时间:2018-12-27 作者:英语课 分类:北外英语中级听力


英语课

  Tom: ... when I was living ... in North Africa, and I had a cook, and I'd been there for several years, you see. And I was just going to come on leave to England, you see, and obviously it was quite a long leave, you know. I was coming for ... three months, I think it was. So I had to, I had a house and I had to sort of close the house up, obviously, and, erm, this chap who worked for me, who was a sort of ... cook, erm, he was ... obviously going to go off, you know, for three months-there wasn't any point in him staying there-so it was, I was getting everything ready, anyway. And I had a lot of things to fix up, so I'd got rather a lot of cash out of the bank. You know, I had a lot of bills to pay (Yes) and things to do, and, erm, I had about sixty-five pounds, I think it was. And one particular evening, I was just sort of, you know, clearing up the sitting-room 1 and going to go to bed, I put the sixty-five quid under the papers in the top left-hand drawer of my desk and then I went out of the door on to the veranda 2 and locked the door. And the point was, all the rooms of the house sort of opened on to a veranda, on to a courtyard, if you see what I mean. There weren't passages inside the house. And, erm, then I went to bed. So, the next morning I got up, and, erm ... after I'd had my breakfast, I was going out into the town to do various things for which I needed the money, you see (Yes) and, erm, I went to the drawer to get it ... and it wasn't there! I immediately thought, well maybe my cook, Idris, has taken this, because, the thing was, that the rooms were all locked and you couldn't have got in to the, erm, to the room, or any of the rooms of the house, without showing some sort of sign of entry, if you see what I mean. (Yes) And, er, he had access to all the keys in the house, you know. (Oh, I see.) So, erm, I went to his room. And, erm, he'd gone off already. He'd gone shopping, in fact. In fact, his room was locked. Erm, I got the keys, unlocked it, went in, sort of searched the room, ... felt rather sort of ... guilty, you know, at sort of going through his personal possessions in this way. But there was nothing there. So, you know, I thought, 'Well, hell, what do I do next? I'd better go to the police'. And, erm, my mind was still very much on him, that ... it must be him. Erm, so I went down to the police station and, erm, said that the money'd been stolen and would the police please come to the house, and investigate. And would they also ... investigate my cook, whom I suspected. And they said, erm, well, they wouldn't come and search the cook or look round the house unless I made a definite accusation 3 against him. And if I made a definite accusation against him, they'd come along and, er, take him back to the police station and really sort it out. Well, I wasn't very happy about that, because I felt, erm, I didn't really have any evidence, you know, I was just extremely suspicious of him because of the circumstances. So, erm, I said, 'No,' and, but felt pretty desperate about it then. So I went back to the house ... Anyway, later in the day, I said to him, 'You know, I had sixty-five pounds, which I put in the desk, and it's disappeared.' And he sort of said, 'Oh, yeah'. You know, he didn... didn't register anything at all. Er, so I said, 'Yes, sixty-five pounds has disappeared and nobody seems to have come into the house'. And he sort of said, 'Oh yeah, well', (you know). So I said, 'Yes, I'm going to get the police'. And he still didn't sort of register anything, you know. He just sort of shrugged 4 his shoulders. So then I thought, 'Well, the only thing to do is that I'll have to tell him that, erm, that's it, you know, I don't want him to work for me any more'. But, erm, being a coward over these sort of things, I let it drift for about a couple of days, and then, the day I was actually going, erm, I said to him, er, you know, 'Idris, I'm afraid that, er, I don't want you to come back after the holidays. I think it's better if you don't work for me any more.' And, er, he immediately made a tremendous speech, he said what the hell did I think I was doing, etcetera, etcetera, why, what were my reasons, etcetera, etcetera. So I said, probably very stupidly, but I said to him, 'Well, you know about that sixty-five pounds that disappeared, well, I'm not saying you took it, but I just think you might've taken it, and therefore I don't feel I can trust you any more and, er, so I just don't think you can go on working for me.' So, of course, that was it! He absolutely went through the roof at this! And, erm, you know, gave me a sort of tremendous ... tirade 5. Anyway, I'd quite made up my mind, although I'd taken so long to tell him ... And I said, 'Well, sorry', you know, 'that's it.' Then, in fact, erm, a friend dropped in, erm, who, who, who was a great friend. He, he, he lived there, he was a local person. And, erm, Osman came in and he sort of ... started getting involved in the conversation, ... anyway, I wasn't going to change my attitude over it. Then Idris got terribly upset and was all sort of sad about it and upset about it and started to cry, said I was ruining his life, etcetera. But, anyway, I was completely sort of hard-hearted about it and didn't do anything about it and that was it. And he went. I, er, I mean I ... paid him, ... you know, quite a bit of money in lieu of notice and everything but, I mean, he still felt extremely upset, and it was one of those, erm, very kind of unpleasant things, which left one ... feeling ... rather ... upset about it and not knowing... I never knew whether I'd done quite the right thing or not. Well, I worked there for a couple of years more and when I was finally leaving after two years I was throwing out lots and lots of things like magazines, books and so on, and this chap, Osman, who'd actually been there the afternoon Idris had finally left amidst all these rows, I gave him some old magazines, including actually, er, an old Encounter and, erm, he came back a few days later and he said, 'You know, I didn't know whether to actually come and tell you or not, but I was looking through that copy of Encounter you gave me and I found sixty-five pounds (laughter) in the back of the magazine.' Terribly difficult because I was leaving the country, never to come back, you know, in about twenty-four hours after that ... feeling that one had done something wrong which one couldn't put right! And I didn't have any idea what had happened to Idris, in fact. Pretty unfortunate!

