-
Chapter 1
Napoleon
：
From
Schoolboy to Emperor
Napoleon was a French
soldier who became
emperor
of France. He
was born in 1769 on the
island of Corsica. When he was only 10 years
old,
his
father
sent
him
to
military
school
in
France.
N.
wasn’t
a
very
good student in most of his classes,
but he
excelled
in
mathematics
and
military science. When he was 16 years
old, he joined the French army. In
that
year
he
began
the
military
career
that
brought
him
fame,
power,
riches, and, finally,
defeat.
N. became a
general
in the French army
at the
young
age
of
24.
Several
years
later,
he
became
the
emperor
of
the
French
Empire.
N.
was many things. He was, first of all, a
brilliant
military leader.
His soldiers were ready to die for him.
As a result, N. won many, many
military
victories.
At one time
he
controlled
most of
Europe, but many
countries, including
England,
Russia
, and Austria
fought
fiercely
against
him. His defeat
–
his end
–
came when he
decided to attack Russia. In
this
military
campaign
against
Russia, he lost most of his army.
The great French
conqueror
died alone --
deserted
by his family and
friends
–
in
1821. N. was only 51 years old when he died.
Postlistening
A. The Comprehension Check
1. Recognizing Information and Checking
Accuracy
1. When was Napoleon born? (a)
2. What kind of student was Napoleon in
most of his classes? (d)
3. What did Napoleon's military career
bring him? (d)
4. When did Napoleon
become emperor of the French Empire? (d)
5.
One
reason
that
Napoleon
won
many
military
victories
was
that
his
soldiers
were ready to fight to the death for him. (T)
6. Austria and Russia fought fiercely
against Napoleon, but England did
not.
(F England also fought against him.)
7.
Many of Napoleon's family and friends were with
him when he died.
(F He died alone and
deserted by his family and friends.)
8.
Napoleon died before he reached the age of 52. (T)
Listening Factoid#1
The cause of Napoleon's death at the
age of 51 on the island of St. Helena
is still a mystery. There is no doubt
that a very sick man at the time of his
death.
One
theory
about
the
cause
of
his
death
is
that
he
had
stomach
cancer. Another theory is that he was
deliberately poisoned by a servant.
This third theory suggests that he was
poisoned, but not by his servant.
This
third
theory
suggests
that
that
he
was
poisoned,
accidentally
by
fumes from the wallpaper
were analyzed and traces of arsenic were found
in
it.
Arsenic
is
powerful
poison
that
was
used
in
some
of
the
dyes
in
wallpaper during the time
that Napoleon lived. More than 170 years after
his death, people are still speculating
about the cause of his death.
Listening
Factoid #2
1. Ten people who speak make
more noise than 10,000 who are silent.
2. In politics, stupidity is not a
handicap.
3. A man will fight harder
for his interests than for his rights.
4. Men of genius are meteors intended
to burn to light their century.
5. I
know, when it is necessary, how to leave the skin
of the lion to take
the skin of the
fox.
6. History is the version of past
events that people have decided to agree
upon.
7. It is success which
makes great men.
Chapter 2
Pompeii
：
Destroyed
, Forgotten, and Found
Today
many
people
who
live
in
large
metropolitan
areas
such
as
Paris
and
New
York
leave
the
city
in
the
summer.
They
go
to
the
mountains
or
to
the
seashore
to
escape
the
city
noise
and
heat.
Over
2,000 years ago, many
rich Romans did the same thing. They left the city
of
Rome
in
the
summer.
Many
of
these
wealthy
Romans
spent
their
summers in the city of Pompeii. P. was
a beautiful city; it was located on
the
ocean, on the Bay of Naples.
In
the
year
79
C.E.,
a
young
boy
who
later
became
a
very
famous
Roman
historian
was visiting his
uncle in P.. The boy’s name was Pliny
the
Younger.
One
day
Pliny
was
looking
up
at
the
sky.
He
saw
a
frightening
sight. It was a
very large dark cloud. This black cloud rose
high into the sky. Rock and
ash
flew through the air.
What Pliny saw was
the
eruption
–
the
explosion
-- of the volcano,
Vesuvius. The city of P.
was at the
foot of Mt. V
..
When the volcano first erupted, many
people were able to flee the city
and
to escape death. In fact, 18,000 people escaped
the terrible disaster.
Unfortunately,
there was not enough time for everyone to escape.
More
than 2,000 people died. These
unlucky people were buried alive under the
volcanic ash. The eruption lasted for
about 3 days. When the eruption was
over, P. was buried under 20 feet of
volcanic rock and ash. The city of P.
was buried and forgotten for 1,700
years.
In the
year of 1748 an Italian farmer was digging on his
farm. As he
was digging, he uncovered a
part of a wall of the ancient city of P.. Soon
archaeologists began to excavate
–
to dig -- in the area. As
time went by,
much of the ancient city
of P. was uncovered. Today tourists from all over
the world come to see the ruins of the
famous city of Pompeii.
Postlistening
A. The
Comprehension Check
1. Recognizing
Information and Checking Accuracy
1. At
what time of the year did wealthy Romans like to
visit Pompeii? (in
the summertime)
2. In what year did Pliny pay a visit
to his uncle/s house in Pompeii? (in
79
C.E.)
3. What did Pliny see when he was
looking out over the Bay of Naples
one
day? (a large dark cloud)
4. Where was
Pompeii located in relation to Mt. Vesuvius?
(Pompeii was
located at the foot of Mt.
