2019年6月四级考试听力原文2

2019年6月四级考试听力原文 （第二套） 听力原文

Listening Comprehension

News Report 1

France is facing potentially more than one billion dollars and lost revenue this year, due to huge declines in tourism. (1) Safety concerns have been one of the biggest reasons why the country has lost over half a billion in revenue already in the first six months of 2016. The terror attacks in Paris last November were called Europe’s worst in the past decade besides violence, workers strikes and heavy floods are said to have also been why international tourists have stayed away. So far in the Paris region there’s been a forty six percent decline in Japanese visitors, thirty five percent fewer Russians and twenty seven percent fewer Italians. American travelers seemed the least affected. Their numbers have only dropped by roughly five percent. (2) According to the French government, the country is the number one tourist destination in the world, and tourism is extremely important to the French economy. The sector represents roughly nine percent of its GDP. The Head of Paris Tourism Board said: “It's time that the tourism sector is going through an industrial disaster.”

Question1: What counts most for the huge declines in tourism in France?

Question2: What do we learn from the report about tourism in France?

News Report 2

（3）A small plane with two sick U.S. workers arrived safely in Chile late Wednesday after leaving Antarctica in a daring rescue mission from a remote South Pole research station. After making a stop for a few hours at a British station on the edge of Antarctica, the two workers were flown to the southernmost Chilean city of Punta Arenas. In a chaotic two days of flying, the rescue team flew 3,000 miles round-trip from the British station Rothera to pick up the workers at the U.S Amundsen-Scott Station at the South Pole. The two patients aboard will be transported to a medical facility that can provide a level of care that is not available at Amundsen-Scott, says a spokesperson. （4）Normally planes don't go to the polar post from February to October because of the dangers of flying in the pitch-dark and cold.“Antarctica creates a hostile environment,” says the operations director for the British Antarctic Survey, “if you are not careful, it’ll come around and bite you.”

Question3: What was the small plane’s mission to Antarctica?

Question4: What makes flying to Antarctica dangerous from February to October?

News Report 3

(5) A pilot from Virginia removed his son's loose tooth using a helicopter. Rick Rahim from Virginia flies helicopters for a living, and when his seven year old son’s tooth became loose he did not waste time by tying it to a door handle. Instead, Mr. Rahim tied one end of a string around his son’s tooth, and the other end to his full-sized commercial helicopter. (7) The father of four posted video clip of his playful venture on , advising parents to do fun and creative stuff with their kids. The video shows him launching the helicopter into the air and

flying just far enough to successfully remove the loose tooth. (6) At the end of the video, Mr. Regime assures watches that the circumstances were safe, and that he has 13 years of helicopter flying experience behind him. “You've got to do everything safe in life, and that's what I did today,” he said. Mr. Rahim later said that although some parents have used remote control helicopters to pull teeth before, he might be the first to use a full-sized aircraft, as he can't find evidence that it has been done before.

Question 5: How did Rick Rahim remove his son's loose tooth? Question 6: What does the news reports say about Rick Rahim?

Question 7: What did Rick Rahim advise parents to do with their kids?

Conversation 1

W: Hi, Emma speaking. Who's this?

M: Hi, Emma, (8) I'm Paul from Hermes Delivery Service. Here's a package for you. Are you at home to collect it?

W: Oh, sorry, Paul. (9) I’m out of the moment. Can you put it in my mailbox?

M: I'm afraid I can't do that. Sorry, the package is too big, and it needs a signature to confirm you have received it. So I would need to deliver it at a time when you're in.

W: Okay, well, I'm out all day today, but I should be in tomorrow morning before I go out for lunch. And then I'll be at home again later in the afternoon. Will either of those times be convenient for you?

M: They are not unfortunately, I'm sorry. (10) I won't be in the area tomorrow as I have some other deliveries to make on the other side of town. I could come the day after, if that suits you.

W: Okay, yes, that should be fine. I have a friend coming round in the afternoon, but I'll be at home. So the day after tomorrow will be great. Do I need to pay for the package? M: No, you don't. It says here that you pay for it when you ordered it online. W: Oh, yes, I did. I got mixed up.

M: (12)So you just need to sign the form to say you’ve received it. W: Ok, great. See you the day after tomorrow then.

M: Yes. See you then

Question 8 Why is the man making the phone call? Question 9 Why can't the woman meet the man today?

Question 10 Why is the man unable to see the woman tomorrow? Question 11 What should the woman do to receive her purchase?

Conversation Two

M: Hi, Emily! (12) I hear you're leaving for Italy soon. Do you plan to have a going-away party before you disappear? It’ll be really nice for us to hang out together before you go.

