四级考试短文朗读与背诵.doc

四级考试短文 朗读与背诵1. The Advantages of Bicycle Riding Bicycle riding has many advantages. It is the least expensive way of traveling apart from walking. If you travel by bicycle, you dont have to buy gas as you must when you drive cars. Besides, it develops much less mechanical troubles than a car. Bicycle riding is especially good for health. It is good exercise. If you go to work by riding a bicycle instead of driving or taking a bus, you can have a better chance of getting enough exercise you need everyday. Bicycling is also good for our environment. It is less noisy and does not pollute the air. I am glad to have ridden a bicycle to school when I studied in the high school. 2. Describing an Unforgettable Experience A. Everybody has some experience he cannot forget. For me, the most unforgettable experience was taking part in an English conversation test. This occurred about three years ago when I had to take an English examination, including conversation, in order to go to the United States. English was my second language; I had difficulty even with reading and writing, not to mention speaking. Naturally I was very nervous when it was my turn to face the examiners, one a gentleman and another a young lady. They asked me something about sports, sightseeing, Chinese culture, the purpose of my going to the States and so on. I was simply too nervous to be able to make any sensible answer. In fact, I could hardly open my mouth. The interview took about ten minutes, but it seemed years to me. When it was over, my shirt was thoroughly wet. This was the first time I talked to foreigners in English. This was an experience I am not likely to forget. B. One day when I was a child, I saw an ad about a missing dog in the paper. As my next door neighbor had a German shepherd like the one described in the ad, I called the owner of the missing dog to tell him that. I also gave him my neighbors telephone number. I had almost forgotten about the whole thing when I heard my neighbor talking in a loud voice one night. I rushed to the window immediately to see what was going on. I am sorry, but this dog really belongs to us. We have kept it for almost eight years now, my neighbor was explaining to a tall stranger. Suddenly I felt rather guilty, for my childish suspicion of my neighbor seemed totally unjustified. But I didnt have the courage to tell him that it was I who had caused him all this trouble. I have been silent about this thing until now. 3. An Embarrassing Experience As is often the case, sometime last month I walked on the street and found someone smiling or even trying to talk to me, but I couldnt recall who he or she was at all. I felt so ill at ease that all I did was only to gently stand there and try my best to smile as brightly as possible. One day such a thing happened again. While I was greeting that beautiful girl, a crazy idea came into my mind that I decided to keep on talking with her though I didnt know her. Luckily, we had a pleasant conversation for ten minutes. But when saying good-bye to each other, we both suddenly found she had mistaken me for my elder sister. What an embarrassing experience it was! 4. The Computer and I Computers play an important role in the modern world. Today they are used in many areas of human activities, such as business, industry, science, and education. The development of computers has also created many attractive job opportunities. Im a college student majoring in mathematics and as such I know quite well the powers of the computer. They have evolved as a natural consequence of mans growing need for fast and accurate calculation. To make myself better equipped in my field of study I have learned several computer languages to communicate with the computer. My experience tells me that if we want to become competent users of the computer we must keep up with its development. Because modern industrialized society needs computers to perform a wide range of tasks, I think a general knowledge of such wonderful machines is quite necessary for most of us. 5. Learning English It goes without saying that English plays an important role in our modern society. English is an international language. Wherever you go, you can hear English spoken by many people. From this point of view, it is true that English is important to our daily life. Learning English is like learning to swim or learning to play ball. Our primary trouble is that we have tackled the study of language from the wrong end. We are likethe man who thinks he can learn to swim only by reading books about swimming. In actuality, we learn by doing. The grammatical rules are valuable as we plunge into the language and need some assistance. In the same way, advanced instructions about swimming are helpful as we learn something from actual experience in the water. But reading books never makes a swimmer and learning rules