小編將英語專業(yè)四級聽寫材料分享給大家，希望大家早日通過英語四級。

 

　　Listen to the following passages. Each passage will read for you four times. During the first reading, which will be read at normal speed, listen and try to understand the meaning. For the second and third readings, the passage will be read sentence by sentence or phrase by phrase with intervals of twevle seconds. The last reading will be read at normal speed again, and during this time you should check your work. You wil then be given two minutes to check through your work once more.

 

　　Passage 1

 

　　Town and Country Life in England

 

　　There is a big difference between town life and country life in England. In the country, everybody knows everybody else. They know what time you get up, what time you go to bed and what you have for dinner. If you want help, you will always get it and you will be glad to help others.

 

　　In a large town like London, however, it can sometimes happen that you have never seen your next door neighbor and you do not know his name or anything about him. People in London are often very lonely. This is because people go to different places in the evenings and at weekends. If you walk through the streets in the centre of London on Sunday, it is like a town without people. One is sorry for old people living on their own. They could die in their homes and would not be discovered for weeks or even months. (154 words.)

 

　　Passage 2

 

　　A Change in Women’s Life

 

　　The important change in women’s life-pattern has only recently begun to have its full effect on women’s economic position. Even a few years ago most girls left school at the first opportunity, and most of them took a full-time job. However, when they married, they usually left work at once and never returned to it. Today the school-leaving age is sixteen, many girls stay at school after that age, and though women tend to marry younger, more married women stay at work at least until shortly before their first child is born. Very many more afterwards return to full-time or part-time work. Such changes have led to a new relationship in marriage, with husband accepting a greater share of the duties and satisfactions of family life and with both husband and wife sharing more equally in providing the money, and running the home, according to the abilities and interests on each of them. (154 words)

 

　　Passage 3

 

　　A Popular Pastime of the English People

 

　　One of the best means of understanding the people of any nation is watching what they do with their non-working time.

 

　　Most English men, women and children love growing things, especially flowers. Visitors to England in spring, summer, or autumn are likely to see gardens all the way along the railway lines. There are flowers at the airports and flowers in factory grounds, as well as in gardens along the roads. Each English town has at least one park with beautifully kept flower beds. Public buildings of every kind have brilliant window boxes and sometimes baskets of flowers are hanging on them.

 

　　But what the English enjoy most is growing things themselves. If it is impossible to have a garden, then a widow box or something growing in a pot will do. Looking at each other’s gardens is a popular pastime with the English. (144words.)

 

　　Passage 4

 

　　British and American Police Officers

 

　　Real policemen, both in Britain and the U.S., hardly recognize any common points between their lives and what they see on TV-if they ever get home in time.

 

　　Some things are about the same, of course, but the policemen do not think much of them.

 

　　The first difference is that a policeman’s real life deals with the law. Most of what he learns is the law. He has to know actually what actions are against the law and what facts can be used to prove them in court. He has to know nearly as much law as a lawyer, and what’s more, he has to put it into practice on his feet, in the dark and, running down a narrow street after someone he wants to talk to.

 

　　Little of his time is spent in talking with beautiful girls or in bravely facing cruel criminals. He will spend most of his working life arranging millions of words on thousands of forms about hundreds of sad, ordinary people who are guilty - or not of stupid, unimportant crimes. (177words)

 

　　Passage 5

 

　　Living Space

 

　　How much living space does a person need? What happens when his space needs are not met? Scientists are doing experiments on rats to try to determine the effects of overcrowded conditions on man. Recent studies have shown that the behavior of rats is greatly affected by space. If rats have enough living space, they eat well, sleep well and produce their young well. But if their living conditions become too crowded, their behavior and even their health change obviously. They can not sleep and eat well, and signs of fear and worry become clear. The more crowded they are, the more they tend to bite each other and even kill each other. Thus, for rats, population and violence are directly related. Is this a natural law for human society as well? Is enough space not only satisfactory, but necessary for human survival? These are interesting questions.(147 words)

 

　　Passage 6

 

　　The United Nations

 

　　In 1945, representatives of 50 nations met to plan this organization. It was called the United Nations. After the war, many more nations joined.

 

　　There are two major parts of the United Nations. One is called the General Assembly. In the General Assembly, every member nation is represented and has an equal vote.

 

　　The second part is called the Security Council. It has representatives of just 15 nations. Five nations are permanent members: the United States, Russia, France, Britain and China. The 10 other members are elected every two years by the General Assembly.

 

　　The major job of the Security Council is to keep peace in the world. If necessary, it can send troops from member nations to try to stop little wars before they turn into big ones.

