中级英语听力lesson 15

A: Did you hear on the news today about that ... uh ... murderer who was executed?
B: I can't believe it.

A: Yeah. That's the first time in ten years that they've used capital punishment.
B: I just can't believe in our society today that they would actually kill another human being. Nobody has the right to take another person's life.
A: Oh, I don't agree. Listen, I think capital punishment is—it's about time it came back. I think that's exactly what killers 2 deserve.
B: No, they don't deserve that. Because once you're killing 3 a killer 1, you're the killer, too. You become a killer as well.
A: No, listen. You take a life, you have to be willing to give up your own. And also, I think that if you have a death penalty it will prevent other people from killing. I think it's a good deterrent 4.
B: I don't think it's a good deterrent at all. My goodness gracious. I mean, first of all, are you sure the person you've convicted to death is really guilty?
A: Well, I think that's a very rare ... very rare incidence.
B: I don't think it's rare, (I don't think it's ...) with all the cracker 5 jack 6 lawyers we have today, (Well, no ... I ...) and the judicial 7 system the way it is.
A: I think it's a rare incidence, and I think it's more important to get rid of the ... the bad seed, you know?
B: But you don't get rid of it. You rehabilitate 8 somebody like that. (Oh ...) You don't eliminate, you rehabilitate.
A: Listen, studies show that criminals are never really rehabilitated 9. When they're ... when they come out of prison they just go back to a life of crime, and they're hardened by that crime.
B: Because the rehabilitation 10 process has to be more than just what's in jail. I mean, (Oh ... well.) when you're in jail you do have to work, but when you're out of jail there has to be an extensive program. We have to expand on the idea till it works.
A: I don't agree. Listen—and, anyway, the jails and the prisons are already very crowded, and we have to pay, the taxpayers 11. Our money goes to maintaining murderers' (I ...) lives.
B: I agree with you. That's why it's important to look at the problem on a much larger scale. The real problem is a social problem. (What ... no ...) There are other problems that cause people to kill. Look at poverty, drugs, discrimination.
A: Some people are just bad. They're just evil and there's nothing you can do.
B: No, there ... it is ... no, it isn't true. There's rehabilitation. (No.) And they ... we're all responsible it ... for ... to humanity. That's one of the reasons ...
A: Well, but in the meantime you have to take care of the people who have already committed ...
B: I agree with you there.
A: Preventative is different, but ...
B: I agree with you there.

Announcer: On 'TV Magazine' tonight we're looking at people who have given up regular jobs and high salaries to start a new way of life. First of all, we have two interviews with people who decided 12 to leave the 'rat race'. Nicola Burgess spoke 13 to them.
Nicola: This is the Isle 14 of Skye. Behind me you can see the croft belonging to Daniel and Michelle Burns, who gave up their jobs to come to this remote area of Scotland. Daniel was the sales manager of Hi-Vita, the breakfast cereal company, and Michelle was a successful advertising 15 executive. Michelle, can you tell us what made you give up everything to come here?
Michelle: Everything? That's a matter of opinion. A big house and two cars isn't everything! Dan and I both used to work long hours. We had to leave so early in the morning and we came home so late at night, that we hardly ever saw each other. We should have come here years ago, but we were earning such big salaries that we were afraid to leave our jobs. In the end we had so little time together that our marriage was breaking up. So two years ago, we took a week's holiday in the Scottish Highlands. We saw this place and we both fell in love with it. It was for sale, and we liked it so much that we decided to give up our jobs, and here we are!
Nicola: How do you earn a living? If you don't mind me asking.
Michelle: We don't need very much. We keep sheep and goats, grow our own vegetables. We've got a few chickens. It's a very simple life, and we're not in it for profit. We're still so busy that we work from five in the morning until eight at night, but we're together. We're happier than we're ever been and we're leading a natural life.
Nicola: There must be some things you miss, surely.
Michelle: I don't know. We knew such a lot of people in London, but they weren't real friends. We see our neighbours occasionally and there's such a lot to do on the farm that we don't have time to feel lonely. At least we see each other now.
Nicola: The motor-bike I'm sitting on is a very special one. Special because it's been all the way round the world. It belongs to Luke Saunders, who has just returned to England after a three year motor-cycle journey. Luke, what led you to leave your job and make this trip?
Luke: I worked in a car factory on the assembly line. All I had to do was put four nuts on the bolts that hold the wheels on. It's done by robots now, and a good thing too! The job was so routine that I didn't have to think at all. I bought this Triumph 750 cc bike second-hand 16, fitted two panniers on the back and just set off for Australia.
Nicola: What did you do for money?
Luke: I had a bit of money to start with, but of course it didn't last long and I had to find work where I could. I've done so many different things—picked fruit, washed up, worked as a mechanic.

Nicola: How did people react to you? In India, for example.
Luke: Everywhere I went, the people were so friendly that problems seemed to solve themselves. There was such a lot of interest in the bike that it was easy to start a conversation. You know, often you can communicate without really knowing the language.
Nicola: Did you ever feel like giving up, turning round and coming home?
Luke: Only once, in Bangladesh. I became so ill with food poisoning that I had to go to hospital. But it didn't last long.
Nicola: You've had such an exciting time that you'll find it difficult to settle down, won't you?
Luke: I'm not going to. Next week I'm off again, but this time I'm going in the opposite direction! See you in about three years' time!

