现代大学英语听力3原文及题目答案Unit 2

Unit 2 Task 1 【答案】 A. 1) c) 2) d) 3) b) B. 1) T 2) F 3) T C. b→e→d→a→c 【原文】 Dear Ann Landers: I buried my husband yesterday. We were married for 23 years. My hand is not very steady but I must write this letter. Perhaps it is grief therapy for myself, but whatever the reason I hope you will not think I am out of my head. Our marriage was what you might call "average". We had more than our share of arguments, but on balance we had more fun together than most couples our age. I am Italian and Bill was Irish. Maybe that explains a few things. Anyway, I loved him very much and I know he loved me. We had an argument Wednesday night. It was a bitter quarrel and we both said things we shouldn't have. Thursday morning I fixed Bill a good breakfast but we didn't speak. I figured we'd patch things up at supper. That afternoon at 4 o'clock he was dead. It was a massive heart attack, his first. By the time I reached the hospital, he was gone. Years ago you gave some advice on how to have a good marriage. You said, "Never go to bed mad." How I wish I had taken that advice. It's awful to know that our last words were angry ones. I hope every married couple who reads this will ask themselves this question: "If I never see my beloved again, what were the last words we spoke to one another?" That's something to think about, isn't it? Too Late For Me! Task 2 【答案】 1) Donald, whom Olivia loves, has proposed marriage to her. 2) She cannot make up her mind because it is wartime and she does not have enough time to know more about Donald and ensure her feelings. 3) She thinks Donald probably just wants to marry himself off before he is killed in the war. 【原文】 Olivia: Donald has asked me to marry him. Marcia: Has he? That's wonderful! Olivia! Olivia: Is it? Marcia: Well... yes.., don't you think it is? Olivia: I'm not sure. I'm really not. Marcia: Why not? Don't you love him? Olivia: Yes... I think so. But is that a good reason to get married? Now? With a war going on? Marcia: I don't think I understand. Olivia: Well, it's.., how shall I say it...? Oh, I find it very difficult to explain! Marcia: Are you afraid he may be... may be... Olivia: Killed? Yes, of course. But that isn't the reason. Marcia: Well, what is it, then? Olivia: It's just that I feel that.., how can I put it...? If there weren't a war on, things would be different. We'd have more time together. More time to decide. How can I be sure I really love him? Or that he loves me? I sometimes think that he wants to get married now because he thinks it may be his last chance. Marcia: To do what? Olivia: To get married, of course. Marcia: Oh, I see. I mean, I think I'm beginning to understand now. Olivia: What would you do if you were me? I mean, would you..do you think I should... Marcia: It's hard to say. I just don't know. Olivia: Neither do I. That's the problem! Task 3 【答案】 A. broken down, exceptional, three, solicitor, proceedings, alcoholic, brute, judge, court B. 1) two, consent to divorce 2) five, the other’s consent 3) two, Evidence for desertion can be provided 4) adultery, cannot bear to live with the other 5) one party’s unreasonable behaviour, cannot continue living with him or her, Consultation with a solicitor 【原文】 As the law stands today, it has to be shown that a marriage has irretrievably broken down before a divorce can be granted, and, unless the circumstances are exceptional, you must have been married for three years before you can apply for a divorce. If you genuinely feel that your marriage has broken down beyond repair, your nearest divorce court can supply you with a booklet called Undefended Divorce, which outlines the necessary steps to take and five facts or grounds on which you can prove to a judge that your marriage has truly broken down. Briefly, they are as follows: 1. Separation for a period of two years by mutual consent with both partners agreeing to divorce. 2. Separation for a period of five years. In this case, either partner can start divorce proceedings without the other's consent. 3. Desertion for a period of two years, but you will have to supply evidence to show that you have been genuinely deserted. 4. Adultery, plus the fact that you cannot bear to continue living with your partner, although this does not have to particularly relate to the adultery. You will also have to produce substantial evidence to prove that adultery really has taken place. 5. Unreasonable behaviour, to the extent that you cannot expect to continue living with your partner. Again, you'll have to provide evidence to support this claim and, in many cases, it's wise to consult a solicitor before starting any proceedings on such grounds. Your personal idea of unreasonable behaviour may be very different from that held by the law. Boozy nights out with the boys might not make a man a roaring alcoholic, just as a possibly provoked slap might not brand him as a brute in the eyes of a judge. So make sure you really know what's required to satisfy the court first. Task 4 【答案】 A. 1) a) 2) b) 3) c) B. 1) F 2) F 3) F 4) T 【原文】 People nowadays find it hard to believe that Helen and I had a working honeymoon. We spent it in tuberculin testing, partly because the work was overdue and partly because we hadn't the money to do anything very exotic. For all that, we had a wonderful time. I did the testing and Helen did the writing as I injected