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1. Welcome to this talk about Australia.
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I'm going to give you some key facts and figures about the country, which I hope you'll find of interest.
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First, let's start with geography.
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Where is Australia?
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Australia is in Oceania, between the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific Ocean.
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Australia is ranked as a continent.
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It's the smallest continent, having an area of 7.6 million sq km.
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Of that, 68,920 sq km is water, so in land area, Australia is slightly smaller than the US.
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In fact, Australia is the world's sixth largest country.
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As a very large island, Australia's climate is generally dry, that is, arid to semiarid; temperate in the south and east; tropical in the north.
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The terrain, that's the type of land surface, is mostly low plateau with deserts, and fertile plain in the southeast.
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The lowest point in Australia is Lake Eyre at -15m.
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The highest point is Mount Kosciusko, that's spelt K-O-S-C-I-U-S-K-O, at 2,229m.
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Australia is rich in natural resources.
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Among the chief are bauxite, coal, iron ore, copper, tin, silver, and nickel.
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You may have heard of the Australian gold rush, and some gold is still exported.
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We have several environmental issues here in Australia: The top one is soil erosion.
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The main reasons for soil erosion are firstly, overgrazing: secondly, industrial development; and thirdly, urbanisation, the growth of cities.
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Another issue is the rising amount of salt in our soils.
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This comes from using poor quality water: Desertification, the growth of the desert, is another problem.
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In addition, clearing land for agricultural purposes threatens the natural habitat of many unique animal and plant species.
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Then, also the Great Barrier Reef off the northeast coast, which is the largest coral reef in the world, is threatened by increased shipping and by its popularity as a tourist site.
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The second section of this talk is about Australia's population.
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We Australians are concentrated along the eastern and southeastern coasts.
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So, how many Australians are there?
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Well, as of July 1997, there were an estimated 18.4 million.
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Of these, 66% were aged between 15 and 64 years.
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Life expectancy at birth is 79 years, 76 years for men and 82 for women.
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Now, I should tell you that the country, of Australia is made up of six states and two territories.
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These are the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, the Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, and Western Australia.
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The national capital is Canberra.
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Right, let's turn to the Australian economy.
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Australia has a prosperous Western-style capitalist economy.
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Australia is a major exporter of agricultural products, minerals, metals, and fossil fuels.
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Commodity prices have a big impact on the economy.
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Australia suffered from the low growth and high unemployment typical of the OECD countries in the early 1990s, but the economy has expanded at reasonably steady rates in recent years.
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In addition to high unemployment, short-term economic problems include how to balance output and inflation and how to stimulate exports.
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The economy is made up like this: agriculture: 3.1%, industry: 27.7%, services: 69.2%.
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The labour force has a similar pattern.
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The total labour force is 8.4 million, 34% work in finance and services; 23% work in public and community services; 20% work in the wholesale and retail trade; 17% work in manufacturing and industry; and 6% work in agriculture.
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What are the chief industries of Australia?
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They are mining, industrial and transport equipment, food processing, chemicals, and steel.
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What are Australia's main agricultural products?
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They are wheat, barley, sugarcane, fruit, cattle, sheep, and poultry.
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And who do we sell our products to?
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At present, our chief export market is Japan, which takes 24% of our exports.
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After that, South Korea takes 8%, and New Zealand and the US each take 7%.
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In years to come, however, we expect China to become a significant trade partner.
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China already supplies 5% of Australia's imports.
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This is the same amount as New Zealand.
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Meanwhile, we take one fifth, in fact 22% of our imports, from the US, 17% from Japan and 6% from the UK.
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So what sort of things does Australia import?
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Well, we import a lot of machinery and transport equipment, especially computers and office machines, also telecommunications equipment; and in addition, we have to import oil and petroleum products.
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So, let's move to the subject of communications in Australia.
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We have an estimated 8.7 million telephones and 9.2 million televisions.
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There are some 134 television broadcast stations and 325 radio stations.
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The related subject of transport is naturally very important in such a big country as Australia.
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Let's look at highways first.
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There are two kinds of highways, paved and unpaved.
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Paved highways are regular roads with a permanent surface.
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But actually, we have more unpaved highways (around 60%) than paved, when all the country roads are included.
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In addition, Australia has a railway network of over 38,000 km.
