2009年12月大學(xué)英語(yǔ)四級(jí)聽力考試沖刺練習(xí)題(4)

　　W: No, not really. I wouldn't bother with it, to be honest, but I have to read it for a seminar. I'm at the university.

　　M: It's a labor of labor then rather than a labor of love.

　　W: I should say, I don't like Dickens at all really, the author, indeed, I am starting to like the whole course less and less.

　　M: It's not just the book, it's the course as well?

　　W: Yeah, in a way, although the course itself isn't really that bad, a lot of it is pretty good, in fact, and the lecturers are fine. It's me, I suppose. You see, I wanted to do philosophy rather than English, but my parents took me out of it.

　　M: So the course is OK as such. It's just that hadn't been left to you. You would have chosen a different one.

　　W: Oh, they had my best interest at heart, of course,[24B] my parents. They always do, don't they? They believe that my job prospects would be pretty limited with the degree of philosophy. Plus they give me really a generous allowance, but I am beginning to feel that I'm wasting my time and their money. They would be so disappointed though if I told them I was quitting.

　　22. D

　　Why can't Karen concentrate on the book?

　　23. C

　　Why is Karen starting to like the course less and less?

　　24.B

　　Who thinks Philosophy graduates have limited job opportunities?

　　25.A

　　What is Karen thinking of doing?

　　Section B

　　Passage One

　　In Greece, only rich people will rest in peace for ever when they die. Most of the population, however, will be undisturbed for only three years, then they will be dug up, washed, compressed into a small tin box, and placed in a bone room. If the body has only partially decayed, it is reburied in a smaller cheaper grave, but not for long, the body will be dug up again some time later when it has fully decayed. Buying a piece of land for a grave is the only way to avoid this process. The cost of the grave is so great that most people choose to rent a grave for three years and even after being dug up, lasting peace is still not guaranteed. If no one pays for renting space in the bone room, the skeleton is removed and stored in a building in a poor part of the town. Lack of space in Amphons is the main reason why the dead are dug up after three years. The city is so overcrowded that sometimes dead bodies are kept in hospitals for over a week until a grave is found. Amphons city council wants to introduce cremation that is burning the dead bodies as a means of dealing with the problem. But the Greek Church resists this practice, they believe the only place where people burn is a hell, so burning dead bodies is against the Greek concept of life after death. To save space, the church suggested burying the bodies standing up instead of lying down. Some people proposed building multi-storey underground grave yards.