Austin News - Businesses look to fundraise for charity in friendly competition
Businesses look to fundraise for charity in friendly competition
American-Statesman
Friday 22nd April, 2016
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终于把Test 3 Test4 的听力材料
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还有Test 2 的Section2 至Section4
to section 2………
You will hear a man giving a
talk to new members of a wildlife club in the south of England.
First, you have some time to look at questions 11 to 13.
Now listen carefully and answer
questions 11 to 13.
Hello, I am delighted to
welcome you to our wildlife club. I’m very pleased you are
interested in the countryside and … creatures in this area. I think
you’ll be surprise that variety we have here even though when not
far from London. I’ll … by telling you about some of the parks and
open spaces nearby.
One very pleasant place is
Halland Common. This has been public land for hundreds of years,
and what you’ll find interesting is that the River Ouse, which
flows into the sea eighty kilometres away, has its source in the
common. There’s an information board about the plants and animals
you can see here, and by the way, the common is accessible 24 hours
Then there’s Holt Island, which
is noted for its great range of trees. In the past willows were
grown here commercially for basket-making, and this ancient craft
has recently been reintroduced. The island is only open to the
public from Friday to Sunday, because it’s quite small, and if
there were people around every day, much of the wildlife would keep
away. From there it’s just a short walk across the bridge to
Longfield Country Park. Longfield has a modern replica of a farm
from over two thousand years ago. Children’s activities are often
arranged there, like bread-making and face-painting. The park is
only open during daylight hours, so bear that in mind if you decide
to go there.
Longfield Park has a programme
of activities throughout the year, and to give you a sample, this
is what’s happening in the next few days. On Monday you can learn
about herbs, and how they’ve been used over the centuries. You’ll
start with a tour of our herb garden, practice the technique of
using them as colour dyes for cloth, and listen to an illustrated
talk about their use in cooking and medicine.
Then on Wednesday you can join
local experts to discover the variety of insects and birds that
appear in the evening. We keep to a small number of people in the
group, so if you want to go you’ll need to phone the park ranger a
few days ahead. There’s a small charge, which you should pay when
you turn up.
I’m sure you’re all keen to
help with the practical task of looking after the park, so on
Saturday you can join a working party. You’ll have a choice of all
sorts of activities, from planting hedges to picking up litter, so
you’ll be able to change from one to another when you feel like it.
The rangers will be hard at work all day, but do come and join in,
even for just a short while. One thing, though, is to make sure
you’re wearing something that you don’t mind getting dirty or
And finally I’d like to tell
you about our new wildlife area, Hinchingbrooke Park, which will be
opened to the public next month. This slide doesn’t really indicate
how big it is, but anyway, you can see the two gates into the park,
and the main paths. As you can see, there’s a lake in the north
west of the park, with a bird hide to the west of it, at the end of
a path. So it’ll be a nice quiet place for watching the birds on
Fairly close to where
refreshments are available, there’s a dog-walking area in the
southern part of the park, leading off from the path. And if you
just want to sit and relax, you can go
the circular area on the map surrounded by paths. And finally,
there’s a wooded area in the western section of the park, between
two paths. Okay, that’s enough from me, so let’s go on to
Hi Jun. As you know, I’ve asked
you here today to discuss the future of our Self-Access Centre. We
have to decide what we want to do about this very important
resource for our English language students. So, can you tell me
what the students think about this?
Well, from the students’ point
of view, we would like to keep it. The majority of students say
that they enjoy using it because it provides a variation on the
classroom routine and they see it as a pretty major component of
their course, but we would like to see some improvements to the
equipment, partic there aren’t enough for one
each at the moment and we always have to share.
Well yes, the teachers agree
that it is a very valuable resource but one thing we have noticed
is that a lot of the students are using it to check their personal
emails. We don’t want to stop you students using it, but we think
the computers should be used as a learning resource, not for
emails. Some of us also think that we could benefit a lot more by
relocating the Self-Access Centre to the main University library
building. How do you think the students would feel about that,
Well, the library is big enough
to incorporate the Self-Access Centre, but it wouldn’t be like a
class activity anymore. Our main worry would be not being able to
go to a teacher for advice. I’m sure there would be plenty of
things to do but we really need teachers to help us choose the best
activities.