 

　　It is hard to get the nations of the Security Council to agree on when this is necessary. But they did vote to try to stop wars. (156 words)

 

　　Passage 7

 

　　Plastic

 

　　We use plastic wrap to protect our foods. We put our garbage in plastic bags or plastic cans. We sit on plastic chairs, play with plastic toys, drink from plastic cups, and wash our hair with shampoo from plastic bottles!

 

　　Plastic doesn’t grow in nature. It is made by mixing certain things together. We call it a produced or manufactured material. Plastic was first made in the 1860s from plants, such as wood and cotton. That plastic was soft and burned easily.

 

　　The first modern plastics were made in 1930s. Most clear plastic starts out as thick, black oil. That plastic coating inside a pan begins as natural gas.

 

　　Over the years, hundreds of different plastics have been developed. Some are hard and strong. Some are soft and bendable. Some are clear. Some are many-colored. There is a plastic for almost every need. Scientists continue to experiment with plastics. They hope to find even ways to use them! (160 words)

 

　　Passage 8

 

　　Display of Goods

 

　　Are supermarkets designed to persuade us to buy more?

 

　　Fresh fruit and vegetables are displayed near supermarket entrances. This gives the impression that only healthy food is sold in the shop. Basic foods that everyone buys, like sugar and tea, are not put near each other. They are kept in different aisles so customers are taken past other attractive foods before they find what they want. In this way, shoppers are encouraged to buy products that they do not really need.

 

　　Sweets are often placed at children’s eye level at the checkout. While parents are waiting to pay, children reach for the sweets and put them in the trolley.

 

　　More is bought from a fifteen-foot display of one type of product than from a ten-foot one. Customers also buy more when shelves are full than when they are a half empty. They do not like to buy from shelves with few products on them because they feel there is something wrong with those products that are there. (166 words)

 

　　Passage 9

 

　　Albert Einstein

 

　　Albert Einstein was born in Germany in 1879. His father owned a factory that made electrical devices. His mother enjoyed music and books. His parents were Jewish but they did not observe many of the religion’s rules. Albert was a quiet child who spent much of his time alone. He was slow to talk and had difficulty learning to read. When Albert was five years old, his father gave him a compass. The child was filled with wonder when he discovered that the compass needle always pointed in the same direction-to the north. He asked his father and his uncle what caused the needle to move. Their answers about magnetism and gravity were difficult for the boy to understand. Yet he spent a lot of time thinking about them. He said later that he felt something hidden had to be behind things. (143 words.)

 

　　Passage 10

 

　　Private Cars

 

　　With the increase in the general standard of living, some ordinary Chinese families begin to afford a car. Yet opinions of the development of a private car vary from person to person.

 

　　It gives a much greater degree of comfort and mobility. The owner of a car is no longer forced to rely on public transport, and hence no irritation caused by waiting for buses or taxis. However, others strongly object to developing private cars. They maintain that as more and more cars are produced and run in the street, a large volume of poisonous gas will be given off, polluting the atmosphere and causing actual harm to the health of people.

 

　　Whether private cars should be developed in China is a difficult question to answer, yet the desire for the comfort and independence a private car can bring will not be eliminated.(143words)

 

　　Passage 11

 

　　A Henpecked Husband and His Wife

 

　　There was once a large, fat woman who had a small, thin husband. He had a job in a big company and was given his weekly wages every Friday evening. As soon as he got home on Fridays, his wife used to make him give her all his money, and then she used to give him back only enough to buy his lunch in his company every day.

 

　　One day, the small man came home very excited. He hurried into the living-room. His wife was listening to the radio and eating chocolates there.

 

　　“You will never guess what happened to me today, dear,” he said.

 

　　He waited for a few seconds and then added, “I won ten thousand dollars on the lottery!”

 

　　“That is wonderful!” said his wife delightedly. But then she pulled a long face and added angrily, “But how could you afford to buy the ticket?” (148 words)

 

　　Passage 12

 

　　A Young Man’s Promise

 

　　One day a young man was writing a letter to his girl friend who lived just a few miles away in a nearby town. He was telling her how much he loved her and how wonderful he thought she was. The more he wrote, the more poetic he became. Finally, he said that in order to be with her he would suffer the greatest difficulties, he would face the greatest dangers that anyone could imagine. In fact, to spend only one minute with her, he would swim across the widest river, he would enter the deepest forest, and he would fight against the fiercest animals with his bare hands.

