in a while. Very often, they come quietly and go by without being noticed. Therefore, it is advisable that you should value and treat them withcare. When an opportunity comes, it brings a promise but never realizes it on its own. If you want to achieve something or intend to fulfill one of your ambitions, you must work hard, make an effort and be prepared. Otherwise, you will take no advantage of opportunities when they come to visit you. The difference between a man who succeeds and one who does not lies only in the way each treats opportunities. The successful person always makes adequate preparations to meet opportunities as they duly arrive. The unsuccessful person, on the other hand, works little and just waits for opportunities to pass by. In my opinion, there are plenty of opportunities for everyone in our society, but only those who are adequately prepared and highly qualified can make use of them for their own purposes.25.Living Life at a Slower PaceIt seems that everyone is in a hurry these days. In our fast-paced and competitive society, many people feel that they must do things as quickly as possible or they will fall behind. Certainly, there are many things for us to do. However, it is not necessary to always hurry to get them done. In fact, living life at a slower pace has many advantages.First of all, slowing down allows us to think more clearly about what we must do. With careful consideration we will make better decisions and make fewer mistakes. And when we do not have to correct the mistakes that we make in haste, we will actually save time. Secondly, when we take our time we can do things more carefully and thoroughly. And when we do a better job we feel more satisfied with our efforts. Finally, if we do not rush through life, we will have more time to enjoy the things that we do. And when we take pleasure in our work, we will live happier lives.26.Owning a CarNowadays, any Chinese can enjoy the luxury of owning a private car, if he or she can afford it. Having a car of your own means no more traveling to work on crowded buses or subway trains, and you can drop the children off at school on the way. Moreover, it also means that you can enjoy the weekends and holidays better, because with a car you can go to places where the regular buses and trains do not go, and so you can find a quiet scenic spot with no crowds.However, there are drawbacks to owning a car. For on thing, with the increase in car ownership in recent years, the roads are becoming more and more crowded. This often makes the journey to work more of a nightmare than a dream. For another, it is not cheap to run a car, as the prices of petrol and repairs are constantly rising, not to mention the price you have to pay for a license and insurance coverage.27．TourismTourism, a “smokeless industry”, is developing rapidly in China. With the “open and reform”policy being carried out, thousands upon thousands of foreign visitors are crowding into our country. They are eager to see this old mysterious land with a splendid culture of more than 5,000 years. Tourism is bringing China a lot of benefits. First, it enables the Chinese people to learn more about the outside world and promotes friendship and mutual understanding. Second, it is financially beneficial to China, which needs more foreign currency for its modernization program. Tourism, however, is giving rise to a number of problems. For instance, it is becoming a burden on our inefficient transport system. Besides, the standard of living of the average Chinese person is still not high enough to be able to afford the many different sorts of expenses met on long distance travel.But it is believed that with the development of our national economy, all these problems will certainly be solved step by step. A much better and brighter future awaits us.28.TimeAs a popular saying goes, “Time is money.” In fact, time is more precious than money. When money is spent, you can earn it back if you want to. However, when time is gone, it will never come back. As the pace of modern life continues to accelerate, the time at our disposal is quite limited. But there are a lot of things to be done in our lives. We should make full use of our time to complete what is useful to us. For instance, as students we should devote most of our time to our academic studies. In this way we can acquire the new knowledge and skill necessary for our future careers. In my opinion, wasting time means wasting our valuable life. But many of us don’t realize this. They think time is inexhaustible. I’m not in favour of such a view. Hence, my conclusion is that we should never put off what can be done today until tomorrow.29.Keeping a Diary in EnglishKeeping a diary in English is one effective way to improve our English writing ability. Compared with other forms of writing, it is shouter and takes less time. If we persist in this practice, gradually we’ll learn how to express ourselves in English. In keeping a diary in English, we inevitably come up against a lot of difficulties. In the first place, it often happens that we have trouble finding appropriate words and phrases to express ourselves. Secondly, there