the cows and called out their skin measurements. Our headquarters was the old Wheatsheaf Inn at Carperby. After our marriage on a cold, sunny November day in Thirsk Church we drove west to Richmond. It was in the era when everybody's idea of a big night was going to the cinema, and that was what we did. We went to the Zetland in Richmond, then drove through the darkness, over the moors, down the steep bank to Redmire and so to Carperby. We hadn't expected anything to eat at that hour but the owner, Mrs. Kilburn and her niece, Gladys, produced a delicious hot meal. Those two good ladies fed us like royalty during our stay there, piling the dining table with Yorkshire fare. Enormous breakfasts of home cured ham and fresh eggs, massive dinners of roast beef and Yorkshire puddings and apple pies drowned in cream. And always, on the table, a foot high Wensleydale cheese--the old kind of "wet" Wensleydale cheese which perhaps did not satisfy the technical purists but was exquisite to eat. Our bedroom, with its brass bedstead, looked out over the old roofs of the village houses across the Ure to the hills beyond, and I still feel that wherever Helen and I might have spent our honeymoon we could not have found greater beauty. This feeling persisted over the next few days, and the sun shone determinedly and we drove from one grey-stone farmhouse to the other, luxuriating in the surroundings of Wensleydale and Coverdale. I can remember Mr. Butterfield of Melmerby being highly amused at our kind of honeymoon and bursting into half-stifled laughter as we moved from barn to barn on his farm. I had a lot of fun, too with Mrs. Allen of Gayle, that marvellous village set off incomparably by its stream rushing over the shelving rock. I was having lunch with Mrs. Allen on the Tuesday after testing her husband's cattle when she teased me, as she often did, about getting married. When I replied unemotionally that the ceremony was fixed for the following day she couldn't believe me. "But you are coming here to do the second injection on Thursday!" she said. I nodded. "That's right. And I'll be bringing my wife with me." "But aren't you going on a honeymoon?" Her eyes were wide. "Of course," I replied airily. "We're coming here." It was a wonderful punchline and when I left the farm the poor lady was still incredulous. But all her doubts were resolved when I turned up on Thursday with Helen, and she gave my new wife a proper Dales welcome. The day was idyllic. The Allen farm stretched away over the high moors to Oughtershaw, a piece of bleakest Yorkshire, but smiling in the sunshine through its bare miles of tufted grass. The air had the sharp sweetness which is found only on the topmost Permines. And that was where Mr. Allen first referred to Helen as my "missus". I really knew I was married then. Task 5 【答案】 A. b→e→c→d→a B. 1) d) 2) b) C. 1) T 2) F 3) T 【原文】 “But what if I break my arm again?” my five year-old daughter asked, her lower lip trembling. I knelt holding onto her bike and looked her right in the eyes. I knew how much she wanted to learn to ride—how often she felt left out when her friends pedaled by our house. Yet ever since she’d fallen off her bike and broken her arm, she’d been afraid. “Oh honey,” I said. “I don’t think you’ll break another arm.” “But I could, couldn’t I?” “Yes,” I admitted, and found myself struggling for the right thing to say. At times like this, I wished I had a partner to turn to. Someone who might help find the right words to make my little girl’s problems disappear. But after a disastrous marriage and a painful divorce, I’d welcomed the hardships of being a single parent and had been firm in telling anyone who tried to fix me up that I was terminally single. “I don’t think I want to ride,” she said and got off her bike. We walked away and sat down beside a tree. “Don’t you want to ride with your friends?” I asked. “Yes,”she admitted. “And I thought you were hoping to start riding your bike to school next year,” I added. “I was,” she said, her voice almost a quiver. “You know, hon,” I said. “Most everything you do comes with risks. You could get a broken arm in a car wreck and then be afraid to ever ride in a car again. You could break your arm jumping rope. You could break your arm at gymnastics. Do you want to stop going to gymnastics?” “No,” she said. And with a determined spirit, she stood up and agreed to try again. I held on to the back of her bike until she found the courage to say, “Let’s go!” I spent the rest of the afternoon at the park watching a very brave little girl overcome a fear, and congratulating myself for being a self-sufficient single parent. As we walked home, pushing the bike as we made our way along the sidewalk, she asked me about a conversation she’d overheard me having with my mother the night before. “Why were you and grandma arguing last night?” My mother was one of the many people who constantly tried to fix me up. How many times had I told her “no” to meeting the Mr. Perfect she picked out for me. She just knew Steve was the man for me. “It’s nothing,” I told her. She shrugged. “Grandma said she just wanted you to find someone to love.” “What grandma wants is for some guy to break my heart again,” I snapped, angry that my mother had said anything about this to my daughter. “But Mom…” “You’re too young to understand,” I told her. She was quiet for