Passage 1
Town and Country Life in England
There 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)
A Change in Women's Life
The 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. Today 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 relation-ship in marriage with the husband accepting a great share of the duties and satisfactions of family life and with both husband and wife sharing more equally in providing the money, and running the home, according to the abilities and interests of each of them. ( 154 words)
Passage 3
A Popular Pastime of the English People
One of the best means of understanding the people of any nation is watching what they 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 the 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 baskets of flowers are hanging on them.
But what the English enjoy most is growing things themselves. If it is impossible to have a garden, then a window box or something growing in a pot will do. Looking at each other's gardens is a popular pastime with the English. (144 words)
Passage 4
British and American Police Officers
Real policemen, both in Britain and the U. S., hardly recognize any common points between their lives and what they see on TV---if they ever get home in time.
Some things are almost the same, of course, but the policemen do not think much of them.
The first difference is that 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. (177 words)
Passage 5
Living Space
How 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 behaviour 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 behaviour and even their health change obviously. They can not sleep and eat well, and signs of fear and worry become clear. The more crowded they are, the more they tend to bite each other and even kill each other. Thus, for rots, population 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. (147 words)
Passage 6
The United Nations
In 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. (156 words) Passage 7
Plastic
We use plastic wrap to protect our foods. We put our garbage in plastic bags or plastic cans. We sit on plastic chairs, play with plastic toys, drink from plastic cups, and wash our hair with shampoo from plastic bottles!
Plastic does not grow in nature. It is made by mixing certain things 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 sot~ and burned easily.
The first modem 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 rarely-colored. There is a plastic for almost every need. Scientists continue to experiment with plastics. They hope to find even ways to use them! (150 words )
Passage 8
Display of Goods
Are 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. (166 words)
Passage 9
Albert Einstein
Albert 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 many of the religion's rules. Albert was a quiet 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 the 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. (143 words)
Passage10
Private Cars
With the increase in the general standard of living, some ordinary Chinese families begin to afford a car. Yet opinions of the development of a private car vary from person to person.
It gives a much greater degree of comfort and mobility. The owner of a car is no longer forced to rely on public transport, and hence no irritation caused by waiting for buses or taxis. However, others strongly object to developing private cars. They maintain that as more and more cars are produced and run in the street, a large volume of poisonous gas will be given off, polluting the atmosphere and causing actual harm to the health of people.
Whether private cars should be developed in China is a difficult question to answer, yet the desire for the comfort and independence a private car can bring will not be eliminated. (143 words)
Passage 11
A Henpecked Husband and His Wife
There was once a large, fat woman who had a small, thin husband. He had a job in a big company and was given his weekly wages every Friday evening. As soon as he got home on Fridays, his wife used to make him give her all his money, and then she used to give him back only enough to buy his lunch in his company every day.
One day, the small man came home very excited. He hunted into the living-room. His wife was listening to the radio and eating chocolates there.
"You will never guess what happened to me today, dear," he said.
He waited for a few seconds and then added, "I won ten thousand dollars on the lottery!"
"That is wonderful" said his wife delightedly. But then she pulled a long face and added angrily, "But how could you afford to buy the ticket?" (148 words)
Passage 12
A Young Man's Promise
One day a young man was writing a letter to his girl friend who lived just a few miles away in a nearby town. He was telling her how much he loved her and how wonderful he thought she was. The more he wrote, the more poetic he became. Finally, he said that in order to be with her he would suffer the greatest difficulties, he would face the greatest dangers that anyone could imagine. In fact, to spend only one minute with her, he would swim across the widest river, he would enter the deepest forest, and he would fight against the fiercest animals with his bare hands.
He finished the letter, signed his name, and then suddenly remembered that he had forgotten to mention something quite important.
So, in a postscript below his name, he added:
"By the way, I'll be over to see you on Wednesday night, flit doesn't rain."(154 words)
Passage13
A Kind Neighbor
Mr. and Mrs. Jones' apartment was full of luggage, packages, furniture and boxes. Both of them were very busy when they heard the doorbell ring. Mrs. Jones went to open it and she saw a middle-aged lady outside. The lady said she lived next door. Mrs. Jones invited her to come in and apologized because there was no place for her to sit. "Oh, that's OK," said the lady. "I just come to welcome you to your new home. As you know, in some parts of this city neighbors are not friendly at all. There are some apartment houses where people don't know any of their neighbors, not even the ones next door. But in this building everyone is very friendly with everyone else. We are like one big happy family. I' m sure you'll be very happy here." Mr. and Mrs. Jones said, "But madam, we are not new dwellers in this apartment. We've lived here for two years. We're moving out tomorrow. "(163 words)
Passage14
That Isn't Our Fault
Mr. and Mrs. Williams got married when he was twenty-three, and she was twenty--three. Twenty-five years later, they had a big party, and a photographer came and took some photographs of them.
