英语专业四级考试历年听写原文

专业四级考试听写评分标准1. 听写共分15小节，每节1分，扣分一律写在试卷右边的空白处。

大错误下面画线。

小错误用圆圈表示，重复错误用三角记号表示。

2. 每节最多扣1分。

3. 重复错误，仅扣一次分。

4.错误共分两类：小错误（minor mistakes）和大错误（major mistakes），分不扣0.25分和0.5分。

A. 小错误：1）单词拼写错一到两个字母。

例：steadily → staedily； harbor → habor两个字母以下的词、次序颠倒算小错。

2）标点符号错误（含大小写）。

例：World War I → world war one, and then adopted → . And then adopted3) 冠词、单复数错误。

例：until the beginning → until beginning; parent → parents4）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分后留作总计；出现四次：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，每个错误扣0.5分。

例：loved → love；task — test； trip — trap； flee — flea；have finis hed — finsh（ed）5. 一些特例的扣分标准：下列情况不扣分：World War I → World War Onerace car → racecarwell-balanced → well balanced90 percent → 90%6. 总分只有0.5分时，以1分计算；其余总分中如含小数点的，小数舍去，保留整数，如12.5 → 12；7.5 → 77. 空白卷一律打0分。

英语专业四级考试历年听写原文（1993年——2006年）Package Holidays (1993)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．Everythin g 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 b eautiful, 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．The American Family (1994)The American family unit is changing. There used to be mainly two t ypes of families, the extended and the nuclear. The former included mot her, father, children, and some other relatives such as grandparents, l iving in the same house or nearby. Then as the economy progressed fromagricultural to industrial, people began moving to different parts of t he country in order to search for job opportunities. These moves split up the extended family. The nuclear family consisting of only parents a nd children has therefore b ecome far more wide spread. Today’s family, however, can be composed of diverse combinations. With the divorce rate nearly one in two, there's an increase in single-parent homes—a fathe r or mother living with one or more children. Blended families occur wh en 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.Unidentified Flying Objects (1995)There are many explanations for why UFOs visit the Earth. / The mos t popular one is that they maybe visitors from other planets./ To fly s uch aircraft, their builders must develop different forms of aviation,/ because they seem to fly much faster than normal aircraft./ The UFOs, i t is believed, must contain scientists/ from other planets who are stud ying 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 s ome sightings of UFOs are difficult to explain, most can be explained q uite easily./ In many cases the observers might have made a mistake./ They might have seen a weather balloon or an aircraft./ Or the light the y saw in the sky might have been light from the ground,/ reflected on t o the clouds./ However, the exact cause of many sightings still remaine d a mystery.The Indian Medicine Man (1996)Among the Indians of North America, the medicine man was a very imp ortant person. He could cure illness and he could speak to the spirits. The spirits were the supernatural forces that controlled the world. Th e Indians believed that bad spirits made people ill. So when people wer e ill, the medicine man tried to help them by using magic. He spoke to the good spirits and asked for their help. Many people were cured, beca use they thought the spirits were helping them, but really these people cured themselves. Sometimes your own mind is the best doctor for you. The medicine men were often successful for another reason, too. They kn ew about plants that really can cure illness. A lot of medicines are ma de from the plants that were used by medicine men hundred of years ago.Legal Age for Marriage (1997)Throughout the United States, the legal age for marriage shows some difference. The most common age without parents’ consent is 18 for both females and males. However, persons who are under age in their home s tate can get married in another state, and then return to the home stat e legally married. Each state issues its own marriage license. Both res idents and non-residents are qualified for such a license. The fees and ceremonies vary greatly from state to state. Most states, for instance, have a blood test requirement, but a few do not. Most states permit ei ther a civil or religious ceremony, but a few require the ceremony to b e religious. In most states a waiting period is required before the lic ense is issued. This period is from one to five days depending on the s tate. A three-day-wait is the most common. In some states there is no r equired waiting period.The Railways in Britain (1998)The success of early railways, such as the lines between big cities, / led to a great increase in railway building in Victorian times. / Bet ween 1835 and 1865 about 25000 kilometers of track were built,/ and ove r 100 railway companies were created. /Railway travel transformed people's lives. / Trains were first desi gned to carry goods. / However, a law in the 19th century forced railwa y companies to run one cheap train a day / which stopped at every stati on and cost only a penny a mile. / Soon working class passengers found they could afford to travel by rail. / Cheap day excursion trains became popular and seaside resorts grew rapidly. / The railways also provide d thousands of new jobs:/ building carriages, running the railways and repairing the tracks. / Railways even changed the time. / The need to r un the railways on time meant that local time was abolished/ and clocks showed the same time all over the country. /United Nations Day(1999)The 24th of October is celebrated as United Nations Day. h is a day that belongs to everyone. And it is celebrated in most countries of th e world. Some countries celebrate for a week instead of a day. In many parts of the world, schools have special programs for the day. Boys and girls in some communities decorate a UN tree. In other communities, yo ung people put on plays about the UN. Some libraries exhibit children’s art works from around the world. Schools celebrate with the songs and dances of other countries or give parties where foods of other