托福聽力必備背景知識(shí)匯總
在托福聽力備考的過程中,相信大家都會(huì)感覺到托福聽力考試涉及的內(nèi)容比較多,專業(yè)詞匯更是令大家眼花繚亂。想要快速的融入這些知識(shí)點(diǎn),并不是想象中的那么容易。然而,在這其中,托福聽力的背景知識(shí)則又是一個(gè)很重要的備考資料。那么,一下內(nèi)容中就為大家?guī)硗懈B犃Ρ貍浔尘爸R(shí)匯總,希望能為大家的托福聽力備考帶來幫助。
托福聽力必備背景知識(shí):美國教育體制
與英國的現(xiàn)行教育體制相似,美國的教育體制可分為三個(gè)主要階段:初等教育、中等教育和高等教育。在接受初等教育之前,學(xué)生可以受到學(xué)前教育(主要形式是保育學(xué)校——nurseryschool與幼兒園——kindergarten)。
初等教育的主要教育機(jī)構(gòu)是小學(xué)(elementary or primary school)。兒童五六歲入小學(xué)學(xué)習(xí)。美國的小學(xué)有四年、六年制和八年制等幾種。從不同學(xué)制的小學(xué)畢業(yè)出來的學(xué)生進(jìn)入不同學(xué)制的中學(xué)(四年制小學(xué)畢業(yè)生事先須進(jìn)入中間中學(xué)學(xué)習(xí)四年,再進(jìn)入中學(xué))接受中等教育。
中等教育是在中學(xué)里完成的。美國的中學(xué)有四年制與六年制兩種。四年制中學(xué)主要有普通中學(xué)(high school),職業(yè)技術(shù)中學(xué)(technical school)和一些專門中學(xué)(special school,如海事中學(xué)、自動(dòng)化中學(xué)等)。六年制中學(xué)又有兩種。一種是將初中(junior high school)與高中(senior high school)獨(dú)立分開的中學(xué),兩者在課程設(shè)置、課表安排與行政管理等方面都享有獨(dú)立的自主權(quán);另一種是六年一貫制中學(xué),將初、高中合為一體,在教學(xué)與行政等方面實(shí)行統(tǒng)一管理。在美國,公立中學(xué)不許開設(shè)宗教課程,所以出現(xiàn)了一些私立的教會(huì)中學(xué)( 實(shí)為教會(huì)所有),專門培養(yǎng)教會(huì)神職人員。
高等教育主要在高等學(xué)校完成。高校分大學(xué)(university)與學(xué)院(college)兩種。大學(xué)一般是綜合性的,可包括若干個(gè)學(xué)院(如醫(yī)學(xué)院、法學(xué)院等)。大學(xué)為各州設(shè)立、管理。學(xué)院也可分為兩類:由州或大城市設(shè)立管理的四年制本科學(xué)院(包括文學(xué)院、獨(dú)立專業(yè)學(xué)院——如理工、醫(yī)、法專業(yè)學(xué)院)和由小城市或縣設(shè)立管理的兩年制學(xué)院(相當(dāng)于中國的??茖W(xué)院或稱大專)。前者可提供本科學(xué)歷(可授予學(xué)士學(xué)位——Bachelor?s deGREe),后者只提供專科學(xué)歷(主要是專門職業(yè)培訓(xùn))。設(shè)有研究生院的大學(xué)可授予碩士學(xué)位(Master?s degree)和博士學(xué)位(Doctors degree)等更高的學(xué)位。在美國要拿到某專業(yè)的學(xué)士學(xué)位,須學(xué)完該專業(yè)規(guī)定的課程及學(xué)分(每門課程的學(xué)分不同),學(xué)分總數(shù)達(dá)到規(guī)定的要求后,學(xué)生可獲得學(xué)士學(xué)位。拿到學(xué)士學(xué)位的本科生,再通過一至兩年的攻讀,達(dá)到要求者可獲碩士學(xué)位。博士學(xué)位則要求研究人員完成有較大難度的、規(guī)定的研究工作,并提交學(xué)術(shù)論文,方可獲得。在美國,文科的最高學(xué)位是哲學(xué)博士(Doctor of Philosophy—Ph. D. )。
托福聽力必備背景知識(shí):天文學(xué)
In ancient times, many people believed the earth was a flat disc. Well over 2,000 years ago; the ancient Greek philosophers were able to put forward two good arguments proving that it was not. Direct observations of heavenly bodies were the basis of both these arguments. First, the Greeks knew that during eclipses of the moon the earth was between the sun and the moon, and they saw that during these eclipses, the earth's shadow on the moon was always round, they realized that this could be true only if the earth was spherical, It the earth was a flat disc, then its shadow during eclipses would not be a prefect circle; it would be stretched out into a long ellipse. The second argument was based on what the Greeks saw during their travels. They noticed that the North Star, or Polaris, appeared lower in the sky when they traveled south, in the more northerly regions, the North Star appeared to them to be much higher in the sky. By the way, it was also from this difference in the apparent position of the North Star that the Greeks first calculated the approximate distance around the circumference of the earth, a figure recorded in ancient documents says 400.000 stadium, that's the plural of the world stadium. Today, it's not known exactly what length one stadium represents, but let's say it was about 200 meters, the length of many athletic stadiums. This would make the Greek's estimate about twice the figure accepted today, a very good estimate for those writing so long before even the first telescope was invented.
