2001年1月全国大学英语四级考试- 听力原文

Section A

1.
M: Hi, Jane, do you have some change? I have to make a call on the pay phone.
W: Pay phone? Why not use my mobile phone? Here you are.
Q: What would the man most probably do?

2.
M: Can you tell me the title of this oil painting?
W: Sorry, I don't know for sure. But I guess it's an early 18th century work. Let me look it up in the catalog.
Q: Where does this conversation most probably take place?

3.
M: I'm worried about those classes I missed when I was sick.
W: I'll try to bring you up today on what we have done.
Q: What does the woman mean?

4.
W: Hey, Dan, I hear you are meeting Susan's parents for the first time.
M: Yeah, next weekend. Fortunately her father loves to fish, so we'll have something to talk about.
Q: What can be inferred about Dan?

5.
W: professor White's presentation seemed to go on forever. I was barely able to stay awake.
M: How could you sleep through it? It's one of the best that I've heard on this topic.
Q: What does the man think of professor white's presentation?

6.
W: I'm looking for a quality paper to type my essay. I don't see any on the shelf.
M: I saw some in the stock room in the morning. I'll go and check.
Q: What does the woman want to buy?

7.
M: It seems we'll have another fine day tomorrow. Let's go to the seaside.
W: OK, but we'll have to leave very early, or else sell get cut in the traffic
Q: What does the woman suggest?

8.
M: Do you know James? He's in your class.
W: Certainly, in fact he was the first person I got to know in my class. I still remember the look on his face when he showed up late on the first day of school.
Q: Why did the woman remember James so well?

9.
W: The man at the garage thinks that I take good care of my car.
M: So do I. I don't see any scratches on the outside and the inside is clean, too.
Q: What does the man think of the woman's car?

10.
M: Wonderful day, isn't it? Want to join me for a swim?
W: If you don't mind waiting while I get prepared.
Q: What does the woman mean?

Section B

Passage One

A friend of mine told me that when he was a young man, he went to work as a teacher in one of the states of India. One day he received an invitation to dinner at the ruler's palace. Very pleased, he went to tell his colleagues. They laughed and told him the meaning of the invitation. They had all been invited and each person who was invited has to bring with him a certain number of silver and gold coins. The number of coins varied according to the person's position in the service of the government.

My friend's income was not high, so he did not have much to pay. Each person bound before the ruler, his gold went onto one hip, his silver went onto another hip, and in this way he paid his income tax for the year. This was a simple way of collecting income tax.

The tax on property was also collected simply: The ruler gave a man the power to collect a tax from each owner of land or property in a certain area if this man promised to pay the ruler a certain amount of money. Of course the tax collector managed to collect more money than he paid to the ruler. The difference between the sum of money he collected and the sum of money he gave to the ruler was his profit.

Questions 11 to 13 are based on the passage you have just heard.

11. What do we know about the speaker's friend?
12. What was the real purpose of the ruler's invitation?
13. What does the passage say about the tax collectors?

Passage two

Around the year 1000A.D., some people from Northwest India began to travel westwards. Nobody knows why. After leaving their homes, they did not settle down again but spent their lives moving from one place to another. Their later generations are called the Romany people or Gypsies. There are Gypsies all over the world. And many of them are still traveling with no fixed homes. There are about 8 million of them, including 3 million in Eastern Europe.

Gypsies sometimes have a hard time in the countries where they travel, because they are different. People may be afraid of them, look down on them or think that they are criminals. The Nazis treated the Gypsies cruelly, like the Jews. And nobody knows how many of them died in Hitler's death camps.
Gypsies have their own language, Romany. They like music and dancing, and they often work in fairs and traveling shows.

Travelling is very important to them and many Gypsies are unhappy if they have to stay in one place. Because of this, it is difficult for Gypsies children to go to school. And Gypsies are often unable to read and write. In some places, the education authorities try to arrange special travelling schools for Gypsy children so that they can get the same education as other children.

Questions 14 to 16 are based on the passage you have just heard.

14. Why did the ancestors of Gypsies leave their home?
15. What is the attitude of some people towards Gypsies?
16. What measure has been taken to help Gypsy children?

Passage three

As the car industry develops, traffic accidents have become as familiar as the common cold. Yet their cause and control remain a serious problem that is difficult to solve.

Experts have long recognized that this discouraging problem has multiple causes. At the very least it is a problem that involves three factors: the driver, the vehicle and the roadway. If all drivers exercised good judgement at all times, there would be few accidents. But this is rather like saying that if all people were honest, there would be no crime. Improved design has helped to make highways much safer. But the title of accidents continues to rise because of human failure and an enormous increase in the number of automobiles on the road. Attention is now turning increasingly to the third factor of the accident are the car itself. Since people assume that the accidents are bound to occur, they want to know how cars can be built better to protect the drivers.

Questions 17 to 20 are based on the passage you have just heard.

17. What does the speaker think are the causes of automobile accidents?
18. What measure has been taken to reduce car accidents?
19. What remains an important factor for the rising number of road accidents?
20. What's the focus of people's attention today according to the passage?