DictationUnit 1The most important day I remember in all my life is the one on which my teacher, Anne Sullivan, came to me. It was the third of March, 1887, three months before I was seven years old.On the afternoon of that eventful day, I stood on the porch, dumb, expectant, I guessed from my mother’s sign and from the hurrying in the house that something unusual was about to happen, so I went to the door and waited on the steps. Hanging down from the porch was sweet-smelling honeysuckle. My fingers lightly touched the familiar leaves and blossoms which had just come forth to greet the sweet southern spring. I did not know what surprise the future held for me.I felt approaching footsteps. I stretched out my hand as I supposed to my mother. Someone took it, and I was caught up and held close in the arms of her who had come to help me discover all things to me, and, more than anything else, to love me. Translation:1.They al believe that he had a slim chance of success.2.I didn’t know why she has an air of sadness all the time.3.It was after all the students had taken their seats that the president of the students’union proceeded to announce the camping itinerary.4.The stomach is a vital organ of the human body; please take good care of it.5.He considered it ridiculous for the general manager to attach so much importanceto those routine trifles.6.Her study, which ranged over many languages and cultures, was full of challenge.7.As is scheduled, all the members of the stuff take turns to do late duty.8.She was greatly upset at the thought of leaving her parents and living on her ownin a remote area.9.We do not worry so much about her qualifications for the job as about her health.10.He was greatly excited about the prospect of leaving a cruise around the world. Paragraph translationFrom Fred’s point of view, the interview was very smoothly indeed. Five days before, he had applied for a job at a small business company and now he was being interviewed by one of its directors.Fred had been working as a salesman. He wanted to change his job not because he was short of money, but because as a salesman he could hardly enjoy any leisure at all.Fred had been worried that he might lose his head and say something silly, but fortunately he found that he had a lot in common with the director.It was clear that the director was quite satisfied. Fred was thinking that his chances of landing the job were favorable when the director proceeded to ask, “Do you mind working overtime?”Précis writing (Unit 1)I applied for my first job before I entered the university because I was short money. The school where I applied for a job was ten miles away from where I lived and I was not sure if I could get the job. However, after a terrible journey I was so depressed that I no longer felt nervous. The V ictorian schoolhouse stood amid fumes and dust by a busy main road. The headmaster was not at all scholarly, neither was the inside of the academic looking. By and by I discovered that the headmaster and I had very little in common. He wanted me to teach twenty-four boys from seven to thirteen who were to be split up into three levels. I had to teach everything including the subjects I abhorred. Furthermore, I had to work on Saturdays too. The pay, however, was low. To top it all, I had to work under a woman, the headmaster’s wife, who was the real manager of the school.Dictation Unit 2The sun was getting warm as Philip put on his skates and prepared to get on the ice. At the edge of the lake the ice was still quite hard, and he did not seem to realize there was any danger, but nearer the middle of the lake the warm sun had already begun to melt the ice.After making a few practice turns, Philip set out to cross the lake at its widest point. In order to make himself go faster, he tried to race his own shadow as it fell on the ice ahead of him. When he was about half way across, the weak ice suddenly broke beneath his weight at once and he fell through it. For 20 or 30 seconds afterwards he was not even able to scream. Then at least he found his voice, shouted for help, and almost immediately afterwards blacked out.When he opened his eyes again, he was lying in bed in his own home, with his father bending anxiously over him. “Y ou should have known better than to do a silly thing like that!” were the first comfortless words he heard after his narrow escape.Translation:1.This old man lived overseas when he was young and had many unusual experiences.2.She is a well-liked physics teacher with a lot of teaching experience.3.My shoes are brand new; I’d rather stay until it clears up.4.Upon leaving the small house where she lived in her childhood, she looked her good-bye atevery familiar object around.5.He was asked to leave for Xi’an at such short notice that he didn’t even leave time to call hiswife.6.Their reluctance to join us in the speech contest really spoilt our fun.7.Please note that every student should keep classroom discipline, and you are no exception.8.I don’t care so much about working overtime occasionally, but about your calling off