Then the photographer gave Mrs. Williams a card and said, "They'll be ready next Wednesday. You can get them from studio."
"No," Mrs. Williams said, "please send them to us.”
The photographs arrived a week later, but Mrs. Williams was not happy when she saw them. She got into her car and drove to the photographer's studio. She went inside and said angrily, "You took some photographs of me and my husband last week, but I' m not going to pay for them."
"Oh, why not?" the photographer asked.
"Because my husband looks like a monkey," Mrs. Williams said.
"Well," the photographer answered, "that isn't our fault. Why didn't you think of that before you married him?" (148 words)
Passage 1 5
A Guide's Answer
In 1861, the Civil War started in the United States between the Northern and the Southern states. The war continued with great bitterness until 1865, when the Northerners were victorious. However, even today, many Southerners have not forgotten their defeat, or forgiven the Northerners.
A few years ago, a party of American tourists were going round one of the battlefields of the Civil War with a guide who came from one of the Southern states. At each place, the guide told the tourists stir- ring stories about how a few Southern soldiers had conquered powerful forces of Northerners there.
At last, one of the tourists, a lady who came from the North, stopped the guide and said to him, "But surely the Northern army must have won at least one victory in the Civil War?"
"Not as long as I'm the guide here, madam," answered the Southern guide. (147 words)
Passage 1 6
A Qualified Pilot
The captain of a small ship had to go along a rocky coast, but he was unfamiliar with it, so he tried to find a qualified pilot to guide him. He went ashore in one of the small ports, and a local fisherman pretended that he was a pilot because he needed some money. The captain took him on board and asked him where to steer the ship.
After half an hour the captain began to suspect that the fisherman did not really know what he was doing and where he was going.
"Are you sure you are a qualified pilot?" he asked.
"Oh, yes," answered the fisherman. "I know every rock on this part of the coast."
Suddenly there was a terrible crash from under the ship. At once the fisherman added, "And that's one of them." (138 words)
Passage 1 7
Living Things React
You and all organisms live in an environment. An environment is made up of everything that surrounds an organism. It can include the air, the water, the soil, and even other organisms.
An organism responds to changes in its environment. When an organism responds to a change, it reacts in certain ways. All living things respond in some way.
Have you ever noticed how plants and insects respond to light? Plants bend toward light. Insects fly toward light.
Living things also respond in other ways. The leaves on some trees respond to a change in season. In autumn, they change colors and then fall off the branches. Animals also respond to a change in season. Squirrels save nuts for the winter. Bears sleep through the winter in a cave.
You respond to your environment in many ways, too. You may shiver ff you are cold. What other ways do you respond to changes in your environment? ( 156 words )
Passage18
Flowering Plants
What are the parts of a flower?
Flowers can have male parts and female parts. The female parts make eggs that become seeds. The male parts make pollen. Pollen is a powdery material that is needed by the eggs to make seeds. To make seeds, pollen and eggs must come together. The wind, insects, and birds bring pollen to eggs. Many animals love flowers' bright colors. They also like a sugary liquid in flowers. This is called nectar. While they drink
nectar, pollen rubs off on their bodies. As they move, some of this pollen gets delivered to the female flower parts.
Over time, the female parts turn into fruits that contain seeds. Animals often eat the fruits and the seeds pass through their bodies as waste. The animals do not know they are working for the plants by planting seeds as they travel to different places! (147 words)
Passage 19
Finding the Direction and Location
How can you tell which direction? By day, look for the Sun. It is in the east in the morning and the west in the afternoon. At night, use the Big Dipper to help you find the North Star. It would be better to bring a compass because its needle always points north.
How do you know how far you have gone? You could count every step. Each step is about two feet. You'd better wear a pedometer which is a tool that counts steps. If you know where you started, which direction you are heading, and how far you have gone, you can use a good map to figure out exactly where you are.
Today there is a new way for travelers to figure out where they are. It is the GPS. It has 24 satellites that orbit the earth and constantly broadcast their positions. Someday you may carry a small receiver as you hike and use GPS to find out if you are there yet! (167 words)
Passage 20
Waves
How does light get from the sun to the earth? How does music get from the stage to the audience? They move the same way--in waves!
Light and sound are forms of energy. All waves carry energy, but they may carry it differently. Light and sound travel through different kinds of matter. For example, light waves cannot move through walls, but sound waves can. That is why you can hear people talking in another room even though you cannot see them. The energy of some waves is destructive. An earthquake produces seismic waves.
Catch a wave. Ask a friend to stand a few feet away from you. Stretch a spring between you. Shake the spring to transfer energy to it. What happens? The spring bounces up and down in waves. When the waves reach your friend, they bounce back to you!
Light waves travel 300,000 kilometers (185,000 miles) per second! They can also travel through a vacuum. That is why light from the sun and distant stars can travel through space to the earth! (175 words) Passage 21
Soils
There are many different kinds of soils. Different soils have different types of rock and minerals in them. Some soils have more water in them than others. Some soils might have more plant and animal material in them, too.
