1. Talk about a time when a friend or family member helped you in the past. Describe how the person helped you. Then explain why this was important to you.

When I was in the third summer vacation in the college, I found a job in downtown. I lived on campus at that time but the campus is very far away from downtown so I got to find a place to live nearby. There was one friend who studied in another college located near downtown. He called me to live with him in his dorm since all his roommates were gone. He introduced me to his campus and told me where to eat, where to buy necessities and where to work out. I didn’t have to pay anything for this housing service. Also, living in his dorm saved me a lot of time. I shorten the travel time from 2 hours to 20 minutes.

2. Some people enjoy taking risks and trying new things Others are not adventurous: they are cautious and prefer to avoid danger. Which behavior do you think is better? Explain why.

I prefer to take risks and try new things. I think taking risks is a way to improve oneself, a way to broaden one’s horizon. For example, if Columbia hadn’t taken risks, he wouldn’t have found the New World. If he hadn’t found the New World, his horizon wouldn’t have been broaden so wouldn’t other people’s horizon at that time. Also, trying new things is one of the best ways to learn. Take myself as an example, I didn’t like reading novels until my junior year in the college so novel was a kind of new thing to me at that time. But I tried to read some novels in my junior year, and gradually I became interested in reading novels. Later on, I even started to write my own novels. If I hadn’t tried to read novels, I wouldn’t have known how to write my own novels.

3. The man expresses his opinion of the university‘s plan. State his opinion and explain the reasons he gives for holding that opinion.

The university’s planning to broadcast classical music during mealtimes in cafeterias in order that students can relax and communicate more with each other. The man in the conversation thinks it’s a bad plan. First of all, he says that most of the students aren’t looking for relaxing in lunch time. They’d rather study there especially when they have exams coming up or when they have many assignments undone. The music will be distracting so the student’s won’t be able to concentrate. Secondly, most students don’t like classical music. If the cafeterias play classical music, students will be more likely to put on their personal music devices to block out the classical stuff.

4. Using the examples of the peanut bug and the morpho butterfly, explain the concept of revealing coloration.

Revealing coloration is a defensive strategy used by animals to protect themselves from predators. The professor uses two examples to explain this concept. The first example is peanut bug. The peanut bug’s back wings are usually closed and have bright colorful spots on them. When peanut is attacked, it suddenly opens its back wings to show its bright colors that surprise its predators. So it reveals the usually hidden bright color in back wings to startle its predators. Then the peanut bug can escape. The second example is morphobutterfly. Parts of Morpho Butterfly’s wings are very shiny. When the butterfly is resting, the wings are hidden. When the butterfly is attacked by birds, it flaps the wings to reflect flashes of light that can make it hard for birds to catch the butterfly. In other words, it reveals the bright color of its wings to confuse its predators. So the Morpho Butterfly can get away.

5. Briefly summarize the problem the speakers are discussing. Then state which solution you would recommend. Explain the reasons for your recommendation.

The man has to take two courses to fulfill the requirement but these two courses are scheduled at the same time. In the conversation, they talked about two possible solutions. The first solution is to do independent study in the Shakespeare course. He read texts, finish assignments on his own and have discussions with the professor. But he’s afraid that he won’t be motivated. The second solution is to take the Shakespeare course in another university. But it takes him one hour to drive back and forth the universities. I would recommend he to take the Shakespeare course in the other university. Since he won’t be motivated if he studies independently，this is a good way to motivate him. Although this will cost him some time and money, he will finish the course.

6. Using the points and examples from the lecture, explain the two pricing strategies described by the professor.

 The professor talks about two approaches to make initial price of products. One approach is to set the initial price high followed by a lower price later, because companies want to build a high quality image for new products and products with high price are believed to have high quality. Companies can make profits from customers who are willing to pay high price to experience high quality products, especially those innovative high-tech products such as video recorders, video cameras and even cell-phones. Another approach is to set the initial price low to undercut competitors. For example, if a new computer company wants to gain market share, it sells computer in an affordable price. So the company can appeal to customers who wouldn’t be interested to buy computers and those who want to change brand. The company can make profits through selling accessories to its customers.