Vesuvius.)
5.
When
did
an
Italian
farmer
discover
a
part
of
an
ancient
wall
of
Pompeii? {in 1748)
6. Rome
was located at the foot of Mt. Vesuvius. (F
Pompeii was located
at the foot of Mt.
Vesuvius.)
7. Most of the people of
Pompeii were able to flee the city and to escape
death. (T)
8.
Pompeii
was
buried
under
two
feet
of
volcanic
ash.
(F
Pompeii
was
buried under 20 feet of
volcanic ash.)
9. Pompeii lay buried
and forgotten between 79 C.E. and 1748. (T)
10. The Italian farmer was looking for
the ancient city of Pompeii. (F The
farmer was digging on his farm.)
11. Tourists come to excavate the city
of Pompeii, (F Tourists come to see
the
ruins of the ancient city of Pompeii.)
Listening factoid #1
In
1951,
an
Australian
pilot
prevented
his
plane
form
being
shot
down-
by
flak
form
a
volcano.
The
plane
was
flying
over
a
volcano
in
Papua, New Guinea when
the volcano suddenly erupted. It sent ash and
flak
36,000
feet
into
the
air.
Bits
of
stone
pounded
against
the
plane’s
wings
and fuselage, but the pilot kept control and flew
the plane to safety.
Incidentally,
almost
3,000
people
on
the
ground
died
as
a
result
of
the
eruption of this
volcano.
Listening factoid #2
Pliny
the
Younger
saw
the
eruption
of
Mount
Vesuvius
form
a
distance.
On the day of the eruption,
the boy’s
uncle Pliny the Elder was
in command of
a Roman fleet which was not far off the shore of
Pompeii.
On seeing the remarkable
eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, Pliny the Elder, who
was a great naturalist, sailed to shore
to take a look at the eruption of the
mountain. On his approach to the shore,
he was met by a shower of hot
cinders
which grew thicker and hotter as he advanced. He
finally landed
on the shore, and went
to a house away form the beach. He even went to
sleep, but later in the night, the
servants woke him up. By then, the house
had begun to rock so violently that
Pliny and everyone in his household
left the house and went toward the
beach to escape. Tying pillowcases on
their heads, and using torches to light
the way, they groped their way to
the
beach. But it was too late for Pliny the Elder.
Apparently, he became
tired and lay
down on the ground to rest. But when he lay down
on the
ground, he died. His death was
probably due to carbon dioxide poisoning.
Since CO2 is heavier than air, it hugs
the ground and makes it impossible
to
breathe when one is close to the ground. It is
likely that others in the
area also
died of carbon dioxide poisoning if they lay down
to rest on the
ground below Mt.
Vesuvius.
Chapter 3
Lance Armstrong: Survivor and Winner
Lance
Armstrong
was
born
on
September
18,
1971
in
a
suburb
of
Dallas,
Texas,
called
Plano.
Lance
began
running
and
swimming
competitively when
he was only 10 years old. By the time he was 13,
he
was
competing
in
triathlons
and
won
the
Iron
Kids
Triat
hlon.
Lance’s
mother, who raised
L. mostly by herself, recognized and encouraged
his
competitive spirit.
During his senior year in high school,
L. was invited to train with the
US
Olympic cycling developmental team in Colorado.
From that time on,
L.
focused
completely
on
cycling.
By
1991,
L.
was
the
US
National
Amateur Champion. He also won 2 major
national races the same year --
even
beating some professional cyclists.
Although he was generally doing very
well, L. had his ups and downs.
In
1992, he was expected to do very well at the
Barcelona Olympics, but
finished
in
14th
place.
This
was
a
big
disappointment.
L.
got
over
the
disappointment and
decided to turn professional. In his first
professional
race, the 1992 Classico
San Sebastian, he ended up finishing dead last, 27
minutes
behind
the
winner.
L.’s
mother
continued
to
encourage
L.
through his difficult times.
Things
went
much
better
for
L.
in
the
following
years.
In
1993,
he
was the youngest person to win the
World Race Championships. In the
same
year, he entered the Tour de France for the first
time. He won one
stage of the race, but
dropped out of the race before finishing. In 1995,
he
even won the Classico S. S., the
race he had finished last in, in 1992. L.
also won the most important US
tournament, the Tour du Pont, 2 times, in
both 1995 and 1996. By 1996, L. was
ranked 7th among cyclists in the
world,
and he signed a 2-year contract with a French
racing team. At that
time, everything
was looking very good for L.A..
However, everything changed
dramatically and drastically in October
of
1996,
shortly
after
his
25th
birthday.
At
this
time,
L.
was
diagnosed
with advanced
cancer that had already spread to his brain and
lungs. He
almost immediately underwent
2 cancer surgeries. After these 2 surgeries,
he
was
given
a
50-50
chance
of
survival
as
he
began
an
aggressive
3-month
course
of
chemotherapy.
The
chemotherapy
left
L.
very
weak,
but the treatment worked well. Quite
soon after, L. was declared free of
cancer.
L.
returned
to
cycling
and
training
only
5
months
after
he
was
initially diagnosed with
cancer. He vowed he would return to competitive
cycling better than ever.
However,
his
French
cycling
team
dropped
L.
from
the
team.
They
didn’t believe that L.
would ever be able to return to his former
l
evel of
strength and
endurance. Fortunately the US Postal Service Team
became
his
new
sponsor.
