专四听写200篇

四级听写1. InsectsNobody likes insects. They are annoying and sometimes dangerous. Some of them bite us and give us diseases; others bite us and give us big red spots. Some do not bite, but just fly around our heads or crawl around our houses and gardens. /Indeed, we do not like most of them except those lovely butterflies. / But insects are interesting. Firstly, they are very old animals. Three hundred and twenty million years ago, there were no man in the world, but there were insects. Today, on every square mile of land there are millions of them flying and crawling about. Secondly, insects are very adaptable to their surroundings, so that today there are about a million different species in the world.Why then do some people try to kill insects? After all, not many of them hurt us. The reason is that they eat so much of man’s food and there are so many of them. (158 words)2. A Protest against InjusticeIt all started on a bus one day in 1955. A black woman was returning home from work after a long hard day. She sat near the front of the bus because she was tired and her legs hurt. But in those days, black people could sit only in the back of the bus. So the driver ordered the woman to give up her seat. But the woman refused, and she was arrested.Incidents like this had happened before. But no one had ever spoken out against such treatment of blacks. This time, however, a young black preacher organized a protest. He called on all black citizens to stop riding the buses until the laws were changed. He led the protest movement to end such injustice to the blacks. The protest marked the beginning of the civil rights movement in the United States. (146 words)3. Foolish TestsCenturies ago, a man accused of a crime / often had to go through a strange test. / In one country, for instance, a metal bar was dropped into boiling oil. / The prisoner had to put his hand into the oil and take out the bar. / It was believed that the oil would not burn an innocent man. / If the prisoner got his hand burned, he would be found guilty of the crime he was accused of. / Another foolish method was used in Europe. / When a man was accused of a crime, he was thrown into a pool or river. / If he floated, people declared that he was guilty. / They took him out of the water and punished him. / However, if the man sank, people claimed that he was innocent. / They pulled him out of the water quickly and released him. / We do not know what would have happened / if the man had learned to swim under the water. (160 words)4. Why Do People Want Work?People work because they need money to live. / They need money for food and clothes and to pay for their houses, flats or the rooms where they live. / People need money formany different things / and they can earn money if they work. / Work makes people feel important. / Work makes them feel that they are useful. /But machines can not do many things that people used to do. / Technology is giving us more cars, roads and food but less work. / Many businessmen believe that we will soon have robots / which will work all the time. / The robots will never complain or stop work. / Some scientists think that by the year 2025 / intelligent animals will do the work that many people do now. /In tomorrow’s world, / people will need to learn new things / because life will be changing so fast. / People will have to change their ideas about work. / (152 words)5. The Great DepressionThe stock market crash in October 1929 / marked the beginning of the worst economic crisis in American history. / For the first year, the economy fell very slowly. / But it dropped sharply in 1931 and 1932. / By the end of 1932, the economy collapsed almost completely. /During the three years following the stock market crash, / the American gross national product dropped by almost half. / Millions of people lost their jobs. / Tens of thousands lost their homes. / Men with wives and children begged for money on the streets. / During the next several years, / a large part of the richest nation on earth / learned what it meant to be poor. /Hard times found their way into every area and every job. / Workers struggled as factories closed. / Farmers hit with falling prices and natural disasters / were forced to give up their farms. / Businessmen lost their stores, and sometimes their homes. / All the gains of the 1920s were washed away. (154 words)6. Learning to describeAll through my boyhood and youth, I was known as an idle person, / and yet I was always busy with my own private affairs, / which was to learn to write. / I always kept two books in my pocket, / one to read, and the other to write in. / As I walked, my mind was busy / fitting what I saw with appropriate words. / When I sat by the roadside, / I would either read, / or note down the features of the scene / or write some lines of verse. / Thus I lived with words. / What I wrote was not for future use, / but was written consciously for practice. / Description was the principal field of my exercise. That was a proficiency that tempted me, and I practiced to acquire it. To anyone with sense, there is always something worth describing. (138 words)7. Angel FallsAngel Falls, deep in the jungles of Latin America, is the highest waterfall in the world. / It is over 1,000 feet higher / than any other fall in the world. / Imagine that you are goingthere by plane. / For hundreds of miles you fly southeast over green plains, / mountains with forests, and high plateaus. / Suddenly you see a silver thread in the distance. / As your plane flies closer, / you see water falling over half a mile straight down the cliff. / It is such an impressive sight that you will never forget it. /No one knew about the waterfall until 1930, / when James Angel, an American pilot, / was flying over the mountains and canyons in the area. / He suddenly saw a waterfall. / The water seemed to be