never makes a practical linguist. The regular procedure in learning English involves listening first, to be followed by speaking. Then comes reading, and finally the writing of the language. The way you learn English ismuch the same as the way you learned your own language. First of all you must listen and then repeat and repeat until you can use the language easily. In other words, you have to build up language habits in English just as you build up English habits in your own language. To sum up, we must bear in mind that nobody can learn to swim for you. Nobody can learn to play ball for you. Nobody can learn English for you. Its up to you. You must learn for yourself and you will learn if you really want to and are willing to practice. 6. HomeA Joy Forever Home means a lot to me. “Be it ever so humble, there is no place like home.” I appreciate the warmth of my home, and regard it as one of the brightest and dearest spots on earth. It is the place where I can take refuge whenever I meet with difficulties, failures and even frustrations in my daily life. At home, my dear parents and brothers and sisters will comfort me and cheer me up. And with their concern and encouragement, I will regain my self-confidence and muster up all my strength and courage to face the stern realities of life. To me, home is forever a joy where I can always find love, understanding, care and help. 家对我意义重大。不管家是多么简陃，家是世界上最好的地方。我珍视家庭温暖，并且认为家是世界上最光辉的地方之一。每当我在日常生活中遭遇到困难、失败甚至挫折时，家就是我寻求庇护之所。在家中，我亲爱的父母和兄弟姊妹会安慰我a、鼓励我。而有了他们的关心与鼓舞，我将恢复自信，并能鼓起我的所有的力量和勇气，来面对严酷的生活现实。对我而言，家永远是一种喜悦，我总是可以在其中找到爱、了解、关怀与帮助。 7. Life in Big City Large modern cities are too big to control. They impose their own living conditions on the people who live in them. Persons living in cities are obliged by their environment to take a wholly unnatural way of life. They lose touch with the land and rhythm of nature. It is possible to live such an air-conditioned existence that you are barely conscious of the seasons. A few flowers in a public park (if you have time to visit it) may remind you that it is spring or summer. A few leaves clinging to the pavement may remind you that it is autumn. Beyond that, what is going on in nature seems totally irrelevant. All the simple, good things of life like sunshine and fresh air are difficult to obtain, and therefore are highly valued. Tall buildings hide the sun completely. Traffic fumes pollute the atmosphere. Even the distinction between day and night is lost.8. Ability and Good Looks1. 传统观点认为能力比相貌重要。2. 现在有人认为相貌比能力重要。3. 我的观点是： Old people usually tell the young: “Dont judge a person by his appearance.” This means ability is more important than appearance. Indeed, weve seen so many brilliants but not at all good looking people. In the film “Mozart”, an opera singer, repeats this view by saying: “For a woman of taste, it is not the looks, but the talent that interests me.” For her, the preference shows ones taste.However, nowadays, with more and more interviewers putting much emphasis on the looks, the appearance of the job- applicants, a lot of people come to the conclusion that appearance is more important than ability because many beautiful girls acquire very good positions although they dont have much talent.In my opinion, ability is definitely much more important than the good looks, because it demonstrates ones own self-cultivation. It shows the efforts and the glory of acquiring something through ones hard work whereas good looks bespeak no struggle of the individual. Good looks are pleasant, but if we have to make a choice between them, Ill choose ability because it really shows something of my own self.9. Self-confidence1. 自信是一种重要的心理因素，建立在对自我的知识掌握做出确评价的基础之上。2. 自信有利于成功。3. 自信不同于自负。 Self-confidence refers to the firm belief in ones capability to do something well. In many cases, self-confidence is crucial to ones success because it, on the one hand, provides a solid psychological ground for ones work land, and on the other hand, it is based on an evaluation of ones understanding of a certain kind of knowledge done by oneself.Self-confidence is an important psychological factor in our work. We can safely draw the conclusion that being given the same kind of work, a self-confident person will find the work much easier than one that holds a gloomy view on ones own ability. Similarly, when facing a patient, the doctor who is quite confident of his diagnosis is more likely to give much comfort to the patient. Therefore, a more satisfying result will be achieved. Self-confidence of a doctor greatly influences his patients mood.However, we shouldnt confuse self-confidence with conceit. The former is based on a thorough understanding of knowledge one has acquired whereas the latter isnt. Conceit may make people succeed temporarily, but that wont last; nevertheless, self-confidence is forever a help, a stimulus to ones success.10. Key Factors to