Well, there would still be a
teacher present and he or she would guide the activities of the
students, we wouldn’t just leave them to get on with it.
Yes, but I think the students
would be much happier keeping the existing set- they really like
going to the Self-Access Centre with their teacher and staying
together as a group to do activities. If we could just improve the
resources and facilities, I think it would be fine. Is the cost
going to be a problem?
It’s not so much the expense
that I’m worried about, and we’ve certainly got room to do it, but
it’s the problem of timetabling a teacher to be in there outside
class hours. If we’re going to spend a lot of money on equipment
and resources, we really need to make sure that everything is
looked after properly. Anyway, let’s make some notes to see just
what needs doing to improve the Centre.
Now, what about the computers?
I think it might be a good idea to install some new models. They
would take up a lot less room and so that would increase the work
space for text books and so on.
That would be great. It is a
bit cramped in there at times.
What about other resources? Do
you have a list of things that the students would like to see
Yes, one of the comments that
students frequently make is that they find it difficult to find
materials that are appropriate for their level, especially reading
resources, so I think we need to label them more
Well, that’s easy enough, we
can get that organized very quickly. In fact I think we should
review all of the study resources as some of them are looking a bit
out-of-date.
Definitely. The CD section
especially needs to be more current. I think we should get some of
the ones that go with our latest course books and also make
multiple copies.
Good, now I was also thinking
about some different materials that we haven’t got in there at all.
What do you think of the idea of introducing some workbooks? If we
break them up into separate pages and laminate them, they’d be a
great resource. The students could study the main course book in
class and then do follow-up practice in the Self-Access
That sounds good.
Okay, now finally we need to
think about how the room is used. I’ll have to talk to the teachers
and make sure we can all reach some agreement on a timetable to
supervise the centre after class. But we also need to think about
security, too. Especially if we’re going to invest in some new
equipment.
What about putting in an
Good idea. The other thing I’d
like to do is talk to our technicians and see whether we could
somehow limit the access to email. I really don’t want to see that
resource misused.
What about if we agree to only
use it before and after class?
Yes, that would be fine. OK,
anyway … that’s great for now. We’ll discuss it further when we’ve
managed to …
Good morning everyone. Now
whether you’re going to university to study business or some other
subject, many of you will eventually end up working for a company
of some kind.
Now, when you first start
working somewhere you will realize that the organization you’ve
joined has certain characteristics. And we often refer to these
social characteristics as the culture of the organization & this
includes its unwritten ideas, beliefs, values and things like that.
One well known writer has classified company cultures by
identifying four major types. The first type is called the Power
Culture, and it’s usually found in small organisations.
It’s the type of culture that
needs a central source of power to be effective, and because
control is in the hands of just one or two people there aren’t many
rules or procedures. Another characteristic is that communication
usually takes the form of conversations rather than, say, formal
meetings or writer memos. Now one of the benefits of this culture
is that the organization has the ability to act quickly, so it
responds well to threat, or danger on the one hand, and opportunity
on the other.
But on the negative side, this
type of organization doesn’t always act effectively, because it
depends too much on one or two people at the top, and when these
people make poor decisions there’s no-one else who can influence
And the kind of person who does
well in this type of business culture is one who is happy to take
risks, and for whom job security is a low priority.
The next type is known as Role
Culture & that’s R-O-L-E, not R-O-double L, by the way, and the
type is usually found in large companies, which have lots of
different levels in them. These organisations usually have separate
departments that specialize in things like finance, or sales, or
maintenance, or whatever. Each one is co-ordinated at the top by a
small group of senior managers, and typically everyone’s job is
controlled by sets of rules and procedures- for example, there are
specific job descriptions, rules for discipline, and so
What are the benefits of this
kind of culture? Well, firstly, because it’s found in large
organisations, its fixed costs, or overheads as they’re known, are
low in relation to its output, or what it produces. In other words
it can achieve economies of scale. And secondly, it is particularly
successful in business markets where technical expertise is
important. On the other hand, this culture is often very slow to
recognize the need for change, and even slower to react. What kind
of person does this type of culture suit? Well it suits employees
who value security, and who don’t particularly want to have
responsibility.
