Unit 1 Starting outOutside viewJulie My name's Julie Dearden, and I'm the Director of International Programmes here at Hertford College. Eugene My name's Eugene Berger, I studied here in Oxford for four years er, studying modern languages at Somerville College.Julie Oh, there are many Oxford traditions. Oxford is a very old university, the oldest English-speaking university in the, in the world. And so there are many traditions which are associated with the colleges, with the times of the year, and with sport, and with eating, for example.Eugene Each college is very different um, from um, the others, and it has its own character. Some colleges are very conservative, and some are much more liberal and have a tradition of um, kind of liberal politics. But there are also some specific traditions.Julie Formal Hall is when we all eat together here in college, the professors and the students. Usually it takes places at seven o'clock in the evening, and the professors sit on high table which is the table over here, and the students sit on common table, which are the tables here. But everybody eats together. It's a very beautiful evening because there are, there's a special meal and we eat by candlelight.Eugene I think er, the traditions that make Oxford so unique are firstly the Oxford Union and er, secondly, May Day. The Oxford Union being a debating society where speakers come from all around the world to address the students and even allow themselves to be questioned by the students, making it a very interesting forum.Julie My favourite is er, May Day. And May Day is the first day of May, and we have a tradition called May Morning, and on May Morning everybody gets up very early and the students have a celebration.There is a choir which sings on top of the tower at Magdalen College and all the people of the town and all the students go to listen to the singing. So it's very nice.Eugene The tradition that er, was most important to me was probably Summer Eights. I was a rower. And Summer Eights is a rowing competition, held in May in the summer term. And in this competition, each college is trying to improve its place which it won the previous year and gradually work its way up the river.Julie When the students take exams, they must go to a special building and it's called Examination Schools.And also they must wear a special uniform, so they wear E.gown like mine, a black gown, and they wear a white shirt, arid the men wear a white tie and black trousers. The women wear a white shirt and a black skirt or black trousers. And they must wear this uniform, which has a Latin name - sub fuse — and they must wear this uniform in order to take their examinations.Eugene I think the Oxford traditions lend character to the place and it's such an old institution, it should have traditions, but they can be very inconvenient. For example, sub fuse. This is the uniform that we are required according to the university rules, to wear.Julie They also wear flowers in their buttonholes, and those flowers are carnations. And they wear different colours, the students wear different coloured flowers for different examinations. So when you take your first exam you wear a white flower, and when you take your second exam you wear a pink flower, and when you take your final examination you wear a red carnation.Eugene So we have to dress up in a full black suit, starched collar, white bow tie and carry a mortarboard.And to write an exam in the summer heat whilst wearing all that which you're not allowed to take off is um, uncomfortable.Julie I really like the Oxford traditions, I think it's part of our history, and part of um, being a student or a teacher here at Oxford University.Listening inPassage 1Interviewer Can you tell me something about the Ivy League? You're a professor at Harvard, is that right?Professor That's right, yes.Interviewer Tell me how many universities are there? How many institutions?Professor In total there are eight institutions: There's Harvard, Yale, Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Princeton, and the University of Pennsylvania.Interviewer Ah, OK. And what's the sporting ... I believe there's some link with sports.Professor There certainly is, yes. Originally the Ivy League referred to the sports teams from the universities which competed against each other, especially in football, basketball and ice hockey. Now sometimes these universities, institutions, chose their students on the basis of their skills at these particular sports. But in the last 50 years, Ivy League schools have accepted a wider range of students because it wasn't possible to be both world-famous for research and also top class in sport. Interviewer And what about their academic importance? I gather they're academically very, very important, they're very well-known.Professor Absolutely at the