2001-1997年TEM-4听写全真试题.docVIP

2004 Money Money is accepted across the world as payment for goods or services. People use money to buy food, clothes and hundreds of other things. In the past, many different things were used as money. People on Pacific islands once exchanged shells for goods. The Chinese used cloth and knives. In Africa, elephant’s tusks or salt were used. Even today some people in Africa are still paid in salt. Coins were first invented by the Chinese. Originally they were round pieces of metal with a hole in the center, so that a piece of string could keep them together. This made doing business much easier. But people still found coins inconvenient to carry when they wanted to buy something expensive. To solve this problem, the Chinese again came up with a solution. They began to use paper money for coins. Now paper notes are used throughout the world. 2003 Every year millions of salmon swim from the ocean into the mouth of river, and then steadily up the river. Passing through waters, around rocks and waterfalls, the fish finally reach their original streams or lakes. They dif out nests in the riverbed and lay their eggs. Then, exhausted by their journey, the parent salmon die. They have finished the task that mature has given them. Months or years later, the young fish start their trip to the ocean. They live in the salt water for two or seven years until they too are ready to swim back to reproduce. Their life cycle helps man provide himself with a basic good – fish. When the adult salmon gather at the river mouths for the annual trip up the rivers, they are in the best possible condition. And nearly every harbour has its salmon fishing fleet ready to catch thousands for markets. 2002 Disappearing Forests The world’s forests are disappearing. As much as 1/3 of the total tree cover has been lost since agriculture began some ten thousand years ago. The remaining forests are home to half of the world species, thus becoming the chief resource for their survival. Tropical rain