Moving on now to Task Cultures
& this type is found in organisations that are project-oriented.
You usually find it where the marker for the company’s product is
extremely competitive, or where the products themselves have a
short life-span. Usually top management delegates the projects, the
people and other resources. And once these have been allocated,
little day-to-day control is exercised from the top, because this
would seem like “breaking the rules”.
Now one of the major benefits
of this culture is that it’s flexible. But it does have some major
disadvantages too. For instance, it can’t produce economies of
scale or great depth of expertise. People who like working in
groups or teams prefer this type of culture.
And finally, the fourth
category is called the Person Culture…
Greek Island Holidays, can I
Yes, I hope so. I have a friend
who’s just come back from Corfu and she’s recommended some
apartments in Arilas. She thought they might be on your
Arilas, Arilas, let me see. Can
you give me the names?
Yes, the first’s Rose Garden
Apartments. I’d like to go with another friend in the last week of
Well, we’ve got a lovely studio
flat available at that time. I’m sure you’d enjoy the entertainment
programme there too, with Greek dancing in the
restaurant.
And the cost for each of
￡219
That sounds very reasonable I’m
just jotting down some notes. Now the second one she mentioned was
called Blue Bay.
Blue Bay? Yes, in fact that’s
very popular and it has some special features.
The main attraction is the
large swimming pool with salt water.
Much healthier, I
understand.
That’s right. And it isn’t far
from the beach, either & only 300 metres, and only around hall a
kilometer to some shops, so you don’t have to be too
energetic.
Is it much more expensive than
the first one?
Let me just check. I think at
the time you want to go it’s around
￡260 & no
￡275 to be
Right, I’ve got that. Now there
are just two more apartments to ask you about. Um, I can’t read my
own writing! Something to do with sun … Sunshine, is it?
I think you meant the Sunshade
Apartments. They’re on a mountainside.
Any special
Yes, each room has its own sun
terrace and there are shared barbecue facilities.
Sound lovely!
Yes, it is rather
well-equipped. It also provides water sports & it has its own
beach. There are facilities for water-skiing.
Any kite-surfing? My friend’s
quite keen.
Not at the hotel but I’m sure
you’ll find some in Arilas. There’s also satellite TV in the
apartments.
And how much is that
￡490 with two
￡245 each?
I’m afraid not! Each person has
to pay that amount and there must be at least two in an
apartment.
I don’t think that would be
within our budget, unfortunately. And the last one sounds a bit
expensive too & the Grand!
Actually it’s quite reasonable.
It’s an older style house in Greek, paintings in every room, and a
balcony outside.
Sound nice. What are the views
Well, there are forests all
round and they hide a supermarket just down the road, so that’s
very useful for all your shopping needs. There’s a disco in the
And the price?
￡319 at that time, but
if you leave it till November it goes down by 40%.
Too late, I’m
Well, why don’t I send you a
brochure with full details, Ms … ?
Nash. But don’t worry about
that. I’m coming to Upminster soon and I’ll call and get one. I
just wanted to get an idea first.
Well, that’s fine. We’ve got
plenty here when you come.
If you’ve got a minute, could I
just check a couple of points about insurance? I got one policy
through the post but I’d like to see if yours is better.
Fine. What would you like to
Well, the one I’ve got has
benefits and then the maximum amount you can claim. Is that like
Yes, that’s how most of them
Well, the one I’ve got has
benefits and then the maximum amount you can claim. Is that like
Yes, that’s how most of them
Well, the first thing is
cancellation. If the holiday’s cancelled on the policy I’ve got,
you can claim
￡8000.
We can improve on that, Ms
Nash. For Greek Island holidays, our maximum is
￡10000.
That’s good & of course our
holiday won’t even cost
￡1000
It’s still sensible to have
good cover. Now, if you go to hospital, we allow
￡600.
Yes, mine’s similar.
And we also allow a relative to
travel to your holiday resort.
My policy just says their
representative will help you.
