Lily: That sounds quite funny I must admit. Is there an actual story though?
Hugh: Oh yes, there is a story. The four chefs have to prepare
the meal by 6 o'clock and they also have to give the manager's nephew cooking lessons too, which adds to the fun. There?s loads of audience participation and despite there being no language involved you get completely engrossed. It's really quite wacky!
Lily: And what about the audience? I suppose they start throwing food around…?
Hugh: Not quite! But they are totally involved in what's going
on-everyone loves it. It's a really great family show. In fact it's one of the best shows I've ever seen. Jim, my friend, says he takes all his visitors. He's seen it about eight times and still loves it.
Lily: I bet it's popular with tourists then.
Hugh: Well apparently over a million foreign tourists in
(South)Korea have seen the show and it's had a run on Broadway too. It first got popular after they appeared at the Edinburgh Festival. Now they are planning to tour more cities in Asia where (South) Korean popular culture is becoming incredibly trendy.
Lily: By the way what does“Nanta” mean? Hugh:It means random drumming in Korean. The English name
for the show is Cookin?, which gives you a clearer idea of what it's all about.
Lily: You've got me interested now. I'll have to check it out on the internet. Listening in Conversation 2
Interviewer: Kathy Richards is a specialist art tour guide.
Kathy-can you tell us what trends you've noticed in recent years?
Kathy: Well, one of the biggest phenomena I've noticed is a
huge increase in visitors to galleries-and a growing interest in modern art in general.
Interviewer: What do you think the reason is for that?
Kathy: Well, there are several reasons, I think. The most
important ones are firstly, that some new contemporary art galleries have opened which have had a lot of publicity, and secondly the younger generation feel more comfortable with modern art so the kind of people visiting galleries is changing. Finally, the new generation of galleries have become destinations in themselves...they tend to be housed in amazing buildings.
Interviewer: So which are the most popular new galleries?
Kathy: Well, the Tate Modern in London has had over 30
million visitors since it opened in 2000.The annual average is now over 4.5 million. The Museum of Modern Art, or MoMA in New York is an older gallery, it was founded in 1929 but has been recently reno vated and expanded. This work was finished in 2006 and it had over 2.5 million visitors in the first year after reopening. Another very successful new gallery is the Guggenheim in Bilbao in Spain. It opened in 1997 and now gets about a million visitors a year.
Interviewer: Those are pretty impressive figures. Maybe the fact
that the Tate Modern is free to visit might have something to do with it?
Kathy: It's true that entrance to the permanent collection is
free but the numbers of people visiting the temporary exhibition are also high-and the entrance fee is usually about ten pounds.
Interviewer: Do you have to pay to get into the other galleries you mentioned?
Kathy: Oh yes. You do. Admission to MoMA is 20 US
dollars and the Guggenheim in Bilbao costs eight euros.
Interviewer: Do people mind paying, do you think?
Kathy: No, I don't think they do mind. Most people feel
the fees are reasonabl e considering the outstanding
collections of priceless works of art that they get to see.
Interviewer: You mentioned that the buildings that art galleries
are in can be an attraction themselves these days...
Kathy: Well, yes, the Guggenheim has literally revitalized
the whole city and put Bilbao on the tourist map. It's got a futuristic, curvy metallic structure and people love it. The Tate Modern has helped redevelop an old industrial area beside the River Thames. The gallery itself is actually inside a huge , old, brick power station. And MoMA is interesting as it's in downtown New York.
Interviewer: And who visits these galleries? What's the profile of the average art lover?
Kathy: Well, in the past museums and galleries were seen as
appealing to the older generation. But in fact, 48 percent of visitors to the Tate Modern are under 35...
UNIT5
Listening in 1
Today we?ll focus on two aspects of group behaviour.Firstly,how groups develop,and secondly,the roles individuals play within a group.It?s widely acknowledged that the performance of effective groups is often greater than the sum of the individuals in the group.This is due to what we call synergy-in other words,the extra energy and effevtiveness that people create when they work together.
Early research in this field carried out in the 1930s by Elton Mayo discovered something that he called the “Hawthorne effect”.The idea is that when individual know they are part of a study,their productivity automatically increases regardless of other factors,such as how much time or money they are given,for example.The research suggests that things like personal identity,self-esteem and the social context in which a group is working are really very important factors in improving the performance of individuals.
If we move on to look at the nature of groups more closely,we find that groups have natural phasese that can help us understand their effectiveness.You have probably all had experience of working with other people in a group that,at firsl,wasn,t very productive.This phenomenon was studied by Tuckman in the 1960s,and he created a model to describe the stages of a group.
The first stage is known as”Forming”which is when individual members get to know each other.This is followed by”Storming”when individual start to share their ideas and creative energy.The third phase is”Norming”where a group identity begins to form.The final stage is”Performing”when individuals within the group work together.And it is at this stage that the group achieves results.Understanding these phases can help us ensure that members of a group work together to overcome early loner.
The”Resource investigator”is the group member who is always curious and explores new ideas and the”Monitorevaluator”is calm and serous and makes good,balanced decisions.
The”Team worker”in contrast is a socially orientated and sensitive member of the team who is able to encourage a team spirit.And the”Comleter-finisher”is a conscientious perfectionist who follows through on the details and ties up and loose ends.To be effective,a team needs to have a variety of members who can fulfill all these different roles. Listening in 2
Today I'm reporting from Phuket in Southern Thailand.Parts of the island were devastated by the tsunami in 2004,and over 250 people lost their lives here. I've come back to see how one community has recovered.
Here in the village of The Chat Chai,the rebuilding of the destroyed homes has been led by the international organazition Habitat for Humanity.About a year after the tsunami occurred,volunteers began building 36 new homes for local families.
One villager,Somwang,is certainly very happy with the results.He used to live in a small hut on his two square metre