top. They're near or at the top of the USA colleges and university rankings. And they're almost always in the top one per cent of the world's academic institutions for financial resources. Interviewer And what does it mean socially to go to an Ivy League university?Professor Certainly if you've been to one of these institutions, you are presumed or assumed to be at the top end of the scale. The Ivy League institutions have a reputation for social elitism, many of the students are rich, intellectual, white Anglo-Saxon, protestants. Not all of them of course, but quite a lot of them. Interviewer And do you know ... why's it called the Ivy League, what's the origin of the name?Professor There are a number of stories, derivations, but possibly it's based on four universities, and IV, the letters IV, that's the Roman numeral for four. Another more likely story is that ivy plants, which are symbolic of the age of the universities, you know, would be grown at the walls of these universities, these institutions, they cover the walls of the buildings. The term was created by a sports journalist, I think in the 1930s.Interviewer Right, OK. And which is the oldest university?Professor The oldest goes back to the 17th century, that's Harvard which was founded in 1636. And the youngest of the institutions is Cornell which was founded in 1865.Interviewer And which has the largest number of undergraduates?Professor Cornell has the largest number, about 13,000, 13,500 undergraduates. The institution with the smallest number is Dartmouth College with a little over 4,000.Interviewer And what about the acceptance rate? Is it hard to get into?Professor That ranges from about seven per cent to 20 per cent.Interviewer And any famous alumni? Famous old boys?Professor Hundreds! Hundreds of them. But I suppose worldwide, the two that would be definitely known all over the world would certainly be George Bush who went to Yale, and John F Kennedy, President Kennedy, who was at Harvard.Interviewer Thank you.Passage2Andy Did you see the film on television last night?Jane No, I was out. What was it?Andy A Beautiful Mind. It's about John Forbes Nash, the mathematician who won the Nobel Prize.Jane I've heard about that film, yes. He's played by Russell Crowe, isn't he? I like Russell Crowe, he's great. Andy That's the one, yes.Jane What's it about?Andy Well, the story begins in the early years of Nash's life at Princeton University as a graduate student. Jane That's one of the Ivy League schools, isn't it?Andy Yes, it's all set in New England, lovely old buildings, beautiful autumn colours. It's lovely to look at.Anyway, Nash meets his roommate Charles, a literature student, who soon becomes his best friend.Nash admits to Charles that he is better with numbers than people, and the main thing he's looking for isa truly original idea for his thesis paper.Jane So he's not interested in having fun?Andy Well, yes, but he's not very good with people or successful with women, that's all. But, you know, it's one of these bad experiences with people which ultimately inspires his brilliant work in mathematics. Jane No good at relationships, so he becomes a genius at maths?Andy That's about right, yes. So when he finishes his studies at Princeton, he accepts a job at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Five years later, he meets Alicia, a student who he falls in love with and eventually marries.Jane Ah! At last, the love interest!Andy Yes, but wait a moment. Nash believes that he's been asked to work by William Parcher for the US Department of Defense on breaking Soviet codes. At one point he's chased by the Russians, and it's after this that he becomes mentally ill.Jane I think I've seen this in the trailer to the film.Andy So when he's put in a psychiatric hospital, he thinks the Soviets have captured him. He's given this painful treatment which affects his relationship with his wife. And his intellectual skills. So he stops taking the medicine.Jane It sounds quite hard to watch.Andy Well, it is, but it's well acted and directed, and so, you know, there's a-bit of distance between the audience and what's happening on film.Jane So what happens next?Andy Well, then his illness returns, so he and his wife decide to try and live with it. It all gets a bit complicated, because we're no longer sure if Charles, you know, his old friend, or even Parcher were real, or if they were just people that existed only in Nash's mind.Jane That sounds awful. He must have been so ill,Andy Actually, I'm kind of giving away the twist in the story. Anyway, later in his life, while he's using the library at Princeton again, he asks his rival Martin Hansen if he can start teaching again. And so the story ends when he goes on to win the Nobel Prize in Economics.Jane Well, it sounds like a great film.Andy Yes, you should