Different kinds of soils are found in different parts of the world. There are several kinds of soils found in the United States. In some areas, the soil has a lot of clay. Other soils are very sandy. Loam is a kind of soil that has a good mixture of clay and sand.
In some places, soft layers are very thick. Lots of plants grow in places with a thick soil layer. In dry and windy places soft layers are much thinner. Layers of soft on mountains are thin because gravity pulls the soil downhill.
The type of soft in a particular place affects what kinds of plants can grow there. (150 words)
Passage22
Crisis
Life is a contest! Who will win? A bluebird and sparrow both compete for space to build their nests. A fast-growing maple tree and slower-growing dogwood compete for the sunlight they both need. Oil competes with coal and nuclear power as an energy source for electric power plants.
There is a problem. There is a limited amount of space for birds,
sunlight for trees, and energy for people! If we do not cut back on our uses of some of our resources, someday they will be gone!
How can we use energy today and know we will have enough to go around in the future? We can choose alternate, or replacement, energy resources. It takes the earth millions of years to create coal, oil, and gas. They are nonrenewable resources.
Solar energy, wind energy and water energy are renewable. What other ways can we conserve our resources? How can we make sure there is always enough to go around? (159 words)
Passage 23
America's Worst Surprise
December 7, 1941 was one of the worst days in American history. Nearly all Americans who are old enough to remember that day can still remember what they were doing at the moment they heard "the news". The news was that America had been attacked!
Shoddy before 2:00 P.M., a radio dispatch came into Washington from Honolulu, Hawaii. "Air Raid, Pearl Harbor--This is no drill." Japanese planes had begun an attack on the largest American military base in the Pacific. They first destroyed planes on the ground. Then they bombed the ships in the harbor.
No one had expected the attack. So no one was prepared for it. And it did not take long for the Japanese to do their damage. When the smoke cleared, the Navy counted its losses. Eighteen ships had been sunk or badly damaged. Nearly 150 planes had been destroyed. More than 2,400 Americans had been killed and more than 1, 200 wounded. (157 words)
Passage 24
Great Depression in the U.S.
In 1929, the bills started to come in. American industry had produced too many goods. Americans could not afford to buy all of them. So factories had to cut down on their production. Many workers lost their
jobs. Investors tried to get their money back. But businesses did not have enough money to pay them. Banks tried to get their money back from investors. But the investors could not pay, either. Too many people owed money. And few of them could pay their bills.
During the next few years, business got worse and worse. By 1932, banks all over the country were dosing.
People without money could not buy goods. So more businesses dosed. More and more people lost their jobs. By 1932, more than 12 million Americans were jobless. Millions more were earning barely enough to live on. The country was in a great depression they had never experienced before. (151 words)
Passage 25
A Place of Our Own
We are all usually very careful when we buy something for the house. Why? Because we have to live with it for a long time. We paint a room to make it brighter, so we choose the colours carefully.
We buy new curtains in order to match the newly decorated room, so they must be the right colour. We move the furniture round so as to make more space-- or we buy new furniture---and so on. It is an endless business.
Rich or poor, we take time to furnish a room. Perhaps some people buy furniture in order to impress their friends. But most of us just want to enjoy our surroundings. We want to live as comfortably as we can afford to. We spend a large part of our lives at home. We want to make a small comer in the world which we can recognize as our own. (151 words) Passage 26
Travel for Work (149 words)
You can see them in every airport in the world. /They are businessmen and women who have to travel for their work. /When they /huge expense accounts and fashionable cities. /Now they have to sit in first applied for the job, /they may have thought of good food and hotels,
airport lounges, /tired and uncomfortable in their smart clothes, /listening to the loudspeaker announce /"The flight to Tokyo, or Berlin, or New York is delayed for another two hours". /Some people say to me, "How lucky you are /to be able to travel abroad in your work! /
You can go sightseeing without paying any money by yourself!” /They think that my job is like a continual holiday. It is not. /There are advantages, of course, and I do think I am lucky, /but only because I can go to places I would never visit if I was a tourist.
Passage 27
Intelligence (154 words)
Are some people born clever, and others born stupid? Or is intelligence developed by our environment and our experience? Strangely enough, the answer to these questions is yes. To some extent our intelligence is given us at birth, and no amount of special education can make a genius out of a child born with low intelligence. On the other hand, a child who lives in a boring environment will develop his intelligence less than one who lives in rich and varied surroundings. Thus, the limits of a person's intelligence are fixed at birth, whether or not he reaches those limits will depend on his environment. This view, held by most experts now, can be supported in a number of ways. As is easy to show that intelligence is to some extent something we are born with. The closer the blood relationship between two people is, the closer they are likely to be in intelligence.
