陕西省西安中学高2025届高三第一次质量检测考试英语试题
（时间：120分钟 满分：150分 ）
第一部分 听力（共两节，满分30分）
第一节（共5小题；每小题1.5分，满分7.5分）
听下面5段对话。每段对话后有一个小题，从题中所给的A、B、C三个选项中选出最佳选项。听完每段对话后，你都有10秒钟的时间来回答有关小题和阅读下一小题。每段对话仅读一遍。
例：How much is the shirt
A. 19.15. B. 9.18. C. 9.15.
答案是C。
1. Why does Jane become thinner
A. She has been on a diet. B. She has had an illness.
C. She has exercised a lot.
2. Where are the speakers
A. In a library. B. In a bookshop. C. In a classroom.
3. What time does the bus usually arrive
A. 7:30. B. 7:35. C. 7:40.
4. What is the probable relationship between the speakers
A. Mother and son. B. Husband and wife.
C. Teacher and student.
5. What are the speakers talking about
A. Kate’s friends. B. Today’s weather. C. Jim’s weekend.
第二节（共15小题; 每小题1.5分, 满分22.5分）
请听下面 5 段对话或独白。每段对话或独白后有几个小题, 从题中所给的 A、B、C 三个选项中选出最佳选项。听每段对话或独白前, 你将有时间阅读各个小题, 每小题 5 秒钟；听完后, 各小题将给出 5 秒钟的作答时间。每段对话或独白读两遍。
听第6段材料，回答第6、7题。
6. What does the woman do
A. She’s a doctor. B. She’s a waitress. C. She’s a teacher.
7. What is the man going to do
A. Give up his unhealthy diet.
B. Have a further examination.
C. Go on sick leave from work.
听第7段材料，回答第8至10题。
8. How long has Peter been in London
A. One day. B. Three days. C. About a week.
9. What does Peter say about the hotel
A. It’s not large but warm. B. It’s not so good but cheap.
C. It’s not convenient but quiet.
10. What is Peter going to do next
A. Get something to eat. B. Ask for another room.
C. Have the heating fixed.
听第8段材料，回答第11至13题。
11. Who is Nat King Cole
A. A pop singer. B. A researcher. C. A bus driver.
12. What did the researchers study about bus drivers
A. Their health problems. B. Their facial expressions.
C. Their working conditions.
13. What is proved harmful to the bus drivers’ health
A. Working overtime. B. Bad thoughts. C. Forced smiles.
听第9段材料，回答第14至17题。
14. What has Professor Brown been busy with these days
A.Training teachers. B.Teaching students.
C.Writing textbooks.
15. What does Professor Brown think about what he does
A. It is enjoyable. B. It is hard work. C. It is important.
16. At what age did Professor Brown start to learn music
A. Three. B. Six. C. Twelve.
17. What is Professor Brown good at in terms of music
A. Playing the piano. B. Writing words to songs.
C. Remembering music pieces.
听第10段材料，回答第18至20题。
18. What is the speaker doing
A. Hosting a radio program. B. Conducting an interview.
C. Reporting a piece of news.
19. Which country is the largest coal producer in the world
A. Australia. B. The US. C. China.
20. What do we know about coal-mining jobs in America
A. They’re boring. B. They’re dangerous.
C. They’re poorly paid.
第二部分 阅读理解（共两节，满分 40 分）
第一节（共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C 和 D）中，选出最佳选项。
A
Top lists are lecturing people on everything from “100 places to visit” to “100 books to read ”.
Aren’t you just tired of being told what to do with your time
Now you have a list to end all lists!
Take a look at the following two examples from the list of “101 things not to do”:
Swim with Dolphins？
Swimming with dolphins is one of the world’s most profitable tourist activities. However, not every dolphin will welcome having their busy, tiring day interrupted by tourists screaming and pushing around them in the water. Worse yet, when dolphins get too near to the boats loaded with tourists, they could get caught up in ropes and killed by propellers(螺旋桨).
Here’s a little secret. Dolphins look like smiling at you, but in fact they’re just opening their mouths.
