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1、TPO 05 Listening PartConversationNarratorListen to a conversation between a student and a counselor at the UniversityCounseling Center.StudentHi, thanks for seeing me in such short notice.CounselorNo problem. How can I help?StudentWell, I think I might have made a mistake coming to the school.Counse
2、lorWhat makes you say that?Student Im a little overwhelmed by the size of this place. I come from a small town. There were only 75 of us in my high school graduating class. Everyone knew everyone. We all grew up together.CounselorSo its a bit of a culture shock for you? Being one of 15,000 students
3、on a big campus in an unfamiliar city?StudentThats an understatement. I just cant get comfortable in class or in the dorms. You know, socially.CounselorUmwell, lets start with the academics. Tell me about you classes.StudentIm taking mostly introductory courses and some are taught in these huge lect
4、ure halls.CounselorAnd you are having trouble in keeping pace with the material?StudentNo, in fact I got an A on my first economics paper. Its just that, its so impersonal, Im not used to it.CounselorAre your classes impersonal?StudentNo, its just thatfor example, in sociology yesterday, the profess
5、or asked a question, so I raised my hand, several of us raised our hands. And I kept my hand up because I did the reading and knew the answer. But the professor just answered his own question and continued with the lecture.Counselor Well, in a big room its possible he didnt notice you. Maybe he was
6、starting to save time. In either case I wouldnt take it personally.StudentI suppose. But I just dont know how to, you know, distinguish myself.CounselorWhy not stop by his office during office hours?StudentThat wouldnt seem right. You know, taking time from other students who need help?CounselorDont
7、 say that. Thats what office hours are for. There is no reason you couldnt pop in to say hi and to make yourself known. If you are learning a lot in class, let the professor know. Wouldnt you appreciate positive feedback if you were a professor?StudentYou are right. Thats a good idea.CounselorOK, er
8、lets turn to your social life. Hows it going in the dorms?StudentI dont have much in common with my roommate or anyone else Ive met so far. Everyones into sports and Im more artsy, you know, into music. I play the cello.CounselorHah, have you been playing long?StudentSince age ten. Its a big part of
9、 my life. At home I was the youngest member of our community orchestra. CounselorYou are not going to believe this. There is a string quartet on campus, all students. And it so happened that the cellist graduated last year. Theyve been searching high and low for a replacement, someone with experienc
10、e. Would you be interested in auditioning?StudentAbsolutely. I wanted to get my academic work settled before pursuing my music here. But I think this would be a good thing for me. I guess if I really want to fit in here I should find people who love music as much as I do. Thank you.CounselorMy pleas
11、ure.LectureNarratorListen to part of a lecture in a sociology class.Professor:Have you ever heard the one about alligators living in New York sewers? The story goes like this: a family went on vacation in Florida and bought a couple of baby alligators as presents for their children, then returned fr
12、om vacation to New York, bringing the alligators home with them as pets. But the alligators would escape and find their way into the New York sewer system where they started reproducing, grew to huge sizes and now strike fear into sewer workers. Have you heard this story? Well, it isnt true and it n
13、ever happened. But despite that, the story has been around since the 1930s. Or how aboutthe song twinkle, twinkle little star, you know, twinkle, twinkle, little star,howI wonderwhat you are. Well weve all heard this song. Where am I going with this? Well, both the song and the story are examples of
14、 memes. And thats what we would talk about, the theory of memes.A meme is defined as a piece of information copied from person to person. By this definition, most of what you know, ideas, skills, stories, songs are memes. All the words you know, all the scientific theories youve learned, the rulesyo
15、ur parents taught you to observe, all are memes that have been passed on from person to person.So what? You may say. Passing on ideas from one person to another is nothing new. Well, the whole point of defining this familiar process as transmission of memes is so that we can explore its analogy with
16、 the transmission of genes. As you know, all living organisms pass on biological information through the genes. Whats a gene? A gene is a piece of biological information that gets copied or replicated, and the copy or replica is passedon to the new generation. So genes are defined as replicators.Gen