Passage 28
A Free Dress Every Week (148 words)
The temptation to steal is greater than ever before especially in large shops and people are not so honest as they once were. A detective recently watched a well-dressed woman who always went into a large store on Monday mornings. One Monday, there were fewer people in the shop than usual when the woman came in, so it was easier for the detective to watch her. The woman first bought a few small articles. After
a little time, she chose one of the most expensive dresses in the shop and handed it to an assistant who wrapped it up for her as quickly as possible. The woman simply took the parcel and walked out of the shop without paying. When she was arrested, the detective found out that the shop assistant was her daughter. Believe it or not, the girl "gave" her mother a free dress every week!
Passage 29
Time (157 words)
Time is tangible. One can gain time, spend time, waste time, save time, or even kill time. Common questions in American English reveal this concrete quality as though time were a possession. "Do you have any time?", "Can you get some time for this?", "How much free time do you have?" The treatment of time as a possession influences the way that time is carefully divided. Generally, Americans are taught to do one thing at a time and may be uncomfortable when an activity is interrupted. In businesses, the careful scheduling of time and the separation of activities are common practices. Appointment calendars are printed with 15-, 30-, and 50-minute time slots. The idea that "there is a time and place for everything" extends to American social life. Visitors who drop by without prior notice may interrupt their host' s personal time. Thus, calling friends on the telephone before visiting them is generally preferred to visitors' dropping by.
Passage 30
Cartoonists (144 words)
In a good cartoon, the artist can tell in a few lines /as much as a writer can tell in half a dozen paragraphs. /The cartoonist not only tells a story but he also tries to /persuade the reader to his way of thinking. /He has great influence on public opinion. /In a political campaign, he plays an important part. /Controversial issues in Congress or at meetings of the United Nations /may keep the cartoonist well-supplied with current materials. /A clever cartoonist may cause laughter because he often uses
humor in his drawings. /If he is sketching a famous person, /he takes a prominent feature and exaggerates it. /Cartoonists, for instance, like to lengthen an already long nose /and to widen an already broad grin. /This exaggeration of a person's characteristics is called caricature. /The artist uses such exaggeration to put his message across.
Passage 31
Water Pollution (161 words)
Water is very important to us. Factories and plants need water for industrial uses and large pieces of farmland need it for irrigation. Without water to drink, people die in a short time. Today most water sources are so dirty that people must purify water before drinking. Water becomes dirty in many ways: industrial pollution is one of them. With the development of industry, plants and factories pour tons of industrial wastes into rivers every day. The rivers have become seriously polluted, and the water is becoming unfit for drinking or irrigation. The same thing has also happened to our seas and oceans. So, the problem of water pollution is almost worldwide. Scientists of many countries have done a lot of work to stop pollution. The polluted water in some places has become clean and drinkable again. Perhaps one day the people in all towns and cities will be drinking clean water. That day, we believe, is not very far off.
Passage 32
Making a Complaint (164 words)
Complaining about faulty goods or bad service is never easy. But if something you have bought is faulty or does not do what was claimed for it, you are not asking for a favour to get it put right. Complaints should be made to a responsible person. Go back to the shop where you bought the goods, taking with you any receipt you may have. In a small store the assistant may also be the owner so you can complain direct. In a chain store, ask the manager. If you telephone, ask the name of the person who handles your enquiry, otherwise you may never find out who dealt with
the complaint later. If you do not want to do it in person, write a letter. Stick to the facts and keep a copy of what you write. At this stage you should give any receipt numbers, but you should not need to give receipts or other papers to prove you bought the article.
Passage 33
Where Do the British Live (172 words)
Nearly everyone in Britain would like to own their own home and, whether they do or not, they are prepared to put time and money into decorating and furnishing it or even making structural alterations to it. Because of the climate and because of the expense involved in going out for the evening, the British spend a lot of lime at home and a large part of their social life takes place there. Young people tend to stay with their families longer these days as accommodation is expensive but, when they move away to a job or college, there are various options open to them. They can get lodgings with a landlady. This means that they rent a room in someone' s house and have breakfast with the family. They can also get a bed-sitting room, that is to say one self-contained room in which they can cook, live and sleep. Alternatively, they can share a rented flat or house with a group of young people, perhaps the most popular option of all.
Passage 34
Will Computers Replace Human Beings? (150 words) We are in the computer age today. The computers are working all kinds of wonders now. They are very useful in automatic control and data processing. At the same time, computers axe finding their way into the home. They seem to be so clever and can solve such complicated problems that some people think sooner or later they will replace us. But I do not think that there is such a possibility. My reason is very simple: computers are machines, not humans. And our tasks are far too various and complicated for any one single kind of machine to perform. Probably the greatest difference between man and computer is that the former can
do things of his own while the latter can do nothing without being programmed. In my opinion, computers will remain nothing but an extension of our human brains, no matter how clever and complicated they may become.