In the summer of 1933, the world's first drive-in movie theatre opened in Camden, New Jersey 6. Drive-ins became popular after World War II and in the '50s there were nearly five thousand theatres across the country. But today, less than three thousand remained. Drive-ins are in trouble. Land values near cities are increasing and drive-ins are being torn down to make way for malls. And families are more likely to stay home for an evening of cheap entertainment with their VCRs and cable TV. When one more drive-in closed recently outside Jeffersonville, Indiana, reporter Bob Hanson was there, the last night at the Lakewood Drive-in.

The sun set as the last cars entered the Lakewood Drive-in. At the ticket booth Laura Boyle filled in for her daughter who's away at college. No money changed hands. The show was on the house.

Thirty years ago John Walley opened the Lakewood Drive-in on his father's farmland in southern Indiana. Corn fields still surround the theatre. Since 1956 people have driven for miles to get to the drive-in. They came in Studebakers, and Fords, Ramblars, and Corvats. But the '80s haven't been so kind to the drive-in. And on this night John Walley is closing up.

Before the show started, parents took their children to a playground in the front of the theatre. Framed by an orange sky and in the humid Mid-western air, they played on swings and slides. Inside the snack bar, the menu was timeless.

"Forty cents is your change, thank you."Thelma Wilson stuffed hotdogs in buns and wrapped them in aluminum 7 foil bags. For twenty-three years Thelma has cooked hotdogs, popped popcorn 8 and filled drinks in the Lakewood Drive-in.

In the mid-sixties, five hundred cars would fill the ashfall and dirt theatre. But in the eighties, seventy-five cars was considered a good night. And sometimes the movie's played to just twenty.

Carlo Crown switched on the thirty-five millimeter projector 9 for the last time. About a hundred seventy-five cars pointed 10 at the crumbling 11 while screen. As word got out that the Lakewood Drive-in was closing up, people came from throughout the area. As the black and white images flickered 12 on the screen, some people found themselves back in time. Like Linda King, who spent her wedding night here twenty-two years ago.

