英语自学网 发表于 2016-7-28 21:08:50

2014年12月英语四级听力备考练习15

  英语四级考试听力的备考没有别的诀窍,就是要每天听音频练习,只有多听,才能掌握语感,攻克英语四级考试听力题型。下面,我们一起来练习一下吧!看你听懂了多少!
  

听力音频点击下载.rar
  

听力材料:
  On the show today, we play new music from countrystar Keith Urban.
  We also roll down some old train tracks in Missouri.
  But first, we go to the west coast to look at somebig art in the city of Los Angeles.
  LA Murals
  The city of Los Angeles, California is famous for its murals – artwork covering the sides ofbuildings and bridges over busy roads. Katherine Cole tells us how the murals add color andcharacter to the city.
  Many drivers pass by a huge mural of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra every day as theygo to and from work. It is easily seen from a major freeway near the city center. The massivework includes images of the orchestra's violin, oboe and viola players.
  Kent Twitchell created the painting in 1991. He has also made many others in the city. A piecepainted in 1971 remains on the wall of a house a short distance from the center of Los Angeles.
  "I decided to paint my favorite actor, Steve McQueen. I didn't fancy myself as being someheavy-duty modernist artist. I just painted what felt good to me."
  Photographs of that Steve McQueen mural made Kent Twitchell famous.
  His other works include a work in honor of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and paintings ofAmerica's founding fathers. Some important murals, however, have been painted over ordamaged by graffiti.
  "I was so na?ve. I thought I was living in Florence and that people would just appreciate andlove it. But that didn't turn out to be the case in many instances, and a lot of the great L.A.murals are gone now."
  Some historic art in Los Angeles has been repaired. Leslie Rainer is with the Getty ConservationInstitute. She says experts carefully repaired a mural from 1932 by visiting Mexican artist DavidAlfaro Siqueiros.
  "He painted this very controversial image of a crucified central figure with an eagle loomingabove him, and some revolutionaries aiming their rifles at the eagle."
  She says the message of the painting is not entirely clear. The eagle could represent the UnitedStates or Mexico. Each country has chosen the bird as its national symbol. But the imageoffended city leaders. They ordered it painted over. Experts finished restoring it in 2012.
  Artist Lydia Emily shares a social message with her wall art. She tells the story of a youngwoman named Jessica in one of her murals. Jessica is a victim of the sex trade. The workshows her face and a bird that represents freedom, says the artist.
  "I did an interview with Jessica where I learned her entire story, how she was kidnapped, howshe was sexually trafficked for her whole life, how she was rescued, how she became who she istoday. And then I tried to paint the narrative."
  Lydia Emily also painted a mural in the homeless neighborhood known as Skid Row. It showsan African woman of the Masai tribe and the native birds of Kenya. She says it represents thedifficult life of the world's native peoples.
  Los Angeles officials were once hostile to murals and other street art. Now they are providingstrong support, as long as the owner of the property gives permission. Officials recentlyeased rules about street murals in an effort to get more art and color in the city.
  Parks by Rails to Trails
  Railroads once crossed the United States in every direction. Trains carried the goods that keptthe economy growing. Today, the railroad system is still an important part of the nation'stransportation system but it plays a much smaller part than it once did.
  Thousands of kilometers of train tracks are no longer in use. A group called "Rails to Trails" hasturned many of these old tracks into parks for walking, running, biking and other activities. Onesuch lengthy park extends for many kilometers in the state of Missouri.
  The morning sun shines like gold on the two rails of a train track that extends through Sedalia,Missouri. A car rolls over the tracks, and then disappears up the street.
  No train comes down the track until a ringing gate drops down to let one engine through. Itpulls a single train car.
  More than 30 people stand several streets away. They are all wearing bicycling clothes. Thegroup is looking up a large building that looks like a palace. It formerly served as the Sedaliatrain station and now is home to the city's train museum.
  Kathleen Boswell is a museum tour guide. She says the structure dates back to the 1860swhen trains ruled transportation in America.
