高效磨耳朵 | 最好的英语听力资源

2024年1月浙江首考英语听力第一节 （共5小题：每小题1.5分，满分7.5分）听下面5段对话。每段对话后有一个小题，从题中所给的A、B、C三个选项中选出最佳选项。听完每段对话后，你都有10秒钟的时间来回答有关小题和阅读下一小题。每段对话仅读一遍。1. What does the man do?A. A computer technician. B. A hotel receptionist. C. A shop assistant.2.Where does the conversation take place?A. At the grocer’s. B. At the tailor’s. C. At the cleaner’s.3.How did the speakers come to Seattle?A. By plane. B. By car.C. By train.4.What will the speakers have for dinner today?A. Fried rice. B.Noodles. C.Steak.5.How is Sophie feeling now?A.Confused. B. Worried. C.Disappointed.第二节 （共15小题：每小题1.5分，满分22.5分）听下面5段对话或读白。每段对话或独白后有几个小题，从题中所给的A、B、C三个选项中选出最佳选项，并标在试卷的相应位置。听每段对话或独白前，你将有时间阅读各个小题，每小题5秒钟；听完后，各小题将给出5秒钟的作答时间。每段对话或独白读两遍。听第6段材料，回答第6、7题。6.What does the man want to do before noon?A.Post a letter. B.Make a card. C.Write an email.7. Whose birthday is it?A.Richard’s. B.Sarah’s. C.Vera’s.听第7段材料，回答第8、9题。8.What course does Professor Brooks teach?A.Public Speaking. B.European History. C.English Literature.9.Why does Vicky come to talk with Professor Brooks?A. To sign up for his course.B. To ask for a make-up test.C. To discuss her homework.听第8段材料，回答第10至13题。10.What does Linda do for plays and shows?A.She gives actors advice.B.She assigns roles to actors.C.She designs actors’ clothes.11.What does Linda need to research?A.The setting of the story.B.The decoration of the stage.C.The names of the characters.12.Who does Linda report her work to?A. The director. B.The editor. C.The photographer.13.What does Linda say about her job?A. It pays very well. B. It requires team effort. C. It involves frequent travel.听第9段材料，回答第14至17题。14.What does Kevin think of abstract art?A. It has lasting artistic value.B. It makes little sense to him.C.It appeals mainly to children.15.What impression did the first painting give the woman?A.Hopefulness. B.Nervousness C.Coldness.16.What color was used for the background in the second painting?A.Green B.Purple. C.Red.17.What will Kevin probably do this Saturday?A.Attend an art class. B. Visit an exhibition. C.Buy an abstract painting.听第10段材料，回答第18至20题。18.What caused the closure of Pittwater Road?A. A fallen tree. B. A flooded river. C. A car accident.19.What happened at Town Hall Station?A. A police officer got hurt.B. A passenger went missing.C.The station roof was broken.20.What are road users advised to do?A.Drive at low speed. B.Postpone their trips. C.Follow traffic signs.参考答案1-5ACACB      6-10ACBBC11-15AABBC    16-20ABCCB录音原文Text 1M: It Department. How can I assist you?W: My computer is giving me a lot of trouble. Could you help me with it, please?M:OK, I just need to check on a couple of things.Text 2 W:Hi, I'd like to have this blouse washed and pressed.M:OK, but I'm afraid you won't be able to collect it until next Friday. We've been very busy recently.Text 3W:What a journey! Air travel is more tiring than driving, I'm sure.M:I don't think you say that, if you've just driven 400 miles. Let's come to Seattle by train next time. It'll be more relaxing.Text 4M:Could I have fried rice or noodles for dinner for a change? I don't feel like steak today.W:I'm in a hurry. I can't cook two different meals today. Tomorrow you can have what you want.M:Alright.Text 5 M:All well, Sophie?W:Hmm. Not great. I'm just so down with writing this report.M:Are you almost done with it?W:Far from it. And I'll get it represented in class tomorrow.Text 6W:Richard, why are you taking everything out of your drawer?M:I'm looking for a stamp, Sarah.W: A stamp? What do you want a stamp for?M:I've written a letter to Aunt Vera. And I want to put it in the post before midday.W:Can you just email her?  