With
the
support
of
the
US
Postal
Service
Team,
L.
returned
to racing in 1998. After one particularly bad day
during one of
his races, L. pulled over
and decided he was done with racing. However,
after
spending
time
with
his
really
good
cycling
friends,
L.
returned
to
racing, and again he was off again in
pursuit of cycling victories!
L.’s
big
comeback
was
marked
by
his
victory
at
the
1999
Tour
de
France.
L.
repeated
this
feat
in
the
years
2000,
2001,
2002,
2003
and
2004, for a total of 6 consecutive
victories in the Tour de France, the most
prestigious
and
the
most
grueling
of
all
cycling
contests.
L.s’
Tour
de
France
record may never be beaten or even matched.
Interestingly, L. was
the
youngest
person
to
win
the
World
Cycling
Championships
in
1993
and the oldest person
ever to win the Tour de France in 2004!
In addition to his amazing
athletic performance, L.A. has established
the
L.A.
Foundation,
which
is
devoted
to
providing
information
about
cancer and support to
cancer victims. He has also written a book about
his
life and winning the TdF, called
Every Second Counts, and for L., every
second has counted.
L.A.
gives
a
lot
of
credit
for
his
success
to
his
mother,
whose
independent
spirit
and
support
for
L.
inspired
him
to
overcome
all
of
life’s
obstacles,
both
on
and
off
the
racetrack.
Lance,
in
return,
has
provided inspiration to many, for his
courage
–
both athletic and
personal.
Postlistening
A. The Comprehension Check
1. Recognizing Information and Checking
Accuracy
1.
How
old
was
Lance
when
he
began
running
and
swimming
competitively? (b)
2. Which sports contest did Lance win
when he was 13 years old? (b)
3. How
old was Lance when he was diagnosed with advanced
cancer? (c)
4.
What
chance
for
survival
was
Lance
given
after
he
underwent
two
surgeries? (c)
5. Who was
Lance's sponsor when he won the Tour de France in
1999?
(d)
6. What is the
name of the book that Lance wrote that is
mentioned in the
lecture? (b)
7. Lauce’s cancer had already spread to
his lungs and brain before it was
diagnoised? (T)
8.
Lauce’s
French
team
dropped
Lauce
because
they
didn’t
think
he
would ever return to his
former level of strength and endurance. (T)
9. Lauce won the Classico San Sebastian
two times. (F He lost the first
time
and won the second time.)
10.
Lauce
is
the
only
cyclist
to
win
the
Tour
de
France
five
times
consecutively. (F
Lauce is the only person to win the Tour de France
six
times consecutively.)
Listening factoid #1
Amazingly enough, the bicycle is a more
efficient mean of transportation
than
any other method of traveling. It takes much less
energy to bicycle
one mile than it does
to walk one mile. In fact, it can take up to five
times
as much energy to walk a mile
than to bicycle a mile. If we compare the
amount of energy a human being uses to
bicycle three miles, or about 5
kilometers,
we
find
this
amount
of
energy
would
power
a
car
for
only
about
278 feet, or 85 meters.
Listening
factoid #2
According to Professor Steve
Jones, the three most important inventions
in the history of mankind were fire,
speech, and the bicycle. He says that
the
invention
of
fire
freed
human
being
from
the
power
of
climate,
dangerous animals, and monotonous
diets. The invention of speech meant
that human being s could begin to build
civilization. And the invention of
the
bicycle
–
by which he really
means modern transportation in general-
meant
that
groups
of
human
beings
were
no
longer
isolated,
but
could
travel great
distances. Being able to travel much more freely
meant that
there
could
never
again
be
more
than
one
species
of
human
beings
as
there
had been in ancient times.
Chapter 4
The Internet: How
it Works
The
Internet consists of millions of computers, all
linked together into
a gigantic
network. Now every computer that is connected to
the Internet
is
part
of
this
network
and
can
communicate
with
any
other
connected
computer.
In
order
to
communicate
with
each
other,
these
computers
are
equipped with special
communication software. To connect to the
Internet,
the user instructs the
computer’s communication software to contact the
Internet
Service
Provider,
or
ISP.
Now
an
Internet
Service
Provider,
or
ISP,
is
a
company
that
provides
Internet
service
to
individuals,
organizations,
or
companies,
usually
for
a
monthly
charge.
Local
ISPs
connect
to
larger
ISPs,
which
in
turn
connect
to
even
larger
ISPs.
A
hierarchy of networks is
formed. And this hierarchy is something like a
pyramid, with lots of small networks at
the bottom, and fewer but larger
networks moving up the pyramid. But,
amazingly, there is no one single
controlling
network
at
the
top.
Instead,
there
are
dozens
of
high-level
networks,
which
agree
to
connect
with
each
other.
It
is
through
this
process
that
everyone
on
the
Internet
is
able
to
connect
with
everyone
else on the
Internet, no matter where he or she is in the
world.
How does information
that leaves one computer travel through all of
these
networks,
and
arrives
at
its
destination,
another
computer,
in
a
fraction of
a second?
The
process
depends
on
routers.
Now
routers
are
specialized
computers
whose
job
is
to direct
the information
through the networks.
The data, or
information, in an e-mail message, a Web page, or
a file is
first broken down into tiny
packets. Each of these packets has the address
of
the
sender
and
of
the
receiver,
and
information
on
how
to
put
the
packets back together.
Each of these packets is then sent off through the
Internet.
And
when
a
packet
reaches
a
router,
the
router
reads
its
destination address. And
the router then decides the best route to send the
packet on its way to its destination.