dropping straight out of the clouds. /In 1941 an American expedition explored and measured the falls. / From the top to the bottom, / the water falls more than 3,200 feet. / (152 words)8. Fixing a Flat TireI was coming home along the motorway the other night / when I heard a sudden bang. / Immediately I realized that I had a flat tire. /I managed to stop without falling off, / but I still had the problem of what to do about the tire. / With a motorbike, you have to take the wheel off, / find the hole, cover it with a little piece of rubber, / then put the whole lot hack together again. / It takes ages and you get very dirty. / As I didn't have any choice, I set to work. / It didn't take long to get the wheel off / and it wasn't too hard to remove the tire from the wheel. / Finding the hole took longer / but the fun really began / when I had to put the wheel back on the bike. / You’ve no idea how easy it is to lose / small pieces of a motorbike in the dark. / (155 words)9. Pace of Public SpeechPace refers to how fast or how slow you speak. / If you speak too fast, you may be difficult to follow. / If you speak too slow, / you risk losing the attention of your audience. / If audience attention seems to be drifting away, / try picking up your pace. / Usually you don't know / that you have been going too fast until someone tells you so / after your speech is over. / If you are told this, guard against this mistake in the future. / In your next speech / write reminders on your note cards to slow down. /Ideally the speaker varies his or her pace. / Speaking fast and then slowing down helps keep the attention of the audience. / Also, don't forget the benefits of pausing. / A pause before or after a dramatic moment is a highly effective technique. / The next time you are watching a comedian on television, / watch how he or she uses pauses. / (154 words)10. The Wolf and the ShepherdA wolf had long hung about a flock of sheep, / and had done them no harm. / The shepherd, however, had his suspicions, / and for a while was always on the lookout for him / as a dangerous enemy. / But as the wolf continued for a long time to follow his flock / without making any attempt to annoy them, / the shepherd began to look upon him more as a friend than an enemy. / One day the shepherd happened to have to go into the city, / sohe entrusted the sheep to the care of the wolf. / The wolf saw his opportunity and fell upon the sheep and ate them up. / On his return, the shepherd saw his flock destroyed / and exclaimed: "What a fool I am! / I deserve no less for trusting my sheep to a wolf! " / The moral of the fable is: / There is more danger from a pretended friend than from an open enemy. / (159 words)11. A Strange ManThere is a story about a man who behaves very strangely. / What others like, he dislikes, / and what most people enjoy, he doesn’t care for. /He is extremely particular about selecting the correct tie to wear with his suit, / but it doesn't bother him if his shirt is dirty / or his suit isn’t pressed. /He always sees the negative side of things. / He finds fault with the best movie of the year, / but stays awake until two o’clock in the morning / watching very old movies on television. / Even his taste in food is peculiar. / He drinks warm water and cold tea, / eats raw eggs and can't stand fresh fruit.Last week his uncle died and left him a million dollars. / In his will, the old man insisted that the nephew spend / half the inheritance within the next five years. / If he didn’t, the money would be given to a university. / Everyone is anxious to know what the nephew will do. / (163 words)12. Why Should I Take a Part-time job?The first obvious reason is the money. / I am not one of those rich kids / whose parents could give them cars as birthday presents. / My parents have worked all their lives / and saved every penny to pay my tuition and living expenses. / Although they would be willing to give me some pocket money, / if I asked, I prefer to earn it myself. / I feel good that I can in a way / lighten the burden of my parents.The second reason is the experience my part-time job provides. / Sooner or later, I'll have to enter the job market and sell myself. / And if I am to sell myself for a good price, / experience will make a difference. / While working, I get to know people / employers as well as workers. / I learn how to deal with the bosses / and how to get along with my fellow workers. / All this experience gained from my part-time job / will be valuable to my future. / (169 words)13. BadmintonBadminton is a fast game played by two or four persons. / It can be played both indoors and outdoors. / The outdoor game is more suitable for family enjoyment at home. / Badminton is an ancient game, which took its name from the place where the game was played indoors for the first time. / There are several explanations of how the modern game began. / One is that English army officers brought the game home from India in the1870s and it soon became popular in England. /Badminton trains the player's ability to react quickly with his eyes, his mind, his feet and his hand. / Becoming a good player requires physical fitness and mental effort. / Constant practice and habits of concentration and confidence are necessary. / The great players of the game have often been great sportsmen. / This is apparent in their conduct both on and off the court. / (146 words)14. Animated CartoonsWhen we see Mickey Mouse on the screen, / we all know that he is not a real mouse at all. / Yet like a living creature, he moves and talks. / How can Mickey Mouse move around, / tell jokes and do tricks in an animated cartoon? /The first thing that needs to be done / is to divide the script or the movie story into sections / and illustrate each section separately. / A full-length cartoon feature needs hundreds of thousands of drawings. / When all the