英语四级听力练习集锦46

Passage 12 Medicine for a Broken Heart

Within my group of friends, when one of us is struggling with a recent breakup after a long-term relationship, the castaway will be sad and depressed¹. The response to sadness takes one of two courses —either appetite fails totally, or we eat excessively to quell² our yearnings over lost loves. If one of the girls in my dorm wants to indulge her appetite for food after a breakup, we all join in.

We all eat terrible food in terrible quantities. For instance, ice cream, cakes, cookies and potato chips all become comfort foods that we consume in excess. I think this happens for a variety of reasons.

To begin with, at my age — nineteen —we are all very concerned with our physical appearance.

We want to be attractive,to have the kind of body image our society values. To that end, we moderate what kinds of foods we eat,

how much, and how often; and we often overexert ourselves at the gym trying to burn off extra calories. We maintain good habits to keep up good appearance and thereby³ maintain a good relationship.

However, when anyone experiences something as stressful and emotionally draining as a broken heart, he or she tends to disregard healthy habits and takes some pleasure in consuming those formerly⁴ forbidden foods.

Of course, it is all a vicious circle. We lose our boyfriends, we become depressed, we eat, we gain weight (which, in turn, depresses us), we struggle to regain⁵ our self-respect, we enter into another relationship, and the cycle goes on.

Food is not the only recourse for a sad lover.

One friend of mine soothes⁶ her broken heart by going shopping — buying new clothes and new shoes, maybe a piece of jewelry⁷ —

to make herself feel better. Whether it’s food or shopping, self-indulgence is often good medicine for the blues⁸, if it is not carried to excess. The worst response is turning to alcohol or drugs.

1 depressed   

adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的

参考例句：

• When he was depressed,he felt utterly divorced from reality.他心情沮丧时就感到完全脱离了现实。
• His mother was depressed by the sad news.这个坏消息使他的母亲意志消沉。

2 quell   

v.压制，平息，减轻

参考例句：

• Soldiers were sent in to quell the riots.士兵们被派去平息骚乱。
• The armed force had to be called out to quell violence.不得不出动军队来镇压暴力行动。

3 thereby   

adv.因此，从而

参考例句：

• I have never been to that city,,ereby I don't know much about it.我从未去过那座城市，因此对它不怎么熟悉。
• He became a British citizen,thereby gaining the right to vote.他成了英国公民，因而得到了投票权。

4 formerly   

adv.从前，以前

参考例句：

• We now enjoy these comforts of which formerly we had only heard.我们现在享受到了过去只是听说过的那些舒适条件。
• This boat was formerly used on the rivers of China.这船从前航行在中国内河里。

5 regain   

vt.重新获得，收复，恢复

参考例句：

• He is making a bid to regain his World No.1 ranking.他正为重登世界排名第一位而努力。
• The government is desperate to regain credibility with the public.政府急于重新获取公众的信任。

6 soothes   

v.安慰( soothe的第三人称单数 )；抚慰；使舒服；减轻痛苦

参考例句：

• Fear grasps, love lets go. Fear rankles, love soothes. 恐惧使人痛心，爱使痛苦减轻。 来自互联网
• His loe celebrates her victories and soothes her wounds. 他的爱庆祝她的胜利，也抚平她的创伤。 来自互联网

7 jewelry   

n.（jewllery）（总称）珠宝

参考例句：

• The burglars walked off with all my jewelry.夜盗偷走了我的全部珠宝。
• Jewelry and lace are mostly feminine belongings.珠宝和花边多数是女性用品。

8 blues   

n.抑郁，沮丧；布鲁斯音乐

参考例句：

• She was in the back of a smoky bar singing the blues.她在烟雾弥漫的酒吧深处唱着布鲁斯歌曲。
• He was in the blues on account of his failure in business.他因事业失败而意志消沉。