Conversation 1

Narrator: Listen to part of a conversation between a student and

her biology professor.

Student: Well, one thing I noticed when I was doing the reading
for class, something I was curious about, the articles about the
sleep patterns of animals in a laboratory. I was wondering doing
the research in a lab, wouldn’t that make the results less… uh, I
don’t know… but it doesn’t see seem… very authentic. （第 1 题）

————————————————————————————
Professor: Absolutely. I mean imagine having your sleep patterns
judged by how you sleep on a… a train or in a plane. Most
researchers would prefer to work with animals in their natural
environment.

Student: Right, but I suppose there must be a lot of barriers…

like trying to locate animals and to track them…

Professor: Not only that, but recording brain activity during sleep
requires an electroencephalograph, which is a machine that
records a subject’s brain waves and getting this reading used to be
impossible without a great deal of equipment… a big computer,
wires, voltage sensors…

Student: But, with technological advances you’d think it be

possible to develop something that could be used in the field.
Professor: Definitely. In fact in my own research, we’ve just
started using a device that, uh… it only weighs one and half
grams, very light. So, it has relatively little impact on animal
behavior and we still get the information we need. And by putting a
radio collar on the animals to track their location we can just let
the animals go about their daily lives. (第 2 题）

_______________________________________________
Student: Well, it sounds fascinating. I mean I was surprised to
learn that we really know so little about sleep. Such a basic part
of our lives.

Professor: Well… we do know about brain activity at the

different stages of sleep. And we know about the consequences
of missing out on sleep. What we don’t really understand yet is
the real purpose behind sleeping. （第 5 题）

——————————————————————————————
Student: Well, it’s great to know that even though we’ve made
all these advances there are still so many interesting things left
to study. I actually really want to do research myself someday.

Professor: Someday? Why not start now? The University offers

support for undergraduates to work with faculty mentors or even
to do their own research projects and there’s funding available.
It’s too bad the program doesn’t get more publicity. I’ve got to talk
to our research director about that. （第 4 题）

——————————————————————————————————
Student: Wow, working with faculty on their research? That
sounds like a great opportunity! But I wouldn’t even know how to
get started. Finding the right research project and all…

Professor: Hm… I wonder. Given that it’s the University’s best

kept secret… Well, if you’re interested in sleep, I do research both
here and at the research station in Arizona and we fund research
assistants in both programs. And other professors on our faculty
are doing important research in a number of fields. You should
really look into it. （第 3 题）
 Lecture 1
Narrator: Listen to part of a lecture in a physics class.

Professor: There are many different forms of energy, uh… and in

general one form of energy can be transformed into another form…
when energy is added to an electron and an atom, the electron will
release that energy and in so doing, transform it into another form
of energy, such as electromagnetic energy. Electromagnetic energy
comes in different forms; such as light, heat, x-rays, microwaves,
and electricity.

Now, in most cases when we want to generate electromagnetic

energy, we want to generate one specific form of energy. When we
want heat, we’ll want to convert some form of energy, such as
electricity into only heat energy… and when we want light, we’ll
want to convert electricity into only light energy and this is what
we’re going to talk about.

Ok, uh… suppose we’re looking for an ideal device to generate

light. What would the ideal light generating device be? Uh… it
would be one that would give us exactly what we wanted. In other
words, all the energy that goes into this device would come out in
the form of light and none of it would be converted into heat or any
of these other forms of energy we mentioned. We’d also want this
source to be fueled by energy that’s safe and easy to store and use
and it could be converted efficiently. And once we have our light,
we don’t want any substance left over that would be hard to
dispose of… (unclear) to harm us or the environment.

Now, historically speaking, we’ve actually come a long way toward

this goal. Um… what did our early ancestors use to get light? Well,
they used a simple means. They used fire. But, fire generates
thermal energy… heat. Uh, granted fire provides some light but it
produces much more heat, um… we find the same problem with the
incandescent light bulbs we use today. It’s true that with
incandescent bulbs, there’s a higher ratio of light to heat than
you’d get from a campfire, but you’re still getting more heat than
you want. If you’ve ever tried to unscrew an incandescent light
bulb without waiting a few minutes first, you know this is true
(chuckling). Well as you know, incandescent bulbs aren’t the end of
the story and we now have newer light generating devise that
provide more light than heat.

