Unit 1-Conversation 1**（1）Janet: So this is the Cherwell Boathouse —it's lovely! And look at those people punting! It looks quite easy.Mark: I'm not so sure about that! Janet, there's something Kate and I wanted to discuss with you. Some people in college are organizing charity events this term. We've decided to get involved.Janet: Raising money for charity? Right. In China, people raise money for charity but students don't usually do that.Mark: Students often do that here. Anyway, we're thinking of doing sponsored punting.Janet: Sponsored punting! What's that?Kate: Sponsoring is when people pay you to do something —like run a long distance. So people would be sponsoring students to punt. Janet: What a great idea! I'd love to join you!Mark: That's why we're telling you about it. So that's decided then. Let's make a list of things we need to do.Kate: I'll do that. One of the first things we should do is choose the charity.Mark: Yes. And choose a day for the event. And we need to design the sponsorship form. I've got one here. Kate: That looks fine, but we must change the wording. Who wants to do that?Mark: I'll do that. What have we got so far?Kate: Choose a charity. Also a day for the event. Change the wording on the sponsorship form... Um ... We have to decide where the punt will start from.Mark: Cherwell Boathouse, no question! It's a very beautiful route from here, apparently. Kate: I'm with you on that. Janet: Me tooJanet: I'm not used to boats —Woah!Mark: Whoops!Kate: Watch out! You nearly hit me with that thing!Mark: Sorry! I didn't mean to. ... OK, we're off!Kate: Maybe I should do the punting.Mark:It's fine.I've got the hang of it now —give me a chance.Kate: Well, I'd like to have a go. Mark: Supposing I do the first hour. Then you can take over for a while, if you want to.Kate: Yes, great.Janet: You're really good at it, Mark! This is fantastic! It's exactly how I imagined life here! Look over there —isn't it lovely!Kate: Yes, it is.Unit 1-Conversation 2Janet: Kate, everything's organized, isn't it, for collecting the sponsorship money?Kate: Yes, I've arranged for people to get the money to me by next Friday —if they haven't paid online. I'll count it all up.Janet: Good. We'd better have a meeting soon after that, don't you think? How much have we raised? Kate: About 600.Janet: Fantastic! I'm so enjoying this!Mark: Hey guys, I've got a suggestion — how about moving over to the bank and we can have our picnic! Hey, look, there's Louise and Sophie!Mark: Whoo ...Girls: Mark!Janet: Are you all right?Mark: Er .Of course I'm all right. Kate, I think it's your turn to punt! Unit 1-Outside ViewVoice-over Harvard University in Cambridge is one of the best universities in the world. We spoke to Alex Jude, the university's Head of Communications. He explained that Harvard looks for the best and most talented students from around the world.Alex Harvard actually seeksstudents from around the world, the best students that we canfind, to studychemistry,or study literature, or studygovernment, or business.Ourbusiness school is particularlywell-known around theworld, as is the medical school and lawschool, so, um, and, andtheKennedy School of Government, or theJohn F KennedySchool of Government, so, er, we doseek very, very talented students and we have open doors forthem.Voice-over We asked five studentsat Harvard to tell us what kind of social life they have. Ashley Um, well relaxing is a little hard to do around here, but basically, I mean, I still, I, I live nearby anyway, so I see a lot of my friends, and ... Um, there's a good social life here if you look for it.I go to the gym, run. So that's what I do.Adam It's, it's whatever youwant it to be. It's good.Ifyou wanna go out party, do anythingyou can. If you wanna sit in your room and study all nightlike my friend over here, you can also do that.Brian Socially, like you said,it's, it's a lot of whatyoumake it. Um, we don't havefraternities here, andso, youknow, that's, it's obviously not associal. There's not asmanyparties as there would be on anothercampus. Um, but on a Friday or Saturday night, there,there, there will be aparty.Usually we end up studying untilabout 10 o'clock. Andthenwe, and then we'll go out and have funmaybe, or just watch a movie with friends, or, you know,whatever is going on forthe night.Jodie Not everyone would agreewith me,obviously, but it's, I think it's afun place to be.Interviewer Have you made a lot offriends?Jodie Oh, definitely.Interviewer Mm. Jodie Many.Interviewer What, what do you do withyour friends?Jodie Um, well, I like to go toconcerts. I'm in threemusic groups, so I have lots ofrehearsals during theweek forthat. Um, just do, you know, some funthings, onthe weekend.Voice-over We asked the Harvardstudents if they use theInternet.Ashley Um, I, I use it a fairlygood amount. Um, our library system is online, so I usethat a lot. And a lot ofmyclasses, you know, have to doresearch papers. You canfind alot of information on there, so. Interviewer So how often do you use it, a week, a day?Ashley Um, I use it probably on more of a weekly basis. Maybe three or four times a week.Brian Oh yes, definitely. Welive through theInternetactually. Well, I do a lot ofresearch through theInternet,follow my stocks on the Internet. Um,well, even though e-mail is not officially Internet,we, that's how we communicate a lot at college, so,through the e-mail.John Um, I use the internetmostly for, er, I'd say, sort of leisure purposes. I mean, Iplay, um, I use it for alotof, I don't, we don't have TV in myroom, so I use it, uh, uh, go to the CNN website, keep up oncurrent events, thingslikethat. Uh, I also, uh, you know,there's some littlegames toplay over the Internet. Um, just