听力原文

Being UnemployedMost people are much more frightened by being unemployed than they need to be./ Being unemployed has disadvantages,/ but there are good things about it too./ One advantage is that you dont have to get up early to work in the rush hour./ You can stay in bed as long as you like,/ and there is plenty of time to read the newspaper/ and have a leisurely breakfast./ But the best thing of all is that you are your own boss/ and there is no one to tell you what to do and when to do it./ One drawback of being unemployed is that you have got much money coming in./ Having a job at least enables you to save a lot of money to go on holiday./ On the other hand, when you are unemployed,/ you neednt go on holiday/ because you are on holiday already./ In fact, the main trouble is that you have to spend much time looking for a job.The credit card in the US.Today, more and more people in the US are using credit cards/ instead of money to buy what they need./ Almost anyone who has a steady income and a continous work record/ can apply for a credit card./ With a credit card, you can buy a car, eat a dinner, take a trip,/ and even get a haircut by charging the cost to your account./ In this way, you can pay for purchases a month or two later./ Or you may choose to spread out your payments over several months/ and pay only part of the total amount each month./ With a credit card, you dont have to carry much cash/ and you dont have to be concerned about losing your money through carelessness or theft./ The card user only has to worry about paying the final bill./ This of course can be a problem/ if you charge more than you can pay for.A woman at homeIn Japan, most people still feel that a womans right place is in the home,/ and most women willingly accept their traditional roles as wives,/ leaving the business of making a living to their husbands./ For those who do want a career of their own, opportunities are limited./ And working women ususally have to settle for lower wages and less responsible positions./ In America, on the other hand, most women including wives and mothers work most of their lives./ But until recently, few have had real careers./ As in Japan, most fields are dominated by men/ and opportunities for women have been restricted,/ salaries low, chances for promotion rare. / American women work mainly because they have to./ In these days of inflation and expensive living,/ only one income per family is simply not enough./ So American women actually have two jobs:/ one outside the home, and the other round-the-clock job such as wife, cook and nurse.SuccessSuccess in life depends to a great entent on what is meant by success./ To some people, money is the only real indication/ of achievement in the modern world and therefore/ their judgement of success is based on the state/ of their bank balance and power that goes with it./ Their life is devoted to making money/ and they are at a loss to understand people whose ideas are different from their own./ There are people, however, who consider their lives successful/ if they are doing what they are enjoying doing/ that may not bring them any great financial reward./ A man who spends his time gardening might consider himself successful / if the flowers blossomed and his trees gave fruit./ Nursing and teaching can also bring their own kind of success to those engaged in them./ Success can be found in painting a picture nobody will ever see./ The great thing is to believe that success is not necessarily public.Peoples way of seeing thingsThe way we see things is affected by what we know or what we believe./ For those who believed in the physical existence of Hell in middle ages, /the sight of fire must have meant something different from what it means today./ Nevertheless their idea of hell owed a lot to the sight/ of fire consuming and the ashes remaining as well as to their experience of the pain of burns./We only see what we look at. / To look is an act of choice./ As a result of this act, what we see is brought within our reach,/ though not necessarily within arms reach. /To touch something is to situate oneself in relation to it. /We never look at just one thing;/ we are always looking at the relation between things and ourselves./ Our vision is continually active, continually moving,/ continually holding things in a circle around itself.EducationSome people may say that it is energy that makes the world go round,/ but in my opinion there is something else which is equally important./ That is education./ Education makes it possible to psaa on/ the invaluable knowledge of our ancestors and, at the same time,/ makes it easier to explore the contemporary world./ Most great inventions have been brought about by educated people./ So we can say that education makes the world go round./ A poorly educated nation can never be a rich one./ The most advanced countries in the world all place great emphasis on education./ Nations which have a low percentage of educated people can,/ in most cases, barely produce the basic necessities of life,/ let alone develop their science, technology and economics./ Such nations are facing the possibility of extinction in this highly developed world./ Therefore, education cannot be emphasized enough in a developing country.