drawings are completed, they are photographed by a motion picture camera. /There is much more to a cartoon film than drawings. / It sometimes takes hundreds of artists to work for years to produce one. / Actors and singers are selected to give voices to the drawn pictures. / Music is specially composed and fitted into the movie. / No wonder cartoon characters are fun to watch, / whether seen at home on television or in a movie theater. / (158 words)15. The Nursing StaffThe physicians in a hospital form the core of the medical staff. / But they could not provide effective medical care to their patients without the help of numerous nurses. / For the patients, the nursing staff is particularly important. / Nurses are usually in close contact with patients / as long as they are in the hospital. /The nursing staff is usually quite large and diverse. / The general term “nurse” refers to a person / trained to offer bedside care to sick persons. /A nurse does not study for as many years as a doctor. / However, she must be very dedicated. / Caring for the sick requires a great deal of patience and concern. / Most nurses work long days, / and they often must work at odd hours or during the night. / Serving as a nurse in a hospital can be a very rewarding job. / But not every person is suited to become one. / (151 words)16. The SupermarketIn almost all supermarkets there are shopping carts with a special space to put the baby. In the early days, before there were carts, it was noticed that as soon as a woman shopper had her arms full of goods, she stopped buying. Thus carts were introduced. Later a space for the baby was provided in the cart because it was observed that with the babysitting comfortably in the cart the mother felt less need to hurry through the store and consequently bought more.The average American housewife goes to the supermarket twice a week. On the average she spends one or two hours there each week. Women don’t go to the supermarket just to buy food. Visiting the supermarket is the housewife's chance to get away from home for a while. In the supermarket she feels that she is part of the outside world. She gets to know all the new products. Frequently she meets a number of her friends in the supermarket. (167 words)17. Changes in FashionsWomen's fashions tend to change more rapidly and radically than men’s. In the early 1900s, all women wore their skirts down to the ankle. Today, skirt length varies from floor-length to ten inches above the knee. Women’s shoes have also gone through all sorts of changes in the last seventy years. For example, boots for women were very common around the turn of the century. Then, for years, they were not considered fashionable. Today they are back in style again in all colors, lengths, and materials. In fact, today's women can wear all sorts of clothes, even slacks and shorts, on almost any occasion. While all of these changes were taking place in women's fashions, men's clothing remained pretty much the same until a couple of years ago. In fact, most men still wear the traditional suit though bright colors and varieties in cut are now more common. (153 words)18. The Future of the CinemaThe cinema became the greatest entertainment industry in the world because millions of people paid to see films. But today, in many countries, more and more people prefer to watch television. In countries where a lot of people watch television, fewer and fewer films are made, and there are fewer and fewer cinemas to show them. But this does not mean that there will come a time when no films are made and there are no cinemas left.The cinema did not really become a form of art for many years. Most films were made for entertainment only. But a number of film directors have always tried to do more than entertain. And their films have been works of art. In the future this kind of film will become more and more important. The cinema, which began as entertainment, may perhaps live on as art. (151 words)19. Football in EnglandWhat is surprising about football in England is the great knowledge of the game which even the smallest boys seem to have. They can tell you the names of the players on most of the important teams. They know the results of large numbers of matches. They will tell you, with an air of authority, who will win such and such a match, and their opinion is usually as valuable as that of men three or four times their age.Most schools in England take football seriously. They believe that education is not merely a matter of filling a boy's mind with facts in the classroom. It also means character training. And one of the best ways of training character is by means of games, especially such team games as football. The schools, therefore, regularly arrange games and matches for their pupils. (145 words)20. LifeLife is difficult. Life is a series of problems. What makes life difficult is that the process of facing and solving problems is a painful one. Problems, depending on their nature, cause in us sadness or loneliness or regret or anger or fear. And since life poses an endless series of problems, life is always difficult and full of pain as well as joy.Yet, it is in this process of solving problems that life has its meaning. It is only because of problems that we grow mentally. When we desire to encourage the growth of the human spirit, we challenge and encourage the human capacity to solve problems, just as in school we set problems for our children to solve. It is through the pain of meeting and working out problems that we learn. It is for this reason that wise people learn not to dread but actually to welcome the pain of problems. (157 words)21. Going on a TourHave you ever been a tourist? If so, did you enjoy every part of your tour? Your tour was almost certainly easier and more comfortable than the journeys of a hundred years ago. Today you can fly in comfortable planes