You can see there’s another
difference there. And what happens if you don’t get on the
Nothing, as far as I can see on
this form.
Don’t you have missed
departure?
No, I’ll just jot that
We pay up to
￡1000 for that,
depending on the reason. And we’re particularly generous about loss
of personal belongings & up to
￡3000, but not more
￡500 for a single
Then I’d better not take my
Not unless you insure it
separately.
OK & thanks very much for your
time & you’ve really been helpful. Can I get back to you? Your name
Ben & Ludlow. That’s
L-U-D-L-O-W. I’m the Assistant Manager here. I’ll give you my
number. It’s 216.
But didn’t I phone 081260
567294? That’s what I’ve got on the paper.
That’s the main switchboard.
I’ve given you my direct line.
Right, thank you …
For the second in our series
about locally-run businesses, we meet Simon Winridge, co-founder of
the hugely-successful Winridge Forest Railway Park. Welcome, Simon.
Now, perhaps you can begin by telling us a little bit about how it
all started.
Well, during the 1970s, my
wife, Liz and I had just acquired 80 acres of sheep-farming land,
and we decided to settle down and have children. Pretty soon we had
a daughter. Sarah, and a son, Duncan. The place was wonderful for
the kids: they particularly loved trains and gradually built up an
enormous network of minilature railway track. I began to develop
larger-scale models of locomotives but we didn’t think anything
more of it until I went on a trip to a theme park near Birmingham
and decided we could do a much better job! So we set up a small one
ourselves based on the miniature railway and we opened to the
public for just a month that year, 1984 & in July & our driest
month & because our children said they didn’t want our guests to
have a miserable, wet visit. I dealt with Park business and Liz
carried on with the farm work.
It soon became clear that we
were onto a winner. We began to extend the railway track and lay it
among more interesting landscape by planting trees, which in turn
attracted more wildlife, and by making cuttings through the
Nowadays, we’re open all year
round and we’re pleased to say that Winridge is one of the most
popular visitor attractions in the area & with 50000 visitors a
year & a million and a half people have been through our doors
since we opened.
All these visitors mean we have
had to expand our operation and it’s now a truly family concern.
I’m near to retirement age so I only concern myself with looking
after the mechanical side of things & keeping the trains going. Liz
now devotes all her energies to recruiting and supporting the large
squadron of workers, which keep the place running smoothly. We’re
really pleased that after some years away teaching, Sarah has now
returned to the park and makes sure the visitors are kept fed and
watered, which keeps her pretty busy as you can imagine. Our son,
Duncan, has been a stalwart of the park for the last ten years,
taking over from me in the area of construction & and I’ll say a
little bit more about that in a moment & and his new wife, Judith,
has also joined the team in charge of retail. That’s becoming a
tremendous growth area for us & a lot of people want to buy
souvenirs.
So have you finished your
development of the site for the moment?
Not at all! We’re constantly
looking for ways to offer more to our visitors. The railway remains
the central feature and there’s now 1.2 kilometres of the line laid
but we’d like to lay more. Because of the geology of the area, our
greatest problem is digging tunnels . But we’re gradually
overcoming that. We’re also very pleased with a new installation of
the Go-Kart arena which is 120 square metres in area. Again the
pr we had to level the mounds on the track for
safety reasons. We wanted to enable 5-12 years olds to use the
go-karts. And the main attraction here is the Formula 1 Kart. We’ve
known fights to break out over who gets it! And then finally to our
most recent development which is the landscaped…
Ah Caroline … come on in. Sit
So how’s the dissertation
planning going?
Well Dr. Schulmann, I’m still
having a lot of trouble deciding on a title.
Well, that’s perfect normal at
this stage. And this is what your tutorials will help you to
What we’ll do is jot down some
points that might help you in your decision. First of all, you have
chosen your general topic area, haven’t you?
Yes, it’s the fishing
Oh yes, that was one of the
areas you mentioned. Now, what aspects of the course are you good
Well, I think I’m coping well
with statistics, and I’m never bored by it.
Good. Anything else?
Well, I found computer modeling
fascinating & I have no problem following what’s being taught,
whereas quite a few of my classmates find it difficult.
