cultures

have very different views of obeying the law. / In some cultures, law-abiding citizens try to keep

the letter of the law. / That is, whatever the law says, they do. / In other cultures, good citizens live

by the spirit of the law. / They see the law only as a general guideline. / Often they obey the law

only when someone official is looking. / The situation in America fits into the first category. / That

doesn?t mean all Americans keep the law. / But American culture teaches people to respect the law

— even to the smallest detail. /

Driving habits illustrate American respect for the law. / A driver will usually stop for a red

light, even when there are no other cars around. / People treat the lines marking streets and roads

as definite boundaries, not just decorations. / Vehicles yield to those with the right of way-particularly pedestrians. /

Dictation 41 Lunch Meeting 商务午餐（146 words）

Many business professionals hold meetings during lunch or dinner / with clients, investors, or

other business professionals. / What if your meeting seems to be hindered by bad restaurant

service? / Should you complain? The answer is yes, always, but with diplomacy. /

Proper restaurant social skills in a business setting are a little different / from when you are out dining with your family. / For example, it is okay to ask for a discount on bad service when

you are with your family, / but not when you are with a business associate. /

If you are meeting someone at a restaurant, / arrive at least five minutes earlier. / Be sure to greet them with a friendly business handshake. /

Never order for your business associate. / If they ask for help ordering or seem

uncomfortably indecisive / you can recommend something you may have previously tried / or ask

the waiter to help with a suggestion. /

Dictation 42 Wednesday 星期三（158 words）

If you struggled to get up for work on Wednesdays, / there could be a good reason / — it is

the day our mood reaches its lowest point. /

Psychologists have found that, on average, / people?s moods remain about the same on each

day throughout the week. /

Monday has traditionally been thought of as the most depressing day of the week / but according to psychologists, midweek gives more cause for concern in reality. /

Wednesday represented the lowest point in the week / as people were furthest away

from the

weekend that has either just gone or is coming up / and often feel bogged down with work. / To start their research, the scientists asked around 200 people / what they thought their mood

would be on each day of the week. /

Most said their worst moods were on Monday mornings and evenings / but they became

increasingly cheerful as the week wore on, / with their best moods falling on Friday and Saturday

mornings and evenings. /

Dictation 43 The Charming Character of Swedes 性格可爱的瑞典人（158 words） All social occasions in Sweden are regulated by rules and traditions. / And these traditions are

expressed in a specific ritual / made up of formal bows, handshakes, and greetings. /

When a visitor enters a Swedish home, / he is invariably received with a“Welcome”; / when he leaves, his host will tell him “You will be welcome again.” /

These charming phrases are an indestructible part of Swedish social life / and they give it an

old-world flavor of good manners. /Equally attractive is the Swedish acceptance of modern technological equipment. /

A traveler never needs to search for a telephone is Sweden: / telephone booths are placed at

regular intervals along the main streets and highways. /And in church, for example, / long benches are fitted with hearing aids for worshippers who may be hard of hearing. /

Swedish homes are among the best equipped in the world / and travelers in Sweden find their

journeys made easy by the use of the most efficient modern devices. /

Dictation 44 Giving and Sharing 奉献与分享（142 words）

The spirit of giving and sharing is at its peak during the Christmas season. / People are so

generous to dole out gifts, / money and other things to people they care about, / and at times to

charity, too. / This innate feeling in us is always there. / It?s not only for special seasons like the

holidays / that we should be able to give / and share whatever we have in abundance. / It most

likely to be the instinctive feeling in us / that we should be willing to share and give something all

year round / especially to those who are in need. /

The holiday feeling is all around us. / The malls are all decorated with pretty and shiny Christmas decors all around. / There?s happy Christmas music being heard all over the place. / A

lot of people are shopping because there are lots of sales and discounts offered. /

Dictation 45 Wealth 财富（140 words）

Owning cars, large houses, or swimming pools / mean different things in different cultures /

and may confuse a visitor to the United States. / In many nations, only the rich have such things as

cars and swimming pools; / the poor have very little. /

By contrast, this is not true in the United States. / The cost of certain things that only the rich

can afford in other countries is relatively low. / This means that laborers, farmers, and people who

are not / usually regarded as rich nevertheless have many possessions / that only the rich have in

other nations. / Understandably a visitor may assume that all Americans / who own cars are as rich

as people in his own country who own cars. / Actually, this is not the cases; / secretaries, university students, factory workers or farmers can and do buy cars / and many other “expensive” things. /

Dictation 46 Personal Progress 个人的进步（140 words）

In many parts of the world, / personal influence is essential in achieving success. / This is not

true in the United States, / where success usually results from hard work, education, skill, and

personal initiative. / America is truly a “do-it-yourself” society; / success is not dependent on family origins or the help of an influential person. / Personal progress is the result of individual effort. /

Because effort and initiative are so important in America, / there are many customs that may

be different from those practiced in other countries. / For example, it is not considered

dishonorable to quit a job, / even if you have had it for only a short time. / Moving from job-to-job,

or “job-hopping”, as it is called, / is quite acceptable in the United States. / Frequently, the opportunity to change jobs / offers workers a chance to move up to a better position. /

Dictation 47 Uniform 制服（158 words）

Americans are pound of their variety and individuality, / yet they love and respect few things

more than a uniform, / whether it is the uniform of an elevator operator or the uniform of a five-star general. / Why are uniforms so popular in the United States? /

Among the arguments for uniforms, / one of the first is that in the eyes of most people / they

look more professional than civilian clothes. / People have become conditioned to expect superior

quality from a man who wears a uniform. / The television repairman who wears uniform

tends to

inspire more trust / than one who appears in civilian clothes. / Faith in the skill of a garage mechanic is increased by a uniform. / What easier way is there for a nurse, a policeman, a barber,

or a waiter / to lose professional identity than to step out of uniform? /

Uniforms also have many practical benefits. / They save on other clothes. They save on

laundry bills. They are tax-deductible. /

Dictation 48 Opportunity 机会（141 words）

The air we breathe is so freely available that we take it for granted. / Yet without it we could

not survive more than a few minutes. / For the most part, the same air is available to everyone, /

and everyone needs it. / Some people use the air to sustain them / while they sit around and feel

sorry for themselves. / Others breathe in the air and use the energy it provides / to make a magnificent life for themselves. /

Opportunity is the same way. It is everywhere. / Opportunity is so freely available that we

take it for granted. / Yet opportunity alone is not enough to create success. / Opportunity must be

seized and acted upon in order to have value. / So many people are so anxious to “get in” on a

“ground floor opportunity”, / as if the opportunity will do all the work. / That?s impossible. /

Dictation 49 Switch 开关（156 words）

An electric switch is often on a wall near the door of a room. / Two wires lead to the lamp in

the room. / The switch is fixed in one of them. / The switch can cause a break in this wire, and

then the light goes. / The switch can also join the two parts of the wire again, then we get a light. /

Switch can control many different things. / Small switches control lamps and radio sets because these do not take a large current, / larger switches control electric fires. / Other switches

can control electric motors. /

Good switches move quickly. They have to stop the current suddenly. / If they move slowly,

an electric spark appears. / It jumps across the space between the two ends of the wire. / This is

unsafe and it heats the switch. / Very big switches are sometimes placed in oil. / Sparks do not

easily jump through oil, so the oil makes the switch safer. /

Dictation 50 Typhoon 台风（142 words）