专四听力模拟听写稿.doc

May Day May Day is one of the oldest holidays around the world. / Experts say many ancient peoples chose May first to celebrate the rebirth of nature in spring time. / The Romans held a festival of flowers on the first day of May./ Their celebrations became tradition in Britain, Ireland and Scotland./ May Day celebrated the beauty of spring after a long, cold winter./ In Ireland and Scotland, May Day was one of the most important holidays of the year./ On May first, people gathered flowers before sunrise./ They sang and danced as they returned home./Then they decorated their houses with the flowers. / In England, villagers picked flowers and then gathered in the centre of town./ They chose a young woman as May Queen./She sat in a special area surrounded by flowers./The people performed for her. They sang, held competitions, sports events and parades./They placed flowers on a tall piece of wood called a May pole./They placed the pole in the ground and danced around it./ Apples Apples are the second most valuable fruit crop in the United States, after oranges./Autumn is a time when fresh apples are everywhere./They are not native to the country./ Research shows that apple came from Central Asia./ but they are believed to have been grown in America/ since the early 1600s./ Washington State, in the Pacific Northwest,/ produces the country’s biggest apple crop./New York and Michigan are also big producers. / Among nations, China is the biggest grower followed by the United States and Turkey./ This year, American growers expect to harvest /nearly four thousand five hundred million kilograms of apples. /That is a little less than last year’s record harvest./ Apples are a member of the rose family./Apples come in reds, greens and yellow. /About 2500 kinds grow in the United States./ Three times that number are grown around the world./ In the United States, three fourths of apples are eaten fresh. / Some are made into sweet foods like apple pies./ The rest are processed to m