Open Forum 2 - Academic Listening and Speaking (tests answer key)
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ACADEMIC LISTENING AND SPEAKING
2
Contents Answer Key. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Assessment Tests Test 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Test 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Test 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Test 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Transcripts Chapter 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Chapter 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Chapter 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Chapter 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Chapter 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Chapter 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Chapter 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Chapter 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Chapter 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Chapter 10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Chapter 11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Chapter 12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
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Answer Key Chapter 1
Environmental Studies 2 Listening Practice A Preparing to Listen Exercise 2 (p. 2)
2. 3. 4. 5.
suburbs inner cities decline revitalize
B Focus on the Listening Skill
2.
3.
4. 5. 6.
7.
8.
Exercise 2 (p. 3) Answers will vary. building, commute, diversity, downtown, housing, growth, residential, suburbs
D Thinking and Speaking (p. 7) Photo a: bad seating and a lack of activities Photo b: entrance exposed to wind and sun Photo c: a path that leads nowhere
C Listening for the Main Idea (p. 3)
a. 4 b. 1
c. 2 d. 3
5 Pronunciation Exercise 2. (p. 8) example, park, playground, one, fountain, middle, nice, there, together, water, safe, play, summer, seating, both, more, go
D Listening for More Detail (p. 4)
1. a 2. a 3. b
4. a 5. b 6. a
7. b 8. a
7 Speaking Skills
3 Vocabulary
Exercise 3 (p. 9)
Exercise 1 (p. 5) business district, City Hall, Opera House, shopping area, department stores, sidewalk cafes, rush hour, subway station.
Exercise 2 (p. 5)
2. mall 3. stop 4. building
2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
Chapter 4 Chapter 6 Chapter 5 Chapter 12 Chapter 7
Chapter 2
Psychology
B Listening for Main Ideas (p. 6) a. ✓
5. park 6. market
4 Listening Practice
graffiti, or is just a green space with nothing to attract people Museums, a zoo, an outdoor theater, a skating rink, playgrounds To provide more reasons for people to go to a place Food Women and elderly people There’s not enough seating, or it’s uncomfortable, or it’s out in the wind or the sun So that people can see what’s inside and don’t feel afraid to enter Paths that don’t lead anywhere, or don’t go where people want to go
c. ✓
d. ✓
2 Listening Practice B Listening for Main Ideas (p. 11)
1. a
2. b
3. b
C Listening for More Detail (p. 7)
1. A park that is not successful is not used or is for criminal activity, is usually empty, has litter and
Open Forum 2: Answer Key
C Listening for More Detail (p. 12)
1. T 2. F 3. T
4. T 5. T 6. F
7. F 8. T
E Focus on the Listening Skill Exercise 2 (p. 13)
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Chapter 1 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 7 Chapter 8
Exercise 1 (p. 15)
When adding -ion to a word ending in e, the e is dropped. 1. People say they experience deep feelings of concentration and enjoyment. 2. Many people experience relaxation.
Exercise 2 (p. 13) noun (with -ion) noun (with -ation) noun (with -ment) connection preparation requirement contribution combination retirement discussion organization development motivation exploration management participation achievement
I usually play the guitar at least three times a week. I play in a group with friends and I play by myself too.
Exercise 2 (p. 16)
1. 2. 3. 4.
relaxation contribution discussion motivation
5. 6. 7. 8.
achievement preparation requirement indication
4 Listening Practice B Listening for Main Ideas (p. 14)
1. 2. 3. 4.
Julia: driving, playing guitar Leo: working on computers, socializing Annie: participating in sports, coaching sports Robert: doing dishes, fixing up his house, bicycling
C Listening for More Detail (p. 14)
Julia 1. an hour and a half 2. listen to the radio or music 3. three times 4. with friends and alone Leo 1. very little 2. plays computer games
Open Forum 2: Answer Key
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
an a the and for
6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
and to at with to
6 Speaking Skills Exercise 1 (p. 16) Annie says more than just “Yes” or “No.” Saying more than just “Yes” or “No” helps keep conversation going.
Exercise 3 (p. 13)
3. computer game 4. likes Annie 1. many 2. team and individual sports 3. coach 4. sometimes Robert 1. relaxing 2. finds solutions to problems 3. is stressful 4. enjoys bicycling
5 Pronunciation
Exercise 1 (p. 13)
3 Vocabulary
Exercise 2 (p. 16) Answers will vary.
Chapter 3
Food Science 2 Listening Practice B Listening for Main Ideas
1. ✓ 2. ✓
4. ✓ 6. ✓
C Listening for More Detail (p. 20)
1. c 2. c 3. b
4. b 5. a 6. c
3 Vocabulary Exercise 1 (p. 22) Where to have tea and coffee
7. b 8. c
Exercise 2 (p. 22) would love, prefer, don’t feel like, would like, want, can’t stand, don’t mind
Chapter 4
Visual Art
Exercise 3 (p. 22)
2 Listening Practice
A Preparing to Listen
2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
having/to have getting eating to eat eating/to eat
4 Listening Practice B Listening for Main Ideas (p.23)
1. ✓ 4. ✓
3. ✓ 6. ✓
C Listening for More Detail (p. 23)
Answers will vary. 1. People eat out much more nowadays. 2. People, especially kids, used to drink a lot more milk. Now they drink twice as much soda. 3. If people have more income, they eat out more. 4. There will be greater demand for variety. 5. Immigration affects the variety of food available, including types of restaurants. 6. People will ask more for quality, rather than just quantity.
5 Pronunciation Exercise 1 (p. 24)
1. 2. 3. 4.
Wh Y/N Wh Y/N
1. b
2. c 3. b
4. e 5. a
B Focus on the Listening Skill (p. 28)
a. ✓
c. ✓
e. ✓
C Listening for More Detail (p. 29)
1. a 2. b 3. c
4. c 5. b 6. a
7. c 8. a
3 Vocabulary Exercise 1 (p. 30) types of painting: (portrait), landscape words to describe a painting: (realistic), abstract, colorful, traditional, calm things in a painting: (lines), dots, circles, shapes, symbols, figures, scene, detail location: (in the corner), in the foreground, in the center, in the background
4 Listening Practice B Listening for Main Ideas (p. 32)
a. ✓
c. ✓
e. ✓
C Listening for More Detail
Exercise 2 (p. 25)
Exercise 2 (p. 28)
2. a
6 Speaking Skills Exercise 1 (p. 25) The person is trying to eat more fruits and vegetables and gave up chocolate for a while.
Exercise (p. 25) Hmm, Let me think, Well, Let’s see
Exercise 1 (p. 32)
Answers will vary. 1. it’s imitated/copied a lot in popular culture 2. 1930 3. Dutch and German art/16th century Dutch portraits 4. the style of the window in the house 5. Wood’s sister and his dentist 6. the 1890’s 7. unfriendly/not welcoming/suspicious 8. farmers/country people/people in small towns
Exercise 2 (p. 32) a. 3 d. 2
b. 6 e. 5
c. 4 f. 1
Open Forum 2: Answer Key
5 Pronunciation
Exercise 3 (p. 33)
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
He was an American painter. His sister was probably the model. It’s a famous photograph. Who is the woman supposed to be? It’s a bit of a mystery.
6 Speaking Skills Exercise 1 (p. 34) The spoken version has more imprecise expressions.
Exercise 2 (p. 34)
2. sort of 3. kind of 4. It’s like
5. kind of 6. It’s as if 7. or something
2 Listening Practice A Preparing to Listen (p. 37) Answers will vary. Oceans: fish, coral, whales, crab, beach, sand, snail Medicine: prescription drugs, cancer, human disease, bacteria, painkiller, anatomy, heart disease Both: bacteria
B Listening for Main Ideas (p. 38) c. 6 d. 1
e. 2 f. 5
C Listening for More Detail (p. 39)
1. More than half 2. 71% 3. Researchers are hoping to learn more about how their eyes work to help learn more about eye disease in humans. 4. They have new technologies that allow them to go deeper into the oceans than before. 5. In the 1950s 6. It can swim incredibly fast.
D Focus on the Listening Skill Exercise 1 (p. 39) 2. a Because of “derived from the sea” before it
Exercise 2 (p. 40)
1. b
3 Vocabulary Exercise 1 (p. 40) careful, useful, hopeful
Exercise 2 (p. 41) 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
Life Science
a. 4 b. 3
5. a
useful beautiful hopeful harmful X helpful wonderful thoughtful painful
useless X hopeless harmless priceless helpless X thoughtless painless
Exercise 3 (p. 41)
Chapter 5
2. a 3. b
4. b
Open Forum 2: Answer Key
2. 3. 4. 5.
painless useful hopeful thoughtless
6. wonderful 7. priceless 8. useless
4 Listening Practice B Listening for Main Ideas (p. 42)
a. 2 b. 4
c. 1 d. 3
C Listening for More Detail (p. 43)
Answers will vary. 1. In 1987 2. California, Arizona, and Baja, Mexico 3. The birds have very large wings that could knock you out and very sharp beaks. 4. That condors fly more distance than they realized; that the species is more intelligent and complex than they’d realized 5. They didn’t learn to be afraid of humans. 6. They’re trained to act like parent condors. 7. They learn from older, more experienced birds. 8. One group of birds travels 160 miles just to visit and socialize with other birds.
D. Working Out Unknown Vocabulary (p. 43)
1. b 2. b
3. a 4. b
5 Pronunciation
3 Vocabulary
Exercise 1 (p. 44)
1. b
2. a
Exercise 1 (p. 49) 3. a.
Exercise 2 (p. 44)
1. learned 2. knocking 3. harassing
4. teaches 5. raising 6. socialize
2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
time off salary employer part-time temporary hires
8. get laid off 9. project 10. freelancers 11. job security 12. benefits
Exercise 2 (p. 50)
6 Speaking Skills Exercise 1 (p. 44) The number of condors living in the wild How they attach GPS units to the birds Another example of how the birds learn What the biologist meant when he said the birds are intelligent and complicated
Exercise 2 (p. 44) How many did you say . . . ? Could you explain . . . ? Can you give another example of . . . ? What did you mean . . . ?
2. 3. 4. 5.
benefits time off hired temporary
6. job security 7. freelancer 8. get laid off
4 Listening Practice B Listening for Main Ideas Exercise 1 (p. 51) The man has three jobs.
Exercise 2 (p. 51) She has a baking business.
Exercise 3 (p. 51)
Chapter 6
Social Studies B Listening for Main Ideas (p. 47) b. ✓
d. ✓
C Listening for More Detail (p. 47)
1. F 2. T 3. T
4. F 5. T 6. F
7. T 8. F
D Focus on the Listening Skill Exercise 1 (p. 48)
a. 6 b. 3 c. 4
d. 2 e. 8 f. 7
b. ✓
c. ✓
C Listening for More Detail (p. 52)
2 Listening Practice
a. ✓
g. 5 h. 1
Exercise 2 (p. 48) Announcing what a speaker is going to say or do: We’re going to look at; I’m going to suggest; I’d like to point out that Signaling a change in topic: Now if you look at; Compare that to; Let’s turn to Summarizing: I’ve described
Answers will vary. 1. He likes not getting involved in the day to day stuff, and his work time is flexible. 2. His wife’s job 3. She got laid off. 4. She’s living and working at her parents’ house. 5. Find a partner who could do marketing, and maybe have her own place one day 6. There are entrepreneurs, freelancers, and parttime employees. 7. Economic reasons, the growth of software and media industries, and the change in attitudes 8. Marketing themselves, and being organized, especially with time
D Working out Unknown Vocabulary (p. 52)
1. b 2. a
3. b 4. b
5. a
Open Forum 2: Answer Key
5 Pronunciation
Exercise 3 (p. 59)
Exercise 1 (p. 53)
2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
It’s I’m It’s I’ve it’s
7. who’ve 8. they’ve 9. they’ve 10. there’s
Answers will vary.
Answers will vary.
4 Listening Practice
Chapter 7
Language and Communication
A Preparing to Listen Exercise 1 (p. 60) French and English are the official languages. Cree, Inuktitut, Mohawk, and Ojibwa are examples of minority languages.
2 Listening Practice A Preparing to Listen (p. 57) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
82.12% 17.88% Vietnamese, Italian, Korean, Russian Answers will vary. Answers will vary.
B Listening for Main Ideas (p. 57)
c
C Listening for More Detail (p. 58) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
The thirty most common languages in the US From census data a. 2 c. 1 b. 4 d. 3 Almost 900,000 Southern California and Washington state New York
D Focus on the Listening Skill Exercise 1 (p. 58)
2. 86 3. 1 or 2 4. 72
5. 49 6. 8 7. 6
8. 4 9. 4
3 Vocabulary Exercise 1 (p. 59)
almost Just over just under less than more than something like
Exercise 4 (p. 60)
Exercise 2 (p. 53)
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
2. just over 3. a little over
Exercise 2 (p. 59) Approximately: about, around, something like More: just over, a little over, more than Less: a little under, less than, almost, just under
Open Forum 2: Answer Key
Exercise 3 (p. 61) Answers will vary.
B Listening for Main Ideas (p. 61)
1. Different opinions on how many languages exist today 2. Criteria for deciding if a language is in danger 3. Why the topic of language loss is important 4. The situation with the Welsh language 5. Programs for revising Native American languages
C Listening for More Detail (p. 61)
Answers will vary. 2. Believed that half world’s languages could be lost by end of century 3. Are last speakers of their languages 4. Make it difficult to find agreement on the number of languages at risk 5. Don’t know what information or traditions we’re losing when a language disappears 6. Example of a language getting stronger 7. Used to be 250 Native American languages, but now only about 150 in use 8. Use older peoples’ knowledge; tape record older people; have older people care for children and teach them; have speakers teach and learn on the telephone; study the old records of ancestors
5 Pronunciation
Exercise 4 (p. 67) b
Exercise 1 (p. 62) Stress is on the second syllable (-teen) in item 4. Stress is on first syllable in the others.
Exercise 1 (p. 67)
Exercise 2 (p. 62) It’s easier to hear the difference between items 2 and 4, because the stress is different.
Exercise 3 (p. 62)
1. sixty 2. forty 3. thirteen
3 Vocabulary
4. seventy 5. eighteen 6. fifteen
set out, give up, took off
Exercise 2 (p. 67)
Answers will vary.
6 Speaking Skills Exercise 1 (p. 63)
Brainstorm ideas Select ideas Order ideas and outline Fill out an outline Rehearse
b
C Listening for More Detail (p. 69)
2 Listening Practice B Listening for Main Ideas (p. 65) 3. a 4. c
1. a 2. c
3. b 4. c
5. c 6. a
D Focus on the Listening Skill Exercise 1 (p. 66)
1. 2. 3. 4.
determination believed absolutely mood positive attitude
Exercise 2 (p. 66)
C Listening for More Detail (p. 65)
7. go on 8. set out 9. getting along 10. went off
B Listening for Main Ideas (p. 69)
Technology
1. a 2. b
turned up took off came over ran out came up
4 Listening Practice
Chapter 8
2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
Answers will vary.
Exercise 2 (p. 63) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
8. b 9. f 10. h
Exercise 4 (p. 68)
Answers will vary.
5. c 6. j 7. d
Exercise 3 (p. 67)
Exercise 4 (p. 62)
2. g 3. a 4. i
Answers will vary. 1. The photocopy machine was a very successful product and the technology is still used today. 2. 1937 3. He was poor and had to support his father after his mother died. 4. It was to keep his ideas in. He wanted to be an inventor. 5. When studying law, he had to copy pages longhand from books. 6. Nobody would invest in his idea or give him money to develop his idea. 7. 1947 8. 1960 9. The machine was an instant success. 10. He lived simply, and gave away most of his money.