Passage 35
Soccer (171 words)
Soccer has had a slow start in America. In fact, the majority of schools still have no official soccer teams or coaches. But the blossoming popularity of the game cannot be denied. Thanks to the efforts of some world-famous soccer stars, soccer is soon to have its place in American culture. Although soccer has enjoyed decades of popularity elsewhere, it was literally ignored in America. Instead, a variation of the game called "football" was most popular in the U.S. and still is to this day. But the obvious advantages of playing soccer instead will soon win even the most avid football enthusiasts. For one thing, soccer is a much safer game to play than football. No one deliberately tries to knock an opponent down in soccer. In fact, the players are discouraged from even touching each other. Soccer is a game that requires skill and dexterity in controlling the ball. Since no one may use hands to do this, soccer players soon acquire incredible control of their heads, knees, and feet.
Passage 36
Artists (165 words)
Every artist knows in his heart that he is saying something to the public. Not only does he want to say it well, but he wants it to be something which has not been said before. What visual artists, like painters, want to say is easy to make out but difficult to explain, because painters translate their experiences into shapes and colors, not words. They seem to feel that a certain selection of shapes and colors, out of the countless billions possible, is exceptionally interesting for them and worth showing to us. Most artists take their shapes and colors from the world of nature and from human bodies in motion and response; their
choices indicate that these aspects of the world are worth looking at, that they contain beautiful sights. Contemporary artists might say that they merely choose subjects that provide an interesting Pattern, that there is nothing more in it. Yet even they do not choose entirely without reference to the character of their subjects.
Passage 37
Professional Sports in the U.S. (171 w0rds)
Professional sports are not only very popular in the United States, but also a big business. The most popular sports are baseball, football and basketball. Each sport has its own season and individual teams have millions of supporters. Professional teams are named for the cities where they are located. For example, the Lakers are in Los Angeles. The strongest supporters of the Lakers are residents of Los Angeles and Southern California. When the Lakers play, many people in Los Angeles enthusiastically follow the game. When we mention "NBA", almost every one knows it has some relationship with U.S. professional basketball. However, what does it really stand for? N.B.A. is short for the National Basketball Association. The NBA is gaining new fans and supporters around the world. Basketball is another popular American sport. In the U.S., basketball has been call ed the “national pastime”. However, football is the most popular professional sport in the U. S.. American foot- ball is different from international football, which Americans call "soccer". Both games require strength and specialized skills.
Passage 38
"How to" Books (173 words)
Books which give instructions on how to do things are popular in the United States today. Thousands of these "how to" books are available. In fact, there are about four thousand books with titles that begin with the words "how to". Many "how to" books give advice on careers. They tell you how to choose a career and how to succeed in it. Many of these books help people to use their free time better. Some people want books
which will give them useful information about sports, hobbies and travel. Other people use their free time to make repairs and improvements on their homes. They prefer books which give step-by-step instructions on how to repair things like plumbing and electrical wiring or on how to redecorate or enlarge a house. Why have "how to" books become so popular? Probably because life has become more complex. Today people have far more free time to use, more choices to make, and more problems to solve. "How to" books help people to deal with modern life. Passage 39
Don't Give Up (155 words)
If we would ever accomplish anything in life, let us not forget that we must persevere. If we would learn our lessons in school, we must be diligent and not give up whenever we come to anything difficult. We shall find many of our lessons very hard, but let us consider that the harder they are the better they will do to us if we will persevere and learn them thoroughly. But there are some among us who are ready to give up when they come to a hard example in mathematics, and say, "I can't do this " They never will if they feel so. "I can’t" never does anything worthwhile; but "I'll try" accomplishes wonders. Let us remember that we shall meet with difficulties all through life. They are in the pathway of everyone. If we will only try and keep trying, we shall be sure to conquer and overcome every difficulty we meet.
Passage 40
How High Can You Jump? (169 words)
Flea trainers have observed a strange habit of fleas while training them. Fleas are trained by putting them in a cardboard box with a top on it. The fleas will jump up and hit the top of the cardboard box over and over and over again. As you watch them jump and hit the lid, something very interesting becomes obvious. The fleas continue to jump, but they are no longer jumping high enough to hit the top. When you take off the lid, the fleas continue to jump, but they will not jump out of the box.
1.Town and Country Life in England There 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. 2. A Change in Women’s Life The 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. Today 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
英语专业四级听写训练54：Cars in the Future As big cars cause many problems,such as pollution, shortage of parking space,crowded traffic,scientists are now trying to design some small cars that may some day replace today’s big automobiles.If more people begin to drive such cars in the future,there will be less air pollution. There will also be more space for parking cars in cities,and the streets will be less crowded.Three such cars can fit in the space that is now needed for one car of the usual size. The little cars will cost much less to own and to drive.Driving will be safer as these cars can only go 60 kilometers per hour. The cars of the future will be fine for driving around the city.However, they will not be suitable for long trips,because these cars by petrol can only go 450 kilometers before needing to stop for refueling 英语专业四级听写训练53：Dining Custom in the USA Dining Custom in the USA Americans, like many people elsewhere in the world, like to invite friends to their homes for an evening of food,drink and conversation. Formal dinners in fine homes and hotels in the US are much the same as formal dinners anywhere in the world. But as most people in the US have no servants,their dinner parties at home tend to be informal. Guests may sit down at a table,or as many new small homes have no separate dining room or very small dining space. Guests can also serve themselves and eat in the living room, holding their plates or trays on their knees. A more enjoyable form of entertainment is the picnic. Americans are great picnickers and almost every family has a picnic basket. Summer invitations are often for a picnic at a park or in the open countryside, and less hamburgers or hot dogs are cooked over a fire. Picnic food is usually cold.
