Unit 1 A new start Inside view
Conversation 1
Porter Good afternoon. Janet Good afternoon. Porter New student? Janet Yes.
Porter Welcome to Hertford College. Janet Thank you.
Porter Can I have your family name, please? Janet Yes, it's Li.
Porter Er, L-double E? Janet No, L-I.
Porter And what's your first name, Ms Li? Janet Janet.
Porter Janet Li... ah yes, there you are. Here are your keys. Janet Where's my room?
Porter You're in Staircase 6 Room 5. Janet Who am I sharing with?
Porter Nobody. You have your own room. Er...there's a Ms Santos in the room next
to you.
Janet Oh. My own room? In China we usually have several people in a dormitory. Porter Well, here you don't have to share with anyone. Janet Thank you Sir.
Porter No need to call me sir, Ms Li. Everyone calls me Stewart. Janet Please call me Janet!
Porter OK, Janet, um, can you just sign for your keys, please?
Conversation 2
Kate Hi, have you just arrived too? Janet Yes!
Kate I guess we're neighbours. My name's Kate Santos. Janet I'm Janet Li. Where are you from? Kate From New York. How about you? Janet I'm from Anshan in China. Kate Is Janet your real name?
Janet No, it's my English name. My Chinese name is Li Hui. Is Kate your full name? Kate No, it's short for Catherine.
Janet So do I call you Catherine or Kate? Kate Everyone calls me Kate. Janet Nice to meet you.
Kate OK, Janet. See you later. Janet Bye!
Conversation 3
Kate Hey! This is awesome! Look at the size of this dining hall. Janet Is this where we have all our meals? Kate I guess.
Mark You just arrived?
Girls Yes!
Mark Me too. By the way, I'm Mark. Nice to meet you. Kate Hi, I'm Kate.
Mark Hi Kate, I guess you're from the States.
Kate Right! How can you tell? You're British, huh? Mark Yes, I'm from London. And you are ...?
Janet I'm Li Hui. I'm from China. But you can call me Janet. Mark Hi Janet. Welcome to England. What are you reading? Janet English.
Mark How about you, Kate? Kate My major is law. And you? Mark I'm studying PPE.
Kate That's a special Oxford subject, isn't it?
Outside view
Julie 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.
Unit 2 Food for thought Insideview Conversation 1
Kate: Oh, this looks nice. Mark: Cool.
Waitress: Good afternoon, table for three? Come this way. Mark: Let's have a look at the menu. Mark: Thank you. Janet: Thank you.
Waitress: The specials are on the board.
Kate: So, what sorts of food do you like, Janet?
Janet: Well, I like spicy food. And I'm not very fond of raw food! What would you recommend?
Mark: Why don't you try the chicken curry? That's nice and spicy. Janet: What's in it?
Mark: Chicken cooked in tomatoes and onions with Indian spices.
Janet: I'll try it. Do we all choose a selection of dishes to share or only one dish per person?
Mark: Usually one dish per person. Kate: Or the moussaka looks good. Janet: What's it made with?
Kate: It's made with lamb and eggplant. It's a Greek dish. Janet: How is it cooked? Kate: It's baked in the oven.
Janet: Mm, that sounds good too. Kate: And as a starter?
Janet: What's minestrone soup?
Mark: It's an Italian soup with vegetables and pasta. It's delicious! Janet: OK, I'll have that. Kate: Waitress?
Waitress: What can I get for you?
Kate: Well, for the starter, can we have two minestrone soups, and for the main course, one moussaka and one curry, please. What about you, Mark?
Mark: I'll have the prawns with garlic and the chilli con carne. And could you bring us some water, please? Waitress: OK. Mark: Thank you. Waitress: Thanks.
Janet: What's chilli con carne?
Mark: It's a spicy Mexican dish with beef and beans. It's very hot!
Conversation 2
Janet: That was great! Except I don't like cold water. I usually drink hot water. Kate: Hot water? We never drink hot water except with tea. Let's have a dessert. What would you like, Janet? Janet: Any suggestions?
Kate: Well, why don't you try the apple strudel? It's an Austrian dish. It's made with apple, pastry and spices.
Janet: No, I'm not so keen on pastry. ... What's a chocolate brownie?
Mark: It's a kind of chocolate cake. Janet: How is it made?
Kate: It's made with flour, eggs and butter... Mark: And lots of chocolate! Kate: You'll love it.
Janet: What kind of ice cream is there?
Kate: I'll ask ... Excuse me ... What flavor ice cream do you have? Waitress: Strawberry, vanilla and chocolate. Janet: I'll just have a fruit salad, I think.
Mark: And Kate, what are you going to have? Kate: Same for me.
Mark: Could you bring us two fruit salads, and a chocolate brownie? Waitress: Sure.
Unit 3 Learning to think Inside view
Conversation 1
Mark Hi, what're you doing?
Janet Oh, nothing much ... Well, I'm just doing this quiz here in the newspaper. Mark Let's have a look then.
Janet Here. It's called, \
Do you want to have a go?
Mark OK, might as well. I'm not busy.
Janet Right. Look, I'll read the statements. Then you have to answer \
Ready? Mark Yea.
Janet OK. Physical exercise improves your memory. True or false? Mark True, I suppose. It sounds like the right answer.
Janet You're right, exercise does improve your memory. Next statement: 30 per cent
of people have a visual memory.
Mark That sounds about right. True?
Janet No, wrong, I'm afraid. In fact, 60 per cent of people have a visual memory. Mark Really? Actually, I've got a pretty good memory.
Janet Have you? OK ... Next one ... When you're tired, it's more difficult to
remember things.
Mark That's true, obviously. I can't remember a thing when I'm tired.
Janet Correct! If you do one activity for a long time, your memory will improve. Mark I'm not sure ... True? Janet Actually, it's false. Mark Oh!
Janet Eating fruit and vegetables can improve your memory. Mark I read something in The Times about that. True. Janet True, it says here.
Mark Oh, no! I've got a lecture. I'd forgotten. I'd better get going! Janet Oh, Mark! What a good memory you have!
Conversation 2
Kate You're looking a bit down, Janet. What's up?
Janet Well... I'm finding studying at Oxford quite hard. Kate You're telling me! There's so much work!
Janet It's not the amount of work - but everything's so different. In China, generally
we have large classes, we don't have tutorials. And mostly, our teacher tells us what we should do. So I'm not used to asking questions or discussing things. I find it difficult.
Kate You have to memorize a lot, don't you? Janet Yes, but I'm good at that.
Kate You're lucky. There's so much to remember studying law! I have difficulty
sometimes, I really do.
Janet Yes, well, we've been trained to do that. But we don't have so much training in
critical thinking.
Kate What do you mean by critical thinking?
Janet Let me think ... I think it's giving your opinion and then justifying it. Kate Yes, I suppose that's what our teachers have always encouraged us to do. Janet I am getting better at it, I suppose.
Kate Hey! How about this? Let's pretend I'm your tutor. I'll make a statement. Your
task is to examine it and then ask questions. Janet OK.
Kate Everyone is capable of learning a second language. Go on, ask a question! Janet Why do you say that?
Kate That's what the research tells us. Now ask another one. Janet Can you give an example of some research?
Kate Um ... No! Look, I'm starving and I can't think at all when I'm hungry.
Outside view Part 1
Teacher 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 ...