17、es are replicators that pass on information about properties and characteristics of organisms. By analogy, memes also get replicated and in the process pass on culture information from person to person, generation to generation. So memes are also replicators. To be a successful replicator, there are
18、 three key characteristics: longevity, fecundity and fidelity. Lets take a closer look.First, longevity. A replicator must exist long enough to be able to get copied, and transfer its information. Clearly, the longer a replicator survives, the better its chances of getting its message copied and pas
19、sed on. So longevity is akey characteristic of a replicator. If you take the alligator story, it can exist fora long time in individual memory, lets say, my memory. I can tell you the story now or ten years from now, the same with the twinkle, twinkle song. So these memes have longevity because they
20、 are memorable for one reason or another.Next, fecundity. Fecundity is the ability to reproduce in large numbers. For example, the common housefly reproduces by laying several thousand eggs, so each fly gene gets copied thousands of times. Memes, well, they can be reproduced in large numbers as well
21、. How many times have you sung the twinkle, twinkle song to someone? Each time you replicated that song, and maybe passed it along to someone who did not know it yet, a small child maybe.And finally, fidelity. Fidelity means accuracy of the copying process. We know fidelity is an essential principle
22、 of genetic transmission. If a copy of a gene is a bit different from the original, thats called a genetic mutation. And mutations are usually bad news. An organism often can not survive with a mutated gene. And so a gene usually can not be passed on, unless its an exact copy. For memes however, fid
23、elity is not always so important. For example, if you tell someone the alligator story I told you today, it probably wont be word for word exactly as I said it. Still, it will be basically the same story, and the person who hears the story will be able to pass it along. Other memes are replicated wi
24、th higher fidelity though, like the twinkle, twinkle song. It had the exact same words 20 years ago as it does now. Well, thats because we see songs as something that has to be performed accurately each time. If you change a word, the others will usually bring you in line. Theyll say, thats not how
25、you sing it, right?So, you can see how looking at pieces of cultural information as replicators,as memes, and analyzing them in terms of longevity, fecundity and fidelity, we can gain some inside about how they spread, persist or changeLectureNarratorListen to part of a lecture in an Astronomy Class
26、Professor:Last week, we covered some arguments against going back to the Moon. But there are compelling reasons in favor of another Moon landing too, um not the least of which is trying to pinpoint the moons age. We could do this in theory by studying an enormous impact crater, known as the South Po
27、le- Aitken Basin. Umits located in the moons South Polar Region. But, since its on the far side of the moon, it can only be seen from space. Here is an image ofwell call it the SPA Basin. This color-coated image of the SPA Basin, those arent its actual colors obviously, this image is from the mid 90
28、s, from the American spacecraft called Clementine. Um unlike earlier lunar missions, Clementine didnt orbit only around the moons equator. Its orbits enable it to send back data to create this topographical map of well, the grey and white area towards the bottom is the South Pole, the purples and bl
29、ues in the middle correspond to low elevations - the SPA Basin itself, the oranges and reds around it are higher elevations. The basin measures an amazing 2,500 km in diameter, and its average depth is 12 km. That makes it the biggest known crater in our solar system and it may well be the oldest.Yo
30、u know planetary researchers love studying deep craters until learn about the impacts that created them, how they redistributed pieces of a planets crust and in this case, we especially want to know if any of the mantle, thelayer beneath the crust, was exposed by the impact. Not everyone agrees, but
31、 some experts are convinced that whatever created the SPA Basin did penetrate the Moons mantle. And we need to find out, because much more than the crust, the mantle contains information about a planets or Moonstotal composition. And thats key to understanding planet formation. Um Dian?Dian: So, the
32、 only way to know the basins age is to study its rocks directly? Professor: well, from radio survey data, we know that the basin contains lotsof smaller craters. So it must be really old, about 4 billion years, give or take afew hundred million years. But thats not very precise. If we had rock sampl
