2023年12月21日发(作者：)
四六级 30天精听蜕变计划
前言：听力题占四六级考试总分值的35%，无论各位同学的目的是过级还是刷分，它都是我们必须要攻克的一个项目。与其他英语题型不同，四六级听力虽然也有一定的应试技巧，但它们都建立在考生能够听懂原文的主要信息这一基础上。所以我们不如借着备考的契机与压力，用考前30天的时间彻底的、一劳永逸的提升自己的听力水平。既为通过考试，也为方便将来的工作和生活。
提升听力能力本身是攻克四六级听力题最根本的途径，而精听练习则是公认的最科学有效的快速提高听力能力的手段。本计划将精听练习所需的听力音频、文字材料、方法指导、学习规划进行了充分的整合，希望能帮助各位同学以最低的成本、最高的效率完成听力的蜕变。
目录
1. 核心学习规划…………….……………………………P 2
2. 精听步骤介绍与示范…………….……………………P 3
3. 每日任务与配套真题……….…………………………P 5
4. 材料原文…………….…………………………………P 18
5. 参考答案…………….…………………………………P 311
一、
核心学习规划
时间：Day 1-8
精听材料：长对话1-4
每2天用1小时精听1篇长对话。时间有限的考研党或前期精听时感到吃力的同学，可3天精听1篇，务必保证练习质量，不要赶进度。
时间：Day 9-24
精听材料：听力篇章1-8
每2天完成1篇听力篇章的精听（听力篇章篇幅较长且信息量较大）。
时间：Day 25-30
精听材料：讲座讲话1-3
每2天完成1篇讲座讲话的精听（讲座篇幅极长，也可以3天1篇）。
2
二、精听步骤介绍与示范
听答阶段（在本讲义上作答即可）
1. 听一遍材料，根据抓住的信息选取初版答案。（模拟考试条件）
2. 多遍反复听材料，直至再也听不出更多的信息，确定最终答案。
3. 对参考答案，如果自己的两版答案都是错误的，则正确答案所在句有你没学过的或未掌握发音的单词。如果自己的最后一个答案是对的，则接下来要关注正确答案对应的原文的语速、连读、语法，它们导致了你第一遍时（也就是考试时）无法听懂。
听写阶段（需单独准备一个听写用的笔记本）
4. 反复听写，写到再也无法写出新内容为止，听不出来的词空出位置。每听完一句话或半句话（在出现从句引导词或and but等连词处）可以暂停，留出手写的时间。此处注意，只能以整篇听力材料为单位反复听，不要自己拉进度条去单独听某一句话。人名地名专有名词可写首字母代替，听写时每一句话起一行，示范如下：
听写版（第一遍，没听出的词留出足够的空间方便后边补上）
How long take?
I three month,
but it if something happened.
Maybe month,
so we won being late.
听写版（第N遍，在前一遍的基础上加词即可）
How long do you think this my take?
I say about three month,
but it could take longer if something happened.
Maybe we better allow month,
so we won have to worry about being late.
3
5.
将自己听写的与原文逐字比较，有错误或缺漏的地方，在听写的本子上进行标注。查清空缺处词汇的标准发音和意思。示范如下：
原文（见讲义最后一部分）
W: How long do you think this project might take?
M: I’d say about three months, but it could take longer if
something unexpected happened. Maybe we’d better allow an
extra month, so we won’t have to worry about being late.
听写版（知道自己没听出来的词、漏听的词、听错的词尽量区分开）
How long do you think this project my take?
I’d say about three months,
but it could take longer if something unexpected happened.
Maybe we’d better allow an extra month,
so we won’t have to worry about being late.
复读阶段
6. 对照自己补全完毕的听写原文，大声朗读2遍，建立对重难错漏词汇的发音的更直观的感觉。
7. 对照自己补全完毕的听写原文，整体重听2遍材料，重点关注错漏部分的发音在语境中的读法变化（连颂、吞音、浊化导致的改变）
8. 晚上睡前脱离原文重听2遍材料，巩固感觉，检验学习质量。
注:精听练习赶进度毫无意义，若能保证质量，只练15天都有突破。
4
三、
每日任务与配套真题
Day 1-2
精听材料：17年6月
长对话1
1.
A) Doing enjoyable work. B) Having friendly colleagues.
C) Earning a competitive salary. D) Working for supportive bosses.
2.
A) 31%. B) 20%
C) 25%. D) 73%
3.
A) Those of a small size. B) Those run by women.