  "Well, there used to be about a dozen train tracks, both sides of the building. And we haveonly this one little piece left now."
  Hundreds of trains a week stopped at this station. By the 1970s, trucks and airplanes were themain carriers of goods and people. The train tracks were no longer being used. Years later,private donors and government officials worked together to turn the area into an attraction forvisitors.
  "This is our 22nd year for the Katy Trail, for bicycles."
  The former Katy railway was named for the MK&T line. Its trains served Missouri, Kansasand Texas.
  A group of people now jump on bicycles and test their pedals. They are getting ready for aweek of biking 50 to 80 kilometers each day. A tour guide points them toward the city of St.Louis, Missouri.
  "Which direction are we going?"
  "We're going east, all the way."
  "Which way is east?"
  "Follow the sun..."
  Soon the cyclists are riding along the car-free path through forests and tunnels, past cornfieldsand along the wide Missouri River. Almost a half-million people take trips on the Katy Trail everyyear. Over 20,000 of them come from outside of Missouri. Cyclist Stacy Heikes lives in Colorado.
  "Yeah, I love biking. I love biking. That's why I'm here. But, I love biking in new places so youcan see new stuff, you're not looking at your same old path every time. You're looking atsomething new. Right up the road, we hear, there is a burr oak (tree) that's the statechampion burr oak in size."
  A tour agency called Road Scholars organized this group's trip. It urges cyclists to make sidetrips to train museums, wine grape farms and the state capital along the way. Californian nativeAlice Frost says the historic wall paintings at the capitol building in Jefferson City captured herheart.
  "The one mural in the senator lounge was just magnificent. I had never been to Missouribefore and I sort of put it on my low list of places I might like to go. But after seeing it, I see ithas many things here that are very good...for vacationing and I'm enjoying it."
  The 390 kilometer long Katy Trail cost six million dollars to build. Today, the state of Missourispends only a small percentage of that amount each year to keep the trail in good condition.
  Todd White is owner of Katy Bike Rental in the town of Defiance. He praises the decision to setup the trail.
  "The economic impact study says 18 and a half million dollars every year is getting sprinkledalong this trail. 250 thousand meals, and of course, the bike shops and different supportservices along the trail as well."
  Mr. White adds that many Missouri cities now require major roads and bridges to include abicycle path. He says neighborhoods are also building bike paths to link to the Katy Trail.
  Keith Urban "Fuse"
  It has been three years since country music star Keith Urban released a studio album. Thesinger from New Zealand used that time to create a collection of songs that he describes as"liberating." Mario Ritter plays some for us.
  "Little Bit of Everything" was Keith Urban's first single from his new album, "Fuse." The songbecame his fourteenth number one hit on the country charts. The album also entered BillboardMagazine's Top 200 Albums chart at number one.
  Urban experimented with different sounds on "Fuse," and worked with nine producers from theR&B and rock worlds. Urban says that experimentation was what led him to name thealbum "Fuse."
  "It started with just trying to bring things together -- instruments, sounds, rhythms, and soforth -- to fuse things together that I hadn't done before, to this degree."
  Urban says working with others is his favorite part of making an album. He says his goal for"Fuse" was to bring a new energy to his sound. Urban performs on the album with othercountry singers, including Miranda Lambert and Eric Church.
  "Eric I've known for a couple of years and I came upon this song called ‘Raise ‘Em Up.' It wasjust a perfect song for us, and I'm really glad that he wanted to be on the record. And thenMiranda opened some shows for us many years ago. We used to sing together at the end ofthe night and I always loved the way our voices sounded together. So, in the back of my mind,I've always had a hope that I could find a song one day that we could do and this song called‘We Were Us' came along. It was just the right song at the right time."
  His duet with Miranda Lambert entered Billboard Magazine's Top 20 Country Airplay Chart justthree weeks after it was released. That makes it one of the fastest-climbing songs of his career.
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