全國英語等級考試教材第三級Unit03

[00:00.00] CHAPTERS 3 ENVIRONMENT [00:13.19]Unit 3 Environment [00:18.76]Conversations [00:22.28]Mr.Zhang visits his hometown,where he spent his childhood. [00:30.54]Now he is talking with Mr.Jackson. [00:35.29]We're nearly there.All has come back to me. [00:40.54]Look,the old park"People's Park"is still there. [00:46.79]I used to pass the park to go scholl each day. [00:51.93]True?I thought you are living in Xi'an city all your life. [00:58.91]No,I used to live in this old city from 1970s to early 1980s. [01:07.27]Have you ever been back since you left here? [01:12.41]No,but I'm always dreaming of visiting it. [01:18.18]I didn't have enough time,so I've never come back here. [01:23.83]Now,we are in the city center? [01:29.39]Er,oh,yes,you're right.The busy road,the skyscrapers.. [01:37.46]It seems that the old department store has disappeared. [01:42.79]It's there!Right? [01:46.74]Yeah,it has changed a lot,bigger and taller than ever, [01:52.69]but there was no flyover here in 1980s. [01:57.84]Look at these skyscrapers! [02:03.12]Wonderful!But in the past,there were only small shops. [02:09.96]I especially liked t buy sweets in one of them, [02:15.13]its name was"Xiao Hong Shop". [02:20.70]Twenty years have passed.Great changes have taken place, [02:26.76]we have been getting older,just as a saying goes"Time is waiting for no man"! [02:34.20]I agree with you.My old guy,let's find a parking lot and walk around the city,OK? [02:42.85]OK,I'm glad to. [02:47.11]Tim and Am are talking about Mr.Mark's new house. [02:56.07]Ann,have you received your invitation? [03:00.43]No,I haven't.My invitation?By whom? [03:06.88]A house warming party next Sunday. [03:11.32]Whose party? [03:14.56]Mr.Mark's.They have bought a new house beside the North Gate. [03:21.33]It's a bout half an hour's wark from here. [03:26.00]Have you seen the house? [03:29.84]Of course.I went there yesterday. [03:34.28]Is it quite nice? [03:38.12]Yes.Their house is surrounded by a large and beautiful garden, [03:44.50]full of all kinds of flowers. [03:48.75]The house is standing in the middle of the garden. [03:53.40]It has three storeys. [03:57.06]It sounds good! [04:00.82]The house has five bedrooms,a big living room,a dining room, [04:07.28]a kitchen and three bathrooms. [04:12.03]The carpet in his sitting room is made in China. [04:16.89]It must be very delicate. [04:21.33]Yes,it goes very well with the curtain and their sofas. [04:26.79]Anything else? [04:30.05]Mr.Mark has decorated his study with many expensive works of art. [04:36.72]It's well known that he likes to collect works of art wherever he goes. [04:43.17]They also have a four-car garage. [04:47.82]Really?It's just his dream. [04:52.99]How I wish I had a house like his! [04:57.64]It's a piece of cake. [05:01.71]I suggest that you sell up all your stocks for a new house. [05:07.46]Mr.Brown and his son Robert are walking along the river. [05:15.40]Dad,how foggy it is this morning! [05:20.65]Yes,it's a new problem. [05:24.73]A new problem?Why do you say so? [05:30.00]The problem results from smog. [05:35.05]Smog?What is it? [05:39.41]Smog is blended with two words"smoke"and "fog". [05:46.57]It has seriously affected people more than any other type of air pollution. [05:53.12]I see.Look,there are some plastic bags floating on the river. [06:00.07]Some citizens are still ignorant of the environmental protection. [06:07.02]It's really a pity! [06:10.86]But,anyway,public concern over the environmental pollution has greatly increased. [06:19.12]There is hope for the future. [06:22.88]Passage In Our"Rurban"Age-To know the countryside,you must live in the city [06:32.62]In his book Badgers,the naturalist Michael Clark describes [06:39.78]surveying the animal back in the 1960s. [06:45.13]Calling at a farm cottage, [06:49.21]he asked an old countryman whether he knew of any badgers