the next few minutes. Then she looked up and in a small voice gave me something to think about. “So I guess love isn’t like a broken arm.” Unable to answer, we walked the rest of the way in silence. When I got home, I called my mother and scolded her for talking about this to my daughter. Then I did what I’d seen my brave little girl do that very afternoon. I let go and agreed to meet Steve. Steve was the man for me. We married less than a year later. It turned out mother and my daughter were right. Task 6 【答案】 A. 1) d) 2) d) B. 1) T 2) F 3) T C. a) Getting the groom to church on time b) Dressing the bridegroom c) Having the wedding ring ready 【原文】 Until Jack and Jill did me the signal honor of asking me to be their best man I could not understand this best man business at all. Surely, I said to myself, the bridegroom is the best man—the bravest, the luckiest, most desired man. Not his sidekick, the guy whose only job is to produce the wedding ring at the appropriate time so that the groom can pop it on the bride’s third finger—left hand! How wrong one can be! This is the voice of experience. Just listen to me and maybe you will have second thoughts about who is the best man. First of all the best man must be a bachelor. They dare not ask a married man. Marriage men are experienced—know what it is all abo Bachelors know nothing of those mysteries which convert a miss into a missus to the endless preparations which go into managing this. For the information of those who have not had the experience, let me tell you. A best man is some kind of Boy Scout. You know, a chap brimming over with bonhomie, dedicated to good turns—that sort of man. He must make the path seem straight and even when really it is not a path at all but a burning deck with a cargo of hobgoblins. He is the bridegroom's steadying influence, the cheerful chap who sees to everything, and keeps his head in all the emergencies. Responsibilities—dear me, I'll tell you. Do you know I dared not even let myself go at last night's party? There was so much to do this morning. The best man is responsible for getting the groom to church on time. Yes, the best man has to help dress the groom. See to it that his pockets don't bulge with the usual paraphernalia. And then I had to make sure that we had extra handkerchiefs—a vicar told me to see to that one. Above all I had to make sure of the ring. All Jack did was keep asking about it. I nearly had a nervous breakdown checking again and again that it was actually in my pocket. Had I taken it out, even once, I'm sure I'd have lost it. You've no idea of what I went through before we got to the church—my worries melted away the moment our enchanting bride arrived with her wonderful retinue. Beauty and light came in with the bride and her lovely bridesmaids. Since their arrival all has been well, very well with me. Feast your eyes upon them, ladies and gentlemen. They are charm itself. As soon as they appeared the scene changed, everything became sweetness and light, and I became the happiest form of mortals. They are my good fairies. In their presence the hobgoblins dare not materialize. And so, ladies and gentlemen, it is, on their behalf, my great pleasure to thank Jack for the super way in which he proposed the toast of the bridesmaids who like myself wish Jill and you everything that is best in the new life which you are now starting. Task 7 【答案】 A. 1) c) 2) c) 3) b) 4) d) 5) d) B. 1) F 2) T 3) F 4) F 5) T 6) T 【原文】 Perhaps the greatest impediment to friendship in marriage is the amount a couple usually see of each other． Friendship in its usual sense is not tested by the strain of daily, year-long cohabitation. Couples need to contrive separate interests (and friend ships) as well as mutually shared ones, if they are not to become accustomed to the more attractive elements of each other’s personalities． Married couples are apt to exert themselves for guests—being amusing, discussing with passion and point—and then to relapse into dull exhausted silence when the guests have gone. They may compound the boredom by starting to accuse each other of points of inattention or illogicality or “disloyalty” that they noticed in the other． As in all friendship, a husband and wife must strive to interest each other, and to spend sufficient time sharing absorbing activities to give them continuing common interests. But at the same time they must spend enough time on separate interests with separate people (without jealousy on the other’s part) to preserve and develop their separate personalities and keep their relationship fresh． For too many highly intelligent working women, home represents chore obligations, because the husband only tolerates her work and does not participate in household chores. For too many highly intelligent working men, home represents dullness and reproaches—from an overdependent wife who will not gather courage to make her own life． In such an atmosphere，the partners grow further and further apart，both love and liking disappearing．