Popular Pastime of the English People One 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 f lowers 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 baskets of flowers are hanging on them. But what the English enjoy most is growing things themselves. If it is impossible to have a garden, then a window box or something growing in a pot will do. Looking at each other ’s gardens is a popular pastime with the English. 4. British and American Police Officers Real policemen, both in Britain and the ., hardly recognize any commonpoints 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 the policemen do not think much of them much of them. The first difference is that 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 5. Living Space How 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 even their health change obviously. They can not sleep and eat well, and signs of fear and worry become clear. The more crowded they are, and more they tend to bite each other and even kill each other. Thus, for rats, 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.
英语专业四级考试1993年——203年听写原文 1993 Package Holidays Package holidays, covering a two weeks' stay in an attractive place, are increasingly popular. Once you get to the airport, it is up to the tour operator to see that you get safely to your destination．Everything is laid on for you．There is, in fact, no reason for you to bother to arrange anything yourselves．You make friends and have a good time. But there is very little chance that you will really get to know the local people．This is even less likely on a coach tour, when you spend almost your entire time traveling．Of course, there are carefully planned stops for you to visit historic buildings and monuments. You may visit the beautiful, the historic, the ancient. But time is always short．There is also the added disadvantage of being obliged to spend you holiday with a group of people you have never met before． (1994) The American Family The American family unit is changing. There used to be mainly two types of families, the extended and the nuclear. The former included mother, father, children, and some other relatives such as grandparents, living in the same house or nearby. Then as the economy progressed from agricultural to industrial, people began moving to different parts of the country in order to search for job opportunities. These moves split up the extended family. The nuclear family consisting of only parents and children has therefore become far more wide spread. Today’s family, however, can be composed of diverse co mbinations. With the divorce rate nearly one in two, there's an increase in single-parent homes—a father or mother living with one or more children. Blended families occur when divorced men and women remarry and combine the children from former marriages into a new family. On the other hand, there is an increase in childless couples while one in rive Americans lives alone. (1995) Unidentified Flying Objects There are many explanations for why UFOs visit the Earth. / The most popular one is that they maybe visitors from other planets./ To fly such aircraft, their builders must develop different forms of aviation,/because they seem to fly much faster than normal aircraft./ The UFOs, it is believed, must contain scientists/ from other planets who are studying life on earth./ It is even believed that several such aircraft may have landed on earth/ and the space visitors may be living amongst us./ But there are also less fantastic explanations available./ Although some sightings of UFOs are difficult to explain, most can be explained quite easily./ In many cases the observers might have made a mistake./ They might have seen a weather balloon or an aircraft./ Or the light they saw in the sky might have been light from the ground,/ reflected on to the clouds./ However, the exact cause of many sightings still remained a mystery.
