UNIT9 Section One Part 1 Spot Dictation
Celebrations in Australia, Asia Ring in 2010
One of the first major cities to celebrate the beginning of 2010 was Sydney, Australia. More than a million people gathered along the Sydney harbor to watch the city's annual fireworks show, set to booming rock music.
Hours before midnight people arrived at Harbor Bridge to stake out good seats for the 12-minute display. This year's show involved more than 5,000 kilograms of explosive devices.
Other cities around Asia and the Pacific region celebrated with fireworks, such as Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong.
In other places people marked the New Year without fireworks. Millions in Japan prayed at shrines for good fortune in 2010. In Seoul, South Korea, a giant bell was rung.
In China's capital, signs around Beijing cautioned not to light fireworks within the heart of the city on New Year's Eve.
This did not seem to bother Beijing residents, who say the Lunar New Year is their traditional time to celebrate with fireworks. This year that holiday is in mid-February.
Many young people were at bars and clubs in Beijing until the early hours of the morning. Still others had to work on New Year's Eve. As late-night revelers waited in the cold for a scarce cab, two men unloaded a truck at a bakery on Worker's Stadium Road. One of them said he hoped for good health for his parents in the New Year. His coworker said he hoped to spend the Lunar New Year with family at his home in nearby Shandong province.
Part 2 Listening for Gist
Unlike air travel, which is regulated internationally, rail travel is in many cases controlled nationally. The degree of safety of rail travel is therefore highly variable from country to country, depending on the degree of regulation and the quality of regulation in the country concerned. In Britain and the United States rail passenger deaths work out at an average of less than 10 rail passenger deaths per year. Unfortunately, the rail passenger deaths per year statistics in the less developed parts of the world are considerably higher than the rail passenger deaths per year statistics are in the western world.
In the UK over the last 25 years, there has been an average of one train accident for every million miles run. Because individual trains carry such a large number of passengers compared with the number of passengers carried in cars, buses and planes, this actually means that the degree of risk is, comparatively, one which is almost non-existent.
By far the greatest cause of railway accidents is human error, either in controlling or responding to signals. Recent improvements in the numbers of accidents are in large measure due to the introduction of automatic and computerized signaling equipment. Radio communication systems between drivers and control centers have also proved influential in reducing accidents. With the continuing development of radio communication systems and automatic signaling systems we can look forward to further reductions in what are already impressively low accident rates.
Directions: Listen to the passage and write down the gist and the key words that help you decide. 1. This passage is about rail travel safety.
2. The key words are highly variable. degree and quality of regulation: Britain and the United States. Less than 10 rail passenger deaths per year: less developed parts. Higher: UK. Last 25 years. One train accident for every million miles run: cause. Human error: automatic. Computerized signaling. Radio communication systems. Reduce accidents.
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