myholidays with no notice.9.The speaker cleared his throat to claim the attention of the audience.10.He was tired of hustle and bustle of the urban life and hoped to move to, expecting a changein his current life style.Paragraph translationWhen I was very little, I longed to go to the countryside with my father and brother, but Inever got a chance. Father went once a year during his holiday to the countryside where my grandmother lived. As a rule, he took my brother Qiangqiang with him. I remember when I was four, there was a lot of talking about countryside-going as Father’s holiday was drawing near. I was certain that this time Father would take Qiangqiang along as usual. But one morning while I was in the bedroom playing with my doll, Mother called up, “Pingping, come down.” To my surprise, Mother told me with tears in her eyes that I would be sent to my grandmother’s. I was delighted and looked everywhere for my father and Qiangqiang, but they were nowhere to be seen. When the time came for me to leave, Mother murmured, “ Pingping, try to be good. Mama and Papa are sure to come to see you soon.” It was not till then that I knew I would be going to the countryside alone, all alone. I clung to my mother, weeping tears of sadness.Dictation Unit 3Strange things happen to time when you travel, because the earth is divided into 24 zones, one hour apart for every two zones. Y ou can have days with more or fewer than 24 hours, and weeks with more or fewer than seven days.If you make a five-day trip across the Atlantic Ocean, your ship enters a different time zone every day. As you enter each zone, the time changes one hour. Traveling west, you set your clock back; traveling east, you set forward. Each day of your trip has either 25 or 23 hours.If you travel by ship across the Pacific, you cross International Date Line. BY agreement, this is the point where a new day begins. When you cross the line, you change your calendar one full day, backward or forward. Traveling east, today becomes yesterday; traveling west, it becomes tomorrow.Dictation Unit 4The Global Theater is a playhouse built just outside London in1599. It is the most famous theater in history: on its stage Shakespeare’s greatest plays were first performed. Big enough to hold about 2,500 people, the Globe had three levels of galleries surrounding an unroofed yard. Extending from one side of the yard to the center was an open stage. From the stage floor rose two posts to support an overhanging canopy known as the “heavens”.The Globe was built in London by the Burbage brothers in 1599. At the same time, wishing to bind the Lord Chamberlain’s company closely to the new playhouse, they planned a novel partnership in which the brothers divided ownership of the Globe among themselves and five of the actors in the company, one of whom was Shakespeare.After 1609, when the company opened a second theater, the Globe became less important. ON June 29, 1613, during a performance of Shakespeare’s King Henry the Eighth, fire destroyed the Globe. It was rebuilt within a year but was destroyed forever by the Puritans in 1644.Dictation Unit 5Throughout the long period, the French showed noticeably more enthusiasm for aChannel tunnel than the British. This may seem curious, seeing that France already has many land frontiers, whereas for Britain a tunnel would be its first fixed link with the Continent, and thus more valuable. But the British were held black by their insularity, and especially by fears that an invader might be able to make use of the scheme. Happily, all that is past. Today Britain’s politicians and business circles have shown themselves as eager as the French.Those who take a wider and longer-term view believe that these possible drawbacks for Britain will be far outweighed by the advantages. Pa ssengers by express train will be able to do the journey at least an hour faster than by sir, city center to co city center, and without any tedious waits at airports. Also the fares will be cheaper. So the tunnel will probably stimulate a vast increase in tourism and business travel between London and Paris.Dictation: Unit 6Y ou probably know that there are ghost towns scattered across various parts of the United States. Perhaps you have even had opportunity to read about a ghost town or visit one. These ghost towns, which were so named because nearly all the people moved away, were once as lively as circuses. Of course, that was a long time ago.Back in the late 1800s, lots of men travelled all the way to California in search of gold. They were so hungry for gold that you could easily imagine them starving to death if they didn’t find it. In fact, some men were so greedy that they pushed their luck too far and died. It’s been said that gold fever was so bad that many men left their families and jobs in the East to follow their dream of riches in the West. Sometimes miners would find gold and silver close together. When this happened, people rushed to the area like ants to a picnic site. Houses and stores appeared almost overnight, and towns grew like