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But you'll probably find it hard to believe how many airports we've got.
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Ten? Twenty?
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Fifty? No. The total is 443.
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Of course, this includes many short runways on farms and in the outback.
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There are only 9 airports with runways of more than 3,000m.
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2. Ann: Look.
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Here's one that might interest you.
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Philip: What is it?
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Are you sure?
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The last one you sent me off to was a disaster.
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Ann: Yes, look.
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It says they want junior sales manager, and it looks like it's a big international company.
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That'd be good.
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You might get to travel.
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Philip: What kind of company is it, though?
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Ann: Um, let's see.
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Yes, it's a textile company that seems to import from abroad.
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That's odd, isn't it?
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What else?...
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They say the salary is really good.
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They operate a system of paying you a basic salary and then offering sales commission on top of that.
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They say it's high.
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And... oh, look!
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They give you a car to travel round in.
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Gosh! That's not bad, is it?
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Philip: Um, do they say anything about experience?
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Ann: Um, let's see.
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No. They want someone young with ambition and enthusiasm.
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Oh yes, they want graduates, so that's OK.
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You've been to university.
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Now what else?
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Let's see. Philip: There must be some catch.
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Ann: No. The only thing is you have to travel, but then that's what the company car's for.
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Oh, and you have to be able to get on well with other people ' cause it says you have to be good in a team.
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Philip: Um, perhaps I'll have a closer look at that one.
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3. I: Now, could you tell us more about what you do in your department?
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I mean, what research are you actually doing at the moment?
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P: We're trying to find out as much as we can about dreams.
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There's one area that we're particularly interested in at the moment... and that is what we call directed dreaming.
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I: Directed dreaming.
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What is that exactly?
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P: Let me explain.
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You know, sometimes, if you're... having a dream and you wake up in the middle of it, you can sometimes go back to sleep again and go back to the dream?
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I: Yes. P: Well, that is similar to what we call directed dreaming.
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Now, what I was talking about is a fairly common experience, but real directed dreamers are people who have almost complete control over what they dream because they actually know what they are dreaming.
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I: They can dream what they want?
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P: Yes... nearly.
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I: Can anyone develop this ability?
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P. Well, that's one of the things that we would like to find out.
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At our centre we have, in fact, got three people who are very reliable and who can have these directed dreams quite regularly.
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I: And what sort of experiments do you do with them?
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P: Well, a few weeks ago, we thought it would be interesting to see if there was any way that these three regular dreamers could communicate with each other in a directed dream while they were sleeping.
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So one night, we arranged for them all to stay at the centre.
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Then, we asked the three of them - er, there were two men and a woman - we asked them all to go to a pub that they all knew quite well, down by the river, and asked them, if they started dreaming, to go down there and try to find each other.
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I: In the dream?
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Or three dreams?
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P: Yes, so... um... they all went off to sleep, and the next morning, we interviewed them all separately and asked them what they had seen.
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The two men had had dreams and could remember them, and they both said that they had been to the pub and had seen each other and had had a talk.
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But also... um... both of them said that they hadn't seen the woman, and we thought that was a bit... um... a bit odd.
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And then... we talked to her, and she told us that she hadn't had a dream at all that night, or she couldn't remember it anyway.
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I: Fascinating!
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So, both of the men said she hadn't appeared in their dreams and that was because she hadn't, in fact, been dreaming.
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P: Yes, though of course it could just be a coincidence, but that's the kind of thing that we're trying to find out more about.
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I: Well, thank you very much, Dr. Border.
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It's been fascinating talking to you.
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P: Thank you.
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4. Male: Good evening and welcome to this month's Observatory Club lecture.
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I'm Donald Mackie, and I'm here to talk to you about the solar eclipse in history.
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A thousand years ago, a total eclipse of the sun was a terrifying religious experience, but these days an eclipse is more likely to be viewed as a tourist attraction than as a scientific or spiritual event.
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People will travel literally miles to be in the right place at the right time to get the best view of their eclipse.
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Well, what exactly causes a solar eclipse - when the world goes dark for a few minutes in the middle of the day?
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Scientifically speaking, the dark spot itself is easy to explain: it is the shadow of the moon streaking across the earth.
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This happens every year or two, each time along a different and, to all intents and purposes, a seemingly random piece of the globe.
