Module1 Small Talk

How Good Are Your Social Skills?

Have you ever crossed the road to avoid talking to someone you recognise? Would you love to go to a party and talk confidently to every guest? Do you want to make more friends but lack the confidence to talk to people you don't know? And are you nervous about the idea of being at a social event in another country? Don't worry—we can help you!

You needn't worry about situations like these if you have good social skills. And they are easy to learn. People with good social skills communicate well and know how to have a conversation. It helps if you do a little advance planning.

Here are a few ideas to help you.

●Learn how to do small talk

Small talk is very important and prepares you for more serious conversations. Be prepared! Have some low-risk conversation openers ready. For example:

think of a recent news story—not too serious, e.g. a story about a film star or sports star

think of things to tell people about your studies

think of "safe" things you can ask people's opinions about—music, sport, films, etc.

think of topics that you would avoid if you were talking to strangers—and avoid talking about them! That way, you don't damage your confidence!

●Develop your listening skills

Listening is a skill which most people lack, but communication is a two-way process—it involves speaking AND listening. Always remember—you won't impress people if you talk too much. Here are some ideas to make you a better listener:

Do ...

♦show that you are listening by using encouraging noises and gestures—smiling, nodding, saying "uh-huh" and "OK", etc.

♦keep good eye contact

♦use positive body language

♦ask for more information to show your interest

Don't ...

♦look at your watch

♦yawn

♦sigh

♦look away from the person who's talking to you

♦change the subject

♦finish other people's sentences for them

Always remember the words of Benjamin Disraeli, British Prime Minister in the nineteenth century: "Talk to a man about himself, and he will speak to you for hours!"

●Learn the rules

If you go to a social occasion in another country, remember that social rules can be different. In some countries, for example, you have to arrive on time at a party; in other countries, you don't need to. In addition, you need to know how long you should stay, and when you have to leave. Some hosts expect flowers or a small gift, but in other places, you can take things, but you needn't if you don't want to. Remember also that in some countries, you mustn't take flowers of a certain colour, because they're unlucky. In most places, you don't have to take a gift to a party—but find out first!

The Wrong Kind of Small Talk

Esther Greenbaum was a saleswoman for a firm of fax machines and business supplies. But she was also the most outspoken human being in the world—well, Westchester County, at least. Her motto was "Every time I open my mouth, I put my foot in it."

Esther Greenbaum's major shortcoming was that she had a complete absence of small talk. No, that's not quite true. She had small talk, but it was the wrong kind. In fact, she had never learnt the basic rules of social communication, and as a consequence, she made systematic mistakes every time she opened her mouth. It was no coincidence either that she wasn't a very good saleswoman.

One day during a meeting, Esther was introduced to an important customer, a mature woman.

"Nice to meet you," she said. "How old are you?" The customer looked awkward.

"Forty? Forty-five?" said Esther. "You look much older. And your friend ... she's older than you, but she looks much younger!"

On another occasion, Esther teased a typist, "Hey! When's your baby due?"

The typist went red and contradicted Esther. "Actually, I'm not pregnant," she said.

"Oh, sorry," said Esther without any apology. "Just putting on a little weight, huh?"

Esther was never cautious about other people's feelings. One of her acquaintances, a salesman in the firm, was going through a very messy divorce and was very depressed. She tried to cheer him up.

"Forget her! She was a complete fool. No one liked her anyway."

Much of the time, Esther said the first thing to come into her head. One day at work, a clerk came into the office with a new hairstyle.

"Nice haircut," said Esther. "How much did it cost?"

The woman replied, "I'd rather not say."

Esther replied, "Well, anyhow, either you paid too much or you paid too little."

She met a very famous writer once. "Hey, what a coincidence!" she said. "You're writing a book and I'm reading one!"

The trouble with Esther was she said what she thought, and didn't think about what she said. A young man was trying to be modest about his new job many miles away.

"I guess the company chose me so they'd get some peace in the office," he smiled.

"No, I guess they chose you to discourage you from spending your whole career with us," Esther replied sweetly.

Once, Esther went to a brunch party to meet some old school friends on the anniversary of their graduation. She greeted the hostess.

"Do you remember that guy you were dating? What happened to him?" she asked. "You know, the ugly one."

At that moment, a man came up and stood by her friend. "Esther, I'd like you to meet my husband," she said. "Charles, this is ..."

Esther interrupted her, "Hey, so you married him!"

Making Friends in the USA

In the USA, conversation is less lively than in many other cultures, where everyone talks at the same time. When someone talks, everyone is expected to listen, no matter how dull the person's speaking may be.

If you're not sure what to talk about, you can ask what people do. We're defined by our jobs and we're usually happy to talk about them, unless you're a spy!

Some people say that Americans talk about their feelings more than Asians, but are more secretive about factual matters. You can safely ask questions about families, where you come from, leisure interests, as well as the latest movies. We're interested in people's ethnic background too. But it's best to avoid politics, religion and other sensitive topics.

A highly personal conversation can take place after a very short period of knowing someone, but this doesn't mean that you're close friends, or the relationship is very deep. But a lot of people are very friendly and hospitable, and the famous invitation "If you're ever in Minneapolis / San Diego / Poughkeepsie, do call by and see us!" is never made without a genuine desire to meet again.

But while few Americans will worry about the questions you may ask, particularly if you clearly show you're aware of cultural differences, they may hesitate before they ask you similar questions. In fact, it's a sign that they don't wish to violate your private life. So, many Americans will talk about safe topics because they don't dare to be too curious or personal, but will happily talk about more private matters if you take the lead.

Generally we dislike arguments, and we avoid topics which lead to disagreement. It's easy to return to discussing the weather: "Do you like the USA? How do you like the weather?" or making compliments: "What lovely flowers and what a beautiful vase!" "That's a fabulous dress you're wearing." You should accept compliments graciously and say "Thank you!"

There are a couple of dangerous topics of conversation: age and money. Age is not treated as something very special, unless someone is very old: "Isn't she wonderful for her age!" and there are no special rules or signs of extra respect for elderly people. Anyway, Americans always want to look younger than they really are, so don't expect an accurate reply!

Income is a very private matter, and you'd do well to avoid asking how much people earn, although some people may not only be open about it, but show off their wealth. We don't ask how much things cost, either.

But what we don't like is silence, and almost anything is better than the embarrassment of a quiet party and silent guests.

The AAA

It is estimated that 80% of all conversation in English is small talk. A very important function of small talk is to establish a relationship between people who don't know each other very well, or don't know each other at all.

Psychologists say that the most successful formula for small talk between people like this is the AAA model. AAA = answer, add and ask. This is how it works.

Imagine a situation where two strangers are talking to each other after someone they both know has left the room, or the café or party, etc. The first person asks a question:

A: Do you live near here?

The second person replies by answering the question, adding some extra information and then asking another question:

B: (Answer) Yes, I do.

(Add) In an apartment on Brown Street.

(Ask) Do you live nearby too?

The first person does the same, answer, add and ask:

A: (Answer) No, I live in Bristol.

(Add) I'm just visiting London.

(Ask) Have you lived here long?

B: (Answer) Not so long.

(Add) I moved here three years ago.

(Ask) What's the purpose of your visit to London?

The speakers may have difficulty at first, but they soon realise that the important thing is that they are saying something. By continuing with the AAA model, the conversation continues. Because the thing they both want to avoid is an embarrassing silence.

The conversation can continue in this way for a long time. However, something can happen that completely changes the atmosphere.

B: Why do you live in Bristol?

A: I'm studying there. History. Are you a student?

B: Yes. And I know some people who are studying at Bristol. Do you know a girl called Helen Brown?

A: Helen Brown!! Yes! She's one of my best friends! How do you know her?

B: She's my cousin.

At this point, the AAA model stops. Because they used this very useful social technique, they found something they have in common at last.

