懂你英语Level4 Unit1
Part1
Listening
Christina is ona two-week vacation.
This is thefirst vacation she has had for a long time.
The lastvacation she took was more than two years ago.
Now she isvisiting a friend in San Francisco.
Her friend andher husband are living near the center of the city.
He works for astartup company in Silicon Valley.
While he isworking, she works part-time at a department store.
Christina hasn'tseen her friend for a long time.
The last timethey saw each other was 3 years ago.
At that time,they were both working at a department store.
Then Christinaquit her job and started her own business.
She designswomen's clothing.
She has 2employees now and her company is slowly growing.
Christina hascome to San Francisco by herself .
Her husbanddidn't come because he has to work.
He tried tostart a company 2 years ago but it didn't work out.
His companyfailed after only a few months.
So now he'sworking at another company and saving money.
Once he savesenough money he plans to start another company.
He doesn't wantto give up.
This is thesecond time Christina has been to San Francisco.
The first timewas when she was a high school student.
That was morethan 10 years ago.
During that tripshe was only in San Francisco for a few days.
After that shewent to Los Angeles and New York.
This time sheand her friend plan to relax and have fun.
Christinaarrived two days ago, the day before yesterday.
Her friend mether at the airport and drove her to her apartment.
Her apartment isjust North of the airport about 20 minutes from San Francisco.
It's a smallapartment, but it's on a hill and it has a great view.
Yesterday theywent downtown and rode the cable cars.
Christina wassurprised by how steep the hills are.
Then they walkedalong the ocean and ate lunch at a seafood restaurant.
From therestaurant, they could see the Golden Gate Bridge.
Tomorrow,they're planning to drive to Yosemite National Park.
By car,it'sabout 4 hours away.
Christina hasnever been there before, so she is excited.
She has heardthat the park is very beautiful.
Her friend hasbeen to Yosemite several times.
She says it'sone of the most beautiful places in the world.
Christina justhopes that her friend is a good driver.
Vocabulary
Headaches can bevery painful and can last for a long time.
If you have aheadache, your head hurts.
A sprained anklecan be so painful that you can't walk.
Someone with asprained ankle may need to use crutches to walk.
If you have asore throat, it may be painful to swallow.
A sore throatcan be caused by viruses or bacteria.
A burn is aninjury to the skin caused by fire or heat.
If you get tooclose to a fire, you will be burned.
An earache is a sharp,dull or burning pain in the ear.
Common causes ofan earache include an infection, a changing air pressure or water in the ear.
Mountains arelandforms higher than 2 thousand feet or about 600 meters above sea level.
Hills are likemountains, but not as tall.
Mountains areformed by forces deep within the Earth and are made of many types of rocks.
Rivers arestreams of water that usually begin at mountains and flow into the sea.
Many earlycities were built alongside rivers.
Most of theworld's water is in the oceans, which are large bodies of salt water.
The oceans arealso an important source of oxygen.
Deserts areareas of land that receive little or no rainfall.
The amount ofrainfall in some deserts is so low that only a few plants can survive.
A valley is alow, relatively flat area between hills or mountains, often with a riverrunning through it.
Some valleys areformed by flowing water, and others are formed by glaciers.
(Deserttemperatures can range from cold at night to very hot during the daytime, oftenabove 120 degrees F.)
(The place wherea river begins is its source.)
Dialogue
Have you eatenyet?
No, I haven't,and I'm hungry.
Me too, let's goout for dinner.
Where to?
What about JonesItalian?
How many timeshave you eaten there?
I eat there alot. It's one of my favorite places.
I went there twoweeks ago, and the service was terrible.
Really? Then,let's go some places else.
What do yousuggest?
How about theRoyal Indian? It's not far from here.
I've never heardof it, is it good?
Yes, I've beenthere several times, and I've never been disappointed.
OK, let's tryit. I haven't eaten Indian food for along time.
You won't bedisappointed, and the prices are reasonable.
Ah~, so you meanI'm going to pay?
Well, that wouldcertainly be nice.
What aboutreservations?
If we get thereearly enough, we won't need them.
I hope you'reright.
Don't worry. If we have to wait, I'll pay the bill.
Part2
Listening
Today, Christinaand her friend are enjoying themselves.