D Working Out Unknown Vocabulary (p. 70)
1. b 2. a
3. b 4. a
5. a
a
Exercise 3 (p. 67) c
Open Forum 2: Answer Key
5 Pronunciation
Exercise 2 (p. 75) b
Exercise 1 (p. 71)
2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
imagine inspire invent mechanic technology photograph electric
imagination inspiration invention mechanical technological photographic electrical
Exercise 3 (p. 75)
photography electricity
Exercise 4 (p. 76) Answers will vary.
Exercise 2 (p. 71)
2. 3. 6. 7. 8.
imagine inspire technology photograph electric
imagination inspiration technological photographic electrical
3 Vocabulary photography electricity
Exercise 2 (p. 76)
Exercise 3 (p. 71)
1. Carlson invented an automatic xerographic machine. 2. The process was called Xerography. 3. His invention used light and electricity to duplicate an image. 4. Carlson went to university at the Institute of Technology.
First, . . . ; Now, . . . ; Then, . . . ; OK?
Chapter 9
Marketing and Advertising 2 Listening Practice B Listening for Main Ideas (p. 74) e. ✓
C Listening for More Detail (p. 74) 1. c 2. b
3. b 4. a
5. a 6. c
D Focusing on the Listening Skill Exercise 1 (p. 75)
Answers will vary. 2. network TV stations; all the commercials 3. advertising in school
Open Forum 2: Answer Key
2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
competition advertise market research product sponsor
7. commercials 8. attract 9. on the market 10. geared toward
c ✓
C Listening for More Detail
Exercise 2 (p. 72)
A copy machine
d. ✓ h. ✓
Exercise 3 (p. 76)
B Listening for Main Ideas (p. 78)
Exercise 1 (p. 72)
b. ✓ f. ✓
1. conduct surveys; look at the competition 2. TV or radio commercials, newspaper or magazine advertisements, the Internet, popular events
4 Listening Practice
6 Speaking Skills
Answers will vary. 1. attract customers to survive 2. market their products 3. would not exist; products and services
Exercise 1 (p. 78) Where? 2. In the front of the store 3. In the front of the store 4. Around the sides of the store 5. In the aisles 6. Near the checkout counter
Exercise 2 (p. 78) Why? 1. To make customers pass other items 2. Smells good and attracts customers 3. Smells good and attracts customers 4. Most people go around the side 5. People need it and will look for it 6. People stand next to it at checkout
5 Pronunciation Exercise 1 (p. 79)
1. interested 2. not interested 3. interested
4. not interested 5. interested 6. interested
6 Speaking Skills
Exercise 3 (p. 86)
Exercise 1 (p. 80)
Answers will vary. 1. The people are discussing how to advertise something. 2. Susan is proposing a hot air balloon.
1. 2. 3. 4.
program; classes; grades graduated; got took; take; got financial aid
Exercise 4 (p. 87) Answers will vary.
Exercise 2 (p. 80) What do you mean?; Oh, you mean . . . ; I don’t get it; You’re saying that . . .
4 Listening Practice B Listening for Main Ideas (p. 88)
Chapter 10
Education
3. b 4. c
C Listening for More Detail
2 Listening Practice
B Listening for Main Ideas Exercise 1 (p. 84) Life experience
Exercise 2 (p. 84)
1. d 2. a
a. ✓ b. ✓ d. ✓ Ben and Mona do not have the same opinion.
1. 2. 3. 4.
b a c b
5. 6. 7. 8.
5 Pronunciation Exercise 1 (p. 89) Both sentences sound very similar.
C Listening for More Detail
Exercise 2 (p. 89)
Exercise 1 (p.84)
1. F 2. T 3. F
4. T 5. T 6. F
7. T 8. F
D Focus on the Listening Skill (p. 85)
Answers will vary. 2. It would be difficult to evaluate two very different experiences. 3. It takes discipline. You have to attend, do the work, take exams, and pass classes to get credit. 4. He says that college was social for him and that he really started learning after college.
3 Vocabulary Exercise 1 (p. 86) Answers will vary.
Exercise 2 (p. 86)
2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
a program it; credit a subject classes an exam an exam college.
c a c b
1. wanted 2. want it
3. want it 4. wanted
Exercise 3 (p. 89)
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
start it started predicted predict it repeat it
6. repeated 7. need it 8. needed 9. suggested 10. suggest it
Exercise 4 (p. 90) Answers will vary.
6 Speaking Skills Exercise 1 (p. 90)
1. interested 2. good 3. hard The effect of the repetition is to emphasize the point.
Exercise 2 (p. 90) Answers will vary.
Open Forum 2: Answer Key
Chapter 11
4 Listening Practice
Astronomy
B Listening for Main Ideas (p. 97)
2 Listening Practice
B Listening for Main Ideas (p. 94)
4. ✓ 6. ✓
C Listening for More Detail (p. 11)
C Focus on the Listening Skill Exercise 1 (p. 94)
2. different theories, part, separate, captured or pulled in, gravity, rock, crash 3. connection, craters, formed, rock, crash, dinosaurs, killed
3. 4. 5. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
The models are unstressed.
can will would can could
Exercise 1 (p. 99) She returns to the topic of supernovas.
Exercise 2 (p. 99) If you’ll let me come back to that . . . ; . I want to add . . . ; Now, back to . . . ; By the way . . .
Chapter 12 5. f 6. a 7. h
8. g
Exercise 2 (p. 96) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
6 Speaking Skills
Exercise 1 (p. 96)
7. b 8. a
Exercise 2 (p. 99)
water lava ice theories part separate pulled gravity rock dinosaurs connection crashed craters theory rock
2. b 3. e 4. c
4. b 5. b 6. b
Exercise 1 (p. 99)
3 Vocabulary
1. b 2. a 3. a
5 Pronunciation
Exercise 3 (p. 94) 1. 2. 3.
Answers will vary. 1. Robert Evans searches for supernovas and dying stars. 2. He can memorize patterns of stars very well.
come about broke off get away came up with broke down figure out left out run out of
International Studies 2 Listening Practice B Listening for Main Ideas (p. 102)
1. Answers will vary. 2. Brazil 3. A psychology professor
C Listening for More Detail (p. 102)
1. c 2. a 3. b
4. c 5. b 6. a
7. b 8. a
D Focus on the Listening Skill Exercise 1 (p. 103)
10 Open Forum 2: Answer Key
3. of another country, foreign 4. getting used to, adjusting
Exercise 2 (p. 103)
D Working Out Unknown Vocabulary (p. 107)
a. ✓
Exercise 3 (p. 104)
1. Difficulties with language and privacy 2. “It’s a piece of cake” means something is not a problem; having difficulties with language and privacy turned out to be “a piece of cake.” 3. “Distress” is unhappiness, being upset. Brazilians’ ideas of time and punctuality caused him distress.
1. a 2. b
3. a 4. a
5 Pronunciation Exercise 1 (p. 108) Linking can make it hard to hear word boundaries.
Exercise 3 (p. 108)
Exercise 5 (p. 104)
Exercise 4 (p. 108)
Exercise 4 (p. 104) difficulties with things like language and privacy; dealing with Brazilian’s ideas of time and punctuality
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3 Vocabulary
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shuffle their books; look uncomfortable, like they have to leave.
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Exercise 6 (p. 104)
I felt at home in England. I opened a bank account. But I didn’t have a job. In the end, I worked it out. But it took a lot of time. (
2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
felt at home in opened a bank didn’t have a worked it out took a lot of time
(
2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
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1. Because students start shuffling their books, have strained expressions 2. Moving around of books to make a shuffling noise 3. The students have strained expressions. Strained means looking worried or in pain 4. No
5. b 6. a
6 Speaking Skills Exercise 1 (p. 109) What you need to know about a country before you live in that country.
Exercise 2 (p. 109)
Exercise 2 (p. 105) Punctuality: ahead of time, early, in time to, in time for, on time, punctual Lateness: behind schedule, late for, in a hurry, running late, “It’s about time!”
Are we all clear about . . . ?; Let’s go to the next point.; What do you think?; Does anyone have anything to add to that?; Can we move on
4 Listening Practice B Listening for Main Ideas (p. 106)
a. 2 b. 5
c. 4 d. 1
e. 3
C Listening for More Detail (p. 107)
4. Irritated at stores, taxi drivers, food, and feeling ignored and miserable 5. Complain about new culture, feel that your home culture is better 6. Getting used to new culture, start making friends, enjoying work, realize that there’s good and bad everywhere. 7. When you go back to your own culture, you may feel disappointed, prefer some things in new culture
Open Forum 2: Answer Key 11
Test 1
Test 3
Chapters 1–3
Chapters 7–9
Part 1
Part 1
1. c
2. a
3. c
Part 2
4. 5. 6. 7.
1. a
2. b
Part 2 a b c c
8. c 9. a 10. a
3. T 4. F 5. F
6. T 7. F 8. T
9. F 10. F
Part 3 11. T
12. T
Test 2
Chapters 4–6
Test 4
Part 1
Chapters 10–12
1. d
Part 1
Part 2
2. F 3. T
4. F 5. T
6. F 7. T
9. a
10. a
Part 3
8. b
1. b
3. a
6. a 7. b
8. a 9. b
11. a
12. b
Part 2
4. b 5. b
Part 3 10. b
12 Open Forum 2: Answer Key
2. a
Test 1: Chapters 1–3 Name:
Date:
Score:
You are about to hear part of a radio program in which people discuss the advantages and disadvantages of living in certain places. Before you listen, think about the city or town where you live. What are the advantages and disadvantages of living there?
1. Read questions 1–3. Then listen to the radio program and choose the correct answer for each question.
1. What does caller 1 say about Amsterdam? a. She would like to take a trip there. b. She lives there. c. She thinks it’s a good place to live. 2. Which of the following is true about caller 2? a. He is happy where he lives now. b. He lives in the city. c. He would like to live in the city. 3. Where does caller 3 live now? a. In the suburbs b. In a city c. In a small town
2. Now read questions 4–10. Listen to the radio program again and choose the correct answer for each question.
7. Which point does caller 2 not make about where he lives? a. It’s safe for children. b. The schools are good. c. The streets are cleaner than in the city. 8. How much time does caller 2 spend . getting to work? a. More than he did before b. Less than he did before c. About the same amount of time as before 9. What does caller 3 say about the town . where he lives? a. People are very curious about each . other’s business. b. It’s not safe. c. It’s a good place to do business. 10. How much time does caller 3 spend in his car? a. More than he did before b. Less than he did before c. About the same amount of time as before
4. What part of the radio program is this extract taken from? a. The beginning b. The middle c. The end 5. What was the main point that caller 1 made about Amsterdam? a. It’s a friendly place. b. People don’t need cars to get around. c. The public transportation system . is cheap. 6. According to caller 1, what effect do cars have on the environment? a. They make it more noisy. b. They make it more polluted. c. Both of the above
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Open Forum 2: Assessment Tests 13
Test 2: Chapters 4–6 Name:
Date:
Score:
You are about to hear an interview about visual art in the community. Before you listen, think about the different kinds of art you know about. What different kinds of art are there? What are some possible ways that art might help people?
1. Read question 1. Then listen to the interview and choose the correct answer for the question.
1. Which of these topics does Alan Tam not talk about? a. Art for doctors b. Art for elderly people and people with disabilities c. Art in schools d. Art in museums and galleries
2. Now read questions 2–7. Then listen to the interview again and write T for true or F for false for each question.
3. Read questions 8–10. Then listen to three extracts from the interview. After listening to each extract, choose the correct answer for each question.
8. Urge probably means . a. a sad feeling b. a strong need or desire
9. Topography probably means . a. the physical features of an . area of land b. the history and culture of a people
10. Outlet probably means . a. a way of release for emotions b. a challenge
2. Art for All helps artists to sell their work. 3. Alan Tam says that art has been important to people for a very long time. 4. Alan Tam recommends keeping art separate from other subjects in school. 5. Alan Tam says that studying art from a certain time period can help students learn about the history of that time. 6. According to Alan Tam, older people and disabled people often don’t enjoy doing art. 7. According to Alan Tam, art appreciation classes can help doctors diagnose illnesses better.
14 Open Forum 2: Assessment Tests
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Test 3: Chapters 7–9 Name:
Date:
Score:
You are going to hear people talking about a book called “Better Off: Flipping the switch on technology.” Before you listen, think about this title. What do you think the book might be about?
1. Read questions 1 and 2. Then listen to the conversation and choose the correct answer for each question.
1. The book is about . a. the experience of living without technology b. communities that live without technology c. how technology improves our lives 2. The writer concluded that . a. it’s impossible to live without technology b. where possible, people should use less technology than they do now c. everybody should use hand-powered machines
3. Read questions 11 and 12. Then listen to two extracts from the conversation. After listening to each extract, write T for true or F for false for each question.
11. The speaker talks about people helping people to explain why the work wasn’t as much as you might expect. 12. The speaker talks about cars to show that sometimes technology is expensive and not always effective.
2. Read questions 3–10. Then listen to the conversation again and write T for true or F for false for each question.
3. The couple lived without technology for over a year. 4. The people in the community did not use any machines at all. 5. The place the author describes in the book is not a real place. 6. The couple did not use a lot of money while they were there. 7. The author disliked the slowness of life in his new hometown. 8. The people enjoyed their work because they worked together . and socialized. 9. The item of technology that the writer missed the most was a car. 10. The people in the community used tools that didn’t work well.
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Open Forum 2: Assessment Tests 15
Test 4: Chapters 10–12 Name:
Date:
Score:
Look at the title of the news report you are going to listen to: “The Mystery of the Moon Trees.” What do you think the story might be about?
1. Read questions 1–3. Then listen to the news report and choose the correct answer for each question.
1. Moon trees are trees grown from seeds that . a. were planted on the moon b. have traveled to the moon and back 2. The moon trees look . a. like regular trees b. much bigger than regular trees 3. The moon trees were . a. distributed to many people b. kept in a laboratory permanently
2. Read questions 4–9. Then listen to the news report again and choose the correct answer for each question.
4. Stuart Roosa took tree seeds along on a space mission because . a. the U.S. Forest Service asked him to b. he loved nature and trees
5. The seeds . a. were carried onto the moon b. stayed in the space module as it orbited the moon
6. The trees were sent to places . a. around the United States and in different countries b. only within the United States
16 Open Forum 2: Assessment Tests
7. People sometimes find moon trees a. because they are only in parks or nature areas b. because they usually have a sign . near them
8. Dave Williams’ list of moon trees . has . a. sixty or more trees on it b. less than sixty trees on it
9. Examples of other items astronauts carried into space are . a. coins, stamps, golf balls, and golf clubs b. coins, stamps, golf balls, and a sandwich
.