All the packets might take the same
route or they might go different
routes. Finally, when all the packets reach
their destination, they are put back
into the correct order.
To
help you understand this process, I’m going to ask
you to think of
these
packets
of
information
as
electronic
postcards.
Now
imagine
that
you want to send a friend a book, but
you can send it only as postcards.
First, you would have to cup up each of
the pages of the book to the size
of
the
postcards.
Next,
you
would
need
to
write
your
address
and
the
address of your friend
on each of these postcards. You would also need to
number
the
postcards
so
that
your
friend
could
put
them
in
the
correct
order
after
he
receives
the
postcards.
After
completing
these
steps,
you
would put all the postcards in the
mail. You would have no way to know
how
each postcard traveled to reach your friend. Some
might go by truck ,
some
by
train,
some
by
plane,
some
by
boat.
Some
might
go
by
all
4
ways. Now along the way,
many postal agents may look at the addresses
on the postcards in order to decide the
best route to send them off on to
reach
their destination. The postcards would probably
arrive at different
times. But finally,
after all of the postcards had arrived, your
friend would
be able to put them back
in the correct order and read the book.
Now
this
is
the
same
way
that
information is
sent
over
the
Internet
using the network of routers, but of
course it happens much, much faster!
Postlistening
A. The
Comprehension Check
1. Recognizing
Information and Checking Accuracy
1.
What is the Internet? (d)
2. What is a
router? (c)
3. What is carried on every
tiny packet of information that travels through
the Internet? (d)
4. What is
a router compared to in the lecture? (b)
5.
The
Internet
is
controlled
by
one
gigantic
ISP.
(F
There
is
no
one
controlling network at the top)
6.
Routers
can
send
the
packets
of
information
in
one
e-mail
massage
over many different
routes to their destination. (T)
7.
The
lecturer
compares
the
tiny
packets
of
information
that
travel
through the Internet
to electronic postcards. (T)
Listening factoid #1
Jeff
Hancock, a scientist at Cornell University, asked
30 students to keep
a communication
diary for a week. The students wrote down the
numbers
of conversations they had
either face-to-face or on the telephone and the
number
of
e-mail
exchanges
they
had,
both
regular
e-mails
and
instant
messages,
that
lasted
more
than
10
minutes.
They
also
wrote
down
the
number
of
lies
they
had
told
in
each
conversation
or
e-mail
exchange.
When
Jeff
Hancock
analyzed
the
students’
communication
records,
he
found
that
lies
made
up
14
percent
of
e-mails,
21
percent
of
instant
messages,
27
percent
of
face-to-face
conversations,
and
37
percent
of
phone calls.
His
findings
surprised
some
psychologists,
who
thought
it
would
be
easier to lie in e-mail
than in real-time conversations. One explanation
is
that people are less likely to lie
when there will be a record of their lies,
such as in an e-mail.
Listening factoid #2
If you
have an e-mail account, you have no doubt been
spammed. That is,
you
have
received
unsolicited
e-
mail
from
someone
you
don’t
know,
someone who is usually
trying to sell you something!
Most
people say that they hate spam. For many people,
spam mail is just
a
nuisance,
but
for
businesses
it’s
very
expensive,
as
their
employee
waste
considerable
working
time
going
through
and
deleting
span.
According
to
Message
Labs,
a
company
that
provides
e-mail
security,
76% of the world’s
e
-mail is spam and it costs businesses
approximately
$$12 billion dollars a
year. According to a survey by Commtouch Software,
another anti-spam company, in the last
few months the number of spam
attacks
increased
by
43%.
Their
report
predicts
that
within
two
years,
98% of all e-mail will be spam!
Chapter 5
Language: How Children
Acquire Theirs
What
I’d
lie
to
talk
to
you
about
today
is
the
topic
of
child
language
development. I know that you all are
trying to develop a second language,
but
for
a
moment,
let’s
think
about
a
related
topic,
and
that
is:
How
children develop their
first language. What do we know about how babies
develop their language and
communication ability? Well, we know babies
are able to communicate as
soon as they are born―even before they
learn
to speak their first language. At
first, they communicate by crying. This
crying
lets
their
parents
know
when
they
are
hungry,
or
unhappy,
or
uncomfortable. However, they soon begin
the process of acquiring their
language. The first state of language
acquisition begins just a few weeks
after birth. At this stage, babies
start to make cooing noises when they are
happy. Then, around four months of age
they begin to babble. Babies all
over
the world begin to babble around the same age, and
they all begin to
make the same kinds
of babbling noises. Now, by the time they are ten
months
old,
however,
the
babbling
of
babies
from
different
language
backgrounds sounds different. For
example, the babbling of a baby in a
Chinese-speaking home sounds different
from the babbling of a baby in
an
English-speaking
home.
Babies
begin
a
new
stage
of
language
development
when
they
begin
to
speak
their
first
words.
At
first,
they
invent
their
own
words
for
things.
For
example,
a
baby
in
an
English-
speaking
home
may
say
―baba‖ for
the
word
―bottle‖
or
―kiki‖
for
―cat.‖
In
the
next
few
months,
babies
will
acquire
a
lot
of
words.
These
words
are
usually
the
names
of
things
that
are
in
the
baby’s
environment, words for food or toys,
for example. They will begin to use
these words to communicate with others.
For example, if a baby holds up
an
empty juice bottle and then says ―juice,‖ to his
father, the baby seems
to
be
saying,
―I
want
more
juice,
Daddy‖
or
―May
I
have
more
juice,
Daddy?‖ This word
―juice‖ is really a one
-word sentence.
