版大学英语听说教程4听力原文.docxVIP

PAGE PAGE 1 全新版大学英语听说教程第四册 听力原文（Part B，C 部分） Unit 1 Part B Birthday Celebrations Around the World Chairman: Welcome to this special birthday edition of One World. Yes, folks, weve been on the air for exactly one year now, and we thought it would be a nice idea to have a special program dedicated to birthday celebrations around the world. With us in the studio tonight we have Shaheen Hag and Pat Cane, who have a weekly column on birthdays in the Toronto Daily Star. Shaheen: Good evening. Pat: Good evening. Chairman: Shaheen, perhaps we could begin with you. How are birthdays celebrated in India? Shaheen: Well, perhaps were all assuming that everyone in the world celebrates their birthday. This just isnt the case. Low-income families in India, for instance, simply cant afford any festivities. And most Muslims dont celebrate their birthdays. Pat: I think Shaheen has raised an interesting point here. The Christian church, too, was actively against celebrating birthdays, and in any case most people, until a couple of hundred years ago, couldnt even read and wouldnt have even been able to spot their birthday on a calendar anyway. Shaheen: Of course some Muslims do celebrate their birthdays. In Egypt, Turkey and Indonesia, for example, the rich people invite friends and families around. But not in small villages. Chairman: Here in England your twenty-first used to be the big one. But now it seems to have moved to eighteen. Is that true? Pat: Yes, in most parts of the West eighteen is now the most important birthday. In Finland, for example, eighteen is the age when you can vote, you know, or buy wines, drive a car and so on. But in Japan I think you have to wait till youre twenty before you can smoke or drink. Shaheen: I know in Senegal, which is another Muslim country, girls get to vote at sixteen and boys at eighteen. And in Bangladesh, girls at eighteen and boys at twenty-one. Chairman: Thats interesting. I mean is it typical that around the world girls are considere