b3U5listening.docx

1、b3U5listeningVideo2. BACEDFAlice: So, each of us has chosen some animals that we believe use language. Peter, what did you learn about whales and dolphins?Peter: It was thought that only humans could communicate with people they cant see; however, whales and dolphins can communicate over long distan

2、ces.Alice: How?Peter: They use high frequencies which can carry over a long distance. And, in fact, researchers seem to think that these animals seem to have a need to communicate with each other. And one researcher thinks that one day well be able to know what theyre talking about.Alice: Good. Henr

3、y, what did you find about.erm.elephants?Henry: I found that elephants can communicate over long distances too, but they use very low frequencies. I dont know whether you could call their communication language or not, but Ill look into it more.Alice: OK. Margaret, what about parrots?Margaret: Weve

4、all read about parrots, but Ive been reading about a parrot called Nkisi, who knows 971 words. He isnt counted as knowing a new word unless hes used it at least five times in a meaningful way. In other words, if he just repeats the word, it doesnt count.Alice: Do you have any examples of Nkisis lang

5、uage use? Margaret: Yes. It involves Jane Goodall, the famous anthropologist. She went to see Nkisi. Nkisis owner had shown him some pictures of Jane and some chimpanzees. When Jane walked into the room, Nkisi said, Got a chimp?Peter: Thats funny. Alice: Anything else?Margaret: Well, yes, when his o

6、wner broke the necklace she was wearing, he said, What a pity! You broke your nice new necklace.Alice: I would certainly say he was using language. Margaret: I have another example of a bird-like animaltamarins, using long calls to maintain contact with individuals. Scientists have found that they h

7、ave an individual identity and a group identity. Individuals in one group all sound quite different than individuals in another group, something like accents we have.Henry: Really? Thats very surprising!Margaret: Yes, whats more amazing is they have even a sex-specific identity besides individual id

8、entity and group-level identity, so they can distinguish between males, females, neighbors, and strangers just like humans.Henry: Great. Now, Alice, what can you report?Alice: First of all, do we all agree that American Sign Language is a language? The others: Yes.Alice: Well, all the great apes, su

9、ch as chimpanzees and gorillas, can learn American Sign Language.Henry: That would take some real work on their part.Alice: Right. But what is amazing to me is that each kind of ape can teach the sign language to others of their own kind.Peter: Well, that reminds me of the body language of wolves an

10、d dogs.Alice: What do you mean?Peter: Ive found that wolves and dogs communicate through body gestures and facial expressions. For instance, aggressive wolves and dogs stand tall with their ears raised, and their head held high. They show their teeth, and raise their fur so that they look bigger. Th

11、ey may give a loud bark. And when they feel frightened or want to show obedience, they lower their bodies, flatten their ears, tuck in their tails, and close their mouths. They may roll over on their back and lie there, belly up.Margaret: I often see dogs raise their rear and lower their forequarter

12、s in a kind of bow. What does that mean?Peter: That means they want to play.Henry: Well, did any of us find any information about bees dancing? Thats a very good example of how insects communicate with each other.Alice: Yeah, Ive got some. There are two typical dances of the bees: the round dance an

13、d the tail-wagging dance.Henry: Can you explain them in detail?Alice: Well, the round dance is the simplest dance. Ah.the bee performs it when it finds food near the beehive. It doesnt provide much information; its more of an.awakening signal. So, if the bee finds the food it will start going in a s

14、mall circle. Every one or two circles it will suddenly reverse direction. It can go on for seconds and even minutes.Henry: What happens next?Alice: Erm.other bees follow the dancer and then fly off by themselves looking for food. If they havent been feeding at that place before, they will look for f

15、ood in every direction near the beehive. However, the dancing bee also gives off smells that are recognized by other bees frequenting the same flowers. They will then fly directly to them.Peter: What about the tail-wagging dance?Alice: Well, in the typical tail-wagging dance the bee flies straight a

16、head for a short distance, then returns in a semicircle to the starting point, again goes through the straight stretch, makes a semicircle in the opposite direction and so on repeatedly. The straight part of the run is given particular emphasis by wagging the body forcefully. In addition.er.during t

