2008年12月大学英语四级听力真题-英语听力

[00:12.01]Section A [01:16.32]Q11. [01:18.75]M: I just received an Email from one of my former classmates. [01:23.70]I was surprised, I hadn't heard from him for ages. [01:28.53]W: Well,I've been out of touch with most of my old friends, [01:33.41]only one or two still drop me a line occasionally. [01:37.87]Q: What does the woman mean? [01:56.97]Q12. [01:59.10]M: If you can make up your mind about the color, [02:02.89]I can start on the outside of your house early next week. [02:06.60]W: Well,right now I think I want white for the window frames and yellow for the walls, [02:13.61]but I'll let you know tomorrow. [02:15.81]Q: Who is the woman talking to? [02:34.72]Q13. [02:36.90]W:Excuse me, do you have any apartments available for under 500 dollars a month? [02:43.56]I need to move in next week when my new job starts. [02:47.69]M: The only vacant one I have is 600 dollars, [02:52.22]have you inquired at the apartment complex down the street? [02:56.07]Q: What does the man suggest the woman do? [03:16.44]Q14. [03:18.94]W: You bought a pair of jeans yesterday, didn't you? What are they like? [03:24.38]M: Oh, they are pretty much like my other ones, except with a larger waist. [03:30.05]I guess I haven't spent much time exercising lately. [03:33.95]Q: What can we infer from the conversation about the man? [03:55.47]Q15. [03:57.43]W: I really like those abstract paintings we saw yesterday. What do you think? [04:04.03]M: I guess it's something I haven't acquired a taste for yet. [04:09.20]Q: What does the man imply? [04:28.35]Q16. [04:30.19]W: You haven't seen a blue notebook, have you? [04:35.16]I hope I didn't leave it in the reading room. [04:38.02]M: Did you check that pile of journals you've borrowed from the library the other day? [04:42.86]Q: What is the man trying to say to the woman? [05:03.16]Q17. [05:05.93]M: How about joining me for a cup of coffee? [05:09.39]W: I'd love to,but I'm exhausted. [05:13.21]I was up till 3 this morning,writing a paper for my literature class. [05:18.77]Q: Why does the woman decline the man's invitation? [05:40.04]Q18. [05:42.01]W: You had a job interview yesterday, didn't you? How did it go? [05:47.33]M: Not too bad, I guess. [05:50.08]There were about 20 candidates competing for the sales manager's job. [05:54.38]And finally it was down to three of us,but the other two seemed better qualified. [06:01.19]Q: What does the man imply? [06:25.79]Conversation One [06:28.59]F: Simon, how does it feel to be retired? [06:32.35]M: Well, not so bad. [06:34.79]F: How have you been spending your time? [06:37.33]M: I have been spending more time with my family. [06:40.61]I've also travelled a bit, you know, [06:43.52]off season when everywhere is less crowded and hotels cost less. [06:47.77]F: Great. [06:49.57]M: You know I haven't stopped work completely. [06:52.33]F: Yes, could you tell us more about this? [06:55.69]M: I'm on a scheme that's called phased retirement; [06:59.89]I had a six-month break from work, [07:03.32]after that I could apply for project work with the company I used to work for. [07:08.72]F: How does the scheme work? [07:10.76]M: Well, it's a trial at the moment. [07:13.63]Instead of hiring temporary stuff, [07:17.20]the company advertises posts on its website that retired employees like myself can access. [07:24.36]F: What sort of works advertised? [07:27.10]M: Well,all sorts of things,really. [07:30.53]Administrative work and more specialized work, the sort of thing I can do. [07:36.00]Some of the projects can last five or six months, and others can just be a couple of days. [07:43.33]I can decide more or less when to work. So I can manage my own time. [07:49.88]F: I can see it's good for you. What is your company get out of this? [07:55.71]M: Well,I still have all my old contacts at work,so I know who to contact to get something done. [08:02.19]The company gets flexibility, too. [08:06.26]Once the job's over, that's it. I'm not on their books any more. [08:13.62]Questions 19-21 are based on the conversation you have just heard. [08:21.49]Q19. Why does Simon find his retired life enjoyable? [08:44.35]Q20. How does Simon get to know about the company's available posts? [09:07.88]Q21. Why does the company adopt the phased retirement scheme? [09:30.02]Conversation Two [09:32.44]W: Oh, where are we going? [09:34.86]M: I want to show you something. [09:37.14]W: I know, but what is it? [09:39.59]M: A farm.It's just down this road. It's a small place, but at least it would be our own. [09:47.64]W: A farm? How can we afford to buy a farm? [09:51.72]M: It isn't very large, only 40 acres. We wouldn't have to pay very much right now. [09:58.33]W: Is there a house on the place? [10:00.89]M: A small one, two bedrooms,but it needs to be fixed up a little.I can do the job myself. [10:08.42]W: OK. Is there enough space for a kitchen garden? [10:12.80]M: There is about half an acre around the house. That's plenty of space. [10:18.37]W: Then we can grow our own fresh vegetables. And maybe keep a few chickens, couldn't we? [10:25.29]M: Yes, and