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全国manbetapp等级考试教材第4级听力 unit 13

Unit 13 Environment II

Conversation

1. Mr. and Mrs. Clark are talking about a new atomic power plant near their house and its effect on their life and the environment.

Mrs. Clark: Oh! Did you see this story in the newspaper?

Mr. Clark: Which story?

Mrs. Clark: About an atomic power plant reported in today’s newspaper.

Mr. Clark: No, I didn’t read it. What’s the matter? Has there been some trouble?

Mrs. Clark: No, that’s not it. They want to build one new atomic power plant right here.

Mr. Clark: Right here? What do you mean by that? How near? Can you tell me more?

Mrs. Clark: On the cliffs along the river. It says it will provide enough electricity for the whole region.

Mr. Clark: Well, we can certainly use more electricity around here. It might bring in more industry. Then maybe our taxes would go down.

Mrs. Clark: But nuclear reactors! They’re so dangerous!

Mr. Clark: Oh, dear, don’t worry. The engineers will take care of all the safety problems.

Mrs. Clark: Don’t you like to go fishing down by the cliffs along the river?

Mr. Clark: Well, you know I do.

Mrs. Clark: Too bad. You’ll never be able to do it again.

Mr. Clark: Why? What do you mean by that?

Mrs. Clark: Because of the hot water. You know they use a lot of water to cool the reactors, and they let it out boiling hot.

Mr. Clark: Yes, I suppose I have heard about that.

Mrs. Clark: And then there’s the problem with the waste.

Mr. Clark: What about it?

Mrs. Clark: Nobody’s really figured out how to get rid of it. And it can remain radioactive for years, some of it even for centuries.

Mr. Clark: Here. Jet me see the story. Are they going to let the public have anything to say about this? We don’t want anything around here that' 11 be a danger to the environment.

Q

1. What story is reported in today's newspaper?

2. Where is the atomic power plant to be built?

3. Why is the atomic power plant very dangerous?

2. Two students are talking about American national parks.

A: Have you read the book on American national parks assigned by our teacher?

B: Yes. Now I know that national parks represent one of the finest examples of nature conservation.

A: You are quite right. All the national parks are kept just as “natural” as possible. No tree-falling is allowed there, and when a tree falls, it is left to rot and enrich the soil.

B: That’s right. They encourage young trees to grow. And even natural forest fires. Those not started by man are allowed in many parks, to burn themselves out.

A: From the book, I also learn that animals in natural national parks learned years ago that man was not their enemy. Many of them became so tame that sometimes they even lined the roads and begged for food from visitors.

B: But this is not nature conservation. Cookies and candy are not part of an animal’s normal food.

A: Do you know anything about the first American natural park?

B: Yes. Yellowstone is the first American national park. It was founded in 1872 in the state of Wyoming怀俄明.

A: So it has been there for over one century. What is this national park like?

B: There are many geysers which shoot jets of boiling water 200 feet up into the air; a deep canyon where a rushing river pours over mighty waterfalls. Visitors can also find snowy mountain peaks, tree-fringed lakes and vast forests, as well as broad water meadows, across which the Yellowstone River glides gently on its way to the canyon. On these meadows, many animals come 10 graze in the evening.

A: It seems quite romantic. It is really a good way to preserve animals and protect the environment.

Q

1. How are all the national parks kept just as “natural” as possible?

2. What’s the first American national park?

3. When was Yellowstone founded?

4. Where is Yellowstone?

Passage

Pollution Is a Dirty Word

Consume; consume, consume! Our society is consumer-oriented. To keep the wheels of industry turning, we manufacture consumer goods in endless quantities, and. In the process, are rapidly exhausting our natural resources. But this is only half the problem. What do we do with manufactured products when they are worn out? They must be disposed of, but how and where? Unsightly junkyards full of rusting automobiles already surround every city in the nation. Americans throwaway 80 billion bottles and cans each year, enough to build more than 10 stacks to the moon. There isn’t room for much more waste, and yet the factories grind on. They cannot stop, because everyone wants a job. Our standard of living, one of the highest in the world, requires the consumption of manufactured products in ever-increasing amounts. About to be buried in our own waste, we are caught in a vicious cycle. “Stop the world. I want to get off.” is the way a popular song puts our dilemma.