托福聽力必備背景知識(shí):噪音影響
I'm grad to see so many of you here. We've become really alarmed over the health center by the number of students we are seeing, who are experiencing hearing loss. First, I want to go over some basic about hearing. Then we can take a look at our school environment and see if we can figure out some ways to protect hearing. The leading cause of preventable hearing loss is excessive noise. Too much moderate noise for a long time or some types of intense noise for even a short time can damage hearing. Loudness is measured in units called decibels. One decibel is the lowest sound that the average person can here. Sounds up to 80 decibels generally aren't harmful. That's noise like traffic on a busy street. But anything louder than 80 decibels, especially with continuous exposure, may eventually hurt your hearing. Once you are up to around 140 decibels, that's like a jet plane taking off, then you might even feel pain in your ears. And pains are sure sign that your hearing's at risk. Even one exposure to a really loud noise at close range can cause hearing loss. So what you need to do is limit your exposure to harmful levels. If you pass along this handout, we can take a look at the decibel level of some common campus sounds. Notice how loud those horns are that people take to football games. They are really dangerous if blown right behind you. Now, let's try to generate a list of damaging noises
托福聽力必備背景知識(shí):文學(xué)名著
文科段子:文學(xué)名著
Continuing our survey of the 19th century, let's take a look now at Harriet Beecher Stowe. Now Stowe is best known for her novel Uncle Tom's Cabin, a book that details the harshness of plantation life in the south. The book was extremely popular in the United States as well as in other countries. Ironically though, for all the attention given to Uncle Tom's Cabin, it's far from Stowe's best work. She did write one other novel about life in the south, but much of her best work has nothing with the south at all. In fact, Stowe's best writing is about village life in the New England's states in the 19th century. In recording to the customs of the villages she wrote about, Stowe claimed that her purpose was to reflect the images as realistically as possible. She usually succeeded, for her settings were often described accurately and in detail. In this sense, she was an important forerunner to the realistic movement that became popular later in the 19th century. She was one of the first writers to use local dialect for her characters when they spoke. And she did this for 30 years before Mark Twain popularized the use of local dialect. It makes sense that Stowe would write about New England life, since she was born in Connecticut. As a young woman there, she worked as a teacher. The teaching job helped lead to her first published work, a geography book for children. Later when she was married, her writing helped her support her family financially. Throughout her life, she wrote poems, travel books, biographical sketches and children's books, as well as novels for adults.
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