C) Those that are well managed. D) Those full of skilled workers.
4.
A) They can hop from job to job easily.
B) They can win recognition of their work.
C) They can better balance work and life.
D) They can take on more than one job.
Day 3-4
精听材料：17年6月
长对话2
5.
A) It is a book of European history. B) It is an introduction to music.
C) It is about the city of Bruges. D) It is a collection of photos.
6.
5
A) When painting the concert hall of Bruges.
B) When vacationing in an Italian coastal city.
C) When taking pictures for a concert catalogue.
D) When writing about Belgium's coastal regions.
7.
A) The entire European coastline will be submerged.
B) The rich heritage of Europe will be lost completely.
C) The seawater of Europe will be seriously polluted.
D) The major European scenic spots will disappear
8.
A) Its waterways are being increasingly polluted.
B) People cannot get around without using boats.
C) It attracts large numbers of tourists from home and abroad.
D) Tourists use wooden paths to reach their hotels in the morning.
Day 5-6
精听材料：17年6月
长对话3
1.
A. He would feel insulted. B. He would feel very sad.
C. He would be embarrassed. D. He would be disappointed.
2.
A. They are worthy of a prize. B. They are of little value.
C. They make good reading. D. They need improvement.
3.
6
A. He seldom writes a book straight through.
B. He writes several books simultaneously.
C. He draws on his real-life experiences.
D. He often turns to his wife for help.
4.
A. Writing a book is just like watching a football match.
B. Writers actually work every bit as hard as footballers.
C. He likes watching a football match after finishing a book.
D. Unlike a football match, there is no end to writing a book.
Day 7-8
精听材料：17年6月
长对话4
5.
A. Achievements of black male athletes in college.
B. Financial assistance to black athletes in college.
C. High college dropout rates among black athletes.
D. Undergraduate enrollments of black athletes.
6.
A. They display great talent in every kind of game.
B. They are better at sports than at academic work.
C. They have difficulty finding money to complete their studies.
D. They make money for the college but often fail to earn a degree.
7.
A. About 15%. B. Around 40%.
7
C. Slightly over 50%. D. Approximately 70%.
8.
A. Coaches lack the incentive to graduate them.
B. College degrees do not count much to them.
C. They have little interest in academic work.
D. Schools do not deem it a serious problem.
Day 9-10
精听材料：17年6月
听力篇章1
9.
A) They make careful preparation beforehand.
B) They take too many irrelevant factors into account.
C) They spend too much time anticipating their defeat.
D) They try hard to avoid getting off on the wrong foot.
10.
A) A person's nervous system is more complicated than imagined.
B) Golfers usually have positive mental images of themselves.
C) Mental images often interfere with athletes' performance.
D) Thinking has the same effect on the nervous system as doing.
11.
A) Anticipate possible problems.
B) Make a list of do's and don'ts.
C) Picture themselves succeeding.
8
D) Try to appear more professional.
12.
A) She wore a designer dress.
B) She won her first jury trial.
C) She did not speak loud enough.
D) She presented moving pictures.
Day 11-12
精听材料：17年6月
听力篇章2
13.
A) Its long-term effects are yet to be proved.
B) Its health benefits have been overestimated.
C) It helps people to avoid developing breast cancer.
D) It enables patients with diabetes to recover sooner.
14.
A) It focused on their ways of life during young adulthood.
B) It tracked their change in food preferences for 20 years.
C) It focused on their difference from men in fiber intake.
D) It tracked their eating habits since their adolescence.
15.
9
A) Fiber may help to reduce hormones in the body.
B) Fiber may bring more benefits to women than men.
C) Fiber may improve the function of heart muscles.
D) Fiber may make blood circulation more smooth.
Day 13-14
精听材料：17年6月
听力篇章3
9.
A. Marketing strategies. B. Holiday shopping.
C. Shopping malls. D. Online stores.
10.
A. About 50% of holiday shoppers.
B. About 20-30% of holiday shoppers.
C. About 136 million.
D. About 183.8 million.
11.
A. They have fewer customers. B. They find it hard to survive.
C. They are thriving once more. D. They appeal to elderly customers.
12.
A. Better quality of consumer goods.
B. Higher employment and wages.
C. Greater varieties of commodities.
D. People having more leisure time.
10
Day 15-16
精听材料：17年6月
听力篇章4
13.
A. They are new species of big insects.
B. They are overprescribed antibiotics.
C. They are life-threatening diseases.
D. They are antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
14.