W: I'm not sure. I'm leaving in just two more days, and I'm going to miss all my friends here and especially this place. Why don't you come over? (13) I'm feeling rather sad, actually.13I'm currently sitting alone at a table outside the Black Cat Cafe, listening to the rain and watching people passing by. M: I am sorry. (14) I can't just now. I need to get this assignment finished by Monday, and I'm way behind. Anyhow, cheer up! You're not leaving for good. And you'll absolutely love Italy. W: Yeah, you're right. But I just feel like I'm not quite ready to go. (12) And studying in a foreign country seems a bit overwhelming.

M: Just think of your life in Milan. In the mornings, you can go down to a small local cafe, soaking up the sun’s rays and drinking coffee. I envy you. You can buy lots of gorgeous Italian clothes.

W: That does sound nice. And of course I can keep in touch with everyone through . Maybe you can all come visit me.

M: Of course we will. When is your flight? W: On Saturday, after lunch, at 1:45.

M: Okay, (15) I'll try and come to the airport on Saturday to see you off. I'll give you a call that morning, no matter what.

Question 12 What is the woman going to do?

Question 13 How does the woman feel at the moment? Question 14 Why can't the man meet the woman now? Question 15 What will the man possibly do on Saturday?

Passage One

Mount Etna is one of the most active volcanoes on Earth. The mountain has been in a state of near continuous eruption for half of a million years. Exploring the Etna geographical area reveals a history written in fire. Before the eruptions, it was covered by forests of pine trees.

Located in southern Italy, Etna is the highest active volcano in Europe. However, its height often changes when volcanic material accumulates during eruptions and subsequently collapses. Few volcanoes in the world have an eruption history so thoroughly documented by historical records. Etna’s eruption history dates back as far as 1500 BC. Some two hundred eruptions have been recorded down through the centuries, but compared with other volcanoes, most of its eruptions have so far been fairly light in terms of death and destruction. Only about one hundred deaths have been attributed to the volcano. The mountain hasn't been entirely harmless, however. In 1928, it destroyed the town of Mascali.

Over the centuries, Etna’s lowest slopes have been shaped by human hands to take advantage of rich soils for growing grapes, apples and nuts. Local people have also carved out over two hundred caves in the soft rock, and use them for everything from sacred burial places to food storage. Large mammals once wandered the volcano slopes, but today, foxes, wild cats, rabbits and mice are more common. Some of those small mammals help to sustain such big birds as golden eagles.

Question 16: What does the speaker say about Mount Etna?

Question 17: What do we learn about the lower slopes of Mount Etna?

Question 18: What does the speaker say about big birds like golden eagles at Mount Etna?

Passage Two

My name is Brandon Leonard, and I'm an author, magazine writer, filmmaker and public

speaker. I'm self-employed, which means I work for myself and I do what I love. We have a popular scene in America which goes, “Do what you love, and you'll never work a day in your life.” But I'm here to tell you that instead of focusing on doing what we love, I think we should focus on loving what we do.

In my line of work, you’ll hear a lot about talent, which is an idea we mostly invented to give ourselves an excuse to be lazy. Here's why: if you see someone doing something really well, you would say it's because they are talented. You think they are somehow special. You discount the tremendous amount of work they've done to get to where they are.

Research has shown that talent is nothing without hard work. I choose to believe in hard work, but not so much in talent. There are no special people, just people who put in enough hard work until something special happens. I can promise you one thing: whatever you choose to do for a career, if you work hard at it, eventually special things will happen. They may not happen as quickly as you'd like them too, and they may turn out to be completely different from the special things you imagined at the beginning, but they will happen.

Question 19: What do we learn about the speaker?

Question 20: What is the speaker’s advice to his audience? Question 21: What does the speaker say about talent?

Passage Three

A question we often ask others and are also frequently asked by others is “What do you normally do after school or work?” Some commonplace answers are, “Well, I go to the gym.” “Um, I just go home and watch TV.” “I meet my friends for dinner.” or “I just go to bed because it's so late and I’m tired.” Unlike any of these typical responses, I’m proud to say that I love to dance salsa after a long and tiring day of work.

Salsa is a kind of dancing that evolved in the mid 1970s in New York. My dancing life began not because I wanted to do it, but because my mother was sick and tired of seeing me running around after school doing nothing. So she enrolled me into a ballet course when I was six. I fell in love with it instantly and continued with ballet dancing for about ten years.

Then, I left my native country of New Zealand to start my career as an English teacher, which eventually brought my dancing life to a halt. It wasn't until I rediscovered salsa in a lovely studio while working in Asia that I renewed my passion for dancing. Since then, I have been trying to attend dancing classes twice a week after work. It's a great way for me to relieve stress and pressure and dance my way towards feeling energetic and happy again.

Question 22: What does the speaker say about the dance, salsa?

Question 23: Why did the speakers’ mother enroll her in a ballet course? Question 24: When did the speaker’s dancing life come to a halt? Question 25: In what way has salsa dancing benefited the speaker?