This morningthey got up very early and drove out of San Francisco.
They crossed theBay Bridge before the early morning commute and drove south.
Because it wasso early, there were almost no cars.
After drivingfor an hour and a half, they stopped and had breakfast.
They orderedpancakes and coffee.
They also hadsome fresh fruit.
When theyfinished eating, it was 7 o'clock.
Then they gotback into the car and drove south.
Christina wantedto listen to music, so they turned on the radio.
An hour laterthey stopped for gas.
They noticedthat there was also a charging station for electric cars.
It's now 1:15and they are in Yosemite Park
They have beenthere for two hours, since 11:15.
They are lookingat Yosemite falls, which is the highest waterfall in the Park.
The water dropsa total of 740 meters from the top of the upper fall to the base of the lowerfall.
In another 15minutes they planed eat lunch at a magnificent old hotel in the park.
It was built in1927 and has a great view.
They wanted tostay there, but they couldn't get reservations.
To get a room atthat hotel, you usually need to make reservations several months in advance.
They plan tostay in the park until around 4 o'clock .
By then theywill have been in the park for nearly 5 hours.
Then they'll getback into the car and drive back to San Francisco.
They plan to eatdinner somewhere along the way.
If the trafficisn't too bad ,they should be back in San Francisco by 10 o'clock.
Early tomorrowmorning they are going to cross the Golden Gate Bridge and go north along thecoast.
From some placesyou can look out on the ocean and see whales and other sea life.
Christina hasnever seen a whale before, so she's looking forward to it.
And tomorrownight they have something special planned.
They are goingto watch a baseball game.
Christina hasnever seen a baseball game, but she has heard that it is very popular in theUS.
And the SanFrancisco baseball team is one of the best.
Vocabulary
A force is apush or a pull on an object.
A force changes
the motion(运动) of a movingobject.
A force can bestrong or weak and it always has a direction.
The earth is aplanet that goes around the sun in a circular orbit.
The speed of itsmotion doesn't change, but the direction of its motion does.
The earth has alayer of gas above its surface, which helps to support life.
Atoms are thebuilding blocks of matter.
At the center of
an atom is its nucleus(电子), which has apositive
electric charge. (正电荷)
Outside the
nucleus are electrons, which have a negative charge.(负电荷)
Asteroids(小行星) and comets（彗星）, are objectsthat orbit our sun, but are smaller than planets.
Asteroids thatpass closed to the Earth are called near-earth objects.
The layer ofgases just above Earth's surface is our atmosphere.
The atmosphereis made up of gases, such as oxygen and nitrogen.
Without anatmosphere, there would be no life on Earth.
(A force can
increase(增加) or decrease(减少) the speed of an object, and it can changethe direction of motion)
(If they collidewith Earth they could cause an extinction event).
The two lines onthe left intersect each other at a right angle, which is 90 degrees.
The two lines onthe right are parallel, which means they never cross.
The adjacentsides of a rectangle are perpendicular, which means they meet at a 90 degreeangle.
The oppositesides of a rectangle are equal and parallel, which means they never cross.
The area of arectangle is the length times the width.
A circle is atwo dimensional figure with a radius and circumference, which is the distancearound the circle.
The area of a
circle isπr squared,wherer is the radius andπis the ratio ofa circle's circumference to its diameter.
A sphere is a
three dimensional figure with a radius and a volume, which is 4/3 πr cubed.
All points onthe surface of a sphere are equidistant from its center.
A right triangleis a two dimensional figure with 3 sides, twoof whichareperpendicular.
To find itsarea, multiply the length of the two perpendicular sides, a & b, anddivided by two, A equals one half ab.
(A rectangle isa two dimensional figure with 4 sides)
(Pi is the ratioof a circle’s circumference to its diameter.)
(The electricforce between the nucleus and the electrons holds the atom together.)
Dialogue
Have youfinished eating yet?
No,I haven't.
Why are you insuch a hurry?
I'm sorry, butyou are such a slow eater.
A slow eater?
Well,I try toenjoy my food.
You just eat andswallow.
I don't see howyou can even taste it!
Ok, I'm sorry.
Do you mind if Iget another glass of wine?
