全国英语等级考试教材第三级Unit20
[00:00.00] CHAPTER 20 GEOGRAPHY
[00:11.78]Unit 20 Geography
[00:16.54]Conversations
[00:20.30]1.Bing,an American tourist in Edinburgh for the Edinburgh Festival,
[00:28.66]has arranged to meet someone at the Greyfriar's Bobby,
[00:34.12]a public house,but he can't find it.He's walking east along Princes Street.
[00:42.48]Bing:Oh,excuse me.Er.Madam! T.W:Yes?
[00:48.12]Bing:Um,I wonder if you could help me.
[00:52.48]I'm trying to find a pub called Greyfriar's Bobby.
[00:57.94]It's on the Mond,somewhere down this-off this street.
[01:04.18]T.W.:Well,that's right.Um,have you got a map there?
[01:09.83]We can have a look at it.
[01:13.48]Bing:Yes,Madam.Right here.
[01:17.74]T.W.:I'll just show you on it.It's quite easy.
[01:22.60]Now you're just here in Princes Street.
[01:27.25](Bing:Uhuh.)What you have to do is to walk along a litle bit and then turn right,
[01:35.40]and you go up the mound.You see up the hill there.There's a buil-...
[01:42.95]Bing:Oh,yeah.The Mond.The Mond is the name of a road,is it?I see.Uhuh.
[01:51.49]T.W:That's right.That's right,and you walk past the Assembly Hall.
[01:57.05]Can you see there up on the hill,if you just look up to your right there?
[02:04.00]Bing:That big building up there?OK.
[02:09.57]T.W.:That's right.You just keep on walking past,and you go across the High Street,
[02:17.01]or the Royal Mile,as we call it...
[02:21.45]Bing:Across it?And you cross over it?
[02:26.31]T.W:That's right.You just keep going,and up on your right hand side,
[02:33.29]you'll see a little monument,and that's the monument to Greyfriar's Bobby.
[02:40.34]You know,there was a wee dog..
[02:47.11]T.W.:Well,if you just go in there,the pub is just next door.
[02:53.95]I think you'll find it quite easily.
[02:58.10]Bing:Great.I really appreciate it.Thanks very much.
[03:03.95]T.W:OK.Goodbye.
[03:07.19]Bing:Bye-bye.
[03:10.35]2.Tom and Susan spent a few days in London last month.
[03:17.30]They left their car at home and stayed in a good hotel in the centre of town.
[03:23.65]They spent a lot of money.This is what happened the day they went home.
[03:30.00]Susan:Why do we have to walk to the staiton?And where is it?
[03:36.03]Tom:It's just down that road...I think.
[03:41.07]Susan:Look!There's a policeman!Ask him the way.
[03:46.82]Tom:All right.Excuse me.Can you tell me the way to Waterloo Station?
[03:53.48]Policeman:Yes.Walk down this road,take the first turning on the left.
[04:00.14]Then walk until you come to the river and...
[04:05.00]Tom:The river?
[04:08.37]Policeman:Yes.You can't see it very clearly from here.
[04:13.62]When you come to it,there's bridge.Just walk across it.
[04:19.47]Follow the signs that say"To Waterloo Station".You can't miss it.
[04:25.95]Tom:And is it very far?I mean,how long does it take to walk there?
[04:32.30]Policeman:About fifteen minutes,if you walk quickly.
[04:37.05]Tom:I see.Thank you very much.
[04:41.31]Policeman:Not at all.
[04:44.68]Susan:Fifteen minutes!And with these heavy suitcases,too!
[04:51.34]I think we ought to take a taxi.
[04:55.39]Tom:Not at this hour.Look at the traffic.It's moving very slowly.
[05:02.34]We can get there just as quickly as on foot.
[05:07.38]Susan:Well,I can't possibly carry this case any farther.
[05:13.76]Tom:All right.let me take it,then.
[05:18.41]Susan:Don't be silly.You can't carry your case and mine as well!
[05:25.04]Tom:Yes,I can.The cases aren't that heavy..hmm!
[05:31.89]Susan:You see!They're heavier than you thought!
[05:36.43]Tom:Perhaps it's not such a bad idea after all.
[05:41.39]Susan:What isn't such a bad idea?What do you mean?
[05:46.96]Tom:Taxi!Taxi!
[05:51.40]3.Jane is a foreign visitor who wants information
[05:58.84]about how to visit places in Britain.
[06:03.31]Now she is asking an assistant at the Tourist Office.
[06:09.16]Assistant:Morning.Can I help you?