are many idiomatic ways of saying things in Chinese. And it is extremely hard for us to put them into English properly. Certainly, there are some other obstacles we may come across in keeping a diary in English. So I suggest we should always have a notebook and a Chinese-English dictionary within easy reach. Whenever something gets the better of us, we can first put it down in our notebook and then consult our dictionary. We can also turn to our English teacher for help, if necessary.30 The Tuition Fee System in ChinaThe system of tuition fees has become one of the hottest topics in China since it was put into effect. Different people have different opinions of it. Some people think that there is no university in the world which is open to students without tuition fees. The Chinese government is unable to allocate enough funds to pay for various teaching facilities and many different kinds of expenses. One of the ways to relieve the problem is for students to pay tuition fees. The money raised in this way can be used to improve school’s operating conditions. Others, however, are opposed to the system of tuition fees. They argue that compared with that in the Western World, the living standard of Chinese people, especially of those in the poor rural areas, is still low. The university tuition fees will certainly add to the already heavy burden on parents, who live on their salaries or wages. Moreover, tuition fees hinder some talented people from entering university only on account of their poverty.31. SmokingIt is known to almost all that smoking is bad for people’s health. Scientific research has shown that smoking can lead to heart disease, cancer and other problems. The World Health Organization says diseases linked to smoking kill at least two million five hundred thousand people each year.Still, many people find it difficult to stop smoking. One reason is that smoking usually becomes a habitual behavior, and habits, whether good or bad are not easy to give up. Another reason is that the effect of nicotine, the substance found in cigarettes works on people somewhat as drugs do.Measures have been taken to help people keep away from the harmful effects of smoking. In many cities, smoking is forbidden in public places. The danger of smoking is warned of everywhere. And newspapers are asked not to publish advertisements for cigarettes. World “No Tobacco Day” is observed every year as the biggest campaign against smoking.32. My First JobBefore I started at university, I took my first job as a waitress in a nice restaurant. The night before my first day, I was too excited to go to sleep and as a result, I got up late in the morning. I threw on my clothes and rushed over to the restaurant.In a great hurry, I didn’t hear clearly the head waiter’s instruction that we should go into the kitchen through one door and out from the other. So when I took two plates of eggs and bacon and an orange juice out to the restaurant, I went straight towards the wrong door and collided with another waiter coming in!Worst of all was that I wore a pair of smart shoes with high heels! A few hours later I was in agony, yet had no time to change them. By the time we finished serving dinner at about 10: 30, I was completely exhausted. Nevertheless, I learnt something from my experience.33. Birth ControlSince the Chinese government singled out family planning as one of the basic state policies in 1978, the country has adopted various measures and achieved great success in birth control. The total birth rate has been decreasing gradually.However, at present China’s population is still growing very rapidly. It is reported that every year the population of this country increases by an extra 15 million. And China encountered a birth peak during the 1990s. it is obvious that China’s economic development and the improvement of people’s standards of living have been and will be greatly affected by the size of population.Therefore, to control population growth more strictly is clearly essential to the country’s reforms and economic development. We should restress the importance of birth control and call on the whole nation to take more effective action.34. AdvertisementsAdvertisements are making their way into people’s lives. People depend on advertisers in their daily lives because they are consumers. The advertisers are not always manufacturers. Sometimes they are salesmen. Their merchandise needs advertising. Thus nearly every product is advertised. To some extent, good advertising means success while bad advertising can mean failure. There are many ways to advertise and “ads” come in different forms. Newspapers carry advertisements. Some products are announced on TV and radio, both of which have a wide audience. Billboards also carry advertising. Advertising is a big industry now and many agencies have been set up to provide a variety of related services. However, advertising is not always truthful. A product is often misrepresented. The advertiser exaggerates the benefits of the merchandise he wants to sell. Thus, he misrepresents the truth. The consumer falls victim to such advertising. Millions of people have。

