听力题 Los Angeles today is the second largest city in America, spreading over 464 square miles along the southern California coast. It is the center of the entertainment industry, and it has a balmy climate of mostly sunny days. But there was a time when Los Angeles was nothing more than a tiny Indian village. The Spanish expedition searching for Monterey Bay camped there the night of August 1, 1769. Twelve years later, other Spaniards started a settlement at the village, which remained unchanged for decades. Yankee sea traders used the settlement as a port, and the California gold rush brought some new economic life to the village, but the town remained quite small. It was not until the completion of the transcontinental railroads in 1869, and the discovery of oil in the 1890s, that the population began to grow. Later, during the two world wars, Los Angeles experienced more growth, in part because of the new airplane industry. At about the same time, the arrival of two New York motion picture producers in search of sunny weather marked the beginning of an entertainment industry that has become a multibillion-dollar industry today. In just the past 100 years, this tiny sea village has grown into the sprawling metropolis that we know today.