M:Yeah. But it's her 70th birthday. Vera will be happy to get a real letter with a real birthday card.Text 7W:Professor Brooks, I'm Vicky Comore in your European History class. Can I speak with you for a few minutes?M:Sure. What can I help you with?W:Well, I was sick for two weeks. So I didn't take the midterm exam. Could you give me another test?M:Alright. You can take it next Thursday afternoon.W:Thank you so much, Professor Brooks. Could I come to you at 3:30 after my English Literature class?M: No problem.Text 8 M:Linda, you work on plays and shows but you are not on stage. What do you do?W:I'm a costume designer. I have the actors become their characters.M: I sit a kind of like playing dresser?W: A little bit. But I need to study the play to create the characters' clothes, not just use my imagination.M:How do you do that?W: I read the play and do research about the time and place of the story. If the story is set in the past, I might study old magazines or paintings. For plays set in now, I sometimes collect pictures of people on the street.M:Then what do you do?W: I take my ideas and pictures to the director of the show. We talk about whether I'm on the right track. If it’s good, we will hire a tailor to make the costume.M: Is it finished then?W:Almost. We still need to try on the actor to make sure everything fits and looks good.M:Wow, it takes so many steps to make a costume.W:Yes, it does. I work with lots of different people to put it all together.Text 9 W: Hi Kevin. I've just got back from the Art Gallery. There's a wonderful show of abstract art. You should have come with me.M: I don't know. Abstract art seems like children's painting to me.W:Well, if you don't understand what the artist is trying to communicate, it can seem a little like that.M:What did you see then?W:There were two paintings that impressed me most. The first is a huge one which I supposed the tree although it could have been anything.M:What did you like about it?W:Just the way the tree looked. It was like the tree was made of hard metal, and the mix of white and gray made everything look like it was winter, freezing winter.M:That's something. What about the other one?W:The second looked like a piece of grassland. All the grass was purple and red,and there was green sky in the background. I looked at it and thought of summer.M:Hmm, your description really teaches me something about appreciating abstract art. Maybe I should go and give this show a try this Saturday.W:You really should.Text 10M:You are watching the morning news. This is Steven Johnson. Sydney and the New South Wales coast have been hit by heavy rains. Major roads, the airport,trains and buses were all thrown behind the schedule as more than a month's worth of rain fell in just one hour during the morning rush. All traffic into city remains very heavy. Pittwater Road is closed due to a car crash. Consider using Wicks Road instead. A police officer has been hurt assisting drivers in North Ryde. A woman is believed to have broken her leg after a tree fell on her car. The roof of Town Hall Station has fallen in, causing delays for passengers. The rain is expected to be at its heaviest from 9:00 am until 11:00 am. Today a total of up to 200 millimeters rain is being forecast, along with damaging winds of more than 90 kilometers per hour to fall. All road users are advised to reconsider the need to be on roads in such wild weather, andreschedule their day and continue on their journey after the rain stops.