we can probably grow a lot of our own food. [10:29.90]W: What are you thinking about growing, if we do take this place? [10:34.68]M: Well,it really isn't big enough for corn.I thought we might try to raise a crop of potatoes. [10:42.48]W: Potatoes? There are a lot of work. [10:45.91]M: We are used to hard work, aren't we? [10:48.51]W: Yes, we are, but the money. Do we have enough to get started? It seems like a dream. [10:55.53]M: I think we've saved enough. [10:59.48]We can pay a little on the farm and maybe put a few dollars down on the tractor, too. [11:05.63]Questions 22 to 25 are based on the conversation you have just heard. [11:14.08]Q22.What are the speakers going to do at the time of the conversation? [11:37.89]Q23.What does the man say about the farm? [11:59.55]Q24.Why does the man intend to grow potatoes rather than corn on the farm? [12:23.34]Q25.What is the woman's greatest concern about the man's plan? [13:27.23]Passage One [13:29.94]Members of the city council and distinguished guests, [13:34.42]it is my privilege to introduce to you today Mr. Robert Washington, [13:40.27]chief of our city's police force. [13:42.59]He will address us on the subject of the Community Policing Program. [13:48.65]Most of you know that Mr.Washington has a distinguished record [13:54.80]as head of our police force for more than ten years. [13:58.14]However,you may not know that he also holds a master's degree in criminology [14:04.79]and studied abroad for a year with the international police force [14:09.58]which deals with crimes around the world. [14:12.52]Mr.Washington first introduced the Community Policing Program 8 years ago. [14:20.16]The idea behind the program is to get the police officers out of their cars [14:27.36]and into our neighborhoods where they can talk directly to merchants [14:32.03]and residents about the real dynamics of our city. [14:35.96]These officers do more than make arrests. [14:40.02]They try to find ways to help solve the problems that contribute to crime in the first place. [14:46.52]Often that means hooking people up with services offered by other city agencies, [14:53.82]such as schools, hospitals, housing, drug treatment centers. [14:59.68]And the program seems to be working: [15:03.05]crime is down and our citizens report that they feel more secure. [15:08.49]Today Mr. Washington is going to tell us more about this program. [15:14.38]Now let's welcome Mr. Robert Washington. [15:19.09]Questions 26 to 29 are based on the passage you have just heard. [15:25.83]Q26. What is the purpose of the speaker's remarks? [15:47.96]Q27. What does the speaker say about Mr. Robert Washington? [16:09.91]Q28. What is the idea behind the Community Policing Program? [16:32.73]Q29. How has the Community Policing Program turned out to be? [16:54.92]Passage Two [16:56.93]There are between 3000 and 6000 public languages in the world, [17:03.00]and we must add approximately 6 billion private languages since each one of us necessarily has one. [17:11.72]Considering these facts, the possibilities for breakdowns in communication seem infinite in number. [17:20.74]However, we do communicate successfully from time to time. And we do learn to speak languages. [17:29.49]But learning to speak languages seems to be a very mysterious process. [17:35.78]For a long time, people thought that we learned a language only by imitation and association. [17:44.83]For example, a baby touches a hot pot and starts to cry. The mother says, "Hot, hot!" [17:53.74]And the baby, when it stops crying, imitates the mother and says, "Hot, hot!" [18:01.35]However, Noam Chomsky, a famous expert in language, [18:06.71]pointed out that although children do learn some words by imitation and association, [18:13.62]they also combine words to make meaningful sentences in ways that are unique,unlearned and creative. [18:22.70]Because young children can make sentences they have never heard before, [18:27.84]Chomsky suggested that human infants are born with the ability to learn language. [18:34.82]Chomsky meant that underneath all the differences between public and private languages, [18:42.13]there is a universal language mechanism that makes it possible for us, as infants, [18:48.63]to learn any language in the world. [18:51.33]This theory explains the potential that human infants have for learning language. [18:58.31]But it does not really explain how children come to use language in particular ways. [19:06.38]Questions 30 to 32 are based on the passage you have just heard. [19:14.87]Q30. Why does the speaker say there are great possibilities for communication breakdowns? [19:38.76]Q31. What is Chomsky's point on the ability to learn a language? [20:00.51]Q32. What does Chomsky's theory fail to explain according to the speaker? [20:23.89]Passage Three [20:26.41]When US spacewoman Joan Higginbotham is not flying and working in space, [20:33.34]she might be found somewhere on earth giving a speech. [20:36.26]Higginbotham, who grew up in Chicago and became an engineer before joining NASA, [20:43.98]that is the National Air and