Here is an extract from a radio talk on the work of Sigmund Freud by Professor Eric Watkis:
    Sigmund Freud developed his system of psychoanalysis while he was studying cases of mental illness. By examining details of the patient's life, he found that the illness could often be traced back to some definite problem or conflict within the person concerned. But he discovered, too, that many of the neuroses observed in mentally ill patients were also present, to a lesser 17 degree, in normal persons. This led him to the realization 18 that the borderline between the normal and the neurotic 19 person is not nearly as clearly marked as was once believed.
    In 1914 he published a book called The Psychopathology of Everyday Life. This book goes a long way towards explaining some of the strange behaviour of normal, sane 20 people.
    A glance at Freud's chapter headings will indicate some of the aspects of behaviour covered by the book:
    Forgetting of proper names
    Forgetting of foreign words
    Childhood and concealing 21 memories
    Mistakes in speech
    Mistakes in reading and writing
    Broadly, Freud demonstrates that there are good reasons for many of the slips and errors that we make. We forget a name because, unconsciously, we do not wish to remember that name. We repress a childhood memory because that memory is painful to us. A slip of the tongue or of the pen betrays a wish or a thought of which we are ashamed.
    In these days when every would-be doctor or writer has access to Freud's accounts of his research, it is worth pausing and remembering the remarkable 22 scope and originality 23 of his ideas.

    Cheese is one of those foods that we tend to take for granted as always having been with us, and it's odd to think that someone somewhere must have discovered the process that takes place when micro-organisms get into milk and bring about changes in its physical and biochemical structure.
    Obviously, we don't know who discovered the process, but it's thought that it came from South-West Asia about 8,000 years ago.
    Early cheese was probably rather unpalatable stuff, tasteless and bland 24 in the case of the so-called 'fresh cheeses', which are eaten immediately after the milk has coagulated, and rough tasting and salty in the case of the 'ripened 25' cheeses, which are made by adding salt to the soft fresh cheese and allowing other biochemical processes to continue so that a stronger taste and a more solid texture 26 result.
    The ancient Romans changed all that. They were great pioneers in the art of cheese-making, and the different varieties of cheese they invented and the techniques for producing them spread with them to the countries they invaded. This dissemination 27 of new techniques took place between about 60 BC and 300 AD. You can still trace their influence in the English word 'cheese', which comes ultimately from the Latin word 'caseus', that's C-A-S-E-U-S.
    Well, things went on quietly enough after the Roman period with the cheese producers in the different countries getting on with developing their own specialities. It's amazing the variety of flavours you can get from essentially 28 the same process.
    At this stage in history, people weren't aware in a scientific way of the role of different micro-organisms and enzymes 29 in producing different types of cheese. But they knew from experience that if you kept your milk or your 'pre-cheese' mixture at a certain temperature or in a certain environment, things would turn out in a certain way. The Roquefort caves in France are an example of a place that was used for centuries for the ripening 30 of a certain sort of cheese, before people knew exactly why they produced the effect they did.
    In the nineteenth century, with the increasing knowledge about micro-organisms, there came the next great step forward in cheese-making. Once it was known exactly which micro-organisms were involved in the different stages of producing a cheese, and how the presence of different micro-organisms affected 31 the taste, it was possible to introduce them deliberately 32, and to industrialize the process.
    Cheese started being made on a large scale in factories, although the small producer working from his farm dairy continued to exist and still exist today. Cheese-making moved very much into the world of technology and industrial processes, although, because the aim is still to produce something that people like to eat, there's still an important role for human judgement. People still go round tasting the young cheese at different stages to see how it's getting on, and may add a bit of this or that to improve the final taste. Whatever the scale of production, there is still room for art alongside the technology.

1.       All cultures change, even modern ones. As a matter of fact, change occurs most rapidly in modern cultures, since science brings us so many new discoveries every day. It is rather difficult to follow these changes clearly, since they happen so fast. The civilization that I will discuss today is easier to observe.

2. No formal history was written for these early Indians, but Navajo Indians who came along later found evidence of their great civilization. The Navajos called these prehistoric 33 people 'the Anasazi', which means, 'the Ancient Ones'.
3. Descendants of the Anasazi still live in the Southwest, and many aspects of their culture are similar to ancient times. Today these people are called Pueblo 34 Indians.
4. There are four different time periods in the development of the Anasazi. Scientists have looked for the one most important theme in this story, a kind of unifying 35 idea to organize all the facts. The most critical and influential 36 improvement in their lives was the way they used containers to cook, store, and carry food and water.
5. The most important job of the man in this society was to learn, teach, and perform the religious ceremonies associated with farming. Women worked in the fields and prepared all the food. Women also wove baskets out of yucca fibers 37.
6. We don't know what the final problem was. It might have been enemy attack, sickness, lack of rain, or over-farmed soil. But in the year 1300 the last of the Anasazi left the cliff dwellings 38, never to return again. They left behind their beautiful pueblos 39, which still stand as a monument to them.