Well, that’s very good. Do you
think these might be areas you could bring into your
dissertation?
Oh, yes, if possible. It’s just
that I’m having difficulty thinking how I can do that. You see I
feel I don’t have sufficient background information.
I see. Well, do you take
I’m very weak at note-taking.
My teachers always used to say that.
Well, I think you really need
to work on these weaknesses before you go any further.
What do you suggest?
Well, I can go through the
possible strategies with you and let you decide where to go from
Okay, thanks.
Well, some people find it
helpful to organize peer-group discussions & you know, each week a
different person studies a different topic and shares it with the
It really helps build
confidence, you know, having to present something to
I can see that.
The drawback is that everyone
in the group seems to share the same ideas… they keep being
repeated in all the dissertations.
You could also try a service
called “Student Support”. It’s designed to give you a structured
programme over a number of weeks to develop your skills.
Sounds good.
Yes, unfortunately there are
only a few places. But it’s worth looking into.
Yes, of course. I know I’ve got
to work on my study skills.
And then there are several
study skills books you can consult.
They’ll be a good source of
reference but the problem is they are sometimes too
Yes, that’s what I’ve
Other than that I would
strongly advise quite simple ideas like using a card
Well, yes. I’ve never done that
It’s simple, but it really
works because you have to get points down in a small space. Another
thing I always advise is don’t just take your notes and forget
about them. Read everything three times & that’ll really fix them
in your mind.
Yes, I can see it’d take
discipline but …
Well, if you establish good
study skills at this stage they’ll be with you all your
Oh yes, I completely agree.
It’s just that I don’t seem to be able to discipline myself. I need
to talk things over.
Well, we’ll be continuing these
tutorials of course. Let’s arrange next month’s now. Let’s see, I
can see you virtually any time during the week starting
22nd January.
What about the 24th?
I’m free in the afternoon..
Sorry, I’m booked then. What
about the following day?
Thursday? I can make the
Fine, we’ll go for the
25th then.
That’s great.
Good morning. In the last few
lectures I’ve been talking about the history of domestic building
construction. But today I want to begin looking at some
contemporary, experimental designs for housing. So, I’m going to
start with a house which is constructed more or less under the
ground. And one of the interesting things about this project is
that the owners & both professionals but not architects & wanted to
be closely involved, so they decided to manage the project
themselves. Their chief aim was to create somewhere that was as
environmentally & friendly as possible. But at the same time they
wanted to live somewhere peaceful & they’d both grown up in a rural
area and disliked urban life.
So the first thing they did was
to look for a site. And they found a disused stone quarry in a
beautiful area. The price was relatively low, and they liked the
idea of recycling the land, as it were. As it was, the quarry was
an ugly blot on the landscape, and it wasn’t productive and longer,
They consulted various
architects and looked at a number of designs before finally
deciding on one. As I’ve said, it was a design for a sort of
underground house, and it was built into the earth itself, with two
storeys. The north, east and west sides were set in the earth, and
only the sloping, south-facing side was exposed to light. That was
made of a double layer of very strong glass. There were also
photovoltaic tiles fixed to the top and bottom of this sloping
wall. There are tiles that are designed to store energy from the
sun. And the walls had a layer of foam around them too, to increase
the insulation.
Now, what is of interest to us
about this project is the features which make the building
energy-efficient. Sunlight floods in through the glass wall, and to
maximize it there are lots of mirrors and windows inside the house.
That helps to spread the light around. So that’s the first thing-
light is utilized as fully as possible.
In addition, the special tiles
on the outside convert energy from the sun end generate some of the
house’s electricity. In fact, and it’s possible that in future the
house can even generate an electricity surplus, and that the owners
will be able to sell some to the national grid.
As well as that, wherever
possible, recycled materials have been used. For example, the
floors are made of reclaimed wood. And the owners haven’t bought a
single item of new furniture & they just kept what they already
had. And then there’s the system for dealing with the waste
produced in the house. This is dealt with organically & it’s
purified by being filtered through reed beds which have been
planted for that purpose in the garden. So the occupants of the
house won’t pollute the land or use any damaging
chemicals.