Module2 Fantasy Literature

The Cat That Vanished

Will was stupefied with exhaustion, and he might have gone on to the north, or he might have laid his head on the grass under one of those trees and slept; but as he stood trying to clear his head, he saw a cat.

She was a tabby, like Moxie. She padded out of a garden on the Oxford side of the road, where Will was standing. Will put down his shopping bag and held out his hand, and the cat came up to rub her head against his knuckles, just as Moxie did. Of course, every cat behaved like that, but all the same Will felt such a longing to turn for home that tears scalded his eyes.

Eventually this cat turned away. This was night, and there was a territory to patrol, there were mice to hunt. She padded across the road and towards the bushes just beyond the hornbeam trees, and there she stopped.

Will, still watching, saw the cat behave curiously.

She reached out a paw to pat something in the air in front of her, something quite invisible to Will. Then she leapt backwards, back arched and fur on end, tail held out stiffly. Will knew cat-behaviour. He watched more alertly as the cat approached the spot again, just an empty patch of grass between the hornbeams and the bushes of a garden hedge, and patted the air once more.

Again she leapt back, but less far and with less alarm this time. After another few seconds of sniffing, touching, whisker-twitching, curiosity overcame wariness.

The cat stepped forward, and vanished.

Will blinked. Then he stood still, close to the trunk of the nearest tree, as a truck came round the circle and swept its lights over him. When it had gone past he crossed the road, keeping his eyes on the spot where the cat had been investigating. It wasn't easy, because there was nothing to fix on, but when he came to the place and cast about to look closely, he saw it.

At least, he saw it from some angles. It looked as if someone had cut a patch out of the air, about two metres from the edge of the road, a patch roughly square in shape and less than a metre across. If you were level with the patch so that it was edge-on, it was nearly invisible, and it was completely invisible from behind. You could only see it from the side nearest the road, and you couldn't see it easily even from there, because all you could see through it was exactly the same kind of thing that lay in front of it on this side: a patch of grass lit by a street light.

But Will knew without the slightest doubt that patch of grass on the other side was in a different world.

He couldn't possibly have said why. He knew it at once, as strongly as he knew that fire burned and kindness was good. He was looking at something profoundly alien.

And for that reason alone, it enticed him to stoop and look further. What he saw made his head swim and his heart thump harder, but he didn't hesitate: he pushed his shopping bag through, and then scrambled through himself, through the hole in the fabric of this world and into another.

He found himself standing under a row of trees. But not hornbeam trees: these were tall palms, and they were growing, like the trees in Oxford, in a line along the grass. But this was the centre of a broad boulevard, and at the side of the boulevard was a line of cafés and small shops, all brightly lit, all open, and all utterly silent and empty beneath a sky thick with stars. The hot night was laden with the scent of flowers and with the salt smell of the sea.

Will looked around carefully. Behind him the full moon shone down over a distant prospect of great green hills, and on the slopes at the foot of the hills there were houses with rich gardens and an open parkland with groves of trees and the white gleam of a classical temple.

Just beside him was that bare patch in the air, as hard to see from this side as from the other, but definitely there. He bent to look through and saw the road in Oxford, his own world. He turned away with a shudder: whatever this new world was, it had to be better than what he'd just left. With a dawning light-headedness, the feeling that he was dreaming but awake at the same time, he stood up and looked around for the cat, his guide.

The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman copyright © Philip

Pullman, 1997 the second book in the His Dark

Materials trilogy, published by Scholastic Children's

Books. All rights reserved. Reproduced by permission

of Scholastic Ltd.

The Story of J. K. Rowling and Harry Potter

The elder stateswoman of British fantasy literature is J. K. Rowling, the gifted creator of Harry Potter. Joanne Rowling's roots are in the southwest of England, where she grew up. But the idea for Harry Potter came to her while she was on a delayed train between Manchester and London. She wrote down her ideas on the back of an envelope. She then went to teach English in Portugal, where she continued to add flesh to the bones of the first Harry Potter story. But her name is forever associated with Edinburgh in Scotland, where she lived and developed the format for the whole series of seven books.

There are many anecdotes about how, in 1990, J. K. Rowling began the first draft of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. She had the extra burden of looking after her baby daughter while she worked, and because she was too poor to own a typewriter, she wrote by hand. She spent many hours over a single cup of coffee in a warm cafeteria in Edinburgh because she had no money to pay for the heating at home.

Success was not swift and Rowling might have given up. But she was stubborn and overcame all the difficulties. It was only in 1997 that she completed the first Harry Potter story, which, because the publishers in the USA requested an adjustment to the title, was also known as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

Rowling always intended that her output would be a book every year until she had finished the series. In fact, it took her about ten years to complete. But after the first book, the success of each of the following titles was automatic. The fifth book, The Order of the Phoenix sold about seven million copies the day it was published.

Rowling's style has been a target for some criticism, but what makes the books so important is that, because they appeal to readers of all ages, they create a special literary bond between parents and children. In an age of computer games and television programmes, it is also claimed they are responsible for a renewed interest in reading. Harry Potter has even become part of the school curriculum, much to the pleasure of the schoolchildren.

And the Harry Potter effect is not just restricted to the English-speaking world. Rowling's books have been translated into more than 55 languages, and it has been estimated that more than 250 million copies have been distributed around the world. In 2005 it was estimated that Rowling had accumulated more than one billion dollars on deposit in her bank. She has thus attained the status of being the first writer to become a billionaire.

Introduction

One of the greatest British writers of fantasy literature was C. S. Lewis (1898—1963), who wrote The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Lucy discovers the winter land of Narnia where she and her two brothers and sister meet the White Witch. They also meet Aslan, the lion, who is the only one who can defeat the Witch and restore summer to Narnia. With Aslan, the children learn to be brave and to forgive. They learn great sorrow and happiness, and finally they learn wisdom. Their time in Narnia is the great adventure that every child dreams of.

Extract from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

And then she saw that there was a light ahead of her; not a few inches away where the back of the wardrobe ought to have been, but a long way off. Something cold and soft was falling on her. A moment later she found that she was standing in the middle of a wood at nighttime with snow under her feet and snowflakes falling through the air.

Lucy felt a little frightened, but she felt very inquisitive and excited as well. She looked back over her shoulder and there, between the dark tree trunks, she could still see the open doorway of the wardrobe and even catch a glimpse of the empty room from which she had set out. (She had, of course, left the door open, for she knew that it was a very silly thing to shut oneself into a wardrobe.) It seemed to be still daylight there. "I can always get back if anything goes wrong," thought Lucy. She began to walk forward, crunch-crunch over the snow and through the wood towards the other light. In about ten minutes she reached it and found it was a lamppost. As she stood looking at it, wondering why there was a lamppost in the middle of a wood, and wondering what to do next, she heard the pitter-patter of feet coming towards her. And soon after that a very strange person stepped out from among the trees into the light of the lamppost.

He was only a little taller than Lucy herself and carried over his head an umbrella, white with snow. From the waist upwards he was like a man, but his legs were shaped like a goat's (the hair on them was glossy black) and instead of feet he had goat's hoofs. He also had a tail, but Lucy did not notice this at first because it was so neatly caught up over the arm that held the umbrella so as to keep it from trailing in the snow. He had a red woollen muffler round his neck and his skin was rather reddish too. He had a strange, but pleasant little face, with a short pointed beard and curly hair, and out of the hair there stuck two horns, one on each side of his forehead. One of his hands, as I have said, held the umbrella; in the other arm he carried several brown-paper parcels. With the parcels and the snow it looked just as if he had been doing his Christmas shopping. He was a Faun. And when he saw Lucy he gave such a start of surprise that he dropped all his parcels.

"Goodness gracious me!" exclaimed the Faun.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

by C. S. Lewis copyright © C. S. Lewis

Pte. Ltd 1950. Reprinted by permission.

