新世纪英语专业听力教程.doc

新世纪英语专业听力教程.听写 Topic 1 United Nations & world affairsPassage 1The General Assembly is the main deliberative organ of the United Nations. / It is composed of representatives of all Member States, / each of which has one vote. / Decisions on important questions, such as those on peace and security, admission of new Members and budgetary matters, / require a two-thirds majority. / Decisions on other questions are reached by a simple majority. / The General Assemblys regular session usually begins each year in September. /At the start of each regular session, the Assembly elects a new president. / To ensure equitable geographical representation, /the presidency of the Assembly rotates each year among five groups of States: / African, Asian, Eastern European, Latin American and Caribbean, / and Western European and other States. / At the beginning of each regular session, / the Assembly holds a general debate, often addressed by heads of state and government, / in which Member States express their views on the most pressing international issues. / In addition to its regular sessions, / the Assembly may meet in special sessions and emergency special sessions may be called within 24 hours. (172 words)Passage 2 The Security Council is entrusted with keeping international peace and security. / It is made up of 15 members. / Five members, often referred to as the Big Five, are permanent-/ the Peoples Republic of China, France, the USSR, the United Kingdom, and the United States. / The ten non-permanent members are elected by the General Assembly for two-year terms. / Each of the members has one vote. / Decisions on procedural matters are made / by an affirmative vote of at least nine of the 15 members. /On all the other matters / the majority of nine must include the yes votes of all the permanent members / who are voting. /Under the Charter, / all Members of the United Nations agree to accept and carry out the decisions of the Security Council. (124words)Passage 3The European Union (EU) is a family of democratic European countries, / committed to working together for peace and prosperity. / Its Member States have set up common institutions / to which they delegate some of their sovereignty / so that decisions on specific matters of join interest can be made democratically at European level. / The historical roots of the European Union lie in the Second World War. / The idea of European integration was conceived / to prevent such killing and destruction from ever happening again. / Initially, the EU consisted of just six countries: / Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherl8nds. / Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom joined in 1973, / Greece in 1981, Spain and Portugal in 1986, / Austria, Finland and Sweden in 1995. / In 2004 the biggest ever enlargement took place with 10 new countries joining. / Bulgaria and Romania also expect to follow a few years later / and Turkey is also a candidate country. (151 words)Passage 4 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, or APEC, / is the premier forum for facilitating economic growth, cooperation, trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific region APEC was established in 1989 / as an informal Ministerial-level dialogue group with 12 members. / In 1993 APEC Economic Leaders met for the first time and outlined APECs vision /to further enhance economic growth and prosperity for the region /and to strengthen the Asia-Pacific community. /APEC is the only inter governmental grouping in the world / operating on the basis of non-binding commitments, / open dialogue and equal respect for the views of all participants. / Unlike the WTO or other multilateral trade bodies, / APEC has no treaty obligations required of its participants. / Decisions made within APEC are reached by consensus /and commitments are undertaken on a voluntary basis. Topic 2 Science & TechnologyPassage 5In 1945, a new type of airplane engine was invented; / It was much lighter and more powerful than earlier engines, / and enabled warplanes to fly faster and higher than ever. / This type of engine was called the jet engine / because it blows a large jet of hot air backwards at high speed. / The first airplane to use the new jet engine was built in Britain / and it began carrying passengers in 1952. / It had two jet engines and flew much higher than petrol-engine airplanes. / At this height the air is thinner and very cold, / and so the airplane can cut through the air more easily. / However, the cabin has to be air-conditioned and has to be at normal pressure / so that the passengers may eat, read and sleep in comfort. /Today all long distance airplanes have jet engines. / The modern jet airplanes are very big and can carry hundreds of passengers on two different floors, / which makes air travel much cheaper. (175 words)Passage 6Physical scientists are very struck /by the rational beauty and transparency of the physical world. / Wonder is a word they often use / to describe their reaction to the marvelous order revealed to their inquiry. / Two things are particularly striking about the success of physical science. / One is that mathematics is the key to discovery. / Time and again it has proved to be the case / that successful theories are those which can be expressed in terms of beautiful mathematical equations. / Mathematicians find it easy to recognize and agree upon the presence of mathematical beauty. / All the fundamental theories of physics are found to possess this characteristic. / The second striking aspect of this success of physical science in understanding the world is / that it seems to be of unlimited scope. / We should not be surprised / that our thinking is competent to cope with the world of everyday experience. / We could scarcely have survived in the evolutionary struggle / if that had not been the case. (162 words)Passage 7As a young man, Albert Einstein