see it sometime.Unit 2 Food, glorious food!Outside viewVoice-over We were lucky to be invited into the kitchen at the Dooky Chase's Restaurant. Leah has been wo rking in the restaurant for over 50 years. She told us about her life and she explained how to make a sim ple dish called "shrimp Clemenceau".Leah This is a very simple dish. First you get some shrimp. You can do this dish with chicken or shrimp, butI like it with the shrimp better. So you just brown a little thing...Interviewer And, and what's, what's the actual, what's the cooking in? Leah Butter. Interviewer OK.Leah It just cook, so here you get a little cholesterol, but hey, that's it, a little cholesterol. Then you wanna g et the garlic. So you see it works two forces. You get the cholesterol, and then you get a little garlic, cut out on the cholesterol, you see.Interviewer OK. And where did you, where did you learn all the cooking?Leah Well, my mother, you know. I'm the top of the line of 11 children, so you get to learn how to cook wh ether you like it or not. You get to cook that way. Then here you want to add a little mushroom in here, t his is just sliced button mushroom. If you like other mushroom, you can do that, we just saute that in the re. You know, at home, when you, you have to cook, everybody had that turn in the kitchen. So this is adish that is used in several restaurants, but this is my own version. Some people do it different than this, but I like it this way, because I like the ... Can you smell the garlic in there?Interviewer Oh, yeah.Leah Alright?Interviewer That smell is very strong.Leah Uha, and then you want to add your peas. It's very, very simple. Interviewer And did you, did your mu m run the restaurant as well?Leah No, no, my mother-in-law. My mother-in-law had this restaurant before I came in. And she started it i n 41. I came in in 46. So, and I added many things. You have to understand in 41. Now here we can add our potatoes. You see our shrimp is all cooked there.-Just add the potato. You can pre-cook your potatoe s. You can boil them, or in this case, we, we blanch them a little bit. In that and just toss together, and yo u get one, you get just one casserole like here. And you can put a little pepper on it. Give it a good dash of pepper. A little salt. It's very simple, but it's a good dish. And as I said, you can do it with chicken bre ast or shrimp. You see? Toss it and get it there.Interviewer And what do you, what do you call the dish?Leah A shrimp Clemenceau. And I, I really don't know how it got that name, but it's popular in this area. Bu t as I said, some people do it a little different. You can take wine at this point. You can hit a little wine in there if you like it, but I, I just don't like to kill the taste of the butter and the garlic. I like that a lot. And you can take the parsley, always parsley. Interviewer That's parsley, isn't it?Leah Parsley. Uhm. And I'm gonna show you something that all Creoles keep in their kitchen. You see you get kind of a like a dull look here. But every Creole has this paprika in their kitchen. And give it all a dash of paprika. And you get a little color there, you see? A little red color there. And it's very, very simple,great dish to eat. Not hard to make. You see? And you have a good dish.Listening inPassage 1Ben If it's a formal meal, maybe Thanksgiving or Christmas, or if you're with your boss or someone like that , you are being careful about your table manners. So you'd wait until everyone is served before you eat.But most of the time,, if you know each other well you would just go ahead and start. It's more usual to e ntertain them at home because it shows your hospitality. We have a lot of barbecues outside, maybe in the garden or maybe at a campsite. But sometimes if you don't want to cook, you can go to a restaurant.Oh, well, after dessert you'll have a little talk, then talk some more, have some coffee. Then you'll say, "Oh well, it's time for us, we should get going." And if you don't then you're probably going to be rude andstay too late.Michelle Well, it would be between 8 and 8.30. It is unusual that if somebody is invited for 8 they would be there at 7.30 or 7.45. Probably 8, or 8.30 would be when all the guests would arrive. It's OK to refuse so mething if you don't like it, but it might be embarrassing.For example, if I'm cooking dinner and I discov er one of myguests is a vegetarian, I'll feel a bit frustrated that I didn't know before. But usually everyone tries everyt hing.Tom Well, usually the host serves the guests, so you should make sure you tell him or her not to give you to o much, because yes, it's quite important to eat everything on your plate. It doesn't matter if you leave so mething, but if you leave a lot, it will look as if you don't like their cooking.My mother always told me to put my hands on my