The Lord of the Rings

One of the most famous fantasy stories of the twentieth century is the trilogy The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. All three parts of the story have been made into very successful films. The story takes place in a world called Middle Earth. Humans are only one of the creatures who exist at this time. There are also elves, tall beautiful creatures who have magical powers and never die. There are hobbits, who are like small humans and live in holes in hills. There are also dwarves, who are similar to small, ugly men and live deep in the mountains.

In The Lord of the Rings, a wicked wizard called Sauron, who has great magical powers, has created nine rings. Any creature who possesses one of these rings has great power. But Sauron has created one ring—the Ring—that can control all of these rings. The person who has this ring controls the whole of Middle Earth.

Fortunately, this ring has been lost for hundreds of years. But then it is discovered by a hobbit. Sauron, realising that the Ring has been found, sends his creatures to get it back. If he finds the Ring, Sauron will rule Middle Earth and it will become a place of darkness and fear. Gandalf, a good wizard, realises that in order to save Middle Earth, the Ring must be destroyed. To do this, someone must take the Ring into Sauron's kingdom. There, they must destroy the Ring in the fires that created it. The three books tell the story of the journey to destroy the Ring. In the last book of the trilogy there is a terrible war between Sauron and his creatures, and those who want to save Middle Earth.

Many people believe that The Lord of the Rings is the best twentieth century novel in English. Of course, there are always those who do not enjoy reading fantasy novels. But if you do, then this is one story you should definitely read.

Module3 Interpersonal Relationships —Friendship

Roy's Story

I remember the first time I met Roy. He was standing in the centre of a group of boys, and he was telling a joke. When he reached the final line, everyone burst out laughing. Roy laughed too, a loud happy laugh. "Popular boy," I thought to myself. My name is Daniel. I was the new boy in the class. Our family was from the north of England, but my father had been offered a better job in London, and our whole family had moved there. I was twelve and, having lost all my old friends, I felt shy and lonely at my new school.

There were 33 students in my new class, and most people weren't very interested in a shy new boy. Roy was one of the few people who was kind to me. He often invited me to join his particular group, and as a result, I started getting to know people. Roy and I became good friends. We trusted each other and we could talk about personal matters, things that were important to us.

Five years later, Roy and I are still in the same class. But just under a year ago, Roy's father was knocked over by a car. He died a few days later. The family had to move to a much smaller house in order to manage financially. Roy, who had always been very close to his father, changed completely, becoming silent and moody. He had always been a clever, hard-working student but now he seemed to lose all interest in his work. He started losing friends. These days, Roy and I see each other from time to time, but we're no longer close.

About three months ago, a group of us were playing football together after school. Having left something in the cloakroom, I went inside to get it, and found Roy going through the pockets of people's coats. In his hand he had a wallet—and I knew it wasn't his! My mouth fell open and I just looked at him. Roy went bright red. "I'll put it back right now," he said, and he did so. I turned round and walked out without saying a word.

I really hoped that Roy would explain why he had been stealing, but instead he started avoiding me. At the same time, small amounts of money started disappearing from students' lockers. I wondered if the thief was Roy but decided not to say anything to anyone. I hoped it wasn't him.

Last week our school had a big fair in order to raise money for a charity. It was very successful and by the end of the day, we had made about £500. Our class teacher, Mr White, came and chatted to a group of us that included Roy, and held up a box for us to see. "There's £500 in here," he said with a smile. But to our surprise, the next morning, we were told that the money had been stolen. Mr White had left the box in a classroom for a few minutes, and when he came back it had disappeared. The head teacher asked anyone who thought they might know something about the theft to come to him.

This weekend, having thought about the situation for a while, I decided to ask Roy about the theft, and this morning I went to see him. Roy was out, and I went upstairs to his bedroom to wait for him. It was a cold day and his jacket was lying on the back of a chair. I put it on and put my hands in the pockets. I could feel a lot of paper notes and I pulled them out.

It looked as if there was about £500 there. I was so surprised that I just stood there, holding the notes in my hands. At that moment, the door swung open, and Roy walked in.

Childhood Friends

The first time I lost my best friend, I thought it was the end of the world. I don't mean that he died, he just went away, but I still measure all pain by how hurt I was when Danny left.

I was blessed with a happy childhood, one that most people would want to have. We lived in a small bungalow in a tiny village in Scotland and we were a very close family. Our neighbours next door had a son named Danny, and we grew up together.

We spent long summer evenings in the pine forests, digging up worms for fishing, and collecting feathers left by the birds in the cages where they had been kept for the hunters. It was here that I discovered that I was allergic to the tiny flies which bit me and made my face swell. There were a few walnut trees above the village and we would chase the squirrels away and wait for them to ripen. Of course, it was too far north for a proper harvest. On windy days we'd slide down the stony slopes to the loch and feel the spray of the sea in our faces.

Danny was a good carpenter too, and we made brooms out of branches, which we tried to sell in the village shop. We built a tree house, where we smoked our first cigar, and I was sick! Once I slipped on some damp leaves, fell out, scratched my arms and cut the heel of my foot, so he washed my wounds in the stream. He was a very considerate boy for someone so young. My mother simply scolded me for tearing my underwear.

We were on good terms with everyone in the village, and we even gave a salute to the local policeman as he passed on his bicycle. But in our imagination, he was an enemy soldier, and we were two spies looking for secrets.

It was the finest friendship anyone could have, and life seemed perfect.

And then at the age of 14, his parents moved to London, over 400 kilometres away. The pain was acute, and I couldn't forgive Danny for leaving me. I felt he had betrayed me. It was the worst loss I have ever experienced.

I'm now back in touch with Danny, and it's a privilege to call him my friend. We're both much more mature now, and we're still very alike.

But while I'm nostalgic for the happy times we spent together many years ago, I'm ashamed of my feelings, and I don't want to rewind the recording of my life and remember my loss and my pain.

Poems

When You Are Old

When you are old and grey and full of sleep

And nodding by the fire, take down this book,

And slowly read, and dream of the soft look

Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

 

How many loved your moments of glad grace,

And loved your beauty with love false or true;

But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,

And loved the sorrows of your changing face.

 

And bending down beside the glowing bars,

Murmur, a little sadly, how love fled

And paced upon the mountains overhead,

And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

W.B. Yeats (1865—1939)

Lies About Love

We are all liars, because

The truth of yesterday becomes a lie tomorrow,

Whereas letters are fixed,

And we live by the letter of truth.

The love I feel for my friend, this year,

Is different from the love I felt last year.

If it were not so, it would be a lie.

Yet we reiterate love! love! love!

As if it were a coin with a fixed value

Instead of a flower that dies, and opens a different bud.

D.H. Lawrence (1885—1930)

Roses

You love the roses—so do I. I wish

The sky would rain down roses, as they rain

From off the shaken bush. Why will it not?

Then all the valley would be pink and white

And soft to tread on. They would fall as light

As feathers, smelling sweet; and it would be

Like sleeping and like waking, all at once!

George Eliot (1819—1880)

Auld Lang Syne

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,

And never brought to mind?

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,

And auld lang syne?

 

For auld lang syne, my dear,

For auld lang syne,

We'll take a cup of kindness yet,

For auld lang syne!

Robert Burns (1759—1796)

Friends Reunited

One of the biggest Internet successes is a website called Friends Reunited. Friends Reunited brings together—that is, unites—old friends, people who used to be friends with each other, but have not seen each other for a long time.

The website was begun in 1999 by a London couple called Stephen and Julie Pankhurst. Julie wanted to know what her old school friends were doing. Did they all have families of their own? Did they still live in the same area? Were they married? Did they have children? She and her husband realised that the Internet was the perfect way to get in touch with old friends, and Steve and his business partner, Jason Porter, built the website. Slowly, people heard about the site and became interested. By the end of 2000 the site had 3,000 members. Then the website was mentioned on a radio programme and suddenly the site became very popular. By the end of 2001 the website had 4 million members, and by the end of 2002 it had over 8 million!

