【聽力範文及解析】
The English Character
To other Europeans, the best known quality of the British,and in particular of the English, is “reserved”.A reserved person is one who does not talk very much to strangers,does not show much emotion, and seldom gets is difficult to get to know a reserved person:he never tells you anything about himself,and you may work with him for years without ever knowing where he lives,how many children he has, and what his interests ish people tend to be like elyrelated to English reserve is English in their hearts, the English are perhaps no less conceited than anybody else,but in their relations with others they value at least a show of -praise is felt to be a person is, let us say,very good at tennis and someone asks him if he is a good player,he will seldom reply “Yes,”because people will think him will probably give an answer like,“I’m not bad,” or “I think I’m very good,” or “Well, I’m very keen on tennis.”Even if he had managed to reach the finals in last year’s local championships,he would say it in such a way as to suggest that it was only due to a piece of good e reserve and modesty are part of his own nature,the typical English tends to expect them in secretly looks down on more excitable nations,and likes to think of himself as more reliable than they doesn’t trust big promises and open shows of feelings,especially if they are expressed in flowery doesn’t trust self-praise of any applies not only to what other people may tell him about themselves orally,but to the letters they may write to those who are fond of flowery expressions,the Englishman may appear uncomfortably cold.
quality ['kwɔləti]n. 質量，品質;特性;才能
1. I think our product is high quality .
我想我們的產品是高質量的。
2. If you have unlimited fortune and time, how would you better your lifequality.
假如你有無限的財富和時間，你會如何改善你的生活品質?
quality，feature，characteristic，peculiarity，trait，attribute，character
這些名詞均有“特性、特點、品質”之意。
quality 最普通用詞，既可指有形或無形的特性，又可指個性或共性的特徵。
feature 指事物突出引人注目的特點。多用來說明人的容貌特徵或地理特徵。
characteristic 指某人或某物天生有別於他人或他物的內部特質或外表特徵。
peculiarity 指人或事物獨具的或奇怪的特點，常帶感情色彩。
trait 多指人的性格、心情的特徵，尤指先天秉賦的持久的行為模式或性格特徵。
attribute 通常指人主觀賦予某事物的屬性，可指典型事物。
character 多指一類人或事物所具有的獨特的典型的特徵。
particular [pə'tikjulə]adj. 特別的;詳細的;獨有的;挑剔的n. 詳細說明;個別專案
1. Do you have any particular style in mind?
你們有沒有想要什麼特定的式樣?
2. I like meat in general, and mutton inparticular.
我總的來說喜歡吃肉，特別愛吃羊肉。
reserved [ri'zə:vd]adj. 保留的，預訂的;緘默的，冷淡的;包租的v. 保留(reserve的過去分詞)
1. All Copyrights Reserved by the Original Authors.
本欄目版權歸原創作者所有。
2. The reservoir in the reserved preserve is an obstacle to the obstinate observer.
預留保護區內的水庫對固執的觀察者是一個障礙。
tend [tend]vi. 趨向，傾向;照料，照顧vt. 照料，照管
1. He tended a drug store for his father.
他替父親看著一家藥店。
2. People tend to visit this site from work.
人們趨於從工作訪問這個地點。
modesty ['mɔdisti]n. 謙遜;質樸;穩重
1. There is false modesty, but there is no false pride.
可能有虛偽的謙虛，但決沒有虛偽的驕傲。
2. Though modesty be a virtue , yet bashfulness is a vice .
儘管謙虛是一種美德，但害羞就成了缺點。
conceited [kən'si:tid]adj. 自負的';狂想的;逞能的
1. If a person is , let us say, very good at tennis and someone asks him if he is a good player, he will seldom reply "Yes", because people will think him conceited.
比如說，有一個人網球打的很好，要是有人問他是不是個好手，他不大會回答說“是”，因為這樣一來，別人就會認為他很自負。
keen [ki:n]adj. 敏銳的，敏捷的;渴望的;強烈的;熱心的;銳利的n. 痛哭，輓歌
1. Difficulties keened their contradictions.
困難使他們之間的矛盾更加尖銳化了。
2. A good lawyer needs a keen brain.
一位好律師需要敏銳的頭腦。
typical ['tipikəl]adj. 典型的;特有的;象徵性的
1. The typical answer is, "Technology" and "Product.
最典型的回答是：技術和產品。
2. This is a typical setup for a long running server.
這是一個長期執行的伺服器的典型設定。
excitable[ik'saitəbl]adj. 易激動的;易興奮的;易怒的
1. I am not a excitable person, but I am excited in this exciting new.
我不是易激動的人，但對於這個振奮人心的新聞，我也感到激動。
2. "Are you ready to win your first game of pre-season, " asked one excitablereporter.
“你準備好贏下你季前賽的首場比賽了嗎?”一個激動的記者問道。
reliable [ri'laiəbl]adj. 可靠的;可信賴的n. 可靠的人
1. Own a lot of reliable customers in these markets.
在市場上已經擁有一群忠誠的客戶。
2. It provides a flexible and reliablehardware platform for software design.
為軟體設計提供了一個靈活可靠的硬體平臺。
expressed [ik'spres]vt. 表達;快遞adj. 明確的;迅速的;專門的n. 快車，快遞，專使;捷運公司
1. Ideas can be expressed accurately and effectively, using simple sentences.
用簡單的句子可以準確有力地表達思想。
2. The set of statements, expressed in data definition language, that completely describe the structure of a data base.
一組以資料定義語言來表達地語句集，該語句集完整地描述了資料庫地結構。