lap, under the table when I wasn't eating, and I would be in big trouble if I ever put my elbows on the table. But actually I know that in some countries that's co nsidered rude. So I might rest my hands or my arms on the table, and I suppose it's a bit more relaxed tod ay than it used to be when I was young.No, it's the worst thing you can do if you're eating. Any strange noises are absolutely forbidden. I mean you can say "mmm, this is good", but nothing more than that. And even when you drink soup or eat noodl es, you have to do it in silence, otherwise it's considered very bad manners.Passage 2News-reader The government announced today that they are going to ban advertisements for junk food duri ng TV programmes for children under the age of 16. The rules will include any foods that are high in fat, salt and sugar. There will be a total ban on ads during children's programmes and on children's channels , as well as adult programmes watched by a large number of children. But there will not be a total ban on all ads for junk food which are shown on television before 9 pm. This was thought to be "over the top"by representatives of the food industry. The new rules will come into effect before the end of December this year, and mean that television channels will lose about £39 million in revenue for advertising.So why has the government introduced this ban? We asked leading food and nutrition expert,Neil Bennett. Neil Well, we all know that over the last 30 years, what we call junk food, bad food with too much fat and salt, has become easily available and eating habits have changed.However, in recent years many of us have become aware of the importance of keeping fit and eating healthil y, and this means people are not going to fast food restaurants so often. So, the result is that the fast food business has increased the number of ads in order to recover some of the business it's lost. News-reader And how do the fast food restaurants do this?Neil The biggest problem is that they aim their ads at young people. One well-known fast food restaurant ch ain sells hamburgers which come with a free gift, usually a toy which is linked to a new children's film.Other fast food restaurants aim their ads at teenage and college-age men, trying to make their food trend y and, you know, kind of masculine food.News-reader So a ban on junk food ads will stop the sales of junk food?Neil Almost certainly not, but it might reduce the growth of the fast food industry.News-reade r So you're in favour of the ban?Neil As a nutritionist, I am. As a father of two young children, I'm not sure.News-reader Why not?Neil Because less money from advertising will mean less money for children's TV programmes. So we're lik ely to see more cheap and violent cartoons, and fewer programmes produced specially for children. News-reader So the choice is between junk food and junk television? Neil Yes, that just about sums it up. N ews-reader Neil Bennett, thank youUnit 3 Learning to thinkOutside viewPart 1Teacher Good morning, class.Students Good morning.Teacher What we're going to do today is start off looking at mind maps or mind mapping. Now have any of you heard about mind maps before?Students Yes ... No ...Teacher Yes. Some of you have, some of you haven't. OK. Have any of you actually used mind maps in the past?Students No ...Teacher No? OK. Who can tell me what a mind map is?Student 1 It's a way of thinking.Teacher It is a way of thinking. Mind maps are diagrams which help us to generate ideas, and also to organize or structure our ideas related to a topic. What I'd like to do next is look at some of the uses or the reasons for using mind maps. What are some of the reasons for using mind maps?Student 2 To make a list?Teacher To make a list? Yes. We could say to brainstorm ideas. Everyone contributes then-ideas as many ideas as quickly as possible, from everyone in a shorter time, er, as, as we can manage. OK, brainstorming is one of the most important um, um, uses of mind maps. What might be another use or another reason for using mind maps?Student 3 It can help me take notes in the class.Teacher OK, for the note-taking, a very good reason. Mind maps help us to get an overview or a, a quick understanding about a subject. By using mind maps to collect the main ideas from what the teacher says, you can keep a, a very general understanding of a topic and understand connections quite easily and um, quickly. What are some other uses of mind maps?Student 4 Preparing for exams?Teacher OK. Preparing for exams. That's a, a very good reason. We might call this, er, revision. Before an exam, after having studied for many, many days or even weeks, you might want to capture the, the, the very general understanding about the subject. Are there any other uses that you can think of for mind mapping?Student 5 We can also