新编大学英语视听说教程3听力原文

Unite 1

Practice one

Tom: Hey, Bill. Do you have any plans for this weekend?

Bill: Yeah, Tom. Cindy and I are going ice-skating on Saturday.

Tom: Oh.

Bill: Why do you ask?

Tom: Well, I thought you might want to come over and study for next week's chemistry test. Bill: Study?! No way. Hey, what if I try to fix you up with Cindy's sister, Kristi. We could double-date. She's really outgoing, bright, and funny too.

Tom: Hey, I still remember the girl you fixed me up with last time. She was very moody and self-centered. She couldn't stop talking about how great she was. I'm not sure if I can trust you, "Mr. Matchmaker".

Bill: Oh come on. So I made a mistake last time. Cindy's sister is really different.

Tom: Well, what does she look like?

Bill: Ah. Looks aren't important. She has a wonderful personality.

Tom: Right.

Bill: Okay. She has long wavy blond hair and blue eyes. She's of medium height, just a little shorter than you are.

Tom: Go on.

Bill: She has a great figure, a nice complexion, and she has a sexy voice. Oh, and she has a tattoo of an eagle on her arm.

Tom: A what?

Bill: No, just kidding. By the way, she was the runner-up in the Miss California Beauty Pageant two years ago. Well, you're probably not interested.

Tom: No, wait!

Bill: Ah, just forget I ever mentioned it. Tom: No, I'm interested!

Practice 2

David: Barbara, before you go, could you tell me about these students that are coming into my class?

Barbara: Oh, yes. Now, let me think, well, there's...er...Paul. He's a tall, slim lad with fair hair. Very friendly face, lovely smile... He's particularly good with group activities, and he's a very helpful person to have in the class and very helpful with the other students. He speaks fluently, but does make a lot of mistakes! He doesn't seem to mind making mistakes. He asks a lot of questions...er...he tends to speak first and think later. But he's got lots of interesting ideas.

David: Good.

Barbara: Ah...Susan...Susan. Now, she's very lively, quick, and very bright. She talks all the time but not always in English.

David: What? Is she difficult or anything? Barbara: No...she's quite young but she does

behave in quite a grown-up way really for her age. It can be a bit difficult to actually shut her up sometimes and make her listen to you. David: Ah, right.

Barbara: She's very nice. She has dark hair and dark eyes.

David: Right, well...are there any other girls in the class?

Barbara: Yes, there is Maria. She's Susan's sister.

David: Yes.

Barbara: Actually it's quite difficult to tell them apart although...er... Maria is slightly older. She's a bit plumper and has longer hair than Susan. She's not quite as bright as her sister and I think that makes her feel a bit inferior really. Well, you know, she sulks a bit when she gets things wrong or she misunderstands you. But on the whole, a very sensible girl.

David: OK.

Barbara: And then there's Peter, who's older

than the others. He's got a sort of moustache, spectacles and wavy dark brown hair. He usually wears a jacket and sometimes a suit. He's very smart and takes notes all the time. He's also very serious and determined to learn as much as possible. He asks quite difficult questions but he doesn't mean to be nasty. David: Well, thanks, Barbara. It's all up to me now, isn't it? Have a good holiday, won't you? Barbara: Thanks.

David: Bye.

Practice 3:

1. Pedro sleeps only six hours a night. He goes to school full-time and works part-time in the afternoons. At night he plays soccer or basketball. He's seldom tired and his favorite way to relax is to jog two or three miles. What kind of person is Pedro?

2. Mr. Miller was teaching his fourth grade class how to divide. The students didn't

understand. He had to repeat his lesson and explain the idea more slowly. Over the next few days he explained and explained the lesson until almost the whole class understood and knew how to divide.

What kind of teacher is Mr. Miller?

3. People in the High Street neighborhood don't buy their fruits and vegetables in the supermarket. They buy them from Mr. Smith's truck. You can trust Mr. Smith. He never tries to sell any bad or unripe fruit. His prices are fair.

What kind of person is Mr. Smith?

4. Jake and Charles ran into the classroom. Each one saw the chair he wanted to sit on. Unfortunately, it was the same chair. They both sat down at the same time. Each of them had half a chair. Charles said he was there first and tried to push Jake off the chair. Jake said he was first. Both boys refused to move.

"All right, boys," said the teacher. "If you won't move, then you can sit like that for the

whole period." Jake and Charles sat like that for the whole period until the bell rang. When they stood up they were stiff and sore.

"I don't care," said Jake. "I was there first." What kind of person is Jake?

