Dictation,Cheng Hansheng,Why Some People are Poor,The poverty line is minimum income that people need for an acceptable standard of living. / People with incomes below the poverty line are considered poor. / As the general standard of living rises, / the poverty line does, too. / Therefore, even with todays relatively high standard of living, / about 10 percent of the people in the United States are below the poverty line. / Economists suggest several reasons. / For one thing, more than half of the poor people are not qualified to work. / By law, children less than 16 years old can not work in many industries; / many companies do not hire people over 65 years old, / which is considered the normal retirement age./ Some poor adults do not look for jobs for a variety of personal reasons. / Other poor people look for a job but cant find one. / Many poor adults never went to high school. / Therefore, when they look for jobs, they have few skills that they can offer.,Camping Holidays,To many people, camping seems to be an ideal way of spending a holiday. / Not only is it cheaper, / it can also be far more convenient and enjoyable. / If you have young children, / camping has particular advantages. / There is a1ways plenty for them to do, / and they enjoy the freedom of camping compared to the discipline of staying in a hotel. / Above all, camping provides a complete change for everyone, / and afterwards you return refreshed to your normal way of life. / To some people, however, all these advantages are outweighed by the disadvantages. / Such people will point out that on a camping holiday the mother still has to cook for everyone. / What is worse, she has to prepare meals / without the help of all the equipment in her kitchen at home. / Under bad weather, there may be too many flies and mosquitoes. / For these people a holiday in a hotel is well worth the extra expense.,Old Age,Many people mistakenly believe that old age is a time of increased illness and loneliness. / In fact, people do not suddenly change / when they reach the age of 60 or 65. / Consequently, we should not expect more mental illness / among the 60 to 70 age group than among the 50 to 60. / Furthermore, although more parents and their married children live in separate households than ever before, / this is usually by choice. / It is not because children now tend to neglect their parents / when they become old. / It is also wrong to believe that old age seriously affects a persons menta1 abilities. / There is clear proof that people who were eager to learn and who welcomed new experiences in their middle age, /continue to do so in old age. / It is true that older people tend to take longer to learn something new than young people. / Nevertheless, if they are given sufficient time, / they learn as well as young people do.,Cars in the Future,As big cars cause many problems, such as po1lution, shortage of parking space, crowded traffic, / scientists are now trying to design some small cars / that may some day replace todays big automobiles. / If more people begin to drive such cars in the future, / there will be less air pollution. / There will also be more space for parking cars in cities, / and the streets will be less crowded. / Three such cars can fit in the space / that is now needed for one car of the usual size. / The little cars will cost much less to own and to drive. / Driving will be safer as these cars can go only 60 kilometers per hour. / The cars of the future will be fine for driving around the city. / However, they wil1 not be suitab1e for long trips, / because these cars by petrol can only go 450 kilometers / before needing to stop for refilling.,Dining Customs in the USA,Americans, like many peop1e e1sewhere in the wor1d, like to invite friends to their homes / for an evening of food, drink and conversation. / Formal dinners in fine homes and hotels in the US are much the same as formal dinners anywhere in the world. / But as most people in the US have no servants, / their dinner parties at home tend to be informal. / Guests may sit down at a table, / or, as many new small homes have no separate dining room or very small dining space, / guests can also serve themselves and eat in the living room, / holding their plates or trays on their knees. / A more enjoyable form of entertainment is the picnic. / Americans are great picnickers / and almost every family has a picnic basket. / Summer invitations are often for a picnic at a park or in the open countryside. / Unless hamburgers or hot dogs are cooked over a fire, / picnic food is usually cold.,Gardening,Gardening is one of the oldest of the arts. / The Chinese with their deep sensitiveness to beauty / laid the foundations for a form of garden art / which was later to have great influences upon other lands. /The Greeks gave to the world a new concept of gardening. / Their homes were decorated with flowers, / but it was in their civic design that they most skillfully applied their garden art. / Their temples were surrounded by rows of trees, / and trees lined the important streets and market places in their principal cities. /The Romans acquired much of the knowledge and skill in garden craft from Greeks. / In the second century AD the Romans began to build gardens of great scale, / inspired by the vast palace gardens they had conquered. / They brought water from great distances to supply the ornamental fountains / which decorated their villa gardens. / Later these great villas were to inspire the Italian garden architects to follow the Roman style.,