英語專八聽力原文

備考英語專業八級，大家要做非常多的真題，其中聽力原文是大家必須要堅持做的一件事情。今天我們就爲大家整理了英語專八聽力原文，一起來了解一下吧。

2018年英語專八聽力原文 Mini-lecture(1)

Language and Humanity

語言和人類

Good morning, everyone.

大家早上好。

In today's lecture, we're going to discuss the relationship between language and humanity. As we all know, language is very powerful.

在今天的課上，我們將討論語言和人類之間的關係。衆所周知，語言是非常強大的。

It allows you to put a thought from your mind directly in someone else's mind.

它可以讓你把你的想法直接放在別人的大腦裏。

Languages are like genes talking, getting things they want.

語言就像會說話的基因，得到他們想要的東西。

And you just imagine the sense of wonder in a baby when it first discovers that, merely by uttering a sound, it can get objects to move across a room as if by magic, and maybe even into its mouth.

你可以想象，當一個嬰兒第一次發現，僅僅通過發出一個聲音，它就能讓物體像中了魔法一樣在房間裏移動，甚至可能進入它的嘴裏。

Now we need to explain how and why this remarkable trait, you know, human's ability to do things with language, has evolved, and why did this trait evolve only in our species?

現在我們需要解釋這個顯著的特徵，也就是人類用語言做事的能力，是如何進化的，爲什麼進化，爲什麼這個特徵只在我們人類身上進化?

In order to get an answer to the question, we have to go to tool use in the chimpanzees.

爲了得到這個問題的答案，我們必須研究黑猩猩的工具使用。

Chimpanzees can use tools, and we take that phenomenon as a sign of their intelligence.

黑猩猩可以使用工具，我們把這種現象作爲它們智力的標誌。

But if they really were intelligent, why would they crack open nuts with a rock?

但如果他們真的聰明，他們爲什麼要用石頭砸開堅果呢?

Why wouldn't they just go to a shop and buy a bag of nuts that somebody else had already cracked open for them?

他們爲什麼不去商店買一袋別人已經打開的堅果呢?

Why not? I mean, that's what we do.

爲什麼不呢?我是說，我們就是這麼做的。

2018年英語專八聽力原文 Mini-lecture(2)

The reason the chimpanzees don't do that is that they lack what psychologists and anthropologists call social learning.

黑猩猩不這樣做的原因是它們不能進行心理學家和人類學家所稱的社會學習。

That is, they seem to lack the ability to learn from others by copying or imitating or simply watching.

也就是說，他們似乎缺乏通過複製、模仿或僅僅是觀看來向別人學習的能力。

As a result, they can't improve on others' ideas, learn from others' mistakes, or even benefit from others' wisdom.

因此，他們不能就別人的想法加以改進，不能從別人的錯誤中學習，甚至不能從別人的智慧中獲益。

And so they just do the same thing over and over and over again.

所以他們只是一遍又一遍地做同樣的事情。

In fact, we could go away for a million years and come back and these chimpanzees would be doing the same thing with the same rocks to crack open the nuts.

事實上，我們可以過100萬年再來看，這些黑猩猩會用同樣的石頭來敲開堅果。

Okay, so what this tells us is that, contrary to the old saying, "monkey see, monkey do," the surprise really is that all of the other animals really cannot do that -- at least not very much.

好的，這告訴我們，與“猴子看，猴子做(有樣學樣)”這句老話相反，所有其他動物都不能做到這一點——至少學到的不是很多。

But by comparison, we humans can learn.

但相比之下，我們人類可以學習。

We can learn by watching other people and copying or imitating what they can do.

我們可以通過觀察其他人，複製或模仿他們的行爲來學習。

We can then choose, from among a range of options available, the best one.

然後，我們可以從一系列可供選擇的選項中選擇最好的一個。

We can benefit from others' ideas. We can build on their wisdom.

