2003年6月大学英语四级听力真题听力原文

Section B

Passage One

My father woke me up early one morning when I was fourteen and announced "Get up, you are going with me to cut grass." I felt proud and excited because my father thought I was responsible enough to help him in his business. Still, that first day was very hard. From sunrise to sunset, my father, my younger brother and I cut and t very large yards in well-to-do part of the city. By the end of the day I was exhausted, but I felt good. I put out a hard day's labor and earned six dollars. One day, my father spotted some weeds I have miss cutting and pulled me inside. "Cut that section again!" he said firmly "and don't make me have to tell you again." The message was very clear. Today I stress the importance of doing the job right the first time. Every job I have held from cutting lawns to wash dishes to working a machine on the construction site. I have learned something that help me in my next job. If you work hard enough, you can learn from any job you do.

11. How did the speaker feel when his father asked him to help cut grass?
12. What did his father do when the speaker missed cutting some leaves?
13. What did the speak want to tell us in this passage?

Passage Two

I am living in a small village in the country. My wife and I run a village shop. We have a very peaceful live, boring some my say. But we love it. We know all the people in the village. They have plenty of time to stop and chat. I have plenty of time for my hobbies too--gardening, fishing, walking in the country side. I love the outdoor life. It wasn't always like this though I used to have a really stressful job, working so late in the office every evening. I often bring work home at the weekends. The advertising world is very competitive. And when I look back, I can't imagine how I stood it. I have no private life at all. No time for the really important things in life. Because of the pressure of the job, I used to smoke and drink too much. The crisis came when my wife left me. She complaint that she never saw me and I had no time for family life. This made me realize what is really important to me. I talked things through with her and decided to get back together and started a new and better life together. I gave up tobacco and alcohol and searched for new hobbies. Now I am afraid of looking back since the past life seemed like a horrible dream.

14. What did the speaker do for a living?
15. What do we know about the speaker's life in the past?
16. What made the speaker change his life style?