use it for finding answers.Teacher For finding answers. That's, that's a very good, good answer. We could call this problem-solving.We can use mind maps to, to see other possible alternatives, or options to, to, to solve a problem. OK.Next, I'd like us to talk about some of the advantages or the benefits of using mind maps instead of just writing everything on a piece of paper. One of the most obvious advantages, as you can see, is that mind maps are very visual. They give us um, almost a picture, a, a different perspective in terms of a picture, or a diagram of understanding information or understanding connected ideas, which is very helpful for people who like to learn from a different way. Are there any other advantages that you can think of for mind mapping?Student 4 It lists the main points.Teacher They do. They do list the main points. We could call this um, a quick summary. As you can see, we have main ideas throughout our mind map, not long texts. And in this way, it helps us to grasp the, the key ideas and the key connections for mind maps or for our given subject. Are there any other advantages you can think of?Student 1 To think creatively.Teacher To think creatively. That's, that's a very good point. We could call this creative thinking. And what we mean here is basically thinking outside of the box or thinking laterally. Mind maps are illogical and by being illogical they encourage us to think creatively, you might say.Part2Teacher Next, I'd like us to think about aspects of design or constructing mind maps. So far we have completed three quarters of our mind map about mind maps. And then I'd just like you to have a look at this mind map and tell me what some of the most noticeable or striking features are that we can talk about.Student 2 There is a centre.Teacher There is a centre. There is what we call a central word, a central word or a phrase. It might also bea sentence or a question. You might have that in the centre of the board and your related thoughtsspiraling or radiating out. What else do you notice about the design of this mind map?Student 1 There are only words, not sentences.Teacher Exactly. There are many what we call key words as they capture the main thought of, of an issue rather than a long sentence or, or a passage. This helps us to concentrate on the main issues and find connections between these issues as well. What other aspects of design do you notice here?Student 5 It looks like a tree.Teacher It does look like a tree because it has branches. By having branches, it shows how, um, thinking isradiating out or spiraling out from key ideas or central ideas to key words to sub-words and, and so forth.Are there any other aspects of design which you notice in this particular map?Student 2 You used a lot of colours.Teacher I did. I perhaps use too many colours. I have used different colour to show the different key words or different aspects of mind mapping. You might like to use different colours to highlight different sections of a mind map or key information. Or you may, you may choose to have it all in one colour. It's very much a personal choice, depending on how you like to, to think and, and plan your thinking. You might also like to use images or pictures related to some of the key words. Or you might even use symbols. We'll put a question mark because this again is a personal choice and how you like to design your mind maps. For example, I might choose to use a thought bubble as a symbol, highlighting or identifying my central phrase, mind maps. This could be a, a feature of my own mind maps. Whenever I design a mind map, I highlight my central thought using a speech bubble symbol.Listening inPassage 1Interviewer With us today is Martin Downes, a carpenter, who's 51. A year ago, Martin had a stroke. But he's been lucky enough to make a full recovery from it. Can you tell us how it all began, Martin?Martin I'm very happy to - not that I remember much at all. I was at a customer's house, building a cupboard, and the next thing I knew, I woke up in hospital with people in white coats bending over me. Interviewer It must have been very frightening.Martin It was. But what was really frightening was that I couldn't speak. I couldn't say a word. And I couldn't understand much that people said to me.Interviewer How awful!Martin Yeah! I don't know what would have happened to me if I hadn't had my family. But they were there for me, they really were. I had something called aphasia, where the part of your brain gets damaged that affects your speech and language. But they started treatment for the condition almost immediately. This speech and language therapist came to see me every day for 12 weeks. They made me do all these exercises.Interviewer What kind of exercises?Martin I had to match words and pictures and say their names. You see, I'd also