In the early 1800s, the paper industry was still using rags as its basic source of fiber as it had for many centuries. However the rag supply couldn't keep up with the growing demand for paper. The United States alone was using 250 thousand tons of rags each year. And a quarter of that had to be imported. It was clear that a new source of fiber was needed to keep up with the demand for paper. The answer to this problem turned out to be paper made from wood pulp, something that was abundantly available in North America. In Canada, the first wood pulp mill was set up in 1866 and it was immediately successful. But while wood pulp solved the problem of quantity it created a problem of quality. Wood contains a substance called lignin. The simplest way to make large quantities of cheap paper involves leaving the lignin in the wood pulp. But lignin is acidic and its presence in paper has shorten the life expectancy of paper from several centuries for rag paper to less than a century for paper made from wood pulp. This means that books printed less than a hundred years ago are already turning yellow and beginning to disintegrate, even though books printed much earlier maybe in fine condition. This is bad enough for the older books on your bookshelf but it poses a huge problem for libraries and the collections of government documents.

A recent report has shown that here in the United States, we've experienced an evolution concerning our attitudes towards the workweek and the weekend. Although some calendars still mark the beginning of a week as Sunday, more and more of us are coming to regard Monday as the first day of the week with Saturday and Sunday comprising the two-day period thought as the week-end. In fact the word “weekend” didn't even exist in English until about the middle of last century. In England at that time, Saturday afternoons had just been added to Sundays and holidays as a time for workers to have off from their jobs. This innovation became common in the United States in the 1920s, but as the workweek shortened during the Great Depression of the 1930s, the weekend expanded to two full days--Saturday and Sunday. Some people thought that this trend would continue due to increasing automation and the workweek might decrease to four days or even fewer. But so far this hasn't happened. The workweek seems to have stabilized as forty hours made up of five eight-hour days. After this commercial I'll be back to talk about the idea of adding Monday to the weekend.

I don't think I have told you about my trip to Tanglewood's music festival. When I was in college, I won a music competition and the prize was a week at Tanglewood. Anyway it is one of the world's most famous music festivals and the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. It is located in the beautiful Berkshire Hills in New England. The summer musical season consists of about fifty concerts given over about nine weeks: from July 1st through the first week in September. The biggest stars on the music scene appear here. The year I went I was lucky enough to see Leonard Bernstein conducting. I understand it is sometimes hard to get tickets but of course mine were a part of the prize. If you want to sit inside the tickets are expensive. It's much cheaper to sit outside on the lawn. But it might rain, or some nights are really cool even in the summer. Either way the sound system is excellent. So it doesn't really matter where you sit. I seem to recall that the festival got started in the 1930s. Some Berkshire residents invited a symphony orchestra to perform a few outdoor concerts. The concerts were so successful that after a couple of years somebody donated a family estate as a permanent home. After that things really took off. And the festival has gotten bigger and better every year. Attending was such a wonderful experience. I'd love to be able to go again. And I hope that all of you would be able to go too.8 Q4 \* }3 w, u, N# H
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[ 本帖最后由 icenot 于 2008-3-17 21:53 编辑 ]

今天的比昨天的更加简单，所以错的会相对少一点。但还是有很多不足，还需继续加强辨音能力，继续听辨单词，明天继续跟读模仿。
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既然难免孤独，那就享受孤独吧，在孤独中坚强地走下去，静静期待未来的幸福
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' E9 q; O# C( |3 ]: y加油，我可以的

I haven't seen you here for a couple of weeks. Have you stop eating or something? No. Does it look as I've stopped eating? I've been spending a lot of time in the library. Working on a paper? I wish I were working on A paper. I was working on three different papers: anthropology, English lit, and history. Wow. That is a lot of work.Yeah. And what's frustrating is that I'm studying 19-century British Empire in all three classes. But I can't write a single paper for all the three. Why not? The professors won't let me. Even if I make it three times as long as the suggested length. Oh. That's too bad. Could you write your paper on three aspects of one topic? MM. What do you mean? Do you have something in mind? Well, let's see. Hmm, Maybe you could do something with Romanticism, like, Ohh ---write you anthropology paper on a cultural basis of Romanticism; and your history paper on the influence of the Romantic poets on the British foreign policy; and---OK--- and your English paper on analysis of some Romantic poems. Hey. That's not a bad idea. I've already started the research for one of my papers. So I can use that. what can I do to repay you? You want wrap up my chemist lab for me? I’d love to. But I've never taken chemistry. So I'm not sure you like the results. Oh, well. No thanks necessary then. Have a good weekend. And try to get out of the library and get some sleep. You have big circles under your eyes. OK. I'll try. See you later.