A. Antibiotics are now in short supply.
B. Many infections are no longer curable.
C. Large amounts of tax money are wasted.
D. Routine operations have become complex.
15.
A. Facilities.
B. Expertise.
C. Money.
D. Publicity.
Day 17-18
精听材料：17年12月
听力篇章5
9.
A. They are thin, tall, and unlike real human beings.
B. They have more than twenty different hair textures.
11
C. They have twenty-four different body shapes in total.
D. They represent people from virtually all walks of life.
10.
A. They do not reflect young girls aspirations.
B. They are not sold together with the original.
C. Their flat feet do not appeal to adolescents.
D. Their body shapes have not changed much.
11.
A. In toy stores.
B. In shopping malls.
C. On the internet.
D. At barbie shops.
Day 19-20
精听材料：17年12月
听力篇章6
12.
A. Moveable metal type began to be used in printing.
B. Chinese printing technology was first introduced.
C. The earliest known book was published.
D. Metal type was imported from Korea.
13.
A. It had more than a hundred printing presses.
12
B. It was the biggest printer in the 16th century.
C. It helped the German people become literate.
D. It produced some 20 million volumes in total.
14.
A. It pushed handwritten books out of circulation.
B. It boosted the circulation of popular works.
C. It made writing a very profitable career.
D. It provided readers with more choices.
15.
A. It accelerated the extinction of the Latin language.
B. It standardized the publication of grammar books.
C. It turned translation into a welcome profession.
D. It promoted the growth of national languages.
Day 21-22
精听材料：17年12月
听力篇章7
9.
A) It makes claims in conflict with the existing research.
B) It focuses on the link between bedtime and nutrition.
C) It cautions against the overuse of coffee and alcohol.
D) It shows that "night owls" work much less efficiently.
10.
A) They pay greater attention to food choice.
13
B) They tend to achieve less than their peers.
C) They run a higher risk of gaining weight.
D) They stand a greater chance to fall sick.
11.
A) Get up late.
B) Sleep 8 hours a day.
C) Exercise more.
D) Go to bed earlier.
Day 23-24
精听材料：17年12月
听力篇章8
12.
A) All of the acting nominees are white.
B) It has got too much publicity on TV.
C) It is prejudiced against foreign films.
D) Only 7% of the nominees are female.
13.
A) 22 percent of movie directors were people of color.
B) Half of the TV programs were ethnically balanced.
C) Only one-fifth of TV shows had black characters.
D) Only 3.4 percent of film directors were women.
14.
14
A) Non-white males.
B) Program creators.
C) Females of color over 40.
D) Asian speaking characters.
15.
A) They constitute 17% of Hollywood movie characters.
B) They are most underrepresented across TV and film.
C) They contribute little to the U. S. film industry.
D) They account for 8.5% of the U. S. population
Day 25-26
精听材料：17年6月
讲座讲话1
16)
A. Observing the changes in marketing.
B) Conducting research on consumer behavior.
C) Studying the hazards of young people drinking.
D) Investigating the impact of media on government.
17.
A) It is the cause of many street riots.
B) It is getting worse year by year.
C) It is a chief concern of parents.
D) It is an act of socialising.
18.
15
A) They spent a week studying their own purchasing behavior.
B) They researched the impact of mobile phones on young people.
C) They analysed their family budgets over the years.
D) They conducted a thorough research on advertising.
Day 27-28
精听材料：17年6月
讲座讲话2
19.
A) It is helping its banks to improve efficiency.
B) It is trying hard to do away with dirty money.
C) It is the first country to use credit cards in the world.
D) It is likely to give up paper money in the near future.
20.
A) Whether it is possible to travel without carrying any physical
currency. B) Whether it is possible to predict how much money one is
going to spend.
C) Whether the absence of physical currency causes a person to spend
more.
D) Whether the absence of physical currency is going to affect everyday
life.
16
21.
A) There was no food service on the train.
B) The service on the train was not good.
C) The restaurant car accepted cash only.
D) The cash in her handbag was missing.
22.
A) By putting money into envelopes.
B) By drawing money week by week.
C) By limiting their day-to-day spending.
D) By refusing to buy anything on credit.
Day 29-30
精听材料：17年6月
讲座讲话3
23.
A) Population explosion.
B) Chronic hunger.
C) Extinction of rare species.
D) Environmental deterioration.
24.
A) They contribute to overpopulation.
B) About half of them are unintended.
