2006年英语专业四级考试听力原文

Part I Dictation

The Internet

The Internet is the most significant progress in the field of communications. Imagine a book that never ends, a library with a milion floors, or imagine a research project with thousands of scientists working around the clock forever. This is the magic of the Internet. Yet the Internet has potential for good and bad. One can find well-organized information-rich websites. At the same time, one can also find wasteful websites. Most websites are known as different Internet applications. These include online games, check rooms and so on. These applications have great power, too. Sometimes, the power can be so great that young people may easily become victims to their attraction. So we need to recognize the seriousness of the problem. We must work together to use its power for better ends.

Part II Listening Comprehension

SECTION A CONVERSATIONS

Conversation One

M: Hello!

W: Oh, hello! You must be a new student. Did you find us OK?

M: Well, I got a bit lost and I had to ask a stranger, but I got here eventually.

W: Oh, dear! Have you come far today?

M: Only from Brighton. I was staying with my brother.

W: Oh, good. How did you get here?

M: My brother took me to the railway station, and I got a bus at this end (Ql).

W: Aha, well you'd better tell me your name so I can find your form.

M: It's Mark Burn.

W: Burn, Burn. Oh, yes. Oh, you've changed since this photo. What happened to your beard and mustache? And you are not wearing glasses, either (Q2).

M: No, I thought I'd better look smarter.

W: Here is the key to your room. It's 501.

M: Thanks. How do I get there?

W: Go to the end of this corridor. Turn left, and it's the third door on the right.

M: Thank you. Oh, there is a meeting for new students. What time is that?

W: Half past five in the Common Room on the ground floor at the other end of the corridor (Q3).

M: Thanks a lot. Bye!

Conversation Two

W: Hi, Steve, how are things?

M: Hi, Maggie. Good, thanks. What's new with you?

W: Oh, I was just wondering if you wanted to go out tonight.

M: Well, I was thinking of going to the university library to do a bit of study (Q4). What have you got in mind?

W: I thought we could just go for a walk, maybe down to that park near the beach.

M: Tonight? You must be joking! It's too cold (Q5)!

W: Oh, yes, it's too cold (Q5). But I still want to go out somewhere. That new Tom Cruise's film is on in town. How about that?

M: OK. What time does it start?

W: Oh, I think it's half past eight or something. I'll just get the paper and have a look. Just hang on for a minute. Look, the film got a fantastic review in the paper last week.

M: OK, OK. Where're we going to meet?

W: It'd be easiest if we met at the cinema (Q6).

M: OK. Where is it?

W: Oh, you know the Olieon.

M: Where is that?

W: Near the town hall and opposite the bank.

M: Oh, yeah. I know where it is. OK, look, I'll meet you there at fifteen past eight. Conversation Three

W: What are you reading, Bill?

M: It's this week's New Scientist, Why?

W: I was just wondering. It looks interesting. But I've never actually read it myself (Q9A). It's for real scientists. Or can ordinary people like me understand it (Q9B)?

M: Oh, it's for anyone really (Q9B). It usually has articles and stories about current affairs, about science as well as papers about new developments in research. I am reading about a new telephone that allows you to see the person you're speaking to as well as hearing (Q10).

W: Oh, I've heard about it. Is it on the market yet? Can I buy one?

M: No, not this one (Q7D). But the company has made other models to try out the business. This one is special because of its color, and the image is moving (Q7A, B).

W: OK, that's interesting (Q9C).

M: You see the first video phones, that's what they called, were made in Japan. But they can only show a still black-and-white image. So this video phone is much better than that. Mind you I am not sure I want one. Would you?

W: Well, no. I don't think I would. I bet it costs a lot of money. Does it say how much it costs? M: Yes, the early black-and-white ones cost several hundred pounds. But the one that the story is about costs several thousand pounds (Q8).

W: Mm, why does anybody want one, do you think?

M: Business organizations that need to frequently contact overseas organizations would want it.

It's like a face-to-face conversation, so maybe a lot of overseas travel can be avoided.

W: Yes, I suppose so (Q9D).

SECTION B PASSAGES

Passage A

If you are in a western country, you often see people walking their dogs. It is still true that the dog is the most useful animal in the world. However, the reason why one keeps a dog has changed (Q13). Once upon a time, a man met a dog and wanted to help him in the fight against other animals, and the dog listened to him and did what he told him to do. Later people used dogs for hunting other animals (Q11), and dogs did not eat what they got until their masters agreed. Dogs were also used for driving sheep and guarding chickens (Q11). But now people in towns and cities do not need dogs to fight other animals any more. Of course they keep them to frighten thieves, but the most important reason for keeping dogs is that they feel lonely in the city. For a child, a dog is his best friend when he has no friends to play with. For a young wife, a dog is her child

when she does not have her own. For old people, a dog is also a child when their real children have grown up and left. Now people do not have to use a dog, but they keep it as a friend, just like a member of the family (Q12).