tem4题型TEM4，即英语专业四级考试，其题型及分值分布如下：1. 听写（Dictation）：这部分测试学生的听力理解能力、拼写熟练程度以及正确运用标点符号的能力。

所听材料会朗读四遍，第一遍用正常语速朗读，让学生听懂材料大意；第二、三遍朗读时意群、分句或句子之间留出约15秒的空隙，让学生书写；第四遍再用正常语速朗读，让学生检查。

分值为15分，考试时间为10分钟。

2. 听力理解（Listening Comprehension）：包括对话、短文和新闻三种类型。

对话和短文会朗读一遍，新闻会朗读两遍，然后选择正确答案。

分值为15分。

3. 完形填空（Cloze）：测试学生综合运用语言的能力。

这部分会提供一篇文章，其中有20个空格，每个空格有一个选项，学生需要选择正确的选项。

分值为10分。

4. 语法与词汇（Grammar and Vocabulary）：测试学生对英语语法和词汇的掌握程度。

这部分会提供一系列的语法和词汇问题，学生需要选择正确的答案。

分值为15分。

5. 阅读理解（Reading Comprehension）：测试学生的阅读能力和对文章的理解程度。

这部分会提供几篇文章，每篇文章后有若干问题，学生需要根据文章内容选择正确的答案。

分值为20分。

6. 写作（Writing）：包括作文和便条两种类型。

作文要求学生写一篇150字以上的文章，便条要求学生写一张100字以下的便条。

分值分别为15分和10分。

以上信息仅供参考，具体题型和分值可能会根据不同年份和专业略有差异，请以具体考试大纲为准。

英语专业四级听写50篇文本（Oct. 22, 2011）Passage 1 Professor BumbleProfessor Bumble is not only absent-minded but short-sighted as well. His mind is always busy with learned thoughts and he seldom notices what is going on around him.On a fine day recently, he went for a walk in the countryside. But as always, he read the book as he walked. He hadn't gone far when he ran into a large cow and fell down. He had lost his spectacles in the fall, and he thought he had stumbled over a fat lady. "I beg your pardon, madam," he said politely before searching for his glasses. As soon as he had put the glasses on，he realized his mistake.Soon he was concentrating on his book again and paying no attention to anything else. He had scarcely been walking for five minutes when he fell over again, losing both his book and his glasses. This time he became very angry. Seizing his umbrellas, he struck the "cow" in anger. Then, after finding his glasses, he realized with horror that he had made a second mistake. A large fat woman was running away from him in terror. （187 words）Passage 2 TeamworkTeamwork is just as important in science as it is on the playing field or in the gym. Scientific investigations are almost always carried out by teams of people working together. Ideas are shared, experiments are designed, data are analyzed, and results are evaluated and shared with other investigators. Group work is necessary, and is usually more productive than working alone.Several times throughout the year you may be asked to work with one or more of your classmates. Whatever the task your group is assigned, a few rules need to be followed to ensure a productive and successful experience.What comes first is to keep an open mind, because everyone's ideas deserve consideration and each group member can make his or her own contribution. Secondly, it makes a job easier to divide the group task among all group members. Thirdly, always work together, take turns, andencourage each other by listening, clarifying, and trusting one another. Mutual support and trust often make a great difference.（166 words）Passage 3 Mistakes Are Good TeachersAfter the birth of my second child，I got a job at a restaurant. Having worked with an experienced waitress for a few days，I was allowed to wait on tables on my own. When Saturday night came，I was luckily given the tables not far from the kitchen. However，I still felt a little hard to carry the heavy trays. So I moved slowly, minding every step. I remembered how happy I was when I saw a tray standing next to the tables. It looked different from the one I was trained on，and it had nice handles which made it easier to move around. I was pleased with everything and began to believe I was natural at this job. Then, an old man came to me and said that was his wife's walker. I stood frozen as ice，but my face was on fire. Since then, I have learned to be more careful and not to be too sure of myself. (164 words)Passage 4 Time Has the Power to Change AttitudeLast week, my youngest son and I visited my father at his new home.My earliest memories of my father are of a tall, handsome, successful man devoted to his work and family but uncomfortable with his children. As a child, I loved him； as a school girl and young adult, I feared him and felt bitter about him.On the first day of my visit, we did some shopping，ate on the street table，and laughed over my son's funny facial expressions. Gone was my father's critical air and strict rules. Who was this person I knew as my father who seemed so friendly and interesting to be around？