17、he tail-wagging portion of the dance the bee also gives out a buzzing sound. (She mimics the buzz of bees.)Peter: Then whats the purpose of the tail-wagging dance?Alice: It tells the other bees, very accurately, at what distance and in which direction the food is, so that they can look for it themse

18、lves.Margaret: OK. I think we have a lot of good information here. Lets look for a little more, then meet again. OK? The others: OK. LS-12. FFTTTTEvery culture has its own way of saying things, its own special expressions. These are the living speech of a people. The soap expressions in English are

19、just one example.Soap operas are radio and television plays about the problems and emotions in human relationships. They are called soap operas because the first programsyears agowere paid for by soap-making companies.Like musical operas, soap operas are not about real people. And critics charge tha

20、t they do not represent a balanced picture of real life. They note that almost everyone in a soap opera has a serious emotional problem, or is guilty of a crime. And there are several crises in every program.Yet, soap opera fans do not care about what the critics say. They love the programs and watc

21、h them every day.Such loyalty has made soap operas very popular in the United States. In fact, a few programs are so popular that they have been produced with the same actors for many years.Another expression that uses the word soap is soap box.There was a time when soap and other products were ship

22、ped in wooden boxes. The boxes were small, but strong. You could stand on one to see over the heads in a crowd or to be seen in a crowd. Soap boxes were a simple, easy way to make yourself taller if you wanted to give a public speech.Such soap box speeches usually were political and one-sided. The s

23、peakers shouted their ideas to anyone who walked by. Many talked for hours, refusing to get off their soap boxes.Today, you dont need a wooden box to make a soap box speech. Anyone, anywhere, who talks endlessly about a cause, is said to be on a soap box.Another quieter way to win support or gain in

24、fluence is to soft-soap a person. This means to use praise or other kind words to get the person to do what you want. LS-21. CADInterviewer: Do you think learners should aim to speak English with a native-speaker pronunciation?Interviewee: Thats a difficult question to answer. I think the most impor

25、tant thing is to be understood easily. For most learners, its not necessary or desirable to speak like a native speaker. For some learners, for example, those who eventually want to teach English, or be interpreters perhaps, a native-speaker pronunciation is the ultimate goal. At least, thats what I

26、 think.Interviewer: Children often do not want to speak English with a native-speaker pronunciation. Why not?Interviewee: In general, children are splendid mimics and imitate strange sounds very easily and well. However, it is true that most children do not want to sound English when they are speaki

27、ng English. This may be partly due to shyness but I think the main reason is that most children want to belong to a groupthey dress alike, listen to the same music, share the same opinions and hobbies. Even if a child can speak English like a native speaker, he or she will usually choose not tounles

28、s, of course, the rest of the group speaks with a native-speaker pronunciation too.Interviewer: What is the main reason why adults find pronunciation difficult?Interviewee: Numerous reasons have been offered for the difficulties which many adults find with pronunciation and, no doubt, there is some

29、truth in all of these. It seems to be the case that children are better mimics than adults. But if an adult really wants to achieve a native-speaker pronunciation, then he or she can. It is NOT the students own language that prevents him or her from achieving a native-speaker pronunciation in Englis

30、h. It is the fact that the adult student has a strong sense of national identity. In other words, he or she wants to be identified as a German or Brazilian speaking English. In my opinion, this sense of national identity is more important than other explanations, such as the greater anxiety of adult

31、s or the effect of their own language habits. ML-11. DABABReceptionist: English Language Center. May I help you?Caller: Yes. Im calling to find out more information about your program. Receptionist: Well, first of all, the purpose of our program is to provide language-learning opportunities for our

32、part of the U.S. Uh-huh. For example, some students need to learn the basic functional language skills for their jobs. Others need intensive English so that they can enter a U.S. university.Caller: Okay. Im calling for a friend interested in attending a U.S. university.Receptionist: We have a variety of courses that can help her, from basic communication courses to content-based classes such as computer literacy, intercultural communication, and business English.Caller: Great. What are y