William Shakespeare by Jennifer Bassett单词提示1.court 王室人员2.grief 悲伤原文Chapter 6: Death in the familyAfter the plague years, we were busy all the time.There were new companies of players, and Will now belonged to the Lord Chamberlain's Men.The Lord Chamberlain was a very important man, close to the Queen. And we often put on plays for the Queen's Court and in the houses of the Great Lords of England.We had some very good actors.There was Will and Richard Burbage, of course, and John Hemmings.And there was Augustine Phillips, Henry Condell, and Thomas Pope.There were other actors too, but those six were the real company.They worked together for more than 20 years, and made a lot of money too.I did the costumes and properties for the Chamberlains.John Hemmings said I was the best properties man in the city.Will was special, because he wrote the plays, and what plays they were.He never wrote the same play twice like some writers, he was always trying something new, something different, and he wrote fast too.John Hemmings could never understand that.“How can you write so fast, Will?” he asked him, “and you never make a mistake or change a word?”Will didn't really understand it himself.“It's all in my head.” he said, “I think about it, and then it just comes out on paper.”He wrote a play about love in 1595, young love.It was Romeo and Juliet.It was a very sad play, because the young lovers die at the end, but the playgoers loved it.They wanted to see it again and again.Will played the part of old Capulet, Juliet's father,One of the boy actors, played the part of Juliet.There were no women actors, so boys played all the women's parts.Of course, Will never put real love making on stage.He did it all with words, clever, beautiful words, and you forgot that the women and girls were really boys in dresses.Some of the boy actors were very good and went on to play men's parts when they were older.We played Romeo and Juliet at Richmond Palace that year.We always played before the Queen at Christmas.She liked to see the new plays and she paid us £10 a play.We often had to work through the night to get the stage ready in time, but it was exciting to be in one of the Queen's palaces at Christmas.There was a lot of singing and dancing and eating and drinking.Some years, Christmas began in November and didn't finish until February or March.The year 1596 began well, but that summer the weather was really bad, cold, wet, it never stopped raining, and the plague began to come back into London.We were in Stratford for the summer, but I went down to Hampshire for a few weeks to do some business for Will about some sheep.Will didn't need me at home, because he was busy writing his new play—A Midsummer Night's Dream. I came back to Stratford one wet August evening.The house in Henley Street was strangely quiet, and I went round the back and up to Will's room, his writing room, we call it.He was just sitting there, not doing anything, just sitting.“What's the matter, Will?” I said, “Where is everybody?”“At church?”His face was gray and his eyes looked empty, dead.“What's happened?” I asked, “What is it?”He looked at me.“Hamlet,”he began, “Hamlet was ill last week and he died yesterday. He was only 11, Toby,and he's dead. My boy, my only son, He's dead, Toby, dead.”He put his face in his hands.What can you say to a man when something like that happens to him?I sat down next to him and put my hand on his arm.We sat together silently.I knew that Will loved that boy of his red haired, bright as a new penny, full of life, just like his father.After a while, I said, “You'll have other sons.”“Anne's 40 already.” Will's voice was tired, “She's had no children since the twins.”