 

　　He finished the letter, signed his name, and then suddenly remembered that he had forgotten to mention something quite important. So, in a postscript below his name, he added:

 

　　“By the way, I’ll be over to see you on Wednesday night, if it doesn’t rain.” (154 words)

 

　　Passage 13

 

　　A Kind Neighbor

 

　　Mr. and Mrs. Jones’ apartment was full of luggage, package, furniture and boxes. Both of them were very busy when they heard the doorbell ring. Mrs. Jones went to open it and she saw a middle-aged lady outside. The lady said she lived next door. Mrs. Jones invited her to come in and apologized because there was no place for her to sit. “Oh, that’s OK,” said the lady. “I just come to welcome you to your new home. As you know, in some parts of this city neighbors are not friendly at all. There are some apartment houses where people don’t know any of their neighbors, not even the ones next door. But in this building everyone is very friendly with everyone else. We are like one big happy family. I’m sue you’ll be very happy here. ” Mr. and Mrs. Jones said, “But madam, we are not new dwellers in this department. We’ve lived her for two years. We’re moving out tomorrow. ” (163 words)

 

　　Passage 14

 

　　That Isn’t Our Fault

 

　　Mr. and Mrs. Williams got married when he was twenty-three, and she was twenty. Twenty-five years later, they had a big party, and a photographer came and took some photographs of them.

 

　　Then the photographer gave Mrs. Williams a card and said, “They’ll be ready next Wednesday. You can get them from studio.”

 

　　“No,” Mrs. William said, “Please send them to us.”

 

　　The photographs arrived a week later, but Mrs. Williams was not happy when she saw them. She got into her car and drove to the photographer’s studio. She went inside and said angrily, “You took some photographs of me and my husband last week, but I’m not going to pay for them.”

 

　　“Oh, Why not?” the photographer asked.

 

　　“Because my husband looks like a monkey,” Mrs. William said.

 

　　“Well,” the photographer answered, “that isn’t our fault. Why didn’t you think of that before you married him?” (148 words)

 

　　Passage 15

 

　　A Guide’s Answer

 

　　In 1861, the Civil War started in the United States between the Northern and the Southern states. The war continued with great bitterness until 1865, when the Northerners were victorious. However, even today, many Southerners have not forgotten their defeat, or forgiven the Northerners.

 

　　A few years ago, a party of American tourists were going round one of the battlefields of the Civil War with a guide who came from one of the Southern states. At each place, the guide told the tourists stirring stories about how a few Southern soldiers had conquered powerful forces of Northerners there.

 

　　At last, one of the tourists, a lady who came from the North, stopped the guide and said to him, “But surely the Northern army must have won at least one victory in the Civil War?”

 

　　“Not as long as I’m the guide here, madam,” answered the Southern guide.(147 words)

 

　　Passage 16

 

　　A Qualified Pilot

 

　　The captain of a small ship had to go along a rocky coast, but he was unfamiliar with it, so he tried to find a qualified pilot to guide him. He went ashore in one of the small ports, and a local fisherman pretended that he was a pilot because he needed some money. The captain took him on board and asked him where to steer the ship.

 

　　After half an hour the captain began to suspect that the fisherman did not really know what he was doing and where he was going.

 

　　“Are you sure you are a qualified pilot?” he asked.

 

　　“Oh, yes,” answered the fisherman. “I know every rock on this part of the coast.”

 

　　Suddenly there was a terrible crash from under the ship. At once the fisherman added, “And that’s one of them.” (138 words)

 

　　Passage 17

 

　　Living Things React

 

　　You and all organisms live in an environment. An environment is made up of everything that surrounds an organism. It can include the air, the water, the soil, and even other organisms.

 

　　An organism responds to changes in its environment. When an organism responds to a change, it reacts in certain ways. All living things respond in some way.

 

　　Have you ever noticed how plants and insects respond to light? Plants bend toward light. Insects fly toward light.

 

　　Living things also respond in other ways. The leaves on some trees respond to a change in season. In autumn, they change colors and then fall off the branches. Animals also respond to a change in season. Squirrels save nuts for the winter. Bears sleep through the winter in a cave.

 

　　You respond to your environment in many ways, too. You may shiver if you are cold. What other ways do you respond to changes in your environment? (156 words)

 

　　Passage 18

 

　　Flowering Plants

 

　　What are the parts of a flower?

 

　　Flowers can have male parts and female parts. The female parts make eggs that become seeds. The male parts make pollen. Pollen is a powdery material that is needed by the eggs to make seeds. To make seeds, pollen and eggs must come together. The wind, insects, and birds bring pollen to eggs. Many animals love flowers’ bright colors. They also like a sugary liquid in flowers. This is called nectar. While they drink nectar, pollen rubs off on their bodies. As they move, some of this pollen gets delivered to the female flower parts.

 

　　Over time, the female parts turn into fruits that contain seeds. Animals often eat the fruits and the seeds pass through their bodies as waste. The animals do not know they are working for the plants by planting seeds as they travel to different places. (147 words)

 

　　Passage 19

 

　　Finding the Direction and Location

 

　　How can you tell which direction? By day, look for the Sun. It is in the east in the morning and the west in the afternoon. At night, use the Big Dipper to help you find the North Star. It would be better to bring a compass because its needle always points north.

