老托福听力93篇-These days简介

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　　These days we take for granted the wide variety of music available on the radio. But, this wasn't always the case. In the early days of radio, stations were capable of broadcasting only a narrow range of sounds, which was all right for the human voice but music didn't sound very good. There was also a great deal of crackling and other static noises that further interfered with the quality of the sound. A man named Edwin Armstrong, who was a music lover, set out to change this. He invented FM radio, a technology that allowed stations to send a broad range of frequencies that greatly improved the quality of the music. Now, you'd think that this would have made him a millionaire; it didn't. Radio stations at that time had invested enormous amounts of money in the old technology. So the last thing they wanted was to invest millions more in the new technology. Nor did they want to have to compete with other radio stations that had a superior sound and could put them out of business. So they pressured the Federal Communications Commission, the department of the United States government that regulates radio stations, to put restrictive regulations on FM radio. The result was that its use was limited to a very small area around New England. Of course as we all know, Edwin Armstrong's FM technology eventually prevailed and was adopted by thousands of stations around the world. But this took years of court battles and he never saw how it came to affect the lives of almost everyone.

　　【生词摘录】

　　1. crackling: n. [C]爆裂声

　　2. static: adj. 静电的

　　3. FM: 调频 (frequency modulation)

　　4. frequency: n. [C]频率

　　5. millionaire: n. [C]百万富翁，大富豪

　　6. restrictive: adj. 限制性的

　　7. regulation: n. 规则，规章

　　8. prevail: v. 流行，盛行，获胜，成功

　　9. adopt: v. 采用

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　　I'm going to talk about a train that exemplifies the rise and fall of passenger trains in the United States: the Twentieth Century Limited. Let me go back just a bit. In 1893, a special train was established to take people from New York to an exposition in Chicago. It was so successful that regular service was then set up between these cities. The inaugural trip of the Twentieth Century Limited was made in 1902. The train was different from what anyone had ever seen before. It was pulled by a steam engine and had five cars: two sleepers, a dining car, an observation car, and a baggage car, which, believe it or not, contained a library. The 42 passengers the train could carry were waited on by a large staff. There were even secretaries and a barber on board. It wasn't long before people had to wait two years to get a reservation. As time passed, technical improvements shortened the trip by a few hours. Perhaps the biggest technological change occurred in 1945, the switch from steam to diesel engines. By the 1960's, people were traveling by car and airplane. Unfortunately, the great old train didn't survive until the end of the century it was named for.

　　【生词摘录】

　　1. exemplify: v. 例证，例示，作为……例子

　　2. exposition: n. [C]博览会，展览会

　　3. inaugural: adj. 最早的，开始的

　　4. sleeper: n. [C](火车等的)卧铺

　　5. observation car: n. [C](火车的)游览车厢(有特大车窗或透明车顶)，了望车

　　6. baggage: n. [C]行李

　　7. wait on: 服侍，招待

　　8. barber: n. [C]理发师

　　9. reservation: n. [C]预订，预约

　　10. switch: n. [C]转变

　　11. diesel: n. [C]柴油机

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