and stay in good hotels. The countries that you visit all try to make your tour as enjoyable as possible.Not very long ago, a tourist had to be either rich or ready to bear very rough conditions. Today it is not necessary to be rich in order to be a tourist. More and more people leave their own countries for holidays in foreign lands. The tourist industry has become very important.At present most of these tourists go to countries in Europe. Italy usually attracts most tourists. Mountain lovers go to Switzerland in winter and sun-lovers from northern lands crowd the shores of the Mediterranean Sea in summer. (153 words)22. My First Day AbroadWhen the plane finally touched down on the runway, I was terribly scared. I didn't know how they were going to receive me. At the airport I passed through immigration and customs, and entered a big hall. Sitting next to me were a young man and a woman and three children running about. A singing group sang a welcome song for a group of students from America. I was green with jealousy and was very disappointed since nobody was there waiting for me! I found a telephone, called Friendship Ambassadors, and told them I had arrived. Later that night the founder of the organization told me that they hadn'treceived my telegram, so they couldn't meet me on my arrival. I felt better when some warm-hearted people treated me very kindly that night. I will never forget my first experience going abroad. (147 words)23. Senior CitizensPeople over the age of sixty-five in the United States are called senior citizens. The number of these people is increasing rapidly because people are living longer than before. Their life is different from that of younger Americans. Most of them are retired or no longer work full time.For many senior citizens, the years after sixty-five are not enjoyable. They feel that their lives lose meaning after retirement. In addition, they may feel lonely being away from their families and the contacts they had in their work. Moreover, they become more worried about their health as they grow older, and about their safety if they live in big cities. Other senior citizens enjoy their lives. They feel free to do what they were not able to when they were working and raising families. They now have time to enjoy hobbies and sports and travel. (148 words)24. Thanksgiving DayThe American Thanksgiving Day goes back to 1621. In that year a special feast was prepared in Plymouth, Massachusetts. The colonists who had settled there had left England to find religious freedom. They experienced many difficulties in coming across the Atlantic. After arriving in the new land, they were assisted by the Indians. They had much to be thankful for. Their religious practices were no longer forbidden. They learned to adjust their farming habits to the climate and soil. When they selected the fourth Thursday of November for their Thanksgiving celebration, they invited the Indians to join them in dinner and a prayer of gratitude for the new life. They recalled the group of 102 men, women and children who left England. They remembered their dead who did not live to see the shores of Massachusetts. They reflected on the 35-day journey which tested their strength. (146 words)25. Chinese FoodThe first time I ever ate Chinese food I loved it. From then on, it tasted better and better. The first thing I noticed was the fresh taste of the meat and vegetables. When I learned more about the food, I began to understand why it is so.In ancient times, China lost much of its wood due to overpopulation and poor management of its forests. Wood became very expensive and hard to get, so the Chinese had to either find something else to use, or learn how to use wood better. In order to use as little wood as they could, they started cutting their meat and vegetables into small pieces before they put them into the hot oil. In that way the food cooked faster and they savedwood. The food kept its fresh flavor, and it’s this flavor that attracts people to the art of Chinese cooking. (152 words)26. SugarSugar has been known to man for at least 3,000 years, but has come into common use only in modern times. Until quite recently, it was considered a medicine and a luxury for the very rich.But what exactly is sugar? Of course, most of us recognize it immediately as the sweet material we put in coffee or cakes. This common form of sugar is derived from such plants as the sugar cane. But in fact there are many kinds of sugar, and the chemist recognizes hundreds of different varieties.About 90% of the sugar produced is used as food. Only 10% is used in industry for purposes other than food production. Yet sugar has great possibilities for use as the basis of chemicals. It can even be used for making plastics. In the future, these potential uses of sugar will certainly be developed more fully than in the past. (149 words)27. Working WivesShould married women work outside the home? The question seems almost odd today although it was a serious one in the past. More and more married women are working and for most of them the reason is obvious. They must work if their families are to survive in an age of soaring inflation and unemployment. But what about those who don't really have to work? Do the rewards justify their efforts? The answer is pretty clearly yes.In families in which the wife has a choice, the extra paycheck may ease the financial burden on her husband. For young couples, it may mean the possibility of buying a house of their own. Unless the wife works, buying a house is simply out of the question. Another important reason is that a job provides a wife with additional security, psychological as well as financial, in the event of the illness or death of her husband. (157 words)28. Benefits of Urban LifeIn spite of the city's image as an unhealthy place, city living often provides benefits that country living