DICTATION  1
[00:50.44]Dining Customs in the USA
[00:54.14]Americans, like many people elsewhere in the world,
[00:58.12]like to invite friends to their homes for an evening of food,
[01:02.10]drink and conversation.
[01:04.90]Formal dinners in fine homes and hotels in the US
[01:08.90]are much the same as formal dinners anywhere in the world.
[01:13.50]But as most people in the US have no servants,
[01:17.42]their dinner parties at home tend to be informal.
[01:21.34]Guests may sit down at a table,
[01:23.77]or as many new small homes have no
[01:26.25]separate dining room or very small dining space.
[01:30.48]Guests can also serve themselves and eat in the living room,
[01:34.65]holding their plates or trays on their knees.
[01:37.76]A more enjoyable form of entertainment is the picnic.
[01:41.79]Americans are great picnickers and
[01:44.23]almost every family has a picnic basket.
[01:47.90]Summer invitations are often for
[01:49.96]a picnic at a park or in the open countryside,
[01:53.63]and less hamburgers or hot dogs are cooked over a fire.
[01:57.86]Picnic food is usually cold.
DICTATION  2
[00:50.31]Costs in Colleges and Universities
[00:54.66]Nearly all American students in colleges and
[00:57.71]universities pay for their educations.
[01:01.07]There are many costs.
[01:03.44]First of all, there is tuition.
[01:06.31]At some schools, the tuition is very high,
[01:09.67]ten thousand dollars a year or more.
[01:12.80]At other schools,
[01:14.18]it may only be a few hundred dollars a year.
[01:17.74]At some community colleges, tuition is free.
[01:22.11]There are other costs as well.
[01:24.85]Many students leave their homes to
[01:26.86]go to schools in other cities.
[01:29.84]They may live in dormitories or apartments,
[01:32.83]and they must pay for it.
[01:35.13]Finally, students must buy textbooks for their courses.
[01:39.80]Going to college or university can be a big expense.
[01:44.67]Some families start saving money for
[01:47.25]their children's education when the children are small.
[01:51.67]Many students work to save money for tuition.
[01:55.71]They can also get loans from the government.
[01:58.95]They pay the money back to the government
[02:01.12]when they finish their education.
DICTATION  4
[00:49.96]Rainbow
[00:51.51]You will not always see a rainbow
[00:53.63]when it rains while the sun shines.
[00:56.62]The sun must be in the right position over the horizon.
[01:00.72]And remember to turn your back to the sun
[01:03.85]when you look toward the sky.
[01:05.90]A rainbow will never appear
[01:07.92]in the path between you and the sun.
[01:10.91]If you are on the ground,
[01:13.08]you will only see a part of the rainbow.
[01:16.27]This is because the earth blocks the rest of the circle.
[01:20.07]You can see the whole circle
[01:21.94]if you are flying high in a plane when a rainbow happens.
[01:26.43]The shadow of the plane would be in the center. 
[01:30.22]Rainbows hold an important place
[01:32.85]in the traditional stories and beliefs
[01:35.75]that make up many cultures.unions专四听力原文
[01:37.94]For example, some cultures say the rainbow
[01:40.74]represents a bridge between life and death.
[01:44.28]Still others see the rainbow as a sign of good things to come.
PART I DICTATION text 1
[01:02.23]Plastic
[01:03.41]We use plastic wrap to protect our foods.
[01:06.40]We put our garbage in plastic bags or plastic cans.
[01:10.55]We sit on plastic chairs, play with plastic toys,
[01:14.30]drink from plastic cups,
[01:16.43]and wash our hair with shampoo from plastic bottles.
[01:20.62]Plastic does not grow in nature.
[01:23.51]It is made by mixing certain things together.
[01:27.01]We call it a produced or manufactured material.
[01:31.52]Plastic was first made in the 1860s from plants,
[01:35.41]such as wood and cotton.
[01:37.72]That plastic was soft and burned easily.
[01:41.55]The first modern plastics were made in the 1930s.
[01:46.00] Most clear plastic starts out as thick, black oil.
[01:50.93]That plastic coating inside a pan begins as natural gas.
[01:56.53]Over the years,
[01:57.79]hundreds of different plastics have been developed.
[02:01.15]Some are hard and strong. Some are soft and bendable.

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