For too many couples with children, the children are allowed to command all time and attention, allowing the couple no time to develop liking and friendship, as well as love, allotting them exclusive parental roles. We live in an industrial society with universal education and universal suffrage and the ability to control the number of children we can cope with. Yet we nurture many gender prejudices suited only to slave or tribal societies. However almost in spite of ourselves—in spite of our conditioning—we are seeing friendship between men and women. Most of the media deride the possibility—after all, if every man is not to regard every woman as dangerous prey and every woman is not to regard every man as a dangerous source of loot and flattery, a major part of sensational reporting and fiction is lost. But it seems that friendship is possible between people of different gender. And it is also possible between people who are sexually involved with each other. It does not seem too soon for friendship to be recognized as a desirable component of the marital relationship. There can be few more rewarding activities than learning to make friends with your marriage partner. Task 8 【答案】 The reporter: Boston Herald, Iraq, e-mails, articles, her friends’ comments, fight the war, report on the fighting The wife’s friends: would not have let him go, taking care of the three children, aged 9,7and 5, the danger The wife: is it worth, unbearable, always huddled against me at night, kept asking me when Daddy was coming home, never said anything but she would glance her father’s photo next to his articles every morning, support my husband, bring us the news, did what his career asked him to do 【原文】 My husband is on the front lines in Iraq. Not as a soldier, but as a reporter. When I told my friends about his latest assignment, each had the same reaction, "Did you tell him no? If he was my husband, I wouldn't let him go." They remind me, as if I'd somehow forgotten, that he has left behind our three young children for weeks, perhaps months. Maybe, they whisper, forever. He'll be risking his life, they say, for some news. Is it worth it? I understand the implication behind the questions, that my husband is more concerned with the trajectory of his career than the welfare of his family. I understand the pity they feel for me because of the burden suddenly heaped on my shoulders to be a somewhat single mother to three children - 9, 7, and 5. I understand because I've sometimes wrestled with the same thoughts. During the past seven weeks, there have been moments I've found myself lying awake in the bleak hours before dawn, in a bed we used to share, trying to reconcile myself to the belief that his professional goals as a journalist are compatible with our goals for our family. In those dark moments, only the glow of the computer screen alerting me to an e-mail from him chased away the shadows of doubt. As difficult as this uncertain time apart has been for us, the toll it's taken on my children has been immeasurable. My 5-year-old daughter devised a schedule to determine which of the children would keep me company in my empty bed at night. Whether it was her turn or not, I can usually wake to find her huddled against me. My 7-year-old son has many questions about the range of Iraqi missiles. Though I've never allowed my children to watch the evening news, National Public Radio has been my constant companion, and his ears prick up at any mention of the war, and he queries me about "Osama Hussein." Most troubling of all, my 9-year-old daughter has said nothing. She has asked no questions, shed no tears, and she merely glances at the photo of her father prominently displayed on the page next to his articles each morning. And all three are probably the only kids at their schools who can find Iraq on a map. Now that war has interrupted the flow of our e-mail, my only contact with my husband is via his articles in the Boston Herald, a newspaper he has served for a decade. In an odd way, those articles written for thousands provide a more intimate connection to my husband than the e-mails he wrote to me. I think it's because, from a distance, it's somehow easier for him to reveal himself to strangers than to the woman who aches for him. In the end, when friends ask, "Is it worth it?" I can answer yes. He, like other reporters from other countries, is presenting us with the truth. Each time we turn on our radios, click on our televisions, flip open our newspapers, we overlook the risks reporters take to bring us the news. We forget that a camera and tape recorder do not defend against bullets and land mines. Perhaps it never occurred to us, as we watched how the battle was going on, that someone stayed behind to film it. It has often been said that journalists write the first drafts of history. In one of our last correspondences, I told him about my friends' comments. He responded with his usual eloquence, "I'm not here to fight the war, just to report on the fighting." So when my friends ask, I tell them it wasn't a matter of letting him go or making him stay. My husband just does what his career asks him to do. Task 9 【答案】 A．