听力题M: Hello

听力题M: This is it

听力题Large modem cities are too big to control

听力题[此试题无题干]

听力题In the old days

听力题M: You don''t look too happy

听力题 London taxi drivers know the capital like the back of their hands. No matter how small and indistinct the street is, the driver will be able to get you there without any trouble. The reason London taxi drivers are so efficient is that they have all gone through a very tough training period to get a special taxi driving license. During this period, which can take from two to four years, the would-be taxi driver has to learn the most direct route to every single road and every important building in London. To achieve this, most learners go around the city on small motorbikes, practicing how to move to and from different points of the city. Learner taxi-drivers are tested several times during their training period by government officers. Their exams are a terrible experience. The officers ask you, "How do you get from Buckingham Palace to the Tower of London?" and you have to take them there in a direct line. When you get to the Tower, they would say "Well done." They would quickly move on the next question, after five or six questions, they would just say, "See you in two months'' time," and then you know the exam is over. Learner drivers are not allowed to work and earn money as drivers. Therefore, many of them keep their precious jobs until they obtain their license. The training can cost quite a lot, because learners have to pay for their own expense on the tests and medical exam. London taxi drivers know the capital like the back of their hands. No matter how small and indistinct the street is, the driver will be able to get you there without any trouble. The reason London taxi drivers are so efficient is that they have all gone through a very tough training period to get a special taxi driving license. During this period, which can take from two to four years, the would-be taxi driver has to learn the most direct route to every single road and every important building in London. To achieve this, most learners go around the city on small motorbikes, practicing how to move to and from different points of the city. Learner taxi-drivers are tested several times during their training period by government officers. Their exams are a terrible experience. The officers ask you, "How do you get from Buckingham Palace to the Tower of London?" and you have to take them there in a direct line. When you get to the Tower, they would say "Well done." They would quickly move on the next question, after five or six questions, they would just say, "See you in two months'' time," and then you know the exam is over. Learner drivers are not allowed to work and earn money as drivers. Therefore, many of them keep their precious jobs until they obtain their license. The training can cost quite a lot, because learners have to pay for their own expense on the tests and medical exam.

听力题M: Ow! That hurts! W: What happened

听力题W: Dad, Dad, Dad! M: Uh, what, what, uh

听力题W: Oh, Jackie, I''ve had such a terrible day

听力题W: Just a few years ago this city established what is called the Telephone Reassurance Service. It was set up by a volunteer group of people to ring up elderly or handicapped persons who live alone, to check on whether they are all right and to help cheer them up. M: That sounds like a good idea. W: Well, they had a 97-year-old woman on television to publicize the project. She lived alone and had never been out of the state she was born in. Although she had relatives, nobody seemed to know what had happened to them. M: You say the service has been going for a few years? W: I think it''s five, but it might even be ten years, and now it has about one thousand volunteers and they keep in daily touch with more than twelve hundred people, mostly senior citizens. M: It must be frightening to be old and alone and have no one who has any interest in you. W: The service made its millionth call recently. The volunteer calls once a day and if no one answers, another call is made in about an hour. If there is still no answer, a call is placed to a neighbor or to someone who can check to see if the person is all right. The project is supported twenty percent by federal funds and the rest by donations. The volunteers now go through an instruction course before beginning the calls. W: Just a few years ago this city established what is called the Telephone Reassurance Service. It was set up by a volunteer group of people to ring up elderly or handicapped persons who live alone, to check on whether they are all right and to help cheer them up. M: That sounds like a good idea. W: Well, they had a 97-year-old woman on television to publicize the project. She lived alone and had never been out of the state she was born in. Although she had relatives, nobody seemed to know what had happened to them. M: You say the service has been going for a few years? W: I think it''s five, but it might even be ten years, and now it has about one thousand volunteers and they keep in daily touch with more than twelve hundred people, mostly senior citizens. M: It must be frightening to be old and alone and have no one who has any interest in you. W: The service made its millionth call recently. The volunteer calls once a day and if no one answers, another call is made in about an hour. If there is still no answer, a call is placed to a neighbor or to someone who can check to see if the person is all right. The project is supported twenty percent by federal funds and the rest by donations. The volunteers now go through an instruction course before beginning the calls.

