2013年12月四级听力模拟试题十一_大学英语听力

2013年12月四级听力模拟试题十一

　　Questions 29 to 32 are based on the passage you have just heard.

　　29. Why are women called the weaker sex?

　　30. According to the passage, what do men mean when they call women the fair sex ?

　　31. Who are the fastest women swimmers?

　　32. What does the author really think of the Olympics?

　　Passage Three

　　In the history of the human race, the use of prisons as punishment for crimes is of fairly recent origin. A long time ago, prisons were merely places of preliminary detention. People were locked up in them to wait for torture, death, or other cruel punishment. In the late Middle Ages, the people of Europe became angry about the cruelties of that system and protested. Therefore, less cruel techniques of punishment were used. For example, people were sent away from their country and were never allowed to come back, or they were kept in prison.

　　The early settlers of America brought with them the idea of isolating prisoners. They could not see or talk to each other and could only read and exercise by themselves. After a long isolation, the prisoners could be released because they would not commit any more crimes. The Walnu Street Jail in America operated on this idea. In the latter part of the eighteenth century, however, a religious group stopped that system.

　　At the end of the nineteenth century, a new idea was introduced. It permitted prisoners to work together in groups during the day. It also reduced problems of administration. Afterwards, many prisons were built in America and abroad which operated on this idea.