恒星网友版：2008年6月大学英语四级听力原文

第一部分
Now let's begin with the eight short conversations.
Q11.
--Today's a bad day for me.I fell off a step and twistedmy ankles.
--Don't worry.Usually ankle injuries heal quickly if you stop regular activities for a while.
What does the woman suggest the man do?

Q12.
--May I see your ticket, please? I think you are sitting in my seat.
--Oh,you're right.My seat is in the balcony. I'm terribly sorry.
Where does the conversation most probably take place?

Q13.
--Did you hear Jay Smith died in his sleep last night?
--Yes,it's very sad.Please let everybody know that whoever wants to may attend the funeral.
What are the speakers talking about?

Q14.
--Have you taken Professor Young's exam before? I'm kind of nervous.
--Yes. Just concentrate on the important ideas she's talked about in the class,and ignore the details.
How does the woman suggest the man prepare for Professor Young's exam?

Q15.
--I'm so sorry, sir. And you'll let me pay to have your jacket cleaned, won't you?
--That's all right. It could happen to anyone. And I'm sure that coffee doesn't leave lasting marks on clothing.
What can we infer from the conversation?

Q16.
--Have you seen the movie "the departed"? The plot is so complicated that I really got lost.
--Yeah.I felt the same. But after I saw it a second time,I could put all the pieces together.
How did the two speakers find the movie?

Q17.
--I'm really surprised you got an A on the test. You didn't seem to have done a lot of reading.
--Now you know why I never miss a lecture.
What contributeto the woman's high score?

Q18.
--Have you heard about the new digital television system? It lets people get about five hundred channels.
--Yeah,but I doubt that will have anything different from what we watch now.
What does the man mean?

Now you will hear the two long conversations
Conversation one
W: Gosh, have you seen this, Richard?
M: See what?
W: In the paper, it says there’s a man going round pretendinghe is from the electricity board. He is been calling at people's homes, saying he is check that all their appliances are safe. Then he gets around them to make him a cup of tea, and while they out of the room, he steals their money, handbag, whatever, and makes offwith it.
M: But you know Jean, it's partly their own fault. They should never let anyone like that in unless you are expecting them.
W: It's all very well to say that, but someone comes to the door and says electricity or gas. And you automaticallythink they are ok. Especially they flashed a card to you.
M: does this man have an ID then?
W: Yes, that’s just it. It seems he used to work for the electricity board at one time. According to the paper, the police are warning people especially pensioners. Not to admit anyone unless they have an appointment. It's a bit sad. One old lady told them, she's just been to the post office to draw her pension, when he called, she said he must followed her home. He stole the whole lot.
M: but, what does he look like. Surely they must have a description.
W: oh, yes. They have. Let’s see, in his 30s, tall, bushy dark hair, slight northern accent. Sounds a bit like you actually.

Questions 19 to 22 are based on the conversation you have just heard

19. What does the woman want the man to read in the newspaper?

20. How did the man mentioned in the newspaper try to win further trust from the victims?

21. What is the warning from the police?

22. what does the woman speaker tell us about the old lady?

Conversation two

M: Miss Jones, could you tell me more about your first job with hotel marketing concepts.
W: yes, certainly. I was a marketing consultantresponsible for marketing ten UK hotels. They were all luxury hotels in the leisure sector all of very high standard.
M: Which markets were you responsible for?
W: For Europe and Japan.
M: I see from your resumethat you speak Japanese. Have you ever been to Japan?
W: Yes, I have. I spent a month in Japan in 2006. I met all the key people in the tourist industry, the big tour operators, and the tourist organizations. As I speak Japanese, I had a very big advantage.
M: Yes, of course. Have you had any contact with Japan, in your present job?
W: yes, I’ve had a lot. Cruises have become very popular with the Japanese both for holidays and for business conferences. In fact, the market for all types of luxury holidays for the Japanese has increased a lot recently.
M: really? I’m interested to hear more about that. But first tell me have ever traveled on a luxury train, the Orienting Expressfor example.
W: no I haven’t. But I’ve traveled on the Gracial express to Switzerland, and I traveled across China by train about 8 years ago. I love train travel. That’s why I am very interested in this job.

Questions 23 to 25 five are based on the conversation you’ve just heard.