Go to See the Mona Lisa
There must be something about the mysterious smile. The 6 million people who visit the lady in the Louvre every year can’t all be wrong, after all. But they can be quite annoying, standing in front of you, holding up their cameras to prevent you from seeing anything. In fact, it is hard for you to see the painting clearly because you have to stay away from it for security reasons. After queuing for hours, many tourists can remain in front of the painting only for 15 seconds at most.
If the mysterious lady in the picture knew her fate, she wouldn’t just be smiling; she’d be laughing.
So, still long to see the Mona Lisa If you want to find out more about the list, read 101 Things NOT to Do Before You Die. Visit www.not2dobeforeidie.co.uk and buy the book at a 20% discount.
21. According to the passage, swimming with dolphins ________.
A. is the world’s most popular tourist activity
B. gives fun to both tourists and dolphins
C. will make tourists busy and tired
D. can cause danger to dolphins
22. What does the author think about going to see the Mona Lisa
A. Queuing for hours is worthwhile.
B. It is not as satisfying as expected.
C. Fifteen seconds in front of the painting is enough.
D. It is wrong to go and see the mysterious smile.
23. What is the main purpose of the passage
A. To advertise a book. B. To introduce a website.
C. To comment on popular lists. D. To recommend tourist activities.
B
Anxiety has followed me around like a lost dog looking for a bone for years now. I feel it the most strongly when I’m worried about my health or my daughter’s health. I feel an unusual sensation and all of a sudden: panic! My worries are not limited to health concerns though, and they go in the direction of anxiety about the future of the world, worries about my finances, and fears that I’m not good enough.
Let me go back a few decades, back to when anxiety wasn’t part of my life. When I was a child, I loved art. I drew and I colored because that’s what I enjoyed. I went to college to become an art teacher. When I finished school in May of 2001, I had a part-time design job, and after the event of September 11th, 2001, I knew I needed to travel, to get out of the safe life I was living in my hometown. That’s when my creative practices fell by the wayside.
Luckily, after the birth of my daughter in 2014, the desire to create came back. At first, I was using a tiny corner of a bedroom in our rental house to paint. Eventually we bought a house, and I had the space to spread out, ready to paint whenever the urge struck. That’s when I started noticing something important: Painting stilled me in a way that nothing else did. It eased my fears and anxieties in a way other practices (deep breathing, etc) did not, at least not as consistently. When anxious thoughts start, I know what to do. I head into my studio, grab some materials, and start creating. Soon enough, the worries are gone and instead my mind is quiet.
I think the reason why painting is so helpful for my anxiety is that, in order for me to be anxious, I have to be worrying about the future and what it holds. When I’m doing an activity that requires my full concentration, I have to be in the moment. It doesn’t matter if you’re artistic. The only thing that matters is finding a way to be here, in the now, instead of in the unknowable future.
24. Which of the following best describes the author in paragraph 1
A. Cautious. B. Impatient. C. Carefree. D. Insecure.
25. Why did the author give up on art temporarily
A. Because her daughter was born. B. Because she couldn’t make a living.
C. Because some big event happened. D. Because she was busy with her study.
26. How does painting ease the author’s fears and anxieties
A. Painting makes her stay in a place. B. Colors of painting calm her down.
C. Painting makes less room for worries. D. Painting is a very creative activity.
27. What does the story mainly tell us
A. What is important is to seize the moment.
B. Anxiety may be beneficial to life at times.
C. It is necessary to learn some art in childhood.
D. Painting is the best way to ease people’s mind.
C
Digital reading appears to be destroying habits of “deep reading”. Astonishing numbers of people with years of schooling are in effect illiterate. This month’s Ljubljana Manifesto (宣言) explains: “The digital field may promote more reading than ever in history, but it also offers many temptations to read in a superficial and scattered (零散的) manner—or even not to read at all. This increasingly endangers higher-level reading.”