C) They have been brought under control.
D) The majority of them tend to end halfway.
17
25.
A) It is essential to the wellbeing of all species on earth.
B) It is becoming a subject of interdisciplinary research.
C) It is neglected in many of the developing countries.
D) It is beginning to attract postgraduates' attention.
18
四、材料原文
Day 1-2
精听材料：17年6月
长对话1
W: Welcome to Workplace. And in today's program, we're looking at the results of
two recently published surveys, which both deal with the same topic—happiness at
work. John, tell us about the first survey.
M: Well, this was done by a human resources consultancy, who interviewed more
than 1,000 workers, and established a top ten of the factors, which make people happy
at work. The most important factor for the majority of the people interviewed was
having friendly, supportive colleagues. In fact, 73% of people interviewed put their
relationship with colleagues as the key factor contributing to happiness at work,
which is a very high percentage. The second most important factor was having work
that is enjoyable. The two least important factors were having one's achievements
recognized, and rather surprisingly, earning a competitive salary.
W: So, we are not mainly motivated by money?
M: Apparently not.
W: Any other interesting information in the survey?
M: Yes. For example, 25% of the working people interviewed described themselves
as 'very happy' at work. However, 20% of employees described themselves as being
unhappy.
W: That's quite a lot of unhappy people at work every day.
M: It is, isn't it? And there were several more interesting conclusions revealed by the
survey. First of all, small is beautiful: people definitely prefer working for smaller
organizations or companies with less than 100 staff.
We also find out that, generally speaking, women were happier in their work than
men.
W: Yes, we are, aren't we?
M: And workers on part-time contracts, who only work 4 or 5 hours a day, are happier
than those who work full-time. The researchers concluded that this is probably due to
a better work-life balance.
W: Are bosses happier than their employees?
M: Yes, perhaps not surprisingly, the higher people go in a company, the happier they
are. So senior managers enjoy their jobs more than people working under them.
19
Day 3-4
精听材料：17年6月
长对话2
W: Mr. De Keyzer, I'm a great lover of your book Moments Before the Flood.
Can you tell us how you first became interested in this subject matter?
M: In 2006, when the concert hall of the city of Bruges asked me to take some pictures for a
catalogue for a new concert season around the theme of water, I found myself working along the
Belgian coastline.
As there had been numerous alarming articles in the press about a climate
catastrophe waiting to happen,
I started looking at the sea and the beach very differently, a place where I spent so many perfect
days as a child.
This fear of a looming danger became the subject of a large-scale photo project.
W: You wrote in the book: "I don't want to photograph the disaster, I want to photograph the
disaster waiting to happen.”
Can you talk a bit about that?
M: It is clear now that it is a matter of time before the entire European coastline disappears under
water.
The same goes for numerous big cities around the world.
My idea was to photograph this
beautiful and very unique coastline, rich in history, before it's too late—as a last witness.
W: Can you talk a bit about how history plays a role in this project?
M: Sure. The project is also about the history of Europe looking at the sea and wondering when
the next enemy would appear.
In the images, you see all kinds of possible defense constructions to
hold back the Romans, Germans, Vikings, and now nature as enemy number one.
For example,
there is the image of the bridge into the sea taken at the Normandy D-Day landing site.
Also,
Venice, the city eternally threatened by the sea,
where every morning wooden pathways have to
be set up to allow tourists to reach their hotels.
W: Thank you, Mr. De Keyzer.
It was a pleasure to have you with us today.
Day 5-6
精听材料：17年6月
长对话3
W：Mr. Ishiguro, have you ever found one of your books at a second-hand
bookstore?
M：Yes. That kind of thing is difficult. If they've got my book there, I think "Well,
this is an insult! Somebody didn't want to keep my book." But if it's not there, I feel
it's an insult too. I think, "Why aren't people exchanging my book? Why isn't it in this
store?"
W：Does being a writer require a thick skin?
M：Yes. For example, my wife can be very harsh. I began working on my latest
book, The Buried Giant, in 2004, but I stopped after I showed my wife a little section.
She thought it was rubbish.
W：Even after you won a Booker Prize?
M：She is not intimidated at all, and she criticises me in exactly the same way she
did when I was first unpublished and I was starting.
20
W：But you would never compromise on your vision?
M：No. I wouldn't ever compromise on the essential, the ideas, or the themes.
This isn't really what my wife is trying to criticise me about. It's always about
execution.
W：So why did you put your book The Buried Giant aside for so long? Apparently,
you started working on it over ten years ago.
