备考英语专业八级，大家要做非常多的真题，其中听力原文是大家必须要坚持做的一件事情。今天我们就为大家整理了英语专八听力原文，一起来了解一下吧。

2018年英语专八听力原文 Mini-lecture(1)

Language and Humanity

语言和人类

Good morning, everyone.

大家早上好。

In today's lecture, we're going to discuss the relationship between language and humanity. As we all know, language is very powerful.

在今天的课上，我们将讨论语言和人类之间的关系。众所周知，语言是非常强大的。

It allows you to put a thought from your mind directly in someone else's mind.

它可以让你把你的想法直接放在别人的大脑里。

Languages are like genes talking, getting things they want.

语言就像会说话的基因，得到他们想要的东西。

And you just imagine the sense of wonder in a baby when it first discovers that, merely by uttering a sound, it can get objects to move across a room as if by magic, and maybe even into its mouth.

你可以想象，当一个婴儿第一次发现，仅仅通过发出一个声音，它就能让物体像中了魔法一样在房间里移动，甚至可能进入它的嘴里。

Now we need to explain how and why this remarkable trait, you know, human's ability to do things with language, has evolved, and why did this trait evolve only in our species?

现在我们需要解释这个显著的特征，也就是人类用语言做事的能力，是如何进化的，为什么进化，为什么这个特征只在我们人类身上进化?

In order to get an answer to the question, we have to go to tool use in the chimpanzees.

为了得到这个问题的答案，我们必须研究黑猩猩的工具使用。

Chimpanzees can use tools, and we take that phenomenon as a sign of their intelligence.

黑猩猩可以使用工具，我们把这种现象作为它们智力的标志。

But if they really were intelligent, why would they crack open nuts with a rock?

但如果他们真的聪明，他们为什么要用石头砸开坚果呢?

Why wouldn't they just go to a shop and buy a bag of nuts that somebody else had already cracked open for them?

他们为什么不去商店买一袋别人已经打开的坚果呢?

Why not? I mean, that's what we do.

为什么不呢?我是说，我们就是这么做的。

2018年英语专八听力原文 Mini-lecture(2)

The reason the chimpanzees don't do that is that they lack what psychologists and anthropologists call social learning.

黑猩猩不这样做的原因是它们不能进行心理学家和人类学家所称的社会学习。

That is, they seem to lack the ability to learn from others by copying or imitating or simply watching.

也就是说，他们似乎缺乏通过复制、模仿或仅仅是观看来向别人学习的能力。

As a result, they can't improve on others' ideas, learn from others' mistakes, or even benefit from others' wisdom.

因此，他们不能就别人的想法加以改进，不能从别人的错误中学习，甚至不能从别人的智慧中获益。

And so they just do the same thing over and over and over again.

所以他们只是一遍又一遍地做同样的事情。

In fact, we could go away for a million years and come back and these chimpanzees would be doing the same thing with the same rocks to crack open the nuts.

事实上，我们可以过100万年再来看，这些黑猩猩会用同样的石头来敲开坚果。

Okay, so what this tells us is that, contrary to the old saying, "monkey see, monkey do," the surprise really is that all of the other animals really cannot do that -- at least not very much.

好的，这告诉我们，与“猴子看，猴子做(有样学样)”这句老话相反，所有其他动物都不能做到这一点——至少学到的不是很多。

But by comparison, we humans can learn.

但相比之下，我们人类可以学习。

We can learn by watching other people and copying or imitating what they can do.

我们可以通过观察其他人，复制或模仿他们的行为来学习。

We can then choose, from among a range of options available, the best one.

然后，我们可以从一系列可供选择的选项中选择最好的一个。

We can benefit from others' ideas. We can build on their wisdom.

我们可以从别人的想法中获益。我们可以依靠他们的智慧。

And as a result, our ideas do accumulate, and our technology progresses.

因此，我们的想法不断积累，我们的技术不断进步。

And this cumulative cultural adaptation, as anthropologists call this accumulation of ideas, is responsible for everything around you in your bustling and teeming everyday life.

这种累积的文化适应，正如人类学家所称的，是思想的积累，与熙熙攘攘的日常生活中你周围的一切都有关。

I mean the world has changed out of all proportion to what we would recognize even 1,000 or 2,000 years ago.

我的意思是，世界在飞速变化，与我们在1000年或2000年前所认识到的世界已经完全不一样了。

And all of this is because of cumulative cultural adaptation.

所有这些都是由于累积的文化适应。

For instance, the chairs you're sitting in today, the lights in this lecture hall, my microphone, the iPads and the smart phones that you carry around with you -- all are a result of cumulative cultural adaptation.

例如，你们今天坐的椅子，这个演讲厅的灯，我的麦克风，ipad和你们随身携带的智能手机——所有这些都是累积文化适应的结果。

But, our acquisition of social learning would create an evolutionary dilemma, and the solution to the dilemma, it's fair to say, would determine not only the future course of our psychology, but the future course of the entire world.