Space Administration, gives about a dozen speeches a year. [20:50.74]Each speech is different because she tailors her remarks to each audience. [20:56.93]Through interviews and E-mails, she finds out in advance her listeners' educational level [21:05.16]and what information they want to know.On the subject of space walks, [21:12.38]for example, audiences vary in their interests and how much complexity they can comprehend. [21:19.90]To elementary school children, Higginbotham may discuss a problem that many kids want to know about. [21:28.02]"How do spacemen in a spacesuit eat, drink, and go to the bathroom?" [21:35.23]Her answer is"the spacesuit is really a small spacecraft with room for food [21:43.58]and water-containers,and a waste-collection system." [21:48.09]To a high school audience,she might satisfy a curiosity that often arises [21:55.51]in her pre-speech interviews with students who obviously have seen many science fiction movies. [22:02.18]"Do spacemen carry weapons in case they encounter enemies in space?" Her answer is "No". [22:12.52]To scientists, she might provide technical details on such topics as the design of spacesuits [22:20.12]that protects spacemen from the deadly temperature extremes of space. [22:25.81]Just as elaborate preparation is required for success in space, [22:32.16]Higginbotham says that it's important for speakers to learn [22:36.61]as much as possible about their listeners before a speech [22:41.17]because every audience is different. [22:46.12]Questions 33 to 35 are based on the passage you have just heard. [22:54.02]Q33. What did Joan Higginbotham do before joining in NASA? [23:17.49]Q34. How does Higginbotham prepare her speech on space walks? [23:40.71]Q35. What does the high school audience want to know about space travel? [24:03.61]Section C [25:04.36]Crime is increasing worldwide. [25:07.81]There is every reason to believe the trend will continue through the next few decades. [25:13.38]Crime rates have always been high in multi-cultural industrialized societies such as the United States. [25:21.50]But a new phenomenon has appeared on the world scene: [25:26.18]rapidly rising crime rates in nations that previously reported few offences. [25:32.97]Street crimes such as robbery, rape, murder and auto theft are clearly rising, [25:40.66]particularly in Eastern European countries,such as Hungary, [25:44.52]and in Western European nations, such as the Untied Kingdom. [25:48.76]What is driving this crime explosion? There are no simple answers. [25:56.73]Still, there are certain conditions associated with rising crime. [26:02.75]Increasing heterogeneity of population,greater cultural pluralism, [26:09.67]higher immigration,democratization of governments,changing national borders, [26:18.09]greater economic growth and the lack of accepted social ideas of right and wrong. [26:28.27]These conditions are increasingly observable around the world. [26:32.62]For instance, cultures that were previously isolated and homogenous, such as Japan, Denmark and Greece, [26:42.40]are now facing the sort of cultural variety that has been common in America for most of its history. [26:49.44]Multiculturalism can be a rewarding, enriching experience, but it can also lead to a clash of values. [26:59.03]Heterogeneity in societies will be the rule in the 21st century, [27:04.37]and failure to recognize and plan for such diversity can lead to serious crime problems. [27:14.05]Listen again [27:17.93]Crime is increasing worldwide. [27:22.07]There is every reason to believe the trend will continue through the next few decades. [27:27.70]Crime rates have always been high in multi-cultural industrialized societies such as the United States. [27:36.83]But a new phenomenon has appeared on the world scene: [27:41.55]rapidly rising crime rates in nations that previously reported few offences. [27:48.41]Street crimes such as robbery, rape, murder and auto theft are clearly rising, [27:56.41]particularly in Eastern European countries, [27:59.68]such as Hungary, and in Western European nations, such as the Untied Kingdom. [28:05.89]What is driving this crime explosion? There are no simple answers. [28:12.60]Still, there are certain conditions associated with rising crime. [28:18.00]Increasing heterogeneity of population, greater cultural pluralism, [28:25.52]higher immigration, democratization of governments,changing national borders, [28:32.71]greater economic growth and the lack of accepted social ideas of right and wrong. [29:52.95]These conditions are increasingly observable around the world. [29:57.61]For instance,cultures that were previously isolated and homogenous,such as Japan, Denmark and Greece, [30:06.03]are now facing the sort of cultural variety that has been common in America for most of its history. [31:18.50]Multiculturalism can be a rewarding, enriching experience, but it can also lead to a clash of values. [31:26.95]Heterogeneity in societies will be the rule in the 21st century, [31:34.47]and failure to recognize and plan for such diversity can lead to serious crime problems.