M：I've often stopped writing the book and left it for a few years. And by the time I
come back to it, it may have changed. Usually my imagination has moved on, and I
can think of different contexts or a different way to do it.
W：What does it feel like when you finally finish a book?
M：It's funny you ask that, because I never have this moment when I feel "Ah, I've
finished!" I watch footballers at the end of the match, you know; the whistle goes and
they've won or lost. Until then, they've been giving everything they have, and at that
moment they know it's over. It's funny for an author. There's never a finishing whistle.
Day 7-8
精听材料：17年6月
长对话4
According to a study of Race & Equity in Education, black athletes are dropping out
of college across the country at alarming rates. With us to talk about the findings in
the study is Washington Post columnist Kevin Blackstone. Good morning! Good
morning. How are you? Fine, thank you. What is new that you found in this study?
Well, this is Shaun Harper's study. And he points out that on major college campuses
across the country, black males make up less than 3 percent of undergraduate
enrollments. Yet, when you look at their numbers or percentages on the revenue-generating sports teams of football and basketball, they make up well into 50-60
percent of those team.
So the idea is that they are really there to be part of the revenue-generating working
class of athletes on campus, and not necessarily there to be part of the educating class
as most students in other groups are.
Compared with other groups, I think the numbers in this group at those 65 schools are
something like just barely more than half of the black male athletes graduate at all.
Exactly. And what's really bad about this is these athletes are supposedly promised at
least one thing as reward for all their blood and sweat. And that is a college degree,
which can be a transformative tool in our society when you talk about upward
21
mobility. And that's really the troubling part about this. Well, this has been talked
about so much, really, in recent years.
Why hasn't changed?
Well, I think one of the reasons it hasn't changed is because there is really no
economic pressure to change this. All of the incentive is really on winning and not
losing on the field or on the court. Coaches do not necessarily have the incentive to
graduate players.
Day 9-10
精听材料：17年6月
听力篇章1
When facing a new situation, some people tend to rehearse their defeat by spending
too much time anticipating the worst.
I remember talking with a young lawyer who
was about to begin her first jury trial.
She was very nervous.
I asked what impression
she wanted to make on the jury.
She replied: "I don't want to look too inexperienced, I
don't want them to suspect this is my first trial."
This lawyer had fallen victims to the
"don'ts" syndrome—a form of negative goal setting.
The "don'ts" can be self-fulfilling because your mind response to pictures.
Research
conducted at Stanford University shows a mental image fires the nerve system the
same way as actually doing something.
That means when a golfer tells himself:”
Don't hit the ball into the water.” His mind sees the image of the ball flying into the
water.
So guess where the ball will go?
Consequently, before going into any stressful situation, focus only on what you want
to have happen.
I asked the lawyer again how she wanted to appear at her first trial.
And this time she said: “I want to look professional and self-assured.”
I told her to
create a picture of what self-assured would look like.
To her, it meant moving
confidently around the court room, using convincing body language and projecting
her voice, so it could be heard from the judge's bench to the back door.
She also imagined a skillful closing argument and a winning trial.
A few weeks after
this positive stress rehearsal, the young lawyer did win.
Day 11-12
精听材料：17年6月
听力篇章2
22
Most Americans don't eat enough fruits, vegetables or whole grains. Research now
says adding fiber to the teen diet may help lower the risk of breast cancer.
Conversations about the benefits of fiber are probably more common in nursing
homes than high schools. But along comes a new study that could change that.
Kristi King, a diet specialist at Texas Children's Hospital, finds it hard to get teenage
patients' attention about healthy eating. By telling them they are eating lots of high-fiber foods could reduce the risk of breast cancer before middle age.
That's a powerful message. The new finding is based on a study of 44,000 women.
They were surveyed about their diets during high school and their eating habits were
tracked for two decades. It turns out that those who consumed the highest levels of
fiber during adolescents had a lower risk of developing breast cancer, compared to
women who ate the least fiber.
This important study demonstrates that the more fiber you eat during your high school
years, the lower your risk is in developing breast cancer in later life. The finding
points to long-standing evidence that fiber may reduce circulating female hormone
levels, which could explain the reduced risk.
The bottom line here is the more fiber you eat, perhaps, a lower level of hormone in
your body, and therefore, a lower lifetime risk of developing breast cancer. High-fiber
diets are also linked to a reduced risk of heart disease and diabetes. That's why
women are told to eat 25 grams of fiber a day—man even more.