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In the past, people often interpreted an eclipse as a danger signal heralding disaster and in fact, the Chinese were so disturbed by these events that they included among their gods one whose job was to prevent eclipses.
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But whether or not you are superstitious or take a purely scientific view, our earthly eclipses are special in three ways.
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Firstly, there can be no doubt that they are very beautiful.
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It's as if a deep blue curtain had fallen over the daytime sky as the sun becomes a black void surrounded by the glow of its outer atmosphere.
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But beyond this, total eclipses possess a second more compelling beauty in the eyes of us scientists… for they offer a unique opportunity for research.
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Only during an eclipse can we study the corona and other dim things that are normally lost in the sun's glare.
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And thirdly, they are rare.
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Even though an eclipse of the sun occurs somewhere on earth every year or two, if you sit in your garden and wait, it will take 375 years on average for one to come to you.
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If the moon were any larger, eclipses would become a monthly bore; if it were smaller, they simply would not be possible.
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The ancient Babylonian priests, who spent a fair bit of time staring at the sky, had already noted that there was an 18-year pattern in their recurrence, but they didn't have the mathematics to predict an eclipse accurately.
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It was Edmund Halley, the English astronomer, who knew his maths well enough to predict the return of the comet which incidentally bears his name, and in 1715, he became the first person to make an accurate eclipse prediction.
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This brought eclipses firmly into the scientific domain, and they have since allowed a number of important scientific discoveries to be made.
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For instance, in the eclipse of 1868, two scientists, Janssen and Lockyer, were observing the sun's atmosphere, and it was these observations that ultimately led to the discovery of a new element.
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They named the element helium after the Greek god of the sun.
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This was a major find because helium turned out to be the most common element in the universe after hydrogen.
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Another great triumph involved Mercury...
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I’ll just put that up on the board for you now.
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See - there's Mercury – the planet closest to the Sun - then there's Venus, Earth, etc.
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For centuries, scientists had been unable to understand why Mercury appeared to rotate faster than it should.
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Some astronomers suggested that there might be an undiscovered planet causing this unusual orbit and even gave it the name "Vulcan".
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During the eclipse of 1878, an American astronomer, James Watson, thought he had spotted this so-called "lost" planet.
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But, alas for him, he was later obliged to admit that he had been wrong about Vulcan and withdrew his claim.
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Then, Albert Einstein came on the scene.
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Einstein suggested that rather than being wrong about the number of planets, astronomers were actually wrong about gravity.
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Einstein's theory of relativity - for which he is so famous - disagreed with Newton's law of gravity in just the right way to explain Mercury's odd orbit.
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He also realised that a definitive test would be possible during the total eclipse of 1919, and this is indeed when his theory was finally proved correct.
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So, there you have several examples of how eclipses have helped to increase our understanding of the universe, and now let's move on the social...
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5. When the Europeans first came to the American continent more than four hundred years ago, there were relatively few diseases and viruses on the new continent.
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During that time, however, plagues and diseases that killed thousands were floating around Europe.
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Eventually, some Europeans developed immunity to the unsanitary world of industrialisation.
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When they came to the American continent, however, many of the Native Americans had never been exposed to these viruses and hence, did not develop immunity to them.
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By sharing the same food and water sources, many Native Americans contracted the European diseases.
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At a time when medical vaccines were still in their early stages, this led to the tragic death of thousands.
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The Native Americans gradually developed immunity to these diseases and were able to interact with the new explorers and colonists.
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They traded everyday items with each other, which led to the hybridisation of these two cultures.
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One enterprising European colonist had an interesting idea: why not create a trading post where the two groups could sell their newly combined works of art?
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Eventually, a post was set up and the distinctly American works became known throughout the country for their unique styles.
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The trading post continued for a couple more decades until it eventually faded away.
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The works of that time period can now be seen at the Smithsonian National Museum.
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Until very recently, some tribes were still making pieces of art and selling them in their local trading posts.
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6. Good afternoon, welcome you, new entrants to the graduate school.
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My job now is to give you the graduate school survival guide and make some concise suggestions for getting the most out of your relationship with your research supervisor, getting the most out of what you read and making continual progress with your research.
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First, your relationship with your supervisor.
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This is fundamental.
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Meet regularly.
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You should expect to meet once a week or at least every other week because this will give you the motivation to make progress and also keep your advisor aware of your work.
