2007年12月22日四级考试听力原文文字版_大学英语听力

2007年12月22日四级考试听力原文文字版

　　Questions 26-29 are based on the passage you have just heard.

　　26. According to the speaker, why do some couples adopt children?

　　27. Why is it difficult for adoptees to find out about their birth parents?

　　28. Why do many adoptees find it hard to make the decision to search for their birth parents?

　　29. What can we infer from the passage?

　　Passage 2

　　Catherine Gram graduated from the University of Chicago in 1938 and got a job as a news reporter in San Francisco. Catherines father used to be a successful investment banker. In 1933, he bought a failing newspaper, the Washington Post.

　　Then Catherine returned to Washington and got a job, editing letters in her fathers newspaper. She married Philip Gram, who took over his father-in-laws position shortly after and became a publisher of the Washington Post. But for many years, her husband suffered from mental illness and he killed himself in 1963. After her husbands death, Catherine operated the newspaper. In the 1970s, the newspaper became famous around the world and Catherine was also recognized as an important leader in newspaper publishing. She was the first woman to head a major American publishing company, the Washington Post company. In a few years, she successfully expanded the company to include newspaper, magazine, broadcast and cable companies.

　　She died of head injuries after a fall when she was 84. More than 3 thousand people attended her funeral including many government and business leaders. Her friends said she would be remembered as a woman who had an important influence on events in the United States and the world. Catherine once wrote, The world without newspapers would not be the same kind of world. After her death, the employees of the Washington Post wrote, The world without Catherine would not be the same at all.