um,I go to to see what's happening, follow the BostonRed Sox, things like that. Um, I think a lot of courses useit to post things, but I,Idon't usually use it that much forresearch, or things. Itend touse the libraries for such things,so.Unit 1-Listening inNews reportStanford University hasrecently changed its financial aid policy for students to make the university more affordable and accessible. Students who don’t have financial aid pay about $46,000 a year just for tuition. It’s not unusual for students to be forced to decline an offer because they can’t afford to go to their dream school. The new policy means that for students whose families earn less than $125,000, tuition is fully covered by scholarship and grant aid. Those with a family income below $65,000 are not expected to pay for either tuition, or room and board. This is great news for talented students who are concerned about fees.However, Stanford is not the only top university in the United States that makes tuition affordable for students. Ivy League schools, such as Harvard, Princeton and Yale, also offer free tuition plans to students from low-income and middle-class families.Stanford and Ivy League schools can offer generous financial aid packages because they are very wealthy. They receive large annual donations that can be used for specific purposes, such as financial aid.1 What has Stanford University done recently?2 How much is the tuition a year at Stanford if students don’t receive financial aid?3 Why is Stanford University so wealthy?Passage 1Voice-over Hi, I'm Nick Carter, and this is SUR, your university radio station. This morning we went around campus to ask freshers -now half-way through their first year -the question, "How are you finding uni?" Here are some of the answers we got. Speaker 1 It's cool. It's everything I hoped it would be. I'm very ambitious, I want to be a journalist and I want to get to the top of the profession. I've started writing for the university newspaper so I've got my foot on the ladder already.Speaker 2 I'm working hard and the teaching is as good as I expected. And I've made some good friends. But I'm very homesick. I'm Nigerian and my family's so far away. I went home at Christmas for a month -that really helped, but man, I miss my family so much. Speaker 3 "How am I finding uni?" It's great. It's not perfect, nothing is, but, like, I've got a brilliant social life, just brilliant, and I've made lots of friends. For the first few months I just didn't do, really enough work. But I -1 talked about it with my parents and I'm working harder now and getting good grades.Speaker 4 Actually, I've been quite lonely to be honest. I'm a bit shy ... everyone else seemed to find it so easy to make friends straight away. But things have been better recently - yeah, they have. I've joined a couple of clubs and like, it really helps to get to know people when you have shared interests. So, yeah - I'm feeling a lot happier now. Speaker5 Uni's great, I love it. My only problem -and it's quite a big problem - is money. My parents are bothunemployed so, you know, they can'thelp me financially. My grant just isn't - it's just notenough for me to live on, soI'vetaken a part-time job as a waitress— a lot of people I know, like a lot, have had to do the same.I don't want to have huge debts at the end.Speaker 6 I love my subject.History, and I'm, I'mgettingfantastic teaching here. I want tobe a university lecturerandthat means I have to get a first. Ihave a good social life but work definitely comes first for me.Passage 2Oxford and Cambridge - two universities so similar that they are often spoken of together as "Oxbridge". They're both in the UK, fairly near London, and both regularly come top in any ranking of the world's best universities.The two universities began within a century of each other. Oxford University, now 900 years old, was founded towards the end of the 11th century. In 1209 there was a dispute between the university and the townspeople of Oxford. As a result, some of the Oxford teachers left and founded a university in the town of Cambridge, some 84 miles away. Ever since then, the twoinstitutions have been very competitive.Unlike most modem universities, both Oxford and Cambridge consist of a large number of colleges. Oxford has 39 and Cambridge 31. Many of these colleges have old and very beautiful architecture, and large numbers of tourists visit them.In all UK universities, you need good grades in the national exams taken at 18. But to get into Oxford and Cambridge, it's not enough to get A grades in your exams. You also have to go for a long interview. In theseinterviews, students need to show that they are creative and capable of original thinking.Through the centuries, both universities have made huge contributions to British cultural life. They have produced great writers, world leaders and politicians. Cambridge, in particular, has produced scientists whose discoveries and inventions have changed our lives.Among the great university institutions is the world's most famous debating society, the Oxford Union, where undergraduates get a chance to practise speaking in public. Cambridge's comedy club Footlights has produced manyfirst-class comedians, while some of the UK's most famous actors and actresses began their careers at The Oxford University Dramatic Society, known as OUDS. Then there's the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race, which takes place every year in March or April, and is watched on television all over the UK.So with all this excellence in so many fields, it's not surprising that the ambition of clever students all over the world is to attend either one of these great universities.。