全新版大学英语听说教程4text1和text2的原文

Text2Conversation 1:M: I have never heard such a fascinating lecture on solar energy. But you don't seem impressed. Don't you like it, Sally?W: Well, I must admit that I dozed off most of the time. I think it's too difficult for me to understand.Q: How did the woman feel about the lecture?Conversation 2:W: Thank goodness! You've finally arrived. The presentation started ten minutes ago. And I was just beginning to panic.M: Sorry I'm late. The traffic was extremely bad.Q: How did the woman feel when she saw the man?Conversation 3:W: I hear that you work part-time at a supermarket. What do you do there?M: I work in the produce section. I also stock shelves. Sometimes when it really gets busy, I help at the checkout counter.Q: What does the man occasionally do at his supermarket?Conversation 4:M: Mary, I've finally decided about my history paper. I'm going to focus on World War II.W: That's good, but you need to concentrate on one particular area. What about looking at the course of events in the Pacific?Q: What does the woman think of the man's topic?Conversation 5:M: To get an MA, you'll need thirty-six credit hours. Fifteen must be from the Education Department and fifteen from the Psychology Department. For the remaining six credit hours you have to write a thesis in about two thousand words.W: Hmm, that seems a lot, but I'm sure I'll manage.Q: What are the two speakers talking about?Passage 1Lifestyle is the way a person lives; it includes work, leisure time, hobbies, other interests, and personal philosophy. One person's lifestyle may be dominated by work with few social activities. Another's may involve hobbies, recreational activities or personal philosophy.There is little doubt that lifestyles are changing and that these changes will have an impact on the way business operates in the years ahead. Several cases are causing lifestyle changes in some developed countries.First, there is more leisure time than ever before. The workweek is now less than forty hours, as compared with seventy hours a century ago. Some experts believe it will be twenty-five hours or less in a few decades. Several firms have adopted four-day workweeks with more hours per day. Others have cut down on the number of working hours each week. Reduced work schedules mean increased leisure time.Second, families have fewer children than before -- and young couples are postponing childbirth instead of having children early in the marriage. This trend has forced many businesses to modify their competitive strategies. Gerber Products Company used to advertise 'babies are our business -- our only business'. Now Gerber products include infant and toddler clothing, stuffed animals and accessories such as bottles, baby powder and so on.Third, people are better educated and more prosperous now than they were earlier. These advantages bring with them the freedom to question current lifestyles and examine new ones. Inquiries of this nature have sometimes led to personal lifestyle changes. Today's youth, for example, are not only better educated but more independent and individualistic than past generations.The business world is only beginning to realize how people's lifestyles can influence their behavior as employees, consumers and members of society.Questions:1. What does the passage mainly tell us?2. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?3. What does the speaker say about today's youth?Passage 2Mountain climbers around the world dream about going up Mount Qomolangma. It is the highest mountain in the world. But many people who have climbed the mountain had left waste material that is harming the environment. The pollution is affecting populated areas near the mountain.A team of Americans is planning the largest clean-up effort ever on Mount Qomolangma.They will make the risky trip up the mountain next month. The team of eight Americans will be guided by more than twenty ethnic Sherpas of Nepal. Their goal is to remove all the trash they see and send most of it back to the United States. They will spend two months moving up the mountain gathering oxygen bottles, fuel containers, batteries, drinks cans, human waste and other trash. They are expected to remove at least three tons of trash in large bags.Team leader Robert Hoffman is making his fourth trip up the mountain. He says he hopes to return Mount Qomolangma to the condition it was in before the first successful climb fifty years ago. He says he hopes the effort will influence other people to clean up the environment closer to home.Human waste on Mount Qomolangma is a major concern. So the clean-up team will take along with them newly developed equipment to collect and treat human waste. Over the years, the waste particles have polluted the mountain. In the warm season when the ice melts, the polluted water flows to Nepalese villages below. The problem has gotten worse in recent years because climbing Mount Qomolangma has become more popular.Since 1992 the government of Nepal has required climbers to bring down what they take up. But those rules were never fully carried out. And no one has ever been required to bring back their trash from the highest part of the mountain.Mount Qomolangma is part of the Himalayan mountain range. It is on the border between Nepal and Tibet, China. Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Sherpa Tensing Norgay made the first successful climb in 1953. Since then, more than eight hundred people have successfully climbed the mountain. Some people who reached the top died on their way down. Many other people died before reaching the top, which is almost nine thousand meters high.Questions:1. Which of the following can best serve as the title of the passage?2. Which of the following is true?3. What's the American team's goal in going up Mount Qomolangma?4. What can be concluded from the passage?Passage 3According to popular belief, eccentrics are wealthy people who can afford to indulge their eccentricities on a grand scale. But nowadays eccentrics are just as likely to work at ordinary jobs. One man, for example, works in a bank from 9 to 5, but in his spare time carries a bow and arrow and thinks of his home as a leafy corner of Sherwood Forest. Another eccentric is a social worker but lives in a cave and does long charity walks wearing pajamas. A third spends all his time in bed and a fourth lives only on potatoes.Dr. David Weeks has found that such oddballs often have certain features in common. They are often the only or eldest child raised in strict homes. Many have strange eating or sleeping habits. And although they are frequently impatient with other people, they are generally not competitive and hate sports. They are poor conversationalists, but are oftenhighly educated and read far more than ordinary people. They are often creative and inventive, especially in the scientific field. Not surprisingly, eccentrics tend to live alone and they are more likely to be men. They outnumber women by two to one.If you're an eccentric, you'll be encouraged by Dr. Weeks' study. Eccentrics are less likely to be mentally ill than more conventional people are. And, in his view, they provide some harmless, welcome relief from ordinary people.Questions:1. Why does the speaker give three examples of eccentrics at the beginning of his talk?2. What can we learn about eccentrics from Dr. Weeks' study?3. What's Dr. Weeks' attitude toward eccentrics?Text 1Conversation 1:W: Have you got a job, Phil?M: Yeah, I do yard work for the people in the neighborhood, cutting grass, raking fallen leaves, planting trees and pulling out weeds, things like that.Q: What does Phil do?Conversation 2:M: The trees on our campus are really beautiful.W: You're right, and they are useful, too. They cut down on our need for air conditioning, don't you think?Q: What does the woman mean?Conversation 3:W: Professor Webster has a class this afternoon from 2:30 to 4. But he won't be able to make it because he's lost his voice.M: Does he want me to try to find somebody else to take his place?Q: What does the man mean?Conversation 4:M: Can you come to the concert with me this weekend, or do you have to prepare for the exams next week?W: Frankly speaking I still have a lot to do for the exams but maybe a break would do me good. Q: What will the woman probably do?Conversation 5:M: Have you heard the weather report for today?W: Yes. It says that the sandstorm is going to be very bad and we're advised to stay indoors.Q: What is the woman talking about?Passage 1Office systems are equipment used to create, store, process, or communicate information in a business environment. This information can be manually, electrically, or electronically produced, duplicated, and transmitted.The rapid growth of the service sector of the world economy beginning in the mid-1970s has furnished a new market for sophisticated office automation.Most modern office equipment, including typewriters, dictation equipment, facsimile machines, photocopiers, calculators, and telephone systems as well, contains a microprocessor. With the increasing incorporation of microchips into office equipment, the line between the computer and other equipment has blurred.At the same time, computers, either stand-alone or as part of a network, and specialized software programs are taking over tasks such as facsimile transmission or fax, voice mail, and telecommunications that were once performed by separate pieces of equipment. In fact, the computer has virtually taken the place of typewriters, calculators, and manual accounting techniques and is rapidly taking over graphic design, production scheduling, and engineering design.The use of computers and other modern equipment has enabled links to be established far beyond the walls of a building. Electronic links allow people in a modern office to communicate with workers at home or in satellite offices. This capability