33、es to study, wed know whether the small craters were formed by impacts during the final stages of planetary formation, or if they resulted from later meteor showers.Dian: But if we know around how old the Basin is, Im not sure thats reason enough to go to the Moon again. Professor: No, but such crud
34、e estimatesumwe can do better than that. Besides, there are other things worth investigating, like is there water ice on the moon? Clementines data indicated that the wall of the south-polar crater was more reflective than expected. So some experts think theres probably ice there. Also, data from a
35、later mission indicates significant concentrations ofhydrogen and by inference water less than a meter underground at both poles. Student: Well if theres water, how did it get there? Underground rivers?Professor: We think meteors that crashed into the moon or tails of passing comets may have introdu
36、ced water molecules. Any water molecules that found their way to the floors of craters near the moons poles, that waterwould be perpetually frozen, because the floors of those craters are always in shadow. Umfurthermore, if the water ice was mixed in with rock and dust, it would be protected from ev
37、aporation.Dian: So are you saying there might be primitive life on the moon? Professor: thats not my point at all. Um o.k., say there is water ice on themoon. That would be a very practical value for a future moon base forastronauts. Water ice could be melted and purified for drinking. It could also
38、 be broken down into its component parts - oxygen and hydrogen. Oxygen could be used to breathe, and hydrogen could be turned into fuel, rocket fuel. So water ice could enable the creation of a self-sustaining moon base someday, a mining camp perhaps or a departure point for further space exploratio
39、n.Student: But holding tons of equipment to the moon to make fuel and build a life support system for a moon base, wouldnt that be too expensive?Professor: Permanent base, maybe a ways off, but we shouldnt have to wait for that. The dust at the bottom of the SPA Basin really does have a fascinating
40、story to tell. I wouldnt give for a few samples of it. ConversationNarratorListen to a conversation between a student and a professor.StudentHi, I was wondering if I could talk with you about the assignment in the film theory class.ProfessorOf course, Jill.StudentIt seems that pretty much everyone e
41、lse in the class gets what they are supposed to be doing but Im not so sure.ProfessorWell, the class is for students who are really serious about film. You must have taken film courses before.StudentYeah, in high school, film appreciation.ProfessorUmI wouldnt think that would be enough. Did you conc
42、entrate mainly on form or content?StudentOh, definitely content. Wed watch, say Lord of the Flies, and then discuss it.ProfessorOh, that approach, treating film as literature, ignoring what makes it unique. StudentI liked it, though.ProfessorSure, but that kind of class. Well, Im not surprised that
43、you are feeling a little lost. You know, we have two introductory courses that are supposed to be taken before you get to my course, one in film art, techniques, technical stuff and another in film history. So students in the class you are in should bepretty far along in film studies. In fact, usual
44、ly the system blocks anyone trying to sign up for the class they shouldnt be taking. And who hasnt taken the courses you are required to do first as prerequisites.StudentWell, I did have a problem with that but I discussed it with one of your office staff, and she gave me permission.ProfessorOf cour
45、se. No matter how many times I tell them, they just keep on Well, for your own good, I really suggest dropping back and starting at the usual place.StudentYes. But Ive already been in this class for 4 weeks. Id hate to just drop it now especially since I find it so different, so interesting.Professo
46、rI guess so. Frankly I cant believe youve lasted this long. These are pretty in- depth theories weve been discussing and youve been doing OK so far, I guess. But still, the programs been designed to progress through certain stages. Like any other professional training we build on pervious knowledge.
47、StudentThen maybe you could recommend some extra reading I can do to catch up?ProfessorWell, are you intending to study film as your main concentration?Student No, no. I am just interested. Im actually in marketing, but there seems to be a connection.ProfessorOhwell, inin that case, if youre taking the course just out of interest, I mean I still highly recommend signing up for the introductory courses at some point, but in the meantime,