B. What caused this terrible explosion? A century later, scientists are still trying to find the answer. Here are some possible explanations.
1. An asteroid: Asteroids are very large pieces of rock that goes around in space and sometimes hit the planet. They can cause lots of damage. Some of them weigh as much as 100,00 tons. If an asteroid hit the earth, it would cause a huge explosion.
2. A comet: Comets are giant balls of gas, ice., and rock with long tails. They travel through space in a regular pattern. Encke’s Comet was near Earth in1908, and it’s possible that a part of it broke off and hit the earth.
3. An UFO accident: Some people believe that a spaceship crashed into the ground in Siberia and its engine exploded.
4. An extraterrestrials might have wanted to destroy the earth, so they aimed their weapons at Earth and set fire to the forest.
5. A scientific experiment: Another idea is that scientists made a mistake during an experiment with electricity. A man named Nikola Tesla tried to build a “supergun” that used electricity. Maybe it was a test of his gun and it didn’t work correctly.
Optional Listening 4
Q. Where is Marfa and what exactly is it famous for?
A. Marfa is a small town in west Texas in the United States. It’s famous for the “Marfa mystery lights”
Q. What are the mystery lights exactly?
A. No one knows for sure. There are many different ideas about that.
Q. Can you describe them?
A. That’s a difficult question. Different people see different lights. They are not always the same. I can say that they appear after sunset in the sky. They dance mysteriously in air and vanish. Then they suddenly reappear.
Q. Some people say they are car headlights. Do you think so? A. No. I don’t. A man first saw the mystery lights over 100 years ago. The man was Robert Ellison and the year was 1883. Of course we didn’t have cars in 1883.
Q. What do you think causes the lights?
A. There are many theories. The Native Americans thought the lights were stars falling to Earth. Some people think uranium gas causes the lights. Other people suggest that ball lightning does it. Ball lightning is lightning in the shape of circle. It often appears just after a rainstorm.
Q What are some of the weirdest ideas about the lights?
A. Well, some people call them “ghost lights”. They think ghosts do it. That’s the strangest idea. Some say they are UFOs. I don’t think so.
Q. What do the experts say?
A. They can’t figure it out. Some engineers even came from Japan one time. They studied the lights, but couldn’t solve the mystery.
Q. Are the local people scared?
A. No, actually, they aren’t. They like the lights. And every year in early September there is a big town festival to celebrate the mystery lights.
Keys
OL1: A. 从左至右:4-5-1-2-3 B. Nick Brown, police officer, local people
OL 2:
A. 1. A young girl standing in the middle of the road; 2. Because it was raining heavily
3. He stopped the car quickly; 4. She said “I’m fine.” and walked away quietly.
5. He said the girl was Mary Anne and was killed in a car accident five years ago.
B. heavily; clearly; slowly; neatly; quickly; strangely; happily; quietly; Nervously; calmly;
OL3
A. 1. A terrible explosion; 2. In eastern Russian; 3. June 30, 1968. B. (first row) 4, 1, 3 (second row) 5, 2
C. 1. a part of it broke off 2. lots of damage 3. its engine exploded 4. used electricity 5. set fire to the forest
OL 4
A. 2. a 3. h 4. d 5. g 6. e 7. b 8. c
B. 1. different people see different lights 2. Robert Ellison saw the lights in 1883.
3. The Native Americans thought the light were stars failing to the Earth
4. A team from Japan studied the lights, but couldn’t solve the mystery.
OL 5 1. solve; 2. it’s very likely; 3. stole; 4. apartment; 5. showing; 6. has an alibi; 7. it isn’t true; 8. walks in; 9. take out; 10. thief.
Unit 6, Book 2 Optional Listening 1 Conversation 1
Woman: Morning, Simon. Wow, you look tired.
Man: Oh, I didn’t sleep very well last night. I had a weird dream. I was in a classroom at school, but I didn’t have any clothes on. No one looked at me, but I was really embarrassed.
Conversation 2
Woman: Jesse, Jesse, Wake up. You’re having a nightmare. Male child: Oh, what a terrible dream. I dreamed I was on a dark street. Suddenly, there was a large dog behind me. It ran toward me, but I couldn’t move.
Woman: Don’t worry, Jesse. It was only a dream. Go back to sleep. Conversation 3 Man1: Morning Tim.
Man2: Morning. Hey, I had an amazing dream last night. I was on a beautiful boat. The sun was warm and the ocean was really blue. I jumped
into the water, and I began to swam with the fish. The thing is, I can’t swim. But in the dream, I could. It was pretty cool.
Optional Listening 2
I had an amazing dream last night. I was standing outside of an strange big house. The house was painted pink, a very rare color for a house. It had a lot of big windows, either round or rectangular. The house had large square pillars and twisted columns. I was thinking there must be a big living room, several bedrooms, a kitchen, and a guest room in such a big house. I was wondering whose house this was when I suddenly heard a voice from somewhere: “My lord, welcome home.” Wow, this was my dream house.
I went inside and walked into my living room. It was spacious. There were sofas, a table, a big-screen TV, and a stereo system. It was pretty cool. All my best friends were there, too. But somehow they didn’t speak, didn’t smile, and didn’t even move. And then suddenly they all disappeared. I was scared. What a terrible dream.
I then went to the kitchen. It was also spacious. There were all kinds of kitchen equipment, including a gas stove, a refrigerator, and an oven. There also many electric appliances, such as a microwave oven, an electric mixer, and a food processor. I liked the food processor the most, which made life much easier. There was also a dining table in the middle of the room. The whole family was sitting around the table, waiting for the meal to be served. But the fridge was empty, and the gas stove didn’t work. And there was no electricity at all for the
新世纪大学英语视听说教程第二册Optional Listening文本及答案