We have florescent lights. The lights you see in offices or in this

classroom. Uh… florescent light is uh, essentially a tube filled with
mercury gas. We stimulate the electrons in the gas and those
electrons bounce off special coding on the inside of the tube. This
coding glows when it’s hit by electrons. And so we get light.
Florescent lights are efficient… you get much less heat from them
than you do from ordinary light bulbs. Unfortunately, mercury is
highly toxic, so safely disposing of these tubes is difficult. Scientists
have also developed various other light generating devices. But,
these too have drawbacks that make them less than ideal. Recently
though, scientists have been working on a very promising way to
generate light called chemiluminescence.
With chemiluminescence, the generation of light is the result of a
chemical reaction. That means we don’t have to worry about
providing energy like electricity to fuel it. We can also pretty much
consider this to be cold light, um… given the right chemical
reaction, no heat is produced. Well, at least no measurable heat.
It’s mostly light and there are no parts to burn out or break. We
find chemiluminescence in nature. It’s what makes fireflies glow
and it’s found in various marine organisms. Scientists have isolated
the genes responsible for making the chemicals that cause some of
these organisms to light up and they’re working on applying their
knowledge of chemiluminescence to create new ways to generate
light. Uh, right now the light we can get from chemiluminescence is
dim, but in time we may be able to use it to generate substantial
illumination.

Lecture 2
Narrator: Listen to part of a lecture in an archaeology class.

Professor: Last class, we were talking about the first human

migration out of Africa. Who can review what we said. Jared?

Jared: Well, the first humans left Africa and headed up through the
Middle East and then east into Asia almost 2 million years ago, but
they didn’t go into Europe, um… into Spain and Italy until about
800,000 years ago.

Professor: Ok, good. So, you can see it took quite a while for these
early humans to spread into Europe. Uh, Jared mentioned Spain
and Italy… that’s Southern Europe, but what about Northern
Europe, like Germany, Scandinavia, Britain. Amy?

Amy: Well, according to the textbook, that happened much more

recently… about 500,000 years ago. From what I understand, that
was because the climate was basically too cold before that, which
would have kept people from attempting to migrate there. But I
was wondering, how would people have gotten to the British Isles?
Did they have boats of some kind?

Professor: Actually they walked. At the time there was a land

bridge connecting what’s now France and Britain. Um, sea levels
were much lower than they are today. Anyway, without evidence to
the contrary, most archaeologists use the conservative estimate of
500,000 years ago, but there have always been those who
suspected that humans occupied Northern Europe much earlier…
that the evidence to support their theory just hadn’t been found
yet. Turns out, now it has been! It comes from a geological
formation on the East Coast of Britain. It’s called the Chromer
Forest Bed Formation. The CFBF, as it is known, is a layer of
sediment that was deposited by large rivers over a long period of
time. Parts of that layer are entirely exposed on the faces of cliffs
along the ocean for about 130 kilometers. Archaeologists have been
hunting for fossils and other evidence of humans in the exposed
sections of the CFBF for generations. It has been the source of
some spectacular finds over the years… remains of animals,
insects, even trees, all from as much as 780,000 years ago. But no
evidence of early humans was found until 2005. That’s when a
significant chunk of the cliff slid into the sea and exposed a
previously untouched portion of the CFBF. Shortly after that, an
archaeologist discovered 32 pieces of flint stone that had been
worked for tools. Most of the artifacts are small flakes that were
chipped off the stone in the course of shaping the edges of stone
tools. The oldest of these artifacts are more than 200,000 years
older than any other human artifacts we’d seen before in Britain.

Jared: How did they determine that?

Professor: One of the things they looked at was the other evidence
found with the artifacts, like teeth from a small mammal known as
the vole. The vole was pretty common throughout Northern
Europe. Its evolution is well documented and provides a sort of a
clock that we can use to date artifacts. The teeth found in the CFBF
are from a species of vole that died out about 700,000 years ago
and we also know the artifacts are not more than 800,000 years
old. That’s when the Earth experienced what is known as a polarity
reversal. You know what that is, right?

Jared: Oh, that’s when the North and South magnetic poles switch
places, like a compass that points North now would have pointed
South before the reversal.
Professor: Exactly. And a magnetic… uh, a geomagnetic analysis of
the soil tells us that the CFBF was deposited after the polarity
reversal.

Amy: So, what was it like 700,000 years ago? I mean, what kind of
climate and stuff?

Professor: Well, the archaeologists also found remains of animals

like hippopotamus’, and lions, and other plants and animals that
live only in warm conditions. The timeframe fits with a brief period
when, we know now, the climate warmed up significantly.

Jared: So, is this why we accept it now… this earlier presence of

humans in Northern Europe?

