2019年12月英语六级考试听力文本材料2

坦途网英语六级考试频道将为大家不断更新英语六级考试报名时间以及注意事项，想要报考的朋友记得关注本频道。很多同学在听力考试的时候叫苦不迭，感觉自己总是听不懂。其实是因为没有在日常复习中引起重视，同时没有掌握好学习技巧。

I'm Susan Clark with the Special English programWORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

The Italians have an old saying, "Il dolce far niente." The words mean it is sweet, or enjoyable, to donothing.

On weekends and during holidays, many of us enjoydoing nothing. But most of the time we have towork. And, to keep our jobs, we must work hard. Our employer will not like it if we do nothing.

American workers often call their employers bosses. The word boss comes from the Dutchword, baas, meaning master.

Sometimes company bosses are called the brass. They also are sometimes called top brass, orbrass hats.

Experts disagree about how these strange expressions started. But, they may have come fromBritain. Leaders of the nineteenth century British army wore pieces of metal called oak leaveson their hats. The metal, brass, has a color similar to that of gold. So a leader or commandercame to be called a member of the brass. Or he might have been called a brass hat. Or, eventhe top brass.

By the nineteen forties, the expression had spread beyond military leaders. It also includedcivilian officials.

A newspaper in the American city of Philadelphia used the term in nineteen forty-nine. It calledthe most important police officials, top brass.

Other expressions that mean boss or employer have nothing to do with brass or hats. One ofthese is big cheese. A cheese is a solid food made from milk.

The expression probably started in America in the late nineteenth century. Some expertsbelieve it comes from a word in the Uersian or urdu languages -- chiz. The meaning is a thing. So the meaning of big cheese may be a big thing.

Other experts say the word cheese in this expression was really an incorrect way of sayingchief. The word chief means leader. So the expression may mean big leader.

An employer usually does not object to being called boss. But most workers would not call theiremployers big cheeses, top brass or brass hats to their faces.

These words are not really insulting. But neither do they show great respect.

Employers also have expressions to describe their workers. One of them that describes a goodworker is that he or she works like a Trojan.

This expression probably comes from the ancient writings of the Greek poet Homer. He wroteabout the Trojans who lived in the city of Troy. He said Trojans worked very hard to protecttheir city.

Now, the expression often is used to describe an employee who works hard for a company. Aloyal, hard-working employee is said to work like a Trojan.

So be happy if your company's brass hats say you work like a Trojan. They may consider youvaluable enough to increase your pay.

英语六级考试的听力部分，在很多同学日常进行练习的时候是完全被忽略的一项，导致听力总是给大家的分数拖后腿。在日常中大家要多在听力上进行训练，不努力不付出，是不会有提高的。在正文为大家带来的文本材料中，可以找出生词，查找含义并且记录下来，再结合自己没听懂的地方反复去听。