It wasn’t always like this. Only 100 years ago, people lived in harmony with nature. There weren’t so many people then, and their wants were fewer. Whatever wastes were produced could be absorbed by nature and were soon covered over. Today this harmonious relationship is threatened by our lack of foresight and planning, and by carelessness and greed. For we are slowly poisoning our environment.

Pollution is a “dirty” word. To pollute means to contaminate-to spoil something by introducing impurities. Pollution comes in many forms. We see it, smell it, taste it, drink it and stumble through it. We literally live in and breathe pollution, and not surprisingly, it is beginning to threaten our health, our happiness, and our very civilization.

Once we thought of pollution as meaning simply smog-the choking, stinging, dirty air that hovers over cities. But air pollution, while it is still the most dangerous, is only one type of contamination among several that attack the most basic life functions.

Through the uncontrolled use of insecticides, people have polluted the land, killing the wildlife. By dumping sewage and chemicals into rivers and lakes, we have contaminated our drinking water. We are polluting the oceans, too, killing the fish and thereby depriving ourselves of an invaluable food supply.

Part of the problem is our exploding population. More and more people produce more wastes. But this problem is intensified by our “throw-away” technology. Each year Americans dispose of 7 million autos, 20 million tons of waste paper, 25 million pounds of toothpaste tubes, and 48 million cans. We throw away gum wrappers, newspapers, and paper plates. It is no longer fashionable to reuse anything. Today almost everything is disposable. Instead of repairing a toaster or a radio, it is easier and cheaper to buy a new one and discard the old, even though 95 percent of its parts may still be functioning. Baby diapers, which used to be made of reusable cloth, are now paper throwaways. Soon we will wear clothing made of paper: "Wear it once and throw it away" will be the slogan of the fashion conscious.

Take the problem of discarded automobiles, for instance. Each year over 40,000 of them are abandoned in New York City alone. Eventually the discards end up in a junkyard. But cars are too bulky to ship as scrap to a steel mill. They must first be flattened. This is done in a giant compressor that can reduce a Cadillac to the size of a television set in a matter of minutes. Our ingenuity has come to the rescue.

What about water pollution? More and more cities are building sewage-treatment plants. Instead of being dumped into a nearby river or lake, sewage is sent through a system of underground pipes to a giant tank where the water is separated from the solid material, purified, and returned for reuse to the community water supply. The solid material, called sludge, is converted into fertilizer. The sludge can also be made into bricks.

Controlling air pollution is another crucial objective. Without food, we can live about five weeks; without water, about five days; without air, people can only live five minutes, so pure air is a must. Here the wrongdoer is the automobile. Where there is a concentration of automobiles, as in our big cities, air pollution is severe. It is important to see that our cars are equipped with pollution-control devices. Such devices effectively reduce the harmful gases emitted from the engine.

Can we eliminate pollution altogether? Probably not. Today we pollute with everything we do, so total elimination would require drastic measures. Every power plant would have to shut down. Industries would have to close. We would have to leave all our automobiles in the garage. Every bus and truck and airplane would have to stop running. There would be no way to bring food to the cities. There would be no heat and no light. Under these conditions, our population would die in a short time.

Since such a drastic solution is impossible, we must employ determined public action. We can reduce pollution, even if we can’t eliminate it altogether. But we must all do our part. Check your car to see if the pollution-control device is working. Reduce your use of electricity. Is air conditioning really necessary? Don't dump garbage or other waste on the land or in the water. Demand that government take firm action against pollution. We can have a clean world or we can do nothing. The choice is up to you.

Questions

J. What harm are we doing in the process of manufacturing?

2. Why did people live in harmony with nature one hundred years ago?

3. What does pollution mean according to the author?

4. What is the most dangerous type of contamination?

5. What are more and more cities doing now to control water pollution?

Words and expressions

reactor

get rid of

enrich

mighty

consume

process

exhaust

dispose or

stack

grind

grind on

consumption

vicious

dilemma

harmony

harmonious

foresight

greed

contaminate

impurity

stumble

civilization

smog

choke

stinging

hover

sewage

explode

intensify

tube

gum

abandon

end up

bulky

scrap

flatten

giant

ingenuity

rescue

purify

convert

emit

eliminate

drastic

Exercises

Section I Listening Comprehension

Part A

For Questions 1-5, you will hear a passage about Global Warning. While you listen, fill out the table with the information you have heard. Some of the information has been given to you in the table. Write only 1 word in each numbered box.

