1.2021年12月大学英语四级听力美文
If I were a boy again, I would practise perseverance more often, and never give up a thingbecause it was hard or inconvenient. If we want light, we must conquer darkness.If I were to live my life over again, I would pay more attention to the cultivation of thememory. I would strengthen that faculty by every possible means, and on every possibleoccasion. It takes a little hard work at first to remember things accurately; but memory soonhelps itself, and gives very little trouble. It only needs early cultivation to become a power.
If I were a boy again, I would look on the cheerful sides. Life is very much like a mirror: If yousmile upon it, it smiles back upon you; but if you flown and look doubtful on it, you will get asimilar look in return. Inner sunshine warms not only the heart of the owner, but of all thatcome in contact with it. "Who shuts love out, in turn shall be shut from love."
If I were a boy again, I would school myself to say "no" oftener. I might write pages on theimportance of learning very early in life to gain that point where a young boy can stand erect, and decline doing an unworthy act because it is unworthy.
If I were a boy again, I would demand of myself more courtesy towards my companions andmy friends, and indeed towards strangers as well. The smallest courtesies along the roughroads of life are like the little birds that sing to us all winter long, and make that season of iceand snow more endurable.
Finally, instead of trying hard to be happy, as if that were the sole purpose of life, I would, if Iwere a boy again, I would still try harder to make others happy.
2.2021年12月大学英语四级听力美文
Caroline has known to me all my life. It was my privilege to see her out of hers. After myfather's death, to Mammy I came to represent the head of that family to which she had given ahalf century of fidelity and devotion. But the relationship between us never became that ofmaster and servant. She still remained one of my earliest recollections, not only as a person, but as a fount of authority over my conduct and of security for my physical welfare, and ofactive and constant affection and love. She was an active and constant precept for decentbehavior. From her I learned to tell the truth, to refrain from waste, to be considerate of theweak and respectful to age. I saw fidelity to a family which was not hers, devotion and lovefor people she had not born.She was born in bondage and with a dark skin and most of her early maturity was passed in adark and tragic time for the land of her birth. She went through vicissitudes which she ad notcaused; she assumed cares and griefs which were not even her cares and griefs. She was paidwages for this, but pay is still just money. And she never received very much of that, so thatshe never laid up anything of this world's goods. Yet she accepted that too without cavil orcalculation or complaint, so that by that very failure she earned the gratitude and affectionof the family she had conferred the fidelity and devotion upon, and gained the grief andregret of the aliens who loved and lost her.
She was born and lived and served, and died and now is mounted; if there is a heaven, she hasgone there.
3.2021年12月大学英语四级听力美文
For most of us, the work is the central,dominating factor of life.We spend more than half ourconscious hours at work,traveling to and from work.What we do there largely determines our standard of living and to a considerable extent thestatus we are accorded by our fellow citizens as well.
It is sometimes said that because leisure has become more important, the indignities andinjustices of work can be pushed into a corner, that because more work is pretty intolerable,thepeople who do it should compensate for its boredom, frustrations and humiliations byconcentrating their hopes on the other parts of their lives.
I reject that as a counsel of despair. For the foreseeable future the material andpsychological rewards which work can provide, and the conditions in which work is done, willcontinue to play a vital part in determining the satisfaction that life can offer. Yet only a smallminority can control the pace at which they work or the conditions in which their work isdone; only for a small minority does work offer scope for creativity,imagination or initiative.
Inequality at work and in work is still one of the cruelest and most glaring forms of inequalityin our society. We cannot hope to solve the more obvious problems of industrial life, many ofwhich arise directly or indirectly from the frustrations created by inequality at work, unlesswe tackle it head-on.Still less can we hope to create a decent and humane society.
