英语听力短文.docx

英语听力短文.docx

《英语听力短文.docx》由会员分享，可在线阅读，更多相关《英语听力短文.docx（8页珍藏版）》请在冰豆网上搜索。

英语听力短文

Timesarechanging,andnotnecessarilyforthebest.Therewasatimewhenparentswhowantedaneducationalpresentfortheirchildrenwouldbuyatypewriter,a

（1）

oranencyclopediaset.Nowthoseitemsseemhopelessly

（2）

;thisChristmas,therewerealotofpersonalcomputersunderthetree.Peoplearebecomingmoreandmore（3）

thatcomputersarethekeytosuccess.Parentsare（4）

thatchildrenbetaughttousetheminschoolasearlyaspossible.

Theproblemforschoolsisthat（5）

itcomestocomputers,parentsdon'talwaysknowbest.Manyschoolsare（6）

toparentalimpatienceandpurchasinghardware.Atthesametimeitisclearthattheseschoolsarenotreadytohaveanyweb-basedcoursewith（7）

educationalplanning.

Allofthishasmadethingsdifficultforteachers.Teachersfindthemselvescaughtinthemiddleoftheproblem,（8）

.Educatorsdonotevenagreeonhowcomputersshouldbeused.Alotofmoneyhasbeenputintoresearchforcomputerizededucationalmaterials.Theresultsshow（9）

.Manypeoplearetryingtoconvinceparentsofthisproblem.（10）

totheveryyoung.

WhatdoesMicrosoftdo?

Microsoftistheworld'ssecondlargestcompanyby

（1）

value.Itprovidesthe

（2）

systemfor80percentoftheworld'spersonalcomputers.Microsoft'soperatingsystemis（3）

throughouttheworld.

Anysoftwareneedstobe（4）

withtheoperatingsystemforittowork.

Thecompanyalsoproducesa（5）

ofsoftwareproducts,suchasWordandExcel.Theseproductsrun（6）

ontheWindowsoperatingsystem.

ManysoftwarewritershavetendedtowriteforMicrosoftratherthanforits（7）

suchasApple.Thosepeoplewhoendupworkingforothercompanies,then,tendtobelessqualified.Thismakesitevenharderfortheseothercompaniestocompete.

ThisdominancealsofeedsthroughtoPCmanufacturers（8）

.

WhatdoesMicrosoftsay?

Thecompanysaysthat（9）

.Ithashadtodosuchthingsasgivingcertainprogramsawayforfreeinordertobepopularwiththepublic.

（10）

meansMicrosoftdoesnothaveamonopoly（垄断）position,itsays.

Afewyearsago,myfriendandIwerewalking（S1）

（1）

noononastreetnearmyhomeinanorthern（S2）

（2）

ofTeheran.Thisareaiswell-knownbecauseitisabeautifulavenuethat（S3）（3）

twomajortrafficcircles.Itislocatedatthe（S4）（4）

ofahighmountain.

Thatday,thesunwas（S5）（5）

buttheweathersuddenlychanged.（S6）（6）

wewerewalkingbetweenthetwocircles,itstartedrainingveryhard.Westartedto（S7）（7）

theboulevardtogettothesecondcircle.Itwasrainingsohardthatwedecidedtogoinsidearestaurantinstead.（S8）（8）

Atfirst,wedidnotknowwhatwasgoingon.Wewentoutsidetherestauranttoseewhatwashappening.Peopleseemedshocked.

（S9）（9）

Wewerescared.Cars,rocks,andpeoplewerefloatingonthewaterlikelittletoystowardthelittlemarketatthesouthendofthecircle.Theheightofthewaterwasalmosttothetopofthetrees.

Afterafewminutes,theflood’sflowwasreduced,sowedecidedtoleavetheareabeforethewaterenteredthestreetwewereon.

（S10）（10）

Later,wealsolearnedthatadamhadburstastherainstarted.

A20-year-oldAustralianmodelanddancerwontheMissUniversetitleinatwo-hourbeauty（S1）（11）

watchedbytelevisionviewersaroundtheworld.

JenniferHawkins,a5-foot-11blondewithblueeyes,waschosenfromeightybeauty（S2）（12）

.MissU.S.A.,ShandiFinnessey,wasawardedsecondplace.

Hawkinsreceivedthecrownfrom（S3）（13）

MissUniverse,AmeliaVega,andthenwalkedthelengthofthestagetothe（S4）（14）

ofthecrowd.Severaltimesshereacheduptotouchhercrown,asiftoremindherselfshehadactuallywonthe（S5）（15）

.

Besidesmodelinganddancing,Hawkinsalsoorganizesadanceteamthat（S6）（16）

Australia.Herinterestsincludesurfing,campingandwatchingballet.

Beforethecontestbegan,Cuban-AmericansingerGloriaEstefan,who（S7）（17）

attheMissUniversefinals,defendedbeautycontestsfromcriticswhoinsistsucheventstreatwomenmerelyasplaythings.Shesaid,“（S8）（18）

”

DespiteEstevan'ssupport,manypeoplequestionthevalueofbeautycontests.（S9）（19）

ConservativereligiousgroupsinIndiaforcedsuchconteststomovefromCalcuttawhentheythreatenedbombings.

（S10）（20）

TheyhopeAustraliaisgoingtoshineforwhatitis,anunforgettableplace.

TheWestEndofLondonmaintaineditstopspotastheworld'smost（S1）

（1）

officelocationlastyearasoccupancycosts（S2）

（2）

globallyduetotheuncertaineconomicclimate.

WestEndoffices（S3）（3）

$16,682peremployeeworkstation（个人的工作区）lastyear,（S4）（4）

with$15,700forsecond-rankedParis,aleadingrealestateconsultancy（S5）（5）

saidinitsseventhannualGlobalOfficeOccupancyCostssurvey.

