新编四级听力练习 第436期

Passage Three
Americans think a great deal about time. They constantly refer to time and the value of keeping busy. From childhood, they learn to value time, and [33]their language reflects this preoccupation with it. As children, they are taught to be on time for events and to do work on time. They learn that the price of committing a crime is to do time in prison. When they are having a good time, they say that time flies; they say sadly of someone who is dying that he is living on borrowed time. From the time of its beginning, [33]American English has reflected this preoccupation with time. Nowhere can this sense of time be seen more clearly than in the working place. Working Americans are bound to the clock. [34]It is a commonly held belief that one should balance work against a set time, for example an 8 hour day or a 40 hour week. Anything over these time limits is overtime, [34]and the worker should receive more money per hour for work done during overtime. Time during nonworking hours is also considered very precious. Some Americans feel they have a love/hate relationship with time. They love the comforts that progress has brought through work, [35]but they hate the bondage to the clock and the pressures of a time-oriented society. There is little doubt that many Americans feel they have become servants of the clock.

Questions 33 to 35 are based on the passage you have just heard.
33. What does the speaker say about American English?
正确答案：D
解析：time为本文高频核心词，从原文开头就提到time可知，该题答案一定也与“时间”有关。D基本上是原文的再现。且此句在录音中间部分再次明确重述。
34. What will Americans commonly agree on according to the passage?
正确答案：A
解析：A中的be compensated是对原文receive more money的近义转述。D与原文意思相反，B、C均未提及。
35. What do Americans dislike about their time-oriented society?
正确答案：B
解析：原文提到美国人对时间又爱又恨，后面具体解释原因，答案依据转折词but后面的信息，是听到的原词。语义突出之处往往是考点所在。