How do you find old friends using Friends Reunited? It's very easy. People join the website and give information about themselves—the name of their old school, the neighbourhood they lived in, the college they went to, the sports team they belonged to, etc. To find an old friend, you type in their name, school, etc. You may find that your friend is a member of the website, and you can then contact him or her through the website. Most people are very happy to reply, and people often become friends again as a result.

There are many wonderful stories about people who have found each other again through Friends Reunited. For example, there is the extraordinary story of a man who lost his memory as a result of a bad car accident. He could not remember anything about his past. Through Friends Reunited he contacted old friends, and with their help, he was able to find out about his past and put his memory back together. Another man writes: "Thanks to Friends Reunited, I have found my daughter, who I have not seen since she was 13. She is now 27 and I have discovered that I am a grandfather. It would have been impossible to find my daughter without the help of Friends Reunited. From the bottom of my heart, thank you."

Module4 Music

An Interview with Liu Fang

Part 1

Liu Fang is an international music star, famous for her work with traditional Chinese instruments. She was born in 1974 and has played the pipa since the age of six. She's given concerts since she was eleven, including a performance for the Queen of England during her visit to China. She graduated from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, where she also studied the guzheng in 1993.

What is your musical training and background?

My mother is a Dianju actress. Dianju is a kind of Chinese opera, which includes singing, dancing and acting. When I was a child, she took me to performances. I listened to music before I could speak! When I was five years old, she taught me to play the yueqin.

In 1990, when I was 15 years old, I went to the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, where I studied the pipa and the guzheng. After I graduated, I went back to my hometown of Kunming and worked as a pipa soloist of the Kunming Music and Dance Troupe. In 1996, I moved to Canada with my husband and I have been living there since then.

What are the biggest challenges of playing the pipa and the guzheng?

If your technique is not good enough, it is impossible to play classical Chinese pipa music. Also, the repertoire for the pipa is large—some pieces were written during the Tang Dynasty.

There are many different pipa schools, and each one has its special way of interpreting the classical pieces. The biggest challenge is to respect the traditions but to add my own style. The same is true of my second instrument, the guzheng.

Part 2

Who or what are your musical influences?

The main influence is traditional singing. I listened to traditional opera singing and folk songs in my childhood. Now when I am playing a tune, I am singing in my heart. When I'm playing a sad tune, I am crying in my heart. Listeners often say that they can hear singing in my music.

What characteristics of Chinese classical music do you try to show in your playing?

Firstly, Chinese music is similar to the Chinese language. In Chinese, the same pronunciation with different tones has different meanings. The same is true for music. Secondly, classical Chinese music is closely connected to Chinese poetry, so it isn't surprising that most classical pieces have very poetic titles. Thirdly, classical Chinese music and traditional Chinese painting are like twin sisters. In Chinese art, there are some empty spaces, which are very important. They give life to the whole painting and they allow people to come into the picture, like a dialogue.

It's the same with classical Chinese music. There are empty spaces, and people say the silence is full of music. The pipa sounds and the pauses combine to make a poetry of sound. Listeners can experience the power and the beauty of the music, like enjoying a beautiful poem or painting.

Part 3

What do you like best about performing live?

I enjoy playing and I enjoy performing in public. I like the atmosphere in a concert hall and I always feel happy when I have a concert. I feel a little depressed or lonely when there is no concert for a long time. I also enjoy the time immediately after the concert to share the feelings and ideas with friends and music lovers, listening to their impressions and understanding about the music. I love my career. I also enjoy travelling: I enjoy sitting in a plane dreaming, or staying in a hotel.

What are your goals as an artist?

I don't have a particular goal. But I hope to work with many composers, and I also wish to compose my own music. My background is traditional Chinese music. Since I moved to Canada, I have had opportunities to make contact with other musical traditions and play with master musicians. I wish to continue working with master musicians from other traditions and to be able to compose my own music, using elements from different cultures. I also wish to introduce classical Chinese pipa and guzheng music to every corner of the world.

Street Music

It's a warm Saturday afternoon in a busy side road in the old district of Barcelona. The pedestrians are standing in a semi-circle around someone or something in front of the cathedral. I push my way through the crowd and find a quartet of musicians playing a violin suite of classical music. The session lasts ten minutes. Then one of the musicians picks up a saucer on the ground, and asks for money. All contributions are voluntary, no one has to pay, but the crowd shrinks as some people slide away. But others happily throw in a few coins. They're grateful for this brief interval of music as they go shopping.

Below the window of my apartment in Paris, a music man takes a place made vacant by an earlier musician. He raises the lid of his barrel organ and turns the handle. Then he sings the songs of old Paris, songs of the people and their love affairs. I remember some of the words even though I have never consciously learnt them. I tap my feet and sing along with him. Down there on the pavement, few passersby stop. Some smile, others walk past with their heads down. Cars pass, gangs of boys form and disappear, someone even puts a coin in the cup on the organ. But the music man ignores them all. He's hot in the sun, so he mops his head with a spotted handkerchief. He just keeps singing and turning the handle.

In Harlem, New York, some locals place a sound system by an open window. They plug it into the electrical socket, and all of a sudden, there's dancing in the streets. In downtown Tokyo, young couples eat popcorn and dance to the music of a rockabilly band, which plays American music from the Fifties. In the London Underground a student plays classical guitar music, which echoes along the tunnels. It lifts the spirits of the passengers, who hurry past on their way to work. In a street in Vienna or Prague or Milan a group of pipe musicians from the far Andes fill the air with the sounds of South America.

The street musician is keeping alive a culture which has almost disappeared in our busy, organised, and regulated lives: the sound of music when you least expect it. In a recording studio, even when relayed by microphone, music loses some of its liveliness. But street music gives life to everyone who listens and offers relief from the cares of the day. It only exists in the present, it only has meaning in the context. It needs space.

Music from China

One dozen beautiful young women, all in their twenties, take the stage and stand before a variety of ancient musical instruments. The moment they start to play, it is clear the members of Twelve Girls Band are among the most gifted musicians in the world. Coming from China, Twelve Girls Band is already one of that country's most popular groups.

As they build a musical bridge between east and west, Twelve Girls Band charms the people of many nations around the world. A best-selling act all over Asia, Twelve Girls Band fills concert halls and arenas there, and has now been discovered by America. In 2004 the group arrived on the US music scene at No. 62 of the Billboard 200 album chart. It was the highest entry by an Asian group. In Japan, Twelve Girls Band is already a supergroup. It has sold more than two million records, and has even appeared in TV ads for chocolate and cellphones, among other products. A Japanese DVD of Twelve Girls Band live in concert sold over 200,000 copies, and their live performances have been seen on television around the world. In 2004 they were named International Artist of the Year at the Japan Golden Disc Award ceremonies.

Drawing upon more than 1,500 years of Chinese music, Twelve Girls Band mixes this rich tradition with classical, folk and contemporary sounds. The group signifies the symbolic choice of a dozen members found in various aspects of Chinese numerology with 12 months in a year, and in ancient mythology, 12 jinchai (golden hairpins, which represent womanhood). Inspiration also comes from yuefang, the female chamber orchestras that played in the royal courts of the Tang Dynasty.

Each member of Twelve Girls Band has classical training, with backgrounds that include the China Academy of Music, the Chinese National Orchestra, and the Central Conservatory of Music. Skilled multi-instrumentalists, they perform on traditional Chinese instruments that include the guzheng, the yangqin, the erhu, the pipa and the dizi and xiao. Their music also creates a lush and original landscapes of sound which remind audiences of music from Ireland and from eastern Europe.

