dictation (2)综合英语听写

Unit one There are generally two educational methods: / the lecture method and the group learning method. / In a lecture classroom. / the teacher dominates the class / by doing most of the talking. / Students listen and take notes. / This method is best at passing on content to students. / It prepared students for a society / that values discipline and self-control. / The problem is that students forget most of the facts / that they have mechanically memorized. / In contrast, / the teacher of a group learning classroom / appears to have no definite role at all. / wandering about from group to group. / Students do not memorize information, / but they actually generate their own ideas, / each contributing insights for the success of the group. / This method prepares students for a society / that values creative ideas. / The disadvantage is that / student have not memorized enough basic facts. Unit two Everyone is under some pressure / in the workplace. / some external pressures / can be a positive factor. / helping us to be more productive. / some people actually thrive / under short-term added pressure, / and our bodies are designed to meet these short-term demands. / hormones are released to prepare us / for a “fight or flight”response / to demanding situations. / however, excessive and prolonged stress / can take its toll, / producing a range of physical and emotional health problems / which have come to be grouped as “work-related stress.” / The experience of stress is different for every person. / Some people are affected more than others, / so what is stressful for one person / may not be stressful for another. / It can depend on your personality type / and on how you have learned to respond to pressure. Unit three Recently in the United States, / there has been a debate concerning old drivers. / There have been a series of accidents/ committed by elderly drivers/ and they have given rise to new debates on the old issue: / how old is too old to drive? / Some people point to statistics// showing that older drivers drunk/ than teenagers,/ at least until they reach seventy-five. / Moreover, elderly drivers are less likely to drive drunk/ than other drivers. However, at least twenty-one states/ have special requirements on older drivers: / those over sixty-five and older/ are required to renew their driving license every year/ and undertake vision tests./ Taking away a license can rob older people of their independence/ and force them to rely on others / for trips to the grocery store or doctor’s office./ some people argue / whether someone continues to drive or not/ should be based on performance / not just simply age. Unit four The first of April is commonly known as April Fool's day / and it is the custom on this day / to pay a trick on a friend. / You do this by causing your friend to believe something / that it isn't true. / If your friend falls into the trap, / then he or she is an April Fool. / This strange custom has been observed / by both children and adults for centuries. / Its origin is uncertain / and may once have been cruel. / But today the tricks and practical jokes are harmless / and played mostly for fun. /Usually April Fools’ jokes are played on friends and colleagues/ but sometimes they are played on a wilder scale. / One serious national newspaper / reported on a new machine / to transport passengers from London to Australia in ten minutes. /Another published a four-page survey / of a nonexistent island in the Pacific. / And even on BBC television news / there was an item / which showed a kind of Italian noodle / being harvested from trees. Unit five Childhood is less clear to me than to many people: / when it ended I turned my face away from it/ for no reason that I know about,/ certainly without the usual reason of unhappy memories./ For many years that worried me,/ but then I discovered/ that the tales of former children are seldom to be trusted. / Some people supply too many past victories or pleasures/ with which to comfort themselves,/ and other people cling to pains, real and imagined, /to excuse what they have become. /I think I have always known about my memory. /I know when it is ti be trusted/ and when some dream or fantasy entered on the life, / and the dream, the need of dream,/ led to distortion of what happened. Unit six Poetry as an art form may have predated literacy. / Some of the earliest poetry/ is believed to have been orally recited or sung. / Following the development of writing,/ poetry has since developed into increasingly structured forms, / though much poetry since the late 20th century/ has moved away from traditional forms/ towards the more vaguely defined free verse/ and prose poem formats. Poetry is often closely related to musical traditions,/ and much of it can be attributed to religious movements./ Many of the poems surviving from the ancient world/ are a form of recorded cultural information/ about the people of the past,/ and their poems are prayers or stories/ about religious subject matter,/ histories about their politics and wars,/ and the important organizing myths of their societies. Unit seven Rumor is the most primitive way of spreading stories/ by passing them on from mouth to mouth./ But civilized countries in normal times/ have better sources of news than rumor. / They have redio, television, and newspapers. / In times of stress and confusion, however,/ rumor emerges and becomes widespread. / At such times the different kinds of news are in competition:/ the press, television, and radio versus the grapevine. Rumors are often repeated/ even by those who do not believe the tales./ There is a fascination about them./ The reason is that the cleverly designed rumor/ gives expression to something deep in the hearts of the victims:/ the fears, suspicions, forbidden hopes,/ or daydreams which they hesitate to voice directly./ Pessimistic rumors about the defeat and disasters show/ that people who repeat them are worried and anxious. /Optimistic rumors about record production or peace soon coming/ point to complacency or confidence/ and often to overconfidence. Unit eight Science, especially twentieth-century science, / has provided us with a glimpse of something / we never really knew before, / the revelation of human ignorance. / We have been used to the belief, /down one century after another, /that we more or less comprehend everything, / and that we have never lacked for explanations/ of the world and its ways. / Now we are being brought up short, / and this has been the work of science. / We have a wilderness of mystery/ to make our way through in the centuries ahead, / and we will need science for this/ but not science alone. / We shall also need minds at work from all sorts of brains / outside the fields of science, /most of all the brains of poets, of course, / but also those of artists, musicians, philosophers, historians, writers in general. Unit night In the Chinese culture, / the whole process of preparing food / from raw ingredients to morsels ready for the mouth / is highly distinctive when compared with other food traditions. / At the base of this process / is the division between fan, grains and other starch foods, / and ts’ai , vegetable and meat dishes. / To prepare a balanced meal, / it must have an appropriate amount of both fan and ts’ai, and ingredients are readied along both tracks. / Grains are cooked whole or as flour, / making up the fan half of the meal in various forms./ Vegetables and meats are cut up and mixed / in various ways into individual dishes / to constitute the ts’ai half. /Even in meals in which fan and ts’ai are joined together, /such as in wonton, they are in fact put together but not mixed up, / and each still retains its due proportion and own distinction. Unit ten College writing, also called academic writing, / is assigned to teach you the critical thinking and writing skills / needed to communicate in classes and in the workplace. / To acquire and practice these skills, / you are asked to write many different types of assignments / under different circumstances. /Sometimes your teacher will assign a topic / and define the audience; / sometimes you will be called on / to define and limit the topic and audience yourself. / In any case, college writing teaches you/ about the series of decisions you must make/ as you forge the link between your information and your audience. Unit eleven A study of art history might be a good way / to learn more about a culture / than is possible to learn in general history classes. / Most typical history courses concentrate on politics, economics, and war. /But art history focuses on much more than this/ because art reflects not only the political values of a people, / but also religious beliefs, emotions, and psychology. / In addition,/ information about the daily activities of our ancestors/ - or of people very different from our own-/ can be provided by art. /In short,/ art expresses the essential qualities of a time and a place, / and a study of it clearly offers us a deeper understanding / than can be found in most history books. Unit twelve Envision an ideal place / to live or run a business, / a friendly, safe and secure community / with large areas of open space / and extensive entertainment and recreational facilities. / Finally, picture this community continually moving around the world. / You are beginning to understand the freedom ship concept of / a massive ocean-going vessel. / With a design length of 4,500 feet, a width of 750 feet, and a height of 350 feet,/freedom ship would be more than 4 times longer / than the Queen Mary ./ The design concepts include a mobile modern city / featuring luxurious living, / an extensive duty-free international shopping mall, / and a full 1.7 million-square-foot floor / set aside for various companies / to showcase their products. Unit thirteen How is it that hard work and greater efficiency / do not necessarily result in a sense of achievement?/ Social scientists draw a crucial distinction / between two words often used as synonyms:/ “efficient”and “effective.”/ “Efficient”emphasizes the means of production, /the degree of economy with which it is carried out, / while “effective” focuses on the result or purpose / for which the activity is carried out. It is noted that / by using a minimum amount of energy and time, / we can be very efficient / in performing a certain task. / Yet our work is actually effective / only when it contributes to our goals. / True effectiveness is not a matter of doing things right / but of doing the right things, / and we shouldn’t let the apparent success of being more efficient / mask the mistake of performing an activity / that is not important. Unit fourteen Families with children comprise 34% of / the homeless population of the United States, / and this number is growing. / Within a single year, nearly all homeless children have moved, / at least 25% have witnessed violence, / and 22% have been separated from their families. /About half of all school-age children experiencing homelessness/ have problems with anxiety and depression, / and 20% of homeless preschoolers have emotional problems / that require professional care. / Their education is often disrupted / and challenges in school are common.