It’s true that the actual
construction of the house was harmful to the environment, mainly
because they had to use massive amounts of concrete & one of the
biggest sources of carbon dioxide in manufacturing. And, as you
know, this is very damaging to the environment. In total, the house
construction has released 70 tons of carbon dioxide into the air.
Now that’s a frightening thought. However, once the initial ‘debt’
has been cleared & and it’s been calculated that this will only
take fifteen years & this underground house won’t cost anything &
environmentally I mean & because unlike ordinary houses, it is run
in a way that is completely environmentally friendly.
So, eco-housing like this is
likely to become much more …
Can I help you?
Yes, I’ve just moved to this
area with my wife and children and I’d like to know where we can
all register with a doctor at a Health Centre.
Okay. Well, there’s Doctor
Green at The Harvey Clinic. We always recommend her for babies,
because she’s very good with them and she runs a special
Oh … actually my youngest child
is five, so that wouldn’t be any good for us.
Is there anywhere else I could
Yes, the Eshcol Health Practice
is the next one on my list.
How do you spell
E-S-H-C-O-L. And it’s Doctor
Fuller, who has space on his list. The clinic only opened a year
ago, so the facilities are all very modern.
That sounds good.
And it’s particularly good if
you’re busy during the day, because they also do appointments in
the evening. They’re closed on Saturday, though. The only other
place on the list is the Health Centre on Shore Lane. You can
register with Doctor Gormley, that’s G-O-R-M-L-E-Y. He’s new there,
but the centre has a very good reputation.
Oh, yes, I think I know the
road. That would be the best one. Thanks. Could you tell me, will
all their services be free?
Erm … there are usually some
small charges that doctors make. Let me see what it says about the
Shore Lane Centre. If you need to be vaccinated before any trips
abroad, you won’t have to pay for this. Erm … What else? The sports
injury treatment service operates on a paying basis, as does the
nutritional therapy service. Some health centres do offer
alternative therapies like homeopathy as part of their pay-to-use
service. Shore Lane are hoping to do this soon & I think they may
start with acupuncture. And finally, if you need to prove you’re
healthy or haven’t had any serious injuries before a new employer
will accept you, you can get a free fitness check-up there, but
you’d most likely have to pay for insurance medicals
Okay, thanks.
You might also be interested to
know the Centre is running a pilot scheme of talks for patients.
I’ve got the list here. Actually, they look very
interesting.
What sort of things?
Well, the first one’s about
giving up smoking. It’s next week, the twenty-fifth of February, at
7 pm, and that’s in Room 4. It says, the talk will stress the
health benefits particularly for people with asthma or heart
That sounds very
interesting.
There’s also a talk for
families with children. It’s on Healthy Eating, and takes place on
the first of March at five o’clock.
Will that be at the Health
Erm, actually it’s at the
Primary school on the Shore Lane. I imagine they’re inviting the
parents of pupils there & it says here ‘all welcome’.
Mmm, I might go to that if I
have time.
There’s a couple of other talks
& one giving advice about how to avoid injures while doing
exercise. It’s on the ninth of March. Oh, it’s a late afternoon
talk, at four thirty, and it’ll be in Room6. It also says the talk
is suitable for all ages. And finally, there is a talk called
‘Stress Management’ which is …
Hi. It’s Laura Cariton here.
We’ve just arrived at the holiday flat, but I can’t get the hot
water and heating to work.
Oh right! That’s easy. Don’t
worry. In the upstairs cupboard, you’ll find the water heater. The
first one & the round one on the far left & is the most important
one for the heating and hot water. It’s the main control switch.
Make sure it’s in the ‘on’ position. The switch itself doesn’t
light up, but the little square below will be black if the switch
is ‘off’. That’s probably what’s happened- it’s got switched off by
mistake. The middle one of these three controls & you’ll see it’s
slightly larger than the first one & controls the radiators. If you
feel cold while you’re there and need the radiators on, this needs
to be turned to maximum. The last of the three controls & the one
on the right & is usually on about a number four setting which for
the water in the taps is usually quite hot enough.
