Section1
Conversation1
Narrator
Listen to a conversation between a student and his academic advisor.
Professor
Hi, Mark. What can I do for you?
Student
I am just filling out this approval for graduation form for the dean's office, and I don't know, I hope I will be able to graduate next semester.
Professor
Well, as long as you've met the departmental requirements and you submit the form on time, you shouldn't have any problem. Make sure you include all the classes you will have taken for your degree in finance and the electives too.
Student
Yeah, but as I look over the form, I got confused because of the way, um…they've changed the requirements. So now I am not sure I will be qualified to graduate next semester. I know I would, before, under the old requirements.
Professor
Well, when the business department changed the curriculum to include more courses in international business, to ... well, because of the increasing globalization of business. We made sure that students who have finished their second year, that is, those who are in their third or fourth year, wouldn't be affected. The new rules only apply to students in their first or second year.
Student
That's good to know. Uh... the department's hiring new faculty too I heard, to teach some of the new courses. But I want to...
Professor
Yes. One new faculty member has been hired. She will be teaching International Banking as a matter of fact.
Student
Actually, that's what I want to ask about - International Banking. I took International Banking l, but I never took International Banking 2. It used to be that the second semester of International Banking was an elective, but now it says it's a required class.
Professor
Yes. But that's one of the recent changes. So...
Student
Oh, Oh, OK. Oh. And ... and I am planning to take a management course next semester, but I don't know if it's ... if it will count toward my major.
Professor
What's the course?
Student
Organizational Behavior.
Professor
Yes. That will count toward your major. That's a difficult class, you know. But well worth it. So it looks like you will have all the required classes you need. You should be just fine.
Uh... I assume you have taken a seminar?
Student
Yeah, I took the marketing seminar.
Professor
OK. You are looking good. Just to be on the safe side, why don't you talk to someone in the dean's office before you give them the form?
Student
OK. So should I just explain to them that even though one of these classes got changed from an elective to a required class, I don't have to take it?
Professor
Yes. You've met the requirements for graduation. And if there's something I need to do ... if I need to write a letter or whatever, just let me know.
Student
OK. Thanks. I'll let you know if I need that letter.
Lecture1-Conservation Biology [Assisted Migration)
Narrator
Listen to part of a lecture in a Conservation Biology class.
Professor
One consequence of global warming is extinction. There's compelling evidence that global warming will be a significant driver of many plant and animal extinctions in this century. So we are considering various strategies to help some threatened species survive this unprecedented, this warming trend which, as you know, is caused mainly by greenhouse gases produced by the burning of fossil fuels.
Um... the most radical strategy being debated among conservation biologists is Assisted Migration. Assisted migration means picking up members of a species, or members of a group of interdependent species and physically moving or translocating them. Um... translocating threatened species to a cooler place, to higher latitudes or higher elevations, for example.
Now, migration is a natural survival strategy. Over the past two million years, colder glacial periods have alternated with warmer interglacial periods. And so, um, in response to these gradual climatic swings, some species have shifted their ranges hundreds of kilometers.
So perhaps you are wondering why not let nature take its course now? Well, we can't. The main problem is today's fragmented habitats. During previous interglacial periods, when glaciers retreated, they left behind open land in their wakes. Today human development has paved over much of the natural world. Ecosystems are fragmented. Housing developments, highways and cities have replaced or sliced through forests and prairies. There are a few quarters left for species to migrate through without help. So conservationists are trying to save as many species as possible.
Now, assisted migration could become a viable part of our rescue strategy, but there are a number of uncertainties and risks. Without more research, we can't predict if Assisted Migration will work for any given species. A translocated species could die out from lack of food, for example. At the other extreme, we might successfully translocate the species, but within five or ten years that species could proliferate and become an invasive species. Like a non-native plant that chokes out native plants by hogging the nutrients in the soil. Translocated animals can become invasive too. It happened in Australia. The cane toad was introduced back in 1935 to control an insect pest that was destroying Australia's sugarcane plantations. But the cane toad itself became a pest and has destroyed much of the wildlife on that continent.
Also, many species are interdependent, intimately connected to one another. Like animals that eat a certain plant and that plant relies on a certain fungus to help it get nutrients from soil and on a certain insect for pollination. We probably have to translocate entire networks of species and it's hard to know where to draw the line.
And in addition to all that, it is not even clear that assisted migration or any migration for that matter, will help at least for some species. Earth was already in one of its warm interglacial periods when we started burning fossil fuels. And in the twenty-first century, global temperatures are expected to rise two to six degrees. That rate of heating is far greater than during the last glacial retreat some 12,000 years ago.
Um ... whether to use Assisted Migration, this debate is mostly within the biology community right now. But the ultimate decision-makers, in the United States at least, will be the government agencies that manage natural resources. Assisted Migration really needs this level of oversight, and soon. Currently there's no public policy on using assisted migration to help species survive climate change. People aren't even required to seek permits to move plants or invertebrate animals around as long as they are not classified as pests. In one case, a group of conservationists has already taken it upon itself to try on their own to save an endangered tree, the Florida Torreya tree, through Assisted Migration.