Day 13-14
精听材料：17年6月
听力篇章3
America' s holiday shopping season starts on Black Friday, the day after
Thanksgiving. It is the busiest shopping day of the year. Retailers make the most
money this time of year, about 20 to 30 percent of annual revenue. About 136 million
people will shop during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
More and more will shop online. In an era of instant information, shoppers can use
their mobile phones to find deals. About 183.8 million people will shop on Cyber
Monday, the first Monday after Thanksgiving. More than half of all holiday purchases
will be made online. One in five Americans will use a tablet or smartphone. Online
spending on black Friday will rise 15 percent to hit 2.7 billion dollars this year. Cyber
Monday spending will increase 12 percent to 3 billion dollars. For many, shopping
online was "a more comfortable alternative" than crowded malls.
23
The shift to online shopping has had a big impact on traditional shopping malls.
Since 2010, more than 24 shopping malls have closed and an additional 60 are
struggling. However, Fortune says weakest of the malls have closed. The sector is
thriving again. The international Council of Shopping Centers said 94.2 percent of
malls were full, or occupied with shops by the end of 2014. That is the highest level in
27 years. Economist, Gus Faucher, said lower unemployment and rising wages could
give Americans more money to spend. The average American consumer will spend
about 805 dollars on gifts. That's about 630.5 billion dollars between November and
December, an increase of 3.7 percent from last year.
Day 15-16
精听材料：17年6月
听力篇章4
For years, many of us have relied on antibiotic use to treat various infections.
And the reality is that antibiotics have been responsible for saving millions of lives
since penicillin, one of the earliest antibiotics who's first used on a clinical basis 70
years ago.
However, today is a new era in which taking antibiotics can cause some very
dangerous and potentially life-threatening situations. In fact, you may have heard
about the new "superbugs", which are antibiotic-resistant bacteria that have developed
as a result of overprescribed antibiotics. In the past, health experts warned us that the
day would come in which it would become very difficult to provide medical care for
even common problems, such as lung infection or severe sore throat. And apparently
that day has come, because seemingly routine operations such as knee replacements
are now much more hazardous due to the looming threat of these infections.
The problem has grown into such epidemic proportions that this severe strain of
resistant bacteria is being blamed for nearly 700,000 deaths each year throughout the
world. And unfortunately, health experts worry that the number will rise to 10 million
or more on a yearly basis by 2050. With such a large life-threatening epidemic, it is
sad to say that only 1.2 percent of budgetary money for the National Institutes of
Health is currently being spent on research to tackle this problem. This is a far cry
from the funds necessary for a problem of such magnitude.
Day 17-18
精听材料：17年12月
听力篇章5
Barbie dolls have a particular look to them. They're thin, tall, long-legged and
virtually unlike any real human being. Although over the years Barbie has had more
24
than 180 different careers—including football coach, sign language teacher,
ambassador, president and astronaut—her body shape hasn't changed much.
Last year Mattel, the company that makes Barbie dolls, added some Barbies to its line
that have different skin tones and hair textures. There are now Barbies with one of
seven skin tones, 22 eye colours and 24 hair styles to choose from. Last year Mattel
also gave Barbie a flat foot, rather than forcing her to be "in heels" all the time like
the original Barbie is.
Now they are introducing new Barbies with three slightly different body shapes while
the original, tall and thin Barbies will continue to be sold. In a statement on its
website, the company says it wants Barbies to look more like real people, and to give
girls everywhere infinitely more ways to spark their imagination and play out their
stories.
Although many people say the new Barbies are a step in the right direction, some
people say they don't go far enough. They say that the new body shapes could be even
more different from the original, tall, thin Barbies. Sales of Barbie dolls have been
falling "every year since 2012," according to CBC News. The toys aren't in stores yet
but they will be sold online at the Barbie website, starting this week, for $9.99.
Day 19-20
精听材料：17年12月
听力篇章6
The earliest printed book we know today appeared in China in the year 868 and metal
type was in use in Korea at the beginning of the fifteenth century, but it was in
Germany around the year 1450 that a printing press using movable metal type was
invented.
Capitalism turned printing from an invention into an industry. Right from the start,
book printing and publishing were organized on capitalist lines. The biggest sixteenth-century printer, Plantin of Antwerp, had twenty-four printing presses and employed
more than a hundred workers. Only a small fraction of the population was literate, but
the production of books grew at an extraordinary speed.