The next day, my dad pulled out his childhood pictures and told me quite a few stories about his own childhood. Although our times together became easier over the years, I never felt closer to him until that moment. After so many years, I'm at last seeing another side of my father. (162 words)Passage 5 Experiences SpeakThere are many different ways of seeing a town for the first time. One of them is to walk around it, guidebook in hand. Of course, we may study with our guidebooks the history and special developments of a town and get to know them. But then, if we take our time and stay in a townfor a while, we may get to know it better. When we look at it as a whole, we begin to have some questions, which even the best guidebooks do not answer. Why is the town just like this, this shape, this plan, and this sizeHere even the best guidebooks fail us. We can’t find in it the information about how a town has developed to the present appearance. However, we may get some idea of what it used to look like by walking around the town. A personal visit to a town may help us better understand why it is attractive than just reading about it in a guidebook. (167 words)Passage 6 Representatives of Civilization: Pottery Ancient people made clay pottery because they needed it for their survival. They used the pots they made for cooking, storing food, and carrying things from place to place. Pottery was so important to early cultures that scientists now study it to learn more about ancient civilizations. The more advanced the pottery in terms of decoration, materials, glazes and manufacture, the more advanced the culture itself.The artisan who makes pottery in North America today utilizes his or her skill and imagination to create items that are beautiful as well as functional, transforming something ordinary into something special and unique.The potter uses one of the Earth's most basic materials, clay. Clay can be found almost anywhere. Good pottery clay must be free from all small stones and other hard materials that would make the potting process difficult.The most important tools potters use are their own hands; however, they also use wire loop tools, wooden modeling tools, plain wire, and sponges. (162 words)Passage 7 Words Can Make a DifferenceOn August 26，1999, New York City was struck by a terrible rainstorm during the morning rush hour that caused the streets to flood. Many people who were going to work were forced to go home. Some battled to call a taxi, get a bus or walk miles to get to work.I soon discovered most of the subway lines had stopped service. I finally found an operating line, but there were so many people that I could not initially get to the platform. Finally, I got to my office, wet through, and exhausted.After an unenjoyable day, Garth, my Director, sent an e-mail to everyone:Thanks to everyone who reported to work. It is always reassuring when employees show their devotion to their jobs, Thank you.”Garth's email was short, but welcomed. It made me realize that even when times are tough, a few kind words can make a big difference. (151 words)Passage 8 Fairy TalesTales of the supernatural are common in all parts of Britain. In particular, there was a belief in fairies. Not all of these fairies are the friendly, people-loving sprites that appear in Disney films. In some folktales, they are cruel and cause much human suffering. This is true in the tales about the Changeling. These tell the story of a mother whose baby grows sick and pale and is changed so much that it is almost unrecognizable to the parents. It was then feared that the fairies had come and stolen the baby away and replaced the human baby with a fairy Changeling. In those cases, there was often a way to get the real baby back. You could place the Changeling on the fire--then it would rise up the chimney, you would hear the sound of fairies' laughter and soon after, you would find your own child safe and sound nearby. (153 words)Passage 9 Self-imageSelf-image is your own mind’s picture of yourself. This image includes the wa y you look, the way you act, the way you talk and the way you think. Interestingly, our self-images are often quite different from the images others hold about us. Unfortunately, most of these images are more negative than they should be. Thus changing the way you think about yourself is the key to changing your self-image and your whole world.It might be that you are experiencing a negative self-image because you can’t move past one flaw or weakness that you see about yourself. Well, roll up your sleeves and make a change of it as your primary task. The best way to get rid of a negative serf-image is to realize that your image is far from objective, and to actively convince yourself of your positive qualities. Changing the way you think and working on those, you will go a long way towards promoting a positive self-image. (161 words)Passage 10 ShopaholicsThe word addiction usually makes you think of alcohol or drugs, but in modern day society we are seeing some new kinds of addictions. Some people are compulsive shoppers. Others find it impossible to pull themselves away from their work. Still others spend countless hours watching TV or playing computer games.Over the years, shopping has become a very common activity. Many people enjoy going to malls or stores more and more every day, but it's more than a common hobby for some of them. They have turned into shopaholics. They are people