3. Read questions 10–12. Then listen to three extracts from the news report. After listening to each extract, choose the correct answer for each question. 10. Mutant probably means . a. a seed that doesn’t grow b. an animal or plant with unexpectedly different characteristics from the parent animal or plant 11. Scatter probably means . a. to drop or throw things in different directions over a wide area b. to put things in one place 12. Germinate probably means a. to die b. to start to grow
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Transcripts Chapter 1
Environmental Studies 2 Listening Practice C Listening for Main Ideas (p. 3) Now, as you probably know, U.S. inner cities have been in a bad state for several decades. They tend to be high crime areas with a lot of vacant buildings and so on. Today we’ll talk about how this happened and what is being done about it. Well, first, you can’t talk about the decline of the inner cities without looking at the growth of the suburbs, because the two are connected. There was—and still is— a huge demand for suburban housing in the last 30, 40 years or so. So what we’ve seen all over the country is a lot of development of areas just outside of cities—areas that were once farmlands—acres and acres of land just given over to suburban housing. We call it “suburban sprawl” because of the way the houses are kind of spread out all over the countryside. As the suburbs grew, the inner cities declined. Well, you can imagine how this happens. When people move to the suburbs it’s more convenient for them to shop at the shopping malls closer to home. So the department stores in the downtown area, they don’t get as much business, and maybe eventually they have to close. You see this particularly in small and mid-size towns. You might have an area that has quite a large population, but the downtown is dead—especially at night. As a result of that, we’ve had growing crime rates and poverty in downtown areas. So people are afraid to go there at night, and there ends up being less cultural life in these towns. So city planners have been trying to attract people back to the cities. It’s become a necessity, really, because you can’t keep building suburbs forever, and people don’t want to commute two or more hours to get to their jobs. They want to come back to live in the cities, but you have to make the conditions right. So how do you do that? Well, city planners are using an approach called “smart growth” as a way to plan neighborhoods and revitalize inner cities. I’ll explain some of the main characteristics of smart growth.
First, smart growth encourages diversity of use. For example, many planners believe now that it’s healthy to have some light manufacturing—say, bakeries or printing presses—mixed in with retail and residential buildings, all together in the same area, and one reason to do this is that a street has people in it all day long. You’ve got the people who work there during the day and the people who live there coming back in the evenings. The area is used more. Sidewalks are busy. This makes it possible for stores and restaurants to open up to serve all these people, which in turn encourages more people, and then that makes a neighborhood more attractive. OK, secondly, you want to have diversity of housing. Instead of having streets and streets of identical houses, like you have in the suburbs, you would have a mix of single-family homes, townhouses, and apartment buildings that would encourage a wider range of people—in terms of ages and income levels—to live in an area so people can stay in a community. They can move up to a larger house, or move to a smaller house when they get older, without leaving the community. The other big aspect of smart growth is to make it possible for people to walk to schools, public libraries, stores, and so on. So you put these things within walking distance of residential neighborhoods. It’s also important to have attractive places outside—places to gather or sit and relax. This brings people out onto the streets. And streets that have people in them are safer streets. When you have safer streets, you have more people wanting to live downtown. And that causes a demand for more housing, and that in turn revitalizes inner cities even more. Now one city where this kind of thing is being done is Pittsburgh. Let’s have a look at some photographs that were taken . . .
4 Listening Practice B Listening for Main Ideas (p. 6) A = Host, B = Charles Ong
A: Public spaces are the places where we interact with other people in our community: streets, shopping malls, public parks, and so on. Public spaces have a huge impact on the quality of life of the people who
Open Forum: Transcripts 17
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use them, especially in cities. Today we’re going to talk about parks. Our guest is Charles Ong from the Parks Planning Association, and he’s going to tell us what makes a good public park. Welcome to the program. Thank you. First of all, is there such a thing as a bad public park? I mean, aren’t all parks good? Well, no. I think if you think about it, some parks just don’t work for one reason or another. They’re not used, or they’re used for criminal activity. They’re usually empty. They’ve got litter and graffiti, or they’re just a green space put there with nothing to attract people. Now that you mention it, I can think of a few places like that! A good public park or any public space—doesn’t have to be a park—is above all, attractive. People want to go there. Give me an example of a public park that works. Oh, there are lots. Central Park, in New York, for example, is a great park. There’s a lot to do there. You’ve got several museums right around it, and in the park itself you have the Children’s Zoo, you have an outdoor theater, you have a skating rink, lots of playgrounds, community centers, and so on—all of that brings people in. Same kind of thing with Boston Common, Balboa Park in San Diego, the Lakefront in Chicago. I could go on. But what about smaller parks? You can’t always have an art museum or a zoo. No, but the principle is the same. If you’re designing a smaller park, you still need to provide enough activities. And what you want to do is connect the activities to each other. For example, let’s say you have a park with a playground in one corner, and a fountain in the middle. Well, that’s nice, but there’s not enough there to attract people. But if you link the two together—say you make a water feature in the playground, or you make the fountain safe so that kids can play in it in the summer—and if you add some good seating where people can watch both areas, then you provide more reasons for people to go there. And if you add a food stand, then you’re getting somewhere. Food always attracts people. Right, I get it. You want to have it used by different kinds of people. You want children, and older people, and women— and that, by the way, is often a good indicator of how successful a city park is. What? Women? Yeah, women and elderly people. Women are generally more aware of their surroundings. They’re much less likely to sit down or relax in public area if they feel uncomfortable. Right. Now that I think of it, some places don’t even provide places to sit. Yeah, seating is a big thing. A lot of parks don’t have enough seating, or it’s uncomfortable, or the seats are
18 Open Forum: Transcripts
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out in the wind or the sun. Ideally, people should be able to move the seats around. You get that in some parks in Europe. People can pick up a chair and move it wherever they want. But that raises some security issues. Yes. It’s only possible where there’s a fairly good security presence. What about access to a park? You know when you spend ages trying to find the way in into a park? I’ve had that experience. Yeah, when you’re walking around and around looking for the entrance. Yeah. That’s a problem sometimes. But it’s not just that. Even if the entrance is visible, the interior has to be visible too. You have to be able to see what’s inside. You don’t want people feeling afraid to go in there, like they’re going to be mugged or something. It has to be welcoming. You need to see where the paths go too, right? So you can say, “Oh, I’ll take a shortcut through the park, and that will take me over there, or over there”? Right. And one thing that drives me crazy in public parks is paths that don’t lead to anywhere, or that don’t go where people want to go. They’re just there for the sake of it. You want paths that attract people and pull them along. It seems so obvious. You’d think so, wouldn’t you? But a lot of parks are put in with very little consideration of how to make them work.
Chapter 2
Psychology 2 Listening Practice B Listening for Main Ideas (p. 11) A = Host, B = Dr. Lynette Han
A: Hello, and welcome to our show. Our guest today is Dr. Lynette Han, a psychologist who does research into happiness. She spends a lot of time studying people’s level of enjoyment during various activities, and she’s especially interested in something called “flow.” Dr. Han, could you explain what flow is? B: Yes, it’s a concept described by a psychologist named Mihaly Csikszentmihlayi. He talks about states of optimal experience, where people say they experience feelings of deep concentration and enjoyment during activities. A: Can you give us an example? B: Of course. Do you have an activity that you really enjoy? A: Well I like a lot of sports and I love cooking. B: OK, take cooking. Think about making a meal. If you ever get so absorbed in preparing the food that you
A: B:
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lose all awareness of time and other things around you—when you are concentrating so deeply that you completely forget all your problems—then you’re probably experiencing flow. Oh, I’ve had that happen, especially when I’m trying a new recipe. Yes, you’re more likely to experience flow with a new recipe because that challenges you. According to Dr. Csikszentmihlayi, one of the requirements for a state of optimal experience is that the activity has to be challenging and require skills. So, you would use your cooking skills in a new recipe and it would be challenging because you hadn’t done it before. Other requirements are deep concentration, a merging of action and awareness, a sense of control, clear goals, and immediate feedback. Are there only certain types of activities where this can happen, or can it happen with any activity? Well, flow can happen with a lot of different activities, from reading, to playing chess, to rock climbing; however, if you look at the requirements we just talked about, some activities wouldn’t fit. Think of watching TV, for example. You might concentrate deeply on watching a TV program, but there’s really no skill involved and it’s unlikely to be challenging. Dr. Csikszentmihlayi actually uses a chart to show the relationship between challenge and skill that is necessary for flow to happen. It involves low levels of boredom and worry, and high but balanced levels of skill and challenge. OK. I was a little surprised to see that reading is an activity that could create a state of flow, but now I understand. Reading involves some level of skill and challenge in terms of understanding language, whereas watching TV doesn’t typically offer that. Yes, that’s right. Really there are so many activities that can lead to flow: singing, skiing, painting, and a lot of games that we play. Is experiencing flow the same as feeling happy? No, there’s definitely a difference. If you’re in a state of flow, you’re attention is so focused that you aren’t even aware of how you feel about the situation. Reflecting on whether you feel happy or not would mean you were out of flow. It’s only later, after the state has passed, that you can be aware of the pleasure of that state. So, in that way it’s different from flow. And you can feel happy without experiencing flow. For example, sitting on a beach might make you feel happy but not necessarily create a state of flow. Why does all this matter? Well, I believe, as Dr. Csikszentmihlayi does, that experiences of flow are pleasurable for people and contribute to quality of life. So, if people are more aware of which experiences produce this state, they can work toward including more of them in their lives. Well, thank you, Dr. Han. We’re going to take a break right now. . . .
4 Listening Practice B Listening for Main Ideas (p. 14) A = Interviewer, B = Julia
A: OK, Julia. Now, from your responses it looks like, of the daily activities like housework and driving, you’ve rated driving as giving you quite high levels of enjoyment, motivation, and concentration. B: Yes, I was surprised when I looked at my answers too. I wouldn’t have expected it, but now I realize that driving is actually usually pleasant for me I mean, obviously not when there’s a huge traffic jam or anything, but otherwise I enjoy it. I concentrate on driving, which usually means that I can’t worry about all my everyday concerns and problems. I have about a half-hour drive to and from work, so it allows me to get ready for work on the way there and then relax and wind down on the way home. I’m by myself and I usually listen to music or interesting programs on the radio. So, I guess, all in all, it’s a pretty pleasant experience for me. A: Another activity with high ratings was doing a hobby. You indicate that you play the guitar? B: Yes. I was thinking of that when I answered the questions. I usually play the guitar at least three times a week. I play in a group with friends, and I play by myself, too. I have to concentrate when I play, and I’m usually motivated too—I don’t want to make a lot of mistakes when I play with my friends. I just love playing. When we get going on a new song, I just forget everything else that’s going on. A: Overall, doing housework didn’t rate very high. B: No. Housework of any kind isn’t a favorite for me. B = Leo A: It looks like working with computers rated highly for you, Leo. Do you work with computers at your job, or is it a hobby? B: Actually, both. I just love computers so much that there isn’t really that much difference between work and play for me when it comes to computers. Computer programming is my job, but I also play a lot of computer games when I’m not working. A friend and I are actually working on developing our own game to sell. I guess some people might see that as work, but for us it’s fun. We get together and start discussing it or working on it, and we can go for hours and hours without stopping. We sometimes stay up until three or four in the morning if we’re trying to solve a problem or something. A: Well, speaking of friends, it also looks like you rate socializing highly too. B: Yes. It might be a little surprising since many people think that people who love computers don’t socialize, but my friends are really important to me, and we get together a lot. Of course, we talk about computers an awful lot, but we talk about other things, too.
Open Forum: Transcripts 19
B = Annie A: OK, it seems like you enjoy really active things, Annie? B: Yes, definitely. I like almost any kind sport, really, and I do them as much as possible. Soccer, tennis, running, whatever. A: Do you prefer individual or team sports? B: Well, both, really. It depends on the mood I’m in. I play soccer at least once a week, so that’s a team sport. But then, I also run about three times a week, and that’s something I do alone. So I guess it’s probably pretty much a mix of both. A: What about your job? You’ve rated it in the middle. B: Yeah. I’m an elementary school teacher, and I like that, but then I also coach some school sports teams: basketball and soccer. I get enjoyment from teaching, but I think I like coaching more. A: What about activities that are less active? Do you participate in any? B: Not very often. I’m home a few evenings a week, and sometimes I sit down and watch TV, but it’s not all that often. B = Robert A: So, Robert, a lot of people don’t find pleasure in housework, but it looks like you rate washing dishes pretty high. B: Yes, I know it might seem a little strange. I’m an executive with a high-pressure job. I’m busy all the time, and I like doing dishes? But, it’s relaxing for me, and it often turns out to be good thinking time. I’m surprised at how often I come up with solutions to problems while I’m washing dishes. Then, it’s always satisfying when I finish and everything is completely clean. A: It looks like work—your job—has a medium rating. B: Yes. As I said, I have a pretty high-pressure job. I like it and I’m good at it, but it’s challenging, and the stress gets to me. So I’m usually really happy when the weekends come. A: And what do you like to do on weekends? B: Well, I’m pretty busy. I have an old house that I’m fixing up. I’m doing all the work myself, so there’s always something to do on that. I enjoy bicycling too, and since I don’t have a lot of time during the week, I try to ride a lot on weekends.
5 Pronunciation Exercise 2 (p. 16) See underlined extract from the interview above with Annie.
6 Speaking Skills Exercise 1 (p. 16) See underlined extract from the interview above with Robert.
20 Open Forum: Transcripts
Chapter 3
Food Science 2 Listening Practice B Listening for Main Ideas (p. 20) For many years, scientists have believed in the “wisdom of the body,” the idea that our bodies know what they need to stay healthy. So, by this theory, when we’re hungry for a certain food, it’s just our bodies letting us know that we need a specific nutrient. For example, you might crave steak because you need protein. But this idea doesn’t cover the reality of our eating habits. So much of what we love to eat—think of cookies or French fries—doesn’t offer much nutrition. And many people don’t like foods that offer lots of vitamins—think of spinach or broccoli. So, the idea that eating only supports life doesn’t really offer a full explanation of our eating patterns. For a long time, there was a lot about our eating habits that was not fully understood by scientists, but in the last few years, new studies have given researchers more information. One discovery is that humans are born loving sweetness. On its first day of life, a newborn baby will prefer sweetened drinks to unsweetened ones. Sugar can even block out pain. Doctors have found that babies won’t mind the pain of a needle for an injection as much if they are given some sugar beforehand. Then there are sour tastes. It’s often surprising how much young children love sour flavors. Think of how many kinds of candy for children with really sour flavors there are: lemon, sour apple, and so on. Candy companies must have realized this a while ago, but it was only recently that science confirmed it. A study found that children between the ages of five and nine years old actually enjoy the flavor of concentrated citric acid, and citric acid makes things sour. In contrast, bitter flavors are mainly appreciated by older adults. Children and pregnant women usually dislike bitter tastes. This is probably because bitterness can be a sign of toxicity—that something could be harmful—which would be more important during times of growth and development. However, as people get older, they often develop more of a taste for foods with a little bitterness. Scientists think this could make sense because foods like broccoli or dark chocolate—both of which have a slightly bitter flavor—usually also contain antioxidants that help fight diseases like cancer.
So there are similarities in taste preferences, but then why are our individual preferences so different? One explanation is that our preferences are shaped by our flavor experiences at a very early age, including before we’re born. For example, one study found that if a pregnant woman drank carrot juice late in pregnancy, her six-month-old baby liked carrot-flavored cereal more than other six-month-old babies. Another area of difference involves food cravings— intense and specific desires for a certain food. Scientists now believe these are also probably more related to childhood and culture than to some kind of biological need for vitamins. A study by psychologists on three continents—in the countries of Egypt, Spain, and the United States— looked at cravings by both men and women. Before the study, one assumption was that women universally crave chocolate, however, while the study found that women often crave sweeter food than men, there were differences regarding chocolate. In Spain, both men and women were found to crave chocolate. But in Egypt, only six percent of women named chocolate as a favorite food. So a conclusion is that cravings are not universal or based on biology, but are more the result of our cultural experiences with food. Now family and culture don’t explain all of our individual differences in food preferences. Obviously, there are people who have dramatically different preferences from their parents. So there’s still more to learn. Scientists are now paying a lot more attention to the psychology of food choice. They may find that what we think about food could turn out to be as important as what we actually put in our mouths and eat.
3 Vocabulary Exercise 1 (p. 22)
A: Let’s go to The Tea House. I’d love to have a cup of tea. B: Not coffee? I prefer drinking coffee. A: No, I don’t feel like having coffee right now. I’d like to have a nice cup of tea. B: OK. Where do you want to go? Can we go somewhere that has coffee too? A: Sure. But, let’s not go to Coffee Corner. It’s always crowded and I can’t stand waiting in line. How about Zeno’s? B: Oh yes, that’s a good place—if you don’t mind sitting at small tables. A: That’s OK.