Now, the next stage of
language acquisition begins around the age of
18 months, when the babies begin to say
two-word sentences. They begin
to
use a kind
of grammar
to
put these
words together.
The
speech
they
produce is called ―telegraphic‖ speech
because the babies omit all but the
most
essential
words.
An
English-speaking
child
might
say
something
like
―Daddy,
up‖
which
actually
could
mean
―Daddy,
pick
me
up,
please.‖
Then, between two and three years of
age
, young children begin
to
learn more and more grammar. For example, they
begin to use the past
tense of verbs.
The children begin to say things such as ―I walked
home‖
and
―I
kissed
Mommy.‖
They
also
begin
to
overgeneralize
this
new
grammar
rule
and
make
a
log
of
grammar
mistakes.
For
example,
children
often
say
such
thins
as
―I
goed
to
bed‖
instead
of
―I
went
to
bed,‖ or ―I eated ice
cream‖ instead of ―I ate ice cream.‖ In other
words,
the
children
have
learned
the
past
tense
rule
for
regular
verbs
such
as
―walk‖
and ―kiss,‖ but they haven’t learned that they
cannot use this rule
for all verbs.
Some verbs like ―eat‖ are irregular, and the past
tense forms
for irregular verbs must be
learned individually. Anyway, these mistakes
are
normal,
and
the
children
will
soon
learn
to
use
the
past
tense
for
regular
and irregular verbs correctly. The children then
continue to learn
other grammatical
structures in the same way.
If we stop to think about it, actually
it’s quite amazing how quickly
babies
and
children
all
over
the
world
learn
their
language
and
how
similar the process is for babies all
over the world.
Do
you
remember
anything
about
how
you
learned
your
first
language during the early years of your
life? Think about the process for
a
minute. What was your
first word? Was
it ―mama‖ or maybe ―papa‖?
Now
think
also
about
the
process
of
learning
English
as
a
second
language.
Can
you
remember
the
first
word
you
learned
in
English?
I
doubt
that it was ―mama.‖ Now, think about some of the
similarities and
differences involved
in the processes of child and adult language
learning.
We’ll talk about some
similarities and differences in the first and
second
language learning processes
tomorrow. See you then.
Postlistening
A. The
Comprehension Check
1. Recognizing
Information and Checking Accuracy
1. At
what age do babies begin to communicate? (a)
2. Which of the following is an example
of ―telegraphic‖ speech? (b)
3. At what age do children begin to use
the past tense? (c)
4. At four months
of age the babbling of babies sounds the same all
over
the world. (T)
5. A
baby’s first words are usually words that he or
she inverts. (T)
6. A child
uses only vocabulary and no grammar before about
two years
of age. (F He/she actually
used a kind of grammar in making two-word
sentences at about 18months of age.)
7. Children probably say ―I goed‖
instead of ―I went‖ because they hear
their
parents
say
this.
(F
Children
say
―I
goed‖
instead
of
―I
went‖
because they are
overgeneralizing the grammar rule for the regular
past
tense verbs
to the
irregular verb ―go.‖)
Listening Factoid #1
Have
you ever wondered about what the world's original
language was?
Or whether children would
begin to speak if they never heard language?
Well, more than 2,500 years ago, an
Egyptian pharaoh asked himself the
same
questions.
He
had
the
idea
that
children
who
didn't
hear
adults
speaking
any
language
would
begin
to
speak
the
world's
language.
So
he
had
two
newborn
babies
of
poor
parents
taken
away
from
them. He gave the babies to a shepherd to take
care of. No one was
allowed to speak to
them. About two years later, the shepherd reported
to
the
pharaoh
that
the
children
were
making
a
sound
like
This
sound
so the pharaoh concluded that Phrygian
was the original language in the
world.
There
was
only
one
problem
with
the
pharaoh's
conclusion.
He
overlooked the
fact that
very
much like
the noise
that
sheep make!
Listening factoid #2
Do you
know that grownups use baby talk? Why? To help
babies learn to
speak David Sacks, a
linguist, says that,
learn
to
speak-first
in
baby
talk,
then
with
the
rudiments
of
genuine
vocabulary-by
imitating the speech sounds they hear around them.
(Often
these sounds are addressed to
the baby in an exaggerated, singsong form;
for example,
learn.) But
some scholars have theorized that language in the
nursery is
partly a two-way street and
that certain family-related words in English
and
other
tongues
were
formed
originally-perhaps
prehistorically-in
imitation
of baby talk. Such words are easy for babies to
pronounce. The
parent will say to the
baby,
secure place in the language.
What are these words that are easy to say?
While
the
words
vary
from
language
to
language,
in
English
they
are
some of the
The
earliest
speech
sounds
out
of
an
infant's
mouth,
sometimes
as
early
as
the
second
month
of
life,
might
typically
be
pure
vowels.
The
sounds
the world, with
next step, usually begun before four
months of age, is to float a consonant
sound in front of the vowel:
Chapter 6 Hydroponic
Aquaculture: How One System Works
The growing of
plants without soil has developed from experiments
carried out to determine what
substances (like soil and water) make plants
grow.
Growing
plants
in
water(
rather
than
in
soil)
---
in
other
words,
hydroponics---
dates
back
many
more
years
than
you
might
think.
Scientists believe that hydroponics or
aquaculture is at least as ancient as
the
pyramids
of
Egypt.