who simply enjoy shopping and walking around spending money without being able to stop doing it. They are hooked on shopping and usually buy things that they don't need. Even though they don't have enough money, they want to buy everything they want.Why do they have this addiction There isn't a specific answer. Some people go shopping when they are sad, worried, upset or lonely. Some even tend to have this addiction when they feel guilty. (167 words)Passage 11 Time ManagementTime is something from which we can’t escape. Even if we ignore it, it’s still going by, ticking away, second by second, minute by minute, hour by hour. So the main issue in using your time well is, “Who’s in charge” We can allow time to slip by and let it be our enemy. Or we can take control of it and make it our ally.By taking control of how you spend your time, you’ll increase your chances of becoming a more successful student. Perhaps more importantly, the better you are at managing the time you devote to your studies, the more time you’ll have to spend on your outside interests.The aim of time management is not to schedule every moment so we become slaves of a timetable that governs every waking moment of the day. Inside, the aim is to make informed choices as to how we use our time. (153 words)Passage 12 Charity ShopsThe charity shop is a British institution, selling everything from clothes to electric goods, all at very good prices. You can get things you won’t find in the shops any more. The thing I like best about them is that your money is going to a good cause and not into the pockets of profit-driven companies, and you are not damaging the planet, but finding a new home for unwanted goods.Most of the people working in the charity shops are volunteers, although there is often a manager who gets paid. Over 90% of the goods in the charity shops are donated by the public.The shops have very low running costs: all profits go to charity work. Charity shops raise more than ￡110 million a year, funding medical research, overseas aid, supporting sick and poor children, homeless and disabled people, and much more. (153 words)Passage 13 Passive LearningWe can achieve knowledge either actively or achieve it actively by direct experience, by testing and proving an idea, or by reasoning. We achieve knowledge passively by being told by someone else. Most of the learning that takes place in the classroom and the kind that happens when we watch TV or read newspapers or magazines is passive. Conditioned as we are to passive learning, it’s not surprising that we depend on it in our everyday communication with friends and co-workers.Unfortunately, passive learning has a serious problem. It makes us tend to accept what we are told even when it is little more than hearsay and rumor.That’s what happens in daily life. The simple fact that people repeat a story in their own words changes the story. Then, too, most people listen imperfectly. And many enjoy adding their own creative touch to a story, trying to improve on it, stamping it with their own personal style. Yet those who hear it think they know. (168 words)Passage 14 Different "Styles" of DirectionsI travel a lot, and I find out different “styles” of directions every time I ask “How can I get to th e post office”In Japan, people use landmarks in their directions instead of street names. For example, the Japanese will say to travelers, " Go straight down to the corner. Turn left at the big hotel and go past a fruit market. The post office is across from the bus stop."In the countryside of the American Midwest, instead of landmarks, people will tell you directions and distances. For example, people will say, “Go north two miles. Turn east, and then go another mile.”People in Los Angeles, California, have no idea of distance on the map; they measure distance in time, not miles. “How far away is the post office” you ask. “Oh,” they answer, “it’s about five minutes from here.” You say, “Yes, but how many miles away is it” They don’t know. (155 words)Passage 15 RainforestsRainforests are the lungs of the planet – storing large quantities of carbon dioxide and producing a significant amount of the world’s oxygen. Rainforests have their own perfect system for guaranteeing their own survival. The tall trees make a cover of branches and leaves which protect themselves, smaller plants, and the forest animals from heavy rain, dry heat and strong winds.Amazingly, the trees grow in such a way that their leaves and branches, although close together, never actually touch those of another tree. Scientists think this is a deliberate method to prevent the spread of any tree diseases and make life more difficult for leaf-eating insects.They are not called rainforests for nothing! Rainforests can produce 75% of their own rain. At least 80 inches of rain a year is normal – and in some