“Will, now you've got two fine girls in Susanna and Judith, they'll marry before long, and then you'll have more grandsons than you can count. You'll see there'll be boys running up and downstairs shouting for their granddad, Will.”He smiled sadly, but his eyes were not so empty now.“Pleased,”I went on quickly, “and there are all your brothers, Gilbert, Richard, Edmund,they'll have sons too. The Shakespeare family will never die out. Think of the family, Will, the family.”And he did, he was already a famous poet and playwright, but he was a family man too.The next year, 1597, he bought a new house for his family.It was a big grand house called New Place, right in the middle of Stratford.It cost £60, a lot of money, and the townspeople began to say Mr. Shakespeare, not young Will, the actor or John Shakespeare's boy.They were happy to do business with him and to borrow money from him.Anne was very pleased with the new house.The wife of Mr. Shakespeare of New Place was an important person in Stratford, but she still didn't like Will's work. “Actors are wild, dangerous people.” she often said to him, “I'm not interested in plays or the and I don't want to know anything about your work.”But she liked the money, and the new house, and the new dresses, and the 6 fields of apple trees, and the big farm north of Stratford that came a few years later.Will never talked much about Hamnet.Life goes on and Will was busier than ever, but I know he thought about his son a lot.His grief was very deep inside him.A year or two later, I was talking to John Hemmings about the costumes for Will's new play——King John.John Hemmings was a family man, he had 14 children.In the end, the noise in his house, shouting and laughing, coming and going.John was looking at the playbook.“You see this bit here, Toby.” he said, “Will's writing about his son, isn't he?”I read the words slowly, and remembered Will's empty eyes that day in August.“Grief fills the room. Up of my absent child, lies in his bed, walks up and down with me, puts on his pretty looks, repeats his words…”Richard Burbage said once that Will's writing changed after Hamlet's death.“Will still laughed at people in his plays,but he also felt sorry for them, sorry for all the world, Good and bad, rich and poor, young and old. And his people were real. No one was all good or all bad. There was a man called Shylock in his play—The Merchant of Venice. This Shylock was a money lender and a cruel man. Everyone hated him. But in the end, when Shylock lost everything, you had to feel sorry for him. He was just a sad old man.”Perhaps Richard was right, and if anyone understood Will, it was Richard Burbage.翻译第六章：家中的变故瘟疫过后，我们便一直忙个不停。伦敦涌现了许多新的剧团，而威尔此时加入了“宫内大臣剧团”。宫内大臣是个举足轻重的大人物，深得女王信任。我们经常在女王的宫廷里，或是英格兰各大贵族的府邸中登台演出。我们有一批非常出色的演员。当然，有威尔和理查德·伯比奇，还有约翰·赫明斯。此外还有奥古斯丁·菲利普斯、亨利·康德尔和托马斯·波普。虽然还有其他演员，但这六个人才是剧团真正的核心。他们在一起合作了二十多年，也赚了不少钱。我为宫内大臣剧团打理服装和道具。约翰·赫明斯说，我是全城最棒的道具师。威尔更是个特殊的人才，因为剧本都是他写的，而且写出的都是怎样的杰作啊！他从不像有些作家那样千篇一律，总是不断尝试新的题材和风格，而且下笔如飞。约翰·赫明斯怎么也想不通这是怎么做到的。“威尔，你怎么能写得这么快？”他问，“而且从不犯错，连一个字都不改？”其实威尔自己也说不清。“全在我的脑子里，”他说，“我在心里构思好，然后它们就自然而然地落在纸上了。”1595年，他写了一出关于爱情的戏，一段青涩的爱恋。那就是《罗密欧与朱丽叶》。这是一出极其悲伤的戏，因为年轻的爱人最终双双殉情，但观众们却爱极了它。他们看了一遍又一遍。威尔在戏里饰演朱丽叶的父亲老凯普莱特。而朱丽叶则由一个少年演员反串。那时候没有女演员，所有女性角色都由男孩来演。当然，威尔从不在舞台上展现真实的亲热场面。他全靠文字来表达，那些巧妙而绝美的词句，会让你完全忘记，台上的少女其实只是穿着裙子的男孩。有些少年演员演得极好，长大后便顺理成章地开始饰演男性角色。那年，我们在里士满宫演了《罗密欧与朱丽叶》。我们每年圣诞节都会为女王演出。她喜欢看新戏，每演一出就付给我们10英镑。为了及时搭好舞台，我们经常得熬夜赶工，但在圣诞节期间能身处女王的宫殿里，那种感觉真是令人兴奋。宫里到处是歌声、舞蹈，还有无尽的美食与美酒。有些年份，圣诞节的庆祝活动从11月就开始了，一直要持续到次年二三月才结束。1596年开局不错，但那年夏天天气糟透了。阴冷潮湿，雨下个不停，瘟疫也开始在伦敦卷土重来。整个夏天我们都在斯特拉特福，但我曾去汉普郡待了几个星期，替威尔处理一些关于羊群的生意。威尔在家里倒不需要我帮忙，因为他正忙着写他的新戏——《仲夏夜之梦》。8月的一个雨夜，我回到了斯特拉特福。