西安交通大学听力93篇dictation56 93.docVIP

56. A False Alarm Last night I have a frightening experience. While I was eating at a fast-food restaurant, the manager came to announce that everybody would have to leave the building because a bomb was reported to be hidden somewhere in the restaurant. When the announcement was made, the place was immediately thrown into confusion as everyone was determined to get out first. To make matters worse, an elderly woman, who must have weighed 300 pounds, had just come up to the entrance, which was also the only exit. In the meantime, I suddenly remembered that I have left my purse in the chair in which I was sitting. It was certainly not convenient now to return to get it. When I finally managed to get my purse and go outside, I saw the police had arrived and were searching the area. Eventually they determined that it had been all a false alarm. 57. Air-conditioning With air-conditioning, you can be comfortable anywhere indoors even on the hottest summer day. Inventors had been trying to come up with methods of keeping the air cool. There were hundreds of ideas, but none of them really worked. The first machine was developed by Willis H. Carrier, who is often called “the father of air-conditioning”. He built the machine for a printing plant in New York. Soon air-conditioning was being used in many factories. But the public did not really know about this invention until the 1920s when movie theatres, department stores and restaurant had air conditioners installed. As air conditioners became popular during the 1930s, central air-conditioning systems were developed. A whole office or department building could be cooled from one unit. After World WarⅡ,large numbers of air conditioners began to be used in both public buildings and 58. Helen Keller Helen Keller was born in 1880 into a middle-class family. Her father was a newspaper editor. They lived in a comfortable house on a farm. From the time she lost her eyesigh