Passage One
[00:01.25]People are not so honest as they once were.
[00:04.68]The temptation to steal is greater than ever before-especially in large shop.
[00:09.77]A detective recently watched a well-dressed woman who always went into a large store on Monday morning.
[00:15.54]One Monday,there were fewer people in the shop than usual when the woman came in.
[00:21.29]so it was easier for the detective to watch her.
[00:24.19]The woman first bought a few small article.
[00:27.40]After a little time.
[00:28.63]she chose one of the most expensive dresses in the shop
[00:31.90]and handed it to an assistant who wrapped it up for her as quickly as possible.
[00:36.99]Then the woman simply took the parcel and walked out of the shop without paying.
[00:41.82]When she was arrested
[00:43.26]the detective found out that the shop-assistant was her daughter.
[00:46.60]The girl "gave" her mother a free dress once a week!
[00:49.79]1. Why was it easier for the detective to watch to woman one Monday?
[00:56.63]2. Who was the shop-assistant?
[01:00.11]3. What's the author's opinion about "honesty"?
[01:04.05]Passage Two
[01:05.54]When you visit London,one of the first things you will see is Big Ben
[01:10.35]the famous clock which can be heard all over the world on the B.B.C..
[01:15.60]If the Houses of Parliament had not been burned down in 1834
[01:21.16]the great clock would never have been erecter.
[01:24.14]Big Ben takes its name from Sir Benjamin Hall who was responsible for the making of the clock
[01:31.43]when the new Houses of Parliament were being build.
[01:34.64]It is not only of immense size
[01:37.20]but of extremely accurate as well
[01:40.10]Officials from Greenwich Observatory have the clock checked twice a day
[01:46.29]On the B.B.C.
[01:47.78]you can hear the clock when it is actually striking
[01:51.41]because microphones are connected to the clock tower.
[01:55.33]Big Ben has really gone wrong
[01:58.13]Once,however,it failed to give the correct time.
[02:01.89]A painter who had been working on the tower hung a pot of paint on one of the hands and slowed it down!
[02:09.78]4. What does the author think of Big Ben?
[02:13.59]5. Why can you hear the clock on the B.B.C.?
[02:17.82]6. What is Big Ben?
[02:20.54]Passage Three
[02:22.52]On the occasion of the old lady's eightieth birthday
[02:25.66]she waited eagerly to see what kind of present her daughter
[02:29.47]Myra,would send to he
[02:31.75]Since her first daughter,Enid,had died two years before
[02:36.81]the old lady had endured the loneliness of living by herself.
[02:41.15]It was rare for Myra to visit her mother
[02:44.10]but still the old lady was proud of her .
[02:47.11]She felt sure that her daughter would celebrate her birthday with something special.
[02:51.73]As she waited for the postman
[02:53.95]the old lady trembled with excitement because she was quite sure she would receive a lovely present.
[03:00.09]After all,she thought
[03:01.86]even if Myra paid little attention to her mother at other times.
[03:06.07]today was a very special day.
[03:08.29]However,when the postman came
[03:10.98]the old lady found to her disappointment that
[03:13.83]rather than choosing a special gift.
[03:16.78]Myra had simply sent her a cheque folded in a card.
[03:20.02]7. What's the relationship between Myra and the old lady?
[03:26.32]8. Why was the old lady sure she would receive a lovely present?
[03:31.64]9. What was the old lady's present?
[03:35.69]10. How did the old lady feel when she found her present?
[03:39.92]Passage Four
[03:42.01]In March of 1981, John Hinckle
[03:46.53]Jr.attempted to assassinate United States President Ronald Reagan.
[03:51.18]President Reagan was coming out of a hotel after making a speech
[03:55.62]when suddenly six loud shots ran out.
[03:58.13]One of the bullets entered the president's left lune.
[04:02.00]His security men rushed him to the hospital where doctors operated on him for two hours.
[04:08.66]Reagan recovered rapidly and was back in the White House after a few weeks.
[04:14.96]The gunman was a young man from a well-to-do family.
[04:19.03]After the shooting
[04:20.55]the police searched his motel room and found a letter
[04:24.31]The letter was addressed to Jody Foster
[04:27.00]a young movie actress.
[04:29.53]In the letter he explained that he wanted to shoot the President in order to impress Miss Foster and make her pay attention to him.
[04:37.58]The police later discovered that Hinckley had a history of emotional problems.
[04:43.48]11. What had happened to Ronald Reagan in March of 1981?
[04:48.76]12. What was Reagan doing when the thing happened?
[04:53.28]13. Who was Jody Foster?
[04:56.78]Passage Five
[04:58.27]If you had been alive 200 years ago
[05:01.01]and perhaps had stolen only a few loaves of bread
[05:04.43]you would have been sent to prison.
[05:06.18]If you had killed someone
[05:08.48]something far worse would have happened to you.
[05:11.46]You would have been hanged in public.
[05:13.73]Life was hard and often brutal
[05:16.26]So was the law.
[05:17.78]Perhaps it had to be.
[05:19.76]If you had lived in a large city like London
[05:23.34]and if you had walked through the streets at night
[05:25.93]someone might have killed you only in order to get your money.
[05:29.56]Prisons have of course gotten much better in the last 200 years.
[05:34.68]But conditions are still far from perfect.
[05:37.55]If you were in a prison in many countries
[05:41.26]you would probably be living in a small cell.
[05:44.27]You would probably be sharing it with at least two other people.
[05:48.50]Many people say
[05:50.25]"Why should criminals have any better condition?
[05:53.44]They shouldn't have broken the law in the first place."
[05:56.81]14. What was life like 200 years ago?
[06:02.19]15. What was the law like 200 years ago?
[06:06.13]16. What does the author think of the conditions of prisons in the last 200 years?
[06:13.58]Passage Six
[06:15.12]If we didn't eat,we couldn't keep our bodies alive.
[06:19.17]We couldn't grow
[06:20.45]we couldn't have energic
[06:21.88]and various parts of our body couldn't function as they must.
[06:25.91]Modern scientists have been able to find out which substances in food our bodies need
[06:26.63]and how much of these substances we need to be healthy.
[06:30.96]In other words,it isn't enough just to eat
[06:34.44]we must take in enough of each type of food substance for a specific purpose.
[06:40.52]Protein food such as milk,eggs,cheese
[06:44.63]meat and fish contain large quantities of the kind of material the body needs to build cell
[06:52.33]The body cann't make new cells without proteic.
[06:55.81]Carbohydrates are foods which have a large quantity of starch or sugar
[07:02.05]such as potatoes,flour,rice,and sugar.
[07:06.33]They are important to the body because they keep it warm and give it energic .
[07:11.66]Almost all foods also have some fat
[07:15.29]and fat is the most concentrated energy-giving food the body needs.
[07:20.94]17. What should we do if we want to keep our bodies alive?
[07:25.64]18. What is necessary for the body to make new cells?
[07:32.51]19. What kind of food does flour belong to?
[07:36.87]20. Why are carbohydrates important to the body |