听力题One winter day in 1891

听力题 You can tell the age of a tree by counting its rings, but these records of trees'' life really say a lot more. Scientists are using tree rings to learn what''s been happening on the sun''s surface for the last ten thousand years. Each ring represents a year of growth. As the tree grows, it adds a layer to its trunk taking up chemical elements from the air. By looking up the elements in the rings for a given year, scientists can tell what elements were in the air that year. Dr. Stevenson is analyzing one element—carbon-14 in rings from both living and dead trees. Some of the rings go back almost ten thousand years to the end of the Ice Age. When Stevenson followed the carbon-14 trail back in time, he found carbon-14 levels change with the intensity of solar burning. You see, the sun has cycles. Sometimes it burns fiercely and other times it''s relatively calm. During the sun''s violent periods, it throws off charged particles in fast moving strings called solar winds. The particles interfere with the formation of carbon-14 on earth. When there''s more solar wind activity, less carbon-14 is produced. Ten thousand years of tree rings show that the carbon-14 level rises and falls about every 420 years. The scientists concluded that the solar wind activity must follow the same cycle. You can tell the age of a tree by counting its rings, but these records of trees'' life really say a lot more. Scientists are using tree rings to learn what''s been happening on the sun''s surface for the last ten thousand years. Each ring represents a year of growth. As the tree grows, it adds a layer to its trunk taking up chemical elements from the air. By looking up the elements in the rings for a given year, scientists can tell what elements were in the air that year. Dr. Stevenson is analyzing one element—carbon-14 in rings from both living and dead trees. Some of the rings go back almost ten thousand years to the end of the Ice Age. When Stevenson followed the carbon-14 trail back in time, he found carbon-14 levels change with the intensity of solar burning. You see, the sun has cycles. Sometimes it burns fiercely and other times it''s relatively calm. During the sun''s violent periods, it throws off charged particles in fast moving strings called solar winds. The particles interfere with the formation of carbon-14 on earth. When there''s more solar wind activity, less carbon-14 is produced. Ten thousand years of tree rings show that the carbon-14 level rises and falls about every 420 years. The scientists concluded that the solar wind activity must follow the same cycle.

听力题 Shyness is the cause of much unhappiness for a great many people. Shy people are anxious and self-conscious; that is, they are over concerned with their own appearance and actions. Worrisome thoughts are constantly occurring in their minds; What kind of impression am I making? Do they like me? Do I sound stupid? Am I wearing unattractive clothes? It is obvious that such uncomfortable feelings must affect people unfavorably. A person''s self concept is reflected in the way he or she behaves and the way a person behaves affects other people''s reactions. In general, the way people think about themselves has a deep effect on all areas of their lives. Shy people have low self-esteem, who are likely to be passive and easily influenced by others. They need reassurance that they are doing "the right thing". Shy people are very sensitive to criticism. It makes them feel inferior. They also find it difficult to be pleased by praises because they believe they are unworthy of praise. A shy person may respond to praise with a statement like this one: "You''re just saying that to make me feel good. I know it''s not true. "It is clear that, while self awareness is a healthy quality, overdoing it is harmful. Can shyness be completely got rid of, or at least reduced? Fortunately, people can overcome shyness with determination. It is important for people to accept their weaknesses as well as their strengths, for example, not fair for them to label themselves inferior because they have to be realistic. Living on the impossible leads to absence of inferiority. Each one of us has his or her own characteristics. We are interested in our own personal ways. The better we understand ourselves, the easier it becomes to live up to our chances for a rich and fulfilling life. Shyness is the cause of much unhappiness for a great many people. Shy people are anxious and self-conscious; that is, they are over concerned with their own appearance and actions. Worrisome thoughts are constantly occurring in their minds; What kind of impression am I making? Do they like me? Do I sound stupid? Am I wearing unattractive clothes? It is obvious that such uncomfortable feelings must affect people unfavorably. A person''s self concept is reflected in the way he or she behaves and the way a person behaves affects other people''s reactions. In general, the way people think about themselves has a deep effect on all areas of their lives. Shy people have low self-esteem, who are likely to be passive and easily influenced by others. They need reassurance that they are doing "the right thing". Shy people are very sensitive to criticism. It makes them feel inferior. They also find it difficult to be pleased by praises because they believe they are unworthy of praise. A shy person may respond to praise with a statement like this one: "You''re just saying that to make me feel good. I know it''s not true. "It is clear that, while self awareness is a healthy quality, overdoing it is harmful. Can shyness be completely got rid of, or at least reduced? Fortunately, people can overcome shyness with determination. It is important for people to accept their weaknesses as well as their strengths, for example, not fair for them to label themselves inferior because they have to be realistic. Living on the impossible leads to absence of inferiority. Each one of us has his or her own characteristics. We are interested in our own personal ways. The better we understand ourselves, the easier it becomes to live up to our chances for a rich and fulfilling life.

