初级英语听力 lesson 17

初级英语听力

lesson 17

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Tony; Whew. The disco wasn’t bad but

I’m

glad

to

escape

from

the

noise.

Aren’t

you?Richard:

: Richard, I’d forgotten. You’ve got a

letter. Now where did I put it? There it is. Under the

gas d: Oh, from my : Good. How

many brothers have you got?Richard: Only :

Name?Richard: : Older or younger?Richard:

Much : How much?Richard: Five :

Get

on

all

right?Richard:

Yes,

all

:

Tell

me

about Mark. You must have a lot in common. Such as

d: Well, when I have a real problem I

usually discuss it with : And what is a real

problem?Richard: Money is one. But Mark never minds

helping me : You say money is one problem. I

suppose you mean there are d: Well, yes.

Of

course

there

are.

Friends

and

possessions.

He

knows

who my friends are and I know who his friends are. But

when we meet we hardly ever speak. His friends aren’t

interested in talking to my friends. And my friends

think his friends are boring and : Go

on, Richard. You mentioned possessions. What about

possessions?Richard: I can never find my favorite

cassettes. Mark and his friends keep borrowing them.

I suppose Mark has a point when he says he can’t fin

d

his calculator. I use it whenever I can find :

So

...

if

you

were

in

real

trouble,

who

would

you

contact

first?Richard:

Mark,

of

an:

Now

Mr.

Grant

has a question, I think, on gardening. Mr. Grant?Mr.

Grant: Can the team please suggest any suitable

gardening task that could be given to young children

between

eight

and

twelve

years

an:

I

usually

get them to wash my car. But a gardening task, well,

what do you suggest, Peter?Peter: There’s a great

tendency among some people I know to treat young

children like slave labor. I don’t think you should.

I think you should give them a job which is going to

be

useful

to

you,

not

one

that

you

would

object

to

doing

yourself and, if possible, one which is going to be of

some

educational

benefit

to

them.

A

job

I

would

suggest

is hand an: You must have thought about

this, Jeff. What job would you give them?Jeff: Well,

I’d

sooner

have

them

eating

ice

cream.

No,

seriously,

I

like

having

young

people

in

the

garden.

One

thing

that

they enjoy doing, because they get very messy, is

cleaning

tools,

you

know

spades,

rakes

and

things

like

that. I mean you give a little boy an old rag to clean

them

with

and

he

is

so

happy.

Another

job

they

love

and

which I hate absolutely is edging. You know, trying to

give a shape to the lawn. They make a horrible mess of

it

cutting

it

smaller

and

smaller

and

giving

it

no

shape

at all, but they thoroughly enjoy it. The other thing

that

I

like

to

give

them

to

do

is

pot

washing.

They’re

not so keen on that but I get them to wash the pots.

But anything that’s going to get them messy,

lovely!Chairman: What do you say, Susan?Susan: Well,

I would say heaven help any young boy or girl who came

into

my

garden

because

their

life

would

be

made

a

misery.

The only way I would let anybody touch my garden is if

I was in the garden with them and working alongside,

so I think the only thing to do is, whatever you do,

work with them and make sure (a) that it’s done

properly and (b) that they’re happy while they do

people are giving their opinions about

r 1: When I look at a picture like this

I feel ... hmm ... I feel ... I’m not really sure how

I iewer: Disgusted perhaps?

Horrified?Speaker 1: No, no, I wouldn’t say

iewer: Are you excited, perhaps?Speaker 1:

Excited?

No,

no,

not

at

all.

What’s

there

to

be

excited

about?Interviewer: Well, a lot of people who go to

boxing

matches

seem

to

be

r

1:

Yes,

I

know.

But I really can’t understand why anybody should do

that sort of thing at iewer: What? Go to a

boxing match? Or box in one?Speaker 1: No, the first.

I

...

I

think

...

well

...

it’s

hard

to

understand

why

people should want to earn their living by fighting,

but I think I can. I mean, it’s the money, isn’t it?

No,

I

meant

going

to

a

thing

like

that

and

watching

it.

I

...

I

just

can’t

understand

it.

That’s

r

2: Well, before ... I used to be disgusted by the idea

of this sort of thing. Men fighting for money. Blood.

All

that

sort

of

iewer:

And

now?Speaker

2:

Well,

since

I’ve

started

going

to

a

few

boxing

matches

with

my

boyfriend,

I

think

I

see

something

...

something

else in iewer: What?Speaker 2: Well ...

perhaps you’ll be surprised when I say this ... but

I think there’s a real eleme

nt of skill. Yes.

iewer: What kind of skill?Speaker 2:

Physical skill. Those men are really ... fit. And if

you watch two good boxers ... boxers who know what

they’re

doing

...

you

can

see

the

skill.

The

way

they

...

they ... the way they watch each other and wait for an

opening. That sort of thing. It’s quite exciting,

really. A bit like ... a chess game. r 3: To

me it’s just disgusting. A brutal, disgusting

spectacle.

It

ought

to

be

banned.

It

sickens

me

...

the

very

thought

of

it

sickens

:

Well,

what

did

you

think

of

the

film,

Margaret?Margaret:

Oh,

I

enjoyed

it

actually. But I do like musicals and I think Julie

Andrews

is

:

Lovely

et:

Oh,

: And a lovely et: Oh,

she’s very very : I can’t think why

so many people criticize et: Oh well, a lot

of

people

do,

but

I

think

it’s

a

snob

thing

with

a

lot

of : I’ve always enjoyed her films. Very

well

produced,

et:

Oh,

excellent,

:

Those lovely scenes in the et: Yes, where

she was doing that number where she was dancing on the

: Mm, and that scene in the school. It

brought tears to my eyes. What about next week

then?Margaret:

Yes,

what

are

we

going

to

see

next

week?