Information about Global Warming

Global warming is (1. )

One of the implications of global warming is an increase in (2. )

Every major glacier in the Northern Hemisphere is (3. )

A lot of real estate lying only a foot or less above sea level will be (4. )

Global warming is due 10 fossil fuels and other gas (5. )

Part A

Global warming is real. The five warmest years since good records began to be kept have all been in this decade. If you ever live through an average Chicago winter, a little bit of global warming doesn’t sound bad. But one of the implications of global warming is an increase in storms. Studies have reported a 20 % increase in severe storms in recent years. Another consequence of global warming is a steady melting of glaciers around the world, and that’s well documented. Big chunks of the Atlantic ice cap are breaking off and floating away, every major glacier in the Northern Hemisphere is retreating: the icy summits of the Andes in South America are disappearing, an unpleasant circumstance for the farmers who rely on melt water to grow their crops. It has been suggested that all this melting ice will raise sea levels. So it will, but there’s a more immediate problem. There is an awful lot of real estate now used by human beings that lies only a foot or less above sea level; a good bit of that will be flooded.

Global warming is an increase in the earth’s temperature due to fossil fuels, industry and agricultural processes caused by human, natural, and other gas emissions. There are many misconceptions about global warming. Some believe that pollution causes global warming, but the fact is that global warming is the result of burning fossil fuels, coal, and oil that release carbon dioxide. Another misconception is nuclear power causes climate change. Nuclear power actually reduces emissions of carbon dioxide when used in place of coal. This name is also misleading because global warming doesn’t mean that it will become warmer all over, and it will actually become cold in some places.

Part B

For Questions 5 -10, you will hear a passage about Melt Rock. While you listen, complete the sentences and answer the questions. Use not more than 3 words for each answer.

Though geologists have learned a great they still have not discovered the causes of (6. )

Many scientists now believe that much of the heal inside the earth is produced by (7. )

Whatever the cause of the heat may be, we do know that the earth gets holder the further down (8. )

The melted rock often contains steam and other gases (9. )

Volcanic ash, cinders, and lava build up the cone-shaped mountains that we call (10. )

Part B

Geologists have been studying volcanoes for a long time. Though they have learned a great deal, they still have not discovered the causes of volcanic action. They know that the inside of the earth is very hot, but they thought that the heat is caused by the great pressure of the earth’s outer layers. Or the heat may be left from the time when the earth was formed. During the last sixty years scientists have learned about some radioactive elements. Many scientists now believe that much of the heat inside the earth is produced by radioactive elements.

Whatever the cause of the heat may be, we do know that the earth gets hotter the further down we dig. However, the pressure of the rock above keeps most materials from melting at their melting points. Geologists believe that the rock deep in the earth may be plastic or puttylike. In other words, the rock yields slowly to pressure but is not liquid. But if some change in the earth’s crust release the pressure, the rock melts. Then the hot, liquid rock can move up toward the surface.

When the melted rock works its way close to the earth’s crust, a volcano may be formed. The melted rock often contains steam and other gases under great pressure. If the rock above gives way, the pressure is released. Then the sudden explosion of the gases causes explosions. These blow the melted rock into pieces of different sizes and shoot them high in the air. Here they cool and harden into volcanic ash and cinders. Some of this material falls around the hole made in the earth’s surface. The melted rock may keep on rising and pour out as lava. In this way, volcanic ash, cinders, and lava build up the cone-shaped mountains that we call volcanoes.

Part C

You will hear one passage and one dialogue. Before listening to each one, read the questions related to it.

While listening, answer each question by choosing A, B, C or D. You will hear each piece ONLY ONCE.

11. What can we see when we photograph the sun?

[A] A huge glowing ball of gas.

[B] X-rays and ultra-violet light.

[C] Lots of dark spots on the surface of the sun.

[D] Atomic particles.

12. What is the photosphere?

[A] Area in the sun where atoms break down and build up.

[B] Area of the sun which sends out radio waves.

[C] Part of the sun we usually see.

[D] Layer of gas which forms the corona.