The group's appeal is equally as broad, with children, teens, adults and grandparents filling arenas to see it perform. American critics noticed the mixture of pieces by Mozart and Beethoven, with jazz standards like Dave Brubeck's Take Five, or a version of a much-loved classic such as Simon and Garfunkel's El Condor Pasa.

The group honours its musical heritage and shows a genuine love for all styles of music—from complex classical works to long-lasting pop tunes.

Adapted from: http://www.members.tripod.com/

~journeyeast/twelve_girls_and_a_band.html

Used by permission.

The Grammy Awards—Are They Important?

The Grammy Awards are presented every year in the music industry in the United States. They're like the Oscars in the film industry, and are given for important achievements in recorded music.

They are presented by the Recording Academy (an association of Americans professionally involved in the music industry). The award ceremony is usually held in February.

There are 105 categories in the awards, and they cover 30 different types of music—pop, rock, jazz, blues, rap, classical, etc. The awards depend on how many votes each artist receives from members of the Recording Academy. They are given for different reasons, not only for selling a lot of albums. In addition to the awards themselves, there are also performances by famous artists at the ceremony.

The award is called a Grammy because winners receive a statuette in the shape of a gramophone, an old fashioned hi-fi system.

However, some people think that the Grammys are not as important as they used to be. Winners are often older, well-established artists who sell lots of albums to "teenage girls and housewives", as one critic said. Therefore, the Grammys are not taken seriously by some musicians or music fans.

There is a separate set of awards for Latin music, called the Latin Grammys, but only two awards for World Music. Therefore, it is very difficult for musicians from the rest of the world to win prizes.

Some of the greatest acts in music history, such as Elvis Presley and the Rolling Stones, have been awarded very few Grammys. On the other hand, the Beatles have won more Grammys than Elvis and the Rolling Stones combined.

Module5 Cloning

Frankenstein's Monster

Part 1. The story of Frankenstein

Frankenstein is a young scientist from Geneva, in Switzerland. While studying at university, he discovers the secret of how to give life to lifeless matter. Using bones from dead bodies, he creates a creature that resembles a human being and gives it life. The creature, which is unusually large and strong, is extremely ugly, and terrifies all those who see it. However, the monster, who has learnt to speak, is intelligent and has human emotions. Lonely and unhappy, he begins to hate his creator, Frankenstein. When Frankenstein refuses to create a wife for him, the monster murders Frankenstein's brother, his best friend Clerval, and finally, Frankenstein's wife Elizabeth. The scientist chases the creature to the Arctic in order to destroy him, but he dies there. At the end of the story, the monster disappears into the ice and snow to end his own life.

Part 2. Extract from Frankenstein

It was on a cold November night that I saw my creation for the first time. Feeling very anxious, I prepared the equipment that would give life to the thing that lay at my feet. It was already one in the morning and the rain fell against the window. My candle was almost burnt out when, by its tiny light, I saw the yellow eye of the creature open. It breathed hard, and moved its arms and legs.

How can I describe my emotions when I saw this happen? How can I describe the monster who I had worked so hard to create? I had tried to make him beautiful. Beautiful! He was the ugliest thing I had ever seen! You could see the veins beneath his yellow skin. His hair was black and his teeth were white. But these things contrasted horribly with his yellow eyes, his wrinkled yellow skin and black lips.

I had worked for nearly two years with one aim only, to give life to a lifeless body. For this I had not slept, I had destroyed my health. I had wanted it more than anything in the world. But now I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and horror and disgust filled my heart. Now my only thoughts were, "I wish I had not created this creature, I wish I was on the other side of the world, I wish I could disappear!" When he turned to look at me, I felt unable to stay in the same room as him. I rushed out, and for a long time I walked up and down my bedroom. At last I threw myself on the bed in my clothes, trying to find a few moments of sleep. But although I slept, I had terrible dreams. I dreamt I saw my fiancée walking in the streets of our town. She looked well and happy but as I kissed her lips, they became pale, as if she were dead. Her face changed and I thought I held the body of my dead mother in my arms. I woke, shaking with fear. At that same moment, I saw the creature that I had created. He was standing by my bed and watching me. His mouth opened and he made a sound, then seemed to smile. I think he wanted to speak, but I did not hear. He put out a hand, as if he wanted to keep me there, but I ran out of the room. I hid in the garden and stayed there till morning, terrified by what I had done. Again and again I thought, "I wish I had not done this terrible thing, I wish I was dead!"

You cannot imagine the horror of that face! I had seen him when he was unfinished—he was ugly then. But when he stood up and moved, he became a creature from my worst nightmares.

Cloning and DNA

Many people think that the science of genetics and cloning is recent. It's certainly true that in 1953, Watson and Crick, two scientists at Cambridge University, England, discovered the structure of the acid DNA—a transparent twisting ladder made of the fundamental components of life. But in fact, it was in 1866 that Mendel first recorded the results of growing pea plants. He understood that both the parent plants had influenced the genetic make-up of the new plant.

In 1973, biochemists Cohen and Boyer discovered a procedure to use enzymes chemicals formed in the body—to unzip the DNA, to cut out a sequence of genes, and finally to insert them into the host cell and combine with its DNA.

Cloning takes the DNA from a single cell to create a whole new individual. A clone is an organism which is genetically identical to another one. But it's now certain that no clone is an exact copy because of differences in experiences and upbringing.

There are at least two teams of scientists which are trying to clone humans. Although controversial, there are many valid reasons to do so. An Italian doctor wants to offer cloning as an optional treatment for couples who find it difficult to have children. But anyone who was a clone of one of their parents would be under unknown psychological pressure throughout their childhood.

Another reason is to reproduce the talents of exceptional human beings. But an Einstein clone might choose a path in life which is contradictory to the one the original Einstein chose. He may even possess new vices instead of existing virtues!

A further reason is to obtain a supply of stem cells. Stem cells in embryos are very flexible and can develop into every other type of cell in the body. For example, it could help someone recover from a disease, repair human tissue, or help them walk again after an accident. These stem cells would need to come from an embryo taken from the clone of someone. But the embryo would then be wasted, which many people find unacceptable. What is clear is that some voluntary code of practice among scientists has to be agreed. If not, compulsory government regulations will have to control cloning.

A fourth reason for cloning is that some scientists and farmers think it would be handy to clone, for example, a prize cow which can resist bacteria or disease, or to sow a cloned crop which can resist rot or pests. But to rely on a few cloned animals or crops would restrict the biodiversity of the breed.

Finally, the latest research into DNA has helped solve crimes by analysing the suspect's saliva which they spit at a crime scene or the dirt under their fingernails.

Jurassic Park—Scientific Fact or Hollywood Fiction?

Steven Spielberg's successful sci-fi adventure film follows two dinosaur experts—Dr Alan and Dr Ellie Sattler—as they are invited by the eccentric millionaire John Hammond to visit his new amusement park on an island off Costa Rica before it opens to the public. By cloning DNA taken from prehistoric mosquitoes, Hammond has created living dinosaurs for his new Jurassic Park. Accompanied by Hammond's two grandchildren, they are sent on a tour through Jurassic Park in computer-controlled cars. But a tropical storm hits the island, knocking out the power supply, and an employee destroys the security system so that he can steal dinosaur embryos and sell them. The dinosaurs start to get out of control ...

So, since it is possible to clone sheep, is it possible to clone dinosaurs? Or is this just Hollywood? First, any DNA that has been taken from a preserved mosquito is only 40 million years old. Dinosaurs are at least 60 million years old, so even if any DNA was found, the mosquitoes need to be much older, and as far as we know, mosquitoes that old do not exist.

Second, although it is possible to find preserved mosquitoes, only one male has been recovered. In fact, only females can absorb the DNA of another creature. Also, there is no way of knowing if the DNA was from a dinosaur or not. Since there has been no previous discovery of dinosaurs, there is nothing to compare the new sample with.