Passage B

I am going to work in a totally new environment. I'll have to get used to different working conditions. I am used to working in quite a high-tech sort of industry that's got lots of machinery and everything. But now I am going to a place that has no machinery as such apart from a typewriter. The place has no electricity at all, no photo copiers. All the things that you just take for granted here, they just won't be there anymore (Q14). I'll be staying near the school in quite a small village, and I will be staying in a teacher's house, living with two or three other volunteer teachers (Q15). I'll have to get used to not having the variety of different foods that you have here like 20 different varieties of breakfast serial. And the range of food there is much smaller, not many choices (Q16). I'll also have to get used to getting water from a well. Not having electricity, which means gas lamps in the evening, which means the difficulty of preparing for the next day's lessons in poor Iight (Q15), which means different ways of getting your clothes washed. There'll be all sorts of big differences like that I'll have to get used to when I arrive there (Q17). Passage C

The most common type of child abuse, you know, is beating with hands or with an instrument, usually a cane in some places. Nearly a third of the abused children we see are in the age group between 6 and 10, and about 65% of them are boys. (Q18) This is the age group when children are first expected to study hard, and parents have great expectations of their progress in school. Boys, of course, attract more abuse such as beating, because once again parental expectations are high and boys tend to be more energetic and difficult to control than girls (Q20). Most experts seem to agree that child abuse is caused by a combination of social and psychological factors. Families who beat their children are not particularly different from other people. The only difference that exists between them is that they lack skills in establishing good relationships with their children (Q20). These families too, generally speaking, have other problems such as marriage problems or financial problems (Q19). Some parents are hurting their children because they strongly believe in the use of traditional disciplinary methods. But many of them have emotional problems (Q19). They are often the victims of violence themselves. Sometimes they even bear an unreasonable hatred for a child because they believe that the child has brought the family bad luck.

SECTION C NEWS BROADCAST

News Item One (questions 21 and 22)

American coast guard officials in Florida say they have returned to Cuba a group of would-be migrants (Q21) who tried to make their way to the United States in an unusual vessel—a floating truck (Q22). They said one of their planes spotted the Cubans more than half way through their journey, and the coast guard could not believe their eyes when they saw the vessel. The Cubans had attached floats and propellers to a 1951 shabby truck (Q22).

News Item Two (question 23)

All large and medium-sized Chinese cities will have greater air quality monitoring by 2010, says a government official. The government has spent 150 million Yuan on air quality monitoring systems across China since 2000 when officials began paying greater attention to air quality

monitoring. More than 220 cities now have air quality monitoring systems, and 42 others will have systems in place by the end of this year (Q23).

News Item Three (questions 24 and 25)

Storm sank two river ferries in southern Bangladesh on Sunday (Q25B) and some 90 pas-sengers were reported missing (Q24) while at least another 68 died. One of the packed ferries carrying around 150 people capsized early on Sunday on the Meghna River, and 50 were rescued. (Q25D) A second ferry sank on the same river (Q25A, C) just one kilometer away, leaving 40 pas-sengers missing after 6 were rescued. (Q25D)

News Item Four (question 26)

The Indonesian government has given official approval for an Australian consulate in Dili (Q26). The first Australian consulate officials will travel to the East Timor capital next week. As well as serving the consular needs of Australians in the region, the consulate will facilitate Australia's support to the United Nations' assistance mission in East Timor. The announcement follows in principle the agreement reached on the opening of the consulate between Australian Prime Minister and Indonesian President in Bali last month.

News Item Five (questions 27 and 28)

PepsiCo of the US and Unilever of the UK have become the latest foreign entrance in China's competitive bottled-tea market (Q27). The two companies launched Lipton's iced tea in Guangzhou last week in a fifty-fifty venture. PepsiCo is contributing its bottling facilities and distribution networks to the alliance (Q28) while Unilever provides the famous tea brand and recipe, company executive said. China has a growing bottle tea market estimated to be worth 10 billion yuan. It has been dominated in recent years by two Taiwanese brands: Master Kong and Uni-president. Three other big brands—Nestle, Guangdong-based Jianlibao and Lipton have just entered the market this year. Swiss company Nestle is working in conjunction with Coca Cola. News Item Six (questions 29 and 30)

The Israeli peace camp has launched the biggest protest in years with more than 100,000 people protesting (Q29 & Q30B) on Saturday and demanding the country leave Gaza (Q30C) after Palestinian militants dealt Israel's army its deadliest blow since 2002. Crowds at TelAviv's main square added to the growing call for withdraw from the war torn territory. The killing of 13 soldiers (Q30A) by militants in the Gaza strip last week has deepened the already-strong support in Israel for Prime Minister Sharon's Gaza pullout plan (Q30D) , which has been delayed by hardliners in his right wing Likud Party.