[06:12.72]Jane:Yes.What's the best way of getting to Windsor,please?
[06:19.09]Is there a bus from central London?
[06:23.35]Assistant:Well,there are Green Line buses-
[06:28.08]or of course there are guided coach tours,but they're more expensive.
[06:34.61]Jane:What's a Green Line bus?
[06:38.97]Assistant:Oh,they're green buses-single-decker buses-
[06:44.40]that go farther out than the double-decker buses-
[06:49.84]red buses which you see in central London.
[06:54.48]Jane:Thanks.I'm sorry,but I have another question.
[07:00.15]Can we go to Green-wich by boat?
[07:04.59]Assistant:Yes,you can get a boat from Westminster Pier.
[07:09.95]Oh,but not in the winter,I'm afraid.You'll have to go by train.
[07:16.51]Jane:The underground?
[07:20.03]Assistant:No,an ordinary train from Charing Cross Statin.
[07:25.88]There's no tube to Greenwich.
[07:29.65]Jane:Thank you.And one final question.
[07:34.32]What's the best way of getting to Hatfield?
[07:39.28]Do we need a train there,too?
[07:43.54]Assistant:No,you can go by Green Line.Here's leaflet with all the details.
[07:51.12]Passage
[07:54.04]Earthquake Prediction
[07:57.49]Humans are forever forgetting that they can not control nature.
[08:03.55]Exactly 20 years ago,a Time magazine cover story
[08:09.80]announced that"scientists are on the verge of being able to predict the time,
[08:16.56]place and even the size of earthquakes."
[08:21.52]The people who are suffering from quakes
[08:26.07]learned last week how wrong that assertion was
[08:31.43]Two of the main instruments in use
[08:35.58]to predict earthquakes are seismgraphs and tilt meters.
[08:42.06]The former records any shaking of the earth.
[08:47.20]By means of calculations,experts can give their predictions on earthquakes.
[08:54.57]The latter,as the name suggests,
[08:59.04]is used to record any changes in the tilt of the land.
[09:04.78]However,neither has yet to discover
[09:09.83]a uniform warning signal that preceded all quakes,
[09:15.86]let alone any sign that would tell whether the ecoming tremble is mild or a killer.
[09:23.41]Earthquake formation can be triggered by many factors,says Tom Hocking,
[09:30.17]an expert on earthquake at the California Institute of Technology.
[09:36.73]The actual cause of quake itself is the breaking apart of rocks
[09:43.50]at or below the earth's surface.
[09:47.75]It is believed by scientists that two of the many reasons are the expansion
[09:55.12]and contraction of the earth's crust and continental drift,
[10:00.27]which are both complex processes.
[10:04.71]So,finding one all-purpose warning sign is impossible.
[10:11.47]One reason:quakes start deep in the earth,
[10:17.22]so scientists can not study them directly.
[10:22.86]If an early sign of quake is found,
[10:27.93]it would still be impossible to warn humans in advance of all dangerous quakes.
[10:35.87]Places like Japan and California are puzzled with hundreds,
[10:43.03]if not thousands,of minor faults.
[10:47.76]Prediction would be less important
[10:52.30]if scientists could easily build structures to withstand shakes.
[10:59.25]While engineering on earthquakes
[11:03.69]has improved dramatically in the past 10 to 15 years,
[11:09.65]every new quake reveals new weaknesses in"quake-resistant"structures,
[11:17.09]says an expert at Brown University.
[11:21.64]In Kobe,for example,a highway that opened only last year was damaged.
[11:28.77]In the Northridge earthquake,on the other hand,
[11:33.63]well-built structures generally did not colapse.
[11:38.98]A recent report in Science adds yet more anxiety about life on the faulty lines.
[11:47.45]Researchers ran computer simulations to see how quake-resistant buildings
[11:55.21]would fare in a moderate-size earth-quake,
[11:59.96]taking into account that much of a quake's energy travels
[12:06.44]in a large"pulse"of focused shaking.
[12:11.48]The results:both steel-frame buildings
[12:16.94]and buildings that sit on insulating rubber pads suffered severe damage.
[12:24.59]More research will help experts desian stronger structures
[12:30.65]and polssibly find early signs.
[12:35.62]But it is still a certainty that the next earthquake will prove once again
[12:42.78]that every fault can not be monitored
[12:48.10]and every highway can not be compoletely quake-proofed.