5. Room 46A at Travis High School was always the dirtiest room in the school. Many of the students threw paper on the floor. One day, Mrs. Duke had an idea. She fastened a basketball hoop over the wastebasket. Now the students love to practice throwing their paper into the basket. When they miss, they pick the paper up and try again. And that was the end of the problem.

What kind of person is Mrs. Duke?

Practice four:

A number of visitors to the UK, who had traveled throughout the British Isles, were asked by a newspaper reporter what their impressions of the British people were. Here's a brief summary of what they thought.

There were many different opinions among

those interviewed: Some were very flattering, others very critical. The distinction between the English and the British wasn't always understood, but, on the whole, it seemed that the Scots were very popular with visitors. They were thought to be very friendly, even though one Dutch visitor confessed she'd found it hard to understand their English.

A great number found the British generally reserved, particularly the English, although one Australian visitor called the English "the friendliest people in the world and most hospitable". But she did admit that speaking the same language was a great help.

Some Asian businessmen, who had traveled widely throughout England, said quite openly that they found North country people "much nicer" than people in the South. When asked what exactly they meant by "much nicer", one of them said, with a playful smile on his face, "By much nicer I mean much more like us!"

A few continentals praised "English courtesy",

but the majority found it dishonest and dull. "You're forever saying 'please' and 'sorry' when you don't feel pleased or sorry," one explained.

A young student from South Africa had no views on the matter. He hadn't met any Englishmen, he said. The country appeared to be full of foreigners like himself.

Part four Testing yourself

Section two:

Tom; oh, that Mr. Taylor. He is so boring! Mother; what do you mean?

Tom: his less ons put me to sleep. And he’s so quick-tempered, mum.

Mother: quick-tempered? Mr. Taylor? Are you sure darling?

Tom: yes, he gets angry very quickly. Mother; that doesn’t sound like Mr. Taylor at all!

Tom: and do you know, he spends all the time looking at his reflection in the window, admiring himself.

Mother: really/. And why does he do that/

Tom: because he’s vain, that’s why! And conceited. He thinks he knows everything. Mother; oh, Tom. Be reasonable. I’m sure you’re exaggerating. Mr. Taylor seems suc h a nice, kind man.

Tom: well, he isn’t. he is mean and cruel. Mother; cruel/ no how can a foreign teacher be cruel/

Tom: because he only gave me two out of ten points in my history test.

Mother: oh, now I understand. Tom, I think you’d better get on with your homework.

Unit 2

Practice one

At one time animals and people lived together in peace and talked with each other. But when mankind began to multiply rapidly, the animals were crowded into forests and deserts.

Man began to destroy many animals for their skins and furs instead of only for food.

Animals became angry at this treatment by man and decided that mankind must be punished.

The animals held a meeting, but they could not decide how to punish mankind. Finally the animals agreed that because deer were the animals most often killed by man, deer should decide how man should be punished.

Deer decided that any Indian hunters who killed deer without asking pardon in a suitable manner would be made to suffer with painful stiffness in their bodies. After this decision was made, the leader of the deer sent a message to the nearest people, the Cherokee Indians. "From now on, your hunters must first offer a prayer to the deer before killing him. You must ask his pardon, telling the deer you are forced to kill him only because your people are hungry and need meat. Otherwise, a terrible disease will come to you."

The spirits of the deer would run to the place where a deer had been killed and these spirits would ask the dead deer, "Did you hear the hunter's prayer for pardon?" If the answer was "yes", the spirits would be satisfied. But, if the answer was "no", then the deer spirits would track down the hunter to his house and strike him with the terrible disease of stiffness in his body, making him crippled so that he could not hunt deer again.

Soon all of the animals agreed that this was a fair and just punishment. Each type of animal decided that they would also cause a disease in people who mistreated them.

When the friendly plants of the world heard what the animals had decided as punishment for mankind, the plants decided that this punishment was too harsh. They had a meeting of their own. Finally they decided that each type of plant should provide a cure for one of

the diseases which animals had caused for mankind.

This was the beginning of plant medicines from nature among the Cherokee Indians a long, long time ago.

PRACTICE 3:

Every March, a flock of buzzards returns to the town of Hinkley, Ohio. No one really knows how long this event has taken place, but according to local legend the annual buzzard migration began nearly 200 years ago with a massacre.

"The first legend of buzzards in Hinkley, Ohio, goes back to the Great Hinkley Hunt on December 24, Christmas Eve, in 1818. The local settlers deciding that the township needed to be made safe for their livestock, gathered together about 400 men and boys,

with guns and clubs and completely surrounded the township of Hinkley."

As the story goes, the townsfolk began marching toward the center of town, driving all the game in front of them, and killing virtually every wild animal they encountered.