 

　　How do you know how far you have gone? You could count every step. Each step is about two feet. You’d better wear a pedometer which is a tool that counts steps. If you know where you started, which direction you are heading, and how far you have gone, you can use a good map to figure out exactly where you are.

 

　　Today there is a new way for travelers to figure out where they are. It is the GPS. It has 24 satellites that orbit the earth and constantly broadcast their positions. Someday you may carry a small receiver as you hike and use GPS to find out if you are there yet!

 

　　Passage 20

 

　　Waves

 

　　How does light get from the sun to the earth? How does music get from the stage to the audience? They move the same way - in waves!

 

　　Light and sound are forms of energy. All waves carry energy, but they may carry it differently. Light and sound travel through different kinds of matter. For example, light waves cannot move through walls, but sound waves can. That is why you can hear people talking in another room even though you cannot see them. The energy of some waves is destructive. An earthquake produces seismic waves.

 

　　Catch a wave. Ask a friend to stand a few feet away from you. Stretch a spring between you. Shake the spring to transfer energy to it. What happens? The spring bounces up and down in waves. When the waves reach your friend, they bounce back to you!

 

　　Light waves travel 300,000 kilometers (186,000 miles) per second! They can also travel through a vacuum. That is why light from the sun and distant stars can travel through space to the earth.(175 words)

 

　　Passage 21

 

　　Soils

 

　　There are many different kinds of soils. Different soils have different types of rock and minerals in them than other. Some soils have more water in them than others. Some soils might have more plant and animal material in them, too.

 

　　Different kinds of soils are found in different parts of the world. There are several kinds of soils found in the United States. In some areas, the soil has a lot of clay. Other soils are very sandy. Loam is a kind of soil that has a good mixture of clay and sand.

 

　　In some places, soil layers are very thick. Lots of plants grow in places with a thick soil layer. In dry and windy places soil layers are much thinner. Layers of soil on mountains are thin because gravity pulls the soil downhill.

 

　　The type of soil in a particular place affects what kinds of plants can grow there. (150 words)

 

　　Passage 22

 

　　Crisis

 

　　Life is a contest! Who will win? A bluebird and sparrow both compete for space to build their nests. A fast-growing maple tree and slower-growing dogwood compete for the sunlight they both need. Oil competes with coal and nuclear power as an energy source for electric power plants.

 

　　There is a problem. There is a limited amount of space for birds, sunlight for trees, and energy for people! If we do not cut back on our uses of some of our resources, someday they will be gone!

 

　　How can we use energy today and know we will have enough to go around in the future? We can choose alternate, or replacement, energy resources. It takes the earth millions of years to create coal, oil, and gas. They are nonrenewable resources.

 

　　Solar energy, wind energy and water energy are renewable. What other ways we conserve our resources? How can we make sure there is always enough to go around? (159 words.)

 

　　Passage 23

 

　　America’s Worst Surprise

 

　　December 7, 1941 was one of the worst days in American history. Nearly all Americans who are old enough to remember that day can still remember what they were doing at the moment they heard “the news”. The news was that America had been attacked!

 

　　Shortly before 2:00 P.M., a radio dispatch came into Washington from Honolulu, Hawaii. “Air Raid, Pearl Harbor - This is no drill.” Japanese planes had begun an attack on the largest American military base in the Pacific. They first destroyed places on the ground. Then they bombed the ships in the harbor.

 

　　No one had expected the attack. So no one was prepared for it. And it did not take long for the Japanese to do their damage. When the smoke cleared, the Navy counted its losses. Eighteen ships had been sunk or badly damaged. Nearly 150 planes had been destroyed. More than 2,400 Americans had been killed and more than 1,200 wounded. (157 words)

 

　　Passage 24

 

　　Great Depression in the U.S.

 

　　In 1929, the bills started to come in. American industry had produced too many goods. Americans could not afford to buy all of them. So factories had to cut down on their production. Many workers lost their jobs. Investors tried to get their money back. But businesses did not have enough money to pay them. Banks tried to get their money back from investors. But the investors could not pay, either. Too many people owned money. And few of them could pay their bills.

 

　　During the next few years, business got worse and worse. By 1932, banks all over the country were closing.

 

　　People without money could not buy goods. So more businesses closed. More and more people lost their jobs. By 1932, more than 12 million Americans were jobless. Millions more were earning barely enough to live on. The country was in a great depression they had never experienced before. (151 words)

 

　　Passage 25

 

　　A Place of Our Own

 

　　We are all usually very careful when we buy something for the house. Why? Because we have to live with it for a long time. We paint a room to make it brighter, so we choose the colours carefully.

 

　　We buy new curtains in order to match the newly decorated room, so they must be the right colour. We move the furniture round so as to make more space - or we buy new furniture - and so on. It is an endless business.