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Prepare for your meetings.
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Come to each meeting.
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Also bring the notes from your previous meeting together with a list of any upcoming deadlines.
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Make a plan for what you hope to get out of each meeting.
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After the meeting, e-mail your supervisor a brief summary.
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Include a list of major topics discussed, a list of what you agreed on, a note of any advice you may not want to follow and a new summary of what you are planning to do.
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This helps avoid misunderstandings and provides a handy record of the progress of your research.
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Add a "to do" list for yourself and your supervisor, including a reading list.
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Finally, add the time and date for the next meeting.
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My second main piece of advice is to keep your supervisor informed.
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Show him or her the results of your work as soon as possible.
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This helps your supervisor understand your research and identify any potential points of conflict early in the process.
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Include summaries of your work, including any results of experiments, and also anything you write about your research.
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Thirdly, communicate clearly.
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If you disagree with your advisor, state your objections and concerns clearly and calmly.
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If you feel that something about your relationship is not working, discuss it with him or her.
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Whenever possible, suggest steps that they could take to address your concerns.
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Under this heading, it is extremely important to take the initiative.
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You do not need to clear everything you do in your research with your advisor.
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He or she is busy too.
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You must be responsible for your own ideas and the progress of your work.
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The second section of my talk is about getting the most out of what you read.
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The first principle here is to be organised.
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Keep an electronic bibliography with notes and pointers to the paper files.
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Keep and file all the papers you have read.
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Point two. Be efficient.
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Only read what you need to.
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Start by reading only the conclusion, scanning figures and tables, and looking at their references.
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Read the other sections only if the paper seems relevant, or you think it might help you get a different perspective.
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Skip the sections you think you already understand.
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These are often the background and motivation sections.
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It's of critical importance to take good notes on every paper you find worth reading.
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Note especially what problem the author is trying to solve, what approach they take to the problem, and how their approach differs from other approaches.
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Next, summarise what you have read on each topic.
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After you have read several papers on the same topic, note the key problems, the various formulations of the problem under consideration, the relationship between the various approaches and the alternative approaches you come across.
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Let me add one point you might not have already thought of.
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Read PhD theses.
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Even though they are long, they can be very helpful for quickly learning about what has been done in your field of interest.
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Focus particularly on the background sections and method sections.
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Don't forget to read your advisor's thesis.
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This will give you an idea of what he or she expects from you.
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The third section of my talk is about making continual progress with your research.
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Keep a journal of your ideas.
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Write down every issue you are thinking about even if you think it is stupid.
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This will help you keep track of your progress and keep you from going round in circles.
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Set yourself some reasonable goals and deadlines.
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Identify key tasks that need to be completed.
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Set a reasonable date for completing them, in terms of weeks or months.
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Share your goals and deadlines with your advisor.
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Indeed, enlist his or her help in creating them.
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Set some deadlines that you cannot avoid keeping.
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For example, volunteer to give a student seminar on your research or work towards the submission deadline for a conference paper.
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Once you have set your goals and deadlines, keep a "to do" list.
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Checking off the items on a "to do" list can feel very rewarding when you are working on a long-term project.
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Discuss your research with anyone who will listen.
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They may have useful insights.
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At least, you will find that putting your ideas into words helps clarify them for yourself.
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Next point, write about your work.
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In the early stages, write short idea papers and share them with your advisor and colleagues.
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Later on, look for workshops and conferences where you can submit your preliminary results.
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When your work is nearing completion, target relevant journals.
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Finally, some points about handling yourself.
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A key objective is to avoid distractions.
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It is easy to waste time taking too many classes, teaching classes, organising student activities, etc.
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Minimise these commitments and make a list of small tasks which can be done in about an hour.
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Pick at least one that can be completed each day and make sure you do it.
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Finally, and this concludes my talk, confront your fears and weaknesses.
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If you are nervous about speaking in public, volunteer to give talks; if you are afraid your ideas are stupid, discuss them with someone; if you are anxious about writing, write something about your research every day.
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That's it. Welcome to graduate school!
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7. The Atlantic Ocean, named for the legendary lost island of Atlantis, has made up for the romantic origin of its name by becoming the most important commercial highway in the world; yet traces of romance continually mingle with the business of the sea.