There's only about a thousand individual Florida Torrey as left. And global warming is expected to significantly reduce or eliminate this tree's habitat. So this conservation group wants to translocate seedlings, Florida Torreya seedlings, 500 kilometers north in order to expand the species' range. The group believed its effort is justified, but I and many other biologists will be watching very closely how this maverick group makes out, because like I said, there could be unintended consequences.
Lecture2-Music History (Béla Bartók)
Narrator
Listen to part of a lecture in a music history class.
Professor
So I just finished reviewing your papers on the influence of nationalism on the composers' music. And initially I was surprised none of you chose to write about Béla Bartók, that is until I remembered we haven't had a chance to discuss him in class yet. He was a wonderful and ground-breaking composer.
Béla Bartók was a Hungarian, whose life stretched from the late nineteenth century to the middle of twentieth century. But he was not a fan of the Romantic style of music that was popular in his homeland during his youth.
Student
Wait, Hungary wasn't a country in 1900, was it?
Professor
You are right. I should have been clear. Bartok was born in Austria-Hungary, a nation that broke apart when he was about forty years old. Actually, the town where he was born is presently part of Romania. The political history of that region is complex. Suffice to say that Bartok is generally known as a Hungarian composer.
So during Bartók's youth, the music played in the concert halls of Austria-Hungary was dominated by Romantic pieces by mostly German composers. We discussed the Romantic style last week. These pieces were long and lyrical. They were meant to have a sort of grandeur about them. And in the early 1900s, composers who worked in the Romantic style were the most popular in Austria-Hungary. But Bartok, he was part of the musical community that was trying to change this. And it led him to ... well, the first thing it did was lead him to travel(此处，演讲者就是有语法错误，理解意思就行). He looked at the countryside for the music of the farmers and the people who lived in small towns, and their music, well, you could say he discovered the music that was popular in those areas.
Student
What do you mean?
Professor
Well, all the music we have been talking about the past few weeks, it really was all in the cities, that's where the composers and the orchestras were. Out in remote areas of the countryside, in rural locations, music was more traditional, the same songs that were enjoyed by previous generations. Bartók went out, he travelled to a significant portion of Eastern Europe actually. He roamed the countryside and listened to the music heard in small towns and in all sorts of celebrations. He attended weddings, dances and religious ceremonies, where he heard a very different sort of music from the Romantic stuff being played in the concert halls in the cities. The music he heard is what we would consider folk music.
Student
And then he had those same songs played in the concert halls?
Professor
No. At first he went around to document the folk music. He really wanted to make sure the folk songs were written down before they disappeared. In fact, Bartók didn't start out the trip thinking of himself as a composer. He was an ethnomusicologist. He studied the traditional music of the region. But it turns out that what would later have a notable influence on European music on the whole, was the way Bartók used elements he heard in folk songs in his own compositions. He adopted a number of elements from what he heard, like unusual rhythms. And he liked to use the glissando as his hallmark, which he probably got from listening to Croatian folk music. A glissando is ... well, I have got a recording of Bartok here. Let's wait until the music is fresh in our minds Susie, do you have something you want to ask first?
Student
Yeah. Before, you mention nationalism and…
Professor
Ah, right, yes. When Bartok had his new pieces performed, their folk music roots made them instantly popular. It happened to be a time of strong nationalism in Austria-Hungary, so his compositions came at just the right time. He became very successful there. Particularly, when Bartok's ballet The Wooden Prince opened, there was great excitement for music that included musical elements from local folk songs, music that reflected the region's musical traditions. However, as popular as Bartok was in his homeland, he did not get much international recognition during his lifetime.
Conversation2
Narrator
Listen to a conversation between a student and his biology professor.
Student
Well, you know, I am writing that paper about whales and the path they travel as they swim through the ocean, their migration patterns.
Professor
Yes. I remember.
Student
And well, I was thinking about it and I realized I don't understand how they hold their breath underwater. lt's a little crazy for me to be writing about migration patterns without actually knowing how they stay underwater for so long.
Professor
Did you do any research to find out how they do it?
Student
Yeah, I did. I searched on the internet and there was a lot of information about whales, their habitats, the way they communicate, you know, their songs. But if there was anything about whales and how they hold their breath, I missed it. I've got a bunch of books. Actually, I have got so much information, it's a little overwhelming.
Professor
I am surprised there is nothing about it in any of those books.
Student
Well, to be honest, l've only skimmed them so far. I am still working on finding sources.
Professor
OK. I know I encourage everyone in class to look at a substantial number of sources, but I don't want you to get overwhelmed. Looking at a number of sources gives you a good knowledge base, but students only have a limited amount of time to work on each paper. I don't expect you to read a dozen books on whales for this assignment. Focus on just a few.