4 Listening Practice B Listening for Main Ideas (p. 23) A = Host, B = Roger Sabarta
A: Good morning. Today we’re going to talk about one of my favorite topics: food. It’s something we can’t live without, yet we might take it for granted in some ways. Have you ever stopped to think about how our appetites and eating habits have changed, or for that matter, considered how these habits might change in the future? Our guest today is Roger Sabarta, a food scientist who’s done a lot of research in these areas. Welcome Mr. Sabarta. B: Thanks for having me. A: So what’s one of the biggest changes in eating habits that you’ve found? B: Well, I’d say that the biggest change, and really the one that also has the most implications for health and things like that, is the amount of eating out that most of us do nowadays. In 1955 the percentage of food budgets spent away from home was 19 percent, and in 1997 it was 38 percent . . . and it just keeps going up. A: I’d never really thought of it, but of course, thinking of my parents and how often they were likely to eat out compared to me in my life, well, it’s a lot different. B: Exactly. And then kids nowadays eat out even more often. In the same 42 years from 1955 to 1997, fast food consumption increased 166 percent for teenage boys. A: One-hundred and sixty-six percent? Wow! So teenage boys are eating a lot more fast food than they used to! B: Yes, it’s really striking. Now think of some of the effects of this change in habit. A: I’d guess it probably isn’t all that healthy. B: Not really. For example, there’s soda and soft drinks versus milk. Twenty or 25 years ago, people— especially kids—drank a lot more milk. Nowadays, people drink about twice as much soda as they used to and a lot less milk. A: And that’s because of eating out so much? B: Yes, at least to some extent. Of course there are other factors contributing to this. The amount of advertising done by the food and drink industry goes up every year, so that certainly has an effect as well. A: Does your research suggest that this trend will continue? B: Pretty much so. The strongest influence that we see on this is income. If people have more income, they usually eat out more. However, one factor that could affect this is age. Older people typically eat out less than younger people, and since we expect the population of older people to increase, this could result in smaller numbers for eating out. A: Unless of course older people change their habits and eat out more. B: Absolutely. It’s certainly possible. A: What else does your research predict for the future? B: Well, a demand for more variety in foods is definitely one thing. We’ve already seen this change and we
Transcripts 21
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A: B:
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expect it to continue. Just think of the variety of types of food available in supermarkets and restaurants these days. You mean like Mexican food or Chinese food and things like that? Or Indian food, or Thai food, and so on. Hmm, yes. There are so many different types of restaurants in my area compared to ten years ago. I assume this is because of immigration? Yes, that’s right. As new populations come to the United States, of course they bring food traditions and preferences, so this definitely influences food trends. And these can be positive influences. For example, the consumption of citrus fruit is expected to rise over the next twenty years or so because of consumers coming from places where fruit is a big part of the diet. Well, that would be good. Another aspect of this is that people just want variety. They may love a special new flavor of potato chip, but after a while, it becomes a little boring and they start looking for another new flavor. So this will also produce continued variety in food options. It seems like we already see this a lot. There’s one flavor of something and then they have to make lots of different flavors. Yes, that’s right. Were there any surprises in your predictions? Well, I was a little surprised that we expect people to want quality more than quantity in the future. You know everyone seems to want quantity right now—larger hamburgers, more French fries, and so on—but our analysis suggests that this will change, that people will ask for more quality. For example, they might want a special type of meat, rather than just a hamburger and things like that. Yes, that is a little surprising. Well, we have to stop here. Thank you very much, Mr. Sabarta.
6 Speaking Skills Exercise 1 (p. 25) A = Interviewer, B = Interviewee
A: So how would you say your eating habits have changed in the past year? B: Hmm, Let me think, Well, I’ve been trying to eat healthier foods, so I’ve been eating more fruits and vegetables. But I . . . I have to eat out . . . eat out a lot for work, so it’s sometimes a little hard. A: Is there anything else that’s changed? B: Let’s see. I gave up eating chocolate for a while, but, well, I still do eat it occasionally.
22 Open Forum: Transcripts
Chapter 4
Visual Art 2 Listening Practice B Focus on the Listening Skill (p. 28) A = Host, B = Sandra Ellis
A: Today we’re going to take a look at the latest hot trend among art collectors: Aboriginal art from Australia. My guest today is Sandra Ellis, who is the owner and curator of the Pine Lake Museum of Aboriginal Art. Welcome to the program. B: Thank you. A: Firstly, why do you think Aboriginal art has become so popular? B: Well, one reason is that it’s very old. The Aboriginal people . . . they’re the original native Australians. They live far from civilization, and they’ve had very little contact with outsiders, so they’ve maintained their culture—and their art—for generations. You can go to remote areas in Australia and see rock carvings that date back at least thirty . . . 30,000 years. And you can look at the paintings today and these are done by the direct descendants of the prehistoric people. And you’ll see the same images, the same symbols used in the art today. They’ve survived for thousands of years. A: I understand the art is connected to the belief system of the people in some way. B: Yes. To understand the art, you need to know a little bit about the beliefs of the Aboriginal people. All of the paintings refer to what they call “The Dream Time.” A: And what is that? B: The Dream Time refers to the time when—according to the Aboriginal people—the world was created and mythical figures, spirits and animals, wandered around the Earth. The people have stories about these figures and what they did. They didn’t have a written language, so the stories were passed down from generation to generation, and the old people used the art as a way of telling the stories to the younger people. That’s why most of the artists are older people. They’ve memorized the stories. Through the art, the people kept the stories alive. A: What does a typical Aboriginal painting look like? B: Well, you have different local styles, but what you generally see is lots of . . . lots of lines and dots and circles. So the effect is quite abstract and usually quite colorful. But you’ll notice shapes and symbols that recur again and again. For example, there’s a snake, which may represent water, or a river snaking through the desert. Other figures might represent animals or people. Some paintings work almost like maps: they show a particular place, with water holes, and hills, and camps even. These kinds of paintings are about a Dream Time story that happened in a particular place, but some of them also give information about the place, like the locations of water holes, and trails, and so on.
A: I see. B: But the important thing is that for the artists, the art itself—the product—is really not important. It’s the doing of the art—the process—that’s important. Traditionally the paintings were done as part of a ceremony, and they were done as body painting, or on the ground, and then they were washed away. So they were temporary. It’s only recently, since the 1970s in fact, that the art has ever been done on canvas or paper, so that it can be kept and collected. But it’s still the process, really, that matters to the artists. A: And yet their work now sells for tens of thousands of dollars. B: Hundreds of thousands! Yes. One major painting sold for nearly $500,000 recently. There are artists’ co-operatives all over Australia, and collectors come from all over the world now. But thirty years ago, you couldn’t give the paintings away. It’s only been recently that the art, and the culture really, has come to be recognized and valued for what it is.
4 Listening Practice B Listening for Main Ideas (p. 32) Now here you’re looking at one of the most well-known paintings in the United States—maybe the most wellknown. Now if you haven’t seen the painting itself, you’ve probably seen imitations of it in advertising and popular culture in general. It’s been reproduced on posters, and T-shirts, and cartoons. And a lot of famous people have had their photograph taken in this pose. So it’s really an American icon. American Gothic: It was painted in 1930 by Grant Wood. Wood was a self-taught painter from the Midwest. He was from Cedar Rapids—that’s a small town in Iowa. He was well known locally and a lot of his work is landscapes of the local country, farming country. Wood’s style is kind of folksy, a bit like folk art, but he was really more sophisticated than that. He traveled to Europe several times, and he was influenced by Dutch and German art that he saw there, particularly 16thcentury Dutch portraits, the ones that showed people standing in their homes, in their natural surroundings, holding some kind of significant object. And you can see that influence here, in this painting, where the man is holding a pitchfork. As you can see, the painting shows a couple standing in front of a house with a gothic window in the background. Gothic in the title first and foremost refers to the style of the window in the house . . . like a church. When we think of gothic windows, we usually think of the grand cathedrals of Europe, but here the windows are in a very ordinary looking house.
It’s actually not clear whether the couple is supposed to be husband and wife. Some people say that, and others say they’re father and daughter. This is one of the mysteries about this painting. Wood never said who they were supposed to be. What we do know is that the models for the painting were Wood’s sister, who was thirty at the time, and his dentist, who was 62. At one point Wood suggested that they were father and daughter, but that might have been to spare his sister’s feelings, because maybe he didn’t want to suggest that she was as old as the dentist. We don’t actually know. The man and woman are wearing old-fashioned clothes. Remember this painting was done in 1930, but the clothes are more like what people might have worn in the 1890s. The woman has a dress with a pattern and with ruffles on it. You can imagine she probably made it herself. And the man is wearing a black jacket, farmer’s overalls, and an old-fashioned type of shirt without a collar. He’s holding a pitchfork, which is a symbol of an old-fashioned kind of farming. In the background, you can see the house with the gothic window, and there’s some plants on the porch downstairs. Now, if you look at the detail of the painting, you’ll see that the gothic lines in the window are also in the faces of the people themselves. They’re kind of elongated. And the lines are sort of repeated in the pitchfork and in the lines of the man’s shirt. So it’s not just the house. The Gothic theme is repeated in other parts of the picture. For most people, the interesting thing about the picture is the expressions on the faces of the couple . . . because, although the style . . . of the painting is like folk art or something like that, the people aren’t idealized in any way. They look sort of unfriendly . . . you get the feeling that you’re not welcome. They’re kind of shutting you out. It’s like . . . they’re defending their world from outsiders. The man looks as if he’d use that pitchfork as a weapon if necessary . . . . And the woman looks . . . kind of suspicious . . . . It’s as if she’s worrying about somebody stealing her laundry or something. Because of the expressions on the faces and because of the title of the painting, there was some bad . . . some negative reaction to it at the time. The word Gothic has a lot of kind of different connotations, but some of the meanings are dark, a little scary. And then other people point out that there’s a contrast between the marvelous Gothic architecture in Europe, where you have all these beautiful cathedrals, and the architecture of the house here. Many people think that Grant Wood was being ironic, poking fun at farmers or people in small towns. He himself said that that was not his intention. But then, you know, he had to live there. He had to live in a small
Open Forum: Transcripts 23
town, so he couldn’t say anything else. The painting went on to become one of America’s most famous paintings, but there’s always been this mystery about it. What was the artist really trying to say? Nobody really knows for sure. What do you think?
C Listening for More Detail
Researchers have long searched the natural world— forests, swamps and rainforests—for substances to use in medicine. In fact, more than half of all prescription drugs are derived from naturally occurring products. And now scientists are looking to the oceans for their research.
Did you know that water covers about 71 percent of Earth’s surface? Yes, 71 percent. And 97 percent of that water is in the oceans, so it’s not surprising that oceans support the greatest variety of life on the planet. And now new technologies allow researchers to go deeper into the ocean, deeper than they’ve ever been able to go. And as a result, it’s possible to study fish and other sea life that they’ve never been able to study before. So scientists hope this will offer new, and possibly enormous, resources for the medical field.
Now, you may not realize it, but there are already some medical substances in use today that were derived from the sea. The horseshoe crab, a very old— actually ancient—marine creature, is one of the most famous examples. In the 1950s, scientists discovered that the blood of the horseshoe crab could protect it from bacteria, and they realized that this could be helpful in medical procedures for humans. As a result, it’s now commonly used in hospitals to test for contamination that would be harmful to humans. Current research focuses on a wide range of ocean life: from fish to coral, to whales, to mud on the bottom of the ocean.
One example is the skate fish. The skate fish has unique eyes and can see in total darkness. Researchers are studying how the eyes of this fish work with the hope of learning more about eye disease in humans, which often leads to blindness.
Another fish that scientists want to learn about is the toadfish. The toadfish is a very unattractive fish, but it interests scientists because it can swim incredibly fast . . . about 40 times faster than a world-class human sprinter. Researchers are studying the anatomy of the fish in the hopes of being able to use what they learn to help with, among other things, heart disease in humans. It makes sense that muscles that can work as fast as a toadfish’s might give researchers clues about how to help human muscles that are failing from disease.
There’s also a snail that scientists believe will offer a new painkiller. And then there’s coral. There are substances from coral that researchers hope might offer a way to combat cancer. And finally, a possible innovation in washing clothes: a bacteria from whales that helps break down oily stains in laundry. Obviously, this might help make a better laundry detergent some day.
Exercise 2 (p. 32) See underlined extract from the lecture on page 23.
5 Pronunciation Exercise 3 (p. 33)
1. 2. 3. 4: 5.
He was an American painter. His sister was probably the model. It’s a famous photograph. Who is the woman supposed to be? It’s a bit of a mystery.
6 Speaking Skills Exercise 2 (p. 34) For most people, the interesting thing about the picture is the expressions on the faces of the couple . . . because, although the . . . style of the painting is like folk art or something like that, the people aren’t idealized in any way. They look sort of unfriendly . . . you get the feeling that you’re not welcome. They’re kind of shutting you out. It’s like . . . they’re defending their world from outsiders. The man looks as if he’d use that pitchfork as a weapon if necessary . . . . And the woman looks . . . . kind of suspicious . . . . It’s as if she’s worrying about somebody stealing her laundry or something.
Chapter 5
Life Science 2 Listening Practice B Listening for Main Ideas (p. 38) A = Host, B = Tanya Ruiz
A: Good morning and welcome to Science World. Our first story today takes us into the water, actually to the bottom of the ocean in some cases. Tanya Ruiz has an interesting story about oceans and medical research. B: Hello. So many of us love the ocean. We love going to the beach and enjoying the sun, sand, and water. But, how often do you stop and think about how important oceans are? Not only do they provide a place for recreation, but they also give us food and energy, and, more and more, oceans offer the possibility of new information for treating human disease, as well as new medicines.
24 Open Forum: Transcripts
So, there’s a lot of variety in the research. Some scientists caution that this is all a very slow process, and that we have to be careful. It could take years for any one thing to be tested and proven safe and useful, but many researchers are still excited and hopeful. And then, of course, everyone is aware that it’s important to protect the oceans when we do this work. But this gives us all a little more to think about next time we’re lying on a beach in the sun. This is Tanya Ruiz for Science World.
D Focus on the Listening Skill Exercise 2 (p. 40)
1. In the 1950s, scientists discovered that the blood of the horseshoe crab could protect it from bacteria, and they realized that this could be helpful in medical procedures for humans. As a result, it’s now commonly used in hospitals to test for contamination that would be harmful to humans. 2. . . . with the hope of learning more about eye disease in humans, which often leads to blindness. 3. It makes sense that muscles that can work as fast as a toadfish’s might give researchers clues about how to help human muscles that are failing from disease. 4. There are substances from coral that researchers hope might offer a way to combat cancer. 5. . . . a bacteria from whales that helps break down oily stains in laundry.