 

　　Rich or poor, we take time to furnish a room. Perhaps some people buy furniture in order to impress their friends. But most of us just want to enjoy our surroundings. We want to live as comfortably as we can afford to. We spend a large part of our lives at home. We want to make a small corner in the world which we can recognize as our own. (151 words)

 

　　Passage 26

 

　　Travel for Work

 

　　You can see them in every airport in the world. They are businessmen and women who have to travel for their work.

 

　　When they first applied for the job, they may have thought of good food and hotels, huge expense accounts and fashionable cities. Now they have to sit in airport lounges, tired and uncomfortable in their smart clothes, listening to the loudspeaker announce “The flight to Tokyo, or Berlin, or New York is delayed for another two hours”. Some people say to me, “How lucky you are to be able to travel abroad in your work! You can go sightseeing without paying any money by yourself!” They think that my job is like a continual holiday. It is not.

 

　　There are advantages, of course, and I do think I am lucky, but only because I can go to places I would never visit if I was a tourist. (149 words)

 

　　Passage 27

 

　　Intelligence

 

　　Are some people born clever, and others born stupid? Or is intelligence developed by our environment and our experience?

 

　　Strangely enough, the answer to these questions is yes. To some extent our intelligence is given us at birth, and no amount of special education can make a genius out of a child born with low intelligence. On the other hand, a child who lives in a boring environment will develop his intelligence less than one who lives in rich and varied surroundings. Thus, the limits of a person’s intelligence are fixed at birth, whether or not he reaches those limits will depend on his environment. This view, held by most experts now, can be supported in a number of ways. As is easy to show that intelligence is to some extent something we are born with. The closer the blood relationship between two people is, the closer they are likely to be in intelligence. (154 words)

 

　　Passage 28

 

　　A Free Dress Every Week

 

　　The temptation to steal is greater than ever before especially in large shops and people are not so honest as they once were.

 

　　A detective recently watched a well-dressed woman who always went into a large store on Monday mornings. One Monday, there were fewer people in the shop than usual when the woman came in, so it was easier for the detective to watch her. The woman first bought a few small articles. After a little time, she chose one of the most expensive dresses in the shop and handed it to an assistant who wrapped it for her as quickly as possible. The woman simply took the parcel and walked out of the shop without paying. When she was arrested, the detective found out that the shop assistant was her daughter.. Believe it or not, the girl “gave” her mother a free dress every week. (148 words)

 

　　Passage 29

 

　　Time

 

　　Time is tangible. One can gain time, spend time, waste time, save time, or even kill time. Common questions in American English reveal this concrete quality as though time were a possession. “Do you have any time?”, “Can you get some time for this?”, “How much free time do you have?” The treatment of time as a possession influences the way that time is carefully divided.

 

　　Generally, Americans are taught to do one thing at a time and may be uncomfortable when an activity is interrupted. In businesses, the careful scheduling of time and the separation of activities are common practices. Appointment calendars are printed with 15-, 30-, and 60-minute time slots. The idea that “there is a time and place for everything” extends to American social life. Visitors who drop by without prior notice may interrupt their host’s personal time. Thus, calling friends on the telephone before visiting them is generally preferred to visitors’ dropping by. (157 words)

 

　　Passage 30

 

　　Cartoonist

 

　　In a good cartoon, the artist can tell in a few lines as much as a writer can tell in half a dozen paragraphs. The cartoonist not only tells a story but he also tries to persuade the reader to his way of thinking. He has great influence on public opinion. In a political campaign, he plays an important part. Controversial issues in Congress or at meetings of the United Nations may keep the cartoonist well-supplies with current materials.

 

　　A clever cartoonist may cause laughter because he often uses humour in his drawings. If he is sketching a famous person, he takes a prominent feature and exaggerates it. Cartoonists, for instance, like to lengthen an already long nose and to widen an already broad grin. This exaggeration of a person’s characteristics is called caricature. The artist uses such exaggeration to put his message across. (144 words)

 

　　Passage 31

 

　　Water Pollution

 

　　Water is very important to us. Factories and plants need water for industrial uses and large pieces of farmland need it for irrigation. Without water to drink, people die in a short time.

 

　　Today most water sources are so dirty that people must purify water before drinking. Water becomes dirty in many ways: industrial pollution is one of them. With the development of industry, plants and factories pour tons of industrial wastes into rivers every day. The rivers have become seriously polluted, and the water is becoming unfit for drinking or irrigation. The same thing has also happened to our seas and oceans. So, the problem of water pollution is almost worldwide.

 

　　Scientists of many countries have done a lot of work to stop pollution. The polluted water in some places has become clean and drinkable again. Perhaps one day the people in all towns and cities will be drinking clean water. That day, we believe, is not very far off. (161 words)

 

　　Passage 32

 

　　Making a Complaint

 

　　Complaining about faulty goods or bad services is never easy. But if something you have bought is faulty or does not do what was claimed for it, you are not asking for a favour to get it put right.