living nearby. [06:56.16]"What's badgers?"came the reply. [07:01.02]The countryman,Clark writes,"genuinely did not know of the species". [07:09.27]You can be a countryman,it seems,and know little of the country. [07:16.11]But traditionally,country folks are regarded as being in tune with the land. [07:23.98]They live there,don't they?What can townies know of the "way of nature"? [07:31.24]This assumption infects much of our culture. [07:36.20]It predicates the existence of a clear division between town and country. [07:43.57]It enables the rural to characterize itself as an indigenous culture, [07:51.12]its"native"traditions and pastimes"hunting and fishing" [07:57.28]threatened by an oppressive urban majority. [08:02.14]The underlying message lies [08:06.50]in that the countryside is best managed by country people. [08:12.15]After all,the know about such things... [08:18.10]Unfortunately,too often,they don't. [08:24.35]As the historian Keith Thomas showed in his study Man and the Natural World, [08:32.29]the growth of our knowledge about nature has come by correcting [08:38.06]the "vulgar errors"of country people. [08:42.61]And although Thomas was writing about the period between 1500 and 1800, [08:50.68]that process continues today [08:55.41]-what country dwellers take for granted is still being confounded [09:01.65]by the careful observation of reality. [09:06.61]A study,from York University, [09:11.65]has cast strange new light on the farmers' enemy-foxes. [09:18.89]The more foxes a farmer kills,the more lambs he appears to lose to foxes. [09:27.43]Theat is because: [09:31.56]new foxes will almost certainly occupy the slain animals' territory, [09:38.93]and new animals,unused to the terrain, [09:44.78]may then choose more obvious prey-such as lambs. [09:50.94]The message of studies such as this is that matural systems are complex, [09:58.18]unpredictable: [10:01.42]understanding them requires patient observation and careful analysis. [10:08.57]The lack of these conditions explains why,in the early modern era, [10:16.02]grass snakes were killed as venomous, [10:21.37]and gardeners destroyed worms because they were thought to gnaw plant roots. [10:28.92]The assumption that people"ought"to know [10:34.17]such things is based on an urban-rural divide that opened up in the 18th century. [10:43.42]For a couple fo centuries,city and country people did inhabit separate realms. [10:52.36]But the car,the phone,the media and the Internet [10:59.12]have contributed to the unifying tendency of what we call modern lifestyle; [11:06.78]and the vast population outflow from cities into rural areas [11:13.62]blurred the difference between urban and rural. [11:19.08]Thus,a new word-"rurban"-has been coined to describe this condition. [11:27.83]Most of us now work indoors or in an office, [11:33.71]and even if we are involved in our primary industries, [11:39.66]we are far more likely to be staring [11:44.31]at a computer than communicating with the landscape. [11:49.77]Human life has turned generally into a monoculture by work, [11:55.94]sleep,shopping and TV [12:00.67]-all actually identical whether performed in town or country. [12:07.54]Words and Expressions [12:11.66]badger naturalist survey call at [12:15.53]n.獾 n.自然主義者 vt.仔細全面地觀察 訪問;?？? [12:19.40]countryman genuinely species traditionally [12:23.52]n.鄉(xiāng)下人 adv.真正的;真實地 n.種 adv.傳統(tǒng)上 [12:27.65]townie assumption infect culture [12:31.44]n.城里人 n.假定,假設 vt.感染,影響 n.文化;文明 [12:35.23]predicate existence division enable [12:39.20]vt.斷言 n.存在 n.分開,分割 vt.使能夠;授予權力或方法 [12:43.17]rural lobby characterize indigenous [12:47.24]adj.鄉(xiāng)下的 n.游說議員者 vt.表..的特點 adj.本土的 [12:51.32]pastime hunting fishing threaten [12:55.25]n.消遣,娛樂 n.狩獵,獵狐 n.捕魚 vt.威脅;預示 [12:59.18]oppressive urban underlying [13:02.42]adj.壓制性的,壓迫的 adj.城市的,市內(nèi)的 adj.潛在的,出現(xiàn)但不明顯示的 [13:05.66]historian vulgar error process [13:09.63]n.