areas there may be as much as 430 inches of rain annually. This is real rain. In just two hours, streams can rise ten to twenty feet. (165 words)Passage 16 Juana Lopez’s InventionOne day, Juana Lopez had an idea for a dish washing machine that worked without using water. She went to see several dishwasher manufacturers about producing the machine, but none of them were interested. Juana found investors to back her idea and founded her own production company. She spent millions of dollars on developing her own dishwasher and it was launched three years later. From then on, sales were very good, better even than Juana had hoped. But Global Domestic, one of the companies that she had been to, made its own waterless dishwasher. Juana obtained one and found that it used the technical ideas she had developed. She had obtained legal protection for legal process. Global Domestic was forced to stop making its competing dishwasher and to pay Juana several million dollars. Now Juana’s waterless dishwasher has 40% of the worldwide dishwasher market and this is increasing every year. (164 words)Passage 17 Rising Sea LevelLatest research predicts that the global sea level is expected to rise 9 to 88 centimeters by 2100, with a “best estimate” of 50 centimeters. This is due to global warming which is causing the ice caps to melt.This great rise of close to one meter would threaten huge areas of low-lying coastal land as well as major cities such as London, New York and Tokyo.In many places, 50 centimeters would see entire beaches being washed away. On low-lying Pacific islands, the highest point is only two or three meters above the current sea level. If the sea level was to rise by 50 centimeters, big parts of these islands would disappear under the water.Even if they remain above the sea, many island nations will have their supplies of drinking water reduced because sea water will pollute their freshwater.There are also tens of millions of people living in low-level coastal areas of southern Asia, such as the coastlines of Pakistan and India, who would be in danger. (172 words) Passage 18 What Is a FatherA father is a person who is forced to endure childbirth without an anesthetic. He growls when he feels good, and laughs very loud when he is scared half-to-death.A father never feels entirely worthy of the worship in a child's eyes. He is never quite the hero his daughter thinks. Never quite the man his son believes him to be, and this worries him sometimes.A father is a person who goes to war sometimes and would run the other way except that war is part of his only important job in his life, which is making the world better for his child than it has been for him.I don't know where father goes when he dies, but I've an idea that, after a good rest, wherever it is, he won't just sit on a cloud and wait for the girl he's loved and the children she bore. He'll be busy there too, repairing the stars, oiling the gates, improving the streets, smoothing the way. (173 words)Passage 19 Little Boy's Big IdeaThe Intellectual Property Owners Association(IPO) is running a project to encourage young inventors. Samuel Houghton, a five-year-old boy has become the youngest Briton to hold a patent after watching his father struggling in the garden. Samuel developed a garden tool after watching his father Mark use two brushes to sweep up leaves outside their house. His father used a largebrush to gather leaves and small branches, and then got a small brush to pick up what was left. Samuel came up with the idea for a labor-saving tool, which has been patented and named the Improved Broom.It is a simple idea that combines two ordinary brooms with different-sized bristles and brush-heads to enable different-sized dirt to be swept up more efficiently. “The small one gets the first bits and the one at the back gets those left behind, Samuel explains.The IPO says that Samuel is its youngest known patent holder. (154 words)Passage 20Cultural DifferencesMeeting people from another culture can be difficult. Different cultures emphasize the importance of relationship building to a greater or lesser degree. For example, business in some countries is not possible until there is a relationship of trust. Even with people at work, it is necessary to spend a lot of time in "small talk", usually over a glass of tea, before they do any job.In many European countries—like the UK or France—people find it easier to build up a lasting working relationship at restaurants or cafes rather than at the office.Even within Northern Europe, cultural differences can cause serious problems. Certainly, English and German cultures share similar value; however, Germans prefer to get down to business more quickly. We think that they are rude. In fact, this is just because one culture starts discussions and makes decision more quickly. (146 words)Passage 