 

　　Complaints should be made to a responsible person. Go back to the shop where you bought the goods, taking with you any receipt you may have. In a small store the assistant may also be the owner so you can complain direct. In a chain store, ask the manager. If you telephone, ask the name of the person who handles your enquiry, otherwise you may never find out who dealt with the complaint later. If you do not want to do it in person, write a letter. Stick to the facts and keep a copy of what you write. At this stage you should give any receipt number, but you should not need to give receipt or other papers to prove you bought the article. (164 words)

 

　　Passage 33

 

　　Where Do the British Live

 

　　Nearly everyone in Britain would like to own their own home and, whether they do or not, they are prepared to put time and money into decorating and furnishing it or even making structural alterations to it. Because of the climate and because of the expense involved in going out for the evening, the British spend a lot of time at home and a large part of their social life takes place there.

 

　　Young people tend to stay with their families longer these days as accommodation is expensive but, when they move away to a job or college, there are various options open to them. They can get lodgings with a landlady. This means that they rent a room in someone’s house and have breakfast with the family. They can also get a bed-sitting room, that is to say one self-contained room in which they can cook, live and sleep. Alternatively, they can share a rented flat or house with a group of young people, perhaps the most popular option of all. (172 words)

 

　　Passage 34

 

　　Will Computer Replace Human Beings?

 

　　We are in the computer age today. The computers are working all kinds of wonders now. They are very useful in automatic control and data processing. At the same time, computers are finding their way into the home. They seem to be so clever and can solve such complicated problems that some people think sooner or later they will replace us.

 

　　But I do not think that there is such a possibility. My reason is very simple: Computers are machines, not humans. And our tasks are far too various and complicated for any one single kind of machine to perform.

 

　　Probably the greatest difference between man and computer is that the former can do things of his own while the latter can do nothing without being programmed. In my opinion, computers will remain nothing but an extension of our human brains, no matter how clever and complicated they may become. (150 words)

 

　　Passage 35

 

　　Soccer

 

　　Soccer has had a slow start in America. In fact, the majority of schools still have no official soccer teams or coaches. But the blossoming popularity of the game cannot be denied. Thanks to the efforts of some world-famous soccer stars, soccer is soon to have its place in American culture.

 

　　Although soccer has enjoyed decades of popularity elsewhere, it was literally ignored in America. Instead, a variation of the game called “football” was most popular in the U.S. and still is to this day. But the obvious advantages of playing soccer instead will soon win even most avid football enthusiasts.

 

　　For one thing, soccer is a much safer game to play than football. No one deliberately tries to knock an opponent down in soccer. In fact, the players are discouraged from even touching each other.

 

　　Soccer is a game that requires skill and dexterity in controlling the ball. Since no one may use hand to do this, soccer players soon acquire incredible control of their heads, knees, and feet. (171 words.)

 

　　Passage 36

 

　　Artists

 

　　Every artist knows in his heart that he is saying something to the public. Not only does he want to say it well, but he wants it to be something which has not been said before.

 

　　What visual artists, like painters, want to say is easy to make out but difficult to explain, because painters translate their experiences into shapes and colors, not words. They seem to feel that a certain selection of shapes and colors, out of the countless billions possible, is exceptionally interesting for them and worth showing to us.

 

　　Most artists take their shapes and colors from the world of nature and from human bodies in motion and response; their choices indicate that these aspects of the world are worth looking at, that they contain beautiful sights. Contemporary artists might say that they merely choose subjects that provide an interesting pattern, that there is nothing more in it. Yet even they do not choose entirely without reference to the character of their subjects. (166 words)

 

　　Passage 37

 

　　Professional Sports in the U.S.

 

　　Professional sports are not only very popular in the United States, but also a big business. The most popular sports are baseball, football and basketball. Each sport has its own season and individual teams have millions of supporters. Professional teams are named for the cities where they are located. For example, the Lakers are in Los Angeles. The strongest supporters of the Lakers are residents of Los Angeles and Southern California. When the Lakers play, many people in Los Angles enthusiastically follow the game. When we mention “NBA”, almost every one knows it has some relationship with U.S. professional basketball. However, what does it really stand for? N.B.A. is short for the National Basketball Association. The NBA is gaining new fans and supporters around the world. Basketball is another popular American sport. In the U.S., basketball has been called the “national pastime”. However, football is the most popular professional sport in the U.S.. American football is different from international football, which Americans call “soccer”. Both games require strength and specialized skills. (171 words)

 

　　Passage 38

 

　　“How to” Books

 

　　Books which give instructions on how to do things are popular in the United States today. Thousands of these “how to” books are available. In fact, there are about four thousand books with titles that begin with words “how to”.