23. What did the woman do in her first job?

24. What gave the woman an advantage during her business trip in Japan?

25. Why is the woman applying for the new job?

Section B
Passage One
Time! I think a lot about time. And not just because it’s the name of the news organizationI work for. Like most working people, I find time or the lack of it ,a never ending frustrationand an unwinnable battle. My everyday is a race against the clock that I never, ever seem to win. This is hardly a lonesome complaint. According to the families and work institutes national study of the changing workforce, fifty-five percent of employees say they don’t have enough time for themselves, sixty-three percent don’t have enough time for their spousesor partners, and sixty-seven percent don’t have enough time for their children. It’s also not a new complaint. I bet our ancestorsreturned home from hunting wild animals and gathering nuts and complained about how little time they had to pay in battle scenes on their cave wars. The difference is that the boss of animal-hunting and the head of nut-gathering probably told them to shut up or no survivalfor you. Today’s workers are still demanding control over their time. The difference is today’s bosses are listening. I’ve been reading a report issued today called ‘When Work Works’ produced jointly by three organizations. They set out to find and award the employers who employ the most creative and most effective ways to give their workers flexibility. I found this report worth reading and suggest every boss should read it for ideas.

Questions 26~28 are based on the passage you’ve just heard.
26. What is the speaker complaining about?
27. What does the speaker say about our ancestors?
28. Why does the speaker suggest all bosses read the report by the three organizations?

Passage Two
"Loving a child is a circular business. The more you give, the more you get, the more you want to give." Penelope Leach once said. What she said proves to be true of my blooded family. I was born in 1931. As the youngest of six children, I learned to sharemy parents' love. Raising six children during the difficult times of the Great Depression took its toll on my parents' relationship and resulted in their divorcewhen I was 18 years old. Daddy never had very close relationships with his children and drifted even farther away from us after the divorce. Several years later a wonderful woman came into his life, and they were married. She had two sons, one of them still at home. Under her influence, we became a “blended family” and a good relationship developed between the two families. She always
treated us as if we were her own children.
It was because of our other mother -- Daddy's second wife -- that he became closer to his own children. They shared over twenty-five years together before our father passed away. At the time of his death, the question came up of my mother -- Daddy's first wife -- attending his funeral.
I will never forget the unconditionallove shown by my stepmother when I asked her if she would object to mother attending Daddy's funeral. Without giving it a second thought, she immediately replied.“Of course not, Honey-she's the mother of my children.”

Questions 29~31 are based on the passage you’ve just heard.
29. According to the speaker, what contributed to her parents' divorce?
30. What brought the father closer to her own children?
31. What message does the speaker want to convey in this talk?

Passage Three
In February last year, my wife lost her job. Just as suddenly, the owner of the greenhouse where I worked as manager died of heart attack. His family announced that they were going to close the business because no one in the family wanted to run it. Things looked pretty gloomy. My wife and I read the WANT ads each day.

Then one morning, as I was hanging out the “going out of business” sign at the greenhouse, the door opened, and in walked a customer. She was an office manager whose company had just moved into the new office park on the edge of town. She was looking for pots and plants to place in the receptionareas in the offices. “I don’t know anything about plants,” she said, “I’m sure in a few weeks they’ll all be dead.”

While I was helping her select her purchases, my mind was raising. Perhaps as many as a dozen firms have recently opened offices in the new office park, and there were several hundred more acreswith construction underway. That afternoon, I drove out to the office park. By 6 o’clock that evening, I had signed contracts with seven companies to rent plants from me and pay me a fee to maintainthem. Within a week, I had worked out an agreement to lease the greenhouse from the owner’s family. Business is now increasing rapidly, and one day, we hope to be the proud owners of the greenhouse.

Questions 32~35 are based on the passage you’ve just heard.
32. What do we learn about the greenhouse?
33. What was the speaker doing when the customer walked in on morning?
34. What did the speaker think of when serving the office manager?
35. What was the speaker’s hope for the future?

We are now witnessing the emergence of the advance economy based on information and knowledge: physical labor, raw materials and capital are no longer the key ingredientsin the creational wealth. Now the vital raw material in our economy is knowledge. Tomorrow’s wealth depends on the development and exchange of knowledge. And individuals entering the workforce offer the knowledge not their muscles. Knowledge workers get paid for their education and their ability to learn. Knowledge workers engagein mind work,they deal with symbols,words,figures and data. What does all this mean for you? As a future knowledge worker,you can expect to be generating,processing as well as exchaning information. Currently, three out of four jobs involve mind work,and that number will increase sharply in the future. Management and employees alike will be making decisions in such areas as product development, quality control and customer satisfaction. In the new world of work, you can look forward to being in constant training to acquire new skills that will help you keep up with improve technologies and procedures.You can also expect to be taking greater control of your career. Gone out of the nine-to-five jobs,lifelong securtiy, predictable promotions and even the conventionalwork place as you are familiar with. Don't expect the companies will provide you with a clearly defined work path. And don't wait for someone to empoweryou, you have to empower yourself.