"There's a lot of memories here. I've brought all my kids here, my grandkids, and they are not going to be here any more. So they aren't going to bring their children here when they're grown."Johnny Buckman and his wife Merilyn watched the movie from their tinted 13 glass window. The two went out on dates here twenty-seven years ago.

"I have been thinking about, you know, when we were young, and when he put his arms around me and . . . and just a lot of old memories, you know."John Walley stood outside the snack bar and talked to old friends and customers. He talked about how hard it was to compete with air-conditioned theatres and couldn't get first-run movies any more. And most of all he just reminisced.

"This is nice to go out to the country and watch movies on a big screen. The young people just don't know what they are missing because there won't be any drive-ins around in another ten years.

Some people watched the movie from the hood 14 of their car. Others sat on lawn chairs. Many just walked around. John Walley plastered auction 15 off the equipment from the drive-in. But in the dark people tried not to think about that. By the way, tonight's final film-The Last Picture Show. For National Public Radio, I'm Bob Henson in southern Indiana.

Technology and the Future (II)Now I would like to say a word about communications. The revolution in communications that has already taken place is still not fully 16 understood. One way of appreciating it is to do a kind of communications strip tease. I would like you to abolish in your minds TV, then radio, then telephones, then the postal 17 service, then the newspapers. In other words, to revert 18 to the Middle Ages. In such a situation, we should feel deaf and blind, like prisoners in solitary 19 confinement 20. Well, we'll appear this way to our grandchildren. Don't forget that a generation has already grown up that never knew a world without TV. One communications revolution has taken place in our lifetime. The next revolution, perhaps the final one, will be the result of satellites and microelectronics, which will enable us to do literally 21 anything we want to in the field of communications and information transfer-including, ultimately, not only sound and vision but all sense impressions.

I am particularly interested in TV broadcasting from satellites directly into the home, bypassing today's ground stations-a proposal I first described twenty-two years ago. This will mean the abolition 22 of all present geographical 23 restrictions 24 to TV; via satellites, any country can broadcast to any other. Direct-broadcast TV will be possible within five years and may be most important to undeveloped countries that have no ground stations, and now may never require any. Africa, China, and South America could be opened up by direct TV broadcast, and whole populations brought into the modern world. I believe that communications satellites may bring about the long-overdue end of the Stone Age.

They will certainly lead to a global telephone system and end long-distance calls-for all calls will be 'local'! There will be the same flat rate everywhere.

Newspapers will, I think, receive their final body blow from these new communications techniques. How I look forward to the day when I can press a button and get any type of news, editorials, book and theatre reviews, etc., merely by dialing the right channel. Moreover, not only today's but any newspaper ever published will be available. Some sort of TV-like console connected to a central electronic library, could make available any information ever printed in any form. Electronic 'mail' delivery is another exciting prospect 25 of the very near future. Letters, will be automatically read and flashed from continent to continent and reproduced at receiving stations within a few minutes of transmission.

All these things are associated with information processing, and one-third of the Gross National Product is now spent on this in one form of another-data storage, TV, radio, books, and so forth 26. This radio is increasing; our society is changing from a goods-producing society to an information-processing one. I have devoted 27 much of one book (Voices from the Sky) to the social consequences of this, and can mention only a few here.

One could be the establishment of English as the world language, through the direct telecast satellites mentioned above. Within the next ten years the future language of mankind will be decided 28, in a bloodless battle twenty-two thousand miles above the equator.

Another very important consequence will be a change in the patterns of transport, for a man and his work need no longer be in the same place. When these new information-and-communications consoles are available, almost anybody who does any kind of mental work can live wherever he pleases. Beyond this, any kind of manipulative skill can also be transferred from one point to another. I can imagine a time when even a brain surgeon can live in one place and operate on patients all over the world, through remote-controlled artificial hands, like those used in atomic energy plants.

Yet these developments will not necessarily mean an overall reduction of transport. I see a great reduction of transport for work, but increased transport for pleasure.

