2014年12月英语四级听力冲刺练习2

英语自学网

　　英语四级听力部分算是同学们考试时的难点吧。听力这部分不能急于求成，需要时间来练习。对于这部分同学们平时在积累词汇的基础上多加练习就可以，听的多了就能掌握技巧，距离12月份的四六级考试还有一段时间，同学每天练习一点听力，考试时听力就能取得高分了。
　　

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听力音频点击下载.mp3
　　

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听力材料：
　　Welcome to American Mosaic from VOA LearningEnglish.
　　I'm Faith Lapidus.
　　On the show today, we tell all about this year'sKennedy Center honorees. And we play music bysome of the honored artists.
　　But first, we look into the mystery of stange lightsthat sometimes glow above a mountain in NorthCarolina.
　　Brown Mountain Lights
　　For almost one hundred years, people have looked up at the night sky over a certain part ofNorth Carolina and wondered: what is that? They see sometimes see balls of light high abovethem. So far there is no clear explanation of where these lights come from or what they aremade of. Jim Tedder has our story.
　　The mystery began in September of nineteen-thirteen. A man was fishing at night in the BlueRidge Mountains of North Carolina. There was no sound, but suddenly unusual lights began toappear over Brown Mountain. The fisherman said they were red and round, like a ball. They wereunlike anything he had seen before. They came back night after night.
　　He told some friends about what he had seen. The Charlotte Daily Observer newspaper wroteabout the story. A worker for the United States Geological Survey visited the area toinvestigate. He decided that what the fisherman and others had seen was nothing more thanlights from a train. End of story.
　　But the lights continued to appear. Some people said September, October, and November werethe best months to see them. Nine years later, a Geological Survey team came back to the areato conduct a larger investigation.
　　As before, they decided there was no mystery. They said witnesses were seeing train lights,camp fires, or automobile lights. In nineteen sixteen a large flood swept through the area.Electrical power was lost. Trains could not run. Roads and bridges were washed away. But theBrown Mountain lights continued to appear.
　　If there are unusual lights around Brown Mountain, what could they be? Throughout thesouthern United States, people have spoken of seeing a "Jack o Lantern" or "Will of the Wisp",floating in the night sky. Scientists say these sightings are often balls of swamp gas. As plantsdie in low, wet, swampy areas, they release gas that glows.
　　Another theory says the lights are caused by electrically charged plasma, a type of lightningthat floats like a ball. Others say quartz rocks in the ground create a "piezoelectric" effect whenthe earth moves. Still others suggest that the lights are reflections from far away cars andhomes.
　　But the people who love a good mystery say the Brown Mountain lights are the spirits of theCherokee and Catawba Indians who lived in the area many years ago. Some think unidentifiedflying objects and space aliens are involved. But when the fishing rods are cleaned and storedfor the night, and the guitars, violins, and banjos are tuned, the mountain people of westernNorth Carolina sing about a lonely old slave who came back from the grave searching for hismaster, night after night after night.
　　Each year in Washington, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts honorsperformers for a lifetime of work. The ceremony is held at the Kennedy Center in December.This week, officials announced the names of the artists who will receive the honors for 2013.
　　They include two rock and rollers, a jazz composer and an opera singer. But we will start withsomeone who seems to do everything: Shirley MacLaine.
　　Shirley MacLaine has performed on stage and screen during her 60 year career. She is an actor,dancer, writer and political activist.
　　MacLaine has been nominated for five best actress Academy Awards. She won the Oscar forplaying Aurora Greenway in the 1983 film, "Terms of Endearment." The character is controllingand judgmental but also very funny.
　　Here, Aurora Greenway is having a dinner party when her daughter Emma announces that sheand her husband Flap are expecting a baby.
　　EMMA: "I got some good news."
　　AURORA: "What's that?"
　　EMMA: "I'm unofficially pregnant. I mean we haven't gotten the test back yet but you know meI'm never late."
　　AURORA: "Well. I don't understand."
　　EMMA: "Um. Hmm, if you're not happy for me...I'm gonna get so mad, if you're not happy."
　　AURORA: "Why should I...why should I be happy about being a grandmother?"
　　FLAP: "Does this mean you won't be knitting the baby any booties?"
　　Carlos Santana is another honoree. The Mexican-American guitarist and composer performedat Woodstock in 1969. He continues to lead his band Santana to this day. Santana has 10Grammys and three Latin Grammys among his many music awards. The 66-year-old isconsidered one of the greatest guitarists in the world.
　　Carlos Santana is credited with developing a whole new style of music. He mixes jazz, rock,blues and Latin influences to create a sound that is smooth and danceable.
　　Here he performs the Grammy-winning song "Smooth" from his 1999 Grammy-winning album"Supernatural."
　　The Kennedy Center is also honoring pop star Billy Joel this year. Joel is sometimes thought ofas the American version of Elton John. They both play piano and have a history of writing hitsong after hit song. And both are praised by serious music critics.
　　At 64 years old, Billy Joel has won six Grammys and been nominated for 23. He is one of theworld's biggest-selling musicians and a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
　　Billy Joel is a native of the Bronx area of New York City. Here is performs, "Piano Man," a hitfrom early in his career.
　　The Kennedy Center is also honoring another New York City native, classical soprano MartinaArroyo. Arroyo was born and raised in the Harlem area in 1937. She began her career in operain the 1960s. The African-American-Hispanic singer was entering the industry when few blacksperformed at major opera houses. She helped break down the racial barriers in the operaworld.
　　Martina Arroyo starred in many shows over the next 20 years at all the famous opera housesincluding La Scala in Milan, Italy, the Paris Opera in France and the Metropolitan Opera in NewYork City.
　　Here she sings as Aida, from Guiseppe Verdi's opera of the same name.
　　The final Kennedy Center honoree is jazz great Herbie Hancock. The 73-year-old pianist,composer and bandleader modernized jazz with his use of electronic instruments.
　　Herbie Hancock was born in Chicago, Illinois. He began playing classical piano very young. At theage of eleven, he played with the Chicago Orchestra. Several years later he taught himself howto play jazz, just by listening to the music.
　　Hancock has won fourteen Grammys and an Oscar for his work. He has worked on manyprojects with artists from different music styles. The Kennedy Center calls Herbie Hancock "atrue living treasure of American culture."