4 Listening Practice B Listening for Main Ideas (p. 42) Hello everyone. Welcome to the condor station. I’d like to give you a little bit of history and background for our condor recovery program, and then I’ll answer any questions you might have. I’ll start with some history. In 1987, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service captured the last condor in the wild and put it into a breeding program. Imagine, that was the last wild condor, and no one knew if the species could recover. Fortunately, the surviving condors mated and produced offspring. Now after more than 17 years, there are 149 condors living in captivity and 99 flying free in California, Arizona, and Baja, Mexico. More birds are being released into the wild whenever possible, and we know that at least five pairs of birds are mating in the wild. So that’s good news. Now you can guess that we’d want to keep track of the birds in the wild. So how do we do that? We’ve
used different tracking systems, but now GPS—global positioning systems—attached to the birds give us our best information. Just so you can appreciate our work, think of trying to attach one of the units to a bird with a nine-foot wingspan. Those wings could come close to knocking you out, and the beak is as sharp as the sharpest knife in your kitchen. This part of the job can be challenging. Anyway, GPS gives us a lot of data: geographic coordinates within 14 feet for up to 16 hours a day. This is very specific and useful information. One thing we’ve learned is that condors fly a lot more distance in any day than we ever knew. We’ve also discovered something that is very interesting and potentially even more helpful. We’ve found that the species is intelligent and much more complicated than we thought. Until now, we hadn’t really known how much condors actually have to learn to survive in the wild, but we now know that they do indeed have to learn to survive. An example of this comes from one of the mistakes we made in the early days of raising baby condors. We had humans taking care of the babies. The people wore puppets on their hands that looked like adult condors, but they didn’t act like parent condors. They just used the puppets to give the babies food. Then, those babies were put together with other babies and had no contact with adult condors. Now what we realized later was that, because of this approach, the baby condors didn’t learn to be afraid of people. After they were released, they would approach people without any fear at all, begging for food at campgrounds and things like that. They acted like pets instead of wild animals. Obviously, this wasn’t good. After watching adult condors with babies, we realized that the parent condors taught the babies a lot about being cautious and defending themselves. The parent condors spent a lot of time harassing their babies— pecking at them and pushing them away when they’re too curious—and this teaches them to be careful and to protect themselves. So now we consider this in raising baby condors. All the babies in the program are raised either by an adult condor or by a human wearing a puppet that looks like a condor. The humans are trained to act like a parent condor—as I said, pecking and harassing the babies. We’ve found that baby condors raised in this way— actually taught to be cautious—are much more likely to avoid humans.
Open Forum: Transcripts 25
Another area we’ve learned a lot about because of the GPS monitoring is the way groups of condors relate and work together. Condors are scavengers, so they need to look for dead animals to eat. Now you’ve probably never thought of it, but that’s not the same as an animal that hunts for food. Think about it. A scavenger is dependent on finding a dead animal to eat at the right time, or it goes hungry. So what we found is that condors actually share information about good locations for food. There’s actually a kind of apprenticeship where condors work together. A more experienced bird helps a less experienced bird learn where to find food. It’s not really something you’d imagine birds doing, is it? Another surprising point is how social these birds are. Through the information from GPS units, we’ve found that birds actually do like to socialize. One group of birds will travel about 160 miles down the coast to visit another group and hang out. That’s something many of us can relate to, although we might not travel 160 miles all that often, even to visit a good friend. So that’s some background on the condors. Why is this work important? Well, first of course we’d like to have wild condors living without interference from us. But in a broader sense, we can always learn. As I’ve mentioned, we’ve found that condors are very intelligent, and their lives are more complex than we’d realized. So we never know what else we might learn, or how this information might apply to other animals’ problems, or even people’s problems, for that matter.
D Working Out Unknown Vocabulary (p. 43)
1. Fortunately, the surviving condors mated and produced offspring. 2. We had humans taking care of the babies. The people wore puppets on their hands that looked like adult condors, but they didn’t act like parent condors. They just used the puppets to give the babies food. 3. The parent condors spent a lot of time harassing their babies—pecking at them and pushing them away when they’re too curious. 4. Condors are scavengers, so they need to look for dead animals to eat.
5 Pronunciation Exercise 1 (p. 44)
1. They’re monitoring the condors. 2. The GPS unit gives us data. 3. They learn a lot about condors.
Exercise 2 (p. 44)
1. We’ve learned that the birds fly long distances.
26 Open Forum: Transcripts
2. These wings could come close to knocking you out. 3. Parent condors spend a lot of time harassing their babies. 4. This teaches them to be careful. 5. We consider this in raising baby condors. 6. The condors socialize together.
6 Speaking Skills Exercise 1 (p. 44) Q = Question, A = Answer (Biologist)
Q1: How many condors did you say are living in the wild? A: I said . . . Q2: Could you explain again how you attach the GPS units to the condors? It sounds dangerous. A: Yes, of course . . . Q3: Can you give another example of how the birds learn? A: Oh yes . . . Q4: What did you mean when you said the species is more intelligent and complicated than you thought? A: Well . . .
Chapter 6
Social Studies 2 Listening Practice B Listening for Main Ideas (p. 47) OK, today we’re going to look at the differences between the United States and Europe in terms of working hours and time off. As you’ve seen from the figures, there’s a substantial difference. Europeans, on average, work less than we do in the United States. They have a shorter workweek and better, longer vacations, and this does not seem to be changing in the near future. I’m going to suggest two reasons for this and then we’ll open it up for discussion. OK, first I’d like to point out that it wasn’t . . . it hasn’t actually always been like this. In fact, it’s a fairly recent trend. It was American companies that introduced the two-week vacation first. And the 40-hour work week, in fact. Also, in the 1930s they introduced a 40-hour week at Henry Ford’s motor plants, and that was before, well, before most European countries. A lot of Europeans didn’t get all Saturdays off until the 1960s or . . . even the ’70s. So it’s only been in the last 30 or 40 years, in fact, that you see Europeans with . . . passing us in terms of leisure time.
So what happened to cause this? Well, there are two factors that I’d like to talk about, to do with European attitudes, and the other one to do with the American workplace. Oh, and when I say American here, I mean the United States. I’m not talking about Canada here. Anyway, first the Europeans have legislation. They’ve introduced laws around leisure time. For example, in the 1990s the French government reduced the work week to 35 hours. The European Union actually requires now four weeks paid leave every year for all employees. Many countries have more than that. Workers have bargained for five weeks, in countries like Germany and Italy. And that time is very important to European workers. If you ever go to Europe in August, you notice it immediately: almost everything is shut down, and everyone’s on vacation. Now if you look at the countries that have not had legislation, these are precisely the places where people tend to work longer hours. Britain is an example. They work longer hours there than in the rest of Europe. But they still work less—much less—than Americans do. They expect their four-week vacation in the summer, and if you took that away, people would get very upset. Compare that to the United States. Well, here it’s up to the employer to provide or not provide that vacation time. So while some employers do indeed provide excellent benefits of all kinds, including vacation time for their employees, the majority stick to the standard two weeks. And something like twenty-two and a half million private sector employees don’t get any paid vacation at all. Now let’s turn to the other factor in all of this, and that’s the American workplace. The situation here is that there’s less job security and workplaces are more competitive. So companies can demand more. It’s not unusual to see . . . for companies to demand more than 50 hours a week from top people. And workers are afraid of losing their jobs, so they want the boss to see them working hard. So in some cases even though they’re getting the vacation time, they don’t . . . they’re not taking it. There’s too much pressure, and that’s happening at all income levels. European workers tend to have more job security. So I’ve described the main reasons for the differences between Europe and the United States in terms of working hours and leisure time. But really what it really comes down to is, I think, the Europeans have made a choice. Both Europe and the United States have become more prosperous, but the Europeans have chosen to take their prosperity in time, whereas Americans seem to just want to work harder and harder.
4 Listening Practice B Listening for Main Ideas (p. 51) A = Host, B = Man, C = Woman, D = Jenny Huang
A: Good morning, and welcome to the program. According to a report out this week, the United States is still a nation of entrepreneurs: the number of singleperson businesses, or people who are self-employed, has increased to seventeen and a half million, up from seventeen million last year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. This morning, we look at the trend towards self-employment and freelancing that’s happening all over the United States. But first, let’s go out on the street and talk to some people who are on the front lines. What do you do? B: I have three different jobs. I’m a substitute teacher, I write for a web site, and I volunteer at an art museum. A: Wow. How do you juggle all that? B: Well, it’s not all that bad. I only teach for a couple of days a week, two or three days a week, usually. And I do the web site work at home . . . often during the evenings. So there’s not that much conflict. You could call it variety. A: So you enjoy working in three different places? B: Right now, yeah. I . . . I really do. Especially with the teaching. When you’re a sub, you don’t get . . . you don’t get involved in the day-to-day stuff, or the paperwork, or the politics. You just go in and do the job, and then you go home. And it’s flexible. If I don’t want to work, I don’t have to. But if I feel that I need to work more, I ask for more teaching hours. If I had a full-time job, I think I’d get burned out. And I wouldn’t be able to do the other work, which I really enjoy. A: What about health benefits? B: Well, I get health insurance through my wife’s job, so I don’t have to worry about that. A: Tell me about your job. C: I’ve just set up my own baking business. I make cakes for special occasions—weddings and that sort of thing. A: Really? Why did you do that? C: Well, I had a full-time job, but I got laid off. So I decided to go out on my own. A: And how’s it going? C: Well, I don’t have very many expenses because I’m living and working at my parents’ house, so I don’t have to pay rent. It’s going OK. I’m getting by. It takes a while, you know, to get known. It’s been a learning experience. I’ve learned a lot about managing a business. A: What are your plans for the future? C: Well, I need to work on marketing—getting out there and selling myself. I’m not very good at that part of it. Ideally I’d like to work with a partner that could do that. Maybe I’d like to have my own place some day, but right now I’m just taking it a day at a time. A: Back to the studio now, and if you’ve just joined us, the subject is the recent report that shows seventeen
Open Forum: Transcripts 27
D: A: D:
A: D:
A: D:
A: D: A: D:
A: D:
and a half million self-employed people in the United States. We’re talking to labor specialist Jenny Huang. Welcome to the program, Jenny. Thank you. Jenny, can you tell us who these seventeen and a half million people are? Well, there are different types of people in this category. There are the entrepreneurs, like the young lady that you interviewed, the ones that have their own one-person business. They’re the ones we usually think of when we think of self-employment. But then there are freelancers, who might go to work in different places, or work on a contract basis. And there are the people who are employees but who also work for themselves part-time, like the first person you spoke to. What kind of work do these people do? Well, the greatest rise in self-employment has been in professional and business services. That would include people like freelance Web designers, marketing consultants, and so on. The second biggest category is construction workers. That would include carpenters, painters, electricians, and so on, who work for themselves. And why do you think self-employment is on the rise? Are we really a nation of entrepreneurs, or is there something else going on here? Well, some of it’s economic. There are people who’ve been laid off, so they’ve decided to go out on their own. Another reason is the growth of the software industry and the media, where they’ve always used a lot of freelancers: writers, and programmers, and so on. There are a lot of people working in those areas now. But there’s also been a change in attitudes. There are more people who want the advantages of selfemployment. They’re finding it preferable, being able to manage their own time, for example. They want to have more control over their own schedules. Exactly. What are the downsides to self-employment? Well, a lot of people underestimate the amount of time you have to put into the business side of things, especially marketing, and especially at the beginning. It’s not enough to be good at something. You have to be able to sell yourself. Some people should just never go into self-employment because marketing isn’t their strength. Uh-huh. The other thing is to be organized, especially with your time. You have to be able to manage your time. You need a business plan, and you really have to be very organized to be a successful freelancer.
D Working Out Unknown Vocabulary (p. 52)
1. This morning, we look at the trend towards selfemployment and freelancing that’s happening all over the United States. But first, let’s go out on
28 Open Forum: Transcripts
2.
3. 3.
4.
the street and talk to some people who are on the front lines. B: I have three different jobs! I’m a substitute teacher . . . I write for a web site . . . and I volunteer at an art museum. A: Wow. How do you juggle all that? B: I’ve just set up my own baking business. I make cakes for special occasions . . . weddings and that sort of thing. A: Really? Why did you do that? B: Well, I had a full-time job, but I got laid off. So I decided to go out on my own. A: And . . . how’s it going? B: Well, I don’t have very many expenses because I’m living and working at my parents’ house so I don’t have to pay rent. It’s going OK . . . I’m getting by. It takes a while . . . you know . . . to get known. D: Well, there are different types of people in this category. There are the entrepreneurs, like the young lady that you interviewed . . . the ones that have their own one-person business. They’re the ones we usually think of when we think of self-employment.
5 Pronunciation Exercise 1 (p. 53) Extract 1. Well, I don’t have very many expenses because I’m living and working at my parents’ house so I don’t have to pay rent. It’s going OK. I’m getting by. It takes a while, you know, to get known. It’s been a learning experience. I’ve learned a lot about managing a business. Extract 2. Well, some of it’s economic. There are people who’ve been laid off, so they’ve decided to go out on their own. Another reason is the growth of the software industry and the media, where they’ve always used a lot of freelancers: writers, and programmers, and so on. There are a lot of people working in those areas now, but there’s also been a change in attitudes.
6 Speaking Skills Exercise 1 (p. 54) A = Rosa, B = Sam
A: I think the most important thing is to have a job that you love, and do work that you enjoy. B: Yeah. But not everybody can do that. Some people aren’t in a position to . . . you know . . . follow their dream or whatever. Some people just have to take
whatever job they can find. A: Yeah. I realize that. But it’s important to try to find work that is meaningful to you. B: I don’t know. I think job security is more important to some people. They just want a paycheck they can depend on . . . especially if they have a family.
over 68 percent of people. Of the people who speak another language, 86 percent speak Spanish, and it’s only 1 or 2 percent for any of the other languages. So Spanish really is the predominant language other than English in Texas. Now, you can then compare that information to other states. For example, looking at the state of New York . . . in New York, a little over 72 percent of people speak English at home. Of the speakers of other languages, 49 percent speak Spanish, and then 8 percent speak Chinese, 6 percent speak Italian, and 4 percent speak Russian, and 4 percent speak French. So you can see that there are a lot of Spanish speakers in New York, but there are also other languages spoken—more so than in Texas.
Chapter 7
Language and Communication 2 Listening Practice B Listening for Main Ideas (p. 57) A = Lecturer, B = Audience Member 1, C = Audience Member 2
A: Good afternoon, today’s lecture is about different languages spoken in the United States. The Modern Language Association has put together data on the numbers of speakers and the locations of the thirty most commonly spoken languages in the United States.
Let me first explain how the information was gathered. The data came from U.S. census information. In addition to the usual census questions about number of family members and age, people were asked about language—if a language other than English was spoken at home. If the answer was “Yes,” then the person was asked to name the language.
You might be surprised at how many different languages were reported: 300. Yes, 300 different languages are spoken in the United States. The Modern Language Association focuses on the thirty most common languages. Of course, English is the number one language, Spanish is the second most common, Chinese is the third, and French is the fourth.
Now the Modern Language Association has put all this information together in different ways, so for example, you can look up a particular language, let’s say, Korean, and see how many speakers there are throughout the United States. There are almost 900,000 Korean speakers in the United States. Then, you can see how that compares to the total number of speakers of languages other than English. So of the people who speak another language, 2 percent are Korean speakers. It’s also possible to see how many Korean speakers there are in different areas. Two main areas of concentration are Southern California and Washington State. Now another way you can look at the information is by starting with place the entire United States, a state, a county, or a city, so, for example, looking at the state of Texas . . . in Texas, English is spoken at home by just
OK. so there are different ways to look at this data. Let’s talk about possible ways this information could be used or why it’s important. I’d like to open this up for discussion. Do you have any ideas? Yes, in the front row? B: I think this could be important for educational purposes. You know, so people know what kinds of classes might be needed in the schools and things like that. And I think it’s also important to understand the cultural make-up of the United States. A: Yes, definitely. Anyone else? Yes? C: Isn’t it also important to be aware of possible language change . You know, if one language is being used less or more over time? A: Yes, absolutely. OK, we’re out of time, but we’re going to talk about language change next week, so we’ll discuss it more then.
D Focus on the Listening Skill Exercise 1 (p. 58) See underlined extract from the lecture above.