Scientists
also
know
that
a
primitive
form
of
aquaculture has been used
in the region of Kashmir for centuries. In fact,
scientists
believe
hydroponic
growing
actually
preceded
soil
growing.
They even believe that using
hydroponics as a farming tool started in the
ancient city of Babylon with its famous
hanging gardens. These hanging
gardens
were probably one of the first successful attempts
to grow plants
hydroponically.
However, returning to more modern
times, researchers at the University
of
the Virgin Islands have developed a system of
hydroponic aquaculture
that
is
both
simple
and
low
cost.
The
system
uses
gravity
to
create
recirculating
water
systems
in
which
fish
are
raised
and
vegetables
are
grown. Let me take a
minute to explain the process of how this
particular
system of hydroponic
aquaculture works on the island of St. Croix in
the
Virgin Island.
To start with, rainwater is
collected in a large 3,000-gallon tank. This
tank is located on the highest point of
the island. The tank is so large that
it
measures
about
12
feet
in
diameter.
Once
the
tank
is
filled
with
rainwater,
fish
are
added
to
the
tank
and
subsequently
raised
in
a
large
tank. So, first, the researchers
collect rainwater in a large tank, then they
add fish; the fish swim around and
excrete waste into the water.
The next
step in the process happens in this way. The
rainwater collected
in the large tank
slowly runs out of the bottom of the large fish
tank and
into another tank. This other
tank holds the waste from the fish. The water
is
then
filtered.
After
the
water
is
filtered,
it
is
passed
through
a
―bio
-
filter‖
that
contains
bacteria.
These
bacteria
convert
any
harmful
ammonia produced in the fish waste into
nitrates. These nitrates are then
used
to feed the plants in the next stage of the
process.
So,
what happens next? Well, after the water has
passed through this
bio-filter,
it
enters
two
100-foot-long
hydroponic
tanks.
Just
above
the
100-foot-long
tanks
of
water,
plants
are
suspended
on
trays.
In
this
particular
case,
the
plants
suspended
on
trays
are
lettuce
plants.
The
plants’ roots stand in the water. Now,
through the roots, the plants soak up
or
absorb
the
nitrates
and
other
nutrients
in
the
water
before
the
water
drains
out
of
these
100-foot-long
tanks
into
a
large
reservoir.
The
reservoir is located at
the lowest point on the island. It is now
necessary
of course to get the water
from the lowest part of the island back up to the
highest point on the island so the
water can circulate through the process
again.
Now,
how
do
they
get
the
water
from
the
reservoir
up
to
the
3,000-gallon
fish
tank,
and
then
the
hydroponic
process
starts
all
over
again.
The
aquaculture
scientists
say
that
this
relatively
simple
system
produces about 25,000
heads of lettuce, and one ton of fish in a year
from
just
one
3,000-gallon
fish
tank.
A
commercial
company
would
need
to
have several tanks in order to make the
process profitable, but researchers
at
the
University
of
the
Virgin
Islands
have
demonstrated
exactly
how
aquaculture
can be used
to
grow plants without
using
soil.
The process
could
help
some
countries
that
are
looking
to
develop
new
methods
to
produce food in
―soil
-
less culture‖. Just to
give an example, in the case of
tomatoes, dirt farmers raise about
3,500 plants per acre. In hydroponics,
the tomato plants can be placed much
closer together, and it’s possible to
cultivate as many as 10,000 plants on
an acre of land. In the future, we
will
probably
see
more
and
more
agriculture
being
done
as
hydroponic
a
quaculture. And many
consumers won’t know the difference.
Postlistening
A.
The Comprehension Check
1. Recognizing
Information and Checking Accuracy
1.
How old do scientists think aquaculture is? (d)
2. Which country (or region) did the
lecturer not mention in his talk? (c)
3. What makes the water pass from one
tank to another in the hydroponic
system described? (d)
4.
What does the bio-filter contain that destroys
harmful ammonia in the
fish waste? (a)
5. About how many heads of lettuce can
be produced in a year with the
system
described? (d)
6. Growing plants in a
soil environment predates the growing of plants in
an
aquaculture
environment.
(F
Scientists
believe
hydroponic
growing
actually preceded soil growing.)
7. The width of the large fish tank
described is 12 feet in diameter. (T)
8. The large fish tank is 100 feet
long. (F The tanks with the lettuce,
9.
The lettuce plants use the nitrates from the water
as food. (T)
10. Gravity takes the
water from the tank with the lettuce plants above
it
to the tank with the fish in it. (F
A pump is needed to cycle the water from
the tank with the plants above it to
the tank with the fish in it.)
Listening factoid #1
The
jackfruit
tree
of
southern
Asia
bears
the
world's
largest
tree
fruits.
The fruits can weigh
as much as 110 pounds. As many as 250 fruits are
produced by a single tree each year.
People in India and Sri Lanka eat the
fruit fresh or make a syrup out of this
large fruit. Would you like to eat
the
jackfruit?
Listening factoid #2
Did
you
know
that
the
Aztecs
of
Central
America
did
hydroponic
gardening long
ago? How did they do it? First, they built rafts
of rushes
and reeds tied together with
tough roots. Then they dredged up soil from
the shallow bottom of the lake, and
piled it on the rafts. Because the soil
came from the lake bottom, it was rich
in a variety of organic substances
and
nutrients. On these rafts they planted vegetables,
flowers, and even
trees. The roots of
these plants, pushing clown toward a source of
water,
would
grow
through
the
floor
of
the
raft
and
down
into
the
water.