我們可以從別人的想法中獲益。我們可以依靠他們的智慧。

And as a result, our ideas do accumulate, and our technology progresses.

因此，我們的想法不斷積累，我們的技術不斷進步。

And this cumulative cultural adaptation, as anthropologists call this accumulation of ideas, is responsible for everything around you in your bustling and teeming everyday life.

這種累積的文化適應，正如人類學家所稱的，是思想的積累，與熙熙攘攘的日常生活中你周圍的一切都有關。

I mean the world has changed out of all proportion to what we would recognize even 1,000 or 2,000 years ago.

我的意思是，世界在飛速變化，與我們在1000年或2000年前所認識到的世界已經完全不一樣了。

And all of this is because of cumulative cultural adaptation.

所有這些都是由於累積的文化適應。

For instance, the chairs you're sitting in today, the lights in this lecture hall, my microphone, the iPads and the smart phones that you carry around with you -- all are a result of cumulative cultural adaptation.

例如，你們今天坐的椅子，這個演講廳的燈，我的麥克風，ipad和你們隨身攜帶的智能手機——所有這些都是累積文化適應的結果。

But, our acquisition of social learning would create an evolutionary dilemma, and the solution to the dilemma, it's fair to say, would determine not only the future course of our psychology, but the future course of the entire world.

但是，我們對社會學習能力的習得會造成一個進化困境，而這個困境的解決方案，公平地說，不僅會決定我們心理的未來走向，也會決定整個世界的未來走向。

And most importantly for this, it'll tell us why we have language.

最重要的是，它會告訴我們爲什麼我們有語言。

And the reason that dilemma arose is, it turns out, that social learning is visual theft.

之所以會出現這種困境，是因爲，社會學習是視覺盜竊。

What I mean is, if I can learn by watching you, I can steal your best ideas, and I can benefit from your efforts, without having to put in the same time and energy that you did into developing them.

我的意思是，如果我能通過觀察你來學習，我就能竊取你最好的想法，我就能從你的努力中獲益，而不用像你那樣投入時間和精力去獲得它們。

Social learning really is visual theft.

社交學習真的是視覺盜竊。

2018年英語專八聽力原文 Mini-lecture(3)

And in any species that acquired it, it would encourage you to hide your best ideas, lest somebody steal them from you.

在任何獲得這種能力的物種中，它都會鼓勵你隱藏最好的想法，以免有人從你那裏偷走它們。

And so some time around 200,000 years ago, our species confronted this crisis.

大約在20萬年前，我們人類面臨着這場危機。

And we chose to develop the systems of communication that would allow us to share ideas and to cooperate amongst others.

我們選擇了開發出交流系統讓我們可以分享想法，與他人展開合作。

Choosing this option would mean that a vastly greater fund of knowledge and wisdom would become available to any one individual than would ever arise from within an individual family or an individual person on their own.

做出這一選擇將意味着，任何個人都能獲得比單獨的家庭或個人所能獲得的多得多的知識和智慧。

Well, language is the result.

結果語言出現了。

Language evolved to solve the crisis of visual theft.

語言的演變是爲了解決視覺盜竊的危機。

Language is a piece of social technology for enhancing the benefits of cooperation -- for reaching agreements, for striking deals and for coordinating our activities.

語言是一種社會技術，可以增進合作的好處——達成共同意見，完成交易，協調我們的活動。

And you can see that, in a developing society that was beginning to acquire language, not having language would be like a bird without wings.

你可以看到，在一個開始學習語言的正在發展的社會中，沒有語言就像沒有翅膀的鳥。

As I said at the beginning, language really is the voice of our genes.

正如我一開始所說的，語言確實是我們基因的聲音。

But, as we spread out around the world, we developed thousands of different languages.

但是，我們散落到世界各地，發展出數千種不同的語言。

Currently, there are about seven or eight thousand different languages spoken on Earth. And then another problem occurred.