Professor: Yes, but it’s not the final word on the subject. Just
recently, archaeologists found stone tools nearby that may be
almost a million years old. The exact dates for these tools haven’t
been determined yet. But they do seem to be older than the CFBF
tools. And we have to ask ourselves, how did humans survive in
that area so long ago because Britain was probably even colder
then, than it is now? How did they protect themselves from the
weather? Were they able to use and control fire? Were they
permanent settlers or seasonal migrants? We’re a long way from
being able to answer those questions.

Conversation 2
Narrator: Listen to a conversation between a student and a
housing office administrator.

Jennifer: Hi, my name is Jennifer.

Administrator: Nice to meet you Jennifer.

Jennifer: I’m going to be moving off campus next semester. A

couple of friends and I are going to rent an apartment together.

Administrator: Ok, and where on campus are you living now?

Jennifer: In York Dormitory. I have a nice room actually, but the

new place is going to be a lot easier on my budget.

Administrator: Maybe… but keep in mind that everything is

included with university housing… utilities, maintenance, parking.
A lot of students don’t appreciate that until they move off campus.

Ok, well you should have received your university housing contract
for next year.

Jennifer: Yes.

Administrator: Ok, well just check the box indicating you won’t be
renewing and then get it back to us and you’re good to go.

Jennifer: Ok… the thing is we have to sign the contract for the
new place next week.

Administrator: Really?

Jennifer: Yea.

Administrator: To move in in September?

Jennifer: I know, but there’s another group of women who want

the apartment too and if we don’t sign by then the landlord, his
name’s Mr. Shaw, is going to rent it out to them instead.

Administrator: Ok, yes I can understand that.

Jennifer: And before we can sign the contract we have to put down
money, a security deposit, but before I can do that I need to get my
security deposit back from here.
Administrator: You mean the deposit you gave us last year when
you moved into York?

Jennifer: Yea.

Administrator: Oh, sorry, we can’t do that. You still have a few

weeks before the end of your housing contract.

Jennifer: I know, but I don’t have any final exams this semester…
just final papers I can turn in by email, so I can leave right after my
last class… that’s next Tuesday.

Administrator: But then we have to inspect the room… that’s the

whole point of a deposit. You don’t get it all back if there’s damage
to your room.

Jennifer: Oh, the place is pristine. Believe me. My roommate has

an irritatingly low tolerance for mess.

Administrator: And you have a roommate?

Jennifer: Yea.

Administrator: And is she also planning to move out ahead of

time?

Jennifer: No, she’s a senior, so she’s staying until graduation, but I

only want my half of the deposit.

Administrator: But, we don’t inspect the room until everyone

moves out.

Jennifer: I know, but that’ll be too late.

Administrator: Hm… well, Jennifer you’re in a bind then. Maybe if

I explain the situation to Mr. Shaw he’d be willing to take your new
roommates’ deposit this month and let you all sign, then accept
your share next month on the first business day after your old
roommate moves out. That’s the best I can do. And your room’s in
pristine condition.

Jennifer: Better than when we moved in.

Administrator: Ok.

Lecture 3
Narrator: Listen to part of a lecture in an English literature class.

Professor: Until now, I’ve made much about placing each author
whose work we’ve read into the British literary tradition, into
understanding how they relate to other works of English literature,
but this may be a bit difficult with our next novel, Jane Austen’s
Pride and Prejudice.

I don’t want to get into a detailed discussion of Pride and Prejudice

today, but I think you’ll find the novel to be very different from
anything I’ve assigned so far this semester and part of that might
be due to the fact that Jane Austen had a very different background
than any of the authors we’ve read so far.

So, I’d like to begin by talking a little bit about Jane Austen herself.
For one thing, like many women at that time, Austen had very little
formal education. But, she never stopped learning. She continued
to educate herself by reading on her own. In fact, she read just
about anything she could get her hands on, both fiction and
nonfiction. There was nothing systematic about Austen’s reading,
so most of her education was basically informal. She read whatever
was available in her father’s extensive library, or what she could
borrow from friends and neighbors.

Our record of Austen’s life comes primarily from her letters and
these letters confirm that she was a prolific reader. In fact, Austen’s
letters are filled with reports of what she and other members of her
family were reading along with her opinions of the books. Because
of her lack of formal education, Austen wasn’t exposed to a
traditional structured approach to English literature or to the
judgments of prominent scholars. So, as her letters indicate, she
judged books based on her own individual preferences. Some of her
letters contain analyses and even jokes about the books and poems
she had read. So, she didn’t just summarize them in her letters…
she critiqued them. （2‘06）

What we have in Jane Austen is a writer who was also a very

engaged reader and whose reading definitely influenced what she
wrote.