Thirdly, dinosaur DNA would not be intact after the long period of time since their extinction. When life ends, DNA breaks down and does not repair itself.

Many questions also arise in the cloning of dinosaurs. Some of these questions are: What will be needed to raise a baby dinosaur from childhood successfully? What kinds of conditions do dinosaurs need to survive? What are the diets of dinosaurs? What kinds of care would dinosaurs need in their adult lives? What would be done to protect humans from dinosaurs and vice versa? What ethical and human rights issues are raised by cloning?

So cloning dinosaurs seems scientifically impossible. The world is not ready for it and the materials that are needed are not yet available. Even if it was possible to bring dinosaurs back to life they probably could not survive in the present day environment. Temperature, air, disease, and plants are all different today than in the era of dinosaurs. Dinosaurs are used to a completely different world and would find great difficulty living here. The only place that dinosaurs seem to exist today is in Hollywood.

Source: http://www.priweb.org/

ed/ICTHOL/ICTHOLrp/87rp.htm

Used by permission.

Brave New World

One of the most famous twentieth century novels in the western world is a book called Brave New World. Written in 1931 by an Englishman called Aldous Huxley, it became a subject of much discussion as soon as it first appeared. The reason why Brave New World is still so famous is that it describes a terrifying future world that is becoming more and more possible.

Brave New World takes place six hundred years in the future. At this time there is a world government. Its aim is for people to be happy, so that there are no more wars or violence. This government uses several very powerful methods to control people. The first is that people are no longer born from human beings. Instead, they are cloned in factories. There are five different types of clones. The best type of clone, called Alphas, become the leaders of society. The second group, the Betas, also have good positions in society. There is only one of each Alpha person or each Beta person. However, with the three lower groups, one egg is used to create up to 96 clones. Each of these clones is of course identical. The only reason why scientists have not created thousands of identical clones is that they have not yet learnt how to do this. These lower groups do the harder, more boring jobs that are needed in society. For example, the lowest group, the Epsilons, are always factory workers.

As small children, each cloned group is taught to like and dislike certain things and people. For example, the second group, the Betas, are taught to dislike the lower groups because "they are stupid". While the Betas sleep, they are told that they are "glad they are not Alphas, because Alphas work too hard". In this way, the government makes sure that people are happy with their position in society and will not try to change things.

The government also keeps people happy with the use of a drug called soma that makes people happy. As a result, very few people are unhappy or feel any strong emotion. Again, the government wants people to be happy so that they will not try to change society.

In this novel, Huxley asks very important and serious questions, such as, "If we can completely control people, is that a good thing? If we can give people drugs to stop them feeling unhappy, is that good or bad? If we do this, do we just stop them feeling, so that they have no real emotions? Do we want real, sometimes dangerous human beings, or do we want a controlled, 'safe' society?" Today, more than seventy years after Brave New World was first written, these questions have become more important than ever.

Module6 War and Peace

The D-Day Landing—Passage 1

In September 1939, Britain declared war on Germany after Germany invaded Poland. The war, which lasted until 1945, is known as the Second World War. During the war, Germany occupied many countries, including France. The most important battle of the war in Europe was Operation Overlord, the military operation in 1944 to invade France.

Operation Overlord started when boats full of soldiers landed on the beaches of Normandy in France, known as the D-Day landings. More than 5,000 ships crossed the English Channel, carrying 130,000 troops to the French coast.

Troops from the United States, Britain and Canada took part in the D-Day landings. The operation was extremely dangerous and many soldiers were killed before they even got off the boats. American soldiers attempted to land at the most dangerous place, known as Omaha Beach.

The situation at Omaha Beach was so bad that the US army commanders thought about abandoning the invasion. Eventually, the soldiers made a breakthrough and the D-Day landings were successful. It was the beginning of the end of the Second World War.

Operation Overlord started as a story of danger and confusion and ended as a story of bravery and acts of heroism.

The D-Day Landings—Passage 2

The soldiers of Able Company crossed the English Channel in seven boats early on the morning of 6 June 1944. When they were about 5 kilometres from the beach, the Germans started firing artillery shells at them but the boats were too far away. The Germans continued firing and Boat 5 was hit one kilometre from the beach. Six men drowned before help arrived. Twenty men fell into the water and were picked up by other boats. As a result, they missed the fighting on the beach. They were lucky. If they had reached the beach, they would probably have been killed.

When Boat 3 was a few metres from the beach, the soldiers jumped out, but the water was so deep that some of them disappeared under the water. Many of the men were either killed or wounded by machine gun fire.

The soldiers on Boat 1 and Boat 4 jumped into the water, but it was too deep and most of them drowned. Half an hour after the first attack, two thirds of the company (a company is a group of about 100 soldiers) were dead. The survivors lay on the beach, exhausted and shocked.

After an hour and forty-five minutes, six of the survivors tried to climb up the cliff to get off the beach. Four were too exhausted to reach the top. The other two, Private Jake Shefer and Private Thomas Lovejoy, joined a group from another company and fought with them. Two men. Two rifles. This was Able Company's contribution to D-Day.

The D-Day Landings—Passage 3

On 6 June 2004, survivors of the D-Day landings from many different countries returned to France to remember their lost comrades. Many of them went to the cemetery and memorial which overlooks Omaha Beach.

The cemetery and memorial are situated on a cliff overlooking the beach and the English Channel, from where the boats attempted their landings. The cemetery contains the graves of 9,386 Americans who died during the landings. The memorial also contains the names of more than 1,500 men who were never found.

On the memorial, there is part of a poem called "For the Fallen", which was written by an English poet, Lawrence Binyon:

They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old.

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them.

The poem was first published in The Times newspaper on 14 September 1914 and can be seen on war memorials in many parts of the world.

Saving Private Ryan (1998)

A review by Jenny Carter, aged 15

Saving Private Ryan is a film which was directed by Steven Spielberg. The two main characters are Captain John Miller, played by Tom Hanks, and Private James Ryan, played by Matt Damon.

James Ryan is the fourth brother to be involved in the Second World War. His three brothers have already been killed, two of them in the D-Day landings in Normandy, the other in a battle in another part of the world. Their heart-broken mother receives news about all her dead sons on the same day. The US army decides to send a group of men into the French countryside to try to find the fourth brother. Captain Miller, a hero and survivor of the Omaha Beach battle, is chosen to lead the rescue team of eight men.

The film opens with a 30-minute sequence of the invasion of Normandy, probably the most violent images of war ever shown in a film. We see the full horror of war, and the chaos and senseless waste of life.

Saving Private Ryan is an unforgettable anti-war film and also a story of courage and sacrifice. Spielberg has made a lot of good films, but he has never made one with such a strong message. And the message is simple—We want peace; we don't want war.

D-Day + 2

To our astonishment, just two days after we had received our confidential orders to join the D-Day landing troops, and after a day fighting and seeing many of my friends killed by the enemy, we found ourselves outside a peaceful village in France. It was so sudden, after the mess and confusion of war on the beach.

It was late afternoon, and the sun was setting on a perfect country scene of farm buildings, a main street, a few shops, a garage and a church. But we hesitated because we were aware that there might still have been enemy soldiers. Our lieutenant told Private Kowalski and me to advance and check the village.

As we entered the main street, a young woman on a tractor drove out of the garage, saw us and called out something in French. Immediately five men came out of the bar, and two more from a farmyard, holding guns. I took off my helmet and yelled, "American! Put your guns down!" They gathered round us, shouting and shaking our hands. Some women appeared and kissed us.