但是，我们对社会学习能力的习得会造成一个进化困境，而这个困境的解决方案，公平地说，不仅会决定我们心理的未来走向，也会决定整个世界的未来走向。

And most importantly for this, it'll tell us why we have language.

最重要的是，它会告诉我们为什么我们有语言。

And the reason that dilemma arose is, it turns out, that social learning is visual theft.

之所以会出现这种困境，是因为，社会学习是视觉盗窃。

What I mean is, if I can learn by watching you, I can steal your best ideas, and I can benefit from your efforts, without having to put in the same time and energy that you did into developing them.

我的意思是，如果我能通过观察你来学习，我就能窃取你最好的想法，我就能从你的努力中获益，而不用像你那样投入时间和精力去获得它们。

Social learning really is visual theft.

社交学习真的是视觉盗窃。

2018年英语专八听力原文 Mini-lecture(3)

And in any species that acquired it, it would encourage you to hide your best ideas, lest somebody steal them from you.

在任何获得这种能力的物种中，它都会鼓励你隐藏最好的想法，以免有人从你那里偷走它们。

And so some time around 200,000 years ago, our species confronted this crisis.

大约在20万年前，我们人类面临着这场危机。

And we chose to develop the systems of communication that would allow us to share ideas and to cooperate amongst others.

我们选择了开发出交流系统让我们可以分享想法，与他人展开合作。

Choosing this option would mean that a vastly greater fund of knowledge and wisdom would become available to any one individual than would ever arise from within an individual family or an individual person on their own.

做出这一选择将意味着，任何个人都能获得比单独的家庭或个人所能获得的多得多的知识和智慧。

Well, language is the result.

结果语言出现了。

Language evolved to solve the crisis of visual theft.

语言的演变是为了解决视觉盗窃的危机。

Language is a piece of social technology for enhancing the benefits of cooperation -- for reaching agreements, for striking deals and for coordinating our activities.

语言是一种社会技术，可以增进合作的好处——达成共同意见，完成交易，协调我们的活动。

And you can see that, in a developing society that was beginning to acquire language, not having language would be like a bird without wings.

你可以看到，在一个开始学习语言的正在发展的社会中，没有语言就像没有翅膀的鸟。

As I said at the beginning, language really is the voice of our genes.

正如我一开始所说的，语言确实是我们基因的声音。

But, as we spread out around the world, we developed thousands of different languages.

但是，我们散落到世界各地，发展出数千种不同的语言。

Currently, there are about seven or eight thousand different languages spoken on Earth. And then another problem occurred.

目前，地球上大约有七千到八千种不同的语言。然后另一个问题出现了。

It seems that we use our language, not just to cooperate, but to draw rings around our cooperative groups and to establish identities, and perhaps to protect our knowledge and wisdom and skills from being stolen from outside.

似乎我们使用语言，不仅仅是为了合作，而且是为了围绕我们的合作群体建立联系，建立身份，也许是为了保护我们的知识、智慧和技能不被外界窃取。

And we know this because when we study different language groups and associate them with their cultures, we see that different languages slow the flow of ideas between groups.

我们之所以知道这一点，是因为当我们研究不同的语言群体并将他们与他们的文化联系起来时，我们发现不同的语言阻碍了群体之间的思想交流。

Okay, this tendency we have, this seemingly natural tendency we have, goes towards isolation, towards keeping everything to ourselves, whereas our modern world is communicating with itself and with each other more than it has at any time in its past.

好了，我们的这种倾向，这种看起来很自然的倾向，趋向于孤立，趋向于把所有的东西都留给我们自己，而我们的现代世界更多的是在和自己交流，和彼此交流，比过去任何时候都要多。

And that communication, that connectivity around the world, that globalization now raises a burden.

这种交流，这种世界各地的联系，这种全球化现在带来了负担。

Because these different languages impose a barrier, as we've just seen, to the transfer of goods and ideas and technologies and wisdom.

因为正如我们刚才看到的，这些不同的语言对商品，思想，技术和智慧的转移造成了障碍。

And they impose a barrier to cooperation. What will be the solution?

他们给合作设置了障碍。解决方案是什么?

In a world in which we want to promote cooperation and exchange, and in a world that might be dependent more than ever before on cooperation to maintain and enhance our levels of prosperity,

当前我们希望促进合作与交流，可能比以往任何时候都更加依赖合作以维持和提高我们的繁荣水平，

I think it might be inevitable that we have to confront the idea that our destiny is to be one world with one language.

我认为我们不可避免地要面对这样一个观点：我们的宿命是同一个世界，用同一种语言。

What do you think of the solution? Okay.

你认为这个解决办法怎么样?好。

In today's lecture, I have presented to you how language shapes our humanity, what kind of dilemma social learning has created, and the possible solutions to the dilemma.

在今天的演讲中，我向你们展示了语言如何塑造我们人类，社会学习创造了什么样的困境，以及可能的解决方案。

In our next lecture, I am going to talk about lingua franca and its functions.

