英语专业四级听写038

Passage 38
“How to” Books
Books which give instructions on how to do things are popular in the United States today. Thousands of these “how to” books are available. In fact, there are about four thousand books with titles that begin with words “how to”.
Many “how to” books give advice on careers. They tell you how to choose a career and how to succeed in it. Many of these books help people to use their free time better. Some people want books which will give them useful information about sports, hobbies, and travel. Other people use their free time to make repairs and improvements¹ on their homes. They prefer books which give step-by-step instructions on how to repair things like plumbing² and electrical wiring or on how to redecorate or enlarge³ a house.
Why have “how to” books become so popular? Probably because life has become more complex. Today people have far more free time to use, more choices to make, and more problems to solve, “how to” books help people to deal with modern life. (173 words)

1 improvements   

增加或修改( improvement的名词复数 )； 改进； 改善； 改良

参考例句：

• improvements in efficiency at the factory 工厂效率的提高
• They've spent a lot of money on home improvements. 他们花了很多钱装修家居。

2 plumbing   

n.水管装置；水暖工的工作；管道工程v.用铅锤测量（plumb的现在分词）；探究

参考例句：

• She spent her life plumbing the mysteries of the human psyche. 她毕生探索人类心灵的奥秘。
• They're going to have to put in new plumbing. 他们将需要安装新的水管。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 enlarge   

vt.扩大，扩展，使增大

参考例句：

• This photograph is too small,please enlarge it for me.这张照片太小，请把它给我放大。
• This book is intended to enlarge vocabulary.这本书的目的是为了扩大词汇量。