21 StressStress is what you feel when you react to pressure, either from the outside world or from inside yourself. Stress is a normal reaction for people of all ages.Most people think that pressure is always a bad thing. In fact, a little bit of stress is good. Without stress, most of us couldn’t push ourselves to do well, especially in difficult things.People usually complain about feeling pressed for time when they are under certain pressure. It is true t hat you can’t always control the things that are stressing you out, but you can control how you react to them. The way you feel about things results from the way you think about things. If you change how you think, you can change the way you feel. Try the following tips to deal with your stress:Make a list of the things that are causing your stress.Give yourself an excuse.Don't promise to do things you can't do or don't want to do.Find someone to talk to. (170 words)Passage 22 Love Is a TelephoneLove is a telephone which is always silent when you are hoping for a call, but rings when you are not ready for it. As a result, we often miss the love coming from the other end.Love is a telephone which is seldom program-controlled or directly dialed. You cannot get an immediate answer with a simple “hello”, let alone go deep into your lover’s heart with one call. Usually it has to be relayed by an operator, and you have to wait patiently.Love is a telephone that is always busy. When you are ready to dial for love, you only find, to your disappointment, the line is already being used by someone else.Love is a telephone, but it is difficult to know when to dial. You will miss the opportunity if your call is either too early or too late. (143 words)Passage 23 JealousyThe experience of jealousy varies enormously from age to age, from culture to culture, from couple to couple, from person to person, and can be different within the same person from time to time. In the United States, there has been a change of attitude toward jealousy in recent years. “Normal” jealousy, which has been seen as an inevitable accompaniment of love and support of marriage, has come to be seen by some as evidence of personal insecurity and weakness in the relationship, and therefore a threat to the partnership.1111Most jealous flashes come from feeling left out of an activity involving your partner and another person or other people. When your partner pays attention to another, your first reaction is to note that they are “in” and you are “out”. You feel excluded, ignored, unappreciated.This kind of experience is not uncommon, and dealing with it gracefully is part of the etiquette of our time.(157 words)Passage 24 Differences Between Television and Radio AnnouncersWhen television first began to expand, very few of the people who had become famous as radio announcers were able to be equally effective on television. Some of the difficulties they experienced when they were trying to adjust themselves to the new medium were technical. When working on radio, for example, they had become used to seeing on behalf of the listener. This art of seeing for others means that the announcer has to be very good at talking.In the case of television, however, the announcer sees everything with the viewer. His duty, therefore, is completely different. He is there to make sure that the viewer does not miss any point of interest, to help him focus on particular things, and to help him understand the images on the television screen. Unlike his radio colleague, he must know the value of silence and how to use it at those moments when the pictures speak for themselves. (157 words)Passage 25 The African ElephantThe African elephant, the largest land animal remaining on earth, is of great importance to African ecosystem. As a big plant-eater, it largely shapes the forest-and-savanna surroundings in which it lives, setting the terms of existence for millions of other animals that live in its habitat.It is the elephant's great desire for food that makes it a disturber of the environment and an important builder of its habitat. In its continuous search for the 300 pounds of plants it must have every day, it kills small trees and underbushes, and pulls branches off big trees.1212This results in numerous open spaces in both deep tropical forests and in the woodlands that cover part of the African savannas.What worries scientists now is that the African elephant has become an endangered species. If the elephant disappears, scientists say, many other animals will also disappear from vast areas of forest and savanna, greatly changing and worsening the whole ecosystem. (159 words) Passage 26Operations on the BrainIt is difficult for doctors to help a person with a damaged brain. Without enough blood, the brain lives for only three to five minutes.Dr. White thinks doctors should try to