That’s frightening, because “higher-level reading” has been essential to civilization. It enables the enlightenment and an international increase in empathy. Without it, we would suffer a lot. As the Ljubljana Manifesto notes, “as much as one-third of Europeans struggle even with lower-level reading skills.” More than one-fifth of adults in the US “fall into the illiterate/functionally illiterate category”. Separately, post-pandemic reading scores for American 13-year-olds are the lowest in decades. And the Washington-based Center for Global Development recently estimated that literacy in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa among those with five years of schooling has decreased by 10% this past half century.
Experts in the Ljubljana Manifesto record the demerits of digital reading: “Recent studies of several different kinds indicate a decline of critical and conscious reading, slow reading, non-strategic reading and long-form reading.” When you read a book on paper, you can be entirely inside the experience, absorb hundreds of pages of details thoroughly and begin to capture the world’s complexity. Online, says Maryanne Wolf of UCLA, we are “skimming, scanning, scrolling”. The medium is the message: doing deep reading on your phone is as hard as playing tennis with your phone. Recently, a bright 11-year-old told me I was wasting time on books: he absorbed more information faster from Wikipedia. He had a point. But digital readers also absorb more misinformation and seldom absorb fine perspectives.
In short, as professors from Northwestern University foresaw in 2005, we are returning to the days when only an elite (精英) “reading class” consumes long texts, which is worrying.
28. What can we learn about digital reading from paragraph 1
A. Digital reading has settled the problem of illiteracy.
B. Digital reading has lessened the practice of deep reading.
C. Digital reading has made deep reading accessible to wider readers.
D. Digital reading has aroused a greater appreciation for deep reading.
29. What is the purpose of the numbers used in paragraph 2
A. To display the popularity of digital reading.
B. To highlight the advantages of deep reading.
C. To present the unfavorable situation of literacy.
D. To stress the illiterate’s lower-level reading skills.
30. Which of the following can best replace the underlined word “demerits” in paragraph 3
A. Effects. B. Marks. C. Features. D. Disadvantages.
31. What might the author continue talking about
A. Strengths of digital reading. B. Benefits of higher-level reading.
C. Ways to encourage digital reading. D. Measures to practice deep reading.
D
The increased use of light-emitting diodes (LED) and other forms of lighting are now brightening the night sky at a dramatic rate. Research has revealed that light pollution is now causing the night sky to brighten at a rate of around 10% a year, an increase that threatens to ruin the sight of all but the most brilliant stars in a generation. A child born where 250 stars are visible at night today would only be able to see about 100 by the time they reach 18.
Physicist Christopher Kyba, of the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences told The Observer, “A couple of generations ago, people would have regularly encountered this glittering vision of the universe—but what was formerly universal is now extremely rare.” Nevertheless, the introduction of only a modest number of changes to lighting could make a considerable improvement, Kyba argued. These moves would include ensuring outdoor lights are carefully capped, point downwards, have limits placed on their brightness, and are not predominantly blue-white but have red and orange components.
The problem is that light pollution is still not perceived by the public to be a threat. As Professor Oscar Corcho, of Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, has put it: “The negative consequences of light pollution are as unknown to the population as those of smoking in the 1980s.”
Yet action is now urgently needed. Apart from its astronomical impact, light pollution is harming human health. “When reddish light shines on our bodies, it stimulates mechanisms including those that break down high levels of sugar in the blood. Since the introduction of LEDs, that part of the spectrum (光谱) has been removed from artificial light and it is playing a part in the waves of obesity (肥胖) and rises in diabetes cases we see today,” said Prof. Fosbury from University College London (UCL).
UCL researchers are preparing to install additional infrared (红外线的) lamps in hospitals to see if they have an effect on the recovery of patients who would otherwise be starved of light from this part of the spectrum.
