听力真题

Test 2
Section C
One afternoon recently, two (36) ______ friends called to tell me that, well, their marriages hadn't made it. One was leaving his wife for another woman. The other was leaving her husband because "we thought it best".
As always after such (37) ______ common calls, I felt (38) ______ and angry. What had happened to those (39) ______ vows that they (40) ______ on their wedding ceremony? Given the era and their feelings, their decisions probably made (41) ______ . What angers me was the loss of years and energy. It was an anger similar to that I feel when I see (42) ______ foundations of building projects--piled bricks and girders and a gash in the ground left to depress the passerby.
When our grandparents married, seldom couples (43) ______ . "As long as we both shall live" was no joke. After their vows, couples learned to live with each other--not necessarily because they love each other, (44) ____________________________________________________ .
Most of the external pressures that helped to enforce our grandparents' vows have dissolved. Women can earn money and may enjoy sex, even bear children, without marrying. As divorce becomes more common, some divorcees even argue (45) ___________________________________________________________ .
In some respects, this freedom can be seen as social progress. (46) ____________________________________________ .

听力原文+答案解析

答案解析：
36. unrelated
解析：前缀un-表示否定意义，unrelated意为“没有关联的”。
37. increasingly
解析：此词修饰形容词或副词，表示“越来越”，注意不要漏了结尾的-ly。
38. helpless
解析：前面是系动词felt，因此这里一定需要形容词形式，不要错写成helply。
39. solemn
解析：容易漏写n，因此此处n不发音；也有少数人会漏写m，或将n写成e。
40. swore
解析：根据上下文，此处用的是一般过去时的时态，不要写成swear，当然更不可杜撰成swar。
41. sense
解析：make sense固定搭配，意为“有意义”。
42. abandoned
解析：不要写成abandon，abandoned在此作形容词，修饰foundations，意为“被抛弃的”。
43. divorced
解析：注意时态，应用过去时，不要写成divorce。
44. 标准答案：not necessarily because they love each other, but because they were stuck, and it was better to be stuck comfortably than otherwise
听音关键：not necessarily, love each other, stuck, better to be stuck comfortably than otherwise
答案重构：1). not necessarily because of love, but because they were always together with each other, which was better than get divorced
2). there might not be much love, but they just stayed together, and it was better to stay together comfortably than get divorced
画龙点睛：句中的be stuck意为“长期（和某人）在一起”；otherwise此处意即“离婚”。be stuck（词语本身不难，难在一下子可能想不起来）可以用get/stay together替换。
45. 标准答案：that divorce is beneficial, educational, that the second or third marriage is "the best", and the only reason left to marry is love
听音关键：divorce is beneficial，educational，the second or third marriage is "the best", the only reason left to marry is love
答案重构：1). that divorce is good and educatioanl, that the second or third marriage is "the best", and that one may keep a marriage only because of love
2). that divorce is good and educational, that it is best to have a second or third marriage, and that only love is the rightful reason for marriage
画龙点睛：要听写的部分实际上是argue的三个宾语从句，这几个从句之间是并列关系，每个从句单独来看并不复杂。所以，句子结构基本上没有什么可变动之处。在词汇层面上，beneficial可用good替换，the best勉强可以用perfect代替。
46. 标准答案：In other respects, our rapidly-rising divorce rate and the declining marriage rate represent a loss
听音关键：In other respects, rapidly-rising divorce rate, the declining marriage rate, represent a loss
答案重构：1). In other respects, our rapidly-rising divorce rate and declining marriage rate can be seen as a loss
2). In other respects, it is a sign of loss to have a rapid-rising divorce rate and a declining marriage rate
画龙点睛：前一句有In some respects，与此句中的In other respects形成照应。本句与前一句是对比关系，represent也可以用前一句中的can be seen as替换。句中的rising divorce rate和declining marriage rate是语义上的对比，相关词汇原文均出现过，应该不难写出。此外，若按原文写出rapidly，注意用连词符把它与rising连写。