"The settlers took some of the deer and the wild turkeys for the holiday dinners, but left all of the other dead animals out in the snow. When spring came, the remaining dead animals attracted many buzzards, and since 1819 they've been coming back here in March."

Hinkley locals have come to appreciate the buzzards' annual return. In mid-March, on Buzzard Sunday, they celebrate the birds' arrival with costumes, exhibits and songs.

PRACTICE 4:

Almost seven centuries ago, in Central Asia, there lived a great king called Tamerlane. He

was a mighty, powerful, conquering soldier, and his greatest ambition was that one day he would rule a massive empire stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. He made his imperial capital in the oasis city of Samarkand, which he planned to make the most beautiful city on earth. Many magnificent mosques were built and they were decorated with exquisite blue ceramic tiles on the outside, and with pure gold on the inside.

Tamerlane, like the great oriental king that he was, had many wives, including a Chinese girl called Bibi Khanym. Now Bibi Khanym was the most beautiful of all Tamerlane's wives, and she was also the youngest. She was his favorite wife and was deeply in love with him.

In order to demonstrate her great love of Tamerlane, she decided to build a magnificent mosque to honor him, while he was away fighting in a distant war. She engaged the best

architect, who designed for her the most magnificent mosque you could imagine. And then she found the best master builder, who began work immediately. But as the weeks and months passed by, the master builder began to fall in love with Bibi Khanym. She resisted all his advances, but at last he threatened to leave the mosque unfinished unless she allowed him to kiss her just once. Bibi Khanym wanted the beautiful mosque finished more than anything else. She was expecting Tamerlane to return any day. So at last she agreed to let the master builder kiss her, just once.

But that was her terrible mistake, for so powerful was the master builder's love for Bibi Khanym that when he kissed her he left a permanent mark on her face.

King Tamerlane returned and saw the guilty mark on his wife's face. The master builder was executed immediately, and then, thinking

that a woman's beauty can be a dangerous thing, Tamerlane ordered that from that day on all the women in the kingdom should never be seen in public without a veil to cover their face.

PART FOUR

Section 1

long long ago, there was a pretty girl named "Red Riding Hood" becasuuse she was always wearing a red hood. One day her mother asked her to take some snacks to her grandmother because her grandmother was ill. Her mother told her, “Don’t hang around on your way. Don’t leave the main road.”

On her way, she saw a wolf. The wolf asked her where she was going and she told him that she was going to her grandmother’s hous. The wolf thought to himself how delicious she would taste. Red Riding Hood danced in the woods, picking flowers for her grandmother

and forgetting what her mother had said to her. The wolf went to the grandmother’s house and ate up the poor lady. Then he waited in the bed for Red Riding Hood.

As Red Riding Hood came into the grandmother’s house, she found her grandmother looked rather strange with very large ears, eyes, hands and mouth. And suddenly the wolf jumped out fo the bed and devoured the little girl.

At that time, a hunter passed the house and heard loud snores made by the wolf. He went in and carefully cut the wolf’s stomach open because she thought the wolf probably eaten the grandmother. Then both little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother escaped from the wolf’s stomach. After that, Red Riding Hood remembered the importance of the mother’s words and never left the main road again.

SECTION 2

Moon was sad. She had spent many years looking at the people on Earth and she saw that they were afraid. They were afraid of dying. To make them feel better she decided to call on her friend Spider to take a message to them.

"Spider", She said, "The people of Earth are afraid of dying and that makes me very sad. Please tell them that they will all die sooner or later but it is nothing to be scared of."

So Spider slowly made his way back to Earth, carefully picking his way down on moonbeams and sunbeams. On his way he met Hare.

"Where are you going Spider?", said Hare.

"I am going to give the people of Earth a message from Moon.", he said.

"Oh, you'll be far too long. Tell me the message and I'll take it there for you", replied Hare.

"OK! Moon wants the people of Earth to

know that they will all die......", Spider started.

"Right! Tell the people of Earth that they will all die", said Hare. And with that, Hare disappeared off to Earth.

Spider gloomily made his way back to Moon and told Her what had happened. Moon was very cross with Hare and when he came back to tell them that he had given them the message, she hit him on the nose! And that is why to this day, the Hare has a split lip.

"You had better take the message yourself", said Moon to Spider.

And to this day, Spider is still carefully carrying Moon's message and spinning the web in the corner of our rooms - but how many of us listen?

SECTION 3:

We don’t often know how a word or a legend associated with that word started; however, in the case of the American “cowboy”we do. The cowboy legend began in 1867 when the