forgotten the names of a lot of things. She had this thing called a word board and I could point to words and phrases on it that I wanted to say. I had to repeat words up to 20 times - boy, it was hard, so hard.Interviewer Could you say anything to begin with?Martin I could say three words. "Hi", "Yes" and "No". That was all. And there were a lot of words I couldn't understand -1 had to learn their meanings all over again.Interviewer It must have been very frustrating.Martin It was, but I was determined to get better. I was in hospital for three and a half months. When I got home I got a special computer programme that I worked with every day. And slowly my language came back to me. It was a struggle, a big struggle. I had to learn to read and write again too.Interviewer Why do you think that you were able to recover completely? It's not that common, is it?Martin I was lucky. I was given the right drug at the right time. And I had 12 weeks of therapy, five days a week. That's very important, apparently.Interviewer And now that you're better how do you feel about your life?Martin What can I say? I'm just grateful to have my life back.Passage 2Interviewer In 1907 an Italian educator called Maria Montessori opened a school in Rome that taught young children using methods that were very different from traditional teaching. Today, the Montessorimethod, as it's known, is used in nursery schools in countries such as America, Canada, Britain and Germany. Recent research shows that children educated at a Montessori nursery do better later on at school than other children in all subjects. We asked two Montessori teachers, Claudia Rosella and Sarah Harrington, to explain what makes their nursery school different. Sarah...Sarah I think the first thing to say is that a Montessori classroom is very quiet, very clean. Everything stays in the same place. So the children are calm and quiet as a result.Interviewer So they're not encouraged to be noisy.Sarah No, definitely not...Interviewer Claudia?Claudia Yes, the classroom's very important. Another important principle is that children direct their own learning. They choose what they want to do.Interviewer So the teacher doesn't tell the child what to do?Sarah Not at all. While a child is doing an activity we observe them. Then we work with the child for a short time and then leave them to work on their own.Interviewer That sounds excellent. And what about your equipment? It's often made of wood, isn't it?Sarah Yes, and a piece of equipment is often designed for one activity only.Claudia Right. It's so that the child can see if they're getting something right or wrong.Interviewer So they don't need the teacher so much"?Sarah That's right. Another Montessori principle is the importance of physical activity. Children learn by doing, so when they're learning to read, for example, the letters are made of sandpaper so that children can feel the shape of the letter.Interviewer Do you think there are disadvantages with Montessori methods?Claudia Yes, there are. Maria Montessori didn't understand how important it is for children to use their imagination. If she was alive today, she would recognize that. But still, the fact is, her methods are very successful.Unit 4 Person to personOutside viewVoice-over It's the most popular means of communication in the 21st century. Nobody writes letters any more, especially young people. They all use text messaging instead. Officially called SMS - short message service - text messaging is slow to enter, and you can only key in 160 characters. So why is it such a success? The first text message was sent in 1992, but texting only became commercially available in 1995. It has grown incredibly quickly since then. Just look at the graph. In 1999, the number of texts sent reached one billion. Over the next three years, it grew to 20 billion! So people have now sent billions of texts, and the number continues to rise. It isn't difficult to see why it quickly became part of youth culture.Emily I use it every day. I don't call a lot of people on it. I just use it for text messages because it's easy and quick to send things and arrange things by text.Heidi Mainly to friends. Sometimes it's useful to get information for work as well. You know, if people want to give you contact numbers or things like that, it's easier than phoning.Andy I've had my mobile phone for about three years. I mostly use it for just texting my mates and arranging sort of social meetings with them.Alice I like texting. I don't really talk much on it except just to make arrangements but texting's the biggest thing I do.Male I probably text message about ten, 15 times a day.Alice Usually, I don't know, about ten. Ten to 15. Fifteen maybe to 20.Voice-over It isn't just young people who use texting. Companies use it too - for advertising and promotion.。