The
rafts
were
joined
together
to
form
floating
islands
as
much
as
200
feet
long.
On
market
days,
a
farmer
on
one
of
these
floating
islands
would
pole his raft close to
a market place, pick his vegetables or flowers,
and
sell
them
to
shoppers
walking
by.
The
shoppers
got
really
fresh
(and
hydroponic) fruits and
vegetables.
Chapter
7
A
Tidal
Wave:
What
Is
It?
What
Causes
It?
How
Can
We
Predict It?
A tidal wave is a very large and very
destructive
wall of water
that
rushes
in
from
the
ocean
toward
the
shore.
Many
scientists
call
these
waves
tsunami
.
In
Japanese
tsunami
means
―storm
wave.‖
But
do
you
know that tidal waves
are not caused by storms and that they are not
true
tides
at
all?
A
true
tide
is
the
regular
rise
and
fall
of
ocean
waters,
at
definite
times each day, but
a tidal wave comes rushing in suddenly and
unexpectedly.
A
tidal
wave
is
caused
by
an
underwater
earthquake.
Scientists
call
the
underwater
earthquake
a
seaquake
.
The
word
―seaquake‖
is
made
up
of
two
words,
the
word
―sea‖
which
means
―ocean‖
and
the
word
―quake.‖
―To
quake‖
means
―to
shake‖
or
―to
tremble
.‖ When a seaquake
takes place at the bottom of the ocean, the
ocean floor shakes and trembles, and
sometimes the ocean floor
shift
s. It
is
this
shifting
that
produces
the
tidal
wave.
The
tidal
wave
begins
to
move across the sea at
great speed.
Tidal
waves
have
taken
many
human
lives
in
the
past.
Today
scientists
can
predict
when
a
tidal
wave
will
hit
land.
They
use
a
seismograph
to do this. A
seismograph is an
instrument
that records the
strength,
the
direction,
and
the
length
of
time
of
an
earthquake
or
seaquake. It is not possible to hold
back a tidal wave, but it is possible to
warn
people
that
a
tidal
wave
is
coming.
This
warning
can
save
many
lives.
Postlistening
A. The
Comprehension Check
1. Recognizing
Information and Checking Accuracy
2.
They can predict when a tidal wave will hit land.
(c)
3. It is caused by a seaquake. (d)
4. It is a synonym for
5.
During a seaquake, it shakes, trembles, and
sometimes shifts. (e)
6.
It
records
the
strength,
the
direction,
and
the
length
of
time
of
earthquakes. (f)
Listening Factoid #1
The largest wave known was not a
tsunami. It was caused by a landslide
that sent about 100 million tons of
rock crashing into a bay in Alaska in
1958.
The slide
produced
a
single
wave which
covered
the hills
on the
opposite side of the bay up to a
distance of nearly 1,700 feet inland. Then
the wave, which was 200 feet high,
raced back out to sea. No one was
killed.
Listening Factoid #2
The speed of a tsunami depends on the
depth of the water in the ocean.
The
deeper the water, the faster the tsunami moves. In
the Pacific Ocean,
for
example,
a
tsunami
travels
at
a
speed
of
up
to
600
miles,
or
970
kilometers, per hour. As
the tsunami comes close to the shore, however,
the speed of the tsunami drops to about
100 miles (or 160 kilometers) per
hour.
That's still speedy
—
and
deadly! As the tsunami approaches land, its
speed drops, but this is when the wave
begins to grow in height. Tsunamis
may
rise to 100feet or 30meters in height.
Tsunamis occur in all of the oceans of
the world, though they are the most
common in the Pacific.
Chapter 8
Levels of Language Usage:
Formal and Informal
Today I want to talk about levels of
language usage. You probably
have
noticed
that
people
express
similar
ideas
in
different
ways,
depending on the situation they are in.
This is very natural. All languages
have two broad, general categories, or
levels of usage: a formal level and
an
informal level. English in no exception. I’m not
talking about correct
and incorrect
English. What I’m talking about are two levels of
correct
English. The difference in
these two levels is the situation in which you
use a particular level. Formal language
is the kind of language you find in
textbooks, reference books such as
encyclopedias, and in business letters.
For
example,
a
letter
to
a
university
would
be
in
a
formal
style.
You
would also use formal English in
compositions and essays that you write
in school. People usually use formal
English when they give classroom
lectures or speeches and at ceremonies
such as graduations. We also tend
to
use formal language in conversations with persons
we don’t know well
or
with
people
we
have
a
formal
relationship
with,
such
as
professors,
bosses, doctors,
friends of our parents’, strangers, etc. Informal
language
is used in conversation with
colleagues, family, and friends, and when we
write personal notes or letters to
close friends, as well as in diaries, etc.
Formal language
is different from informal language in several
ways.
However, today I’m going to talk
only about a couple of ways. First of all,
formal
language
tends
to
be
more
polite.
Interestingly,
it
usually
takes
more words to be polite. For example, I
might say to a friend or family
member,
―Close
the
door,
please,‖
but
to
a
stranger
or
someone
in
authority I probably would say ―Would
you mind closing the door?‖ or
―Excuse
me,
could
you
please
close
the
door?‖
Using
words
lik
e
―could‖and ―would‖ makes my request
sound more polite, but also more
formal. I want to be polite but not too
formal with my friends and family.
Another
difference
between
formal
and
informal
language
is
some
of
the
vocabulary.