By 1500 some twenty million volumes had already been printed. The immediate
effect of printing was to increase the circulation of works that were already popular in
a handwritten form, while less popular works went out of circulation. Publishers were
interested only in books that would sell fairly quickly in sufficient numbers to cover
the costs of production and make a profit. Thus, while printing enormously increased
access to books by making cheap, high-volume production possible, it also reduced
choice.
25
The great cultural impact of printing was that it facilitated the growth of national
languages. Most early books were printed in Latin, but the market for Latin was
limited, and in its pursuit of larger markets the book trade soon produced translations
into the national languages emerging at the time. Printing indeed played a key role in
standardizing and stabilizing these languages by fixing them in print, and producing
dictionaries and grammar books.
Day 21-22
精听材料：17年12月
听力篇章7
A report on sleep and nutrition released this month found that people who consistently
went to bed earlier than 11 p. m. took in fewer calories and ate more healthy food. In
contrast, "night owls" who go to bed between 11 p. m. and 3 a. m. tend to consume
more coffee, alcohol, refined sugars, and processed meats than early risers.
This report corresponds with the existing scientific literature on bedtime and wellness.
The relationship between getting more sleep and making better food choices is well-documented. A study published last year in The American Journal of Clinical
Nutrition found that people who sleep more tend to eat less unhealthy food than their
peers who don't get as much rest. And a 2015 study from the University of California,
Berkeley, found that teens who go to bed late are more likely to gain weight over a
five-year period.
As a group, "night owl" types tend to eat less healthy food and take in more calories
overall than early risers. The later one goes to bed, the more calories one records the
next day.
It's as yet a challenge to explain the cause-and-effect relationship between sleep and
nutrition. There may be a third factor that impacts both of them, or the relationship
could be reversed, that is, people who eat less fall asleep earlier. Still, if late sleepers
want to lose a few pounds, they can go to bed earlier than they usually do, thereby
reducing their chances of taking snacks before bedtime.
Day 23-24
精听材料：17年12月
听力篇章8
Researchers have found not just a diversity problem in Hollywood, but actually an
inclusion crisis. With less than a week before an Oscars ceremony that has already
been criticized for an all-white list of acting nominees, a study shows the film
industry does worse than television.
26
Just 3.4 percent of film directors were female, and only 7 percent of films had a cast
whose balance of race and ethnicity reflected the country's diversity. When
researchers looked at all TV shows, they also found that women of color over 40 were
regarded as "largely invisible" and just 22 percent of TV series creators were female.
Overall, the study found half the films and TV shows had no Asian speaking
characters and more than one-fifth of them had no black characters with dialogue.
The film industry still functions as a straight, white, boy's club. When looking at how
women are depicted, the study found female characters were four times more likely to
be shown in sexy clothing, and nearly four times as likely to be referred to as
physically attractive. But their results also indicated films and TV shows with women
or people of color in the important jobs behind the scenes---director, producer or
writer—tended to have better diversity numbers.
Across TV and film, the underrepresentation of non-white characters falls mostly on
Hispanics. Among more than 10,000 characters, proportions of white, black and
Asian characters came close to U. S. population figures. But Hispanics were just 5.8
percent of characters, despite being about 17 percent of the U. S. population.
Day 25-26
精听材料：17年6月
讲座讲话1
Well my current research is really about consumer behavior. So recently I've
looked at young people's drinking and it's obviously a major concern to Government
at the moment.
I've also looked at how older people are represented in the media; again, it's of
major current interest with older people becoming a much larger proportion of UK
and indeed world society. I'm also interested in how consumers operate online, and
how that online behavior might be different from how they operate offline when they
go to the shops.
Well, I think that the important thing here is to actually understand what's
happening from the consumer's perspective. One of the things that businesses and
indeed Government organizations often fail to do is to really see what is happening
from the consumer's perspective.
For example, in the case of young people's drinking, one of the things that I've
identified is that drinking for people say between the ages of 18 and 24 is all about the
social activity.
27
A lot of the Government advertising has been about individual responsibility, but
actually understanding that drinking is very much about the social activity and finding
ways to help young people get home safely and not end up in hospital is one of the
things that we've tried to present there.
The key thing about consumer behavior is that it's very much about how
consumers change. Markets always change faster than marketing; so we have to look
at what consumers are doing.
Currently I teach consumer behavior to undergraduates in their second year and
we look at all kinds of things in consumer behavior and particularly how consumers
are presented in advertising.