 

　　Many “how to” books give advice on careers. They tell you how to choose a career and how to succeed in it. Many of these books help people to use their free time better. Some people want books which will give them useful information about sports, hobbies, and travel. Other people use their free time to make repairs and improvements on their homes. They prefer books which give step-by-step instructions on how to repair things like plumbing and electrical wiring or on how to redecorate or enlarge a house.

 

　　Why have “how to” books become so popular? Probably because life has become more complex. Today people have far more free time to use, more choices to make, and more problems to solve, “how to” books help people to deal with modern life. (173 words)

 

　　Passage 39

 

　　Don’t Give Up

 

　　If we would ever accomplish anything in life, let us not forget that we must persevere. If we would learn our lessons in school, we must be diligent and not give up when ever we come to anything difficult. We shall find many of our lessons very hard, but let us consider that the harder they are the better they will do to us if we will persevere and learn them thoroughly.

 

　　But there are some among us who are ready to give up when they come to a hard example in mathematics, and say, “I can’t do this.” They never will if they feel so. “I can’t” never does anything worthwhile; but “I’ll try” accomplishes wonders.

 

　　Let us remember that we shall meet with difficulties all through life. They are in the pathway of everyone. If we will only try and keep trying, we shall be sure to conquer and overcome every difficulty we meet. (155 words)

 

　　Passage 40

 

　　How High Can You Jump?

 

　　Flea trainers have observed a strange habit of fleas while training them.

 

　　Fleas are trained by putting them in a cardboard box with a top on it. The fleas will jump up and hit the top of the cardboard box over and over and over again. As you watch them jump and hit the lid, something very interesting becomes obvious. The fleas continue to jump, but they are no longer jumping high enough to hit the top.

 

　　When you take off the lid, the fleas continue to jump, but they will not jump out of the box. They will not jump out because they cannot jump out. Why? The reason is simple. They have conditioned themselves to jump just so high. Once they have conditioned themselves to jump just so high, that is all they can do.

 

　　Many times, people do the same thing. They restrict themselves and never reach their potential. Just like the fleas, they fail to jump higher, thinking they are doing all they can do.

 

　　Passage 41

 

　　Apology Helps

 

　　It is never easy to admit you are in the wrong. Being human, we all need to know the art of apologizing. Look back with honesty and think how often you have judged roughly, you said unkind things, and pushed yourself ahead at the expense of a friend. Then count the occasions when you indicated clearly and truly that you were sorry. A bit frightening, isn’t it? It is frightening because some deep wisdom in us knows that when even a small wrong has been committed, some mysterious moral feeling is disturbed; and it stays out of balance until fault is acknowledged and regret expressed.

 

　　A heartfelt apology can not only heal a damaged relationship but also make it stronger. If you can think of someone who deserves an apology from you, someone you have wronged, or judged too roughly, or just neglected, do something about right now. (148 words)

 

　　Passage 42

 

　　Sleep

 

　　Why is it so difficult to fall asleep when you are overtired? There is no one answer that applied to every individual. It is possible to feel “tired” physically and still be unable to fall asleep, because while your body may be exhausted, you do not feel sleepy. It is not so easy to simply “turn off”.

 

　　Lack of sleep complicates matters even more. Experts say adults need at least seven to eight hours of sleep a night to function properly. When you get less sleep than that on consecutive three nights, you begin to accrue for “sleep debt”. As sleep debt increases your body experiences a stress response. Now a vicious cycle has been created: You experience the feeling of being more and more tired, but your body is increasingly stimulated. “Power sleeping” for more hours on weekends is only a temporary solution. There is no substitute for getting a good night’s sleep on a regular basis. (158 words)

 

　　Passage 43

 

　　Our Concern

 

　　The history of life on earth has been a history of interaction between living things and their surroundings. To a large extent, the physical form and the habits of the earth’s vegetation and its animal life have been molded by the environment. Only in the present century has one species of man acquired significant power to alter the nature of his world.

 

　　The rapidity of change follows the pace of man rather than the pace of nature. Radiation is now the unnatural creation of man’s tampering with the atom. The chemicals are the creations of man’s inventive mind, having no counterparts in nature.

 

　　We have put poisonous and biological potent chemicals into the hands of persons largely ignorant of their potentials for harm. We have subjected enormous numbers of people to contact with these poisons, without their consent and often without their knowledge. We have allowed these chemicals to be used with little or no advance investigation of their effect. Future generations are unlikely to forgive our lack of concern. (170 words)

 

　　Passage 44

 

　　Gardening in America

 

　　Believe or not, 43,000,000 Americans are gardening. That is about one in six. Gardeners, of course, come in many varieties. Not surprisingly, most of them are people who live in the suburbs, and enjoy planting flowers, or maybe a small vegetable garden.