countrie s are served. No matter how the day is celebrated, the purpose of these celebrations is to help everyone understand the UN, and the important roles it plays in world affairs. The UN encourages people to learn about other lands and their customs. In this way, people can gain a better understanding and appreciation of peoples all over the world.What We Know About Language(2000)Many things about language are a mystery and will remain so. Howev er, we now do know something about it. First, we know that all human be ings have a language of some sort. No human race anywhere on earth is s o backward that it has no language of its own at all. Second, there is no such thing as a primitive language. There are many peoples whose cul tures are undeveloped but the languages they speak are by no means prim itive. In all the languages existing in the world today, there are comp lexities that must have been developed for years. Third, we know that a ll languages are perfectly adequate. Each is a perfect means of express ing its culture. And finally, we know that language changes over time, which is natural and normal if a language is to survive. The language w hich remains unchanged is nothing but dead.Characteristics of A Good Reader(2001)To improve your reading habits, you must understand the characteri stics of a good reader. First, the good reader usually reads rapidly. Of course, he does not read every piece of material at the same rate. Bu t whether he is reading a newspaper or a chapter in a physics text, his reading rate is relatively fast. He has learned to read for ideas rath er than words one at a time. Next, the good reader can recognize and un derstand general ideas and specific details. Thus he is able to compreh end the material with a minimum of effort and a maximum of interest. Fi nally, the good reader has in his command several special skills, which he can apply to reading problems as they occur. For the college studen t, the most helpful of these skills include making use of the various a ids to understanding that most text books provide and skim-reading for a general survey.Disappearing Forests(2002)The world’s forests are disappearing. As much as 1/3 of the total tree cover has been lost since agriculture began some 10,000 years ago. The remaining forests are home to half of the world’s species, thus be coming the chief resource for their survival. Tropical rain forests onc e covered 12% of the land of the planet, as well as supporting at leasthalf of the world’s species of plants and animals. These rain forests are home to millions of people. But there are other demands on them. Fo r example, much has been cut for timber. An increasing amount of forest land has been used for industrial purposes or for agricultural develop ment such as crop-growing. By the 1990’s less than half of the earth’s original rain forests remained, and they continued to disappear at an alarming rate every year. As a result the world’s forests are now facin g gradual extinction.Salmon (2003)Every year, millions of salmon swim from the ocean into the mouths of rivers and then steadily up the rivers. Passing through waters, arou nd rocks and waterfalls, the fish finally reach their original streams or lakes. They dig out nests in the riverbed and lay their eggs. Then, exhausted by their journey, the parent salmon die. They have finished t he task that nature has given them. Months, or years later, the young f ish start their trip to the ocean. They live in the salt water from 2-7 years, until they, too are ready to swim back to reproduce. Their life cycle helps man provide himself with a basic food-fish. When the adult salmon gather at the river mouths for the annual trip up the rivers, t hey are in the best possible condition, and nearly every harbor has its salmon fishing fleet ready to catch thousands for markets.Money (2004)Money is accepted across the world as payment for goods or services. People use money to buy food, clothes and hundreds of other things. In the past, many different things were used as money. People on Pacific islands once exchanged shells for goods. The Chinese used cloth and kni ves. In Africa, elephant tusks or salt were used. Even today, some peop le in Africa are still paid in salt. Coins were first invented by the C hinese. Originally, they were round pieces of metal with a hole in the center, so that a piece of string could keep them together. This made d oing business much easier, but people still found coins inconvenient to carry when they wanted to buy something expensive. To solve this probl em, the Chinese again came up with the solution. They began to use pape r money for coins. Now paper notes are used throughout the world.The Wrist Watch （2005）It is generally believed that wrist watches are an exception / to t he normal sequence in the evolution of man's jewelry. / Reversing the u sual order, they were first worn by women, / and then adopted by men. / In the old days, queens included wrist watches among their crown jewel ry. / Later, they were worn by Swiss workers and farmers. / Until World War I, Americans associated the watch with fortune hunters. / Then arm y officers discovered that the wrist watch was most practical for activ e combat. / Race car drivers also loved to wear wrist watches, / and pi lots found them most useful while flying. / Soon men dared to wear wris t watches without feeling self-conscious. / By 1924, some 30 percent of man's watches were worn on the wrist. / Today, the figure is 90 percen t. / And they are now worn by both men and women / for practical purpos es rather than for decoration.The Internet (2006)The Internet is the most significant progress in the field of commu nications. / Imagine a book that never ends, a library with a million f loors, / or imagine a research project with thousands of scientists / w orking around the clock forever. / This is the magic of the Internet. / Yet the Internet has the potential for good and bad. / One can find we。