亨利街的那栋房子安静得有些反常。我绕到屋后，走上楼来到威尔的房间——我们管那叫他的书房。他就那么坐在那里，什么也没做，只是呆呆地坐着。“怎么了，威尔？”我说，“大家都在哪儿？去教堂了吗？”他的脸色灰白，眼神空洞，仿佛失去了所有生气。“出什么事了？”我问，“到底怎么了？”他看着我。“哈姆内特，”他开口说，“哈姆内特上周病了，昨天走了。他才11岁啊，托比，他死了。我的儿子，我唯一的儿子，他死了，托比，死了。”他把脸深深埋进了双手里。当一个人遭遇这样的变故，你还能说什么呢？我在他身边坐下，把手搭在他的手臂上。我们就这样默默地坐着。我知道威尔有多爱那个男孩。他红头发，朝气蓬勃，像崭新的便士一样闪闪发光，就像他父亲当年一样。过了好一会儿，我说：“你以后还会再有儿子的。”“安妮都已经40岁了。”威尔的声音透着深深的疲惫，“自从生了双胞胎之后，她再也没怀上过。”“威尔，你现在有苏珊娜和朱迪思两个好女儿，她们很快就会嫁人，到时候你的孙子会多到数不过来。你会看到一群男孩在楼上楼下跑着，大声喊着要爷爷抱的，威尔。”他苦涩地笑了笑，但眼神不再那么空洞了。“而且，”我急忙接着说，“你还有你的弟弟们，吉尔伯特、理查德、埃德蒙，他们也会有儿子的。莎士比亚家族绝不会断绝。想想你的家族吧，威尔，想想你的家人。”他听进去了。他那时已经是一位声名显赫的诗人兼剧作家，但他骨子里同样是个顾家的人。第二年，也就是1597年，他为家人买下了一栋新房子。那是位于斯特拉特福镇中心的一栋宏伟的大宅，名叫“新地”。这栋房子花了60英镑，在当时是一笔巨款。镇上的人们也开始尊称他为“莎士比亚先生”，而不再叫他“年轻的威尔”、“那个演员”或是“约翰·莎士比亚的儿子”了。人们很乐意和他做生意，也愿意把钱借给他。安妮对这栋新房子非常满意。作为“新地”的莎士比亚太太，她在斯特拉特福成了一位重要人物，但她依然不喜欢威尔的工作。“演员都是一群狂野、危险的人。”她经常对他说，“我对戏剧不感兴趣，也不想了解你的那些工作。”但她喜欢钱，喜欢这栋大宅，喜欢那些漂亮的新衣服，喜欢那六片苹果树林，还有几年后买下的斯特拉特福北边的那座大农场。威尔很少再提起哈姆内特。生活还在继续，威尔比以往任何时候都要忙碌，但我知道，他常常在思念他的儿子。那份悲痛，被他深深地埋在了心底。一两年后，我和约翰·赫明斯在讨论威尔的新戏《约翰王》的服装。约翰·赫明斯是个顾家的人，他有14个孩子。他家里总是吵吵闹闹的，充满了孩子们的喊叫和笑声，人来人往，好不热闹。当时约翰正在看剧本。“托比，你看这里，”他说，“威尔是在写他的儿子，对吧？”我慢慢地读着那些词句，想起了8月那天威尔空洞的眼神。“悲痛填满了我失去的孩子的房间，他仿佛躺在他的床上，与我一同踱步，露出他可爱的模样，重复着他的话语……”理查德·伯比奇曾说过，哈姆内特死后，威尔的写作风格变了。“威尔依然会在戏里嘲笑世人，但他也开始悲悯他们，悲悯这世上的芸芸众生。无论善恶、贫富、老幼。他笔下的人物都是真实的。没有绝对的善，也没有绝对的恶。比如他戏里的夏洛克，那个《威尼斯商人》里的放贷人，残忍刻薄，所有人都恨他。但当夏洛克最终失去一切时，你却又忍不住要同情他。他不过是个悲哀的老人罢了。”也许理查德说得对。如果说这世上有谁真正懂威尔，那一定是理查德·伯比奇。

61.was a college student two years ago.我两年前是一名大学生。62.He stopped smoking last year.他去年戒烟了。63.Do you like hot dogs?你喜欢热狗吗？64.Are those your dogs?那是你的狗狗吗？65.There was a car accident in front of my house.我家门口发生了车祸。66.Are you free tomorrow afternoon?你明天下午有空吗？67.I don't know when she will finish her homework.我不知道她什么时候才能完成作业。68.Which car is ours?哪辆车是我们的？69.Is he busy now?他现在很忙吗?70.Charlie can run the fastest in his school.查理在学校里跑得最快。

听前提示一、每期提供10个单词，每个单词都会有2-3个例句，方便理解记忆。二、每个单词和句子都会重复5遍，其中第2遍为慢速，有助于识别。三、本材料的整体难度较低，可以用来听力磨耳朵和单词查漏补缺。Day 1761751.Priora.优先的，在前的The contract was canceled without prior notice.合同在没有事先通知的情况下被取消。Please give us prior notice if you need to check in early.如果您需要提早入住，请提前通知我们。1752.Priorityn.先，前；优先，优先权Make this a priority!把这个当作优先事项！Family is my number one priority.家庭是我的首要任务。Customer satisfaction is our number one priority.客户的满意是我们的首要任务。1753.prisonn.监狱She is in prison, awaiting trial.她正在监狱里等待审判。No one has ever escaped from this prison.从来没有人逃出过这座监狱。The judge sentenced him to five years in prison.法官判处他五年徒刑。1754.Prisonern.囚犯These prisoners were set free yesterday.这些囚犯昨天被释放了。The judge concluded that the prisoner was innocent.法官得出结论，这名囚犯是无辜的。1755.Privatea.私人的，个人的，秘密的，私下的It's a private matter.这是私事。Can we talk in private?我们可以私下谈谈吗?I'm looking for a private English teacher.我在找一位私人英语老师。1756.Privatelyadv.私下地；秘密地I'd like to talk to you privately.我想私下和你谈谈。Their children were educated privately.他们的孩子在私立学校接受教育。1757.Prizen.奖赏，奖品v.珍视，珍惜He deserves the prize.他应该得到这个奖品。She was awarded the Nobel Peace prize.她被授予诺贝尔和平奖。To our surprise, he won the grand prize.令我们惊讶的是，他赢得了大奖。1758.Probablea.很可能的，大概的；有希望的，可能的It is probable that she will come.她很可能会来。It is probable that he will be back tomorrow.他很可能明天会回来。1759.Probablyadv.大概，或许He's probably sleeping.他可能在睡觉。It's probably a warning.这可能是个警告。I'm from a tiny town that you've probably never heard of.我来自一个你可能从未听说过的小镇。1760.Problemn.问题，难题；思考题，讨论题He solved the problem with ease.他轻松地解决了这个问题。It's a fairly complicated problem.这是一个相当复杂的问题。I think it's time for me to confront that problem.我认为现在是我面对这个问题的时候了。

