people began to count such events, they began to measure time.
Item eleven
The World Future Society has published a special report about forces changing the world. One of them is population growth. The report says the world is expected to have more than nine thousand million people by the middle of this century. Population growth in many industrial nations, however, is expected to drop. But medical progress helps their people to live longer lives. International migration is also shaping the future. The report says there is some resistance, but also growing acceptance of cultural differences. The world economy is also becoming more integrated. On the issue of energy, the use of oil is expected to reach 110 million barrels a day by 2020. Unit 1 Education Is Key
Part I C All right, class. Today we’re going to be looking at different language learning styles. You may be surprised to find that there are different ways of going about learning languages, none of which is necessarily better than the others. Researchers have identified four basic learner “types” – the communicative learner, the analytical learner, the authority-oriented learner and the concrete learner. Communicative learners like to learn by watching and listening to native speakers. At home, they like to learn by watching TV and videos. They like to learn new words by hearing them. In class, they like to learn by having conversations. Now, concrete learners like to lean by playing games, by looking at pictures and videos in class, talking in pairs, and by listening to cassettes at home and school. Now, authority-oriented learners, on the other hand, like the teacher to explain everything. They like to write everything down in their notebook, and they like to have a textbook. They like to learn new words by seeing them. And finally, we have analytical learners. These learners like to learn by studying grammar. At home, they like to learn by studying English books, and they like to study by themselves. They like to find their own mistakes. Now, of course, it’s unusual for a person to be exclusively one “type” rather than another. Most of us are mixtures of styles. What type of learner do you think you are? Part II A3
Well, in Britain, from the ages of five to about eleven you start off at a primary school, and then from eleven to sixteen you go on to a secondary school or a comprehensive school and at sixteen you take GCSE examinations. After this, some children take vocational courses or even start work. Others stay on at school for another two years to take A levels. And at the age of eighteen, after A levels, they might finish their education or go on to a course of higher education at a college or university, and that’s usually for three years.
Well, it depends on what state you’re in but most kids in the United States start school at about six when they go to elementary school and that goes from the first grade up to the sixth grade. Some kids go to a kindergarten the year before that. Then they go on to junior high school, that’s about eleven, and that’s the seventh, eighth and ninth grades. And then they go on to senior high school around age fourteen starting in the tenth grade and finishing in the twelfth grade usually. Some students will leave school at sixteen and they’ll start work, but most of them stay on to graduate from high school at age eighteen. In the first year at high school or college students are called “freshmen”, in the second they’re called “sophomores”, in the third year we call them “juniors” and in the fourth year they’re called “seniors”. Now a lot of high school graduates then go to college or university and they do a four-year first degree course. Some of them might go to junior college which is a two-year course.
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Well, in Australia, well most states anyway, children start their primary education at five after perhaps a brief time in kindergarten. They will stay at primary school until they’re about eleven, then they’ll either stay there or go to an intermediate school for a couple of years. Then they start high school usually twelve or thirteen, which you start in the third form. Now, after three years at high school you sit a general exam, some states call it School Certificate and that is a sort of general qualification and that if a sort of general qualification. After that you can leave school at sixteen or you can go on and sit your University Entrance Examination, which then gives you entrée into a university or it’s another useful qualification, and from then on you go to various sorts of higher education.
Education in Canada is a provincial responsibility, but schools are administered by local school boards.
Kindergarten is for children who are four or five years old. Children begin formal full-day schooling in Grade 1, when they are about six years old. They must stay in school at least until they are sixteen. However, most students continue to finish high school. Some go to college or university. Each year of schooling represents one grade. (The school year extends from the beginning of September to the end of June.) Elementary school includes kindergarten to about Grade 8. Secondary school (or high school) may start in Grade 8, 9, or 10 and it usually continues until Grade 12.
In Canada, students may go to university or to a community college. If they want to learn skills for specific job, they attend college for one or four years to get a diploma or certificate. For example, lab technicians, child-care workers, and hotel managers go to college. Universities offer degree programs as well as training professions, such as law, medicine, and teaching.
Universities offer three main levels of degrees. Students earn a bachelor’s degree after three or four years of study. A master’s degree can take another year or two. A doctorate may take a further three to seven years to complete. Part III University Life
A1 Today I’d like to give you some idea about how life at an American university or college might be different from the way it is in your country. To be sure, the student body on a U. S. campus is a pretty diverse group of people. First of all, you will find students of all ages. Although most students start college at around the age of 18, you will see students in their 30s and 40s and even occasionally in their 60s and 70s. Students on a U.S. campus come from a wide variety of socioeconomic backgrounds. Many students work at least part-time, some of them work full-time. Many students live in dormitories on campus, some have their own apartments usually with other students, and others live at home. Some colleges and universities have a very diverse student population with many racial and ethnic minorities. Some schools have a fairly large foreign student population. So you can see that one meets all kinds of people on a U.S. college or university campus. Now that you have some general idea of differences in the student population, I’d like to talk a few minutes about what I think an average student is and then discuss with you what a typical class might be like.
Let’s begin my talking about an average student entering his or her freshman year. Of course, such a person never really exists, but still it’s convenient to talk about an “average” student for our purposes. Foreign students are often surprised at how poorly prepared American students are when they enter a university. Actually, at very select schools the students are usually very well prepared, but at less selective schools, they may not be as well prepared as students in your country are.