32. What does the author want to show by citing the child’s example
A. More objects in the universe will disappear.
B. Light pollution is blinding our view of the stars.
C. People’s perception of the universe is inadequate.
D. New forms of lighting have made stars unnecessary.
33. What does Kyba think of the moves to reduce light pollution
A. They are practical. B. They are rarely successful.
C. They aren’t worth the effort. D. It takes ages to see the result.
34. What is top of the agenda of tackling light pollution
A. Controlling population growth. B. Changing people’s perception.
C. Exploring the unknown universe. D. Banning smoking in public places.
35. What does the follow-up study aim to find out about infrared lamps
A. Whether they help patients recover. B. Whether they increase obesity risk.
C. Whether they leave people starving. D. Whether they raise blood sugar level.
第二节（共5小题；每小题2分，满分10分）
根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。
Have you ever had a goal that no matter how hard you worked, or how many hours you dedicated, it just didn’t seem to make any progress Despite all your best effort, it felt like you were running on a treadmill—working hard but not going anywhere. 36
Set yourself a re-evaluation date. Sometimes, the fruits of your labor can be like an iceberg. Only a small part is visible above the water. 37 Self-doubt and anxiety about whether you’re making any progress can sabotage your goals even if you’re in fact making significant progress just below the surface. If you think your goal might take some time to manifest change, try setting a “re-evaluation date” before you quit and give up on yourself too early. For a “re-evaluation date”, simply pick a day on the calendar that makes sense for the size and scope of your particular goal. Then refuse to rethink, reassess, or self-doubt your decisions until that day.
38 There’s nothing more demoralizing and frustrating than feeling like you’re constantly messing up or self-sabotaging your own goal. Instead of seeing setbacks and failures as negative things, reframe them in your mind as learning experiences—and those experiences can be some of the best teachers!
Also focus on enjoying the doing. It’s easy to get caught up worrying about how much progress you’re making and forget to enjoy the actual journey. 39 If you constantly feel negative while working towards your goal, you’ll quickly come to resent it and will be more likely to quit.
So if you’re feeling frustrated about a goal, remember that there just might be a lot of things happening under the surface you’re not aware of. And remember, results aren’t everything. Learning, growing, enjoying yourself along the way... 40
A. You will eventually see results.
B. But below, a huge iceberg is forming.
C. Those are the things that really matter.
D. Celebrate your failures as much as your successes.
E. Reframe all your setbacks and failures as learning experiences.
F. If so, there are a few key things that can help you stay on track.
G. If you can find joy working towards your goals, then you will have won half the battle.
第三部分 语言知识运用（共两节，满分 40 分）
第一节 完形填空（共15小题，每小题1分，满分15分）
阅读下面短文，从短文后各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C 和 D）中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项。
When I asked my mom for piano lessons in 2010, we were in the fallout of the recession (经济衰退). She said a polite “No”.
That didn’t stop me. I googled the 41 for a keyboard, drew the keys on a piece of paper and 42 it on my desk. I would click notes on an online 43 and “play” them back on my paper one—keeping the 44 they made on the computer in my head. Once my mom saw that I was 45 , she borrowed money and bought me 10 lessons.
I still remember the first one. I was 46 by how real the sound of the piano was. I 47 my grade one test after eight lessons. But when I started secondary school, we couldn’t 48 lessons again. I passed grade five, practicing only on my piece of paper.
When I was about 13, my mom said she had a 49 for me; it was an electronic keyboard, bought with 50 borrowed money. It was the first time I’d played for her.
Later I found the Purcell School for young musicians. The tryouts were 51 . Some of the questions 52 an assessment of the composer or when the music was written. I felt stressed out. To my amazement I was offered a 53 . At Purcell, I saved enough to buy my first piano.
When I left Purcell, I was awarded the senior academic music prize. I am now at the Guildhall School in London, one of the world’s leading music schools. I feel proud: it’s been 10 years 54 I drew my paper piano. I continue to do a lot of my practice away from the piano: what we call 55 practice. The paper piano helped solve my curiosity about how music works and what forms the masterpieces.
41. A. measurements B. tunes C. pictures D. scales
42. A. folded B. piled C. wrapped D. stuck
43. A. screen B. course C. keyboard D. website
44. A. voice B. sound C. whisper D. record
45. A. nervous B. disappointed C. satisfied D. serious
46. A. amused B. frightened C. struck D. accessed
47. A. ran into B. got across C. passed by D. got through
48. A. afford B. perform C. postpone D. participate
49. A. secret B. task C. question D. surprise
50. A. little B. less C. much D. more
51. A. easy B. tough C. enjoyable D. fulfilling
52. A. related B. concerned C. involved D. collected
53. A. role B. prize C. place D. refund
54. A. after B. since C. until D. before
55. A. mental B. abundant C. false D. fancy
第二节 语法与词汇知识（共5小题，每小题1分，满分5分）
56. The only way they can ________ political change is by putting pressure on the country.
A. bring about B. bring in C. bring up D. bring out
57. ________ snacks and drinks, but they also brought cards for entertainment when they had a picnic in the forest.
