【正文】 eft and go past the … um … there’s a restaurant. Go past the restaurant and it’s on the left. Man 1: On the left. So I need to go to the end of the street, turn left, go past the restaurant and it’s on the left. Man 2: Yeah, that’s it. Man 1: Thanks a lot. Group discussion Scripts OK, well, we would like to go to Easter Island. It is very isolated, very far from other places. Er, we are going to travel there by plane and stay with different families and the trip is going to take three months. We want to experience the local culture, their music, food, and way of life. So our plan is to speak to the local people about these things and to film them. We hope to find out about their traditions and to see what they think of their history. Well, um, finally, my husband and I always wanted to go to Easter Island. I read about it when I was a child and I saw pictures of these amazing stone heads on the island. So for us this is the journey of our dreams. Further practice in listening Short conversations Scripts Conversation 1 M: I still can’t decide whether we should have a whole package tour or a selfdrive tour. W: A whole package tour means having to spend time in the confined quarters of a coach, bus or train with people you are not familiar with, but considering our budget, perhaps we have to sacrifice fort and privacy. Q: What does the woman say about a whole package tour? Conversation 2 W: I was so shocked when I saw the tiny, dirty houses where the children grew up. M: So was I. I’m afraid that they don’t have enough food, let alone go to school. Next time we should have our daughter e with us. She always takes things for granted. Q: What are the two speakers planning to do? Conversation 3 M: I will say it again: India is not a safe place for a woman to travel alone. W: But if I wear the proper clothes, and learn the cultural dos and don’ts, it should be fine. Please don’t be so alarmed. Q: What will the woman do? Conversation 4 W: I’m going to travel with my fiveyearold this summer. But I feel kind of uncertain whether things will work out. M: You know Jane? She and her husband spend every holiday traveling in a jeep with their son and dog. Probably you should go to her before you go. Q: What does the woman feel uncertain about? Conversation 5 M: Many people love a good story about somebody traveling in time – either to repair the future, or to observe the past. Why are time travel stories so popular? W: I think it’s human nature to dream of whatifs. What if I could see an alien? Q: What are the two speakers talking about? Long conversation Scripts M: It’s good to have you back at work Emily. How was your trip to the Amazon rainforest? W: It was like a spectacular dream。 I saw so many more things than I ever could have imagined. The plants are so thick that you couldn’t even see the sun or the sky above, and there are more shades of green than I’ve seen before in my life! M: Wow, with so many plants, how did you get around? W: We rode a tour boat down the Amazon River – it connects the whole jungle, and the local people use it to travel, too. It’s amazing being somewhere so far away from technology, without any electricity for miles and miles. The local people don’t even see the world outside of the jungle, never traveling more than 15 minutes up or down the river their whole lives! M: What an entirely different lifestyle! It must be pletely different there. Did you get to meet any of the villagers? W: Oh yes! Here’s the story: I finished a small blue bottle of wine and was about to throw it away. The tour guide told me to save it. Later, when we arrived at one of the villages, he introduced me to an old woman there who greeted our boat. I gave her the wine bottle as a gift. She looked at it like a great treasure, and she said that it would be an honored prize for her hut. I was shocked that something so small and mon for me – could mean so much! M: Emily, I suppose we really take modern life for granted. Q1: What does the woman say about the plants in the Amazon rainforest? Q2: What does the woman say about the local people? Q3: Why was the old woman in the village so excited? Q4: What has the woman learned from her traveling experience? Passage 1 Scripts I believe watching nature programs on television is not going to give us and our children a real experience of nature. On the contrary, they may distance us from nature – actual nature – even further. Because real nature experiences mean contact with nature. It means being with and within nature, to experience it with all five senses. True, TV programs give us joy but they will never be able to help us form a relationship with nature. We watch our small screens e alive with the vivid colors and we all let out “aahhhh …” and “wooooow”. But, never once will we feel the pleasure of being close to nature. Worse still – the programs such as those on the Discovery Channel make nature seem so strange, and so far away, in the forests of the Amazon or in the wilds of Africa. Children may grow up without even realizing that the flowers, plants or a couple of trees in their backyard are nature and they are equally precious. The truth is – nature is so close to us. We don’t need to go anywhere far to enjoy such experiences. It is right there in our backyards. Or, in parks, gardens, forests, or national parks. All we need to do is make an effort to get closer to nature – know it, appreciate it, and explore it. Feeling the soil under our feet and the wind in our hair。 listening to the sound of the fallen leaves and taking in the smell of the wet soil – all these are pure joy to the senses that we must experience. Q1: What may happen to children after watching nature programs on TV? Q2: How should children get close to nature according to the speaker? Q3: What impression might t