lacks. That's why people living in urban areas often live longer than those in the country.One factor which seems to contribute to their long life is exercise. In the cities it is often faster and less frustrating to walk short distances than to wait for a bus. Even taking public transportation often requires some walking. Smaller apartment houses have no elevators and so tenants must climb stairs. City dwellers usually have to walk to local supermarkets. Since parking space is hard to find, there is often no alternative to walking.On the other hand, those who live in the country do not have to walk every day. In fact, the opposite is often true. To go to work, school or almost anywhere else, they must ride incars. (152 words)29. Disadvantages of Living in Big CitiesAlthough big modern cities provide people with many facilities, they certainly have their disadvantages.The first serious problem is the traffic. During the rush hours, wherever you look it’s people, people, people. All the streets are jammed with packed buses and endless lines of cars. As a result, traffic accidents often occur. Next comes the problem of pollution. Factories and vehicles are constantly giving off harmful smoke, so that urban people seem to have forgotten what fresh air is like. Every year, millions of people die of cancer or other diseases caused by air-pollution.Apart from these, there are many more. For example, there is the housing problem. And another is the high crime rate. Finally, urban dwellers are so far away from nature that most of them just lose track of seasons !(140 words)30. The Great American GameBaseball is called the great American game. Hardly a boy in the U. S. has grown up without playing it. The game is so much a part of American life that its terms have become the common everyday speech of the people. Scores of baseball terms are used by people who may never have seen a game in their life.During World War II, Germans dressed in American uniforms turned up behind the American lines. Many of them spoke English so well that they passed themselves off as American soldiers. However, the U. S. Army found a way to tell which were false and which were real. They halted strange soldiers at check-points and asked them questions about baseball and some of the star players. Genuine Americans could answer the questions easily. But the Germans, who couldn't, were promptly made prisoners of war. (146 words)31. The U.S. Coast GuardThe U. S. Coast Guard does what its name says. It has responsibility for many different duties. The Coast Guard can be found at many large lakes in America and in coastal waters. It enforces laws controlling navigation, immigration, and fishing. It enforces other laws that affect the thousands of privately-owned boats in the United States. Coast Guard planes, boats, and helicopters search for missing boats and rescue people in dangerous situations. It also does scientific research on the ocean and clears ice from rivers or lakes, so boats can travel safely.One of the Coast Guard's most important duties now is to stop drug trafficking into the United States. Armed Coast Guard boats use radio and radar to find boats that may carry drugs. They stop the boats suspected of carrying drugs and search them. They seizethe drugs and arrest the people if they find any illegal drugs aboard. (158 words)32. Encounter with StrangersTalking with a stranger will often enrich our knowledge. For instance, a gardener I met in a park told me more about how plants grow than I had ever learned before. Once a taxi driver invited me to tea at his home and helped me learn about a way of life different from my own.Through talking with strangers, we can learn something about ourselves, for an encounter with a stranger, at its best, is a meeting of hearts and minds. To a stranger, we may say things that we have always wanted to say, but never dared mention to our family members or friends, and thus see ourselves through new eyes.Meeting a stranger by chance can result in a life-long friendship. Thirty years ago I met a stranger at a station while waiting for a train, and we’ve been friends ever since. Come to think of it, weren't nearly all our friends once strangers? (160 words)33. LawsBefore laws were written, there was no sure way of knowing what was permitted and what was forbidden. One judge might apply one set of rules to a case while another judge might apply completely different rules to a similar case. It all depended on the personal judgment of one person.Today we follow the custom of recording our laws. Rules passed by our lawmakers are printed and available for everyone to see. Unless laws are publicly available, we do not regard them as binding.Each of us is subject to many different sets of laws. Some laws say what is permitted, such as how fast you may drive. Other laws say what is required, such as paying a federal income tax. Still other laws say what is prohibited, such as smoking in elevators. In the United States, federal laws apply to everyone and state laws apply to activities within each state. (154 words)34. What Can We Do about the Water Pollution Problem?Water pollution has become a serious problem. Industrial wastes have already made many rivers lifeless. Oil spills in the seas are killing enormous numbers of fish and birds. What is more, polluted water is an increasing danger to public health. It causes people to become ill with all kinds of diseases.What can we do about it in order to survive on earth? First, we can make great efforts to clean up polluted water and limit further pollution. Second, we can insist that water pollution control laws be passed and strictly enforced. Third, we can personally help to prevent water pollution by not throwing anything into streams or lakes. Finally, we can also protect ourselves against polluted water. If we go on a camping trip, for instance, we。