We soon understood that the enemy had abandoned the village, so Kowalski went back to the others to let them know it was safe. I walked into a barbershop and stroked my chin, to show I needed to shave. The barber had a magnificent moustache, which he used wax to keep in shape. He filled a tin with cold water, and took out a razor from a drawer. He used a leather sharpener on the razor, and then gave me the best shave I had had in years. Finally he picked up a pair of scissors and a comb, and cut my hair.

When the rest of our company arrived, they unloaded their baggage and bedding while the villagers brought out some jars of wine, and laid a table in the middle of the street, which they then covered with plates of potatoes and carrots, ham and sausages. Someone shouted "Cheers!" in English and we all drank to liberation and to the French constitution. Some of our boys had never tasted wine before, and spat it out, thinking it was vinegar.

We gave stockings to the women, which they loved, and in return, they gave us perfume for our girlfriends. I was too ashamed to admit that I was too young to have a girlfriend. But the villagers treated us like heroes, and for a brief moment, I felt that all the fear and danger had been worthwhile. But I also remembered my friends who had died earlier that day, and wondered if they would have agreed.

Winston Churchill's Speeches

Winston Churchill is well-known as a statesman, politician and as the British Prime Minister during most of the Second World War. He is especially famous for his speeches which many believe made people even more determined to defeat the enemy. Many of these speeches contained lines which are remembered even today.

Churchill made one of his greatest speeches in 1940, when he was invited to become Prime Minister of Britain, and the leader of a new government. The country had been at war for over eight months, and he knew that it would suffer many great defeats before it would begin to win the war. So on 13 May 1940 he promised the House of Commons: "I would say to the House, as I said to those who have joined the Government, 'I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.' "

A month later, the Germany army had advanced across northern Europe, and the British Army had retreated to the coast of the English Channel. The only escape was to cross the sea back to England. Hundreds of small boats set out from ports on the English coast to bring back the soldiers from the beaches of Dunkirk in France. But Churchill encouraged people that this was only a temporary defeat in a speech which included the words, "We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender."

On 18 June 1940, Churchill gave another fine speech when he drew attention to the courage of everyone defending Britain. "In years to come," he said, "... men will say, 'This was their finest hour.' "

The Germans continued their attacks on Britain from the air. A small number of pilots resisted the much larger German Air Force. Germany lost many airplanes, and was forced to change their strategy. Britain was no longer threatened by an early invasion, and on 20 August 1940, he said, "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."

In two years, Germany began to lose some important battles. After a defeat in North Africa, on 10 November 1942 he made a speech with the famous words, "Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."

Many people believe that Churchill's leadership inspired people to remain brave in the face of Nazi Germany. His speeches are still remembered and quoted today, and remain some of the finest examples of spoken English.

How the United Nations Tries to Keep the Peace

If you see soldiers wearing sky-blue helmets, they are United Nations peacekeepers. The idea of UN peacekeepers began more than 60 years ago. They were the idea of Canadian Foreign Minister Lester Pearson, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work.

The first UN peacekeepers were sent to the Middle East in 1948. They only went to see what was happening, and were not armed. The first armed UN peacekeepers were sent to the Middle East in 1957 when there was a disagreement between the British and Egyptian governments about the Suez Canal.

Since then, there have been more than 50 UN peacekeeping operations, many of them since the year 2000. In 2003, there were fifteen, involving nearly 37,000 personnel (soldiers and civilians). UN peacekeepers have included soldiers and other personnel from more than 120 countries. Since 2000, most of the personnel have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh, India and Ghana. There have also been soldiers from China, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Canada, Ireland, Italy and Australia. During the 1990s, eastern European countries such as Poland and the Czech Republic also sent personnel.

There have been many UN peace-keeping successes, but also some failures. The UN couldn't stop a terrible civil war in the African state of Rwanda in 1995, despite warnings of the dangers from nearby states.

2.听力原稿

 

Module1

1: on a boat 

  A: Wonderful, aren't they? 

  B: Er ... I'm sorry? 

  A: The cliffs. 

  B: Oh, yes, they are. 

  A: Been here before? 

  B: Pardon? 

2: during a job interview 

  A: So ... you wrote in your application form that you're interested in mountains. 

  B: Yes. 

  A: Have you ever climbed a mountain? 

  B: No. 

  A: Have you ever read any books about mountain-climbing? 

  B: No. 

3: at a summer school 

  A: When did you arrive? 

  B: Yesterday. 

  A: Nice journey? 

  B: Very nice. 

  A: Did the immigration people ask to see your visa? 

  B: I didn't need to get a visa. 

  A: Really? Why not? 

  B: Because I was born here. 

  A: Oh yes, of course! 

Module2

Girl: I've just finished reading a fantastic book. 

Boy: What's it called? 

Girl: Well, actually it's a trilogy. It's called His Dark Materials. 

Boy: Oh yes, isn't it fantasy literature? 

Girl: Yes, it is. It takes place in several different worlds and it's really exciting! I love fantasy literature. One day I might try and write a fantasy novel. 

Boy: You're joking! 

Girl: No, I'm not. I think it's very easy to invent fantasy stories. 

Boy: No, it isn't. 

Girl: Yes, it is. I could tell one right now. 

Boy: Go on then! 

Girl: OK. Um ... Give me a moment ... A king goes hunting and comes to a cottage. A beautiful woman comes out and on seeing her, the king immediately falls in love with her. But he doesn't know that she's a witch—a very wicked witch. Now you continue. 

Boy: Me? 

Girl: Yes, go on, it's easy. 

Boy: OK ... So the king takes the woman back to his palace and he marries her, not knowing who she really is. While he's sleeping, the witch puts a spell on him and everyone in the palace, so that they don't wake up. 

Girl: Well done! See what I mean, it's easy. OK, I'll go on. The witch puts a spell on all the king's advisers and becomes the ruler of the land. She controls all the soldiers with her magic powers, and everyone in the land has to bring her half of everything they have. 

Boy: Um, yes ... all right ... The king's brother, whose name is Argon, rules a nearby kingdom. On hearing what has happened, he decides to go to war with the witch. Before leaving his kingdom, he calls his son to him and says, "If I die, you must take revenge." His son, who is handsome and brave, says he will do this. 

Girl: So the king's brother goes to war with the witch, but he and almost all his men are killed. But fortunately, his son isn't killed. 

Boy: Oh, good! Let me think ... OK, so the king's son, who's called Ferdinand, returns to his home. He's now the new king, of course, and he feels terrible because his father and most of his army are dead. After thinking about the situation for several months, he decides that he'll have to kill the witch himself. Now it's your turn. 

Girl: Um ... I'm stuck, I can't think what to say ... Oh, I know ... One afternoon, while sitting by a pool, Ferdinand sees a frog. The frog jumps out of the water and says, "Oh King, I will tell you how to kill the wicked witch." 

Boy: Oh, look at the time! We're late for our History lesson! We'll have to continue another time. Can I borrow the first book of His Dark Materials? I'd love to read it. 

Girl: Yes, I've got it here. Here it is. 

Boy: Great, thanks! Let's go! 

Module3

Part 1

My name is Liao Mei and I'm 20 years old. I'm an only child, and my friendships are very important to me. Ever since I was a kid, my parents always made sure that I had other children to play with, so I never felt lonely. I've also been very lucky because I've always had a best friend, someone who I've been really close to.

My best friend since the age of 11 was a girl called Wang Chaosu. We met at secondary school. We'd both just started there. I remember meeting her for the first time. I was walking home from school and she was going the same way. So we walked home together and discovered that we lived very near each other. We got on with each other immediately. We're two of a kind, Wang Chaosu and I—we're both quite lively. We found that we shared a lot of the same interests. She loved all kinds of sport and so did I. We soon became best friends. We used to go around to each other's houses all the time. Our parents got on very well too.

