大學(xué)英語四級聽力短文原文
知不足者好學(xué)，恥下問者自滿。以下是小編為大家搜索整理的大學(xué)英語四級聽力短文原文，希望能給大家?guī)韼椭?更多精彩內(nèi)容請及時關(guān)注我們應(yīng)屆畢業(yè)生考試網(wǎng)!
大學(xué)英語四級聽力短文原文
Passage One
No one knows for sure just how old kites are. In fact, they have been in use for centuries. 25 centuries ago, kites were well-known in China. These first kites were probably made of wood. They may even have been covered with silk, because silk was used a lot at that time.
Early kites were built for certain uses. In ancient China, they were used to carry ropes across rivers. Once across, the ropes were tied down and wooden bridges were hung from them. Legend tales of one general who flew musical kites over the enemy’s camp. The enemy fled, believing the sounds to be the warning voices of angels. By the 15th centuries, many people flew kites in Europe. Marco Polo may have brought the kite back from his visit to China. The kite has been linked to great names and events. For instance, Benjamin Franklin used the kite to prove that lightening is electricity. He flew the kite in a storm. He did this in order to draw lightening from the clouds. He tied a metal key and a strip of silk to the kite line. The silk ribbon would stop the lightening from passing through his body. Benjamin’s idea was first laughed at, but later on it led to the invention of the lightening rod.
With such grand history, kite flying is sure to remain an entertaining and popular sport.
Q16: What does the speaker say about kites?
Q17: What did ancient Chinese use kites to do?
Q18: Why did Benjamin Franklin fly a kite in a storm?
Passage Two
I have learned many languages, but I have not mastered them the way a professional interpreter or translator has. Still, they have opened doors for me. They have allowed me the opportunity to seek jobs in international contexts and help me get those jobs. Like many people who have lived overseas for a while, I simply got crazy about it. I can’t imagine living my professional or social life without international interactions. Since 1977, I have spent much more time abroad than in the United States. I like going to new places, eating new foods and experiencing new cultures. If you can speak the language, it’s easier to get to know the country and its people. If I had the time and money, I would live for a year in as many countries as possible.
Beyond my career, my facility with languages has given me a few rare opportunities. Once just after I returned from my year in Vienna, I was asked to translate for a German judge at an Olympic level horse event. I learned a lot about the sport. In Japan, once when I was in the studio audience of a TV cooking show, I was asked to go up on the stage and taste the beef dish that was being prepared and tell what I thought. They asked, “Was it as good as American beef?” It was very exciting for me to be on Japanese TV speaking in Japanese about how delicious the beef was.
Q19: What does the speaker say about herself?
Q20: What does the speaker say about many people who have lived overseas for a while?
Q21: How does the speaker’s experience of living in Vienna benefit her?
Q22: What was the speaker asked to do in a Japanese studio?
大學(xué)英語四級聽力在線測試材料
Company Finds, Trains Technology Workers in Africa
培訓(xùn)非洲技術(shù)工作者
A new Nigerian technology company plans to produce some of the best software developers in the world.
The company is based in Lagos. It is called Andela. It performs work for large companies, most of which are in the United States. At the same time, it trains software developers. The training period is four years. During that time, Andela teaches workers programming languages and skills.
“Our goal is to basically train 100,000 software developers who are world class, in Africa, over the next 10 years,” said Seni Sulyman. He is the company’s director of operations.
Sulyman says after the developers train at Andela, they can work for major tech companies such as IBM and Microsoft.
Recently, several groups showed their support for Andela by investing $24 million in the company.
The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative was one of the investors. That group -- created by Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan -- issued a statement praising Andela. The statement said Andela’s “innovative model of learning” was one of the reasons the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative invested in the company.
Others have also praised Andela for providing high-quality training. Bankole Oluwafemi is the editor of a technology news website. He said Andela is different from other technology companies in Africa because it focuses on education.
“Andela is kind of like, attack that problem, and they’re kind of like, unique in that they’re one of the first, if not the first, to attack that problem at scale, the problem of education,” he said.
Seni Sulyman says the company hopes to use the money it recently received to increase the number of workers it recruits.
Andela hires only about 12 new people every three months. It chooses them from about 3,000 to 5,000 applications.
Sulyman said Andela would also like to find more companies to complete projects for, and to expand into a third country in Africa. Andela now works in Nigeria and Kenya.
Sulyman noted the recent investment of $24 million seems like a lot of money. But, he said, Andela has so many things it wants to do that he’s sure the company will figure out ways to spend it.
I’m Christopher Jones-Cruise.
___________________________________________________________
Words in This Story
world class – adj. among the best in the world
focus – v. to direct your attention or effort at something specific (often + on)
scale – n. the size or level of something especially in comparison to something else
hire – v. to give work or a job to (someone) in exchange for wages or a salary (chiefly US)
【大學(xué)英語四級聽力短文原文】相關(guān)文章：
大學(xué)英語四級聽力短文聽力技巧10-20
英語四級聽力短文原文（滬江版）11-07
英語四級短文聽力02-14
大學(xué)英語四級聽力長對話原文11-04
大學(xué)英語四級聽力對話原文解析07-10
英語四級短文的聽力技巧11-04
英語四級聽力原文08-29