 

　　The average age of gardeners in America is about 45 years old; they usually fall somewhere in the middle class. But the fastest growing groups are city dwellers. Urban residents are finding ways of gardening even in their crowded areas. Many go to large public gardens, as a place designed by the city for a garden, and you can actually ranch your own plot.

 

　　Still other people use their balconies or roof tops, wherever they can find the space to plant small patches of green. (126 words)

 

　　Passage 45

 

　　The Influence of Life

 

　　In the early times when human beings hunted and gathered food, they were not in control of their environment. They could only interact with their surroundings as the other lower animals did.

 

　　When they learned to make fire, however, they became capable of altering their environment. To provide themselves with fuel, they cut down trees. They also burned clearings in forests to increase the growth of grass and to provide a greater grazing area for wild animals that human beings fed upon. This development led to farming and domestication of animals. Fire provided the means for cooking plants which had previously been inedible. Only when the process of meeting the basic need for food reached a certain level was it possible for humans to follow other pursuits such as setting up families, forming societies and founding cities. (139 words)

 

　　Passage 46

 

　　Automobiles

 

　　It is impossible to say that any one man invented the automobile. Many individuals living and working in different countries and at different times contributed to its development. Many of the discoveries that went into the creation of the automobile were small in themselves. But together they were important. Here are two examples.

 

　　“Carriage is running at a speed of 8 to 9 miles an hour.” It was almost unheard of in those days. According to automobile historians, this was the first practical use of mechanical power to move a vehicle. After its first run, the machine reportedly burned up while the inventor and his friends were celebrating its success at a pub.

 

　　Henry Ford is considered the father of modern automobile mass production. His famous Model-T car, because of its low price, made it possible to produce cars on a large scale and his efforts made it accessible to ordinary people. (152 words)

 

　　Passage 47

 

　　House and Home

 

　　“House” and “home” are two words that have similar meanings.

 

　　“House” and “home” both refer to places where people live. However, there is a difference between them. “Home” is often referred to as the place that we live in with our families. Sadly, in our society, people can hardly distinguish a home from a house because they often see no difference between them. This confusion can be traced back to the indifference the family members. Therefore, we can say that love is an important factor in a home. A home is a shelter, not only for our bodies but also for our minds. Whenever we are depressed, we can go home for comfort. Everyone in the family will do his best to take care of each other and share their happiness as well as sorrow. Without love, a home is merely a house where loneliness is all that can be found. And a house can never be a home unless there is love. (163 words)

 

　　Passage 48

 

　　Population Growth

 

　　It is well-known that there has been a drastic increase in world population. But it is probably less well-known that the extinction rate of wildlife species is experiencing a parallel trend.

 

　　Take the United States for instance. In 1990, U.S. population reached an unprecedented level of 250 million, which is approximately 250 times of that of 1800. On the other hand, wildlife species are disappearing from the country at an alarming rate. By 1900, about 70 wildlife species would never be seen in U.S.. We are fully justified in declaring that the explosive population growth has had an adverse effect on the survival of wildlife species and will be a constant threat to the wildlife resources if no immediate actions are taken.

 

　　Nothing has ever equaled the magnitude and speed with which the human species is altering the physical and chemical world. It has been demolishing the environment we are living in. (152 words)

 

　　Passage 49

 

　　Natural Resources

 

　　Through the changes in the ways of making living in a family over several generations, the cartoon aims at sounding a warning against man’s wasteful use of natural resources and emphasizing the urgent need to preserve these resources.

 

　　Ever since man appeared on the earth, man’s survival has been heavily dependent on nature. Almost everything we use in our everyday life comes from nature, ranging from the food we eat, the water we drink, to the wood which is turned into furniture. With the development of technology and population growth, the amount and range of materials used has increased at an alarming rate.

 

　　However, natural resources are not inexhaustible. Some reserves are already on the brink of exhaustion and there is no hope of replacing them. The widespread water shortage is an example in point. If man continued to squander natural resources with no thought for the future, the whole world would be in a mess. (157 words)

 

　　Passage 50

 

　　Reading

 

　　Nowadays few of us read books after we leave school.

 

　　This is rather disturbing, for one should know that books are no less necessary to one’s mental life than fresh air is to one’s physical life. From good reading we can derive companionship, experience and instruction. A good book is our faithful friend. It can increase our contentment when we are cheerful and happy, and lessen our pain when we are sad or lonely. Books can also offer us a wide range of experience. Few of us can travel far from home or live long over 100, but all of us can live many lives through the pages of books. What’s more, reading books can increase our intellectual ability, broaden our minds and make us wise.

 

　　With the coming of TV, books are no longer read as widely as they once were. However, nothing can replace the role that books play in our lives. (154 words)