Understanding a Passage

Now you will hear a passage followed by five questions. Listen carefully and choose the best answer from the four possible choices.

Marriage can exchange people a great deal, and marriage to a person of a different culture can exchange a person even more. As someone who has married a foreigner, I know. I’m a Canadian who married a Chinese man. At first1, I harbored some reservations2. I wasn’t sure how compatible we’d be. Somehow, however, we made it work. And I found myself growing to become more like him. I started picking up3 Chinese characteristics and began speaking English with a Chinese accent! My brother joked, saying I was even beginning to look Chinese! My husband has changed a lot too, becoming more like Canadians in attitude4. I supposed this is something of a compromise wherein we met each other in the middle. I suspect that we still continue to grow more alike5 as time goes by; that is exciting to me. A person, after all, should change during his or her life time.

1. According to the speaker, which circumstances cause the greater change in people after they are married? B

2. How did the woman fell when she first got married? D 3. What joke did the woman’s brother make about her? D 4. How has the woman’s husband changed? A

5. Why does the woman feel good about her recent change? B

注释：

1. at first 首先，最初 first of all 首先，第一

at first sight 乍一看（之下）

2. harbor reservations about… 对??????持保留意见 eg. According to the usual practice of voting, the minority is subject to the majority but entitled to harbor reservations about a certain bill. 根据表决惯例，少数服从多数，但有权对某一议案持保留意见。

3. pick up

1) pick sb. up 用汽车搭载或接某人

. I’ll be at the North Railway Station，10 o’clock tomorrow morning, would you please pick me up then. 我将于明天早上10点钟抵达火车北站，届时你能接我一下吗

2）a. pick sb./sth. up 举起或抬起某人或某物，拿起，拾起

. My husband picked up my son and put him on his shoulders. 我丈夫抱起孩子并把他放到肩膀上

b. pick sb./sth. up 见到，听到（尤指借助仪器）

. Could the equipment pick up the signal from the satellite？ 这设备能收到卫星发射的信号吗？

3）pick sth. up 通过实践学会（外语，技术等）；得，染（疾病）；听到、打听到（消息）， . It natural for child to pick up parents’ accent.孩子很自然就会学到父母的口音

He is interested in picking up rumors.他乐于打听各种谣言

4. attitude : opinion

＊take a(n) … attitude towards / to… 对…态度

5. alike与 like辨析 alike: adj. 相同的

adv. 同样地，相似地

alike只作表语，前面不可加very，常加much.

like adj. 相像的，可作定语和表语，前可加very

Homework

Supplementary Listening Task 1

Now you will hear a long conversation followed by five questions. Listen carefully and choose the best answer from the four possible choices.

How to pop the Question?

M: Laura, I’ve though long and hard and my mind is made up1. I’ve got a date2 with Selina tomorrow and I’m going to pop the question3(求婚). W: Congratulations, David! That’s earth-shaking news! How are you going to go about4 it? You can’t just blurt it out (脱口而出) over the coffee.

M: Well, that’s the thing. I’m stumped. I could send her an email at work. W: email? You don’t have a romantic bone in your body. Use your imagination. M: Well, I’m no Don Juan. Should I get her some flowers?

W: Yes, that’ll be OK for starters. Why don’t you take her to some exotic hideaway or propose on a secluded beach?

M: I can’t afford5 it, what with the ring and all?

W: Oh, sorry, don’t let it get you down6. There’s plenty you can do. M: Richard wrote his proposal to Anna on her ceiling.

W: Now you’re talking! Bake a cake and write the words with frosting.

1. Who is David going to date tomorrow? A 2. What is the news Laura hears from David? B

3. What is David’s problem, according to Laura? D 4. What does Laura think about sending flowers? C 5. What is Laura’s final suggestion? D 注释：

1. make up one’s mind change one’s mind

keep / bear sth. in mind = learn sth. by heart

2. have / make a date with 和某人约会 date back to 可追溯到

date from 从某时期开始就有 out of date 过时（表语） up to date 现代（表语）

3. pop the question (idm.) make a proposal of marriage 求婚

4. go about sth. / doing sth.

① continue to do sth. / keep busy with sth. 继续做某事, 忙于… eg. Go about one’s daily routine.

② set about sth. / start 开始做某事，着手做… eg. How should I go about finding a job?

5. afford

afford sth. / to do sth. “花得起（时间，钱）买得起…， 负担得起…” 常用于否定句，疑问句或条件句中。

eg. I can’t afford to pay such a price.

6. get sb. down : make sb. depressed 使某人情绪低落 / 沮丧 get sth. down: write sth. down 记下，写下 eg. Did you get his number down?

get down to sth. / doing sth. : begin to do 开始做 eg. get down to business.

Task 2

Now you will hear a passage followed by five questions. Listen carefully and choose the best answer from the four possible choices.

The High Divorce Rate in America today In recent years, there have been an unusually large number of divorces in the United States. In the past, when two people married each other, they intended to1 stay together for life. Today, many people marry believing that they can always get a divorce if the marriage doesn’t work out2. In the past, a majority of Americans frowned on3 the idea of divorce. Furthermore, many people believed that getting a divorce was a luxury that only the rich could afford. Indeed, getting a divorce was very expensive. However, since so many people have begun to take a more casual view of marriage, it is interesting to find out that the costs of getting a divorce are lower. In fact, in the United States today, it is not unusual to see newspaper ads providing information on how and where to get a cheap divorce. Hollywood has always been known as4 the divorce capital for the world. The divorce rate among the movie stars change husbands and wives as though they were changing clothes. Until marriage again becomes the serious and important part of people’s lives that it used to be,

we’ll probably continue to see a high rate of divorce.

1. What did many Americans think of divorce in the past? B 2. What is the attitude of many Americans to marriage today? D 3. What makes divorce cheap? B

4. Why is Hollywood known as the divorce capital of the world? C

5. In the speaker’s view, when will the high rate of divorce drop? A

注释：

1. intend to do : mean, plan 打算，想要 intend sth. for sb. 为某人准备某物 eg. a book intended for adult.

2. work out 1) develop in a certain way; turn out 2) find by reasoning or figuring eg. Things worked out quite well. 事情的结局相当不错。

She had worked out that it would cost over 100 dollars. 她已经算出来那要花100多元。

How the situation will eventually work out only time can tell. 情况最后将会是怎样，只有以后才能知道。

The police couldn’t work out how the thieves had entered the building. 警察查不出窃贼是怎么进入那幢建筑物的。 ＊at work 在工作，忙于 ＊out of work 失业

3. frown on / at 对…不赞许，对…皱眉

4. be known as “作为（…身份，特征等）而出名” be known for “因…而众所周知” be known to “为…所知”

Unit 4 Warming Up

Good evening， ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to “A Hunk of Burning Love”. Are you in love1? According to a recent survey2, many of your classmates are. Sixty-seven percent of the university students report that they have feelings of love for someone. Yet 24 percent say that their feelings are unknown by the person they desire. In the majority3 of cases4, love for someone is known and is shared. Young people in love share their feelings in various ways. They buy gifts, write love letters, and date. Sometimes, they make commitments5 to each other, promising to be together forever. How do you express love? What should you be doing? We’ll get into these questions and more as we discuss love, love in this program, “A Hunk of Burning Love”.