Listening Practice Through Dictation Level 4 – Topic: Sports and Health

B :   Mom, I feel awful, I think I’d better stay home from school today.
W:   I’m sorry you’re not feeling well. What’s the problem?
B :   I have a stomachache, my head hurts, and I have a sore throat.
W:   Well, we’d better take your temperature and make sure you don’t have a fever. Keep this thermometer under your tongue for a minute or two. Remind me to call your teacher and tell her you’re sick later on today. All right, let’s check. Oh dear, you’ve got a fever. Your temperature is 103, so I think we need to give Dr. Thompson a call.
B :   I don’t understand how my head can be so hot when my body feels so cold.
W:   That’s called the chills, and they often come along with fever. You’ve certainly got a fever.
B :   But what about my stomachache, and my sore throat?
W:   Well, that’s another reason we need to go see Dr. Thompson, because when you have a stomachache, fever, chills, and a sore throat, it usually means that you have something more serious than a common cold. I think you’ve probably got the flu.
B :   I hope it’s not too serious, because we’ve got a basketball game Thursday, and the coach told me that I’ll probably start.
W:   If you want to recover from the flu in time for your game, you’d better get plenty of rest, take the medicine the doctor gives you, and drink plenty of water.
B :   I promise I will, Mom. Let’s go and see Dr. Thompson now.

G :   A sneeze is a very interesting thing. We use many different muscles when we sneeze. These include stomach muscles, throat muscles, and eye muscles. Remember, our eyes always close during a sneeze.
A sneeze begins when something gets inside your nose, like a tiny particle of dust. Your nose sends a message to your brain. Your brain sends messages to the muscles, getting them to work together in the correct order. When you sneeze, the dust that was in your nose flies out as fast as 100 miles an hour! Usually something like dust or cold air makes us sneeze, but some people sneeze whenever they look at the sun. Some people think that your heart stops when you sneeze. Actually, it really doesn’t, but sometimes it
might feel like it does.
After someone sneezes, people often say “Bless you,” or “God bless you.” To bless someone means to wish them good and special things. Why do people say this? Long ago, people believed that this saying kept bad things from flying down your throat. Another story is that people thought this saying would help keep the person who sneezed from getting a very serious disease called the plague. At that time, the plague was killing thousands of people. It was thought that saying “God bless you” would protect people from getting this awful disease. Today, the saying is simply a nice way to wish someone well.

B :   My name is Michael Bryce, and I love to ski and snowboard. I am 16 years old, and I have been skiing since I was five, and snowboarding since I was eight. Both my parents like skiing, and my older brother likes snowboarding.
In my opinion, snowboarding is more fun and exciting than skiing. When I ski, it feels really easy to control where I go and how I move. The ski poles make it very simple to change my direction. There are no poles in snowboarding, however, so when you snowboard, you have to understand the snow very well to make sure you don’t fall. The feeling I get while I’m snowboarding is more exciting than when I’m skiing, because I like having less control. I enjoy the challenge. I never know what’s going to happen. This makes it more exciting!
Some people think that the reduced amount of control in snowboarding makes the sport more dangerous. But in my opinion, snowboarding is actually safer than skiing, because when you ski, you are standing on two skis. If you fall while on skis, it is very easy to break your bones by getting your skis stuck in the snow. On a snowboard, your legs stay together even when you fall. While I still love to ski, I like snowboarding much better. It is more fun and exciting, and maybe even safer, than skiing.

M:   Could I offer you a cup of tea?
W:   Yes, thank you very much. What kind do you have?
M:   I have Earl Grey, English Breakfast, Irish Breakfast, and Darjeeling.
W:   Those are all black teas. Do you have any green tea?
M:   I’m sorry, I don’t really like green tea.
W:   How could you not like green tea? It’s so much easier to drink than black tea.
M:   I just don’t think green tea tastes as good as black tea. Green tea has a simple flavor, but black tea has many kinds of flavors.
W:   Well I don’t taste many flavors when I drink black tea. It just tastes bitter to me.
M:   Then you should drink more black tea, because after drinking it for a while, you begin to appreciate its flavor.
W:   Whatever its flavor, black tea can’t be nearly as healthy as green tea. I read about a study last week that showed people who drink green tea are less likely to get serious diseases, like cancer or heart disease.
M:   Well, history tells us that in the past, good black tea has been considered more valuable than gold. Wars have been started over it.
W:   Really? Which wars?
M:   The American Revolution.
W:   The American Revolution had nothing to do with tea!
M:   One of the things that started the Revolutionary War was an incident where a group of Americans dumped a British shipment of tea into the ocean in Boston. This was called the Boston Tea Party, and it had nothing to do with green tea!

B :   I’ve just returned from the doctor’s office, and he told me that because of my injury I will have to miss the next two weeks of basketball. I’m really disappointed! Last night, I hurt my ankle during a very exciting game against West High School. It was five minutes before the end of the game, the score was 60-60, I had the ball, and I heard my coach shouting at me to shoot.
So I started to jump, but suddenly I found myself lying flat on my back on the court! A West High player had accidentally knocked me down. I tried to stand up, but my ankle hurt so much that I was unable to walk. Two of my teammates had to help me leave the court. My ankle started to swell up, so the team doctor brought me a bag of ice to put on it. The ice was cold, but it felt good on my ankle.
When the swelling on my ankle reduced a little, my coach asked the doctor if he thought I would be able to play any more. But the doctor replied that I would have to sit out the rest of the game and come to see him the next day. Not only did I receive an injury, but we also lost the game by a score of 68-66. What a disappointing night!