托福听力段子6. 文科段子：历史发展

　　Last time, we outlined how the Civil War finally got started. I want to talk today about the political management of the war on both sides: the north under Abraham Lincoln and the south under Jefferson Davis. An important task for both of these presidents was to justify for their citizens just why the war was necessary. In 1861, on July 4th, Lincoln gave his first major speech in which he presented the northern reasons for the war. It was, he said, to preserve democracy. Lincoln suggested that this war was a noble crusade that would determine the future of democracy through out the world. For him the issue was whether or not this government of the people, by the people could maintain its integrity, could it remain complete and survive its domestic foes. In other words, could a few discontented individuals and by that he meant those who led the southern rebellion, could they arbitrarily break up the government and put an end to free government on earth? The only way for the nation to survive was to crush the rebellion. At the time, he was hopeful that the war wouldn’t last long and the slave owners would be put down forever, but he underestimated how difficult the war would be. It would be harder than any the Americans had thought before or since, largely because the north had to break the will of the southern people, not just by its army. But Lincoln rallied northerners to a deep commitment to the cause. They came to perceive the war as a kind of democratic crusade against southern society.

　　托福听力段子7. 文科段子：传媒变迁

　　Moving away from newspapers, let’s now focus on magazines. Now the first magazine was a little periodical called the Review and it was started in London in 1704. It looked a lot like the newspapers of the time, but in terms of its contents it was much different. Newspapers were concerned mainly with news events but the Review focused on important domestic issues of the day, as well as the policies of the government. Now, in England at the time, people could still be thrown in jail for publishing articles that were critical of the king. And that is what happened to Daniel Defoe. He was the outspoken founder of the review. Defoe actually wrote the first issue of the Review from prison. You see, he had been arrested because of his writings that criticized the policies of the Church of England, which was headed by the king. After his release, Defoe continued to produce the Review and the magazine started to appear on a more frequent schedule, about three times a week. It didn’t take long for other magazines to start popping up. In 1709, a magazine called the Tattler began publication. This new magazine contained a mixture of news, poetry, political analysis and philosophical essays.

　　托福听力段子8. 理科段子：远程教育

　　Hi, Lynn. I saw you at registration yesterday. I sailed right through, but you were standing in a long line.

　　Yeah. I waited an hour to sign up for a distance-learning course.

　　Distance learning? Never heard of it.

　　Well, it’s new this semester. It’s only open to psychology majors. But I bet it’ll catch on else where. Yesterday, over a hundred students signed up.

　　Well, what is it?

　　It’s an experimental course. I registered for child psychology. All I have got to do is watch a twelve-week series of televised lessons. The department shows them seven different times a day and in seven different locations.

　　Don’t you ever have to meet with professor?

　　Yeah. After each part of the series I have to talk to her and the other students on the phone, you know, about our ideas. Then we’ll meet on campus three times for reviews and exams.

　　It sounds pretty non-traditional to me. But I guess it makes sense, considering how many students have jobs. It must really help with their schedules, not to mention how it will cut down on traffic.

　　You know, last year my department did a survey and they found out that 80 percent of all psychology majors were employed. That’s why they came up with the program.

　　Look, I’ll be working three days a week next semester and it was either cut back on my classes or try this out.

　　The only thing is: doesn’t it seem impersonal though? I mean, I miss having class discussions and hearing what other people think.

　　Well, I guess that’s why phone contact’s important. Any way, it’s an experiment.

　　Maybe I’ll end up hating it.

　　Maybe. But I’ll be curious to see how it works up.

　　托福听力段子9. 生活段子：游览沼泽地公园

　　Welcome to Everglade’s National Park. The Everglade is a watery plain covered with saw grass that’s the home to numerous species of plants and wild life. And one and half million acre is too big to see it all today. But this tour will offer you a good sampling. Our tour bus will stop first at Tailor Slue. This is a good place to start because it’s home to many of the plants and animals typically associated with the everglade. You’ll see many exotic birds and of course a world famous alligators. Don’t worry. There’s a boardwalk that goes across the marsh, so you can look down at the animals in the water from a safe distance. The boardwalk is high enough to give you a great view of the saw grass prairie. From there we’ll head at some other marshy and even jungle-like areas that feature wonderful tropical plant life. For those of you who’d like a close view of the saw grass prairie, you might consider running a canoe sometime during your visit here. However, don’t do this unless you have a very good sense of direction and can negotiate your way through tall grass. We hate to have to come looking for you. You have a good fortune of being here in the winter, the best time of the year to visit. During the spring and summer the mosquitoes will just about to eat you alive. Right now, they are not so bothersome, but you’ll soon want to use an insect repellent.

　　托福听力段子10. 理科段子：地理冒险

　　Good morning, class. Before we begin today, I would like to address an issue that one of you reminded me of after the last lecture. As you may recall, last time I mentioned that Robert E. Peary was the first person to reach the North Pole. What I neglected to mention was the controversy around Peary’s pioneering accomplishment. In 1910, a committee of the national geographical society examined Commodore Peary’s claim to have reached the North Pole on April 6th’ 1909 and found no reason to doubt him. This judgment was actually confirmed by a committee of the US congress in 1911. Nevertheless, Peary’s claim was surrounded by controversy. Tins was largely due to the competing claim of Doctor Frederic Cook who told the world he had reached the Pole a four-year earlier. Over the decades Peary was given the benefit of the doubt, but critics persisted in raising questions about his navigation and the distances he claimed to have covered. So the Navigation Foundation spent an additional 12 months of exhaustive examination of documents relating to Peary’s polar expedition. The documents supposed Peary’s claims about the distances he covered. After also conducting an extensive computer analysis of photos taken by Peary at the pole, they concluded that Pierre and his companions did in fact reach the near vicinity of the North Pole on April 6th. 1909. OK, today we’re going to talk about exploration of the opposite end of the world, I assume you all read chapter 3 in our text and are now familiar with the names: Emerson and Scott.