A. Not only they brought B. Not only did they bring
C. Not only brought they D. Not only they did bring
58. Amy, as well as her brothers, ________ a warm welcome when returning to the village last week.
A. is given B. are given C. was given D. were given
59. The party will be held in the garden, weather ________.
A. permitting B. to permit C. permitted D. permit
60. We choose this hotel because the price for a night here is down to $20, half of ________ it used to charge.
A. that B. which C.what D. how
第三节 单句语法填空（共 5 小题；每小题 1 分，满分 5 分）
根据下列各句句意和空白之后的汉语提示词，在答题卡指定区域的横线上
写出对应单词的正确、完整形式，每空一词。
61. You should remain modest when ________(接近) perfection.
62. I’d like to make a ________(投诉) about the noise.
63. Plum blossoms(梅花) ________(代表) the promise of spring and a renewal of life.
64. The product was developed in ________(回应) to customer demand.
65. Vital to human life, art is celebrated and used by nations across the world for ________(各种各样的) purposes.
第四节 语法填空（共10小题；每小题 1.5分，满分15分）
阅读下面短文，在空白处填入 1 个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。
Delicate strokes, carved onto wood, with ultimate precision—this is woodblock printing, an ancient printing technique that advanced human civilization.
As Buddhism prospered in China during the Tang Dynasty (618-907), there was a strong need 66 (produce) a large amount of Buddhist scriptures. Meanwhile, copying 67 hand could not meet the 68 (rise) demand. Ancient Chinese craftsmen thus came up with a novel way to mass produce printed works. Hence came the earliest form of woodblock printing.
69 (tradition) woodblock printing comprises four major steps: writing, engraving, printing, and binding. With each step then further 70 (divide) into several procedures, it takes 71 (rough) 30 steps to produce a woodblock print. Carving is at the center of woodblock printing as this painstaking step can make 72 break the final print. Characters and images 73 (carve) to produce raised areas or lines that will eventually apply ink to paper. It calls for a pair of skilled hands.
A five-meter-scroll of the Buddhist scripture Diamond Sutra, printed in 868, is the “earliest dated printed book” in the words of the British Library 74 it is stored. It is just one example of ancient works of art that not only tell the wisdom of our ancestors, but also are an evidence of the pursuit of beauty by Chinese craftsmen throughout 75 (century).
The invention of writing gives life to great thoughts, but it is the invention of printing that makes knowledge a shareable fruit for all humankind.
第四部分 写作（共两节，满分 40 分）
第一节 （满分 15 分）
假定你是李华，暑假想去一家外资公司兼职，已写好申请和个人简历(resume), 给外教Ms. Jenkins 写信，请她帮你修改所附的文字和格式(format)。
注意：
1. 写作词数应为80个左右；
2. 请按如下格式在相应位置作答。
Dear Ms. Jenkins,
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours sincerely,
Li Hua
第二节 (满分 25 分)
阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段， 使之构成一篇完整的短文。
Katie was happily jumping rope on the grass in front of her house facing the expansive city park just across the road. The neighborhood residents often enjoyed walking around the lake in the park, and on this pleasant day, with the sun casting its warm light, Katie spent the unhurried moments devoted to her jumping routine.
Her thoughts were focused on her jumping: how to match the spinning of the jump rope in her hands and the jumping of her feet so that they didn’t get mixed, causing her to trip. When her mind and muscles were working together, and when every move flowed smoothly, all of it felt pretty good in the afternoon sunshine.