When you read Pride and Prejudice, pay attention to how books are
treated as a part of everyday life by characters in Austen’s novel.
You’ll notice that for Austen’s characters, familiarity with books is a
given and that ideas about literature often make their way into the
character’s conversations. At times, characters even seem to
understand daily events in terms of similar events in books they’ve
read. （2‘43）
I think the way Austen referenced books in her novels, the way she
integrated them into the story, is particularly important because it
was somewhat unusual for her time. Austen’s readers got an
unconventional look at literary references because within her
novel, knowledge of books is continuous with other forms of
knowledge. (3’07)

Other authors of the same period were also influenced by what they
read and they made references to those books as well. But, they did
it in a more traditional way… such as Eleanor Sleath. Eleanor
Sleath, also British, wrote at the same time Austen did. However,
Sleath’s use of references to old works of literature shows that
she really wanted her readers to know she had spent some serious
time in the library. In one of her novels, Sleath started every
chapter with a quote from a famous author… you know,
Shakespeare or someone like that… and that was not uncommon
for novels of that era. Some people thought that quoting and citing
older literature conferred a sort of authority on new literature. It
made the newer books a part of an ongoing tradition.

Lecture 4
Narrator: Listen to part of a lecture in a biology class.

Professor: Now it might seem strange, but even though many

organisms live in the sea, salt water remains a challenging
environment for them. It can be difficult for marine organisms to
stay hydrated, that is keep the water content of their bodily fluids
within a healthy range. Every animal loses some water over time
and sooner or later has to replenish it. Drinking seawater to
replenish the water content creates a physiological challenge
because by drinking seawater, the animal is taking in a lot of salt
and getting salt out of the body is not easy.

Student 1: Isn’t that what their, uh… salt gland is for?

Professor: That’s the main mechanism used by at least some
marine animals, like penguins and marine turtles. The special thing
about the salt gland is that it excretes the salt in a very
concentrated form, so there’s very little water loss and the animal
stays hydrated. Animals that live in the desert, like lizards, they
also have salt glands. It’s the opposite of the case for most land
animals. Most land animals excrete salt in a very diluted form,
which means much greater water loss. But, uh… let’s take a look at
the sea snake.

Now, there are about 60 species of sea snakes. They live in tropical
oceans, mostly along coastlines and around islands in the Indian
and Western Pacific Oceans and, as I said, we used to think that sea
snakes simply drank seawater and got rid of the excess salt
through their salt glands. But then, one researcher heard about
instances of… he became interested in reports of sea snakes being
observed on shore, drinking freshwater after it rained. So, he
started probing deeper. Why would they drink freshwater, he
wondered, if they could easily stay hydrated by drinking seawater?

Student 2: So, sea snakes don’t have salt glands?

Professor: Well, they do under their tongue. But, it appears that

the glands may not be sufficient, or should I say efficient enough to
allow the snakes to drink seawater for hydration. Anyway, the
researcher wound up taking a group of dehydrated snakes and
submerging them in a tank with saltwater. After several hours, he
took them out and weighed them to see if they’d gained weight, if
they had drank any of the water. None of them had. He then took
the same snakes and put them in a tank of freshwater. All of the
snakes immediately began to drink the water. This suggests that
although sea snakes have made many adaptations to life in the
ocean, drinking seawater is not one of them. They can’t drink
saltwater. They actually need freshwater to stay hydrated.

Student 2: You said adaptations. Does this mean sea snakes

evolved from land snakes?
Professor: We think they did. As did many other marine animals.
They appear to be closely related to cobras and coral snakes. And
some species of sea snakes also come ashore to lay their eggs.

Student 1: But, they’re sea snakes.

Professor: Well, there are some species that do live their entire
lives at sea which poses an interesting question: how do they get
fresh water? Well, the hypothesis that has been proposed... it
involves something called a ‘fresh water lens.’ A freshwater lens
forms when it rains over the ocean. You see, when rain falls on the
ocean the rainwater doesn’t mix with the saltwater right away.
Since freshwater is not as dense as saltwater, it stays on top of the
sea forming a temporary layer of freshwater. These temporary
pools of water are called ‘freshwater lenses.’ After a while, the
waves and the currents mix the freshwater pools in with seawater
and they disappear. But while they last, the snakes can use the
lenses as sources of drinking water and if we consider the
distribution pattern of sea snake populations, this makes sense. It
turns out that sea snakes that live solely in the water do tend to
concentrate in areas where the sea surface is calm, where
freshwater lenses would last the longest. In contrast, very few sea
snakes are found in areas where the sea is choppy, where rainwater
would get mixed in with seawater more quickly.