recalled an incident from his childhood / that filled him with wonder. / When he was five years old his father gave him a compass, /the needle of which always pointed in one direction. / The action of the compass suggested that / there was “something deeply hidden in nature that created irregularity in physical space, /and that space was mutable, / with orientations that varied according to its contents. The quivering needle pointed to the North Pole as well as to a revolution in physics. / New ideas from across the scholarly and artistic world indicated that / space was not homogeneous, but heterogeneous. / In classical mechanics a particle of light moved through empty and static space. / In Einsteins mechanics everything is in movement throughout the field at the same time, / and space is full and dynamic / and has the power of “partaking in physical events; / According to relativity theory, / the universe is full of fields of energy in various states, / and space can be thought to be as substantial as a billiard ball / or as active as a bolt of lightening. (183 words)Passage 8Recent controversy about biotechnology has focused on food products, / production of novel pharmaceuticals by plants and animals, / and gene therapy in humans. / Traditional methods of cross-breeding crops take many years of experimentation. / Biotechnology makes it possible / to transfer desirable traits or characteristics from one organism to another more efficiently. / It is also possible to transfer traits from species that cannot crossbreed. / For example, genes in arctic salmon that make the fish resistant to cold /can be transferred to tomatoes to protect them from frost. / There are potential risks, however. / The most serious environmental risk is / the possibility of genes being passed from genetically modified crops into-their wild relatives in nearby areas / and imparting properties affecting their survival and spread. / In April 1998, the European Union stopped approving new genetically modified crops / and required that all packaged foods be labeled to indicate whether they contain genetically modified corn or soy. / Controversy about biotech foods has spread to other countries, / including Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and to the United States. (169 words) Topk3 EducationPassage 9Perhaps you are going to finish school soon and, / like many other students, you want to further your study abroad. / Here are some points you should bear in mind / if you intend to apply for a scholarship to study in the United States of America. /First of all, you will have to ask for an application form, / fill in the form with great care, / and then send it in with a copy of your school records. / After that, you will have to ask your teachers to write some letters of recommendation. / You will also need to take some tests such as TOEFL, and GRE. / You may apply to several universities at the same time. / Overseas students in the States are not allowed to work in their spare time except in the summer, / and you need to get permission from US Immigration to do that. / (144 words)Passage 10 An increasing number of college students are surfing the Internet. / Those who have never done so / will certainly be mocked as out of touch. But a survey indicates that among 100 Internet suffers only 23 search for information, / and the rest are chiefly interested in Internet chat / which they did for hours and hours. This not only wastes their time and money, / it is also damaging their health. / Lots of students who are Internet-mad at the beginning /gradually become ill because hours and hours of contact with computers / makes them lose their desire to eat and sleep. / They suffer dizziness and nausea. / This phenomenon reflects some students relatively low psychological strength. / It is imperative / that students are told how to use the Internet in a proper and scientific way. (131 words)Passage 11 In the United States, a college community is an interesting and lively place. / Students become involved in many different activities /-extracurricular, religious, social, and athletic. / Athletics is an important phase of life on most campuses. /In addition to required physical education courses, / voluntary programs are provided for health, recreation, and the development of teams for intercollegiate competition. / Most coeducational and mens schools belong to an athletic league. / The teams within the league play against each other, / aiming for the league championship. /Football is the college sport which stirs up the most national interest. / At large schools, promoting football, developing a team, and playing before huge crowds have become a big business. / Season tickets are sold for substantial prices. Games, complete with student marching bands and entertainment, are major productions. / Other sports-particularly basketball, swimming, and track / are also pursued with enthusiasm. / Some schools have competitive tennis, skiing, sailing, wrestling, soccer, and baseball. / (151words)Passage 12 Just as adults need to help kids stay safe, they also need to learn not to overreact / when they find out a child or teenager has been exposed to inappropriate material or strayed from a rule. / Whatever you do, dont blame or punish your child / if he tellsyou about an uncomfortable online encounter. / Your best strategy is to work with him, / so you both can learn from what happened and figure out how to keep it from happening again. /The challenges posed by the Internet can be positive. / Learning to make good choices on the Internet can serve young people well / by helping them to think critically about the choices they will face. / Today its the Internet; tomorrow it may be deciding whether its safe to get into the car of someone a teen meets at a party. / Later it will be deciding whether a commercial offer really is too good to be true”/ or whether it really makes sense