下一讲，我将讲通用语及其功能。

2018年英语专八听力原文 Interview(1)

W: Good evening listeners, this is BBC. Today, we are very delighted to have invited James Dobbins, US special representative for Afghanistan, to tell us the electoral process in Afghanistan currently. Well, James, how are you reading what's happening in Afghanistan at the moment?

女：各位听众晚上好，这里是英国广播公司。今天，我们非常高兴地邀请美国驻阿富汗特别代表詹姆斯·多宾斯向我们介绍阿富汗当前的选举进程。詹姆斯，你怎么看阿富汗当前的局面?

M: We're concerned about the trend in events. We have been concerned for some time that the electoral process hasn't been moving forward smoothly. We believe there needs to be a powerful and transparent audit of potentially dishonest ballots and we're sorry that hasn't moved forward quickly and substantially enough. We regret the preliminary announcement of results that was made yesterday. We think that was premature given that there are still a number of ballots that need to be examined and there's not yet a clear agreement on how best to do so. We do believe that...

男：我们关心的是事态的发展趋势。一段时间以来，我们一直担心选举进程没有顺利进行。我们认为，有必要对可能不诚实的选票进行有力透明的审计。我们很遗憾，这次审计不够迅速有力。我们对昨天宣布的初步结果感到遗憾。我们认为，因为仍有许多选票需要审查，而且目前还没有就审查的最佳方式达成明确的一致，这样做还为时过早。我们认为……

W: Forgive me for interrupting, James. Can I ask you why you think that announcement was made yesterday?

女：请原谅我打断你，詹姆斯。我能不能问一下，为什么你认为那个公告是昨天发布的?

M: I think it was made because the electoral institutions had previously set that date and they held to it despite advice to the contrary from the UN, from the United States, and from other voices within Afghanistan, and we think that was unfortunate.

男：我认为这是因为选举机构之前就确定了这个日期，尽管联合国和美国，以及阿富汗内部一些声音提出了反对意见，他们仍然坚持这一天发布，我们认为这很不幸。

W: Is there another reason that could be slightly more favorable, that is, they wanted to prepare the ground because if they just came out with one final result at the end of all this then it can be pretty likely that the loser, whoever it was going to be, was going to complain because they think it is unfair?

女：有没有另一个可能稍微有利一些的原因?也就是说，他们想要先做好铺垫，因为如果等到一切结束时给出最终结果，很可能无论输家是谁都会抱怨，认为这不公平。

M: I think it's our view that they didn't have a basis for preparing the ground because there's such a large number of votes that still need to be examined and that therefore any preliminary result might be more misleading than preparing the ground.

男：我认为我们的观点是，他们没有做铺垫的依据，因为还有这么多选票需要审查，而且这样任何初步结果都可能比做铺垫更容易误导人。

W: In terms now of where this goes, we've already heard some very strong, very emotional language from the camp of the man who appears to be on the losing side of all this, Dr. Abdullah Abdullah. What have you been saying to him in order to try and calm those feelings?

女：关于这件事的进展，我们已经听到了一些非常强烈、非常情绪化的言论，这些言论来自阿卜杜拉·阿卜杜拉博士，他所在的阵营似乎当前处于劣势一方。你怎样跟他聊天平复了这些情绪?

M: Well, we have heard talk about establishing a parallel presidency. We made clear that the United States and its partners are not in a position to support a divided Afghanistan. That any effort to establish a parallel presidency would make it impossible for the United States and its partners to continue their financial, economic and military support, and that the consequences for the country would be potentially quite terrible. Clearly, this is not something the Afghan population wants. It's not something they were voting for. And it's not something that they expect to happen, but it could be the consequences of an ill-considered action.

男：我们听人说过要设立并行总统制度。我们明确表示，美国及其伙伴不可能支持阿富汗分裂。如果建立并行总统制度，那么美国及其伙伴将不会继续对其提供财政、经济和军事支持，而且这对该国来说可能相当可怕。显然，这不是阿富汗人民想要的。这不是他们投票的原因。这并不是他们希望发生的事情，但行动如果欠考虑，就可能导致这样的后果。

This is the end of Part One of the interview.

这是对话的第一部分。

Questions 1 to 5 are based on what you have just heard.

根据听到的内容，回答第1到5题。

1. Which aspect of the election event is the interviewee most concerned about?

1.受访者最关心的是选举活动的哪一方面?

2. Why was the announcement made yesterday, according to the interviewee?

2.据受访者的说法，为什么昨天宣布这个消息?

3. According to the BBC interviewer, why did the electoral institutions want to prepare the ground?

3.据英国广播公司的采访者说，为什么选举机构想要做好铺垫?

4. What did the interviewee think of the BBC's reason of preparing the ground?

4.被采访者如何看待英国广播公司提出的做好铺垫的原因?

5. What is the interviewee's attitude towards establishing a parallel presidency?

5.受访者对建立并行总统制度的态度如何?

以上就是为大家整理的英语专八听力原文的相关内容，关于专八听力的原文还有很多，大家在备考的时候要注意多搜集，多提高。