Success1. The first key factor to success is diligence.2. Devotion is another key to success.3. Perseverance is also necessary to success.To be successful in life, we are to understand what leads to success.The first key factor to success is diligence, which simply means not to waste time. Time lost is never found again. If we lose time, we shall lose everything.Devotion, which means the concentration of our mind and effort in doing things, is another key factor to success. Whatever job we are doing, we ought to love it and do it whole-heartedly. Only when we set out minds to a task is it possible for us to finish it satisfactorily.In addition, perseverance, or a strong will, is also necessary to success. If we study or work day after day, anything can be achieved. Just as the famous English saying goes, “Where there is a will, there is a way.” Indeed, a strong will can urge a person to make great contributions for society.11. Is Money All-powerful?1. Money is considered by some people as the most important in life.2. Money cannot buy everything.3. Money, moreover, is the source of some evil.Money is considered by some people as the most important thing in life. They think that the majority of the materials things in our daily life has to be bought with money and that if they have a lot of money, they can make themselves very comfortable by having a fine house to live in, beautiful clothes to put on, and delicious food to eat.Money cannot buy everything. Take time and ones life, for example, no matter what we do or how much money we are willing to give, we cannot make a day last longer than 24 hours. Suppose there is a millionaire who possesses everything except good health. By the time he is suffering from a fatal illness, what he wishes for most is a longer and healthier life. Though money can help him get first-rate doctors and medical care, money can never buy him a better life.Money, moreover, is the source of some evil. Some people are greedy for money, break the law and do all kinds of evil things. Since money can never buy everything we desire, it is not at all powerful. 12. The Best Preparation for LifeSome people say that the best preparation for life is learning to work with others and be cooperative. Others take the opposite view and say that learning to be competitive is the best preparation. Discuss these two positions according to the following organization:1. Put forward the two ideas in a clear manner.2. Give examples of both to support the two positions3. Make a conclusion: which one you agree with and explain why.As anyone grows up he or she will make the best preparation for life. What is the best preparation for life? Some people say that this means learning to work with other and be cooperative; while others take the opposite view and say that learning to be competitive is the best preparation for life.Of course, the former will do good to ones life and work. Treating ones incurable illness, for example, needs his cooperation with doctors, which may prolong, or save life. Finishing some urgent work also requires ones working with others. While the latter， learning to be competitive benefits ones life much more, especially when nobody would like to cooperate with him in doing so.So learning to be competitive is a much better preparation for life than the former view. The world has become a large competitive stage, and everyone must compete with others for life on it. “The fittest exists” said by Charles Darwin, shows the importance of learning to compete for life. Therefore, the best preparation for life is learning to be competitive.13. On Competition1. 竞争是今天社会生活中的普遍现象。2. 我们也时常发现竞争和合作同时并存。3. 在提倡竞争的同时，我们不要忘记合作。 Competition is a common phenomenon in our social life today. We compete when we play games; we try to do better than others in our study, and there is constant competition for jobs, customers, money, and so forth. We can say, to some extent, competition is one of the motive forces to develop society.And we often find competition and co-operation at the same time. Think of a baseball game. Each team is competing against the other team. But each member of the team is co-operating with his or her teammates. In most cases, we cant do competition without co-operation. Thus they are equally important.While we are advocating competition, we cant forget co-operation. Nothing is to be carried to the extreme. Pure and exclusive competition leads to failures. Only competition together with co-operation helps us a great deal in obtaining our goals and satisfying our needs, especially in modernizing our country.14. Learning：A Lifelong Career As food is to the body, so is learning to the mind. Our bodies grow and muscles develop with the intake of adequate nutritious food. Likewise, we should keep learning day by day to maintain our keen mental power and expand our intellectual capacity. Constant learni