While jumping, she remembered that her grandmother had given her the jump rope for Christmas. She knew that her grandmother didn’t have a lot of money and had to save up to buy the jump rope for her. Before Christmas, her grandmother had taken her to some toy shops to look at different things, hoping to find out what Katie wanted. When Katie finally got the gift, it was not just a jump rope but the very jump rope she had wanted for a long time. She felt especially loved by her considerate grandmother.
The warmth of the afternoon sun enhanced the joy Katie felt as she skipped along. Suddenly a boy rushed across the road to her. Without any warning he robbed her of her jump rope, shouting,“ Give me that” and raced back across the road towards the park.
Empty-handed, Katie was left in confusion. It took her a while to recover from the shock. When she came to her senses and realized the theft of her grandma’s gift, tears welled up. A wave of anger and disappointment swept over her. But in that moment of upset, something unusual in the park captured her attention.
注意： 1. 续写词数应为150个左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Paragraph 1: Following the boy quickly, she spotted a group of kids crying anxiously by the lake.
Paragraph 2: After making sure the drowning girl was okay, the boy walked up to Katie with the jump rope.
英语参考答案
第一部分 听力（共两节，满分30分）
第一节（共5小题；每小题1.5分，满分7.5分）
1-5 BABAC
第二节（共15小题；每小题1.5分，满分22.5分）
6-10 ABCBC 11-15 ABCCA 16-20 BCACB
第二部分 阅读理解（共两节，满分 40 分）
第一节（共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分）
21-23 DBA 24-27 DCCA 28-31 BCDD 32-35 BABA
第二节（共5小题；每小题2分，满分10分）
36-40 FBEGC
第三部分 语言知识运用（共两节，满分 40 分）
第一节 完形填空（共15小题，每小题1分，满分15分）
41-45 ADCBD 46-50 CDADD 51-55 BCCBA
第二节 语法与词汇知识（共5小题，每小题1分，满分5分）
56-60 ABCAC
第三节 单句语法填空（共 5 小题；每小题 1 分，满分 5 分）
61. approaching 62. complaint 63. represent 64. response 65. various
第四节 语法填空（共10小题；每小题 1.5分，满分15分）
66. to produce 67. by 68. rising 69. Traditional 70. divided
71. roughly 72. or 73. are carved 74. where 75. centuries
第四部分 写作（共两节，满分 40 分）
第一节 （满分 15 分）
Dear Ms. Jenkins,
How is everything going these days I’m writing to ask whether you could do me a favor.
With the summer vacation around the corner, I’m planning to take a part-time job to gain some social experience and improve my work ability. I’m eager for a position in a foreign company and have written an application letter and my resume all in English. However, I’m afraid that there might be some grammar mistakes or inappropriate format in the materials that I prepared. Would you be so kind as to correct the mistakes and improve the format of the application and the resume for me
I would appreciate it if you could take the trouble to help me. Looking forward to your early reply.
Yours sincerely,
Li Hua
第二节 （满分 25 分）
Following the boy quickly, she spotted a group of kids crying anxiously by the lake. The boy who had taken her jump rope was sprinting towards them. As Katie neared the water, she saw, to her horror, a little girl was struggling in the water. The boy was throwing one end of Katie’s jump rope out for the child to grab. Fortunately, the little girl caught hold of it. Without a moment’s hesitation, Katie stepped forward to lend a helping hand. Working together, they pulled the child onto the bank.
After making sure the drowning girl was okay, the boy walked up to Katie with the jump rope. Handing it to Katie, he gave a shy smile and apologized, “I’m sorry if I frightened you just now, but I had to act quickly in an emergency. I can’t swim, you know. It was your jump rope that served as a lifeline.” Katie’s initial anger had transformed into admiration for the boy’s quick response to save the little girl. She replied she didn’t mind her jump rope being snatched at all. Instead, she was glad about the part her jump rope had played in the rescue.
听力录音材料
Text 1
M: Jane, are you on a diet You look thinner than before.
W: Not exactly. The day after I began to diet, I got sick. I stayed in the hospital for the last two weeks and lost five kilos.
Text 2
M: Hi. I need to check out this book.
W: Sure. May I have your card
M: Okay.
W: Sorry, I’m afraid you have to return one of the five books you’ve already borrowed before you check this one out.
