Unit 12
Section One Tactics for listening Part one spot dictation
Dangers in Your Garage
Imagine that your home contained a small factory with high explosives, dangerous industrial tools and potentially lethal* (1) energy sources. Sound far-fetched? Not really, because this \garage.
The National Safety Council (NSC) says that each year (3) household accidents kill about 20,000 Americans and injure another (4) three million. The culprits* in many of these mishaps* are the modem (5) equipment and supplies we keep casually in our garages and tend to (6) take for granted. Last November, in a suburb of Chicago, three toddlers* (7) spilled a can of gasoline stored in a garage. One of the children dropped a tool that (8) struck a spark when it landed on the concrete floor.
Violet flames flashed in a loud (9) blast. Two of the children were hideously (10) burned and later died. The other child needed (11) extensive skin grafts* and plastic (12) surgery*. A Wisconsin man was (13) cutting wood last fall. To move a (14) log, he set his chain saw down on the ground but (15) left it running. When he returned for the saw, he (16) stepped on a branch that flipped the spinning (17) saw blade up toward his head. The cutting bits ripped his face from mouth to ear, (18) knocked out four teeth and left his lower lip hanging. It took more than (19) 180 stitches to close the wounds, and later he required neurosurgery* and extensive (20) dental work.
Part two Listening for gist
What is love? And what causes it? An American professor, Charles Zastrow, offers an interesting answer, particularly to the second question. He argues that there are many kinds of love and that particularly in one kind, which he calls \influenced not so much by what we actually feel but by what we tell ourselves about the way we feel. He calls this \
For example, say a woman is strongly attracted to a man. (It could just as easily happen to a man attracted to a woman.) She tells herself things like \affectionate and will understand all my needs.\that he is, like all of us, just an ordinary human being with both strong and weak points, she is bitterly disappointed.
He points out that this kind of love often begins to fade and die as soon as the problems and obstacles which separate the two people are removed and a normal relationship begins.
He contrasts romantic love with what he calls \based on such things as:
- an accurate, objective idea of the other person's strengths as well as their weaknesses;
- the ability to communicate with each other openly and honestly, so that you can deal with problems as they arise;
- the ability to show affection openly to each other and to give as well as receive;
- a clear knowledge of your own goals in life;
- realistic and rational \on fantasy.
This kind of love is far more likely to lead to a lasting, satisfying relationship. But it is much more difficult to achieve, and is not as frequent as romantic love. Exercise
Directions: Listen to the passage and write down the gist and the key words that help you decide.
1.This passage is about two kinds of love - romantic love and rational love.
2.The key words are \die. problems and obstacles. removed. normal relationship: \love\affection openly. a clear knowledge. goals in life. realistic and rational. lasting. satisfying relationship. difficult. achieve. Section Two Listening Compression Part 1 Dialogue
The Teacher Interviewer: I recently read an article which said that in primary
schools in particular chances of promotion of women teachers are less than men, that men generally get promoted far quicker than women in primary education. Is this something you've noticed or is this something you feel?
Mary: No, this is something that is so. And we come back full circle
really because it's not just teaching. I mean it's everything that men are getting promotion more quickly than women. In the primary sector there are far more women teachers than men but there are more headmasters than headmistresses.
Interviewer: So where does that leave someone like you? I mean
what, what are the possibilities of your promotion in primary education? At the moment you're in charge of a section of the school.
Mary: Yes, I'm ... I'm in charge of the infant department which goes
from the children who are three to the children who are seven.
And they transfer when they are seven to higher up the school which is called the junior department. So I'm in charge of the Lower School if you like.
Interviewer: And do you have ambition in that sense? I mean would
you like to be a headmistress?
Mary: No, I would not. I would not like to be a headmistress at all. I
mean this is the next stage of my career were I ambitious urn ... but I basically enjoy being a classroom teacher. Now perhaps this gives a clue to why there are not more women heads. I don't know I mean in the past it may have been that, and it may still be, that because boys are brought up to be more ambitious, that they're the ones who are going for promotion and quick promotion, I mean, rapid promotion so that they are heads by the time they're thirty and they start out in their career thinking that whereas I enjoy being a class teacher and urn ... I was a deputy head before I got this post but I prefer to be in the classroom with the children than sitting at a desk doing administration which is what being a head means if you're a head of a largish* school.
Interviewer: Are you pleased that you chose primary teaching as a