歷史學家的 adj.粗俗的 n.錯誤,過失 n.過程,程序 [13:13.60]dweller confound observation cast [13:17.73]n.居住者;居民 vt.使窘迫;使羞愧 n.觀察,觀測 v.投,拋,投射 [13:21.85]lamb occupy slay territory [13:26.39]n.小羊 vt.占,占領 vt.殺,殺死 n.領土 [13:30.92]unused terrain obvious prey [13:34.80]adj.不習慣..的 n.地勢,地形 adj.明顯的,顯而易見 n.被捕食的動物 [13:38.68]complex unpredictable analysis era [13:43.09]adj.復雜的;綜合的 adj.不可預知的 n.分析,分解 n.時代,紀元,時期 [13:47.51]venomous gardener gnaw inhabit [13:51.33]adj.有毒的,分泌毒液的n.園丁 v.咬,啃,嚙 vt.居住于;存在于 [13:55.16]realm Internet contribute unify [13:59.09]n.領域,范圍 n.因特網(wǎng),國際互聯(lián)網(wǎng) vi.幫助實現(xiàn),有助于 vt.統(tǒng)一,使成一體 [14:03.02]tendency lifestyle outflow blur [14:07.11]n.趨向,傾向 n.生活方式 n.流出,流出物 vt.使模糊 [14:11.20]indoors likely communicate landscape [14:15.47]adv.在戶內(nèi) adj.很可能的,有希望的v.溝通 n.風景;山水畫 [14:19.74]generally monoculture identical [14:22.92]adv.廣泛地,普通地 n.單一文化 adj.同一的,同樣的 [14:26.09]Exercises [14:29.75]Section I listening Comprehension [14:35.10]Listen to the record. [14:39.36]Answer each question by chossing A,B,C or D from the four possible choices. [14:48.42]1.Any news in the newspaper? [14:54.48]Yes.A black was beaten and thrown into prison only because of his complaints. [15:02.56]2.Would you like to go to the beach for sunbath? [15:08.72]I'm glas to.It's said that the smell of beach [15:14.29]can soothe people who suffer from anxiety. [15:19.25]3.The kitchen is filled with smoke.I can hardly breathe. [15:26.41]True?But I have got used to it. [15:32.15]4.Good afternoon,I'm living in the suburb now. [15:38.32]The heavy traffic is quite terrible in the city. [15:43.88]I have thought that you want to buy a big apartment. [15:49.24]5.Darling,I can't tolerate my mother any more. [15:56.08]She always complains.Can we find another house,however big it is! [16:03.24]OK,let's read the newspaper with ads. [16:08.70]B [16:11.65]Wang Hua is talking with a foreign student,Peter,about the environment. [16:18.81]Hello,how long have you been here? [16:23.77]Actually I planned to come here in November, [16:28.03]but my parents suggested that I observe the Christmas,so I started in January. [16:35.89]That's less than two months.What do you think of here? [16:41.74]It's old with a long history.At the first sight,it's so beautiful. [16:49.79]Then,what do you mean? [16:53.94]Yesterday,when I was walking with a Chinese friend along a river, [17:00.29]I was surprised. Why? [17:05.04]Living in such a beautiful city, [17:09.30]some people seem to be deliberate to throw the wastes [17:15.26]or rubbish anywhere they like. [17:19.62]So this is why some dustbins are standing along the road. [17:25.86]This is less important.pollution,yes, [17:31.90]air and water pollution can endanger human health [17:36.00]and produce harmful effects on living things and other materials. [17:42.16]It's a global problem.It has already caught the public attention. [17:49.04]So,in Europe,environmentalists formed the party [17:55.28]and campaigned for the protection of environment. [18:00.32]Little by little,people have become aware of the problems facing us. [18:07.90]Our Chinese government has passed laws to protect our environment. [18:14.14]The same case in our country. [18:18.61]People in the world have begun to know how to value the protection of themselves [18:25.27]on the basis of protection of their world. [18:30.23]Supplementary Reading [18:34.28]Cleaner Ways of Travel [18:38.72]A Dutch lawyer drove his car from his suburban home [18:44.18]to the edge of Amsterdam and parked. [18:48.62]He took out a collapsible bicycle,unfolded it, [18:54.39]and fastened his brief case and tightly relled his umbrella to the side. [19:00.85]Then he climbed on and cycled to his office. [19:05.70]Not an eyebrow was raised, [19:09.78]because the lawyer was only one of many Europeans [19:14.74]who are switching form four wheels to two for in-city travel. [19:21.22]Stories like these are