No, go ahead.
I don't want youto sit there putting pressure on me.
I thought wewere going to have a relaxing evening.
Yes, you areright.
I'd like torelax, but I have a lot on my mind.
Work related?
Yes, it is.
I've beengetting some strange emails from my boss.
He wants me tocut down on my expenses.
Maybe he wantsto fire me.
Is business bad?
Yes, it is. butI don't want to talk about it.
OK, but I'm agood listener.
You can tell meif you'd like to.
Thanks,maybesome other time.
I'll try to stopthinking about it and deal with it tomorrow.
Good idea.
You need to takea break from work.
Your health isimportant, and so am I.
Yes you are.
I don't knowwhat I would do without you.
Part3
Listening
Harry is anAmerican businessman.
His job requireshim to do a lot of traveling.
He takes 9 or 10trips a year.
In the past sixmonths he has made 5 trips.
Three were toAsia and two were to Europe.
The purpose ofthese trips is to attend meetings and make presentations.
Harry loves to travel,and he's traveled to many countries.
Most of histrips are for one or two weeks.
His firstinternational trip was 15 years ago when he was 20 years old.
He really wantedto see Asia, so he and a friend flew to Tokyo, Japan.
From Tokyo, theytraveled around Japan for two weeks.
The people theymet were very nice, but most of them didn't speak English.
Harry tried tospeak a little Japanese, but it was difficult.
He didn't dovery well.
When he spoke topeople, most of them just looked at him.
They didn'tunderstand what he was trying to say.
From Japan, theywent to Korea for a week, and then they went to China.
In China, theyvisited the Great Wall, near Beijing.
They stayed inBeijing for a few days, and then boarded a train for Shanghai.
It was an
overnight train with sleeping cars.
car 车厢
During thejourney, they enjoyed looking out the window at the countryside.
The view fromthe train was wonderful.
Harry will neverforget watching the sun go down in the evening.
It was abeautiful sunset.
The journey toshanghai, took many hours, but it was an unforgettable experience.
On the train,they met a chinese professor who spoke English.
He was amiddle-aged man whose hair was turning grey.
He told themabout how things were changing in china.
It was wonderfulto watch him as he was speaking.
His eyes werefull of energy and excitement.
They only stayedin shanghai for a couple of days.
Then theyreturned to the US and went back to school.
They had onemore year to finish their studies.
Harry‘s next fewtrips were to different parts of the world.
He went toEurope twice, each time to different countries.
On one trip, hetraveled through the UK and France.
On the nexttrip, he went to Italy and Greece.
After Europe, hetraveled to Mexico and South America.
In south
America, he went to Argentina(阿根廷) and Brazil(巴西).
He enjoyed
watching some great soccer(美式足球) matches.
Then he decidedto go back to Asia.
But this time hewent to south east Asia.
He visited Vietnam(越南), Thailand and Singapore(新加坡).
Each country had
a charm(魅力) of its own.
After all thistravel, Harry decided to make travel part of his career.
He didn't wantto work only in the US.
He didn't wantto work only with Americans.
He wanted toexperience other countries and other cultures.
His dream was towork for an international company.
Five years agohis dream came true.
Now he's workingfor a German hi-tech company.
As part of hisjob, he has to travel a lot.
As a result, hehas been to many cities and countries.
And he has metmany interesting people.
Vocabulary
A dental(牙齿的) cavity(窝、洞) is a hole in the tooth.
A cavity is
caused by bacteria(细菌) in the mouth.
Brushing your
teeth frequently(频繁的) and regularly(正规的) can help prevent cavities.
A cracked toothcan be caused by biting down on something hard.
Dentists treat a
cracked tooth by covering it with a crown(冠).
A dental x-ray
is a picture of your teeth and gums(牙龈、牙床).
An x-ray showswhat can't be seen on the surface of the teeth and gums.
Braces(矫正器) are used by dentists to straighten teethover a period of years.
Though braces
are usually for children, they can also be used for adults with crooked(歪扭的) teeth.
To extract(拔) a tooth, means to remove it from themouth.
Dentists have topull hard to extract a tooth.
Dentists often
inject(注射) something into
the gum to block(阻碍) the pain
during the extraction process(过程 步骤).