Student
Ok. Thanks.
Professor
You know, since you are already here. I can give you a quick summary of how whales hold their breath underwater. lt's just a matter of certain adaptations in their anatomies, specifically in their circulatory system.
Student
So the blood flow is what makes the difference?
Professor
Yes, and in a couple of ways. First, blood makes up a larger share of a whale's weight than in other mammals.
Student
So they can store more oxygen because they have more blood?
Professor
Yes, but that's only part of it. They also have a greater capacity than land animals to store oxygen in their blood.
Student
So how does having more oxygen in their blood help them stay underwater longer?
Professor
It's the way the whale's blood carries oxygen to the rest of its body. Whales carefully conserve their oxygen when underwater in a couple of ways. When a whale dives, its metabolic rate drops, causing its heartbeat to slow down. And the blood flow to its muscles and some of its non-vital organs, like its kidneys, is also cut off. A whale's muscles and non-vital organs are able to function without oxygen for an extended period of time.
Student
I see. Well, now I can concentrate on my topic.
Lecture3-History (Egyptian Hieroglyphs)
Narrator
Listen to part of a lecture in a history class. The professor has been discussing Egyptian Hieroglyphs.
Professor
Egyptian Hieroglyphs are the ancient Egyptian writings found in ancient Egypt on walls, monuments and on the inside and outside of temples. Hieroglyphic writing ended abruptly about 1600 years ago. And it mystified the mot brilliant minds in the study of Egyptian artifacts and archaeology for many many centuries. Finally, the possiblity of deciphering hieroglyphs came about with the discovery, in 1799, of the Rosetta Stone.
The Rosetta Stone is arguably the most famous archaeological artifact ever discovered. It contains the same exact text written in three different alphabets: Greek, demotic, hieroglyphic.
But we didn't even know at first that the three texts on the Rosetta Stone contain the same information. And two of the three alphabets are ancient Egyptian scripts that stop being used: the hieroglyphic and the demotic The demotic script found on the Rosetta Stone, well, demotic was not as elaborate as hieroglyphic writing. It was used for more mundane matters, oh, like administrative documents. These ancient Egyptian scripts were replaced by Coptic scripts. But eventually, the Arabic language replaced Coptic and this cut off the linguistic link between ancient and modern Egypt.
Now, the Rosetta Stone was remarkable because as I said, on it, was the same text in three different alphabets: Greek, demotic and hieroglyphic. The Stone was essentially the dictionary that scholars needed to interpret the meaning of the hieroglyphs. And it took a uniquely equipped researcher to finally decipher and understand what was written on the stone.
Thomas young, an English scholar, was the first to seriously attempt to decipher the symbols on the Rosetta Stone. He suspected rightly that the hieroglyphs were phonetic symbols, that they represented its sounds rather than pictures. Until then, all scholars assumed that hieroglyphs were pictographs, that they symbolize objects or concepts. Thomas Young focused his attention on one set of hieroglyphs that he thought would probably spell out a single word: the name of a King or Queen. He guessed that the symbols represented the name of the early Egyptian ruler Ptolemy, since Ptolemy was also written in Greek on the stone and was indeed a Greek name. And Young did actually prove that these hieroglyphs represented sounds rather than whole words. Strangely though, he gave into the dominant thesis of the day that hieroglyphs were pictographs. He actually dismissed his own findings as an anomaly because the Ptolemaic dynasty was Greek, not Egyptian. in other words, he figured it was an exception to the rule. It was phonetic because it was Greek, not Egyptian. How else could an Egyptian depict a Greek name other than spell it out? And that brings us to the hero of our story: Jean-Francois Champollion.
Champollion built on Young's work, showing that different hieroglyphs spelled the names of Kings and Queens like Alexander or Cleopatra. But his critics noted that this was still not traditional Egyptian names. He hadn't done any more than Young had been able to do, so he couldn't disprove the dominant theory.
Then in 1822, Champollion was shown a set of hieroglyphs that contain traditional Egyptian names. The first two of these symbols were unknown, but Champollion knew that the repeated hieroglyphs to the far right symbolized an "S" sound. He then drew on his linguistic knowledge to arrive at the solution to the problem. You see, unlike any of the other scholars who had tried to crack the code, Champollion happened to be fluent in Coptic. He wondered, and this was the real breakthrough, if Coptic was the language symbolized by the hieroglyphs on the Rosetta stone. And if so, then perhaps that first disc-shape symbol might represent the Sun. And the Coptic word for Sun is "ra". See where this is headed? So if the symbol were Coptic, the first symbol would be "ra". And then an unknown symbol followed by a double "S" sound. Was this, Champollion wondered, the name Rameses1? He was eventually able to confirm that it was. So, he had figured it out. Hieroglyphs were mainly phonetic, they represented sounds, not pictures, and the underlying language was Coptic. A lot of work remained, but Champollion had cracked the code.