2015年大学英语四级阅读材料：著名景区英文介绍——法国凡尔赛宫镜厅 ...

　　镜厅(Galerie des glaces)：又称镜廊，在战争厅之南，西临花园。凡尔赛宫最著名的大厅，由敞廊改建而成。长73米，高12.3米，宽10.5米，一面是面向花园的17扇巨大落地玻璃窗，另一面是由483块镜子组成的巨大镜面。镜廊拱形天花板上是勒勃兰的巨幅油画，挥洒淋漓，气势横溢，展现了一幅幅风起云涌的历史画面。厅内地板为细木雕花，墙壁以淡紫色和白色大理石贴面装饰，柱子为绿色大理石。柱头、柱脚和护壁均为黄铜镀金，装饰图案的主题是展开双翼的太阳，表示对路易十四的崇敬。天花板上为24具巨大的波希米亚水晶吊灯，以及歌颂太阳王功德的油画。大厅东面中央是通往国王寝宫的四扇大门。

　　The Grande Galerie (La Grande Galerie in French), as it was called in the 17th century, served dailyas a passageway and a waiting and meeting place, frequented by courtiers and the visiting public.

　　After the victory over the three united powers, represented in the Salon de la Guerre (War Room)and cited on the previous page, the gallery’s seventy-three metres glorified the political, economicand artistic success of France. Political success is demonstrated by thirty compositions in the archpainted by Le Brun, which illustrate the glorious history of Louis XIV in the first eighteen years of hisgovernment, from 1661 until the Peace of Nijmegen. Military and diplomatic victories, as well asreforms in view of the reorganisation of the kingdom, are portrayed in the form of antiqueallegories. Economic prosperity is demonstrated by the dimensions and quantity of the threehundred and fifty-seven mirrors that decorate the seventeen arches opposite the windows,attesting that the new French production of mirrors, which at the time were luxury objects, iscapable of stealing the monopoly away from Venice. Artistic success: the Rance marble pilastersdecorated with a model of gilded bronze capitals called “French order”; created by Le Brun at therequest of Colbert, this new model represents national emblems: a fleur de lys topped by a royalsun between two French cockerels.

　　The Grand Gallery (La Grande Galerie in French), as it was called in the 17th century, was used dailyby courtiers and visitors for passing through, waiting and for meeting people. It was only used forceremonies on exceptional occasions, when sovereigns wanted to lend splendour to diplomaticreceptions, or distractions (balls or games) on the occasion of princely weddings. For the first, thethrone was installed on a podium at the end of the hall, next to the Salon de la Paix (Peace Room)with its closed arch. The show of power rarely reached such a degree of ostentation; thus, thedoge of Genoa in 1685 and the ambassadors of Siam (1686), Persia (1715), and the OttomanEmpire (1742) had to cross the entire hall, watched by the Court gathered on each side of theterraces! There were also the wedding celebrations of the Duke of Burgundy, grandson of LouisXIV, in 1697, of the son of Louis XV in 1745 and the masked ball for the wedding of Marie-Antoinette and the Dauphin, the future Louis XVI, in May 1770. It was also here that the treaty ofVersailles was signed on 28th June 1919, which sealed the end of the First World War. Since then,the presidents of the Republic of France continue to receive the official hosts of France here.

　　2015年6月英语四级考试即将拉开帷幕，最后阶段掌握听力技巧必不可少。有时听力失分问题却并不出在听力本身，在听力之外也有很多细节会影响听力部分的得分，比如以下三点。

　　第一，注意单词的正确拼写。

　　改革前的复合式听写题目要求听写的三个句子虽长，但句中会出现很多考生较为熟悉、拼写非常简单的词。而且，即使考生不能将句子中的所有单词拼写正确，阅卷老师也可能会酌情给分。但改革后的单词及短语听写则对单词的正确拼写提出了更高的要求，考生必须将每个单词都拼写正确才能得分。不仅如此，考生还必须用所听到的录音原文中的单词或短语填空，而不可以替换成与之意思相同或相近的单词或短语。所以，改革后的试题要求考生平时更加注意单词和短语的拼写，尤其是一些容易拼写错的单词，如environment、government (两个词中的“n”常被考生遗漏)、embarrass (考生常漏写其中的一个“r”和“s”)等。为了掌握更多的词汇，考生在平时练习时每次做完听力题之后，要好好地阅读录音原文。除了确保所填的单词及短语都拼写正确外，考生还应该看看原文中是否还有自己不会拼写的单词，有的话可以摘抄下来并加以记忆，以防下次考试会考到。

　　第二，注重语法知识的积累。

　　考生在考试时因心情紧张或耳机接收效果不好等原因，很可能会听不到单词的尾音(如词尾的“-s”“-ed”“-ly”或“-ing”等)，结果在填写答案时少写一两个字母。为避免这样的失误，考生在听写结束后一定要将全文通读一遍，根据语法知识判断所填的单词或短语的词性及形式是否正确。如果空格处填入的是名词，考生要判断应填入名词的单数形式还是复数形式;如果空格处可填入形容词和副词，考生要根据语法知识判断最终哪个词性合适;如果填入的是动词，考生要根据时态、语态、人称、数以及前后搭配来确定动词的形式。以样题第32题为例，根据语法知识，考生可以确定此空格处应填入一个副词，用于修饰空格前面的动词use.由此，考生即使没有听清录音中说的是appropriate还是appropriately，也能根据语法知识判断出此处应填入appropriately.又如，样题中的第27、29、33和34题需填入的动词或动词性短语直接出现在介词后，或出现在介词后用“and”连接的两个动名词短语中，此时考生应判断出空格处填入的动词要使用“-ing”形式。短语部分考查动词性短语的概率比较高，因此考生需加强动词短语方面的学习和记忆。

　　第三，掌握单词的标准发音。

　　考生在平时背单词时一定要注意学习单词的标准发音。有些考生英语基础还算不错，但每次听力部分的得分总是不高，原因就是他们的发音不标准。试想，如果考生的发音不标准，又怎么能听懂听力材料中播放的标准发音呢?所以，要想在听力部分得高分，考生必须要掌握单词的标准发音。考生平时在完成听力练习后，可对照着原文再多听几遍录音并进行跟读。这样不仅可以帮助考生纠正发音，还可以培养考生的语感。

　　综上所述，要考好听力，拼写、语法和发音样样都要注意，听力不只是考验你的耳朵，祝大家考试顺利!