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1998年英语专业八级考试听力MP3
听力原文
SECTION A TALK
One of the largest mental health problems in the US is that of compulsive gambling. Although there are no scientific studies that have discovered the exact number, experts estimate that between 5 and 10 million persons are compulsive gamblers.
Like addiction to alcohol, compulsive gambling crosses all social and economic lines. Compulsive gamblers can be found in any profession and at any level of society. And the addiction affects both men and women.
The gambling compulsion usually starts in the early teens. The more often the young gambler indulges in the compulsion, the more obsessive it becomes. By his early twenties, the average compulsive gambler has moved from small bets on such things as football games, horse races and card games to more adult, more expensive gambling forms.
For the compulsive gambler, life becomes one continuous gambling binge. The compulsion consumes the gambling addict to such a point that nothing else matters, not even health, children or family. Studies by psychiatrists seem to show that compulsive gamblers bet to lose. Compulsive gamblers never stop when they are ahead. Instead, they try to win more. One important characteristic of the compulsive gambler is his optimism. Like most human beings, he does not like to admit defeat. Consequently, he hides his real motivations for gambling with large amounts of enthusiastic optimism. The more deeply he is committed to betting — and losing — the more fanatical his conviction that the next bet will make him wealthy.
Compulsive gamblers will use almost any means to get money to "feed their addiction". Borrowing or stealing from friends or family is the first method gamblers usually employ to get cash. Other common ways to get money are embezzlement, robbery or writing false checks.
In recent years, psychiatrists discovered some of the basic reasons for compulsive gambling. First, compulsive gamblers almost always come from homes lacking in love. As a result, the child grows up still looking for the warmth of family love and parental approval. Another aspect of the nature of the gambling addict is that unconsciously he wants to lose. Psychiatrists believe that compulsive gamblers consciously may expect to win; however, there is a strong element of self-destruction in their inclination to continue betting until all is lost.
One New York psychiatrist believes that basically the compulsive gambler is seeking an answer to the question. "Do you love me?" By winning, he receives a "yes" answer. However, the gamblers cannot accept the "yes" he sometimes receives because it is contrary to the reality of his (or her) unhappy childhood — one lacking in family love. The gambler is compelled to continue betting, thus expressing again and again his need for love and acceptance. When gambling addicts do win some money, they rarely spend any of it on their families. Money is like a sacred thing to the addicts. It is reserved for one thing: placing a bet.
Fortunately, there is hope and help today for gambling addicts. Psychiatric treatment is one possibility. Group therapy seems to help in some cases. The most readily available and the least expensive help comes from an organization called "Gamblers Anonymous" (G. A.). Patterned after Alcoholics Anonymous — G. A. has more than ninety chapters in the US with about 3 000 gamblers seeking a cure. One basic rule of G. A. is the gamblers must pay back all their debts, even if it takes many years to do so. Thousands of members credit G. A. with saving them from their addiction and helping them to build new lives free from the gambling sickness.
Happily, today with more public interest in helping the gambling addicts overcome his problem and with such organizations as the G. A. , the gambler who wants help to break his addiction now has some place or someone to turn to.
SECTION B INTERVIEW
M: Mrs Harrison, thanks very much for coming down here to the station. I, I know you've been through a terrible situation here today. I'd just like to go over some of the things you told Sergeant Clark at the bank.
W: All right.
M: Ah, ah. Would you like a cup of tea?
W: No, no. I'm fine.
M: All right.
W: Thanks.
M: Well, could you describe the two people who robbed the bank for this report we're filling out here? Now, anything at all you could remember would be extremely helpful to us.
W: Well, just, I can only remember basically what I said before.
M: That's all right.
W: The man was tall, about six feet, and he had dark hair.
M: Dark hair.
W: And he had moustache.
M: Very good. All right. Did he have any other distinguishing marks, I mean, scars, for example, anything like that?
W: Scars, no, none of that I can remember.
M: Do you remember how old he was, by any chance?
W: Eh, well, I guess around thirty. M: Around thirty.
W: Maybe younger, plus or minus a few years.
M: Mmm ... All right. Do you remember anything about what he might have been wearing?
W; Yes, he, he had on a dark sweater, a, a solid color. You know, the kind of color young people fancy nowadays.
M: Anything else that strikes you at the moment?
W: I, I remember he was wearing a light shirt under the sweater, a cotton one with dark, I think, dark stripes. It looks like a good brand.
M: Ah, very good.
W; Yes, yes.
M: Mm, all right, now. Can you tell us anything about the woman robber, Mrs Harrison?
W: Well, I remember that she did most of the talking. She had the gun pointed at us and she told us to lie down on the floor and not to move if we knew what was good for us. I remember I've just felt like she was pointing the gun at me and my little daughter was right next to me and she, she was just so frightened.
M: Um, Mrs Harrison, Could you describe her for us?
W: She was wearing a wool sweater.
M: Ah, very good.
W: I remember it was a dark color, navy blue or ... or dark gray.
M: Dark gray?
W: And I guess she was in her late twenties. Her hair was short, very short and a bit curly.
M: Do you remember how tall she was?
W: Ah, about the same as myself, around five four.
M: Five four. All right, do you remember anything else about this woman?
W: Yes, I remember the woman was wearing a pendant around her neck.
M: Oh.
W: I remember it specifically because I was then near the counter, next to the bank manager and my little daughter started to cry.
M: Ah.
W: And this woman came up to me and was very rude to me and said "Shut your damned kid, lady!" So I got a good look at her and she was sort of, uh, pulling on the chain and playing with the pendant.
M: Oh?
W: It was gold, well, anyway, look like gold. And it had a strange shape.
M: Ah, now did either of them have any other noticeable characteristics, Mrs Harrison? Now, just take a minute ...
W: Er, no, I don't.
M: ... to think about this.
W: No, no, this is really all I can remember.
M: Well, did either of them wear glasses?
W: No, no, I'm sure of that.
M: All right, Mrs Harrison. I really appreciate what you've been through today. I'm just going to ask you to look at some photographs before you leave, if you don't mind. It won't take very long. Can you do that for me?
W: Ah, all right.
M: Would you like to step this way with me, please?
W: OK, sure.
M: Thank you.
