英语中级听力听写训练2.docVIP

Sample 1 Why Some People are Poor? The poverty line is the minimum income that people need for an acceptable standard of living. People with incomes below the poverty line are considered poor. As the general standard of living rises, the poverty line does, too. Therefore, even with today’s relatively high standard of living, about 10 percent of the people in the United States are below the poverty line. Economists suggest several reasons. For one thing, more than half of the poor people are not qualified to work. By law, children less than 16 years old can not work in many industries; many companies do not hire a person over 65 years old, which is considered the normal retirement age. Some poor adults do not look for jobs for a variety of personal reasons. Other poor people look for a job，but can’t find one. Many poor adults never went to high school. Therefore, when they look for jobs, they have few skills that they can offer. Sample 2 Camping Holidays To many people, camping seems to be an ideal way of spending a holiday. Not only is it cheaper, it can also be far more convenient and enjoyable. If you have young children, camping has particular advantages. There is always plenty for them to do, and they enjoy the freedom of camping compared to the discipline of staying in a hotel. Above all, camping provides a complete change for everyone, and afterwards you return refreshed to your normal way of life. To some people, however, all these advantages are outweighed by the disadvantages. Such people will point out that on a camping holiday the mother still has to cook for everyone. What is worse, she has to prepare meals without the help of all the equipment in her kitchen at home. Under bad whether, there may be too many flies and mosquitoes. For these people a holiday in a hotel is well worth the extra expense. Sample 3 Old Age Many people mistakenly believe that old age is a time of increased illness and loneliness. In fact, people do not suddenly change when