Do you know what’s on? I haven’t looked at the local

paper to see what’s on next : Well, I’d

better give you a ring about et: All right.

I hope there’s another musical : Well, I

believe there’s Guys and Dolls on, if I reme

mber

et: Really? Are they bringing that back

again?Woman: I believe so. But it’s on at the Odeon,

on the other side of town, so it would involve quite

a bit of et: Oh, yes, but I’d go

anywhere

to

see

Frank

:

I’d

for

gotten

he

was in it, so he is. Well, let’s try and see that if

we et: I have seen it before, of course, but

they’re

always

bringing

it

:

What

do

you

say,

shall we meet for tea and then take in a

matinee?Margaret:

Yes,

that’s

a

good

idea

.

Where

shall

I meet you?Woman: Now what about the Odeon cafe. Four

o’clock?Margaret; Fine. Which day?Woman:

Tuesday?Margaret: No, I can’t make it Tuesday. How

about Thursday?Woman: Yes, Thursday is all right. My

husband

likes

to

go

off

to

his

club

on

et:

So Thursday, four o’clock, have tea and then go and

see Guys and Dolls. Well, that’ll be nice because I

do like Frank Sinatra. So I’ll see you on Thursday.

I

have

to

be

off

now.

:

Rogers

is describing a boat trip which she took with her

husband down the was the summer of last year

when we went. It was a special package holiday which

included three days in Cairo, and a week cruising down

the

Nile.

It

sounded

lovely

in

the

brochure.

Relaxing,

luxurious, delicious food

—

all the usual things. And

the boat looked nice in the picture. In fact when we

got

there,

and

on

the

boat,

it

was

exactly

the

opposite

of luxurious. It was positively uncomfortable. It was

too small to be comfortable. And too hot. The only

air-conditioning

was

from

the

wind,

and

inside,

in

the

cabins, it was too hot to sleep, and the dining room

was

husband

and

I

paid

the

special

rate

for

the best cabin. I’m glad we didn’t have to stay in

the worst one. The cabins were very poorly equipped;

there

wasn’t

even

a

mirror,

or

a

socket

for

a

hair

drier,

or even a point for the electric razor. There was a

shower, but the water pressure wasn’t high enough to

use it. The cabin was badly designed as well. There

wasn’t enough room to move. The beds to

ok up three

quarters of the brochure also talked about

the mouth-watering French cuisine available on board,

but you could hardly call it food. It was boring, and

practically

inedible.

There

was

nothing

to

do,

really.

There

was

a

table- tennis

table,

but

one

bat

was

broken.

In

the

daytime

the

decks

were

so

crowded,

there

wasn’t

even enough room to sit. We did stop now and then for

a swim, but who wants to swim in that filthy river? I

certainly didn’sor Ernest Taylor is a

sociologist

and

the

author

of

a

number

of

books.

He

was

interviewed

recently

on

CBC

radio

by

Norman

:

Now

Professor,

in

your

latest

book

Granny

Doesn’t

Live

Here Any More, you suggest that Granny is a problem,

and she is going to become even more of a problem in

t

he

future.

Am

I

correct?Taylor:

Yes,

in

fact

it’s

not

only Granny who is a problem, it’s Grandfather, too,

and old people in : Now, is this a

peculiarly British phenomenon? It seems very sad that

parents should give so much of their lives to bringing

up their children and then, when they become old, be

regarded as a : Our research was mainly

carried out in Britain. In many countries it is still

regarded

as

quite

natural

that

a

widowed

mother

should

go to live with one of her married children, but in

Britain, certainly during the last thirty or forty

years, there has been considerable resistance to this

:

Now

why

do

you

think

this

is?

Surely

having

a Granny about the place to take care of the younger

children, and give a hand with the housework, can take

a lot of pressure off a young wife, can’t it?Taylor:

Yes, I think this is true. But remember the old people

themselves are of ten totally opposed to the idea of

going to live with the young family. And modern houses

and flats are very small, much smaller than the sort

of homes people used to live : And when Granny

gets very old, then the situation becomes even worse,

doesn’t

it?Taylor:

Yes,

as

long

as

old

people

are

able

to

look

after

themselves,

the

system

works

quite

well.

But as soon as they need anything in the way of care

and attention, the situation becomes very difficult

: Well, presumably a point comes when old

people have to go into a nursing home or something

: Yes, but it’s not as

simple as that.

Because of improvements in medical science, life

expectancy is increasing all the time. The birth rate

has fallen. This means that an ever smaller working

population is having to provide for an ever larger

number of old people, in need of care and attention.

The number of places in old people’s homes provided

by the State is strictly limited. There are private

nursing homes, but the cost is way out of reach of the

average

:

And

how

do

you

see

the

situation

developing

in

the

future?Taylor:

Well,

obviously

a

lot

of money is going to have to be spent. But it’s

difficult persuading people to do this. There aren’t

many votes for politicians in providing nursing homes

for : You don’t see a reversal of this

trend, with Granny going back to live with the

: I think this is most A:

I can’t stand places like Majorca or the Costa

: No, nor can A: You know, where you