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For instance, the Spanish adventurers who first sought gold and silver in America frequently found their ships becalmed, usually on the edge of the steady trade winds - about 30 degrees north or south latitude.
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A sailing ship could carry only so much water, and as it lay motionless under a hot sun for days or weeks, the tortures of thirst were agonising.
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The horses were generally the first victims.
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They had to be thrown overboard when they died or became crazed with thirst.
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Because the Spanish caballeros thought highly of their horses, even crediting them with souls, they suffered great remorse and believed the ghosts of the proud war horses were haunting the scene.
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They saw the restless spirits in their dreams and related their dreams to sailors.
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Whenever the mariners passed that way, they would see in the spray or clouds images of wild horses bearing down on them; they began to call the broad belts of calm the "horse latitudes", the romantic name by which they are known today.
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8. R = Rob J- Joanne R: Joanne?
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I: Hi, you must be Rob.
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Nice to meet you.
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So, I hear you're planning to visit Australia.
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R: Yeah, and I really wanted to talk to you because I was thinking of spending some time in Darwin, and my sister told me you're from there.
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J: That's right.
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R: So... tell me about it.
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J: Well. where shall I start... well, Darwin's in what they call the "top end" 'cause it's right up at the northern end of Australia and it's quite different from the rest of Australia in terms of cultural influences - in fact, it's nearer to Jakarta in Indonesia than it is to Sydney, so you get a very strong Asian influence there.
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That means we get lots of tourists - people from other parts of Australia are attracted by this sort of international, cosmopolitan image.
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And as well as that, we've got the same laid-back atmosphere you get all over Australia - probably more so if anything, because of the climate.
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But, what a lot of the tourists don't realise until they get there is that the city's also got a very young population… the average age is just 29, and this makes the whole place very buzzy.
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Some people think that there might not be that much going on as far as art, music, dancing and so on are concerned, because it's so remote.
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I mean, we don't really get things like theatre and opera in the same way as cities down in the south like Sydney for example, because of the transport expenses.
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But in fact, what happens is that we just do it ourselves – lots of people play music, classical as well as pop, and there are things like artists groups and writers groups and dance classes – everyone does something.
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We don't just sit and watch other people.
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R: You said it's very international?
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J: Yeah, they say there are over 70 different nationalities in Darwin.
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For instance, there's been a Chinese population there for over 100 years - we've even got a Chinese temple.
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It was built way back in 1887, but... erm... when a very bad storm - a… a cyclone in fact - hit Darwin in the 1970s, it was almost completely destroyed.
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The only parts of the temple that survived were part of the altars and the stone lions, but after the storm they reconstructed it using modern materials.
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It's still used as a religious centre today, but it's open to tourists too, and it's definitely worth going to see it.
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Oh, and as far as getting around goes, you'll see the places that advertise bicycles for hire, but I wouldn't recommend it.
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A lot of the year it's just so hot and humid.
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Some tourists think it'll be fine because there's not much in the way of hills, and the traffic's quite light compared with some places, but, believe me, you're better off with public transport - it's fine, and not expensive.
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Or you can hire a car, but it's not really worth it.
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R: What's the swimming like?
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J: Well, there are some good beaches, but the trouble is that there's the nasty creature called the box jellyfish and if it stings you, you're in bad trouble.
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So, you have to be very careful most of the year especially in the winter months.
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You can wear a lycra suit to cover your arms and legs, but I wouldn't like to risk it even so, personally.
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And there are the salt water crocodiles, too...
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I mean, I don't want to put you off.
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There are protected swimming areas netted off where you'll be safe from jellyfish and crocs, or there are the public swimming pools, they're fine of course.
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9. J= Jane Swaine P= Peter Walsh J: Please sit down, Mr. Walsh.
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My name's Jane Swaine, and I'm the personnel manager.
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P: Hello. How do you do?
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J: Now, this is just a short preliminary interview.
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I'd like to chat about your present job and what you've done up till now.
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P: Yes, of course.
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J: Well, could you tell me how long you've had your present position in Weston's.
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It is Weston's, isn't it?
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P: Yes, that's right.
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Um, I'm not sure.
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Let's see. I left university in 2005 - is that right?
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- yes, 2005.
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Then, I was unemployed for about three months, and then I travelled round America for a few months, so yes, it must be about three years now, in fact.
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J: Um, yes.
