大学英语视听说教材听力原文第三版（第二册）

Mike: Hmmm…that’s a strange story. What happened next?

Alexa: Well, Br. Brown took some pictures, but there was no film in his camera.

Finally, he called his wife on his cell phone. But by that time, the lights were gone.

Mike: Well, I know that there is a legend around here about mysterious lights… a lot of local people have seen the lights. It’s starting to seem like those lights really exist. What do you think, Alexa?

Alexa: I don’t believe it. I think it’s some kind of hoax! Activity 3: A Strange Story Audio Track 2- 5 -7

It was raining heavily. I couldn’t see clearly. I drove slowly. Suddenly, I saw a young girl. She was dressed neatly and standing in the middle of the road. I was surprised! Somehow, I stopped the car quickly. “What are you doing?” I asked. She looked at me strangely but didn’t answer. “Are you OK” I asked. “I’m fine,” she answered. Then she smiled happily and walked away quietly. Nervously, I drove to my hotel and checked in. I told the clerk about the little girl. “Do you know her?” I asked. “Oh, yes,” he said calmly. “That’s Mary Anne. She died five years ago on that road. It was a car accident during a rainstorm.”

Activity 4 The Tunguska mystery Audio Track 2- 5 -9 The Tunguska Mystery

It was early morning, June 30, 1908, in eastern Russia. Suddenly, a terrible explosion rocked the forest in Tunguska. People fell to the ground, and all the trees for 2000 square kilometers were knocked down. People heard the explosion 800 kilometers away, and the fire burned for many weeks.

Audio Track 2- 5 -10

What caused this terrible explosion? There are several possible explanations. Now listen to the recording, and then write numbers to match the pictures with the explanations.

1. An asteroid: Asteroids are very large pieces of rock that go around in space and sometimes hit the planet. They can cause lots of damage. Some of

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大学英语视听说教材听力原文第三版（第二册）

them weigh as much as 100,000 tons. If an asteroid hit the earth, it would cause a huge explosion.

2. A comet: Comets are giant balls of gas, ice, and rock with long tails. They travel through space in a regular pattern. Enck’s Comet was near Earth in 1908, and it’s possible that a part of it broke off and hit the earth.

3. A UFO accident: Some people believe that a spaceship crashed into the ground in Siberia and its engine exploded.

4. An extraterrestrial attack: Anther idea is that extraterrestrials, that is, people from other planets, attacked the earth. Extraterrestrials might have wanted to destroy the earth, so they aimed their weapons at Earth and set fire to the forest.

5. A scientific experiment: Anther idea is that scientists made a mistake during an experiment with electricity. A man named Nikola Tesla tried to build a “supergun” that used electricity. Maybe it was a test of his gun and it didn’t work correctly.

Activity 5 The Marfa Mystery Lights

You will hear an interview with Dr. Raj, an expert on the Marfa mystery lights. Listen and number the questions as they are asked in the interview.

Q: Where is Marfa and what exactly is it famous for?

A: Marfa is a small town in west Texas in the United States. It’s famous for the “Marfa mystery lights.”

Q: What are the mystery lights exactly?

A: No one knows for sure. There are many different ideas about that. Q: Can you describe them?

A: That’s difficult question. Different people see different lights. They are not always the same. I can say that they appear after sunset in the sky. They dance mysteriously in air and vanish. Then they suddenly reappear.

Q: Some people say they are car headlights. Do you think so?

A: No, I don’t. A man first saw the mystery lights over 100 years ago. The man was Robert Ellison and the year was 1883. Of course we didn’t have cars in

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大学英语视听说教材听力原文第三版（第二册）

1883.

Q: What do you think causes the lights?

A: There are many theories. The Native Americans thought the lights were stars falling to Earth. Some people think uranium gas causes the lights. Other people suggest that ball lightning does it. Ball lightning is lightning in the shape of circle. It often appears just after a rainstorm.

Q: What are some of the weirdest ideas about the lights?

A: Well, some people call them “ghost lights.” They think ghosts do it. That’s the strangest idea. Some say they are UFO. I don’t think so.

Q: What do the experts say?

A: They can’t figure it out. Some engineers even came from Japan one time. They studied the lights, but couldn’t solve the mystery.

Q: Are the local people scared?

A: No, actually, they aren’t. they like the lights. And every year in early September there’s a big town festival to celebrate the mystery lights

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