目前，地球上大約有七千到八千種不同的語言。然後另一個問題出現了。

It seems that we use our language, not just to cooperate, but to draw rings around our cooperative groups and to establish identities, and perhaps to protect our knowledge and wisdom and skills from being stolen from outside.

似乎我們使用語言，不僅僅是爲了合作，而且是爲了圍繞我們的合作羣體建立聯繫，建立身份，也許是爲了保護我們的知識、智慧和技能不被外界竊取。

And we know this because when we study different language groups and associate them with their cultures, we see that different languages slow the flow of ideas between groups.

我們之所以知道這一點，是因爲當我們研究不同的語言羣體並將他們與他們的文化聯繫起來時，我們發現不同的語言阻礙了羣體之間的思想交流。

Okay, this tendency we have, this seemingly natural tendency we have, goes towards isolation, towards keeping everything to ourselves, whereas our modern world is communicating with itself and with each other more than it has at any time in its past.

好了，我們的這種傾向，這種看起來很自然的傾向，趨向於孤立，趨向於把所有的東西都留給我們自己，而我們的現代世界更多的是在和自己交流，和彼此交流，比過去任何時候都要多。

And that communication, that connectivity around the world, that globalization now raises a burden.

這種交流，這種世界各地的聯繫，這種全球化現在帶來了負擔。

Because these different languages impose a barrier, as we've just seen, to the transfer of goods and ideas and technologies and wisdom.

因爲正如我們剛纔看到的，這些不同的語言對商品，思想，技術和智慧的轉移造成了障礙。

And they impose a barrier to cooperation. What will be the solution?

他們給合作設置了障礙。解決方案是什麼?

In a world in which we want to promote cooperation and exchange, and in a world that might be dependent more than ever before on cooperation to maintain and enhance our levels of prosperity,

當前我們希望促進合作與交流，可能比以往任何時候都更加依賴合作以維持和提高我們的繁榮水平，

I think it might be inevitable that we have to confront the idea that our destiny is to be one world with one language.

我認爲我們不可避免地要面對這樣一個觀點：我們的宿命是同一個世界，用同一種語言。

What do you think of the solution? Okay.

你認爲這個解決辦法怎麼樣?好。

In today's lecture, I have presented to you how language shapes our humanity, what kind of dilemma social learning has created, and the possible solutions to the dilemma.

在今天的演講中，我向你們展示了語言如何塑造我們人類，社會學習創造了什麼樣的困境，以及可能的解決方案。

In our next lecture, I am going to talk about lingua franca and its functions.

下一講，我將講通用語及其功能。

2018年英語專八聽力原文 Interview(1)

W: Good evening listeners, this is BBC. Today, we are very delighted to have invited James Dobbins, US special representative for Afghanistan, to tell us the electoral process in Afghanistan currently. Well, James, how are you reading what's happening in Afghanistan at the moment?

女：各位聽衆晚上好，這裏是英國廣播公司。今天，我們非常高興地邀請美國駐阿富汗特別代表詹姆斯·多賓斯向我們介紹阿富汗當前的選舉進程。詹姆斯，你怎麼看阿富汗當前的局面?

M: We're concerned about the trend in events. We have been concerned for some time that the electoral process hasn't been moving forward smoothly. We believe there needs to be a powerful and transparent audit of potentially dishonest ballots and we're sorry that hasn't moved forward quickly and substantially enough. We regret the preliminary announcement of results that was made yesterday. We think that was premature given that there are still a number of ballots that need to be examined and there's not yet a clear agreement on how best to do so. We do believe that...

男：我們關心的是事態的發展趨勢。一段時間以來，我們一直擔心選舉進程沒有順利進行。我們認爲，有必要對可能不誠實的選票進行有力透明的審計。我們很遺憾，這次審計不夠迅速有力。我們對昨天宣佈的初步結果感到遺憾。我們認爲，因爲仍有許多選票需要審查，而且目前還沒有就審查的最佳方式達成明確的一致，這樣做還爲時過早。我們認爲……

W: Forgive me for interrupting, James. Can I ask you why you think that announcement was made yesterday?