has led to a sharp increase in telecommuting. Since the early 1990s workers have worked at least part of the time outside the main office. Managers and professional employees are the major participants in this trend. As they no longer have to spend hours traveling from home to office, their work productivity has increased.As technology advances further, new equipment will be invented and introduced into the modern office, which will result in even greater efficiency in office work.Questions:1. What do office systems refer to according to the passage?2. What has furnished a new market for sophisticated office equipment since the mid-1970s?3. How have electronic links benefited professionals and managers?Passage 2When it comes to leisure activities, Americans aren't quite the fun-seekers they've beensupposed to be. For one out of five, weekends and vacations are consumed by such drudgeries as house-cleaning, yard-working and cooking; only one-third of them enjoy the luxury of relaxing in the sun, going camping, playing sports, or simply relaxing.These are among the conclusions reached by a recent poll in which more than 1,120 employed Americans were asked how they occupy themselves on days they are not at work. According to the poll, older people, the rich, and the well-educated are most apt to spend their spare time doing the things they 'want to do' rather than those they 'have to'.Overall, high-salaried people were more active then those with lower incomes -- they reported watching less television and were more likely to engage in social and cultural activities. Furthermore, those with college degrees were about twice as likely as those with no more than a high school education to spend time playing sports (42% compared with 23%).On the subject of vacations, the study found that college graduates were more likely than those with only high school degrees to have vacation plans (80% versus 60%). Of those who did intend to take some time off, 46% planned a sightseeing vacation (34% in the United States, 12% abroad), 34% expected to visit friends or relatives, 22% headed for the beach or lake, and 12% intended to relax at home.People who are divorced, widowed, or separated, the survey concluded, are the least likely of any group to take a vacation -- and the least likely to attach any importance to it.Questions:1. What is the passage mainly about?2. How do most people in the US spend their vacation according to the passage?3. Which of the following adjectives best describes the passage?4. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?Passage 3A movement to make US hotels smoke-free got a boost on Thursday when Woodfin Suite Hotels, owner of 18 hotels in 11 states, said its six California properties will go smoke-free starting September 1st.The announcement followed a similar move by Howard Johnson International Inc., which said in June that its hotel on Pocahontas Trail in Williamsburg, Va. would become the chain's first smoke-free property. And on August 1, Apple Core Hotels turned its 80-room Comfort Inn Midtown in New York City's Theater District into a no-smoking property.Hotel owners said they hope to make up for any lost business by winning over guests who prefer a smoke-free environment, but most admitted the move is largely experimental and traveler reaction will be closely watched before any major expansion of their programs.Apple Core Chief Operating Officer said his company decided to take the no-smokingplunge for a simple reason: demand."It has nothing to do with public policy," he said. "There's tremendous demand. People are very upset when they've been promised a smoke-free room and they get a smoked-in room instead."The handful of hotel owners who have taken the no-smoking plunge say the move will also help them save money in their housekeeping departments.The process of "de-smoking" a room -- eliminating all the negative effects when a room has been smoked in -- typically costs about $500 per room. Smoking rooms also face higher costs associated with more frequent carpet shampooing, curtain cleaning and minor repairs for such things as cigarette burns in fabrics, according to hotel managers.Furthermore, smoking rooms often take longer to clean than their no-smoking counterparts because they must be deodorized each day.It is also a benefit to the employees who can clean the rooms much faster. And employees who don't smoke won't get the smell. Even smokers complain when they walk in and get the smell of stale smoke.Despite the benefit of going smoke-free, however, many hotels may be reluctant to completely do away with smoking rooms in the near future. It will be more the personal preference of the owner doing it, whereas the public company has to be more careful because it limits the demand.Questions:1. What does the passage mainly tell us?2. What do we know about Woodfin Suite Hotels?3. What is the main reason why some owners want to ban smoking in their hotels?。