[12:54.45]Words and Expressions
[12:58.11]prediction on the verge of predict assertion
[13:01.23]预测 接近于 预测 说法;断言
[13:04.35]instrument seismograph tilt meter latter
[13:08.32]工具 地震仪 测量地面倾斜度的仪器 后者
[13:12.29]uniform precede let alone tremble
[13:16.12]统一的 在...之前 更不要说 战栗
[13:19.95]mild formation trigger factor
[13:23.74]轻微的 形成 引发 因素
[13:27.52]contraction crust continental drift
[13:31.30]收缩 外壳 大陆的 漂流
[13:35.07]process minor withstand dramatically
[13:38.70]过程 轻微的 抵挡 鲜明地
[13:42.33]reveal resistant collapse anxiety
[13:45.97]显现 抵抗的 倒塌 忧虑
[13:49.60]simulation fare moderate pulse
[13:53.23]模拟 顺利 中等的 脉搏
[13:56.86]frame insulating pad
[13:59.74]框架 绝缘的 垫,衬垫
[14:02.63]severe quake-proofed
[14:04.90]严重的 防震的
[14:07.18]Exercises Section I Listening Comprehension
[14:13.94]Listen to the record.
[14:17.81]Answer each quesstion by choosing A,B,C or D from the four possible choices.
[14:28.26]A 1.W:How many countries have you been to?
[14:35.62]M:Australia,America and Austria.I'll be back home in Japan next week.
[14:44.17]2.W:I hear you've been to Russia in 1990s,Mr.White.Was that your first visit?
[14:53.10]M:No,it was not my first visit to Russia.
[14:57.78]I had visited Russia twice before 1980.
[15:03.13]3.W:Do you always have weather like this in January?
[15:09.30]M:Generally it is much colder than this.
[15:13.84]But I can't remember when we had such a snowy day.
[15:18.99]4.W:Excuse me,could you tell me the way to the airport?
[15:25.47]M:Sorry,I'm a stranger here,too.
[15:29.83]5.W:Where shall I plant these seeds,Jack?
[15:36.18]M:Let me see.In tront of the house?No,I think right here would be better.
[15:44.12]6.W:Excuse me,where is the closest place to eat?
[15:50.88]M:Down the street about four blocks.I can take you there if you like.
[15:57.54]B M:Jane!Imagine seeing you here.
[16:03.47]W:Jack!Glad to see you too.I haven't seen you for ages.
[16:11.02]M:You know,I've been hoping to get hold of you.
[16:16.17]Would you be able to come over this Friday?
[16:20.90]My sister just returned from a trip to Canada.
[16:26.07]She'll be staying with Su for a few days.
[16:31.22]I thought you two might like to get to know each other
[16:36.21]since you two are both botanists.
[16:40.65]W:Oh!I'd love to.But I can't.
[16:46.00]I have to go up to my younger brother's graduation on Friday right after work.
[16:53.05]It takes about four hours to get to Seattle,you know.
[16:58.70]M:Seattle?I thought you were from Portland.
[17:03.95]W:No,I just lived there for a few years.
[17:08.91]M:Well,it's really too bad you can't make it.
[17:13.95]When my sister was in Canada,she spent the whole time taking pictures of plants.
[17:21.32]I can't believe how good some of them are.
[17:25.89]W:Is there any chance that you could ask her to stay around for a little bit longer?
[17:32.73]I'll be getting back early Sunday.
[17:37.41]M:I doubt whether we can get her to stay much longer.She is busy.
[17:43.86]W:Well,if I can't get hold of her this time,
[17:49.03]maybe I'll have to wait till the next time she comes around.
[17:54.49]C M:How do you do?
[17:58.94]W:How do you do?What can I do for you?
[18:03.98]M:Well,I've just got off an international flight,
[18:09.54]and I'm not sure which mode of transport I should make use fo on my trip.
[18:15.89]So I need some advice.
[18:19.86]W:Go on,please.
[18:23.20]M:I'm planning to travel to some famous places-Beijing,
[18:29.76]Xi'an and Guilin in China.
[18:34.62]Which mode of transport is the best for me?
[18:39.48]W:Well,that depends on how much time and money you're going to spend on your trip.
[18:47.03]M:I see.
[18:50.19]I'm traveling at my expense,
[18:54.73]so I want to save to both time and money spent on my way.
[19:00.51]W:Oh,I know what you mean.
[19:04.27]Now that you are in Beijing,you should visit the Great Wall,the Summer Palace,
[19:11.22]the Imperial Palace and Tian'anmen Square as well.
[19:16.68]During your trip in Beijing,
[19:20.62]make use of the underground which is faster and cheaper.
[19:26.68]M:How can I get to Xi'an?
[19:30.34]You know I have to go to Beijing after I've finished all my travelling.