A result of this will be that vast uninhabited areas of the Earth could be opened up, because people will have far greater freedom to choose where they will live.

These trends will inevitably 29 accelerate the disintegration 30 of the cities, whose historical function is now passing. Cities will go on growing, of course, like dinosaurs-for the same reasons, and with the same results.



1 sitting-room
n.(BrE)客厅,起居室
  • The sitting-room is clean.起居室很清洁。
  • Each villa has a separate sitting-room.每栋别墅都有一间独立的起居室。
2 veranda
n.走廊;阳台
  • She sat in the shade on the veranda.她坐在阳台上的遮荫处。
  • They were strolling up and down the veranda.他们在走廊上来回徜徉。
3 accusation
n.控告,指责,谴责
  • I was furious at his making such an accusation.我对他的这种责备非常气愤。
  • She knew that no one would believe her accusation.她知道没人会相信她的指控。
4 shrugged
vt.耸肩(shrug的过去式与过去分词形式)
  • Sam shrugged and said nothing. 萨姆耸耸肩膀,什么也没说。
  • She shrugged, feigning nonchalance. 她耸耸肩,装出一副无所谓的样子。 来自《简明英汉词典》
5 tirade
n.冗长的攻击性演说
  • Her tirade provoked a counterblast from her husband.她的长篇大论激起了她丈夫的强烈反对。
  • He delivered a long tirade against the government.他发表了反政府的长篇演说。
6 jersey
n.运动衫
  • He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
  • They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致,都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。
7 aluminum
n.(aluminium)铝
  • The aluminum sheets cannot be too much thicker than 0.04 inches.铝板厚度不能超过0.04英寸。
  • During the launch phase,it would ride in a protective aluminum shell.在发射阶段,它盛在一只保护的铝壳里。
8 popcorn
n.爆米花
  • I like to eat popcorn when I am watching TV play at home.当我在家观看电视剧时,喜欢吃爆米花。
  • He still stood behind his cash register stuffing his mouth with popcorn.他仍站在收银机后,嘴里塞满了爆米花。
9 projector
n.投影机,放映机,幻灯机
  • There is a new projector in my office.我的办公室里有一架新的幻灯机。
  • How long will it take to set up the projector?把这个放映机安放好需要多长时间?
10 pointed
adj.尖的,直截了当的
  • He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
  • She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。
11 crumbling
adj.摇摇欲坠的
  • an old house with crumbling plaster and a leaking roof 一所灰泥剥落、屋顶漏水的老房子
  • The boat was tied up alongside a crumbling limestone jetty. 这条船停泊在一个摇摇欲坠的石灰岩码头边。
12 flickered
(通常指灯光)闪烁,摇曳( flicker的过去式和过去分词 )
  • The lights flickered and went out. 灯光闪了闪就熄了。
  • These lights flickered continuously like traffic lights which have gone mad. 这些灯象发狂的交通灯一样不停地闪动着。
13 tinted
n.头巾,兜帽,覆盖;v.罩上,以头巾覆盖
  • She is wearing a red cloak with a hood.她穿着一件红色带兜帽的披风。
  • The car hood was dented in.汽车的发动机罩已凹了进去。
14 auction
n.拍卖;拍卖会;vt.拍卖
  • They've put the contents of their house up for auction.他们把房子里的东西全都拿去拍卖了。
  • They bought a new minibus with the proceeds from the auction.他们用拍卖得来的钱买了一辆新面包车。
15 fully
adv.完全地,全部地,彻底地;充分地
  • The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气,然后全部呼出。
  • They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。
16 postal
adj.邮政的,邮局的
  • A postal network now covers the whole country.邮路遍及全国。
  • Remember to use postal code.勿忘使用邮政编码。
17 revert
v.恢复,复归,回到
  • Let us revert to the earlier part of the chapter.让我们回到本章的前面部分。
  • Shall we revert to the matter we talked about yesterday?我们接着昨天谈过的问题谈,好吗?
18 solitary
adj.孤独的,独立的,荒凉的;n.隐士
  • I am rather fond of a solitary stroll in the country.我颇喜欢在乡间独自徜徉。
  • The castle rises in solitary splendour on the fringe of the desert.这座城堡巍然耸立在沙漠的边际,显得十分壮美。
19 confinement
n.幽禁,拘留,监禁;分娩;限制,局限
  • He spent eleven years in solitary confinement.他度过了11年的单独监禁。