Hi! Mitchell. Look what I've just found. Right here in the sand. A piece of wood? Oh, drift wood. Interesting shape. Almost like some sort of modern sculpture. Yeah. And feel how smooth it is. MM. Must've been in the water a long time. It could've been drifting in the ocean currents for months or even years. In the currents? Doesn't the wind just blowing things around out there? Well, sure. But the currents are always moving too. Almost like rivers. But underwater rivers flowing through the ocean. So how do they find out where these currents go? Stick a message in a bottle and throw it in the water? Don’t laugh. In fact, I was reading in the Science magazine that oceanographers have released huge numbers of bottles into the ocean over the years. They want to map out where the currents will carry them. Say. I'll bet after they've found out where all these bottles ended up, they could enter all that data into a computer and make a pretty detailed model to show where these currents go. In fact they did. And they also found they a neat way to test the model. there was a freighter carrying sneakers from a factory in Asia. It was caught in a big storm and thousands of pairs of sneakers got dumped into the Pacific Ocean. Really? What a waste.! f8 S7 |  ?8 q+ Q% b9 n) s
Yeah. Turns out though that hundreds of these shoes started washing up on beaches somewhere near Seattle. Just about where the computer models have predicted the currents would carry them. Gee. You mean all that stuff I've found on the beaches might be part of some big scientific experiment? I thought it was all just trash.

I need to make sure you understand how to get housing for next year. When you entered as first year student this year, the school assigned you to a dorm and a roommate. But next year as returning students, you'll choose both your roommate and your dorm. But whether or not you actually get to live in your first choice depends on what number you or your roommate draws in the lottery system. The system gives priority to the students who have been here the longest. Fourth year students get the first block of numbers, third years get the second block and second years, like you'll be, get the third. The lower the number you draw, the sooner you choose. No. one gets the first choice; No. two gets the second choice, and so on. You can use either your own or your intended roommate's number to make your room choice. If your roommate for next year has been in the school longer than you have, they'll be in a better block of numbers and so will have a better number than any second year student. But most of you will probably be rooming with other second year students and so neither of you may have a great number. You may not get into your first or even second choice. Of course, if you've made plans to live off campus, you don't need to enter the lottery at all. Dorm space will be especially tight this year because the dorms on north campus will be closed for renovations. This means that those of you who draw the worst numbers won't be able to get dorm housing at all. In that case the housing office will help you find off campus housing.

Before I tell you about the interesting discovery related to the tyrannosaurus rex, I need to review something we studied last semester: the difference between what we commonly called cold-blooded and warm-blooded animals. In warm-blooded animals, birds and mammals for examples, the body temperature normally stays within a narrow range no matter what the outside temperature is. As a result, a warm-blooded animal is usually active in both cold and hot weather because the body temperature can adjust to the temperature as in the environment. On the other hand, cold-blooded animals, such as most reptiles, amphibians and insects, are unable to create enough heat internally to raise their temperature above the temperature of the environment. So, for example, the temperature of a cold-blooded animal falls when the environment is cool. I hope this distinction is clear. Now moving on to the tyrannosaurus rex, you may know that dinosaurs being reptiles are generally believed to have been cold-blooded. Well, a recent research study has found that a chemical composition of the bone of the tyrannosaurus rex was consistent with the bone of the animal that has a very narrow range of the internal temperature, indicating that it was probably warm-blooded.