Below the heating controls in
the middle is a small round plastic… If there isn’t enough water in
the pipes, sometimes the heater goes out. If this happens you’ll
need to press this button to reset the heater. Hold it in for about
five seconds and the heater should come on again. Then there’s a
little square indicator under the third knob that’s a kind of alarm
light. It’ll flash if you need to reset the heater.
It sounds complicated
I’m sure you won’t have any
problems with it. There should be some more instructions on the
side of the heater. Call me back if you can’t make it
While you’re on the phone, we
haven’t managed to find a few things we need, like extra pillows
for the beds and some washing powder. Is there any here?
Pillows … yes. If you look in
the cupboard, the large white one upstairs & to the left of the
bathroom door & there should be four or live on the top shelf. And
if you want to do some washing, there’s some powder for that …
probably by the back door. There’s a kind of shelf there above the
sink. In fact, I’m sure there’s some there, in a large blue box.
You need about half a cup full for each wash.
And that reminds me, the spare
key to the back door is hanging on a hook on the wall by the
sitting room window. Please make sure to put it back when you’ve
used it. The previous guests lost it in the garden with the lamps,
you’ll find some spare bulbs in a large cardboard box. It’s on top
of the washing machine with all kinds of useful things in
Oh, and another thing I forgot
to mention when we last spoke …
I’ve left you a local map, so
you’ll be able to find your way around easily. It shows the whole
area. I put it in the top drawer of the chest under the TV in your
bedroom. There’s a whole file of local information in there
Thanks. What about visiting the
town? Can you give us any advice?
Yes. You’ll need to take the
car. It’s too far to walk from the flat really. You have to pay to
leave your car in all the car parks now I’m afraid … I like the one
that’s by the station best and you can walk to the town centre from
there in five minutes. That’s where all the best restaurants are.
But if you want a takeaway, the Italian one does really good pasta
and pizzas. Call 7-3 double 2, 8-1 for that one, or 7 double 6,
double 1, 9 for the Chinese.
They’re both good and they’ll
both deliver to the flat. As for places to visit, yes, do go and
see the railway museum. The exhibition is small but really good. It
gets very crowded on Sundays, so I suggest you visit it on a
quieter day, later in the week, but not on Thursdays which is
market day & you won’t find anywhere to park and it’s also the only
day of the week when they’re not open! Anything else?
Not for the moment.
Hello, Kira, how are
Fine thanks, Paul, how are
Well, thanks. It’s good to see
you. It must be twelve months since you did our course?
That’s right. It’s nice to come
back and say hello.
What course did you enroll
Actually, I went straight into
straight into third year Pharmacy. They credited me with two years,
which probably made it more difficult for me.
On the other hand, you were
lucky to be granted credits. Is that why you chose the
Yes. And, as I’d already
finished a course in it in my country. I thought it would be easier
if I studied something I already knew.
I didn’t realize you went into
third year. I thought you started in first year. No wonder it was
so hard! And what do you think is one of the big differences
between studying at a university here and studying in your
Well, I’ve found it very
difficult to write assignments, because I wasn’t familiar with that
aspect of the system here. The main problem is that the lectures
expect you to be critical. That made me feel really terrible. I
thought “How can I possibly do it? How can I comment on someone
else’s research when they probably spent five years doing it?” I
think a lot of people who come from overseas countries have similar
problems. But after a while it became easier for me. People expect
you to have problems with the process of reading and writing but,
in fact, it is more a question of altering your viewpoint towards
academic study.
How was the content of the
lectures? Was it easy for you?
I didn’t really have many
problems understanding lectures. The content was very similar to
what I’d studied before.
And what about the lectures
themselves? Are they essentially the same as lectures in your
Well actually, no. Here,
they’re much easier to approach. After every lecture you can go and
ask them something you didn’t understand. Or you can make an
appointment and talk to them about anything in the
Maybe you found them different
because you’re a more mature student now, whereas when you were
studying in your country you were younger and not so
assertive.
