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）