Passage 1 Town and Country Life in England There 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。 She go the job on her own．她自己找到了这份工作。 He Is now out of colleg6 and on his own．他现在离开了大学并且自己生活。 Passage 2 A Change in Women's Life The 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. Today 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 both husband and wife sharing more equally in providing the money, and running the home, according to the abilities and interests of each of them. (154 words) Useful Words and Expressions: life-pattern 生活方式 effect [i'fekt] n. 结果，效果，作用，影响 The old system is still in effect. 旧制度仍然有效。 He is, in effect, my rival. 实际上他是我的竞争对手。 The medicine quickly took effect. 药物很快见效了。 share vt. 分享；共享，参与 n. 一份，部分，份额 share responsibility 共同负责 share a room with sb. 与某人共居一室
英语专业四级听写50篇 前言 听写在英语专业四级统考中占有15％的比重，是考试的重要组成部分。 说起听写，正在准备和已经参加过英语专业四级考试的同学会说： “我能明白听写的内容，可写的时候就是跟不上！”“短文大意我明白，可是有的语我不 会写。” 这只反映出了问题的两个方面。一是听写速度不够快。二是词汇量不够或词汇掌握得不够准确。这些无疑是影响听写成绩的重要因素。但是，这些不是问题的全部。在从事听写教学及听写问卷过程中，很容易发现学生失分的具体问题： （1）没听懂，没听好，听写速度跟不上，写出的内容断断续续不连贯，学生因此大量失分； （2）有的词汇没听懂，拼写不够准确，这导致听写失分； （3）时态错误导致失分； （4）单复数不准确导致失分； （5）没有注意断句或专有名词，句子开头单词或专有名词错误使用大小写导致失分； （6）没有注意原文冠词的使用，书写时漏掉冠词导 致失分； （7）没有注意单数第三人称形式导致失分； （8）没有注意单数复数名词的形式导致失分。 上述问题的产生有的是缺乏训练造成的，如书写速度跟不上。有的则是语言基础较 差造成的，如听力较差没有完全听懂或没有掌握好词汇。而单复数、大小写、冠词漏写 等则多是粗心大意造成的。 听写部分能提高吗？ 当然能！而且提高的空间很大。 笔者从事英语专业基础教学与研究，从一开始所带的教学班参加四级考试超过全国 院校平均通过率28．2个百分点，超过全国专业外语院校平均通过率12．5个百分点开始，所带的教学班在全国英语专业④级统考中通过率始终ito％，平均成绩、优秀率始终名列 前茅。最近一次所带的教学班参加四级统考，又考出了很好的成绩，通过率超过全国院 校平均水平26石个百分点，超过全国专业外语院校13．6个百分点，而且在十几个平行 班中平均成绩是最高的，优秀人数也是最多的。在四级考试中，听写一项的成绩也不例外，每次均位居第一，本项目满分15分，所带班级平均成绩能够达到14分。 是不是学生基础很好？统计表明，和平行班相比所带班级入学时并不存在什么特别 优势。 教学经验表明，听写成功的关键是训练方法和体现训练方法的训练材料。 听写训练过程中无论是老师还是学生都有必要注意以下几点： 二．扭握淤轿肘虚度大纲要求第一遍用正常速
【如何过英语专业四级】英语专业四级听力50篇 英语专业四级考试是英语专业生面临的第一个检验自己英语水平的大型考试，那么你知道如何过英语专业四级吗?下面是小编为你整理的过英语专业四级考试的方法，希望大家喜欢! 过英语专业四级考试的方法 一步是做一套英语专业四级的真题卷，检验自己的的英语究竟处于怎么样的水平，并了解自己的优势和劣势。 每天坚持听一套听力，尤其是dictation，更是重中之重。要静听而不是泛听，相信付出总有收获。 阅读控制好时间，4篇阅读最好控制在25-28分钟之间。应试时最好先看题目再答题，遇到生词不要过分纠结，跳过或根据上下文猜测词意。平时多记单词注意词汇的积累 每个星期坚持写一篇专四作文，写好后最好请教同学老师有哪些需要改进的地方。专四的作文是有模板可循的，多记些句型和标准句子。特别要注意的是论据一定要分点写并层次分明。 根据实际情况每天记一定的词汇，为自己的英语水平打好坚实的壁垒。 自2016年起，TEM-4考试的试卷结构和测试题型作了局部调整。考试题型共分6个部分：听写、听力理解、语言知识、完形填空、阅读理解、写作。考生应特别注意改革题型。 英语专业四级考试注意事项 ictation注意事项： dictation其实并不难加上大家平日里的做试卷基本都可以取得基本分，但是优秀者和成绩普通者的差距在于听完后的检查，要知道dictation扣分要求严格，一个标点，一个大小写，
冠词都可能导致扣分，因此dictataion做完后务必拿出部分时间检查。 另外写错了，有且只有划掉单词重写这样一种补救方式。 听力剩下部分： 其它的部分最好是能够在试卷发下来的时间里提前把题目看了，对于对话或者段落要知道并无太大难度，因为大量的内容给了你更多的上下文帮助你理解信息。 听力务必注意事项：在听力中应当学会放弃，没听到的题目应做到果断放弃，不管不想，不纠结，马上放下做下一题。毕竟一题不决定成败。 cloze： cloze应当注意平日里的练习积累，做题时注意上下文的联系，相信不难。 grammer: 这个平常大家总会有很多出错。不过细究起来，无非考词汇和语法两点，建议考前通过做大量的类似题目来提高准确率。当然也可以把这类题放到阅读后再做。 reading comprehension： 这个算是大头，一个分值较高，建议做时，先扫读四篇文章，看题目难易度，再更具此分配时间。阅读时应该以意群为单位，而非单词!此外日常的知识，经验可以作为参考，但一定不能作为选题的依据。 阅读误区：重读，用手指指着读，读出声音。 essay writing
2019年12月英语四级听力50篇：45 The Influence of Life 2018年12月英语四级听力50篇汇总 英语四级听力50篇：45 The Influence of Life In the early times when human beings hunted and gathered food, they were not in control of their environment. They could only interact with their surroundings as the other lower animals did. When they learned to make fire, however, they became capable of altering their environment. To provide themselves with fuel, they cut down trees. They also burned clearings in forests to increase the growth of grass and to provide a greater grazing area for the wild animals that human beings fed upon. This development led to famp3ing and the domestication of animals. Fire provided the means for cooking plants which had previously been inedible. Only when the process of meeting the basic need for food reached a certain level was it possible for humans to follow other pursuits such as setting up families, fomp3ing societies and founding cities. Useful words and Expressions： 1. interact with 与……组合 2. clearing 空旷地 3. grazing 放牧，牧草 4. domestication 驯养，驯服
