Listen to the following passage and write down every word you hear. Altogether the passage will be read to you 4 times. During the first reading, which will be done at normal speed, listen and try to understand the meaning. For the second and third readings, the passage will be read sentence by sentence, or phrase by phrase, with intervals of 15 seconds. The last reading will be done at normal speed again and during this time you should check your work.

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听力原文

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 /These great villas were later to inspire the Italian garden architects to follow the Roman style.