2021年12月英语四级考试听力原文(第 一套)

Listening Comprehension

Section A

News report 1u

A 22-year-

old Chinese woman who suffered from a persistent cough was shocked to learnthat she had a piece of chicken bone lodged in her lung.The unnamed womanfrom the province of Shandong started have coughing problems when she was 7or 8 years old.For 14 years,she made numerous hospital visits.However, no doctor could identify any problem. Her uncontrollable coughing was a mystery.Finally, the woman got a full body scan at a hospital in the city of Qingdao. This special medical procedure revealed she had a chicken bone stuck in her lung.(2) Doctors performed surgery and removed the bone. The simple procedure went smoothly and the woman has recovered fully with the bone finally removed from her lung, the woman is very happy that she no longer suffers from that annoying cough.

Question 1 to 2 are based on the passage you have just heard.Q1: What was the woman's problem?

Q2: How was the woman's problem eventually solved?'

New report 2-

(3 )A white shape named Prickles that ran away from an Australian farm duringthe 2013 bush fires recently returned home.According to farmer Alice Gray, Prickles was only a lamb when she ran away. The bush fires that hit the area back then destroyed a large part of her family's massive property. They thought Prickles had died in the fire.But instead, the young sheep escaped into a 200-acre forest near the farm.(4) Once the fires were over, the family had to fix thedamage done to the farm as it was such a large property,

which

included rebuilding about 40 kilometers of fencing.It was this huge fencing that prevented Pickles from finding her way back. Over the years, the family spotted her a few times.They even recorded her with cameras installed to monitor the activity. But when they knew Pringles was alive, they couldn't find her and never expected her to return by herself.Seven years later, they were proven wrong.

3. What does the news say about the white sheep Prickles?

4.What the family do of the bush fires?v

New report 3:

(5) Tons of gold have fallen out of the sky in Russia after a cargo plane malfunctioned in midair this morning. The aircraft was carrying 265 million pounds worth of gold and diamonds,when the door flew open, sending the precious metal back to earth.According to the official news agency,Russian authorities haverecovered more than 170 gold bars weighing 20 kilograms each. The plane wastraveling from Yakutsk airport in a major diamond producing region to the cityKrasnoyarsk in Siberia.(6)However, the aircraft made an emergency landing in Magan after began losing some of its valuable cargo.Reports suggest some bars of gold were scattered up to fifteen miles away from the airport. Nine tons of gold on plane AN12 belonged to a gold mine company.Police have sealed offthe runway and say it is unclear if it was an accident or an attempted robbery.(7) Technical engineers who worked on the plane prior to takeoff arereportedlygoing to be questioned by the police.

Q5: What is the news report mainly about?

Q6: What did the aircraft do when the incident happened?

Q7:What does the news report say about the technical engineers who worked onthe plane before takeoff?

Conversation 1

Conversation one.

M:Hello,you're through to customer service.This is Michael speaking.Before we continue,l just wantto make you aware that this call is being recorded and may be used in the future for trainingpurposes.what can l help you with today?

w.Hi,my name is Jean Seaman.l recently bought an office chair from your company,but l returned it about a week ago.I'm just calling to inquire when l will be able to get my money back.lt says onyour website that your company will pay back the money within three working days of you receivingthe returned item,but it's been five working days and l haven't received anything.

M:I'm sorry to hear that,Miss Seamen.What's your customer reference number,please?

wIr's 3460.M:Okay.3460.'m just looking on the system here,and according to our records that

the chair you returned was received by our warehouse on Friday morning. The payment was madeon Wednesday,but that seems to be a problem with your card number.

w.My card number,oh,maybe it has something to do with my new card. lt was sent to me on Tuesday.Maybe the bank cancelled my old one before you made the payment.

M:Well,you need to update your card details directly on our website.Just make sure you lodgedin.Then under the description of your personal information,you should see an option from updatingpayment methods.

w:l am lodged in,and l'll give that a go.

M:'ll make a note here on the system for you so that the payment will be made tomorrow morning.w:Thank you very much.

Q8: Why does the man have this conversation with the man recorded?

His job is related to the customer service.

Q9: What is the woman's purpose of calling to the furniture company?

She wants to know when she can get her money back.

Q10: What does the woman say about her bank card?

The new bank card will be sent to her on Tuesday, and the bank may has canceled the old one before the man made the payment.

Q11: What does the man advise the woman to do?

She needs to update the card details directly on the website.

Conversation Twou

M:'m getting a bit hungry w.Yes,me too.I'm starving. Are you going to prepare a meal for us?M:No,sorry.I'm actually pretty worn out. Let's just go out somewhere close to eat.

w:wel,l think we should stay in and save some cash.Can we get a meal delivered? M:Yeah,great.'ll use that food delivery app on my phone.What do you want? Fried chicken,hamburgers or fish andchips? u

w:Oh,can we stay away from the junk food?How about something healthy? M:Okay ...Well.there's place that does salads.w.Let me have a look at that. Yeah,that looks delicious,but to be honest,I'd prefer something hot,not

cold.