[19:36.69]W:It's much cheaper to take a train to Xi'an than to fly.
[19:43.22]In my opinion,you should take the train to Xi'an and then to Guilin.
[19:50.09]You will not only save money but also have a close beautiful scenic trip.
[19:58.13]After that,fly directly from Guilin to Beijing.
[20:04.19]M:Good!That's a really good idea.I'll do as you have suggested.
[20:12.13]Thanks.Thanks a lot.
[20:16.39]W:Not at all! Goodbye!
[20:20.05]M:Goodbye!
[20:23.10]Supplementary Reading
[20:26.47]Rivers and Lakes in the United States
[20:31.80]Lying between the Appalachian Mountains
[20:36.35]and the Rocky Mountains is one of the world's greatest continental rivers-
[20:42.91]the Mississippi.
[20:45.96]The Mississippi rises in the lake region in Noth Minnesota
[20:52.13]and flows south to the Gulf of Mexico.
[20:56.67]It is 3 782 kilometers long.
[21:02.42]But if it is measured from the source of its chief headstream,the Missouri,
[21:08.98]it is over 6 000 kilometers before it joins the Mississippi at St.Louis.
[21:16.34]Another major river which flows from the rainy east at Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania
[21:22.82]and joins the Mississippi at Cairo,Illinois,is sthe river Ohio.
[21:29.66]It is about 1 500 kilometers long.
[21:35.44] These rivers are very important in American life.
[21:40.69]The Mississippi has been called "Father of Waters" or "Old Man River".
[21:47.66]The Mississippi and its tributaries drain one of the richest farm areas in the world.
[21:55.11]They form a 19 000 kilometers system of waterways
[22:01.59]that are connected to the Great Lakes in the north by canals
[22:07.05]and serve as a means of transportation and as a source of fertility to the soil.
[22:13.50]But just like the Yellow River in China,
[22:17.94]the Mississippi has frequently flooded its banks and caused much destruction.
[22:24.89]The Ohio River has been called the American Ruhr (after the Ruhr River in Germany).
[22:32.75]As in Germany,the area along the river
[22:37.82]is rich in valuable deposits of high-grade coking coal
[22:43.46]and is well-known for its steel industry.
[22:47.82]The river provides cheap water transportation for raw materials.
[22:53.88]On the pacific side ther are two great rivers:
[22:58.64]the Colorado in the south,and the Columbia,which rises in Canada.
[23:05.19]The Colorado River rises in the snow-capped Rocky Mountains.
[23:10.84]It flows 2 330 kilometers through mountains,
[23:17.32]plateaus and deep canyons and empties into the Gulf of California.
[23:24.68]In the dry western country,both rivers are vital sources of life.
[23:31.24]The Colorado drains and enormous area.
[23:35.60]All the farms and cities of the southwestern corner
[23:40.56]of the country depend on its water.
[23:45.42]Today a system of dams has been buillt on the river
[23:50.49]to supply water and electricity for farms,factories and homes.
[23:57.26] The Rio Grande River rises in the southern Rocky Mountains
[24:02.90]and flows to the Gulf of mexico.
[24:06.87]It is about 3 200 kilometers long
[24:12.20]and forms a natural boundary between Mexico and the United States.
[24:18.23]Other well-known rivers include the Hudson
[24:23.20]which meets the Atlantic Ocean at New York City
[24:28.34]and the Potomac bordering the national capital of Washington.
[24:33.91] The most important lakes in teh United States are the Great Lakes.
[24:39.68]They are Lake Superior,which is the largest fresh water lake in the world,
[24:46.73]Lake Michigan (the only one entirely in the US),
[24:52.48]Lake Huron,Lake Erie and Lake Ontario.
[24:58.44]They are all located between Canada and the United States except Lake Michigan.
[25:05.28]These lakes are joined together by canals
[25:09.85]and are linked to the Mississippi River and its tributaries in the Interior Plants
[25:08.85]and the Atlantic Ocean forming a complete system of waterways.
[25:14.91]Even though the cities on the Great Lakes
[25:19.59]are over 1 600 kilometers away from the sea,
[25:25.23]they can be reached by ships from the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico.
[25:32.07]The Great Lakes are the economic lifeline of the Midwest.
[25:37.85]They provide cheap transportation for materials
[25:42.81]such as iron ore,coal,and grain.
[25:47.85]The upper lakes region is a land of great natural wealth,
[25:53.52]whereas the lower lakes region is a land of industries.
[25:58.67]The cheap and easy transportation between these two regions is of great importance.