  • The date for my wife's confinement was approaching closer and closer.妻子分娩的日子越来越近了。
20 literally
adv.照字面意义,逐字地;确实
  • He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
  • Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候,她不走到真正要昏厥了,决不肯坐下来。
21 abolition
n.废除,取消
  • They declared for the abolition of slavery.他们声明赞成废除奴隶制度。
  • The abolition of the monarchy was part of their price.废除君主制是他们的其中一部分条件。
22 geographical
adj.地理的;地区(性)的
  • The current survey will have a wider geographical spread.当前的调查将在更广泛的地域范围內进行。
  • These birds have a wide geographical distribution.这些鸟的地理分布很广。
23 restrictions
约束( restriction的名词复数 ); 管制; 制约因素; 带限制性的条件(或规则)
  • I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
  • a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制
24 prospect
n.前景,前途;景色,视野
  • This state of things holds out a cheerful prospect.事态呈现出可喜的前景。
  • The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。
25 forth
adv.向前;向外,往外
  • The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
  • He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。
26 devoted
adj.忠诚的,忠实的,热心的,献身于...的
  • He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
  • We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。
27 decided
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的
  • This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
  • There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。
28 inevitably
adv.不可避免地;必然发生地
  • In the way you go on,you are inevitably coming apart.照你们这样下去,毫无疑问是会散伙的。
  • Technological changes will inevitably lead to unemployment.技术变革必然会导致失业。
29 disintegration
n.分散,解体
  • This defeat led to the disintegration of the empire.这次战败道致了帝国的瓦解。
  • The incident has hastened the disintegration of the club.这一事件加速了该俱乐部的解体。
标签: 北外 中级 听力
学英语单词
a matter of congratulation
a ramallosa
abstract algebra manifold
accurred
aft antenna
Alois
ARMELLINI
ASLAP
Atlantic Coast Conference
biceps curl
bicks
blomstrand
brachylogy
cabline patchouli
cane-cuttings
cant body
caprizant
casseia
cervical air sac
chartleys
chest pulley weight
ciliary glands
concurrent control count
copy quantity key
countershaft bearing cover
cranial limb of intestinal loop
Dell Inc.
desertin'
dysgranulopoiesis
dysphoric manic episode
echinostelium paucifilum
Ekonal
encephalic poliomyelitis
eoliths
finitists
flynet
gamma-ray shield
general mechanics
grievesome
guffey
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herbalogy
hot-air damper
ideal productivity index
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leadagetest
lowest common ancestor
maintenance free
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murreie
myxosomiasis
nephritogenic strains
non-absorbing state
nonsingular network
overbeetling
padded out
petroleur
pintle plate
Plateosaurus
politization
post-puller
preconceived opinions
prejudice against
primitive adjoint
principle of belongingness
psub
qualification of name
Rayleigh criterion
reactive compensation equipment
resistance training
robust performance
rvw
s catarrh Bostock
salted salmon belly
selfproclaimed
side arch
single-end break
sliding shoe
smoker's
standard measuring instrument
Stiper quartzite
submerged intake
swing hammer
synfuel
ta mien
take him
take mercy on
tecophilaea cyanocrocus leyb.
thaumastocheles japonicus
the world is your oyster
threshold immunity
to fan the air
tympanic bone
unurn
velamentous
wave energy transmission
weapon of offense
weighting bottle