Text 3
M: What time is it, Mary We’ve waited here for about ten minutes.
W: It’s 7:40 now.
M: Oh, our bus is late today.
W: Yes, it should have arrived five minutes ago.
Text 4
W: Bob, turn off the TV. It’s time for bed.
M: Most of my classmates say they go to bed after nine o’clock.
W: Never mind what time your friends go to bed. I say your bedtime is half past eight. And it’s 8:20 now.
Text 5
W: Hi Jim. Did you have a nice weekend
M: Yes, Kate. It was great. I went camping with my friends in the Catskills.
W: Really How was the weather there
M: It was very nice.
Text 6
W: How long have you been having the pain
M: I first felt it in November last year.
W: Well, you should have come in earlier. Have you changed your eating habits in any way
M: No, not really.
W: Is there a certain type of food that would cause stronger pain than other types
M: Hmm. Heavy foods like steak or cheese usually bring it on.
W: I see. What about if I touch here, does it hurt
M: Ouch! It does hurt. What do you think it is
W: I’m not sure. We need to take an X-ray to see if anything is wrong.
M: Okay.
Text 7
W: Hi Peter. Have you been in London long
M: Hi Maggie. I got here last Friday. It’s about a week now.
W: I just arrived. What’s the hotel like
M: It’s okay. Not perfect, but for this price, not bad.
W: Why What’s the matter with it
M: Well, the heating doesn’t always work. And it was freezing in here yesterday. Breakfast is very early in the morning. Today I overslept and missed it completely.
W: You overslept Why was that
M: Well, there’s a man with a boy staying next door. They’ve been here for three days now, and the boy is really noisy. I didn’t get any sleep.
W: Oh no. Well, I don’t know what we can do about the breakfast or other guests. But why don’t you ask the hotel to look at the heating
M: Hmm. Good idea. I’ll talk to them about it right now.
Text 8
W: Do you know Nat King Cole
M: You mean the pop singer Yeah. What about him
W: In his song “Smile”, he tells people to smile through heartbreak. But now, research suggests that false happiness may just make things worse.
M: Really Tell me more about it.
W: Researchers took pictures of bus drivers and then looked into the expressions on their faces.
M: They did What happened then
W: After following the drivers closely, researchers found that the drivers had to force a smile at work. They felt so bad that they wanted to give up their jobs.
M: I never imagined it could be so serious. Why is that
W: The report says when people try to hold back bad feelings, it turns out that the feelings become even stronger and last longer.
M: Look at my face. Do I smile a real smile
Text 9
W: Professor Brown, which do you prefer, writing or teacher training
M: Well, I enjoy both very much. In fact, I wouldn’t want to give up either. These days most of my time is spent on writing. I go to the university just two half days a week to work with graduate students.
W: What plans do you have for the future
M: Now that we have completed a textbook and its new CD program, we plan to develop more textbooks for other markets. People sometimes say to me, “You work too hard.” The truth is I enjoy what I do, and I don’t consider it to be work.
W: What do you like to do that’s not education-related
M: I like playing the piano. I’m fortunate to have been born with the ability to play the piano by ear. If I remember a music piece, I can play it. I’m not sure how I do it, but I’ve had that ability since the age of twelve. I took music lessons from the age of six. I also write music. Although I’m a language teacher, I can’t write words to songs. I have to turn to others for the words. Actually, I have more confidence in my book-writing ability than my song-writing ability.
Text 10
W: Our listener question this week comes from Australia. Jeff Bailey has been listening to our program since 2004. And he wants to know more about coal-mining in the United States. The United States produces about half of its electric power from coal. America is the second-largest producer of coal after China. Coal is mined in half the states, but Wyoming mines the most, followed by West Virginia, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania. The United States gets about two-thirds of its coal from surface mining rather than underground mining. Surface mining is the name for the different methods that are used to remove coal that is less than sixty meters underground. The United States has about 87,000 coal miners. The jobs pay well, especially for the poor areas where mines are often found. However, the jobs can also be dangerous. The government says more than 100,000 coal miners lost their lives in the past century.