told with such enthusiasm [19:26.08]by experts on air pollution that one would expect to see hardly a car [19:32.14]on the streets of London or Paris in rush hour. [19:37.18]Of course,this is not the case. [19:41.86]The use of the bicycle is the result of the increase, [19:47.50]rather than the decrease,of cars in Europe. [19:52.67]Although European cars release fewer poisonous fumes than large American models, [20:00.33]smog is filling European air too. [20:05.16]Cities are so jammed with cars that officials have hegun to take action. [20:11.79]"People are beginning to realize what a dangerous contraption the car is, [20:18.56]"says a Danish professor. [20:22.92]Can the car then survive?Certainly no one today can imagine life without it. [20:30.79]In America a car appears to be essential. [20:35.93]Drivers will crawl through midtown traffic rather than give up their vehicles. [20:42.98]Many families even own two cars. [20:47.74]But we cannot continue to let car fums poison us. [20:54.22]City dwellers are already beginning to choke in the smog. [21:00.07]A drastic change is needed if we are going to go on driving. [21:06.23]In the hunt for a way to save the car from extinction, [21:11.80]all sorts of extreme methods have been proposed. [21:17.26]The increased use of electric power [21:21.70]is by far the most promising of the ideas put forward to date. [21:27.76]Many pollution fighters have acclaimed it. [21:32.43]At present,electric cars obtain their power from storage batteries. [21:39.20]Every night the battery has to be recharged in the garage. [21:45.08]This method is awkward,particularly for long-distance driving. [21:51.61]It has been suggested that at some time in the future booths [21:57.04]could be set up on high-ways. [22:01.59]Drivers on the road would stop every so often, [22:06.45]put a coin in the slot, [22:10.10]and plug the battery into an electric socket for a recharge. [22:15.75]In-city traffic would benefit most from electric cars. [22:21.41]Stop-and-go driving causes far more poisonous gases to be released. [22:29.36]An air monitor in one large city recently measured the poisonous gases [22:35.91]coming from cars on therir way home in the evening rush hour. [22:41.16]The amounts of hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide [22:46.52]released were four times as great as those expelled from vehicles moving [22:52.79]at a steady pace on the highway. [22:56.73]In some American cities [23:00.39]officials are not waiting for improved electric car models. [23:06.16]They have ordered minibuses run on the standard-storage batteries. [23:12.33]In this way they can reduce the number of diesel buses on the streets. [23:18.57]Diesel exhaust not only smells worse than fumes from internal combustion engines, [23:25.94]but also has large amounts of nitrogen oxides. [23:31.11]Some people think that an elevated system like the mounts [23:37.06]would help to reduce pollution. [23:41.19]The monorail,which is also powered by electricity, [23:47.44]is often seen at fairs and entertainment parks. [23:52.90]Traveling over the fairgrounds on its single rail, [23:58.04]the monorail offers and excellent view of the attractions below. [24:04.08]One day it may offer rush-hour travelers as good a view of the city below. [24:10.84]But a more electric world would not prevent air pollution. [24:16.77]If power plants are to generate enough electricity to run transportation, [24:23.30]as well as to produce heat,light,and energy for factories and homes, [24:30.17]the plants will have to be greatly expanded. [24:35.03]Moreover,utilities providing power have been repeatedly named as [24:41.98]major offenders in air pollution. [24:46.24]Nonetheless,it would be easier to control pollution [24:51.70]from a few large sources than from every car,bus,industry,and house.

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