to vote for a certain candidate. / Learning how to make good choices is a skill that will last a lifetime. (181words)Topic4 Man & NaturePassage 13Social insects live in integrated communities / which in some ways are similar to human communities. / In both types of community / there is division of labor. / In insect societies certain insects are responsible for reproduction; / the workers collect food / while the soldiers defend the colony. / In the same way human groups such as farmers and shopkeepers / have specialized functions in producing goods / and providing services to the community. /Insect and human societies are also alike / in that individual members of the community work together. / Ants coordinate their efforts to build nests. / Similarly, in human societies engineers, architects, / town planners and construction workers unite to build cities. / The nests of social insects / are as complex as a man-made city. / In some insect nests special accommodation is provided / for the young and for food storage. / Many nests also have devices for regulating the temperature. / So insect nests are as functional as human houses. / (170 words)Passage 14Thousands of years ago, in the middle of an ocean, / miles from the nearest island, / an undersea volcano broke out. The hot liquid rock piled higher and higher / and spread wider and wider. / In this way, an island rose up in the sea.As time went on, / hot sun and cool rains made the rock split and break to pieces. / Sea waves dashed against the rock. / In this way, soil and sand came into being. / Nothing lived on the naked soil. / And then the wind and birds brought plant seeds, / spiders and other little creatures there. / Only plants could grow first. / Only they, in sunlight, could produce food from the minerals of the soil, water and air. / While many animals landed on the island, / they could find no food. / A spider spun its web in vain, / because there were no insects for its web to catch. / Insects couldnt stay until there were plants for them to eat. / So plants had to be the pioneer life on this new island. /Passage 15Its apparent that everyone needs to sleep. / However, most people rarely think about how and why they sleep. / We know that if we sleep well, we feel rested. / If we dont sleep enough, we often feel tired and irritable. / It seems there are two purposes of sleep: / physical rest and emotional and psychological rest. / We need to rest our bodies and our minds, / both of which are important in order for us to be healthy. / Each night we alternate between two kinds of sleep: / active sleep and passive sleep. / The passive sleep gives our body the rest and prepares us for active sleep, / in which dreaming occurs. /Throughout the night, people alternate between passive and active sleep. / The brain rests, then it becomes active, then dreaming occurs. / The cycle is repeated and this cycle is repeated several times throughout the night. / During eight hours of sleep, people dream for a total of one and half hours on the average. (174 words)Passage 16The tremendous diversity of life is organized into natural ecological groupings. / As life has evolved, populations of organisms have become separated into different species / that are reproductively isolated from one another. / These species are organized through their interrelationships into complex biological communities. / The mix of species and physical environments vary across the globe, creating ecological communities, / such as the boreal forests of North America and the rainforests of the tropic. / This hierarchical organization of life has come about through the major processes of evolution-natural selection, / gene flow and random genetic drift. / Natural selection operates on the expressed characteristics of genetic variants found within populations, / winnowing members of the population who are less well suited to their environment from those better suited to it. / In this manner, populations become adapted to their local ecosystems, / which include both the physical environment and the other species with which they interact in order to survive and reproduce. /Topic 5 HistoryPassage 17Halloween is an autumn holiday that Americans celebrate every year. / It means “holy everything,” / and it comes every October 31, the evening before All-Saints Day. / However, its not really a church holiday; / its a holiday for children. / Every autumn, when the vegetables are ready to eat, / children pick large pumpkins. / Then they cut faces in the pumpkins and put lights inside. / It looks like there is a person looking out of the pumpkin! / The children also put on strange masks and frightening costumes every Halloween. / Then they carry boxes or bags from house- to house. / Every time they come to a new house, they say, Trick or treat! Money or eat! / The adults put a treat-money or candy in their bags. / Some children also think of other people on Halloween. / They carry boxes for UNICEF / (The United Nations International Childrens Emergency Fund). / They ask for money to help poor children all over the world. / Of course, every time they help UNICEF, they usually receive a treat for themselves too. / (169 words)Passage 18Dinosaurs lived on the earth for 135 million years. / They appeared 200 million years ago, / and they disappeared 65 million years ago. / They were the largest animals ever to live on earth, /and they ruled the earth for a very long period of time. / Dinosaurs lived in North America, in Africa, and in Europe. / During this time, the land in North America was under a large, shallow sea. /Many dinosaurs lived in the water, / which helped to hold up their great weight. / The early dinosaurs walked on two feet, and they ate meat. / The later dinosaurs were larger and walked on four feet. / Some of the later dinosaurs ate plants only. / Why did dinosaurs die out? / Nobody, knows for sure. / Probably a change in the wea