weeds.Gradually, all the gold was mined and people began to move away.Précis WritingThe Chunnel, as it is known, was to open at last after seven years of construction. An apprehensive atmosphere pervaded the English end of the Chunnel Tunnel. A retired government worker and his wife voiced their strong sentiments against the forthcoming opening of the Chunnel and the French. Meanwhile, on the French side, a farmer showed his contempt for the English. But the Chunnel was to materialize, whether they like it or not.The inauguration ceremony, to be presided by the English Queen and the French President was scheduled on May 6, 1994. The Chunnel would then sever as a shuttle service, bringing great convenience to the people on both sides.On June 28, 1991, dozens of journalists took the construction workers’train to take part in the breakthrough ceremony. Work on the Chunnel was not quite finished; the walls bare, and the air filled with dust. Then, the breakthrough—light, music, applause, champagne corks popping, swarms of French workers clambering to theEnglish side and embracing the English workers. Only at this point did one Englishman feel that this Chunnel was his too. As more and more Frenchmen climbed over, he guessed that there would be a deluge of visitors after the completion of the Tunnel.Dictation: Unit 7Man has a big brain. He can think, learn and speak. Scientists use to think that human were different from animals because they can think and learn. They know now that animals can learn—dogs, rats, birds and even worms can learn. Scientists are now beginning to understand that humans are different from animals because they can speak. Animals cannot speak. They make noises when they are afraid, or angry, or unhappy. Apes are our nearest cousins. They can understand some tings more quickly than human beings, and one or two have learned a few words, but they are still different from us. They cannot join words or make sentences. They cannot think like us because they have no language, as we mean it. They can never think about the past or the future. Language is a wonderful thing. Man has been able to develop civilization largely because he has language. Every child can speak his own language very well when he is four or five—but no animals learn to speak. How do children learn? Scientists do not really know. What happens when we speak? Scientists do not know. They only know that man can speak because he has a big brain.Unit 8Dictation：Many students who call themselves bad readers nevertherless do read some thingd successfully. They may read novels or they may read the sports page every day. But a textbook is a different matter. A textbook gvies a lot of trouble. Why is that? One reason is lack of interest. Another is that they are often unfamiliar with the subject about which they are reading. But a third reason is that they try to read a textbook as if it were a novel or sports story or a problem to be solved by Ann Landers. They respond to the textbook inapropriately.How you read something depends on the author’s purpose in writing. There are basically four purposes for writing. Some authors writes to tell a story; others write to create an image in your mind; some write to inform or teach you; and still others write to convince you of a particular viewpoint. Each of these four purposes requires a defferent response as you read. If you respond differently to different types of writing, you will find that your reading will be much easier.Unit 9Dictation:Tom King could feel Sandel growing stronger against him. He saw youth recuperate. From instant to instant Sandel grew stronger. His punches, weak at first, became strong. Tom King sawthe gloved fist driving at his jaw, and wanted to guard it by raising his arm. But the arm was too heavy. It would not lift itself. Then the gloved fist landed home. Tom felt a sharp snap and blacked out.When he opened his eyes again he was in his corner, and he heard the audience screaming and cheering. His second was blowing cold waters gloves had already been removed, and Sandel，bending over him, was shaking his hand. He bore no ill will toward the man who had put him out, and heUnit 10Zululand is a historical region of northeastern Natal, which is a province in the eastern part of the Republic of South Africa. Under the former South African Government’s policy of racial separation and separate development of the race, black South Africans had been divided into “national”groups. These groups were to develop their own political, social, and cultural life in homelands assigned to them by the government.Zululand historically was the northeastern section of Natal. It was inhabited by the Zulus, a people who became powerful in the early 19th century under their king, Shaka. In the middle of the 19th century, they warred with Boer settlers who went into the area, and later with the British. In 1879, the British invaded Zululand and were defeated by the Zulus. However, the Zulus were later defeated and the British took possession of Zululand in1887. It became part of Natal in 1897.。