Thebasisofthesurveyhaschangedtoworkstations,from（S6）（6）

areapreviously,togiveaclearerpictureof（S7）（7）

costs.

Duringtheeconomicdownturnlastyear,thecityofTorontomovedupthreeplacestoninthinthe"top10".（S8）（8）

.

Incomparison,NewYorkofficesdroppedoutofthetopthreeintosixthplace.

（S9）（9）

.

"IntheUK,centralLondoncostsaredownby8.8percent,andLondon'sWestEndisdown5.1percent.Howeverininternationalterms,thesituationisdistortedbysignificantcurrencymovements.（S10）（10）

"saidthemanageroftheconsultancyagency.

Studentsareoftenleftwithalotoffreetime.Theyfillthistimebytakingpartinactivities.Groupactivitiesandsolitary

（1）

arethetwocommonwaysinwhichcollegestudentsengageinextracurricularactivities.Thetwokindsofpastimes

（2）

asastimulant.Theyalsohelpinmental（3）

.Doingthingsbyyourselforwithothersgivesa（4）

escapefromthepressureofdailystudies.

Groupactivities（5）

studentstheopportunitiestomakemanynewfriends.Byplayingaballgame,goingtoadance,orhavingaholidayouting,studentscansharewitheachother.Theycangiveoneanotherknowledgeand（6）

aswellashappiness.Suchexperiences（7）

toariseintheirsociability.Thisissomethingthatallpeopleneed.Butthedisadvantageisthat（8）

andthusfreedomislimited.

Bycontrast,solitarypursuitscantakeplaceanytime:

（9）

andjogoncampuslaterintheafternoons.Yethereagainthereisadisadvantage:

（10）

.Preferably,abalanceofbothactivitiescanbeachieved.

HongKong'sjoblessratefelltoasix-monthlowinOctoberasatourismboomhelpedrevivethecity'seconomy,promptingcompaniestostepup（S1）

（1）

.

Theratefellto8percentfrom8.3percentinSeptember,thegovernmentsaidinastatement.

"Economic（S2）

（2）

isapparentlyunderway.Theunemploymentratehasfallenagreatdeal,"saidStevenXu,an（S3）（3）

.

"Wewillprobablyseetheunemploymentratevaryingbetween6.5percentand7percentbythe（S4）（4）

ofnextyear."

Touristarrivals--morethanhalfofwhichcomefromtheChinese（S5）（5）

--rose7.9percentinSeptemberto1.47million,a（S6）（6）

forthemonth,theHongKongTourismBoardsaid.

HongKonghotelshired800peopleinAugustandwilltake（S7）（7）

another700employeesbytheendofthisyear,theHongKongHotelsAssociationsaid.

（S8）（8）

.That'shelpingreviveconsumerconfidenceinthecityandpromptingnon-touristsectorstohire.

（S9）（9）

.Afinancialmanagementandconsultantcompany,isrecruiting100financialplannerstomeetincreaseddemandforwealthmanagement.

（S10）（10）

.

EasterIslandinthesouthernPacificOceanremainsamystery.Whentheislandwas（S1）

（1）

itwasalmostuninhabited,butthereweremanystatuesonit.Peopleare（S2）

（2）

toknowwholivedtherebeforeitsdiscovery,howtheylived,andwhythey（S3）（3）

out.Differenttheoriesgivedifferentexplanations,butnoneiscompletelyconvincing.

TheEasterIslandershadtheirownsystemof（S4）（4）

differentfromanyotherintheworld.Noother（S5）（5）

Islandersknewhowtowrite.TheAmerican（S6）（6）

didnotknowhowtowriteeither.Who（S7）（7）

theEasterIslandershowtowrite,ordidtheydeveloptheirownsystem?

RememberthatwritingwasfirstinventedinAsiaonlyafewthousandyearsBC.

（S8）（8）

.HowdidtheEasterIslandersgetthem?

IsitpossiblethatafewEasterIslanderstraveled2,300milestoChile,gotsweetpotatoes,andbroughtthemback?

Butthisisunlikely.（S9）（9）

whichwasonlycolonizedin1492.CouldEasterIslandhavebeencolonizedbypeoplefromChile?

Yet,DNAtakenfromgravesduguponEasterIslandhasshownthatthesepeoplewerePolynesians,notAmericanIndians.ThePolynesianslivedontheseaandknewhowtotravelthousandsofmilesintheirsmallcanoes.Theyknewwheretheyweregoing.TheAmericanIndiansdidnotknowhowtodothat.Yet,（S10）（10）

.Also,theseedscouldhavebeenbroughtinthestomachsofbirds.

Inrecentyearstheweekendhasbeguntodeclineinimportance.Whilemostpeopleworkafive-dayworkweek,（S1）（11）

thehardwarecostsoutweighhumancosts,the（S2）（12）

ofthemoderneconomymeansthatleavingafactoryidlefortwodaysoranoffice（S3）（13）

istoogreatanexpense.Thus,manyworkers（S4）（14）

workonweekends.Sincethisisseenasagreaterburden,mostemployerspay（S5）（15）

forweekendwork,eitherbyagreementorbylaw.

Therapidincreaseinthenumberoftwo-income（S6）（16）

hasalsochangedthecharacteroftheweekend.（S7）（17）

thestay-at-homespousewoulddotheshoppingduringtheweek.Withbothworking,mostoftheshoppingmustbedoneonweekends,leavinglesstimeforrecreation.（S8）（18）

.

Thefunctionsoftheworkweekandweekendvaryagreatdealinsomeareas.Storesthatrelyonoffi