3 Vocabulary Exercise 3 (p. 59)
1. In Michigan, almost 92 percent of people speak English at home. 2. Just over 72 percent of people speak English at home in New York. 3. A language other than English is spoken by just under 40 percent of people in California. 4. There are less than 100 students at the school right now. 5. Many people believe that more than half of all languages in the world could be lost. 6. There are something like 91,000 speakers of Chinese in Texas.
Open Forum: Transcripts 29
4 Listening Practice B Listening for Main Ideas (p. 61) A = Claudia, B = Alan
A: Our presentation today is on language change and language loss in the world. First we’ll talk about what the situation is, and then we’ll give some examples of programs being implemented. Alan, do you want to begin? B: OK. First, some background on the situation. There are actually differing views on how many languages exist in the world today. Most estimates say that there are somewhere between 6,000 and 6,800 languages still in use. Unfortunately, many of these languages are in danger of disappearing of becoming extinct. Now, it’s hard to find an exact estimate on how many, but some people believe that as many as half of the languages still in use could be lost by the end of the century. Think of it: half of the languages that exist. A: Here’s a more specific example of how languages are being lost. An article in the magazine Nature in 2003 stated that there are 46 different people around the world who are the last remaining speakers of their language. B: Wow. Imagine if you were the only speaker of your language left. A: Yes. Now one of the problems with all this is that it’s very difficult to get complete agreement on actual language numbers and then it’s also hard to find agreement on the number of languages that are at risk of disappearing. One of the big reasons for this is that the criteria used are often very different. B: Let’s look at an example. For instance, some researchers might consider a language in danger if there are less than 10,000 speakers of it left while other researchers might not consider a language in danger until there are only 500 speakers left. The point is that different researchers have different ideas about when they might say that a language is really in danger of disappearing, so it’s a problem. A: But for the most part they all agree that languages are in fact disappearing. B: Oh yes, that’s true. And most agree that it’s happening quite quickly. A: So, then the question is why is this important? Should we be concerned about language loss? Obviously, people might have differing opinions on this. Some people might say that it doesn’t matter too much. that, in fact, fewer languages could make it easier to communicate. B: Another viewpoint is that it is important, that we don’t actually know what information, traditions, or things like that we’re losing when a language disappears. A: So that’s the situation in terms of language loss. The good news is that, there are some actions that appear to help. And there are some examples of languages that are in a better state than they were. For example,
30 Open Forum: Transcripts
B:
A:
B: A: B: A:
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Welsh, the language spoken in Wales. There were fewer and fewer speakers of Welsh in Wales as more people started speaking English exclusively. But the country started working very hard to increase the number of speakers of Welsh: teaching and using Welsh in the schools and encouraging the use of Welsh in public forums, and there has been some progress. Native American languages in North America are another example. There were once more than 250 languages spoken by Native Americans. Unfortunately, experts now estimate that there are only about 150 language still in use, and even more unfortunate, experts think that very few of these are likely to exist in 60 years. But, there are some interesting programs being used to try to keep some of the languages alive. Claudia, can you give some examples? Yes. One typical problem is that in many cases the remaining speakers are elderly. So they’re trying to take advantage of the older people’s knowledge while they still can. They tape-record the older people who can speak the language, in order to have an audio record of the language. In some cases, they also might have a linguist work with the older people to get information about grammar and vocabulary. It’s a little sad, but obviously, having all that information recorded gives the possibility that they can still work on the language even after these remaining speakers are gone. . . . Another way they use the knowledge that the elders have is by having the older people work with the children. They baby-sit, or help with preschool, and speaking the language. They’re doing this with the Navajo language in the Southwest. It’s interesting because in some places distance is a real problem. Like in Alaska? Yes, Alaska is a good example. People might not be able to get together to speak because of distance, so they teach and learn over the phone. Now as Alan mentioned, with some of the Native American languages there are actually no longer any living speakers. So there are also some examples where people are trying to learn the language of their ancestors by studying old records. Obviously, this would be a very difficult process. Yes, and it is important to say that these kinds of programs are difficult, and slow. In the end, they may not be enough. Yes, true. Are there any questions?
5 Pronunciation Exercise 3 (p. 62)
1. 2. 3. 4.
My French book cost sixty dollars. I have about forty CDs. Thirteen thousand people went to the concert. Seventy people work in my office.
5. It was eighteen degrees Fahrenheit outside yesterday. 6. Fifteen million people watched that TV program last night.
Chapter 8
A: B:
Technology 2 Listening Practice B Listening for Main ideas (p. 65) A = Presenter, B = Writer
A: Can you tell us a little bit about your current project? What are you working on now? B: I’m writing a book about some of the most important technological inventions of the 19th and early 20th centuries. It’s about how things like the typewriter or the fax machine were developed, and so on. A: That sounds really interesting. B: It is. It’s fascinating. The personalities behind the inventions are particularly fun to read about. Like . . . a lot of inventors were amateurs, and some of them were considered to be nuts . . . crazy! But they had this . . . incredible determination. They believed absolutely in what they were doing. A: Umm. B: Take George Eastman, for example. He was a keen photographer, and he was about to go on vacation to the Caribbean, to take pictures. But then the night before he was supposed to leave, he looked at all of this photo gear and in the 1870s the photo gear was incredibly cumbersome, all, you know, glass plates and chemicals and . . . equipment and so on—and he said to himself, “I’m not carrying all this stuff.” There’s got to be an easier way to take photographs! So he canceled his vacation, quit his job, stayed home, and invented film instead. A: That’s great! B: The guy was a bank clerk, twenty-four years old! But that was the mood at the time, you know? Talk about a positive attitude! It was a real can-do spirit. People were asking questions: “Hmmm. I wonder if we could have a machine that does this?” or, you know, “Why can’t we do that?” And then they would set out to do it, and they wouldn’t give up. A: But then they also discovered things by accident? B: Oh yes, like the microwave oven. The microwave oven was actually developed from the magnetron . . . that’s the power tube that drives a radar machine. One day, this scientist—Percy Spencer was his name—was standing next to a magnetron, and he had a chocolate bar in his pocket. And the chocolate melted. So he said, “Huh. That’s interesting.” So the next day he came in with popcorn, and guess what happened? A: Pop. B: Yes. And that essentially was where the idea of the
A: B:
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microwave came from . . . just by chance, really. It was called a “Radarange” because of the radar. Of course, it took a while to be developed, and so on, but . . . But that happened too, didn’t it? A lot of things didn’t take off immediately, didn’t necessarily find a market, right? Right. Some products were just not in the right place at the right time. The classic example of that was the fax machine. I bet you didn’t know we had fax machines before we had telephones. Really? Yes. The French were using very effective fax machines in the 1860s, before the telephone, in fact. But the idea never took off. At that time, people were more interested in the telegraph. That’s amazing. Yes. People have to be ready for a new thing before they’ll accept it. It took Remington years to convince people to use a typewriter. Everybody said, “Oh, it’s great, it’s the wave of the future, it’s a wonderful machine,” but they wouldn’t, you know . . . for ten years it didn’t sell. And that was because letters were handwritten. That was what you did. There was a whole art to writing letters. People didn’t think it was appropriate to type them, because what was typeset was mainly used for advertising. So if people got a typewritten letter, they were either offended, or they thought it was junk mail. I guess you had to convince enough people at one time. Right! Eventually businesses started using them. And then everyone had to have one. But it took about ten years for the typewriter to become really popular.
D Focus on the Listening Skill Exercise 1 (p. 66) A = Writer, B = Presenter
A: A lot of inventors were amateurs, and some of them were considered to be nuts . . . crazy! But they had this . . . incredible determination. They believed absolutely in what they were doing. B: Umm. A: Take George Eastman, for example . . .
A: So he canceled his vacation, quit his job, stayed home, and invented film instead. B: That’s great! A: The guy was a bank clerk, twenty-four years old! But that was the mood at the time, you know? Talk about a positive attitude! It was a real can-do spirit.
Exercise 3 (p. 67) A = Presenter, B = Writer
A: But then they also discovered things by accident? B: Oh yes, like the microwave oven. The microwave oven was actually developed from the magnetron . . .
Open Forum: Transcripts 31
that’s the power tube that drives a radar machine. One day, this scientist—Percy Spencer was his name—was standing next to a magnetron, and he had a chocolate bar in his pocket. And the chocolate melted. So he said, “Huh. That’s interesting.” So the next day he came in with popcorn, and guess what happened? A: Pop. B: Yes. And that essentially was where the idea of the microwave came from . . . just by chance, really.
All: OK. A: Chester Carlson was born in Seattle, and he was the only child of a barber. His father was sick and couldn’t work, and the family was very poor. His mother died when he was a teenager, so he had to support his father. At one point the two of them lived in a chicken coop with a bare concrete floor!
Exercise 4 (p. 67) A = Presenter, B = Writer B:
Yes. People have to be ready for a new thing before they’ll accept it. It took Remington years to convince people to use a typewriter. Everybody said, “Oh, it’s great, it’s the wave of the future, it’s a wonderful machine,” but they wouldn’t, you know . . . for ten years it didn’t sell. And that was because letters were handwritten. That was what you did. There was a whole art to writing letters. People didn’t think it was appropriate to type them, because what was typeset was mainly used for advertising. So if people got a typewritten letter, they were either offended, or they thought it was junk mail. A: I guess you had to convince enough people at one time. B: Right. Eventually businesses started using them. And then everyone had to have one. But it took about ten years for the typewriter to become really popular.
Anyway, when he graduated he got a job in New York, and got married, but he still wanted to invent something, so he went to law school to find out about the legal aspects of inventions. He wound up spending a lot of time in the New York Public Library, and he had to copy pages longhand from law books because he couldn’t afford to buy them. It’s hard for us to imagine that nowadays, but without photocopiers, you either had to copy everything by hand . . . or had to buy the book. There wasn’t any other option!
So Carlson started thinking about a machine that would duplicate documents. He came up with the idea for this machine, which basically uses photoconductivity. It’s a process whereby you use electricity and light to create an image. This machine was his prototype, and it was made in 1938. He used his own money to make it, because he couldn’t convince anyone that it would work. He knew he had a good idea, but nobody would invest in it. He was turned down by more than twenty companies! Finally, in 1944, he got some money from a research company . . . to do more research. And then in 1947 a small company in Rochester New York—it was called Haloid—agreed to develop the machines.
4 Listening Practice B Listening for Main Ideas (p. 69) A = Guide, B = Visitor 1, C = Visitor 2, D = Visitor 3
A: Good morning everybody! Welcome to the Museum of Technology! My name is Greg, and I’ll be your tour leader today. Now, if you’d like to step this way . . . we’re going to look at this machine over here . . . . Now, first of all, can anybody guess what this is? B: It looks like something for writing, or printing. A: Yes. This is actually the first photocopy machine. All: Aha! Oh yes! A: This was one of the most important inventions of the twentieth century. Fortune magazine called it “the most successful product ever marketed in America.” . . . And this technology is essentially the same technology that is used in laser printers today! . . . Just think for a moment how often you use a photocopy machine, or a laser printer. And this is Chester Carlson, the inventor of the photocopy machine. He invented the process of xerography—that’s basically what happens in a photocopy machine—in 1937. . . . First I’m going to tell you a little bit about him, and then we’ll look at how xerography works. OK?
32 Open Forum: Transcripts
But he was a good student, and . . . and he was very interested in science. He put himself through college, first junior college and then the California Institute of Technology. All the time he did odd jobs to support himself and his father. He always knew that he wanted to be an inventor, because he figured that if he invented something, it would be a way out of poverty. He kept notebooks . . . full of all kinds of ideas. One of his ideas was . . . a raincoat with like, gutters on it to keep water off your pant legs . . . . Another idea that he had was . . . a toothbrush with bristles that you could replace. He was an inventive type of guy.
But the process was so complicated, that it took a long time . . . and a lot of money to get the process right. A lot of the scientists at the company wanted to drop it altogether. But Carlson kept pushing them, and finally in 1960—that’s years later!—they sold the first automated copier. It weighed 650 pounds! . . . But as soon as it got into offices, you can imagine what happened. C: They liked it. A: They loved it. It sold like hot cakes. Think about how often the average office uses a photocopier today. Haloid changed its name, and I think you can guess the new name.
D: A: B: A:
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Xerox? Yes. Haloid became The Xerox Corporation. What about Carlson? He became very rich! He earned about two hundred million dollars from his invention. And that was in the 1950s, so the money was worth a lot more than it is today. But he was very modest about it. He only ever had one car. People said, if you met him, you’d never know he was so rich. He actually gave away most of the money. Really? He gave millions of dollars to charity . . . paid for schools . . . libraries. And he never allowed his name to be mentioned. He donated a lot of money for a building at the university where he had studied, but he named the building after the teacher who had inspired him the most. That’s an incredible story. It is, isn’t it? Now, let’s look at the machine. Does anybody know how a photocopy is made? Is it some kind of photographic process? No, it’s not photographic. As I said, it uses electricity, and light, basically, to create an image.
D Working Out Unknown Vocabulary (p. 70)
1. But he was a good student, and . . . and he was very interested in science. He put himself through college, first junior college and then the California Institute of Technology. All the time he did odd jobs to support himself and his father. 2. It’s hard for us to imagine that nowadays, but without photocopiers, you either had to copy everything by hand or had to buy the book. There wasn’t any other option. So Carlson started thinking about a machine that would duplicate documents. 3. He used his own money to make it, because he couldn’t convince anyone that it would work. He knew he had a good idea, but nobody would invest in it. He was turned down by more than twenty companies. 4. But the process was so complicated that it took a long time and a lot of money to get the process right. A lot of the scientists at the company wanted to drop it altogether. But Carlson kept pushing them, and finally in 1960—that’s years later—they sold the first automated copier. 5. He became very rich. He earned about $200,000,000 from his invention. And that was in the 1950s, so the money was worth a lot more than it is today. But he was very modest about it. He only ever had one car. People said, if you met him, you’d never know he was so rich.
6 Speaking Skills Exercise 1 (p. 72) A = Ron, B = Francine
A: Hey Francine, can you help me? B: Sure, Ron. What’s the problem? A: I’m trying to figure out how to make this doublesided. B: OK, well first you need to put your original in this way. A: Oh, OK. B: And now let’s check the settings. You want “two side to two side:” this button here. So we’ll press this. A: Uh-huh. B: How many copies do you want? A: Umm, let’s say five. B: OK, so then you press five here. And then after that, you press the big green button to make the copies. OK? A: Yeah, I think so. Put the paper in here, check the settings, enter the number of copies, and press the green button. B: That’s it. A: OK. Thanks, Francine.