13. Why does the photosphere shine so brightly and send out x-rays and ultra-violet light?

[A] Because atoms are being broken down and built up in the central parts of the sun.

[B] Because the photosphere send out light.

[C] Because dark spots are much darker than the photosphere.

[D] None of the above.

14. What causes great intensity of radio signals?

[A] The x-rays and atomic particles.

[B] The thermal activity in core.

[C] The ultra-violet rays.

[D] Other gases on the surface of the sun.

15. What do the changes in radio signals correlate with?

[A] The sun’s atmosphere.

[B] Changes in the number of sunspots.

[C] The sun’s photosphere.

[D] The calcium areas of the sun’s spectrum.

A

What we see when we photograph the sun is a huge glowing ball of gas. Underneath this hot and extremely bright photosphere lies other gases. While, in the central parts of the sun, atoms are continually being broken down and built up. In the center of the sun it is just as if hundreds of thousands of hydrogen bombs were continually exploding, and the result of this reaches the photosphere. This is why the photosphere shines so brightly and sends out x-rays and ultra-violet light “Yet sometimes dark spots appear on the photosphere and these “sunspots” are evidence of greatly increased activity below. When sunspots appear, great bursts of the longer radio waves are often received. These are a thousand times more intense than those which radio-astronomers normally receive and which come from what is called the" quiet H sun. These immense bursts of radio waves are usually accompanied by an intensely bright area of “flare” near a sunspot, and it is clear that they are caused by a sudden burst of thermal radiation from below the photosphere. The visible flare and the burst of radio waves are also accompanied by a burst of x-rays, ultra-violet rays, and atomic particles.

When there are sunspots but no flares accompanying them, the radio waves emitted by the “quiet” sun do not remain constant but begin to fluctuate, and the radio signals gradually become stronger. These changes do not correlate with changes in the number of sunspots, although it has been found that the radio waves seem to be generated in the sun’s atmosphere above the sunspots and not in the sunspots themselves. The changes in radio signal do, however, correlate with the calcium areas of the sun’s spectrum.

16. What is this dialogue about?

[A] Teachers should set good examples.

[B] Environmental pollution and protection in China.

[C] People’s effort in protecting environment.

[D] Government’s role in environmental protection.

17. How long has Nick been working in China?

[A] About five months. [B] Less than five years.

[C] About five years. [D] More than five years.

18. According to Nick, what should the government do to prevent pollution?

[A]To make laws to prevent pollution.

[B] To set good examples to prevent air pollution.

[C] To punish those who pollute the air.

[D] To move offices to the countryside.

19. According to Nick, what should ordinary citizens do to protect environment?

[A] To make laws for the government.

[B] To pick up rubbish in public places.

[C] To catch those who litter in public places.

[D] To avoid dropping litter in public places.

20. What happened when Nick was travelling together with some university teachers?

[A] They saw serious air pollution.

[B] The university teachers threw bottles out of the car windows.

[C] The university teachers set good examples for young students in environmental protection.

[D] They helped clean the countryside.

B

Jenny, a reporter, is interviewing Nick, a visiting scholar from Australia on pollution in china.

Jenny: Professor Smith...

Nick: Oh, please call me Nick. This isn’t a very formal interview, is it?

Jenny: All right. Nick, how long have you been working in China?

Nick: Oh; a long time, about five years.

Jenny: So you've had enough time to feel and think about the problem of pollution here in China.

Nick: Well, I did that in my first week here. You know, air pollution is quite bad in China.

Jenny: Yes. We have major problems of air, land and water pollution. What do you think we should do to solve these problems?

Nick: First, the government needs to make laws to prevent pollution. Then ordinary citizens have to take responsibility themselves for solving the problem.

Jenny: What do you think ordinary people can do to help solving this serious problem?

Nick: They can help in many ways. They first should not drop litter in public places. I am really shocked when I find many people littering in streets, on campuses and in the countryside.

Jenny: That’s true. Many people don’t realize what they are doing is just polluting the environment. Does this happen in your country?

Nick: Well, of course it does happen sometimes. But usually in my country, when people find others littering, they will pick it up and run after the person, telling him to put it in a dustbin.

Jenny: I think this will embarrass the person and he will not do that again. Now I know what you mean by saying that ordinary citizens can help.

