【文章內(nèi)容簡介】 Reversing the usual order, they were first worn by women, / and then adopted by men. / In the old days, queens included wrist watches among their crown jewelry. / Later, they were worn by Swiss workers and farmers. / Until World War I, Americans associated the watch with fortune hunters. / Then army officers discovered that the wrist watch was most practical for active bat. / Race car drivers also loved to wear wrist watches, / and pilots found them most useful while flying. / Soon men dared to wear wrist watches without feeling selfconscious. / By 1924, some 30 percent of man39。s watches were worn on the wrist. / Today, the figure is 90 percent. / And they are now worn by both men and women / for practical purposes rather than for decoration.The Internet (2006)The Internet is the most significant progress in the field of munications. / Imagine a book that never ends, a library with a million floors, / or imagine a research project with thousands of scientists / working around the clock forever. / This is the magic of the Internet. / Yet the Internet has the potential for good and bad. / One can find wellorganized, informationrich websites. / At the same time, one can also find wasteful websites. / Most websites are known as different Internet applications. / These include online games, chat rooms (chatrooms) and so on. / These applications have great power, too. / Sometimes the power can be so great / that young people may easily bee victims to their attraction. / So we need to recognize the seriousness of the problem. / We must work together to use its power for better ends.專業(yè)四級標準聽寫二十篇TEM 4 Dictation PracticesPassage 1 SaltWe do not know when man first began to use salt, / but we do know that it has been used in many different ways throughout history. / Historical evidence shows, for example, that people who lived over 3,000 years ago ate slated fish. / Thousands of years ago in Egypt, salt was used to preserve the dead. /Stealing salt was considered a major crime during some periods of history. / In 18th century, for instance, / if a person was caught stealing salt, he can be put in jail. / History records that about ten thousand people were put in jail during that century for stealing salt. / About 150 years before, in the year 1553, / taking more salt that one was allowed to was punishable as a crime. / The offender’s ear was cut off.Salt was an important item on the table of royalty. / It was traditionally placed in front of the king when he sat down to eat. / Important guests at the king’s table were seated near the salt. / Less important guests were given seats farther away from it. / (175 words)Passage 2 PerceptionsAsk three people to look out of the same window at a busy street and tell you what they see. / Probably you will receive three different answers. / Each person sees the same scene, but each perceives something different about it. / Perceiving goes in our minds. / Of the three people who look out of the window / one may say that he sees a policeman giving a driver a ticket. / Another may say that he sees a rush – hour traffic jam at the street corner. / The third may tell you that he sees a woman trying to cross the street with four children. / For perception is the mind’s interpretation / of what the senses – in this case our eyes – tell us. /Many psychologists today are working to try to explain / just how a person experiences or perceive the world around him. / Using a scientific method these psychologists set up experiments: / they are trying to find out what makes different people / perceive totally different things about the same scene. / (164 words)Passage 3 BalloonsBalloons have been used for sport for about one hundred years. / There are two kinds of sport balloons: gas and hot air. / Hot air balloons are safer than gas balloons, / which may catch fire. / Hot air balloons are preferred by most balloonists in the United States because of their safety. / They are also cheaper and easier to manager than gas balloons. / Despite the ease of operating a balloon, / pilots must watch the weather carefully. / Sport balloon flights are best early in the morning / or late in the afternoon, when the wind is light. / Over the years, balloonists have tried unsuccessfully to cross the Atlantic. / It wasn39。t until 1978 that three American balloonists succeeded. / It took them just six days to make the trip / from their homes in the United States to Paris, France. / Their voyage captured the imagination of the whole world. / (143 words)Passage 4 You Found a Job, Now How do You Save Money?Saving your hard earned money can be difficult, / as most of us enjoy spending rather than saving, / I certainly had a tough time holding onto my money every payday. / When I got my first few paychecks, / right away I spent the cold, hard cash I’d earned by hard work. / But I quickly realized that this sort of spending wouldn’t really help me get the things I wanted. / So I made a pact with myself. I promise that before I did anything with the money, / I would deposit at least 50% of the money into my saving account. / That way, I eliminated the temptation to spend that money. /After I got used to saving my money, / it was much easier for me not to be tempted to buy things when I saw them. / When I saw a CD or video game that looked appealing, / I learned to ask myself, “Do I really need this?” / Asking this question helped me appreciate my money and not let it slip out of my wallet quite so fast. / (173 words)Passage 5 Online Health ForumThere are many aspects to health, illness and healing. / Among all the teachings there is one theme that is universal to them all / and that is the unquestionable benefit achieved by municating with others abou