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Schools in the States simply admit a lot more students than is usual in most other countries. Also, most young American university students have not traveled in other countries and are not very well-versed in international matters and do not know a lot about people from other countries. Foreign students usually find them friendly but not very well-informed about their countries or cultures.
What kind of academic experiences will this so-called “average” student have? The average undergraduate student takes five classes a semester and is in class for 15 hours a week. If her or she takes a class that has a laboratory, this will require tow or three more hours. Many introductory undergraduate classes are given in large lectures of 100 or more students. However, many of these classes will have small discussion groups of 15 to 20 students that meet once a week. In these smaller groups, a teaching assistant will lead a discussion to help classify points in the lectures. Other kinds of classes – for example, language classes – will be much smaller so that students can practice language. In general, American professors are informal and friendly with their students, and, as much as possible, they expect and invite participation in the form of discussion. A large amount of reading and other work is often assigned to be done outside class, and students are expected to take full responsibility for completing these assignments and asking questions in class about those areas they don’t understand. As a rule of thumb, students spend two to three hours preparing for each hour they spend in class. American professors often encourage their students to visit them during office hours, especially if the students are having problems in the class.
A2 Let’s move on now to discuss student obligations in a typical American class. These obligations are usually set down in the course syllabus. A syllabus is generally handed out to students on the first or second class meeting. A good syllabus will give students a course outline that mentions all the topics to be covered in class. It will also contain all the assignments and the dates they should be completed by. An average university course of one semester might have three examinations or two examinations and a paper. The dates of the examinations and what the examinations will cover should be on the syllabus. If a paper id required, the date it is due should also be in the syllabus. The professor may also decide that he or she will be giving quizzes during the semester, either announced or unannounced. For students coming from a system where there is one examination in each subject at the end of the year, all this testing can be a little surprising at first. By the by, maybe this would be a good place for me to mention the issue of attendance. Another real difference in our system is out attendance policies. Perhaps you come from a system where attendance is optional. Generally speaking, American professors expect regular attendance and may even grade you down if you are absent a lot. All this information should be on your syllabus, along with the professor’s office number and office hours.
I have only a couple of hours left, and I’d like to use them to talk about how graduate school is somewhat different from undergraduate school. Of course, it’s much more difficult to enter graduate school, and most students are highly qualified and high motivated. Students in graduate school are expected to do much more independent work than those in undergraduate schools, with regularly scheduled exams, etc. some classes will be conducted as seminars. In a seminar class, there may be no exams, but students are expected to read rather widely on topics and be prepared for thorough discussion of them in class. Another possibility in graduate classes is that in addition to readings done by all students, each student may also be expected to work independently in some area of interest and later make a presentation that summarizes what her or she has learned.
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Usually each student then goes on to write a paper on what he or she has researched to turn in to the professor for a grade.
I hope that today’s lecture has given you some idea about student life on an American campus and that you have noticed some difference between our system and yours. Part IV University Campus Section A
Look at the map. At the bottom of the page, fine the gate (1). Now locate 16. It is between the river and the lake, close to the Main Road. The building behind the Administration is 15. Where is 4? It’s on the right-hand side of the Main Road, close to the river. Across the Main road from the Library, the building by the river is 5. The first building on the left-hand side of the Main Road is 7. 6 is between the Education and the Geography. The building at the end of the Main Road is 12. on its left is 11 and on its right, near the lake, is 13. Another building behind the like is 14. 10 is facing the lake, across the Main Road. The building between the Chinese Department and the river is 9. 2 is the first building on the right of the Main Road. Next to the History Department is 3. And last, 8 is behind the Education, Philosophy and Geography Departments. Section B So I had to earn a little money to help pay my way.
It sounds as if you’re a pretty responsible fellow. I see that you attended two grade schools.
I don’t find a transcript among your papers. But it’s hard to keep up with both sports and studies. I’ll hold your application until we get the transcript. What did your guidance counselor tell you? He told me I had a real knack for scientific things. I have been fascinated with science since I was a child. An interest of that kind really signifies something.
Unit 2 Colorful lands, colorful people
The biggest continent in the world is Asia. It covers 16,998,000 square miles. The Pacific Ocean is the largest ocean with 64,186,300 square miles.
Which is the biggest island? It’s Greenland. It occupies an area of 840,000 square miles. The Arabia Peninsula is the largest peninsula and has an area of 1, 000,000 square miles.
Do you know which is the largest desert? Yes, it’s the Sahara Desert in North Africa. It covers 3,320,000 square miles.
The biggest saltwater lake is the Caspian Sea, which is 143,244 square miles large.
Lake Superior is the biggest fresh water lake and it covers a total area of 32,483 square miles.
The smallest continent is Oceania, with an area of 2,966,000 square miles, and the smallest ocean is the Arctic Ocean with 5,105,700 square miles.
You all know the world’s highest peak, don’t you? Mt. Qomolangma (or Mt. Everest) is 29,028 feet above sea level. In contrast, the lowest altitude in the world is the Dead Sea, 1,312 feet below sea level, or you can say -1,312 feet.
The deepest lake is Baykal in Russia. The depth is 5,315 feet.
Mariana Trench near the Philippines is the deepest oceanic trench, with a depth of 36, 198 feet. The longest river in the world is the Nile in Africa. It is 4, 145 miles long. Section B
13. The country with the largest population in the world is China. According to the 1997 census,
the total population was 1,243,738,000.
14. The second largest in population is India. It listed a population of 955,220,000 in 1997.
15. And the third largest is the United States, with its estimated population of 267,901,000 in
1997.
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