女：請原諒我打斷你，詹姆斯。我能不能問一下，爲什麼你認爲那個公告是昨天發佈的?

M: I think it was made because the electoral institutions had previously set that date and they held to it despite advice to the contrary from the UN, from the United States, and from other voices within Afghanistan, and we think that was unfortunate.

男：我認爲這是因爲選舉機構之前就確定了這個日期，儘管聯合國和美國，以及阿富汗內部一些聲音提出了反對意見，他們仍然堅持這一天發佈，我們認爲這很不幸。

W: Is there another reason that could be slightly more favorable, that is, they wanted to prepare the ground because if they just came out with one final result at the end of all this then it can be pretty likely that the loser, whoever it was going to be, was going to complain because they think it is unfair?

女：有沒有另一個可能稍微有利一些的原因?也就是說，他們想要先做好鋪墊，因爲如果等到一切結束時給出最終結果，很可能無論輸家是誰都會抱怨，認爲這不公平。

M: I think it's our view that they didn't have a basis for preparing the ground because there's such a large number of votes that still need to be examined and that therefore any preliminary result might be more misleading than preparing the ground.

男：我認爲我們的觀點是，他們沒有做鋪墊的依據，因爲還有這麼多選票需要審查，而且這樣任何初步結果都可能比做鋪墊更容易誤導人。

W: In terms now of where this goes, we've already heard some very strong, very emotional language from the camp of the man who appears to be on the losing side of all this, Dr. Abdullah Abdullah. What have you been saying to him in order to try and calm those feelings?

女：關於這件事的進展，我們已經聽到了一些非常強烈、非常情緒化的言論，這些言論來自阿卜杜拉·阿卜杜拉博士，他所在的陣營似乎當前處於劣勢一方。你怎樣跟他聊天平復了這些情緒?

M: Well, we have heard talk about establishing a parallel presidency. We made clear that the United States and its partners are not in a position to support a divided Afghanistan. That any effort to establish a parallel presidency would make it impossible for the United States and its partners to continue their financial, economic and military support, and that the consequences for the country would be potentially quite terrible. Clearly, this is not something the Afghan population wants. It's not something they were voting for. And it's not something that they expect to happen, but it could be the consequences of an ill-considered action.

男：我們聽人說過要設立並行總統制度。我們明確表示，美國及其夥伴不可能支持阿富汗分裂。如果建立並行總統制度，那麼美國及其夥伴將不會繼續對其提供財政、經濟和軍事支持，而且這對該國來說可能相當可怕。顯然，這不是阿富汗人民想要的。這不是他們投票的原因。這並不是他們希望發生的事情，但行動如果欠考慮，就可能導致這樣的後果。

This is the end of Part One of the interview.

這是對話的第一部分。

Questions 1 to 5 are based on what you have just heard.

根據聽到的內容，回答第1到5題。

1. Which aspect of the election event is the interviewee most concerned about?

1.受訪者最關心的是選舉活動的哪一方面?

2. Why was the announcement made yesterday, according to the interviewee?

2.據受訪者的說法，爲什麼昨天宣佈這個消息?

3. According to the BBC interviewer, why did the electoral institutions want to prepare the ground?

3.據英國廣播公司的採訪者說，爲什麼選舉機構想要做好鋪墊?

4. What did the interviewee think of the BBC's reason of preparing the ground?

4.被採訪者如何看待英國廣播公司提出的做好鋪墊的原因?

5. What is the interviewee's attitude towards establishing a parallel presidency?

5.受訪者對建立並行總統制度的態度如何?

以上就是爲大家整理的英語專八聽力原文的相關內容，關於專八聽力的原文還有很多，大家在備考的時候要注意多蒐集，多提高。