Thank you all for coming out this evening to meet sociologist Allen Lambert. Ms. Lambert specializes in research on work place and recently has been writing about the future of work. This topic should have been of special interest since I know many of you are already at the forefront of the work place technology. For example, let's have a show of hands to see how many people here telecommute at least part of the time. Mm, I see eight hands raised. Well, you eight folks who work at home and communicate with the office by the computer represent one of the trends Ms. Lambert has described. The people are becoming less tied to the work place. One of the important tools for telecommuting is electronic mail or email. Email let you send and receive messages almost immediately on your computer. But you control when you read them and when you respond to them. This technology allows people to have more control over time than one relying solely on the telephone. Our guest tonight will discuss how these important changes will alter the way we work. But before turning the floor over to Ms. Lambert, I would just like to remind you that she will be available to answer any individual questions at the reception immediately following the talk.

站在狂风的天台一望无际
) }' C- b$ k' S) {  w这一座孤寂的城市
9 z) g  D3 u) [+ O在天空与高楼交接的尽头
) w) I# s. H. H/ q, K$ x# k! }# W谁追寻空旷的自由4 \0 K  C( b& M' y' a7 s
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阳光覆满这一刻宁静的我
; u) N  H. Q; w% M1 M& G隔绝了喧嚣和冷漠
4 G, k0 g! j6 S8 n. y  x9 S川流不息的人游荡在街头
" o4 M6 U% C5 A) A2 d4 D( T谁能听见谁的寂寞0 ?  w% K. \1 F8 @% {

8 O1 }+ S% }) R. v0 ?和听写心心相惜9 |, ~5 i" e. S% @3 G
和托福心心相印5 o0 g4 Y0 J& E
在这个宇宙我是独一无二/ t) R+ Q( t; \) f' D5 K- F7 J% \& r
没人能取代
* |' ]+ U* V; x* }3 m9 V8 o2 m不管怎样怎样都会受伤, C, a* q2 L" S1 W" F
伤了又怎样至少我很坚强
) j0 Y+ {! T8 g- {+ m6 t我很坦荡+ Q5 E& j( L  E! [+ x( c& I/ c

3 A. ]& y% {9 g. S! _" v: z( H夜幕笼罩灿烂的一片灯海0 v4 U3 ?4 U& l/ p6 `& q
多少人多少种无奈
% C7 {, h" t; L- v  K在星光里遗忘昨天的伤害$ a9 o; P; k9 y7 |- X9 J# y
一觉醒来还有期待0 ?# W4 F0 e# i6 r9 H7 g) _# J4 t

- z) `' @  Q, w% ]3 b/ W9 J我不放弃听写的勇气
- B) f8 |; f8 x8 h0 u2 N我不怀疑托福考高分( L6 @8 d2 t: d: `
我要握住一个最美的梦; @8 O* f& [; ?3 F9 H5 d
给未来的自己
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一天一天 一天推翻一天
1 K+ Z; h6 w0 }' w坚持的信仰
, C% _, G2 Q2 Y+ n我会记住自己今天的模样
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有听写心心相惜$ v* a% ~3 o- c" }: w: t6 j
有托福心心心相印
- Q  y( j4 L# P8 o抛开过去我想认真去追寻$ S9 |# u7 o0 g4 q, ?* M1 y
未来的自己
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不管怎样怎样都会受伤
+ Y& K0 a( D. L$ }伤了又怎样至少我很坚强
% q, @2 M+ {8 e我很坦荡0 R: \  g0 n0 i9 U' ]

- b% @' J% @( ]4 h1 b我不放弃听写的勇气8 t7 k0 ]* E! ^# }& R" D7 @
我不怀疑托福考高分
0 m% c. F4 R6 v. s/ ^" J$ S我要握住一个最美的梦, p! h9 R8 z2 Z, y, h( [
给未来的自己
/ X* u- ~. {+ T- `  E1 M7 Z! `. ?
* Y. |( t3 R1 N9 u5 ?" A' G4 Z* d不管怎样怎样都会受伤( @/ `" z* L. j$ m& J( j
伤了又怎样至少我很坚强$ H- L8 ~# H% J  Y6 h  d4 T
我很坦荡
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未来总会有人懂得我的疯狂