M.How about Indian food? w

w:That's not the kind of hot l mean.'m just not a fan of sauces that make me sweat and cry.l need something mild u

M:Okay,so would you consider Mexican?Oh no,sorry,there's also very hot pepper in that. Would youlike some ltalian food,perhaps?its a bit heavy,but it's great food for a cold night like this.

w:Pizza,spaghetti with creamy sauce? l know it's really tasty and great comfort food,but its too fattening for being.l've tried to keep a slim figure,you know.

M:Oh,you're really difficult to please.Well,there's a nice Chinese restaurant that delivers.

w:Yes,l love Chinese food.Let me see...Oh,it's 15 kilometers away.

M:That's a bit too far away.Do you feel like Vietnamese food then?

w:Yeah,awesome.Ir's healthy and we can afford it.

M:Great.Let's order Vietnamese night away.w

Q12: Why isn't the man going to cook?

He's worn out.

Q13: What does the man say he'll do on his phone?

He'll use the food delivery app on his phone.u

Q14: What does the woman think of the Indian food?

That's not the kind of the hot she means. She needs something mild.

Q15: What does the man think of the woman?

She's really difficult to please.

Section Ce

Passage Onev

(16)A new study carried out by the university of Lincoln has found a link between the personalities of cat owners and the behavior and wellbeing of their cats.The

findings suggest that just as a

parent personality can affect the personality of a child, the same is true for a cat and its owner. Owners defined as individuals with high levels of anxiety, fear,anger, depression and loneliness were more likely to have cats with behavioralissues.Such cats display more aggressive and anxious behavioral styles as wellas more stress related sickness.They will also more likely to have an ongoingmedical condition and be overweight. The research also found that mentally wel1-adjustedowners had calmer,

happier and healthier cats. The

researchers explained that many owners regard their pets as a family member and form close social bonds with them. (17) The majority of owners want to provide the best care for their pets and is therefore possible that pets could be affected by the way their owners interact with and manage them. The study highlights an important relationship between our personalities and the well-being of our pets.(18)Further research is needed to investigate the cause of nature of this relationship and look at how owners’ personalities are directly influencing their pet's behavior and well-being. It is possible that the well-

being of pets is driven by the underlying nature of the owner, not simply by their conscious decisions and behaviors..Q16:What do we learn from the new study by the University of Lincoln?-

Q17:What does the passage say most pet owners want to do?

Q18:What does the passage say it's still needed to understand the effects of owners' personalities on their pets?

Passage Twou

(19) One 50-

minute run can add seven hours to your life. This was a claim made by The Times last week. The claim was based on a new review of studies about the effectsof running. The review concluded that an average runners live three years longer than non-

runners and that running does more to extend life than any other form of exercise.But there's more to running than its health benefits.(20)Research publishe

d in recent years hav

e shown that running changes your brain and mind in somefascinating ways from increasing y

rain function to regulating your emotio

ns.However, the precise effects vary according to whether you engage in shortfast running or long distance runnin g.For example, in one study, researchers compared participants’ ability to learn new words after several minutes of intenserunning, and after 40 minutes of gentle running, participants were able to learn20 percent faster after the intense running and they showed a superior memorywhen tested again a week later. In another study, researchers asked volunteers to jog for 30 minutes and then showed them clips from a sad movie.Participantswho usually struggled to handle negative emotions were more intensely affected by the sad clips just as you'd expect.But crucially, this was less so if they had completed the 30 minutes jog.(21) The researchers said moderate exercise appears to have helped those participants to be less vulnerable to the impact of the sad movie.u

Q19:What did the new review of studies claim?

Q20:What is one effect that running has on people according to recent research?Q21:What did another study find about the participant after they had a 30 minutes jog?

Passage Threer

Welcome to the tour of the Hill House. This house built in 1904 is one of the most well-

known works of Charles Hill, the famous architect. It was designed and built for local entrepreneur and his family. Before starting the tour, let me give you a brief introduction about the design of this amazing building.(23 ) Prior to beginn ing his design, the architect spends sometime in the client's old home. observin

g their life and studying their habits. This meant that he could design the house

according to the needs of the family. (24) The client's main desire was to have

a home with unique design, so the architect was given complete freedom. The b

uilding style is radically different from what was the fashion of the period. At t

he time, most large homes were constructed of timber and brick. This one, how

ever, is made of concrete, a novel construction material in those days. The inter

ior of the house, including the fittings and furniture, was also designed by the s

ame person. Most of the furniture you will see is original and in good condition

However, (25) both pieces in the children's bedrooms are copies built to the d

esigns of the architect. Fortunately, all the blueprints for both the building and i

ts contents have been preserved, so we've been able to replace badly damaged furniture. Let's begin our tour, starting from the rooms.

Q22: What do we learn about the speaker?

Q23: What dose the architect do before beginning his design?

Q24: What did the architect's client mainly want?

Q25:What do we learn about the pieces of furniture in the children's bedrooms?