Music affects us as profoundly as anything we experience. Very many people say that music is a big part of their everyday life. We can hear evidence of this in the blurring car radio and see the jogger with his personal stereo. That is the new portability of music. That brings it everywhere people live, play and work.

There are different kinds of music , for all tastes – classical, pop, rock, rap, jazz, folk – each culture has its own style. Different parts of the body resonate to different sounds and pitches, and most significantly, certain kinds of music resound powerfully in the human spirit.

We can listen to music anywhere and everywhere.

Listening to music can change your mood – sometimes dramatically. Sometimes, if you’re feeling low, it’s tempting to play slow sad music, but this would make you feel worse. And lifting tune or cheerful song can instantly improve your energy levels and your emotional well being.

Music in film and television shows us how music can affect mood. A romantic drama would have a very different film score to a thriller. The old “silent” films originally had a pianist in the cinema playing along, trying to strike the right mood. At times, when watching a film or TV programme, you know what’s about to happen because of the music being played – you can anticipate the terror, such as in “Jaws”. There’re many times when I’ve turn down the sound during a TV programme and use subtitles because the music unsettles means so much.

Playing Mozart when studying is said to increase our IQ. A recent study has showed that children who learn a musical instrument are much quicker at developing spatial awareness and problem solving skills.

Relaxation music has a slow rhythm. Sounds are often synthesised and there may be added natural sounds, such as whalesong, birdsong, waves or gentle rain to help produce a feeling of calm and relaxation.

点评：这是一篇关于各种音乐与人之间的关系的文章。音乐在现今社会因为移动终端设备而变得在生活中无时不在，无处不在。不同的音乐对人的精神和情绪影响也各有不同。悲伤时，如果我们听慢调而悲伤的音乐，我们会更悲伤。而那些快乐的歌曲则能让我们的情绪迅速恢复过来。电影和电视剧中的音乐同样能够影响我们的情绪，例如恐怖片和浪漫爱情片的音乐是如此不同，另外还举了默片时代的音乐以及看电影电视剧时我们配着背景音乐时会做出的一些反应。最后谈到研究表明音乐能提高智商。舒缓的音乐节奏缓慢。同时，音乐中越来越多地加入原生态、大自然的元素来帮住人们获得更多平静和放松。

文章属于考生日常生活中都会接触到的娱乐休闲类的话题，正如文中所说，音乐在我们现今的社会无时、无处不在，相信考生对文中谈及的音乐及其作用都感同身受，从而能够比较轻松地完成这篇听写题目。

1. My computer doesn’t seem to be working. I have lots of e-mail letters that I have to reply this afternoon. can I use the one over there on the desk?

2. We had little choice about when to send the bidding documents. Yesterday was too soon to send it, and tomorrow will be too late.

3. Alice has been offered the manager’s job. Although she has hardly any relevant working experience, this is a big surprise even for herself.

4. You can learn something about a place by reading a travel book. But you will be more interested and more fascinated when you actually travel there.

5. There are many challenges we face today, but time permits me to concentrate on only one question. That is where shall we get the money for our new investment project?

6. I regret to say that we are still unable to send the goods you ordered. But we’d like to emphasize that the delay is entirely due to the circumstances beyond our control.

7. Rather than taking a chance on being grounded at the airport because of the impending strike, we decided to take the slower but surer route and arrived at Kansas City.

8. Sally turned down both the auditor’s job and the local school accountant job. The former involved working in the city, and the latter offered a very low pay.

9. A number of houses along the elevated subway route have been torn down, so as to make room for two new highways that are being built.

10. Today, it is as difficult for us to imagine family life without information technology as it would have been for our parents to imagine family life without electricity.

评析：10个statements主要还是以商务英语为主。这些句子是我们在商务口语对话，商务信函中常碰到的。难度不大，生词也不多。

Talks and Conversations 1

M: May I help you?

W: Yes, I want to buy some shoes to replace the ones I am wearing.

M: What’s wrong with them?

W: They are too old and shabby.

M: I can see they have simply been worn out. Would you like the same color? More or less?

W: Yes, and something a little less casual.

M: How about this light brown pair? They are similar to what you have, but a little bit dressier.

W: Yes. I was thinking of something along that line. I will try them on.

M: They certainly look charming.

W: The trouble is, they feel uncomfortable.

M: Then try on this other pair in the similar style, but by a different manufacturer.

W: These are much better, do you have the main red?

M: Yes, would you like both pairs?

W: Yes, if they won’t cost too much.

M: Oh, no. They won’t. The second pair is half price. Shall I put them both in a box for you?

W: Just the red and the old ones. I wear the new brown pair home.

Questions:

11. What did the woman’s shoes look like?

12. What was wrong with the first pair of shoes the woman tried on?

13. How many pairs of shoes did the woman buy?

14. Which shoes did the woman wear home?

点评：这段对话是女士买鞋子的场景。整体上来说，全篇没有难词，比较容易混淆的是对细节的考查。比如女士试了几双鞋，买了几双，为什么没有买，穿着哪双回家了等等，在听的时候学员注意排除干扰项，记下细节。

Talks and Conversations 2

I lived in a dread for a whole year, and I have to be honest and say that at first I wasn’t very happy. You see, I was homesick, I missed my family and I just wanted to go home. Part of the problem was my Spanish. I couldn’t communicate very well. But I love to eat, and that’s what really saved me. You see, once I discovered Tapas … oh ,let me explain — these delicious appetizers you eat. So I made some Spanish friends and we’d go out to Tapas bars. So I got to eat a lot of delicious food. And of course, my Spanish improved dramatically as well. But there was one thing that was difficult to adjust to, and that was that dinner was always served at a late hour. I wasn’t used to eating at eleven at night.

Questions:

15. How long did the woman live in a dread?

16. Which of following partially explains why