听力原文

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　　M: Jane, are you on a diet? You look thinner than before.W: Not exactly. The day after I began to diet, I got sick. I stayed in the hospital for the last two weeks and lost five kilos.

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　　M: Hi. I need to check out this book.W: Sure. May I have your card?M: Okay.W: Sorry, I’m afraid you have to return one of the five books you’ve already borrowed before you check this one out.

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　　M: What time is it, Mary? We’ve waited here for about ten minutes.W: It’s 7:40 now.M: Oh, our bus is late today.W: Yes, it should have arrived five minutes ago.

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　　W: Bob, turn off the TV. It’s time for bed.M: Most of my classmates say they go to bed after nine o’clock.W: Never mind what time your friends go to bed. I say your bedtime is half past eight. And it’s 8:20 now.

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　　W: Hi Jim. Did you have a nice weekend?M: Yes, Kate. It was great. I went camping with my friends in the Catskills.W: Really? How was the weather there?M: It was very nice.

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　　W: How long have you been having the pain?M: I first felt it in November last year.W: Well, you should have come in earlier. Have you changed your eating habits in any way?M: No, not really.W: Is there a certain type of food that would cause stronger pain than other types?M: Hmm. Heavy foods like steak or cheese usually bring it on.W: I see. What about if I touch here, does it hurt?M: Ouch! It does hurt. What do you think it is?W: I’m not sure. We need to take an X-ray to see if anything is wrong.M: Okay.

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　　W: Hi Peter. Have you been in London long?M: Hi Maggie. I got here last Friday. It’s about a week now.W: I just arrived. What’s the hotel like?M: It’s okay. Not perfect, but for this price, not bad.W: Why? What’s the matter with it?M: Well, the heating doesn’t always work. And it was freezing in here yesterday. Breakfast is very early in the morning. Today I overslept and missed it completely. W: You overslept? Why was that?M: Well, there’s a man with a boy staying next door. They’ve been here for three days now, and the boy is really noisy. I didn’t get any sleep.W: Oh no. Well, I don’t know what we can do about the breakfast or other guests. But why don’t you ask the hotel to look at the heating?M: Hmm. Good idea. I’ll talk to them about it right now.

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　　W: Do you know Nat King Cole?M: You mean the pop singer? Yeah. What about him?W: In his song “Smile”, he tells people to smile through heartbreak. But now, research suggests that false happiness may just make things worse.M: Really? Tell me more about it.W: Researchers took pictures of bus drivers and then looked into the expressions on their faces.M: They did? What happened then?W: After following the drivers closely, researchers found that the drivers had to force a smile at work. They felt so bad that they wanted to give up their jobs.M: I never imagined it could be so serious. Why is that?W: The report says when people try to hold back bad feelings, it turns out that the feelings become even stronger and last longer.M: Look at my face. Do I smile a real smile?

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　　W: Professor Brown, which do you prefer, writing or teacher training?M: Well, I enjoy both very much. In fact, I wouldn’t want to give up either. These days most of my time is spent on writing. I go to the university just two half days a week to work with graduate students.W: What plans do you have for the future?M: Now that we have completed a textbook and its new CD program, we plan to develop more textbooks for other markets. People sometimes say to me, “You work too hard.” The truth is I enjoy what I do, and I don’t consider it to be work.W: What do you like to do that’s not education related?M: I like playing the piano. I’m fortunate to have been born with the ability to play the piano by ear. If I remember a music piece, I can play it. I’m not sure how I do it, but I’ve had that ability since the age of twelve. I took music lessons from the age of six. I also write music. Although I’m a language teacher, I can’t write words to songs. I have to turn to others for the words. Actually, I have more confidence in my book-writing ability than my song-writing ability.

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　　W: Our listener question this week comes from Australia. Jeff Bailey has been listening to our program since 2004. And he wants to know more about coal-mining in the United States. The United States produces about half of its electric power from coal. America is the second-largest producer of coal after China. Coal is mined in half the states, but Wyoming mines the most, followed by West Virginia, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania. The United States gets about two-thirds of its coal from surface mining rather than underground mining. Surface mining is the name for the different methods that are used to remove coal that is less than sixty meters underground. The United States has about 87,000 coal miners. The jobs pay well, especially for the poor areas where mines are often found. However, the jobs can also be dangerous. The government says more than 100,000 coal miners lost their lives in the past century.