[00:04.78]Lesson 45 Dialogue
[00:10.34]Eric,an Englishman,is visiting Charlie in the USA.
[00:16.61]CHARLIE:How long are you planning to stay over here?
[00:20.66]ERIC:I've got three weeks altogether.What do you suggest I see?
[00:26.72]CHARLIE:What would you prefer to do?
[00:29.91]ERIC:I think I'd like to see some of the things
[00:34.35]that one can't find in other countries.
[00:39.03]CHARLIE:Well,I suggest you see some of our national parks.
[00:44.77]You've got lots of old buidings in your country.
[00:49.63]Ours is a fairly new country,so our cities and towns are modern.
[00:55.80]But I guess we've got some of the most beautiful mountains and countryside in the world.
[01:02.56]Why don't you hire a car and drive around for a couple of weeks?
[01:07.89]ERIC:Is it expensive to hire a car?
[01:11.97]CHARLIE:No,not very.You need a driving permit.Have you got one?
[01:19.12]ERIC:Yes. CHARLIE:I think you'd beeter fly somewhere in the west.
[01:25.19]Then you can pick up a hire car and travel around.
[01:30.75]ERIC:What about places to stay?
[01:34.69]CHARLIE:I suggest you take a tent.
[01:38.22]I can lend you one and a few pieces of equipment.
[01:43.08]It's much cheaper to camp than to stay in a hotel.
[01:48.15]ERLC:Is there anything else I should do?
[01:52.40]CHARLIE:Do what you feel like!Why not take a friend with you?
[01:57.86]Then you can share the cost of the gas and the car.
[02:02.41]I'd come too if I had time to spare.
[02:06.77]ERIC:That sounds like a good idea.
[02:10.53]I have a few friends I could ring to see if they're free.
[02:15.97]CHARLIE:I say,shall we go downtown this evening?We could have a walk around.
[02:22.81]Let's go out at about six o'clock,shall we?
[02:27.57]Lesson 46
[02:36.03]1 Reading comprehension
[02:40.47]WINTER SLEEP
[02:43.71]Some birds will fly away to the south when the weather rurns cold.
[02:50.27]Other birds and all animals stay with you,
[02:55.54]but you will not see all the animals throughout the winter.
[03:00.40]In the cold weather some of them hibernate.
[03:05.44]They go to sleep in all kinds of places.
[03:10.12]Red squirrels disappear inside trees,bears use caves,frogs go deep under the mud,
[03:19.68]and many other animals dig holes in the earth.
[03:25.14]A good many animals sleep under the snow.
[03:29.87]There is a lot of air in loose snow,and this helps to keep the cold out.
[03:36.82]Some warm-blooded animals,like the cat,the dog or the wolf,
[03:44.18]do not need to hibernate;
[03:48.02]they lead an active life which keeps up their normal body temperature
[03:54.19]even in very cold winter weather.
[03:58.03]But for a cold-blooded animal such as a frog or a snake it is a different matter.
[04:05.68]Wher the air temperature is below freezing,its body temperature drops too.
[04:12.81]It cannot move about in its usual way.
[04:17.04]Then it has no choice but to lie down and sloeep.
[04:22.01]To do that,it must find a place where it can keep fairly warm;
[04:27.94]and it must be a place where its enemies cannot find it.
[04:33.50]Hibernation is more than sleep.It is a very deep sleep.
[04:40.45]The animal's temperature drops to just over zero centigrade,
[04:47.11]and its heart beats very slowly.
[04:52.28]People who find hibernating animals asleep othen think that they are dead;
[04:59.23]the body feels very cold,
[05:03.07]and the animal may breathe only once every five minutes.
[05:09.32]A hibernating animal cannot feel any pain.
[05:14.88]You can touch it,or even pull its tail,without causoing it to move or wake up.
[05:23.03]Hibernating in that way,the animal can sleep all through the winter.
[05:29.27]You might wonder how it manages to live without eating for so many months.
[05:35.33]The answer lies in two facts.
[05:39.70]Tae first is that it has stored supplies of fat in its body
[05:45.65]during the summer and autumn.
[05:49.81]The second is connected with the main use
[05:54.95]the body makes of food--to supply the energy for movement.
[06:01.51]We have seen that the hibernating animal reduces movement
[06:07.39]to far below the ordinary level.
[06:11.33]Even the movements of the heart and lungs atr greatly reduced.
[06:17.50]The animal hardly makes any movement,hardly uses any energy,
[06:24.37]and hardly needs any food.
[06:28.31]Some animals,including some bears,only half-hibernate.
[06:35.47]That is to say,they sleep during the winter but their sleep is not such a deep one,
[06:43.72]and their body temperature does not drop
[06:48.27]In autumn the bear eats and eats and becomes very fat indeed.
[06:55.84]Its hair grows longer.Soon it has a thick covering of fat and fur.
[07:03.11]In November it finds a place in a cave
[07:07.96]or under a tree and just lies down and goes to sleep.
[07:13.89]On warm winter days it may think that spring has arrived;
[07:19.54]it gets up and walks around.
[07:23.69]When it sees that the snow is still thick on the ground,
[07:28.55]it quickly goes to sleep again.
[07:32.31]The squirrel is an animal which makes secret food stores for the winter.
[07:38.97]It hides large quantities of nuts inside trees.
[07:44.33]In old stories,the squirrel was usually described as a good animal:
[07:50.67]it saved something for the future |