Chapter 9
Marketing and Advertising 2 Listening Practice B Listening for Main Ideas (p. 74) A = Host 1, B = Host 2 C = Edna Sullivan, D = Victor Rodriguez
A: Time now to look at our mailbox for some of the reactions to last week’s show. B: If you were watching last week, you will remember that the show looked at advertising: how much of it there is, where it’s done, and who is being targeted. In particular, we looked at the growing trend towards advertising in schools. A: We had a lot of e-mails and phone calls in response to that program. Here’s Edna Sullivan, from Huntington, West Virginia: C: I don’t mind advertising on billboards and bus shelters, and I’ve gotten used to seeing ads on lampposts, and trashcans, and supermarket floors and elevators and all the rest of it. But I was very upset by some of the advertising that you showed in places of natural beauty, like the billboards in the desert. It looks awful to have advertising in places like that. Our landscape is a precious resource, and I don’t think it should be spoiled by advertising. B: For a different point of view, let’s read an e-mail we received from Robert Bianchi in New York. He said, “Companies have to attract customers in order to
Open Forum: Transcripts 33
survive. That is the nature of our economy. Successful businesses are the ones that know how to do that. No matter how good your product is, if you can’t attract customers you won’t succeed. We should remember that without advertising, many companies, and the jobs that they provide, would simply not exist, and we’d all pay a lot more for the products and services we take for granted.” A: The segment on advertising in schools generated a lot of responses. Here’s Victor Rodriguez, from Albany, New York. D: I am shocked at how much marketing is geared toward . . . purposely geared toward young children that are just too young to know that . . . that they’re being marketed to. I’m a parent, and I can’t even allow my children to watch network TV stations because of all the commercials. It just encourages them to want the latest toy or whatever. Another thing, I am concerned about the advertising that’s turning up in our local elementary school. It’s in my kids’ schoolbooks, posters on the walls, and school lunches, for example. I think it’s wrong. School is not the place for advertising. B: Laura Wellman, a high school student from Boulder Colorado, disagrees. She says in an e-mail, “I don’t have a problem with advertising in schools. As a teenager, I’m surrounded by advertising all the time, but I don’t necessarily buy the products that are advertised. A couple of extra ads on the drink machines or on the school bus really wouldn’t make any difference to me. I probably wouldn’t even notice them. If a company wants to sponsor our soccer team in exchange for their name on our shirts, that’s fine with us.” A: Finally, here’s an e-mail from Sarah Cohen from Baltimore. She says, “I would like to have seen more specific guidelines for parents on how to help children deal with the thousands of commercial messages that they face every day. Teenagers in particular are very influenced by advertising. They should be taught to be more critical of the advertising that they encounter, to ask pointed questions about the products, and above all not to believe everything that they see in an ad.” B: And with that thought, we’ll leave you until next week. Thank you for watching, and remember to send your comments on this week’s program . . .
D Focus on the Listening Skill Exercise 1 (p. 75)
1. I am shocked at how much marketing is geared toward . . . purposely geared toward young children, that are just too young to know that . . . that they’re being marketed to. 2. I’m a parent, and I can’t even allow my children to watch network TV stations because of all the commercials . . . it just encourages them to want the latest toy or whatever.
34 Open Forum: Transcripts
3. Another thing, I am concerned about the advertising that’s turning up in our local elementary school. It’s in my kids’ schoolbooks, posters on the walls, and school lunches, for example. I think it’s wrong. School is not the place for advertising.
Exercise 3 (p. 75)
1. Companies have to attract customers in order to survive. That is the nature of our economy. 2. Successful businesses are the ones that know how to do that. No matter how good your product is, if you can’t attract customers, you won’t succeed. 3. We should remember that without advertising, many companies, and the jobs that they provide, would simply not exist, and we’d all pay a lot more for the products and services we take for granted.
4 Listening Practice B Listening for Main Ideas (p. 78) A = Sam, B = Nicole
A: I can’t believe it. Every time I go to the supermarket to get milk, I have to walk, like, all the way to the back of the store to get it. You know, why can’t they put the milk near the front of the store? B: I know. I was running late the other day and just wanted to run in for some ice cream, but I had to go all the way to the other side of the store, too. A: It drives me crazy. B: Well, they do it on purpose, you know. A: On purpose? What do you mean? B: Well, they put things like milk and ice cream at the back of the store, so that you’ll have to go through most of the store and pass a whole bunch of other stuff just to get to it. A: Why would they do that? B: To make you stop and look at the other stuff, of course. You go in for milk, but you might buy something else. A: Really? You mean, they plan this kind of thing? I thought it was just a practical thing. B: Well, I think there are practical reasons, too, but marketing people do look at all of that kind of thing. They do research on what people buy at particular stores and how often. And they look at how people move through supermarkets, and that’s how they work out where to put things, to their advantage, of course. A: Wow. That never occurred to me. B: Oh yeah. I read an article about it in the paper a while ago. There’s a whole science to it. Like, you know how the gourmet stuff—the deli, the fancy bakery, the fresh food—all that stuff is near the front of the store? It smells good. All that baking bread and fresh food—the
A: B: A: B: A: B: A: B: A: B:
A: B: A: B: A: B: A: B: A: B: A: B: A:
smell draws people in and tempts them, and then they buy other things they didn’t come for. Oh, I know. I do that all the time. My supermarket has a great deli counter. I often stop there and get a sandwich for later. Yeah, even if you didn’t intend to, right? I guess so. Supermarkets love people like you. They’re trying to get you to buy something extra, something you didn’t plan to get. Uh-huh. All the special offers and the food samples, they’re always around the sides of the store, because most people go around the sides. Oh yeah. I always go around the side. It seems like it’s the fastest way to get to the things I need. I hardly ever go in the aisles. Except for when you want cleaning products and dog food and things like that. That’s right. Well, they know that if you need that stuff, you’ll go and look for it anyway, so they put cleaning stuff in the aisles because people will go get it anyway, and they put it on a low shelf. Yeah, that’s right! It is! ‘Cause there’s a whole thing about which shelf it’s on. Companies pay more for their products to be put on middle shelves. Really? I had no idea. Yeah. It’s important to have stuff at eye level if you can. I guess it is. Huh. Well. They get me, all right. And I always check out the food samples. So do I. But do you buy the food they’re selling? Yeah. And then I take it home and don’t use it. You’re being marketed to. They love you! You’re right. I’ll have to think about this more. Maybe I should shop more carefully. Sounds like it. I guess that’s why they have all the candy at the check-out counter, too. Same thing. Yeah. It’s hard to say no when you have to stand right next to it for five minutes, or however long it takes. Just a little chocolate to eat on the way home!
6 Speaking Skills Exercise 1 (p. 80) A = Susan, B = Jeff, C = Mark
A: I think we need to advertise in a more exciting way, like maybe use a balloon or something. B: A balloon? What do you mean, Susan? A: You know those hot air balloons. C: Oh! You mean we put the company name on a big balloon and we sail it around, like over football games or something?
A: Something like that, yes. B: I don’t get it. How would that attract people to the business? A: Well, it would put the name out there. People would see the name and remember. C: Wait a minute. You’re saying that we use up the whole budget on a hot air balloon? A: No. Not the whole budget! I’m talking about maybe a few thousand
Chapter 10
Education 2 Listening Practice B Listening for Main Ideas Exercise 1 (p. 84) Part 1 Do you want to learn something new and improve your job possibilities? Are you looking for a degree program that will recognize all your unique life experience? Consider Westside College. We design programs around your busy life, and, more importantly, give you credit for your life experience, because you shouldn’t have to waste precious time and money in unnecessary classes. We’ll use our “Life and Learning Assessment” to evaluate your experience. Based on this assessment, we’ll be able to see how you can apply your experience to the requirements for your course of study. Call today and make an appointment to meet with one of our advisors. You won’t regret it. Our number is . . .
Exercise 2 (p. 84) A = Mona, B = Ben Part 2 A: B: A: B:
Do they really do that now? What? Give you credit in college for life experience? Yes, they do. Not all colleges and universities do, of course, but more and more are starting to do it. I think it makes a lot of sense. A: Really? B: Yes, don’t you? A: Well, maybe, but I think there are a lot of issues around it. For example, how can they really evaluate your life experience? B: Like they said, they have an assessment. I think there are different ways they assess. Students often have to take a test to prove they have a certain level of knowledge. Some places also use something like a portfolio of previous learning. That’s something that a student has to put together with examples and documentation to show that he or she has learned
Open Forum: Transcripts 35
certain things. A: But couldn’t something like that be falsified. It seems like it would be pretty easy to make some things up. B: Maybe, but I don’t think it’s as easy as you’d think. My aunt works at the community college. They accept life experience for credit, and she says that they’re really strict in deciding who gets credit. The students have to put a lot into these portfolios of previous learning. It seems like it would be a lot of work to falsify something like that. It could be almost as much work as doing the class! A: I don’t agree. It seems so subjective. How can you compare and evaluate different experiences. For example, what if one person has lots of work experience in computer programming and another person has a lot of experience in taking care of little children? Could you get credit for both experiences? And if so, would you get the same amount of credit, or what? B: Well, I doubt that two people like that would be trying to get the same amount of credit in exactly the same situation. You know, the standards for testing and evaluation for regular courses aren’t completely objective either. There is always some level of subjectivity when teachers mark and give grades and things like that. A: Yes, but the system itself is pretty objective. And it just seems a little unfair. It takes discipline to go to college. You have to attend, do the work, take exams, and pass classes in order to get credit—and then some people get around that with “life experience”? It seems like an easy way out to me. B: I don’t know. Think about how many people say they didn’t really learn anything in college. For many people, college is mainly social, and then they really start learning after they graduate from college. That was certainly true for me. And, if you have to consider that people who enroll in college later in life are in a different situation, they’ve often had a lot of work experience and they usually don’t have time to take every class from the beginning. That doesn’t seem fair. A: I see your point, but it still seems vague and subjective to evaluate something like life experience and then give credit. B: Well, I guess it’s a good thing neither one of us is considering going back to college. A: Yes, you’re probably right!
D Focus on the Listening Skill (p. 85)
1. Maybe, but I don’t think it’s as easy as you’d think. My aunt works at the community college. They accept life experience for credit, and she says that they’re really strict in deciding who gets credit. The students have to put a lot into these portfolios of previous learning. It seems like it would be a lot of work to falsify something like
36 Open Forum: Transcripts
that. It could be almost as much work as doing the class! 2. I don’t agree. It seems so subjective. How can you compare and evaluate different experiences? For example, what if one person has lots of work experience in computer programming and another person has a lot of experience in taking care of little children? Could you get credit for both experiences? And if so, would you get the same amount of credit, or what? 3. Yes, but the system itself is pretty objective. And it just seems a little unfair. It takes discipline to go to college. You have to attend, do the work, take exams, and pass classes in order to get credit— and then some people get around that with “life experience”? It seems like an easy way out to me. 4. I don’t know. Think about how many people say they didn’t really learn anything in college. For many people, college is mainly social, and then they really start learning after they graduate from college. That was certainly true for me.
4 Listening Practice B Listening for Main Ideas (p. 88) Speaker 1: Tom I guess you could say I was a late developer! My grades weren’t good enough for a four-year college. I didn’t work hard enough in high school. So I wound up at the community college, and I didn’t study very hard there either, at least not for the first year. I just really wasn’t interested in anything. But in my second year there . . . one day I had to do a project on the computer. Of course, computers were quite new in those days. And I got interested, really interested. It was fun messing around on computers, trying to figure things out. Eventually I changed my major to computer science. It was a new field but it was growing fast and it was obvious there was a huge future there. I started working . . . transferred to a four-year college and graduated with honors. After I graduated, my friend got me a job at a software company. I worked there for a few years and, eventually, I went out on my own. Now I have a very stable business with more than twenty employees and I guess you could say I’m quite successful. So I don’t think it makes a bit of difference which school you go to or how much you pay for it. It’s what you do with it that’s important. Speaker 2: Tracy I got an undergraduate degree from the local state university. My family didn’t have a lot of money so that was my only option at that point, really. My dream
had always been to go to an Ivy League school, like Harvard or Yale, but we just couldn’t afford it. I had to work part-time while I was studying, and then I worked two jobs during the summer to pay for school. I was pretty happy at the state school . . . I got good grades, and I felt like I was getting a good education. But I still wished I could have gone to a school like Harvard. Then, one of my professors suggested that I think about going to grad school and getting a master’s degree. I’d never really considered it before, but I decided to apply anyway. My professor suggested different schools to apply to, including Harvard, and I thought, well, it’s worth a try. I didn’t know if I’d get accepted, and I really didn’t know how I’d pay for it, but I decided to try anyway. Well, I was accepted and it was very hard . . . hard in terms of studying, and hard financially. But, I did it. I honestly don’t know if doing my master’s at an Ivy League school made all that much difference in the end . . . in what I learned or the jobs I’ve gotten, but I’m glad I did it. Speaker 3: Ed I went to a very small state college, but it was kind of unusual. There was a big emphasis on hands-on learning, group work, seminars, debates, discussions. It was really active and you were expected to participate. I don’t think it would be for everyone, but I really loved it. Like, you couldn’t just sit there and take notes. You were expected to engage with the information and ask questions. I was always getting in trouble in regular school for asking questions, so I loved it. You might think it was easier, but I think they asked more of you than they do in a regular university. You had to write your own academic plan at the beginning of every year and discuss it with the teachers, and this is the part that really is different: you wrote your own self-evaluation at the end of every semester. They didn’t give grades. They gave narrative evaluations, like each professor wrote a paragraph about your strengths and weaknesses. You know, it’s amazing. Those evaluations meant a lot more to us than grades would have, and they were a lot more informative, actually. Some people didn’t like them at all. They wanted an A or a B or whatever . . . But that wasn’t the way they did it.
me. High school was pretty easy, but you’re expected to be a lot more independent in college, to study and work on your own, and I didn’t really understand that at the beginning. And I felt really insecure because English isn’t my first language and I had to write a lot of papers in English. It was really hard at first and my grades weren’t always so good. But I made it in the end. Nobody in our family had ever graduated from college before, so it was a big deal—for the whole family.
5 Pronunciation Exercise 2 (p. 89)
1. I went back to school because I wanted to do something for myself. 2. I’ve made your coffee. Do you want it now or later? 3. You can have my cake. I don’t want it. 4. My mother always wanted a large house.
Exercise 3 (p. 90)
1. I’ve enrolled in a swim class, and I’m going to start it next week. 2. The class has already started. 3. The professor predicted that I’d get an A. 4. You might get an A, but I really can’t predict it. 5. I didn’t hear the announcement. Could you please repeat it? 6. My daughter repeated third grade. 7. Wish me good luck! I’ll need it! 8. I needed better grades to get into that school. 9. My teacher suggested that I take a math class. 10. I think Ben should drop physics, but I didn’t suggest it.
6 Speaking Skills Exercise 1 (p. 90)
1. And I got interested, really interested. 2. I was pretty happy at the state school. I got good grades and I felt like I was getting a good education. 3. Well, I was accepted and it was very hard . . . hard in terms of studying and hard financially.