No, I don’t think that’s the
difference. Most of the students here do it. In my faculty, they
all seem to make appointments & usually to talk about something in
the course that’s worrying them, but sometimes just about something
that might really interest them, something they might want to
specialize in. The lectures must set aside certain times every week
when they’re available for students.
That’s good to hear.
And how was your timetable? Was
it a very busy year?
Very, very busy. They make you
work very hard. Apart from lectures, we had practical sessions in a
lot of subjects. We did these in small groups. I had to go and work
four hours every week in a community pharmacy. Actually, I enjoyed
this very much & meeting new people all the time. Then in a second
semester, we had to get experience in hospital dishensanes. So
every second day we went to one of the big hospitals and… And on
top of all that we had our assignments, which took me a lot of
time. Oh, I nearly forgot, between first and second semesters, we
had to work full-time for two weeks in a hospital.
That does sound a very heavy
year. So are you pleased now that you did it? Do you feel some
sense of achievement?
Yeah. I do feel much more
confident, which I suppose is the most important thing.
And have you got any
recommendations for people who are studying from
Well, I suppose they need very
good English. It would be much better if they spent more time
learning English before they enter the university, because you can
be in big trouble if you don’t understand what people are saying
and you haven’t got time to translate.
Anything else?
Well, as I said before, the
biggest problem for me was a lack of familiarity with the education
system here.
It sounds as if it was a real
challenge. Congratulations, Kira.
Thanks, Paul.
Good morning. Today I’d like to
present the findings of our Year 2 project on wildlife found in
gardens throughout our city. I’ll start by saying something about
the background to the project, then talk a little bit about our
research techniques, and then indicate some of our interim
First of all, how did we choose
our topic? Well, there are four of us in the group and one day
while we were discussing a possible focus, two of the group
mentioned that they had seen yet more sparrow-hawks & one of
Britain’s most interesting birds of grey & in their own city centre
gardens and wondered why they were turning up in these gardens in
great numbers. We were all very engaged by the idea of why wild
animals would choose to inhabit a city garden. Why is it so popular
with wildlife when the countryside itself is becoming less
The first thing we did was to
establish what proportion of the urban land is taken up by private
gardens. We estimated that it was about one fifth, and this was
endorsed by looking at large-scale usage maps in the town land
survey office & 24% to be precise. Our own informal discussions
with neighbours and friends led us to believe that many garden
owners had interesting experiences to relate regarding wild animal
sightings so we decided to survey garden owners from different
areas of the city. Just over 100 of them completed a survey once
every two weeks for twelve months & ticking off species they had
seen from a pro forma list & and adding the names of any rarer
ones. Meanwhile, we were doing our own observations in selected
gardens throughout the city. The whole point of the project was to
look at the norm not the exception. Alongside this primary research
on urban gardens, we were studying a lot of books about the decline
of wild animals in the countryside and thinking of possible causes
So what did we find? Well, so
much that I just won’t have time to tell you about here. If you’re
interested in reading our more comprehensive findings, we’ve
produced detailed graphic representations on the college web-site
and of course any of the group would be happy to talk to you about
them. Just email us.
What we’ve decided to present
today is information about just three species & because we felt
these gave a good indication of the processes at work in rural and
urban setting as a whole.
The first species to generate a
lot of interesting information was frogs. And there was a clear
pattern here & they proliferate where there is suitable water.
Garden ponds are on the increase, rural ponds are disappearing,
leading to massive migration to the towns.
Hedgehogs are also finding it
easier to live in urban areas & this time because their predators
are not finding it quite so attractive to leave their rural
environment, so hedgehogs have a better survival rate in cities. We
had lots of sighting, so all in all we had no difficulties with our
efforts to count their numbers precisely.
Our final species is the finest
of bird singers, the song thrush. On the decline in the
countryside, they are experiencing a resurgence in urban gardens
because these days gardeners are buying lots of different plants
which means there’s an extensive range of seeds around, which is
what they feed on. Another factor is the provision of nesting
places & which is actually better in gardens than the countryside.
Hard to believe it, but it’s true. Incidentally, we discovered that
a massive new survey on song thrushes is about to be launched, so
you should keep an eye open for that.
Now, I’d be happy to answer any
questions you may have …
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