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And have you any particular reason for wanting to change jobs?
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I mean, why do you want to move?
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P: Well, I actually like my present job and still find it interesting and stimulating.
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The salary's OK, so it's nothing to do with money, though you can always do with more.
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I suppose the thing is that I'm really very ambitious and keen to get promoted, so that's the real reason.
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J: You say you like your job.
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Can you tell me what aspect you like most?
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P: Oh, my dear.
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That's difficult.
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There are so many things.
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The other people are great, there's a good co-operative atmosphere, I mean, among the staff, and compared to other companies, the conditions are great.
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I mean the office itself and the working conditions.
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J: Um. P: And then, there's the fact that they give me lots of room for initiative and let me make decisions.
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You know, that's what I really like most about the job.
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J: Yes, well, we're looking for someone like that.
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You know, someone who isn't a clock-watcher and who isn't too concerned about working fairly long hours.
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P: Oh, I don't mind that.
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I'm used to it.
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J: And what about your education?
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You went to Manchester University, didn't you?
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P: Er, yes.
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After leaving school I started a diploma course in Design, but I decided to give it up and did an Arts degree at university instead.
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J: Good, and have you done any courses since?...
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10. Tony: What would you say, Mr. Murray, are the main reasons that so much of our wildlife will have died out by the end of the next few decades?
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Richard: Well, Tony, we can't of course rule out the effect of urbanisation due to the spread of population but, apart from that, I believe there are two reasons which, in a way, are like the opposite ends of a piece of string.
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If you tie a knot in that piece of string, you end up with a circle and whichever way you go round, it's going to turn out to be the same.
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Jenny: I don't think I quite get that, Mr. Murray.
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Richard: Well, let's put it another way.
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It's rather like a film - you've got the Good Guys and the Bad Guys - they're pulling in opposite directions, but when it comes to the final showdown, it's hard to make out which is which.
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Tony: What are your two reasons, Mt. Murray?
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Richard: I call them Greed and Caring.
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Jenny: Greed and Caring?
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Richard: Yes, I know they don't seem to have much to do with one another, but think about it.
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The motive of greed is pretty obvious.
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In the course of the next few months, thousands of baby seals will be bludgeoned to death before they are even weaned from their mothers.
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(What for?) For the sale of their skins at inflated prices to please the vanity of a few and line the pockets of the killers.
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Crocodiles will be slaughtered to provide shoes and handbags for the rich.
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Gorillas, tigers, leopards and rhinos will be hunted for senseless sport or poached in defiance of regulations- their skins, their horns, and their magnificent heads will be used as trophies to decorate someone's living-room floor or walls...
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Jenny: That's terrible.
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Richard: Yes, but it's not all.
345
The whale, probably the most impressive and certainly one of the most intelligent sea mammals in creation, will be cruelly hunted and harpooned to make more money for the profiteers.
346
The dolphin, the sailor's friend, will be indiscriminately battered to death at so much a head on the grounds that it is taking away the livelihood of a few fishermen by consuming the fish in its natural habitat.
347
Tony: But surely, Mr. Murray, we do have to keep warm, we need whale oil and ambergris, fishermen have to make a living… Richard: Part of what you say is true, of course, Tony, but we shall have to enforce far stricter controls if future generations are not to find themselves in a world devoid of wildlife as we know it.
348
Jenny: Well, I see what you mean about fur coats and crocodile handbags, Mr. Murray, but I don't understand what you mean by "caring".
349
That can't be bad, surely.
350
I mean, I thought we were supposed to be living in a "caring society".
351
Richard: Well, so we do, in a way.
352
The trouble is, there are so many well-intentioned people who start out with the best possible motives of trying to protect or immunise us from this, that or the other in the most effective way at the quickest possible rate, but in their enthusiasm, they lose sight of the long-term consequences.
353
It's only very gradually that the danger to other forms of life, including humans, comes out - not to say, leaks out - and by that time, it will probably be too late to do much about it.
354
Take insecticides, for instance.
355
Jenny: But insecticides protect crops from pests.
356
They destroy disease-carrying mites and creepy-crawlies like cockroaches.
357
Richard: True, but Nature has a way of developing her own immunity against insecticides and other pest controls, with the result that the biologists are driven to inventing stronger and stronger compounds which, though they may annihilate the pest, nevertheless permeate the environment, are assimilated by plant and animal life, and become absorbed by the soil.