So they get involved by looking at advertising and really critically assessing the
consumer behavior aspects of it and getting involved sometimes doing primary
research.
For example, last year my students spent a week looking at their own purchasing
and analyzed it in detail from shopping to the relationship that they have with their
retail banks and their mobile phone providers. I think they found it very useful and it
also helped them identify just what kind of budgets they had too. The fact of the
matter is that there's a whole range of interesting research out there and I think as the
years go on, there's going to be much more for us to consider and certainly much
more for students to become involved in.
Day 27-28
精听材料：17年6月
讲座讲话2
Sweden was the first European country to print and use paper money, but it may
soon do away with physical currencies. Banks can save a lot of money and avoid
regulatory headaches by moving to a cash-free system, and they can also avoid bank
robberies, theft, and dirty money.
Claer Barrett, the editor of Financial Times Money, says the Western world is
headed toward a world without physical currency. "Andy Holder — the chief
eco|nomist at The Bank of England — suggested that the UK move towards a
government-backed digital currency. But does a cashless society really make good
economic sense? "The fact that cash is being drawn out of society, is less a feature of
our everyday lives, and the ease of electronic payments — is this actually making us
spend more money without realizing it?"
Barrett wanted to find out if the absence of physical currency does indeed cause
a person to spend more, so she decided to conduct an experiment a few months ago.
She decided that she was going to try to just use cash for two weeks to make all of her
essential purchases and see what that would do to her spending. She found she did
28
spend a lot less money because it is incredibly hard to predict how much cash one is
going to need — she was forever drawing money out of cash points. Months later, she
was still finding cash stuffed in her trouser pockets and the pockets of her handbags.
During the experiment, Barrett took a train ride. On the way, there was an
announcement that the restaurant car was not currently accepting credit cards. The
train cars were filled with groans because many of the passengers were traveling
without cash.
"It underlines just how much things have changed in the last generation," Barrett
says. "My parents, when they were younger, used to budget by putting money into
envelopes — they'd get paid and they'd immediately separate the cash into piles and
put them in envelopes, so they knew what they had to spend week by week. It was a
very effective way for them to keep track of their spending. Nowadays, we're all on
credit cards, we're doing online purchases, and money is kind of becoming a less
physical and more imaginary type of thing that we can't get our hands around."
Day 29-30
精听材料：17年6月
讲座讲话3
Why should you consider taking a course in demography in college? You will be
growing up in the generation where the baby-boomers are going into retirement and
dying. You will face problems in the aging of the population that have never been
faced before. You will hear more and more about migration between countries, and
between rural areas and cities. You need to understand as a citizen and as a taxpayer
and as a voter what’s really behind the arguments.
I want to tell you about the past, present and future of the human population, so
let’s start with a few problems. Right now, a billion people are chronically hungry that
means they wake up hungry; they are hungry all day and they go to sleep hungry. A
billion people are living in slums, not the same billion people, but there is some
overlap. Living in slums means they don’t have infrastructure to take the garbage
away. They don’t have secure water supplies to drink. Nearly a billion people are
illiterate.
Try to imagine your life being illiterate. You can’t read the labels on the bottles
in the supermarket, if you can get to a supermarket. Two thirds of those people who
29
are illiterate are women and about 200 to 250 million women don’t have access to
birth control they want, so that they can control their own fertility.
This is not a problem in developing countries, about half of all pregnancies
globally are unintended. So those are examples of population problems. Demography
gives you the tools to understand and to address these problems. It’s not only the
study of human population, but the populations of non-human species, including
viruses, like influenza, the bacteria in your gut, plants that you eat, animals that you
enjoy, all that provide you with meat. Demography also includes the study of non-living objects like light bulbs and taxi cabs and buildings because these are also
populations. It studies these populations in the past, present and future using
quantitative data and mathematical models as tools of analysis.
I see demography as a central subject related to economics. It is the means to
intervene more wisely and more effectively in the real world to improve the well-being not only of yourself, important as that maybe, but of people around you and of
other species with whom we share the planet.
30
五、参考答案
Day 1-2: BBAC Day 3-4: DCAD Day 5-6: ABAD
Day 7-8: CDCA Day 9-10: CDCB Day 11-12: CDA
Day 13-14: BDCB
Day 19-20: ABBD
Day 25-26: BDA
Day 15-16: DDC
Day 21-22: BCD
Day 27-28: DCCA
31
Day 17-18: ADC
Day 23-24: ADCB
Day 29-30: BBA
