英语专四 会话训练 Conversation 4-2

 会话

Questions 4 to 6 are based on the following conversation.

M： Hey Teresa! Thanks for agreeing to help me review all this history material.

W： No problem, Bob. So do you want to start with the stuff missed yesterday? (4) That is a part about urban problems in the colonial¹ period.

M： Yeah. That’ll be great.

W： OK. Well, when the British were building cities in American colonies, they had to figure out how to make the cities run smoothly², right? Like... (4) Take traffic for instance.

M： Traffic? They had traffic back then?

W： Well, not the same kinds of traffic cities have today. Back in the 18th century there were not any automobiles³. But there were other vehicles like coaches and carts, pulled by horses. Only few people could afford to have their own coaches. But there were more and more public coaches and carts. The cart drivers usually overloaded⁴ their carts. (5) And these oversized，clumsy carts would slow down the traffic. And when you added to that all the farm animals.

M： Farm animals? In the cities?

W： Lots of them, cattle, pigs and other livestock⁵ rolled in the streets. And they really caused trouble, although the pigs at least had good reasons for being there.

M： They did?

W： Yeah, (6) the towns’ people used pigs to clean up the garbage that was thrown into the streets. But then the pigs interfered⁶ with the traffic.

M： So what did the colonists⁷ do?

W： Well, they passed traffic laws. Like one that said，if your animals were found wandering in the street, they could be seized. Of course people who owned pigs didn’t want to keep them penned up because the pigs were so good at cleaning up the streets.

M： Sounds like a good idea letting them clean up the garbage.

 

题目

Conversation 4

Questions 4 to 6 are based on the following conversation. At the end of the conversation，you will be given 15 seconds to answer the questions.

Now, listen to the conversation.

4. What is the main topic of the conversation?

A. The difficulty of producing vehicles in colonial America.

B. Traffic problems in colonial American cities.

C. Population growth in colonial American cities.

D. Economic conditions in colonial America.

5. Why were the carts considered the problem in colonial towns?

A. Because carts scared the pigs away.

B. Because carts injured a large number of people.

C. Because carts often moved too slowly.

D. Because carts broke down too easily.

6. According to the conversation, what did colonial towns，people do to clean their streets?

A. They used carts for collecting garbage.

B. They used pigs to get rid of garbage.

C. They burnt the garbage.

D. They set up trash cans.

 

答案解析

Conversation 4

4. B主旨题。比较四个选项可知，选项A和B谈论的对象是交通，而选项C谈论的对 象是人口增长，选项D谈论的对象是经济情形，再根据听前的预测可知本对话的主题是关于交通的，故可初步排除C和D。对话开头处，女士明确提到她要帮助男士复 习昨天错过的与美国殖民地时期的城市问题有关的历史课内容，并以traffic为例给 男士做了详细讲解，再结合整篇对话可推知本对话的主要话题就是关于美国殖民地 时期的城市交通问题。听音前的预测得到了验证。

5. C细节题。女士介绍说当时美国主要的交通工具是公共的coaches(四轮大马车）或 carts(马车），驾驶者们经常会使马车载重过多，这就导致了马车oversized且 clumsy,进而slow down the traffic(阻碍交通），被认为是城市中的一大问题。

6. B细节题。女士明确提到，当时殖民地的城镇里的人们used pigs to clean up the garbage。

1 colonial   

adj.殖民地的，关于殖民的；n.殖民地，居民

参考例句：

• The natives were unwilling to be bent by colonial power.土著居民不愿受殖民势力的摆布。
• The people of Africa have successfully fought against colonial rule.非洲人民成功地反抗了殖民统治。

2 smoothly   

adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地

参考例句：

• The workmen are very cooperative,so the work goes on smoothly.工人们十分合作，所以工作进展顺利。
• Just change one or two words and the sentence will read smoothly.这句话只要动一两个字就顺了。

3 automobiles   

n.汽车( automobile的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• When automobiles become popular,the use of the horse and buggy passed away. 汽车普及后，就不再使用马和马车了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Automobiles speed in an endless stream along the boulevard. 宽阔的林荫道上，汽车川流不息。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

4 overloaded   

a.超载的，超负荷的

参考例句：

• He's overloaded with responsibilities. 他担负的责任过多。
• She has overloaded her schedule with work, study, and family responsibilities. 她的日程表上排满了工作、学习、家务等，使自己负担过重。

5 livestock   

n.家畜，牲畜

参考例句：

• Both men and livestock are flourishing.人畜两旺。
• The heavy rains and flooding killed scores of livestock.暴雨和大水淹死了许多牲口。

6 interfered   

v.干预( interfere的过去式和过去分词 )；调停；妨碍；干涉

参考例句：

• Complete absorption in sports interfered with his studies. 专注于运动妨碍了他的学业。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I am not going to be interfered with. 我不想别人干扰我的事情。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 colonists   

n.殖民地开拓者，移民，殖民地居民( colonist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Colonists from Europe populated many parts of the Americas. 欧洲的殖民者移居到了美洲的许多地方。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Some of the early colonists were cruel to the native population. 有些早期移居殖民地的人对当地居民很残忍。 来自《简明英汉词典》