make the brain very cold. If it is very cold, the brain can live without blood for 30 minutes. This gives the doctors a longer time to do something for the brain.Dr. White tried his idea on 13 monkeys. First he taught them to do different jobs. Then he operated on them. He made the monkeys' blood go through a machine which cooled the blood, and then sent the blood back to the monkeys' brains. When the brain temperature was 50 degrees, Dr. White stopped the blood to the brain. After 30 minutes he turned the blood back on. He warmed the blood again. After their operations the monkeys were like they were before. They were healthy and busy. Each one could still do the jobs the doctor had taught them. (163 words)Passage 27 DepressionThe dictionary describes depression as the state of feeling very sad, anxious and hopeless. The question here is why one gets depressed. Is the inability to deal with the situation or the high stress levels that come with success or failureLife is full of twists and turns. Some are pleasant and some are not so pleasant, and sometimes even terrible.1313Seasonal changes are the main reason for depression in nature. Change is unavoidable. It may happen in nature or in life. But the way the change makes us feel is subjective. They differ from person to person, along with the ways we deal with them.Feeling depression is a normal phenomenon, but letting it overtake us completely is not the best thing. There are no specific rules or concepts in dealing with it. A person should adopt whatever way he or she feels is the best, but be sure it will not hurt another person. (157 words)Passage 28 White NoiseThere are different kinds of noise with distinct frequencies that are classified by color，namely: white noise, pink noise, brown noise, blue noise, and gray noise. Below is an overview of white noise.Generally speaking, white noise is a part of the full scale of sound frequencies a human ear can recognize. White noise is a mixture of sound frequencies in equal levels. It is a very quiet sound that is relaxing and pleasant to the ears of anyone. A number of people say that it is similar to the sound of the rain or the ocean waves.White noise offers countless benefits. The noise comes in different forms that serve different purposes. Some white noise works better than others for particular uses. Some people may find some white noise sounds more pleasing than others. Moreover, white noise is said to have a more calming effect than music does. (149 words)Passage 29 Cell PhonesNowadays, with the rapid development of IT and information industry, cell phones play a dominant role in people’s life. On the one hand, the mobile phone is portable and convenient. Being wireless, you can carry them everywhere with great ease. You can reach a person wherever and however far away he is. On the other hand, it is a friend indeed. Whenever you come across trouble, you can call for help immediately.1414However, just as every coin has two sides, the cell phone also has its many disadvantages. Some people complain that mobile phones give unpleasant noise on some important occasions when the owner forgets to turn them off. And it also cuts into people’s spare time, because with the mobile phone the boss can easily reach them and call them to duty during their spare time. Worst of all, the electromagnetic wave emitted from the phone is said to be harmful to people’s health and does often cause headaches to the owner. (163 words)Passage 30 Facing the Enemies WithinWe are not born with courage, but neither are we born with fear. Maybe some of your fears are brought on by your own experiences, by what someone has told you, by what you’ve read in the papers. Fears, even the most basic ones, can totally destroy your ambitions, fortunes, relationships, and even life.Another enemy we face is indecision. Indecision is the thief of opportunity and enterprise. It will steal your chances for a better future.The third enemy inside is doubt. Sure you can’t believe everything. But don’t let doubt take over you. It will destroy your life and your chances of success. It will empty both your bank account and your heart.Also, there are indifference, worry and overcaution that you should do battle with. Be courageous in your life and in your pursuit of the things you want and the person you want to become. (149 words)Passage 31 The Tower of LondonIn 1078, King William began to build a large stone building on the north bank of the Thames River and named it the Tower of London. The tower was finished 20 years later.Around 1240, King Henry III made it his home. He painted the tower white, and widened the grounds to include a church, a great hall and other buildings.In 1381, Richard II became King of England. A group of farmers attacked the tower. In the end, Richard was forced to give up his power to Henry IV.1515。