There
are
some
words
and
phrases
that
belong
in
formal language and others that are
informal. Let me give you a couple of
examples of what I mean. Let’s say that
I really like soccer. If I’m talking
to
my friend or colleague I might say ―I’m just crazy
about soccer!‖ But
if
I
were
talking
to
my
supervisor
or
a
friend
of
my
parents’,
I
would
probably say ― I
really enjoy soccer‖ or ―I like soccer very much.‖
Let’s
say I’m telling someone some news
I heard about the police arresting a
criminal. To my friend I might say,
―The cops bagged the crook.‖ To my
parents’ friend I might say ―The police
arrested the thief.‖
Although
the
line
between
formal
and
informal
language
is
not
always
clear and although
people are probably less formal today than in the
past,
it is useful to be aware that
these two levels, or categories, do exist. The
best way for a nonnative speaker of
English to learn the difference is to
observe
the
different
ways
English
speakers
speak
or
write
in
different
situations. Television newscasters,
your college professors in your class,
your
doctors
in
their
offices,
etc.,
will
usually
speak
rather
formally.
However, your classmates, teammates,
family members, and friends will
generally
speak
in
an
informal
fashion.
The
difference
can
be
learned
over time by
observing and interacting with native speakers.
Postlistening
A. Comprehension check
1.
Recognizing information and checking accuracy
1. Which of the following are usually
written in formal English? (b)
2.
Which
of
the
following
people
do
we
usually
speak
to
in
informal
language? (d)
3. Which of the following is the most
formal way to make a request? (d)
4.
Which of
the
following should not
be
in
a
composition
you
write in
school? (b)
5.
It's
unusual
to
find
both
a
formal
and
informal
level
of
usage
in
a
language. (F All languages have two
broad, general categories, or levels
of
usage: formal and informal.)
6. People
usually use formal language when they first meet
someone. (T)
7. The sentence
a conversation between classmates. (T)
8.
The
best
way
to
learn
the
difference
between
formal
and
informal
English is to look up every new word in
the dictionary. (F The best way is
to
pay
attention
to
how
native
speakers
use
language
in
different
situations and to
interact with them.)
Listening factoid
#1
The Oxford English Dictionary, often
referred to as the OED, contained
414,825
words
when
it
was
finally
completed
in
1928.
The
OED
had
been
started
71
years
earlier.
Yes/
it
took
71
years
to
complete
this
dictionary.
However,
this
was
not
the
longest
time
it
ever
took
to
complete a dictionary.
One dictionary of the German language took 106
years. Another dictionary of the
Italian language was begun in 1863 and
still isn’t finished.
Listening factoid #2
The
slang words swell, groovy, and cool all have about
the same meaning.
Swell,
groovy,
and
cool
all
mean
something
good-something
desirable.
The
difference
between
these
words
is
mostly
generational.
That
is,
people
growing up in the 1930s, '40s, and '50s often used
the word swell
when they really liked
something. The word groovy, which means about
the same thing, became popular in the
1960s. In the 1970s, the slang word
cool
became
popular.
The
word
cool
is
still
used
today,
but
swell
and
groovy
are not used very much at all, especially not by
anyone born in the
1970s or later.
Chapter9
Power: The Kinds People Use and Abuse
John Mack, who is the author of a book
about power, says that the
need for a
sense of personal power is one of the primary
forces in human
life. On the other
hand, he also says that a feeling of powerlessness
is one
of the most disturbing of human
emotions ―a feeling to be avoided at all
costs. Just what is power?
Psychologists define power
as the ability to determine or to change
the
actions
or
behavior
of
other
people.
Psychologists
are
trying
to
identify different kinds of power so
that they can better understand how
people
use
these
different
kinds
of
power
to
gain
control
over
other
people.
They
are
trying
to
understand
how
people
manipulate
other
people
for
good
and
evil
purposes.
Psychologists
have
identified
five
basic types of power,
and I’d like to talk about each of these briefly
in the
next few minutes.
The
first
type
of
power
is
called
information
power.
Some
psychologist believe
that information power is one of the most
effective
types
of
power
and control.
The person who has
information
that other
people want and need, but do not have,
is in a position of power. Why is
this?
Well,
most
people
like
to
receive
and
have
information.
Having
in
formation increases a
person’s own sense of power. People who provide
information
can
manipulate
those
who
do
not
have
information.
Often,
when people receive
information, they do not know that they are being
manipulated
by
those
who
provided
the
information.
The
psychologist
named
Edwards
says,
for
example,
that
newspapers
provide
a
lot
of
information to their readers, and that
these newspaper readers generally
believe the information they read.
Readers do not question the accuracy
of
the reports about world events they read in the
newspapers.
A
second
type
of
power
is
called
referent
power.
For
example,
a
person may want to behave like the
members of a particular group, such
as
a
soccer
team
(
or
a
group
of
classmates),
or
a
person
may
identify
with and want to be
like a certain teacher, a friend, or say , a rock
star. If
you
identify
with
another
person,
that
person
has
power
over
you,
and
that person can influence your actions
and behavior. Many people imitate
and
are controlled by the people they identify with.
Let me give you a sad
example of the
use of this type of power for evil purposes. In
the 1970s in
Jonestown, Guyana, more
than 900 people committed suicide when their
religious leader Jim Jones told them to
kill themselves. They did what he
told
them to do because he had referent power over
them. They identified
with him; they
believe him, and they did what he told them to do.
More
recently a man named David Koresh
controlled the lives and destinies of
a
small community of men, women, and children in
Waco, Texas. Most