But having said this, I must say that Wang Chaosu and I quarrel from time to time. We had a really serious quarrel when I was 16. I became friendly with two girls that she didn't get on with, and I stopped seeing her for a while. It wasn't a nice thing to do and I regret doing that now. Wang Chaosu was really hurt. She didn't talk to me for about six months. But then we made up and became friends again.

Part 2

Wang Chaosu and I stayed best friends up to the age of 18, but then we both went to different colleges. She stayed in our home town and I went to a college 200 kilometres away. We're still good friends, but we're not best friends anymore. It's difficult when you're so far away from someone. I think that to keep your friends, there are certain things you have to do. For example, you must remember to keep in touch if you want to stay friends with someone. Wang Chaosu and I keep in touch through email when we're at college, and of course, we see each other when I come back home. We always have a lot to say to each other. We talk about our feelings and are very honest with each other. I think that's very important.

I regret to say that I have lost touch with four or five friends since I've been at college. It's a pity, but I've changed and they've changed too. We just don't click anymore. I think the reason why Wang Chaosu and I are still friends, as I said earlier, is because we have similar personalities, and we're both still crazy about sport. It's my guess that we'll always be good friends. I hope so.

Module4

Porgy and Bess started life as a 1925 novel by Dubose Heyward called Porgy, about the life of African Americans in Charleston. George Gershwin (1898–1937), a composer of popular and classical music, read the book, and thought it would make a good opera. With his brother, Ira Gershwin (1896–1983) and Heyward, they put together a wonderful new work, called Porgy and Bess, which opened at the Alvin Theatre on New York's Broadway on 10th October, 1935. It soon became a classic of modern American music, and the songs, especially Summertime and I Got Plenty of Nothing are very well-known and have become standards, particularly for the jazz repertoire.

At first it wasn't easy to put on the production, because it needed an all-black cast at a time when Afro-American actors were banned from performing, and Gershwin didn't want it done in "blackface", that is, with white actors made up like blacks. But in the end he had to accept white actors performing the roles of black people.

After much time and many difficulties the show was finally put on. At first it received depressing reviews, and George Gershwin died in 1937, without knowing that he had co-written an American classic, and one of the western world's favourite opera. But word spread around New York, the audiences grew bigger and bigger, and soon the opera was an extraordinary hit.

Porgy and Bess deals with the rhymes and rhythms of Negro life in America. It combines elements that have never before appeared as melodies and it shows the drama, the humour, the superstition, the religious fervour, the dancing, the misery and the high spirits of black Americans in the early 20th century.

Module5

Presenter: Our topic for this week is cloning. To discuss it, we have with us Dr Hugh Donaville, head of a company that has already cloned a number of animals. 

Hugh Donaville: Good morning. 

Presenter: Dr Donaville, could you begin with a simple explanation of cloning? 

Hugh Donaville: Certainly. Cloned animals are created in a laboratory. They take all their genes from a single parent. 

Presenter: So cloned animals come from one parent only. 

Hugh Donaville: Precisely. 

Presenter: How successful has cloning been so far? 

Hugh Donaville: Well, as most people know, in 1997 scientists cloned a sheep called Dolly. Since then, scientists have cloned animals such as pigs and cats. 

Presenter: You make cloning sound easy. 

Hugh Donaville: Do I? I wish it was. If it was easy, I'd be a very rich man by now. 

Presenter: So what are the difficulties? 

Hugh Donaville: Unfortunately, cloned animals get ill and die quite young. For example, Dolly the sheep died in 2003. She should have lived longer. 

Presenter: Why do they get ill? 

Hugh Donaville: We've got a few ideas but we don't really understand why yet. 

Presenter: I see. Now obviously, Dr Donaville, you believe that cloning will be beneficial to human beings. 

Hugh Donaville: Yes, I do. If I didn't believe that, I'd be in a different job. 

Presenter: Many people believe that cloning is wrong and against nature. How do you answer them? 

Hugh Donaville: I tell them that cloning is a way of helping nature. 

Presenter: But cloning treats animals and people as things, as products. 

Hugh Donaville: Nonsense! I don't think that's true at all. I don't think scientists treated Dolly the sheep as a product. She was a sheep! 

Presenter: I'm not sure everyone believes that. Also, people are afraid that scientists will create thousands of copies of the same person. 

Hugh Donaville: I agree, if that happened, it would be terrible. We need laws to prevent that. 

Presenter: I'm glad you agree about that. But why do scientists want to clone humans? I can't see any good reasons for this. 

Hugh Donaville: On the contrary, there are very good reasons. For example, if a couple can't have children, then cloning can give them a child. And if a child dies, we could clone it. 

Presenter: Create an identical copy, you mean? I think that's a terrible idea. 

Hugh Donaville: A clone can never be an identical copy of another person. It's not just your genes that create who you are. It's your family and society as well. 

Presenter: True. 

Hugh Donaville: To continue, we could clone animals that are becoming extinct. 

Presenter: Yes, if we were able to do that, it would be wonderful. I can see there are many arguments both for and against cloning. 

Module6

Interviewer: I'm talking to Alice and Henry Porter, who were both living in London during the Second World War, and who both experienced the bombing campaign which is known as the London Blitz. Alice, what are your strongest memories of it? 

Alice: Well, I was only seven years old at the time, and the first bombs fell a long way from my house. But I remember that the house shook, and I looked through my bedroom window. I remember seeing fires in the distance. I've never forgotten that. London was on fire all around me. There were so many fires that the clouds in the sky turned pink. Unforgettable. 

Interviewer: Yes, indeed. 

Alice: I also remember that my parents were very annoyed with me. 

Interviewer: Why? 

Alice: Because I was looking through my bedroom window. You weren't supposed to do that. You had to keep your windows covered all the time at night. 

Interviewer: Henry. What are your first memories of the Blitz? 

Henry: Well, I'm older than Alice, and I was 12 when the bombing started. The first thing I remember was the sound of the planes. They flew very low. My brother and I went out into the street to watch. We never told my parents about that. If I'd told them about that, they would have killed me! 

Interviewer: How did you feel when you went into the street? Were you afraid? 

Henry: Well, yes, I suppose I was. But I also remember feeling very excited. 

Interviewer: And did any of the bombs drop near you? 

Alice: Not on the first night, no. And I often wonder why. I suppose because we weren't near any factories and we weren't near the docks. A lot of bombs fell on the docks. 

Interviewer: And later? 

Alice: Later, yes. A bomb fell on our street. 

Interviewer: Did you see it? 

Alice: No. We were in the air-raid shelter. Otherwise I wouldn't have survived. Actually, we were in the underground station. That's right, the underground station. If I remember rightly, we weren't supposed to do that. 

Interviewer: Really? 

Alice: Yes. The government thought that it wouldn't be safe, so they put chains on the doors. A lot of people thought it would be the safest place, so they broke the chains. After that, a lot of people went there. 

Interviewer: And they were right. It WAS much safer in the underground. 

Alice: Yes, you felt much safer in the underground. There were shelters above the ground as well. And it was much noisier there. 

Interviewer: Henry, what's your strongest memory? 

Henry: One night, my father and me came out of the house later than everyone else. We had to run about half a mile to the underground station. And it was one of the worst nights. The sky was full of planes, and you could hear the sounds of falling bombs. That was terrible. I'll never forget hearing that sound. 

Interviewer: What else do you remember, Alice? 

Alice: The firemen. 

Interviewer: The firemen? 

Alice: Yes, they were wonderful. As soon as there was a fire, a fire engine arrived. I can remember them shouting to each other. Very brave men. 

Interviewer: How often did the bombers come? 

Henry: Every night. 

Interviewer: Really? 

Henry: Yes, and not just once a night. I remember counting the time between the raids one night—there was a raid every two minutes for about an hour. 

Interviewer: Thank you both for sharing your memories with us. 

Alice: You're welcome. 

Henry: WE should thank YOU. We appreciated the opportunity to talk.

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