北大网测大英四100分听力试题

北京大学教学网大学英语四级听力单元四测试2013年夏

Passage1

Demands for stronger protection for wildlife in Britain sometimes hide the fact that similar needs are felt in the rest of Europe. Studies by the Council of Europe, of which 21 countries are members, have shown that 45 percent of reptile species and 24 percent of butterflies are in danger of dying out. Dr. Peter Baum, an expert in the environment and nature resources division of the council, outlined European concern for wildlife when he spoke at a conference arranged by the administrators of a British national park. The park is one of the few areas in Europe to hold the council’s diploma for nature reserves of the highest quality and Dr. Baum had come to present it to the park once again. He was afraid that public opinion was turning against national parks, and that those set up in the 1960's and 1970's could not be set up today. But Dr. Baum clearly remained a strong supporter of the view that natural environments needed to be allowed to survive in space. No area could be expected to survive both as a true nature reserve and as a tourist attraction, he went on. We could manage without most industrial products, but we could not manage without nature. However, our natural environment areas, which are the original parts of our countryside, have shrunk to become mere islands in a spoiled and highly polluted landmass.

Passage2

Nothing in recent years has so changed the economy of the United States as the development of the supermarket. Previously, people bought their food in small grocery stores generally located on a nearby corner. Now, almost everyone shops in large supermarkets. The small independent grocery has practically disappeared from the American scene. When a supermarket is established in a certain city, other smaller stores rise up around it almost immediately. The entire group of stores becomes what is known as a shopping center. The average supermarket covers about 35,000 square feet of shopping area. It should have one parking place for every 300 square feet of shopping area. Six of every ten American shoppers drive to the supermarket. Statistics show that the average American housewife goes to the supermarket twice a week. On the average, she spends about one or two hours there in a week. Psychologists say that women don't just go to the supermarket to buy food. Visiting the supermarket is the housewife's chance to get away from home for a while. In the supermarket, she feels she is part of the outside world. She gets to know all of the new products. Frequently, she meets a number of her friends in the supermarket.

Passage3

First aid may be defined as the immediate and temporary care given to a victim of an accident or serious illness until the physician can be obtained. First aid commences with the steadying effect upon the stricken person when he realizes that competent hands will help him. The emergency situation often causes confusion in the mind of the victim. Things seem unreal and remote, and he often cannot think clearly and rationally for some time. The emotional reaction which results from a serious accident takes time to subside. Therefore, first aid is more than the physical attention of