1) F 2) T 3) F 4) F 5) F B. Traditional weddings in Japan: has her belongings taken to the place of her husband-to-be, says her prayers at the altar, the parents of the bride and the bridegroom Traditional weddings in India: putting a red mark on his forehead, meaning that he is now ready to have children, a decorated horse, place garlands of flowers on each other, they now belong to each other Traditional weddings in Siberia: a celebration of their main occupation-fishing, the end of the fishing season, bowls of fish eggs, the hope that the newly married couple will have many children, the groom’s house by boat Traditional Christian weddings: a veil, modesty, marriage vows Unusual forms of weddings: under water, a fitness display 【原文】 Well, as we mentioned at the beginning of the program someone in the news is about to get married and that person is me. I'm going to be getting married in Adelaide this Saturday and the BTN team asked me to bring along a photo of my bride-to-be. So I did. Here we are. Her name's Catherine. This is actually a photo of her when we went on a recent skiing trip together. But my wedding—of course, our wedding—is not the biggest news story of the year, but the BTN team thought that it was a really good time to see how all sorts of different people celebrate marriage. Of course, brides and grooms have been getting married in one way or another ever since people first lived on earth. And it's believed that in really ancient times the wedding ceremony probably wasn't really very gentle. The man picked his bride and that was that, as they thought. But then again, on the other hand, who's to say that it never happened the other way round? Marriage ceremonies, of course, have changed a lot since then and are certainly a lot less painful, I hope. But they're still very different in different parts of the world. A traditional wedding, for example, in Japan, begins with the bride taking most of her belongings to the house of her husband-to-be. Relatives and friends help carry her things on bamboo poles. Before she leaves, the bride says prayers at her altar. These days, the bride travels by bus if her husband lives a long way away. Traditional weddings now only take place in country areas. The wedding itself is a very private affair, only attended by the bride and groom and their parents. They are married by a priest in the Japanese Shinto religion. Now in India most people marry according to the Hindu religion. The wedding day begins with groom's mother blessing her son. She puts a red mark on his forehead as a sign that he is now to have children. The groom then goes to his bride's house for the wedding ceremony. He rides a decorated horse because this adds to the day's festivities. The groom is greeted and blessed by the bride's mother. In India, many marriages are arranged by the couple's parents. Part of the wedding ceremony sees the bride and groom placing garlands of flowers on each other. This shows that the bride and groom now belong to each other. In Siberia, a small tribe of people have been celebrating marriages the same way for thousands of years. They belong to an ancient tribe called the Ouchi. The Ouchi are famous for their embroidered clothes and for their dancing. The wedding ceremony is also a celebration of the Ouchi's main occupation—fishing. The women dance with bowls of fish eggs which represent the hope that the couple getting married will have plenty of children. The eggs are given to an elderly relative of the groom. The Ouchi never hold weddings until the end of the fishing season. Then there's usually plenty to celebrate. The bride and groom travel to the groom's house by boat and there's no shortage of family and friends to tell them they have both made a good catch. Well, weddings can be celebrated on a small scale or on a grand scale. And one of the grandest weddings of recent times took place in July 1981 in London. The occasion was the royal wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer. It was a Christian wedding, full of tradition. Lady Diana wore a veil, which represents modesty. Brides have worn veils for more than 2,000 years. The royal couples were asked to take the traditional marriage vows. Well, these days many people still get married in churches. But often couples decide to wed in really quite unusual places. Four months ago, a couple in Adelaide decided to get married under water. They were both diving instructors and for them it seemed only fitting to share the occasion with their fishy friends. That's in the US and it could only happen there. A couple who met at an aerobics class decided to mm their marriage into a fitness display. The happy couple bounced down the aisle without a muscle out of place. The bride said that her mother didn't mind a bit and thought that it was for fun. Fun, huh? It's all lunatic. That's all for today. My wedding is not going to be like that at all. I think our wedding's going to be great. That's all for today. I'm going to be away on my honeymoon for two weeks and Basia Bonkowski will be presenting the program while I'm away. So until next time on BTN from me anyway. Oh, goodness, it's wedding time. Cheerio! Task 10 【原文】 Jerry`s wedding eleven years ago to a Chinese-American was "both white and red", he said, with his bride wearing a white wedding gown at a Protestant church ceremony (because both he and his wife are Christians) and then changing to a red dress after the wedding for their reception banquet at a Chinatown restaurant. Another Chinese-American friend in California sent us their wedding invitation. Following the American custom, he included a smaller envelope and card for us to send back to tell them if we would attend the wedding or not. But instead of using the usual white color for the envelope and cards, he and his bride chose Chinese red. The invitation itself combing English and Chinese, just as their church wedding ceremony did.