2024年1月九省联考英语听力第一节(共5小题;每小题1. 5分，满分 7. 5分)听下面5 段对话。每段对话后有一个小题，从题中所给的 A、B、C三个选项中选出最佳选项。听完每段对话后，你都有10秒钟的时间来回答有关小题和阅读下一小题。每段对话仅读一遍。1.What will Chris do next?A.Drink some coffee.B.Watch the World Cup.        C.Go to sleep.2.What is the probable relationship between the speakers?A.Strangers.B.Classmates.        C.Relatives.3.What is the woman’s attitude to the man’s suggestion?A.Favorable.B.Tolerant.        C.Negative.4.What can we learn about Tom?A.He’s smart for his age.B.He’s unwilling to study.        C.He’s difficult to get along with.5.What did Kevin do yesterday?A. He went swimming.B. He cleaned up his house.        C. He talked with his grandparents.第二节(共15小题;每小题1. 5分，满分22. 5 分)听下面5段对话或独白。每段对话或独白后有几个小题，从题中所给的 A、B、C三个选项中选出最佳选项。听每段对话或独白前，你将有时间阅读各个小题，每小题5秒钟;完后，各小题给出5 秒钟的作答时间。每段对话或独白读两遍。听第6段材料，回答第6、7题。6.Who is arranging the meeting?A.Peter. B. David.       C. Janet.7.When does the man prefer to have the meeting?A.This Wednesday. B. This Friday.        C.Next Monday.听第7段材料，回答第8、9题。8.What are the speakers talking about?A.Travel experiences. B. Vacation plans.       C. Favorite seasons.9.What does the man want to do?A. Go to the beach. B. Find a summer job.       C. Move to Washington.听第8段材料, 回答第10至12题。10.What does the news say about big online spenders in the US?A.The number of them grows slowly.B.There are more men than women.C.They make up half of all shoppers.11.How much did Americans spend shopping online last year?A.$453 billion. B. $990 billion.        C. $1,500 billion.12.What did George buy online last Sunday?A. An adventure novel. B. A software package.       C. A note by Mark Twain.听第9段材料，回答第13至16题。13.What has Richard been doing?A.Visiting a museum. B. Watching TV.        C.Studying.14.Why does Susan call Richard?A. To ask for help. B. To give thanks.        C.To make an appointment.15.What does Susan want to do?A.See an exhibition. B. Buy a new cell phone.       C. Take pictures of the snow.16.What will the speakers probably do?A. Go to a park. B. Play football.        C.Attend a party.听第10段材料，回答第17至20题。17.Where did the speaker learn about college?A.From the movies. B. From her family.       C. From the books.18.What helped change the speaker’s attitude towards study?A.Her professor’s advice. B. Her graduate program.       C. Her trip to Africa.19.How does the speaker feel when she talks about her past experiences?A.Regretful. B. Relieved.        C. Grateful.20.Who is the speaker probably talking to?A.Conservation workers. B. High school students.       C. College teachers.参考答案1-5 AACBC        6-10 CBBAB11-15 ACBAC      16-20 AABCB听力原文 (Text 1) W: Hey, Chris,you’re alright?M: Yeah, I’m just a bit sleepy.The World Cup final last night, you know.W: Sure. Want some coffee?M: I wouldn’t say no.(Text 2)W: Excuse me, could you possibly move your car forward a bit, so I can get mine out.M: Just a second. Is it okay now?Do you need any help?(Text 3)M: Wow, these dogs are so adorable. Can we take one? My friend Joy has a cat.W: No, Bill, I’m afraid we can’t.We live in a small apartment.(Text 4)W: Well, is Tom doing well in school these days?M: Oh, well, like boys at his age, you know, I can’t get him to do his homework without a struggle.(Text 5)W: Hi, Kevin. I didn’t see you at the pool yesterday. What happened?M: Oh, my grandparents came over to my place for a visit. I got the idea to interview them, and I saw how much they loved being listened to.(Text 6) W: Peter, I don’t know if Janet has told you, but Wednesday afternoon’s sales meeting is cancelled.M: Oh, yeah? When is our next meeting then?W: Either this Friday morning or next Monday afternoon. Janet is checking David’s schedule.M: Why don’t we have it this Friday? I’ll be away on a business trip next week.