The heart pumps(泵 抽动) blood to all
parts of the body through a system of arteries(动脉) and veins(静脉).
It's located in
the chest(胸腔), between the
lungs(肺), and beatsabout once per second.
The kidneys(肾) remove waste and toxins(毒素) from the blood.
They are bean
shaped organs(器官) and are about10 centimeters long and 6 centimeters wide.
The lungsexchange oxygen from the air with carbon dioxide from the blood.
They expand when
inhaling(吸入) air, and
contract(收缩) when exhaling(呼出) air.
The stomach is
below the heart, and it's part of the digestive(消化的) system.
It uses acids(酸的) to digest(消化) food before
passing it to the small intestine(小肠).
The bladder(膀胱) is a balloon shaped organ that collects
urine(小便) from thekidneys.
In an adult, the
bladder can hold about half a liter(公升) of urine.
The lungs areused for breathing.
Dialogue
Good evening,sir.
You were drivingtoo fast.
Really? Was I?
Yes, you weregoing well above the speed limit.
I'm sorry,officer.
OK, I need tosee your driver's license.
Here is mydriver's license.
Your license has
expired(到期).
Are you aware(知道 发觉) of that?
No, sir. that'sa surprise.
I didn't know.
It expired morethan a year ago.
Is this yourcar?
No, sir. It's afriend's.
I'm borrowing itfor the night.
Get out of thecar and put your hands behind your back.
Why, officer?What have I done?
Just do as Isay.
OK, officer. I'm
cooperating(合作 协同操作).
Please don'tpush me.
Get your handsbehind your back.
OK, OK.
I'm not askingyou.
I'm orderingyou.
Please. officer.
I haven't doneanything wrong.
Stay still anddon't say anything.
This is a stolencar. Are you aware of that?
Are you going to
arrest(逮捕 扣留) me?
What do youthink?
That's what wedo with car thieves.
If you let mego, I'll give you a couple of thousand dollars.
I haven't hurtanybody.
So now you are
trying to bribe(贿赂) me.
How stupid canyou be?
I just don't
want to go back to jail(监狱).
Give me a break.
Sure，you are a nice guy.
I'd like to giveyou a break.
But there isnothing I can do.
Please. officer.
OK, where is themoney?
Let me see itand I'll think about it.
Part4
Listening
Quick serve is asuccessful home repair company.
It providesquick reliable repair services to homes.
It wasestablished 5 years ago and has been expanding rapidly.
In the last twoyears, it has opened offices in three new cities.
Because of itsrapid growth it has to hire many new employees.
In the last sixmonths, it has hired 50 new employees.
The total numberof employees in the company is now over 500.
And the numberof customers has increased to more than 5000.
The company hasalso improved its business model.
Instead ofoffering only repair services it can now help customers upgrade theirappliances.
Quick serve doesthis by giving a choice.
Customers can choose to
repair an appliance or upgrade it by buying a new one.
If they chooseto buy a new one, they will get a discounted price.
So a customercan either repair a broken refrigerator for a small fee or buy a new one.
If they buy a new one, they
will get a discounted price, along with free installation.
This is possiblebecause several appliance manufacturers have agreed to give Quick serve bigdiscounts.
Quick serve theninstalls the new appliance and removes the old one.
Feedback(反馈) from customers has been positive(积极的 肯定的).
A highpercentage of customers have taken advantage of this new service.
As a result,
Quick serve has developed a great reputation(信誉).
Its dedication(奉献) to high quality service has proven(证明) to be successful.
Its
word-of-mouth approach(方法) to advertisinghas been cost effective.
The appliancemanufactures have also been happy with the results.
Their growingrelationship with Quick serve has help to increase their sales.
The world'spopulation is growing.
There are nowover 7 billion people in the world.
During the 20thof century, the population grew from 1.65 billion to 6 billion.
It's now growing
at a rate(速度) of around 1.1percent per year.
That means anincrease of about 80 million per year.
By 2024, thepopulation is expected to be around 8 billion people.
The growth rateused to be higher.
In the late1960s, the rate of growth was about 2%.
Since then the
growth rate has declined(下降).
It is estimated(估计 预测) that thegrowth rate will be less than 1% by 2020.