358
Countless innocent creatures, the beaver or the mole, for example, are performing a useful task in the natural control.
359
The alarming prospect is that as these poisons enter the foods we eat and consequently our own systems, they will find their way into the body of the pregnant mother and into her milk, offering incalculable risks to the unborn or newly born infant.
360
In spite of all our technological expertise, our time is running out; we are virtually destroying ourselves.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “🎧 Luyện Nghe và Luyện Đọc Tiếng Anh”. This video has 360 sentences and 5454 words to shadow. The speech runs for 40:09. The speaker talks at a steady 136 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 83% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| eclipse noun | /ɪˈklɪps/ | An alignment of astronomical objects whereby one object comes between the observer (or notional observer) and another object, thus obscuring the latter. |
| supervisor noun | /ˈsupɚˌvaɪzɚ/ | A person with the official task of overseeing the work of a person or group, or of other operations and activities. |
| import noun | /ˈɪm.pɔɹt/ | Something brought in from an exterior source, especially for sale or trade. |
| jenny noun | /ˈd͡ʒɛni/ | A device for spinning thread from fiber onto multiple spindles (also called spinning jenny). |
| advisor noun | /ædˈvaɪ.zə(ɹ)/ | One who offers advice. |
| continent noun | /ˈkɑntɪnənt/ | One of the main contiguous landmasses, separated by water or geological features, on the surface of a planet, sometimes including its continental shelves and… |
| deadline noun | /ˈdɛdˌlaɪn/ | A time limit in the form of a date on or before which something must be completed. |
| astronomer noun | /əˈstɹɒn.ə.mə/ | One who studies astronomy, the stars or the physical universe; a scientist whose area of research is astronomy or astrophysics. |
| immunity noun | /ɪˈmjuːnəti/ | Protective resistance against disease. |
| insecticide noun | /ɪnˈsɛk.təˌsaɪd/ | Any of various substances used to kill insects. |
| pave verb | /peɪv/ | To cover something with paving slabs. |
| thirdly adverb | /ˈθɚdli/ | In the third place; third in a row. |
| greed noun | /ɡɹiːd/ | A selfish or excessive desire for more than is needed or deserved, especially of money, wealth, food, or other possessions. |
| continual adjective | /kənˈtɪnjuəl/ | Recurring in steady, rapid succession. |
| crocodile noun | /ˈkɹɑkədaɪl/ | Any of the predatory amphibious reptiles of the family Crocodylidae; (loosely) a crocodilian, any species of the order Crocodilia, which also includes the… |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| find out verb | To discover, as by asking or investigating. | |
| go back to verb | To stem from; to originate in. | |
| bear down on verb | To approach someone in a very determined way. | |
| check off verb | To mark items on a list (with a checkmark or by crossing them out) that have been chosen for keeping or removal or that have been dealt with (for example… | |
| come across verb | To change sides; to cross over to work for the opposition. | |
| come out verb | /ˌkʌm ˈaʊt/ | To be discovered; to be revealed. |
| die out verb | To become extinct. | |
| do up verb | To fasten (a piece of clothing, etc.); to tighten (a nut etc.) |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- First, let's start with geography.
- Let's look at highways first.
- Here's one that might interest you.
- I mean, why do you want to move?
- Can you tell me what aspect you like most?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | has expanded · You've been · have helped |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is ranked · is still exported · is threatened |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | coast, which is · people who have · people who are |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 58 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, I'm, you're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: thirdly /ˈθɚdli/, thirst /θɝst/, enthusiasm /ɪnˈθuziæzəm/, threaten /ˈθɹɛt.n̩/, southeast /sawˈθɪjst/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: fisherman /ˈfɪʃ.ɚ.mən/, jellyfish /ˈd͡ʒɛliˌfɪʃ/, erosion /ɪˈɹəʊʒən/, sheep /ˈʃiːp/
- Long words — get the stress right: supervisor /ˈsupɚˌvaɪzɚ/, astronomer /əˈstɹɒn.ə.mə/, immunity /ɪˈmjuːnəti/, insecticide /ɪnˈsɛk.təˌsaɪd/, enthusiasm /ɪnˈθuziæzəm/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like eclipse, supervisor, import.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.