英语专业四级听写训练54：Cars in the Future
As big cars cause many problems,such as pollution, shortage of parking space,crowded traffic,scientists are now trying to design some small cars that may some day replace today’s big automobiles.If more people begin to drive such cars in the future,there will be less air pollution. There will also be more space for parking cars in cities,and the streets will be less crowded.Three such cars can fit in the space that is now needed for one car of the usual size. The little cars will cost much less to own and to drive.Driving will be safer as these cars can only go 60 kilometers per hour.
The cars of the future will be fine for driving around the city.However, they will not be suitable for long trips,because these cars by petrol can only go 450 kilometers before needing to stop for refueling
英语专业四级听写训练53：Dining Custom in the USA Dining Custom in the USA
Americans, like many people elsewhere in the world, like to invite friends to their homes for an evening of food,drink and conversation. Formal dinners in fine homes and hotels in the US are much the same as formal dinners anywhere in the world.
But as most people in the US have no servants,their dinner parties at home tend to be informal. Guests may sit down at a table,or as many new small homes have no separate dining room or very small dining space.
Guests can also serve themselves and eat in the living room, holding their plates or trays on their knees. A more enjoyable form of entertainment
is the picnic.
Americans are great picnickers and almost every family has a picnic basket. Summer invitations are often for a picnic at a park or in the open countryside, and less hamburgers or hot dogs are cooked over a fire. Picnic food is usually cold.
英语专业四级听写训练41:Sleep
Sleep
Why is it so difficult to fall asleep when you are overtired? There is no one answer that applies to every individual. It is possible to feel “tired” physically and still be unable to fall asleep, because while your body may be exhausted, you do not feel sleepy. It is not so easy to simply “turn off”.
Lack of sleep complicates matters even more. Experts say adults need at least seven to eight hours of sleep a night to function properly. When you get less sleep than that on consecutive three nights, you begin to accrue for “sleep debt”. As sleep debt increases your body experiences a stress response. Now a vicious cycle has been created: You experience the feeling of being more and more tired, but your body is increasingly stimulated. “Power sleeping” for more hours on weekends is only a temporary solution. There is no substitute for getting a good n ight’s sleep on a regular basis.
Useful Words and Expressions:
1. overtire 使过度疲劳
2. apply to 将……应用于
3. consecutive 连续的，连贯的
4. accrue 自然增加，产生
5. vicious恶的
vicious cycle 恶性循环
6. stimulate 刺激，激励
7. substitute for 代替……，替换……。