2013年12月大学英语四级真题听力短文(3)
On March 13th, while on duty Charles Mclaughlin, a very careless driver employed by the company Lummis was involved in another accident. The accident occurred in Riverside California. Not paying attention to his driving, Mclaughlin turned right on main street and 33rd street and hit Volkswagen rabbit. This caused minor damage to his truck and serious damage to the car. On the basis of the police report, the Lummis accident committee correctly determined that Mclaughlin had been quite careless. As a result of the committee’s conclusion, the branch manager Mr. David Rossi reported that he had talked with Mclaughlin about his extremely poor driving record.
Further evidence of Mclaughlin's irresponsibility occurred on May 6th when he was returning from his shift. That day he ran into a roll-up door at the Lummis facility in Valero, causing significant damage to the door. Damage to the truck, however, was minor. Finally, on June 7th, Mclaughlin once again demonstrated his carelessness by knocking down several mail boxes near the edge of the company’s parking lot. There was damage to the mailboxes and minor damage to the truck. Mr. David Rossi stated that he had spoken with Mclaughlin on several occasions about his driving record. He added that he had warned Mclaughlin that three preventable accidents in one year could lead to his discharge, as indeed it should.
2013年6月大学英语四级真题听力短文(3)
Thank you for coming, everyone. Today’s presentation will show how we see the development of the motor car in the short to medium term, and that is why we have invited all of you here today. Let’s start with power. It’s clear that petrol-driven engines have no future. Already there are many alternative fuel vehicles on the market, powered by anything from solar power to natural gas. Some independent thinkers have even produced cars that run on vegetable oil. But as we all know, of all these alternative fuel vehicles, the most practical are electric vehicles. Sure, in the past electric vehicles have their problems, namely, a limited driving range, and very few recharging points, which limited their use.
Now, however, recent developments in electric vehicle technology mean they can match conventional petrol engines in terms of performance and safety. Let’s not forget that electric vehicles are cleaner. Plus, importantly, the power source is rechargeable, so this does not involve using any valuable resources. Moving on to communications, very soon, cars will be linked to GPS satellites, so they’ll do all the driving for you. What controls remain for the users will be audio-based, so, for example, you’ll just have to say “a bit warmer”, and the air conditioning will adjust automatically. You’ll also be able to receive email, music and movies, all via an internet link. So just type in the destination you want, sit back, sleep, watch your movie, whatever.