听力题People enjoy taking trips

听力题 The Mediterranean is a word both easy to pronounce and easy to spell—if you only know how. It is a word of five syllables: me-di-ter-ran-ean, meaning mid-earth. The Chinese translation is a happy one, as it means exactly the same thing. Europe owes its early growth to the Mediterranean Sea. On its shores were the seats of early civilization: Egypt, Greece and Rome. The Mediterranean fed the people in these lands and provided a highway for trade and diplomacy. Together, they formed a Mediterranean civilization. In 1869 the Suez Canal was cut after 10 years of arduous work. Linking the Mediterranean Sea to the Indian Ocean, the Canal shortened the passage from Europe to Asia by some 10,000 kilometres. The Canal is 171 km long and 65 km wide. An ocean liner takes some 10 hours to go through. It goes slowly, but safely. The Canal is now completely Egyptian property. Foreign ships pay for their passage, making the Canal a good earner of hard currency The Mediterranean is a word both easy to pronounce and easy to spell—if you only know how. It is a word of five syllables: me-di-ter-ran-ean, meaning mid-earth. The Chinese translation is a happy one, as it means exactly the same thing. Europe owes its early growth to the Mediterranean Sea. On its shores were the seats of early civilization: Egypt, Greece and Rome. The Mediterranean fed the people in these lands and provided a highway for trade and diplomacy. Together, they formed a Mediterranean civilization. In 1869 the Suez Canal was cut after 10 years of arduous work. Linking the Mediterranean Sea to the Indian Ocean, the Canal shortened the passage from Europe to Asia by some 10,000 kilometres. The Canal is 171 km long and 65 km wide. An ocean liner takes some 10 hours to go through. It goes slowly, but safely. The Canal is now completely Egyptian property. Foreign ships pay for their passage, making the Canal a good earner of hard currency

听力题In the West, land was always cheap

听力题 An Australian inventor has designed and built an environmentally friendly ferry that uses solar and wind power to transport people around Sydney Harbor. Robert Dane and his Solar Sailor were given the top prize at the Australian Design Awards recently. The Solar Sailor has been in use for six months. It uses four sources of energy for its power-solar, wind, battery power with stored solar energy and a fuel generator in store all controlled by computers. The ferry can travel up to 7.5 knots (哩，测船速的单位) on just wind and solar power. Its solar wings and fiberglass solar panels (板) not only take in sunlight and store it in batteries, but also act as sails. "We angle our solar panels to the sun in two planes, which increases the amount of energy we get from the sun by 40 percent," Dane says. "And also we can use that same structure to do another job, which is also the sail, and so these wing sails actually push the ferry forward just like a soft sail does." Computers check the sun and wind and angle the solar wings to take in the most sunlight. If there isn''t much wind or it is a cloudy day, energy stored in the batteries runs the electric motor for up to five hours. "If the batteries are too low, then the computer turns the generator on so that the boat is always able to meet a commercial schedule." Dane explains. Dan got his idea for the Solar Sailor from a book on insects. He was amazed how insects use their wings to collect solar energy to warm themselves. "When I read that, I realized there was a good example in nature for what we were going to do, which was to use a solar wing to collect solar energy and also to sail," he says. An Australian inventor has designed and built an environmentally friendly ferry that uses solar and wind power to transport people around Sydney Harbor. Robert Dane and his Solar Sailor were given the top prize at the Australian Design Awards recently. The Solar Sailor has been in use for six months. It uses four sources of energy for its power-solar, wind, battery power with stored solar energy and a fuel generator in store all controlled by computers. The ferry can travel up to 7.5 knots (哩，测船速的单位) on just wind and solar power. Its solar wings and fiberglass solar panels (板) not only take in sunlight and store it in batteries, but also act as sails. "We angle our solar panels to the sun in two planes, which increases the amount of energy we get from the sun by 40 percent," Dane says. "And also we can use that same structure to do another job, which is also the sail, and so these wing sails actually push the ferry forward just like a soft sail does." Computers check the sun and wind and angle the solar wings to take in the most sunlight. If there isn''t much wind or it is a cloudy day, energy stored in the batteries runs the electric motor for up to five hours. "If the batteries are too low, then the computer turns the generator on so that the boat is always able to meet a commercial schedule." Dane explains. Dan got his idea for the Solar Sailor from a book on insects. He was amazed how insects use their wings to collect solar energy to warm themselves. "When I read that, I realized there was a good example in nature for what we were going to do, which was to use a solar wing to collect solar energy and also to sail," he says.

听力题W: Next patient, please! ...Come in. M: Morning

听力题W: Good afternoon. This is Wilson Communications