Listening and speaking
Directions
Listen to the following passage and fill in the blanks with what you hear。
Books
Books possess an essence of immortality. They are by far the most lasting 1) of human effort. Temples and statues decay, but books 2). Time is of no account with great 3), which are as fresh today as when they first 4) their authors'minds, ages ago. What was then said and thought still speaks to us as vividly as ever from the 5) page. The only effect of time has been to sift out the bad products: for nothing in 6) can long survive but what is really good.
Books introduce us into the best 7); they bring us into the presence of the 8) that have ever lived. We hear what they said and did; we see them as if they were really 9) ; we sympathize with them, enjoy with them, grieve with them; their 10) becomes ours, and we feel as if we were in a measure actors with them in the scenes which they describe.