By the year2050, the growth rate should be even less.
Even with adeclining growth rate, the population will continue to grow.
But it will growat a slower rate.
In the past 50years, the world's population has more than doubled.
It has doubledfrom around 3 billion in 1960 to more than 7 billion in 2011.
The rate ofgrowth varies by country.
The growth ratein India is more than twice that of China.
And the growrate in Nigeria, which is in Africa, is more than twice India's growth rate.
Russia on the
other hand, has had a negative(负的) growth rate insome years.
When a country
has a negative growth rate, its population is decreasing.
Vocabulary
Co-founder(共同创立者) of Apple, Steve Jobs(史蒂夫.乔布斯) was a major
figure in(占据重要位置) the computer
industry(行业).
He was
self-centered(以自我为中心) and difficultto work for, but he led the development of many great products.
He died ofcancer when he was just 56 years old.
Jack Ma(马云), is one of the richest and most famousman in China.
He comes from apoor family and failed his college entrance exams twice.
Despite(尽管) his many failures he has built one of theworld's largest internet companies.
David Beckham is
one of the world's richest and most famous athletes(运动员).
He startedplaying professional football when he was just 17.
Much of hissuccess as an athlete, is because he practiced harder than many other players.
As a young girl
in Pakistan(巴基斯坦), Mlala becamefamous for her writings on women's education.
In 2012, She wasshot in the head and nearly killed.
She survived the
injury(幸存), and becamethe world's most famous teenager.
Born in 1942,
Stephen Hawking(史蒂芬·霍金)is one of the world's most famousscientist.
When he was 23,
he was diagnosed(诊断) with ALS, a
rare(稀有的) disease of thenerves.
Because of hisdisease, he is unable to walk and talk.
Shy people areusually quiet and uncomfortable around other people.
They generallydislike going to social events such as parties.
It's oftendifficult to make friends with a shy person because they won't open up.
Outgoing peopleenjoy being with others and are comfortable in social situations.
They arefriendly and pleasant to be with, though sometimes they can't be trusted.
Self-centered(自我为中心的) people like to be the center of attention.
They like peopleto look at them, and pay attention to them.
Self-centeredpeople often talk too much, and don't listen enough.
Selfish(自私的) and greedy(贪婪的) people don'tshare things with others.
They keep thingsfor themselves and always want more.
People who are
responsible(负责任的) and
trustworthy(值得信赖的) are importantin almost any situation.
They can bedepended on to get things done.
These people canbe trusted.
（She has won many
prizes, including the Nobel Peace Prize.）
（Outgoing people
often have many friends and can be quite popular.）
（Greedy people
want more than their share and can cause many problems for others.）
(Though he wasdifficult to work for, his creative genius inspired others to do great work.)
Dialogue
Hey, Steven, youknow I’m your friend, right?
Sure, I knowthat.
What are youtrying to say.
I’m sorry to saythis. But I think you’re making a fool of yourself.
How am I makinga fool of myself.
Your girlfriendis taking advantage of you.
Taking advantageof me?
Yes, I think so.
She's just usingyou.
So, maybe sheis.
But I don’tmind.
Even if she isusing me, it’s ok.
I’m using hertoo.
What do youmean?
Aren’t you inlove with her?
Yes, I’m in lovewith her.
But that doesn’tmean I’m not using her too.
I don’tunderstand.
What do youmean?
Maybe I’m usingher because I enjoy being in love.
I can’t imaginelife without her.
Even if shehurts me sometimes, I love her.
Do you trusther?
Yes, I trusther.
She tells mewhat’s important to her.
She’s honestwith me.
She has neverlied to me about anything important.
Are you honestwith her?
Yes, we arehonest with each other, even when it hurts.
And becausewe’re honest with each other, we trust each other.
OK, so you don’tthink you’re being taken advantage of.
No, I don’t, aslong as she is honest with me.
The day sheisn’t honest with me, will be the end of our relationship.
And when thathappens, my heart will break.
But until then,I’m her man.
OK, I think Iunderstand.
I didn’t thinkyou knew what was going on.
I’m not asstupid as I look, my friend.
Being in lovewith her, makes my life exciting.
Well, I hopeyou’re right.
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