单项选择题 听力原文： I'm sure almost every one of you looked at your watch or at least a clock before you came to class today. Watches and clocks seem as much a part of our life as breathing or eating. And yet did you know that watches and clocks were scarce in the United States until the 1850s? In the late 1700s, people didn't know the exact time unless they were near a clock. Those delightful clocks in the squares of European towns were built for the public. Alter all, mast citizens simply couldn't afford a personal timepiece. In the 1800s in Europe and the United States, the main purpose of a watch, which by the way was attached to a gold chain, was to show others how wealthy you were. The word 'wristwatch' didn't even enter the English language until nearly 1900. By then the rapid pace of the industrialization in the United States meant that measuring time had become essential. How could the factory worker get to work on time unless he or she knew exactly what time it was? Since efficiency was now measured by how fast the job was done, everyone was interested in time. And since industrialization made possible the manufacture of larger quantities of goods, watches became fairly inexpensive. Furthermore, electric light kept factories going around the clock. Being 'on time' had entered the language and life of every citizen.(23)A．The development of individual time pieces.B．Reasons for increased productivity.C．How wristwatches are manufactured.D．The industrialization of the United States.

单项选择题 A．watches became less important bemuse factories had clocks.B．Watches were of higher quality than ever before.C．More clocks were manufactured than watches.D．The availability of watches increased.

单项选择题 听力原文：W: Well, Charles, I must say that your shop is pretty remarkable. Do people send the fax messages abroad, or is it just to this country?M: It's surprising because when I started, I thought I'd be sending things to London and maybe Birmingham but, in fact, a high percentage of it is sent abroad, because it's immediate and speedy.W: And how much would it cost, for example, if I wanted to send a fax to the United States?M: Well, a fax to the United States would cost you five pounds for a page. And when you think that in England by the Royal Mail, it would cost you twelve pounds to send a page by special delivery, it's actually a good value.W: Ok. What about your hours? How long do you have to spend actually in the shop?M: Well, the shop is open from eight in the morning until six at night, six days a week, and then a sort of fairly flexible morning on a Sunday. Urn, and of those hours, I'm in it quite a lot.W: And did you enjoy it?M: Yes, overall I enjoy it. Running a business by yourself is hard work and you never quite like every aspect all the time. 95 % of the customers I love. Uh, 2% I really, you know, I'm not too bothered about. And 3 % I positively hate.W: What, what's the problem with those?M: Urn, it's hard to categorize really. I find people who are just to- tally rude, urn, unnecessary, and I don't really need their business and I suppose they form. the volume of the people that I don't like but it's a very small percentage.(27)A．A foreign country.B．London.C．Birmingham.D．A different time zone.