Nick: And also the officials and educators should set good examples in environmental protection. But I find some of them also little ring. I remember once I was travelling together with some university teachers in the countryside, I was very shocked that they just threw bottles out of the car windows. How can they tell and let young people believe that everyone should be responsible for environmental protection.

Jenny: Yes. I suppose we often don't realize what we are doing is wrong when littering. Do you think it is too late for us to solve this problem?

Nick: NO, not at all, I think it’s a matter of setting good examples and educating people to be aware of the problem.

Jenny: Well, thank you very much for your suggestions. Let's just hope all of us start to realise our duty to protect our environment.

Supplementary Reading

What Good Is a Tree?

While revisiting my childhood elementary school, I encountered an old friend. We both had grown over the decades, but my buddy now stood more than 30 feet tall. We first met on Arbor Day when the school gathered to put my friend, a blue spruce, in the ground. The principal told us that planting trees was Important. Scientists tell us the same today.

Trees are so common and quiet that we pay them little mind. But trees sustain our lives and our planet in a thousand practical ways. This morning at breakfast in your wood-framed house, on your wooden kitchen table-you might have enjoyed orange juice or a grapefruit. Both come to us from trees.

Trees do more than make life pleasant; they make life possible. Trees get water through their roots and, primarily through their leaves; they draw carbon dioxide from the air. Then, with the action of sunlight on cells containing chlorophyll and other materials, chemical reactions occur, and oxygen is released. Through photosynthesis, an acre of trees produce enough oxygen to sustain three humans.

Trees have always been green machines, producing substances that humans learned to use. For years, the Chinese have derived medicines from the ginkgo tree. As scientists unlock the secrets of trees, they uncover surprising facts. In the early 1980s David Rhoades, a chemical ecologist at the University of Washington, Seattle, discovered that trees send unseen signals to each other. When willows are attacked by webworms and tent caterpillars, .they give off a chemical that alerts nearby willows. The neighbouring trees respond by pumping more tannin into their leaves, making them more difficult for the Insects to digest.

Researchers have found similar responses in sugar maples, birches and other trees. To their surprise, the scientists found evidence that trees respond differently to different attackers-trees will not react if leaves are nipped with sterilized scissors.

It has long been known that trees enhance rainfall by cooling the land, Slowing wind evaporation and erosion, and transpiring water into the sky from their leaves. An acre of large, healthy maples, for Instance, puts 20, 000 gallons of water into the air each day. Without trees our entire world would be a much drier place.

Now scientists have found that trees may cause rain in more peculiar ways, too. Many species are inhabited by the bacterium Pseudomonas syringes. When wafted into the air, the microscopic bugs are believed to act as ice nuclei, thus increasing the likelihood of rain or snow. In this symbiotic arrangement, trees provide a home for the bacteria and the bacteria help bl1ng water from the sky for the trees.

Of course, humans live in symbiosis with trees too: trees take in the carbon dioxide, people and their machines make and tum it into needed oxygen. And we plant and care for trees in return for the benefits they confer on us. Unfortunately, it often takes the loss of trees to remind us lust how much we depend on them.

A safety canopy shades about 30 percent of the average American city. But In many cities only one tree is replaced for f1Jery four that die.

As settlers came to Los Angeles, they found it hot and dry. They brought in water and planted groves of orange trees across the L. A. Basin. “That cooled the climate by several degrees,” says Art Rosenfeld, a physics professor at the University of California at Berkeley.

In recent decades the orange groves have been cleared for buildings and the climate is now six degrees hotter. Says Rosenfeld: “Residents each year use up to two gigawatts of electricity to compensate for the extra heat at an added cost of $2 billion”.

The need for trees is even greater elsewhere in the world. In some countries researchers are now experimenting with agroforestry-the planting of crops between rows of special trees, Gliricidia sepium墨西哥丁香, for example, is a central American tree that grows well even in poor dry soil. It provides leaves that farmers can feed to cattle, and it has roots that enrich the sail with nitrogen. The trees protect crops from wind and prevent sail erosion. When cut for firewood, they will sprout new growth from the stump.

Trees have great praC1fcal value, but they also partake of the eternal. They are a link to the past and a bridge 10 the future. Trees touch something deep in the soul that naturalist John Muir recognized when he wrote, “The clearest way to the universe is through a forest wilderness.”
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