(Text 7)W: I just bought a ticket to New York. I’m so excited to see the city.M: Good for you. When are you leaving?W: Next week. I’m taking the red-eye flight. It’s cheaper.M: New York City is a magical place. You’ll have so much fun.W: I hope so. I’ll stay for a week and then take the train down to Washington, D.C.M: That sounds like a great vacation. I’m looking forward to a week at the beach for my summer vacation. I just want to relax.(Text 8)W: Hi, George. I’ve just heard the news. Americans are not just shopping online, they are buying expensive products on the Internet. Nearly three out of ten online shoppers in the United States have bought a product that costs $1,000 or more. Those big online spenders are much more likely to be men than women.M: I’m not surprised. You know,men are usually the early adopters when it comes to technology.W: I can’t imagine that back in the 1990s, online shopping wasn’t just awkward, it felt risky. People were afraid to give out their credit card numbers. They worried if products didn’t arrive in time.M: But now people are talking about the explosion in Internet shopping.W: Yes, indeed. Last year, U.S.shoppers spent $453 billion in shopping online, and many of them went big. What did they buy? Just about anything.M: Well, I am no exception. Last Sunday, I purchased a short note that Mark Twain had written regarding a missing package, and I paid about $1,500 for it.W: You’re really a more adventurous online shopper than me.(Text 9)W: Hi, Richard. This is Susan.M: Hi, Susan.W: What are you doing?M: Just watching TV. Pretty bored. You?W: Well, I was planning to go to the Science Museum today with Elaine, but it snowed.M: I hope it snows all night,because I don’t want to go to school tomorrow.W: Do you know anyone who has a camera? I left mine at home. I want to take pictures of all this snow.M: No, I don’t. But why don’t you use your cell phone to take pictures?W: Well, I don’t think cellphones do a good job. I want to take some really nice pictures of this wonderful snow scene. You know, the college is preparing a photography exhibition next month. I hope my pictures will be selected. Oh, I know now.Have you seen Sarah today? She has a camera.M: No, she hasn’t been around lately. But do you know Mike? He has a camera. In fact, I know he’s interested in photography.W: Mike? You mean that tall boy,captain of our school football team? Okay, let’s ask him to go with us.M: Well, I don’t mind doing something interesting. We can go to Waterloo Park, a good place to take pictures.(Text 10)W: Hey, everyone. I’m really excited to be here to share my experiences since graduation. When I was leaving here about 10 years ago, I decided to go to college, which, when I think about it, is a little strange, because I come from a family where no one had ever gone to college. Everything I knew about college came from the movies.Once in college, I got a classic case of too much fun and too little class time. At the end of my second year, my major professor warned me, you’re never going to graduate unless something big changes. But it wasn’t until I entered my graduate program in conservation ecology that I felt I was on the right path. My conservation work has brought me joy, excitement, and adventure. I’ve done some research in the remote mountains of California. I’ve had dinners with important politicians. I’ve even stepped over snakes in Africa. But most important of all, it gave me something bigger than myself to fight for. When I look back, I feel fortunate to have chosen college and particularly science,through which I have rediscovered myself and achieved liberation. And I’m sure you all can do the same.