1. 听写共分10小节;每节1分。 2. 每节最多扣1分。 3. 重复错误，仅扣一次。 4. 错误共分两类：小错误(minormistakes)和大错误(majormistakes)。 A. 小错误： 1) 单词拼写错一到二个字母。例：inconvenient—unconvenient，inconvient; originally--origionally,originally;knives———nives。 2) 标点符号错误：一when When;To solve this problem，the—To solve this problem。 3) 冠词，单复数错误：shells—shell; with a solution—with the solution。 4) 小错误扣分标准：小错误在一节中出现一次，留作总计;出现两次，扣0.5分;出现三次，扣0.5分后留一小错做总计;出现四次(以上)，扣1分。 5) 未扣分小错误的扣分标准：累计2---4个：扣0.5分。累计5---8个：扣1分。 B. 大错误： 漏写、加词、造词、换词(冠词作小错计)，大移位，时态错误，原文一个词变两个词。每个错误扣0.5分。 例：are still paid—is still paid，still paid，still pay; were used—we used; coins were—coin was; began—begun; goods—good; cloth—ciof，cloths; salt—soit; paid—payed; throughout—all through，through of; accepted——an acception; as payment——for payment; for goods——to goods; they——these，there. 5.一些特例的扣分标准： 1) 下列情况不扣分：“now”后加逗号。 2) 下列情况扣分：throughout--through out(小错误); a piece of—pieces of (两个小错，扣0.5分) 6. 总分为0.5分时，以1分计算：其余总分中如含分数的，分数舍去，留整数。如：12.5分一12分， 7.5分---7分。空白卷—律打0分。
41.Apology Helps It is never easy to admit you are in the wrong. Being human, we all need to know the art of apologizing. Look back with honesty and think how often you have judged roughly, you said unkind things, and pushed yourself ahead at the expense of a friend. Then count the occasions when you indicated clearly and truly that you were so sorry. A bit frightening, isn’t it? It is frightening, isn’t it? It is frightening because some deep wisdom in us knows that when even a small wrong has been committed, some mysterious moral feeling is disturbed; and it stays out of balance until fault is acknowledged and regret expressed. A heartfelt apology can not only heal a damaged relationship but also make it stronger. If you can think of someone who deserves an apology from you, someone you have wronged, or judged too roughly, or just neglected, do something about it right now. 42. Sleep Why is it so difficult to fall asleep when you are overtired? There is no one answer that applies to every individual. It is possible to feel “tired” physically and still be unable to fall asleep, because while your body may be exhausted, you do not feel sleepy. It is not so easy to simply “turn off”. Lack of sleep complicates matters even more. Experts say adults need at
篇原文50英语专业四级听写． 英语专业四级听写50篇原文! Passage 1 Town and Country Life in England There 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.) Passage 2 A Change in Women's LifeThe important change in women's have begun to has only recently life-pattern 's economic its full effect on womenposition. Even a few years ago most girls left school at the first opportunity, and However, job. took a full-time most of
CONTENTS Passage 1 Town and Country life in England Passage 2 A Change in Women's Life Passage 3 A Popular Pastime of the English People Passage 4 British and American Police Officers Passage 5 living Space Passage 6 The United Nations Passage 7 Plastic Passage 8 Display of Goods Passage 9 Albert Einstein Passage 10 Private Cars Passage 11 A Henpecked Husband and His Wife Passage 12 A Young Man's Promise Passage 13 A Kind Neighbor Passage 14 That Isn't Our Fault Passage 15 A Guide's Answer Passage 16 A Qualified Pilot Passage 17 Living Tilings React Pdssage 18 Flowering Plants Passage 19 Finding the Direction and Location Passage 20 Waves Passage 21 Soils
Passage22 Crisis Passage 23 America's Worst Surprise Passage 24 Great Depression in the U.S. Passage 25 A Place of Our Own Passage 26 Travel for Work Passage 27 Intelligence Passage 28 A Free Dress Every Week Passage 29 Time Passage 30 Cartoonists Passage 31 Water PoUution Passage 32 Making a Complaint Passage 33 Where Do the British Live Passage 34 Will Computers Replace Human Beings Passage 35 Soccer Passage 36 Artists Passage 37 Professional Sports in the U.S. Passage38 "Howto" Books Passage 39 Don'tGive Up Passage 40 How High Can You Jump Passage 41 Apology Helps Passage 42 Sleep Passage 43 Our Concern