Speaker 4: Alicia My parents and my grandparents immigrated to this country from Mexico when I was twelve, and they never had much education. But that was the big thing they wanted for me—the most important thing was education. They were pushing me all through school, always checking my homework, putting me in summer school and things like that. They were so happy when I got accepted to college. But college was tough for
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Chapter 11
Astronomy 2 Listening Practice
A:
B Listening for Main Ideas (p. 94) A = Host, B = Craig Doss, C = Danielle, D = Edward, E = Rita, F = Louis
A: Hello and welcome to “Science Now.” We’re talking about the moon today, and our guest is Craig Doss, a scientist who spends his life considering the mysteries of the moon. Hello, Craig. B: Hi, thanks for having me on the show. A: Now Craig, this is a weekly call-in show where people can ask questions about our topic . . . and our expert— that’s you—will answer the questions. OK, are you ready? B: Yes. A: OK, let’s get started. Our first question comes from Danielle in New Jersey. Hi Danielle, what’s your question? C: Hi, I’m wondering about water on the moon. Is there actually water? I’ve heard about the seas on the moon, but are they really filled with water? A: Craig? B: That’s a good question. They are called seas, but they’re not filled with water. They’re actually filled with lava. The only water we know of is in ice at the poles of the moon. C: Oh, OK. Thank you. A: Our next caller is Edward from New Mexico. What’s your question, Edward? D: Hello, can you tell me if scientists know how the moon was formed? B: That’s an interesting one. There have been different theories on this. One theory is that the moon was actually part of Earth, but it broke off and became separate in early formation . . . Another idea is that the moon was an object out in space that was captured or pulled in by Earth’s gravity. In other words, that it came near enough to Earth and then couldn’t get away because of gravity. And then there is the theory that a huge rock crashed into Earth and knocked a large piece of it loose, and then this piece formed into the moon. It’s this last theory that most scientists prefer now, but we don’t really know for sure. D: Do you think scientists will ever know for sure? B: Hmm, good question. Maybe, maybe not. A: OK, our next caller is Rita from Missouri. Hi Rita. E: Hi, thanks for taking my call. Did research about the moon help scientists figure out how or why dinosaurs disappeared? A: Hmm, what can you tell us about that Craig? B: There actually is a connection. Scientists studied how craters on the moon might have been formed . . . how something might have crashed into the moon and made craters. This research was then used by other
38 Open Forum: Transcripts
B: A: F: B:
F: A: B:
A:
scientists . . . They came up with a theory that a huge rock crashing into Earth could have killed all the dinosaurs. So there is a connection. And it’s interesting because this is also an example of one of the benefits of studying the moon and sending astronauts there. That’s something that people sometimes question. Yes, that is true. OK, our last question is from Louis in Maryland. Hi Louis. Hi. My question is more about astronauts on trips to the moon. I’ve heard that they’ve taken some unusual things into space. Is this true? Yes, it is. A lot of people don’t know about this, but astronauts have carried golf balls, and coins, and even tree seeds to space. They’ve carried a lot of other things as well. It started to get a little out of hand, though, so nowadays there are much tighter regulations. On shuttle missions, astronauts aren’t allowed to carry so many things. But in the early days there weren’t regulations and the astronauts carried things like the golf balls and coins. Wow, do you think it would help my golf game to use a ball that had been to the moon? It seems like there’s a fascination with objects that have been in space. Yes, there really is. People think there must be something special about these things. In fact, there were problems . . . some people sold some of the objects to make a profit afterwards, which is one reason the regulations have come about. OK, well thanks for your question, Louis. We’re going to take a quick break . . .
D Focus on the Listening Skill Exercise 1 (p. 94)
1. Q: Hi, I’m wondering about water on the moon. Is there actually water? I’ve heard about the “seas” on the moon, but are they really filled with water? A: That’s a good question. They are called seas, but they’re not filled with water. They’re actually filled with lava. The only water we know of is in ice at the poles of the moon. 2. Q: Hello, can you tell me if scientists know how the moon was formed? A: That’s an interesting one. There have been different theories on this. One theory is that the moon was actually part of Earth, but it broke off and became separate in early formation. Another idea is that the moon was an object out in space that was “captured” or pulled in by Earth’s gravity—in other words that it came near enough to Earth and then couldn’t get away because of gravity. And then there is the theory that a huge rock
crashed into Earth and knocked a large piece of it loose and then this piece formed into the moon. 3. Q: Hi, thanks for taking my call. Did research about the moon help scientists figure out how or why dinosaurs disappeared? A: There actually is a connection. Scientists studied how craters on the moon might have been formed, how something might have crashed into the moon and made craters. This research was then used by other scientists. They came up with a theory that a huge rock crashing into Earth could have killed all the dinosaurs.
4 Listening Practice B Listening for Main Ideas (p. 97) A = Host, B = Sharon Lee
A: OK, now we have Sharon Lee here to talk about people in astronomy. Hello Sharon. B: Hi Nicky. A: What, or should I say, who, are you going to tell us about today? B: We’re going to look at amateur astronomers today. Many people don’t realize that some amateurs have been pretty important in astronomy. Some significant discoveries have been made by amateurs. A: Really? B: Yes. The two main areas of discovery are identifying new comets and hunting for supernovas. A: What are supernovas? B: If you’ll let me come back to that in a second, I want to add that astronomy is really one of the few fields where amateurs actually make a lot of discoveries . . . Think about biology or physics, there just aren’t as many examples of someone, who is not a professional or expert, making some kind of significant discovery in those fields. A: Hmm, I see what you mean. B: Now, back to supernovas. A supernova is a giant dying star—and when I say “giant,” I mean larger than our sun—and this dying star explodes and produces an enormous amount of energy. A: And, amateurs can see, or find these? B: Yes, but they are extremely rare. Something like eighty have been recorded since they were discovered in the 1930s. And it’s not an easy task to see them. A: Why is that? B: Well, let me tell you about the person who is probably the most successful amateur looking for supernovas, and that will give you a better idea. A: OK. B: Robert Evans is a retired minister who lives in Australia. He began looking for supernovas in 1980, and he’s found at least 35 of them.
A: Thirty-five out of the total of about 80? That seems impressive. A: It definitely is. He doesn’t use particularly fancy equipment, and he observes from the back deck of his home. Now the most amazing part of this is his memory. He has an extraordinary ability to memorize patterns of stars, and this is what has enabled him to find so many supernovas. B: What do you mean when you say “extraordinary”? A: Well, the writer Bill Bryson included a chapter on Evans in a recent book called A Short History of Nearly Everything. B: That’s an intriguing title! A: Yes, isn’t it? Anyway, he explains Evans’s ability to memorize this way: he says to imagine a standard dining room table with a black cloth on it, then throw a handful of salt across it. The handful of salt would be like a galaxy. A galaxy is a large group of stars, and there are a lot of them. A: OK, so a table with a handful of salt represents a galaxy. B: Right. Bryson then says to imagine 1,500 tables, each with a handful of salt across them. A: And, each handful of salt on the 1,500 tables would be a galaxy? B: Exactly. Now Bryson says to imagine one grain of . salt—that’s one grain—put anywhere on one of the tables. Then have Robert Evans walk among the tables, and he would be able to find the one new grain of salt. A: Wow. That’s really something. So he basically memorizes the patterns of stars in all those different galaxies? B: Yes, and then he can notice something new and that’s how he’s been able to identify supernovas. A: That really is extraordinary! He must spend a lot of time searching for these things. B: Yes, but remember he’s an amateur. This isn’t his job, so he does this in addition to his daily life. A: I can’t imagine how many hours he’s spent at night looking at the sky. B: I know. It truly is a passion for these amateurs . . . . Now, in addition to his amazing ability to memorize star patterns, Robert Evans has had two other advantages. First, he lives in Australia, and for quite a while he was pretty much the only amateur astronomer looking in the Southern Hemisphere. All the other amateurs were in the Northern Hemisphere. A: And what was the other advantage? B: It was actually that he had a smaller telescope than the professionals use. That, combined with his memory, meant that he could move his telescope a lot faster than other people’s and observe more galaxies in one night, which made it more likely that he might see one of these rare dying stars. Things have changed . though . . . professionals—and now even amateurs— now use something like a digital camera on the telescope that can take thousands of pictures. Then,
Open Forum: Transcripts 39
they use a computer to analyze the photos. They’ve been able to find a lot more supernovas as a result of this technology. A: And what about Robert Evans . . . does he use this technology now? B: No, apparently he says he doesn’t want to use it. He says he wants to continue using his method. I’m sure he realizes that he may have fewer finds, but I guess he must still find it satisfying. A: Hmm. Well, that was fascinating, Sharon. Thank you very much for coming in today. B: You’re welcome.
5 Pronunciation Exercise 1 (p. 99)
1. That will give you a better idea. 2. Amateurs can actually make important discoveries. 3. He would be able to find a dying star. 4. He could move his telescope faster than other people.
Exercise 2 (p. 99)
1. With new technology, astronomers can find more supernovas. 2. Do you think they will discover anything new? 3. What technology would help scientists? 4. It’s amazing that he can memorize the patterns of the stars. 5. Do you think you could do that?
6 Speaking Skills Exercise 1 (p. 99) See underlined extract from the radio interview on page 39.
Chapter 12
International Studies 2 Listening Practice B Listening for Main Ideas (p. 102) I had just begun an appointment as a visiting professor of psychology at a university in Brazil, near Rio de Janeiro. I arrived anxious to observe just what characteristics of this alien culture would require the greatest readjustment from me. From my past travel experiences, I anticipated difficulties with such issues as language and privacy. But these turned out to be a piece of cake compared to the distress that Brazilians’ ideas of time and punctuality caused me.
40 Open Forum: Transcripts
My lessons began soon after arriving in Brazil. As I left home for my first day of teaching, I asked someone the time. It was 9:05 a.m., allowing me plenty of time to get to my ten o’clock lecture. After what I judged to be half an hour, I glanced at a clock I was passing. It said 10:20. In panic, I broke for the classroom, followed by gentle calls of “Alo, professor!” from unhurried students, many of whom, I later realized, were my own. I arrived breathless—only to find an empty room. Frantically, I asked a passerby the time. “9:45” came the answer. No, that couldn’t be. I asked someone else. “9:55.” Another squinted down at his watch and called out proudly, “Exactly 9:43.” The clock in a nearby office read 3:15. I had received my first two lessons about time and punctuality. Brazilian timepieces are consistently inaccurate, and nobody seemed to mind but me. My class was scheduled from 10 until noon. Many students came late. Several arrived after 10:30. A few showed up closer to 11. Two came after that. All of the latecomers wore the relaxed smiles I later came to enjoy. Each one greeted me, and although a few apologized briefly, none seemed terribly concerned about being late. They assumed that I understood. That Brazilians would arrive late was no surprise, although it was certainly a new personal experience to watch students casually enter a classroom more than one hour late for a two-hour class. The real surprise came at noon that first day, when the class came to a close. Back home in California, I never need to look at a clock to know when the class hour is ending. The shuffling of books is accompanied by strained expressions screaming “I’m hungry, I’m thirsty, I’ve got to go to the bathroom, I’m going to suffocate if you keep us here one more second.” The pain, I find, usually becomes unbearable at two minutes to the hour for undergraduates and at about five minutes to the hour for graduate students. But when noon arrived, only a few students left right away. Others slowly drifted out during the next 15 minutes, and some continued asking me questions long after that. Several remaining students kicked off their shoes at 12:30. I could not, with any honesty, say that this was due to my superb teaching style. I had, in fact, just spent two hours lecturing on statistics in halting Portuguese.
D Focus on the Listening Skill Exercise 3 (p. 104) From my past travel experiences, I anticipated difficulties with such issues as language and privacy. But these turned out to be a piece of cake compared to the distress that Brazilians’ ideas of time and punctuality caused me.
Exercise 5 (p. 104) Back home in California, I never need to look at a clock to know when the class hour is ending. The shuffling of books is accompanied by strained expressions screaming, “I’m hungry, I’m thirsty, I’ve got to go to the bathroom, I’m going to suffocate if you keep us here one more second.”
4 Listening Practice B Listening for Main Ideas (p. 106) Today I’m going to talk a little about culture shock, and what I mean by that is the kind of psychological problems a person may have while living in a different culture . . . someone who moves to a different culture, in particular, and the new culture doesn’t have to be all that different, problems can happen between people who come from similar cultures or who speak the same language: the United States and Britain, for example. So anyway, we’ll look at the stages of culture shock and then we’ll discuss some strategies for dealing with it. First of all, the expression “culture shock” was invented in 1954 by an American anthropologist, Dr. Kalvero Oberg. Oberg described four different stages of culture shock. Other psychologists have added more. There’s a fifth stage that I’ll describe. I’m sure those of you who have had experience in a different culture will recognize some of these stages. The first stage is often called the honeymoon period: it’s kind of a euphoric stage. When you first arrive . . . hey, new country! Everything is exotic and exciting. You notice all the differences, and you delight in them, like a tourist. If you have friends there, they may go out of their way to make you feel at home. They treat you like a special guest, and it’s a very positive experience. Maybe you have a few problems, but they don’t bother you that much. It’s all fun. It’s all part of the new experience. But honeymoons don’t last forever. And if you’re going to live in a new place, you have to come to terms with the day-to-day realities of life there. You have to open a bank account, perhaps find an apartment, find a job.
Often, you don’t speak the language, and you don’t really know how to go about doing things. That’s when you realize that the support systems that you had in your old country, and the ways that you got things done there, may not be the same here in the new country. You’re like a fish out of water . . . out of your own environment, and you don’t know how things work, or you get irritated at the different ways that things work . . . and—and this is often a big part of it—nobody seems to care. That’s when you’re moving into the second stage, which is the stage most people think of when they talk about culture shock. It’s a kind of rejection stage. The stores aren’t open when you want them to be. The taxi drivers aren’t helpful. You’re fed up with the food. You’re sick of seeing movies with subtitles. You’re trying to learn the language, but nobody appreciates your efforts. When you go out with people, everyone ignores you. All of this kind of adds up, and it can make you feel pretty miserable. People even experience physical symptoms. Now most people go through this stage to some extent. And how you deal with this stage is really important. Because it’s a challenge, and you just have to accept it and work through it. Unfortunately, a lot of people move into a third stage from here, a kind of a superiority phase. That’s when you start feeling superior to the new culture. You tend to get together with friends from your home culture and complain about the country you’re in. Everything about the new place is bad; everything about the old place is good. You’re romanticizing your own country or your own culture. Stage four is where you begin to adjust to the new country. Some time passes, and you’re getting used to things. Maybe you speak the language a little. Maybe your job becomes more interesting. Maybe you’ve met some new friends and they’re helping you to adjust. For whatever reason, you’re . . . you’re starting to feel a little more at home. You realize that there are things that you actually like about the new country. This is called the adjustment period, and it’s a more mature stage, when you begin to realize that there are good things and bad things everywhere you go. Some people talk about a fifth stage: reverse culture shock, which is when you finally return to the culture you came from. Often you’re actually disappointed at things there, and then you realize that you have changed, and that there are some things that you like better in the new culture. So that’s the stages of culture shock. Now if you’re going to study or work overseas, it really helps to know about culture shock, so you can prepare yourself in advance.
Open Forum: Transcripts 41
And if you know about it, you can anticipate it, and maybe not avoid it completely, but take action to deal with it. So what are some things that you could do . . . .
D Working Out Unknown Vocabulary (p. 107)
1. The first stage is often called the honeymoon period. It’s kind of a euphoric stage. When you first arrive . . . hey, new country! Everything is exotic and exciting. 2. If you have friends there, they may go out of their way to make you feel at home. They treat you like a special guest, and it’s a very positive experience. 3. But honeymoons don’t last forever. And if you’re going to live in a new place, you have to come to terms with the day-to-day realities of life there. You have to open a bank account, perhaps find an apartment, find a job. 4. You’re like a fish out of water . . . out of your own environment, and you don’t know how things work, or you get irritated at the different ways that things work . . . and—and this is often a big part of it—nobody seems to care. 5. It’s a kind of rejection stage. The stores aren’t open when you want them to be. The taxi drivers aren’t helpful. You’re fed up with the food. You’re sick of seeing movies with subtitles. 6. Everything about the new place is bad; everything about the old place is good. You’re romanticizing your own country or your own culture.
1 www.oup.com
5 Pronunciation Exercise 1 (p. 108)
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
At first it was a positive experience. I felt at home in England. I opened a bank account. But I didn’t have a job. In the end I worked it out. But it took a lot of time.
6 Speaking Skills Exercise 1 (p. 109) A = Male 1, B = Female 1, C = Female 2, D = Male 2
A: OK, so are we all clear about what we have to do? Let’s go to the first point. If you’re going to live overseas, it’s important to learn about the country in advance. Any specific examples of that? B: You could read about the culture. A: Right. Any other ideas? C: What about the language? You should try to learn some of the language too, right? B: Absolutely. A: Let me get that down . . . language . . . right. What else could we say? Oliver, what do you think? D: Maybe . . . I don’t know . . . try to meet people from the particular country, for example. C: Yeah. A: Good point. Great. Does anyone have anything to add to that? OK then, can we move on?
ISBN 0-19-441775-1
ACADEMIC LISTENING AND SPEAKING
Answer Key and Test Booklet
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