发布时间 : 星期一 文章新标准大学英语视听说教程第三册听力原文更新完毕开始阅读b8d1cd959b89680203d825bf
Emma: Well, legendary characters might be complete myths or they may have actually existed. For example, most people believe that the famous detective Sherlock Holmes must have existed. But in fact, we know he can't have existed. Janet: And what about Guy Fawkes?
Emma: Yes, Guy Fawkes did actually exist and he tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament. But we celebrate him every year on Guy Fawkes Night every 5thof November, and in fact, he's considered to be one of the most popular people in British history!
Janet: And I've heard something about Dick Whittington and his cat?。
Emma: Dick Whittington is said to have come to London with his cat to seek his fortune.
Dick Whittington did exist, but the real story is probably different from the myths. It's true that there was a Richard
Whittington who became Lord Mayor four times. He might have existed, but we have no proof that he had a cat.
Janet: When's the next walking tour and where are you going? Emma: Well, the next one is a tour of the ghosts of London. Why not come along next Monday and see? Janet: And what other places do you visit? Emma: We do a gorgeous tour …… Conversation 2
Andy: Well done, Janet! That was a great interview. Joe: Way to go, Janet .Knock out.
Janet: Thank you .After a while I forget about the microphone. Joe: And your questions were good.
Andy: Smart thinking! That's the way to do it, and we've got a great interview. Let's hear it for Janet.
Joe: Right! Good for you, Janet. You're a genius. Janet: Thank you so much for your help. Andy: Don't mention it.
Janet: I couldn't have done it without you. Joe: Nonsense. You're a natural.
Andy: So what have you liked best so far about working with us?
Janet: So many things, I don't know. I love the time we spent in the West End.
{Andy: Can you hear me now?
Janet: Ouch! Yes, that's much louder.}
Janet: And we had a great meal in Chinatown. Andy: We certainly did.
{mou: Now, are you hungry ?How about some dimsum and crispy roast duck?
Janet: Sounds great! I'm starving. Thanks!}
Janet: Shakespeare's Globe .I found that quite...moving, to be so close to where Shakespeare worked. Joe: It's extraordinary, I agree.
{Joe: Actually, the strangest thing is when you're watching
Romeo and Juliet in 16th century Verona, and suddenly, there's a plane passing over.
Janet: That's extraordinary! Joe: Yes, blows me away.}
Janet: And I loved the Science Night. It was such fun. Andy: The floor was hard! I couldn't sleep. Janet: True.
{Andy: The first thing you have to do is go home and get your sleeping bag.
Janet: So we really gonna stay the night with the children. Andy: You've got it. It's gonna be great fun.} Janet: And Camden Lock..... Joe: We had a great time there.
{Joe: It's a very trendy kind of place.
Janet: And it's got clothes and jewellery and... Andy: They sell pretty well everything here}
Janet: It was great. What I really liked was walking along the river around where you lived...Thanks Andy. So what's next? Joe: I think we all need a break! Outside view
Image our earliest ancestors telling stories around the fire. In ancient times storytellers carried with them the knowledge of a society?s past. They brought news about what was going on in the present, and they related stories about the great heroes and
leaders of their cultures. And at all times in human history, from the ancient past up until the present, mischievous storytellers have created fantastic tales simply to trick people into believing they are true. When the story is told, someone who believes it tells it to a friend fully convinced that it actually happened. And the story spreads and spreads.
A woman my friend knows had a baby that went blind after he got sunscreen in his eyes. That?s terrible! Oh, the poor baby! A man in our town died after he?d eaten bananas that contained a deadly bacteria. Deadly bacteria? No!
All of these stories sound bizarre and terrifying, yet none of them is true.
They are all urban legends—stories that are told to trick people into believing they are true. Urban legends are a type of hoax. Hoaxes are elaborate tricks designed to fool people.
A hoax may employ objects or pictures to make the story more believable. Probably the most famous scientific hoax was started by a man in England. He altered a number of bones and fossils and then buried them. Charles Dawson found them and claimed to have found the missing link—a fossil that proved that humans descended from apes. These fossils were called Piltdown Man. For 40 years, many people believed Piltdown Man really was the missing link. But in the end, scientists determined that the Piltdown Man had been created, using the skulls of medieval humans, the jaw of an orang-utan, the tooth of a hippopotamus ,and, the canine tooth of an early chimpanzee. It?s still not certain who created Piltdown Man, but it was one of the most famous hoaxes ever. Would you believe in Piltdown Man? Maybe, maybe not.
Let?s see how good you are at detecting the truth. I?m going to tell you two stories. One story is based on a famous hoax. The other actually happened. After watching both stories, you decide which one is true. Ready? Story Number One “Gravity reduction”.
This has been an aeronautics and space report presented by NASA. Scientist at NASA predicted that Neptune would pass in front of Uranus. Using Einstein?s theory of relativity, they
determined that when the planets were aligned in this way, the pull on the earth would be more powerful enough to diminish the force of gravity. They predicted that if you jumped in the air at that moment, you would feel as if you were floating.
Now, are you ready for story Number Tow? “Noah?s Ark found”.
Everyone knows the story of Noah?s Ark. In fact, three of the major world religions—Christianity, Judaism, and Islam—all shares the story that the world was destroyed by a flood. Only Noah and those aboard the Ark were saved when they landed on top of Mount Ararat in Turkey. But, did it really happen?
New satellite pictures of the mountain show an object. It is believed to be the remains of Noah?s Ark. Which story is true?
Our gravity reduction story is based on a famous hoax. On April Fool?s Day in 1976, British astronomer and children?s book author Patrick Moore announced on the radio that the planet Pluto would pass behind Jupiter. Many listeners called in and actually claimed to have floated around the room!
During a remarkably warm winter, snow on the top of Mount Ararat in Turkey melted. For the first time, satellites were able to record images of an object that had previously been buried under the snow. These satellite images do, in fact, reveal a mysterious large object which may or may not be Noah?s Ark. Stories of the fantastic, the improbable, the bizarre—we love to hear them, we love to tell them, and we want to believe them. And that?s why some of us love to make them up. Listening in Passage 1
Human beings have always tried to explain how the universe or world came into existence and all cultures have developed stories, known as creation myths, to explain this. Despite the huge differences in cultures, from African tribes to the Inuit culture in the far north, it is fascinating how many similarities there are in these myths.
A creation story often begins with a kind of eternity in which there is nothing but darkness or water. So for one native