GUIDE TO LISTENING 3PROFESSOR

Section 2 Guide to Listening 3

Professor:

Usually in groups of four or five. That’s the

Professor:

Oh, no, no, no. I mean . . . it may seem new to

beauty of this method. It teaches teamwork and

you, but, no, in fact, a professor named Christopher

Longdell introduced this system at Harvard University back

cooperation.

. . . around the 1870’s. And he always insisted that it was

Student A:

And then what? How are we . . . how do you

based on a system used by Chinese philosophers thou-

decide on a grade for us?

sands of years ago.

Professor:

You give a presentation, an oral presentation, I

Student B:

So then, they’ve . . . it’s been used in business

mean, and you explain to the whole class what decision

schools ever since the . . . when did you say, the 1870’s?

you made and . . . what recommendations you’d make . . .

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and then you write a report as well. You get a grade, a group

Professor:

Well, you see, Professor Longdell, he . . . he in

grade, on the presentation and the report.

fact taught in the law school at Harvard, not in the business

Student B:

Professor, is this the only way we’ll be studying

school. So the case method first . . . it was first used to train

law students. Then, a couple of years after that, they started

business, by using cases?

Professor:

Oh, no, it’s just one important way. Some classes

using it at Columbia University, at the law school there. It

are lecture classes and some are a combination of lectures

wasn’t until . . . When was it? Uh, probably about 1910,

and case studies and some . . . in some classes you’ll also

1912, something like that, that it was used . . . first used at

Harvard Business School.

use computer simulations. We have this software called

World Marketplace, and using this program, your group

Student B:

Then, it’s used in other fields? Besides law and

starts up your own global corporation and tries to make a

business?

profit . . . it’s actually a lot of fun.

Professor:

Oh sure, over the years, it’s been used in all sorts

Narrator:

Now get ready to answer the questions. You may

of disciplines. For example, my wife . . . she teaches over at

the School of Education . . . she uses cases to train teachers.

use your notes to help you.

Student A:

Professor Speed, I get that case study has been

Narrator:

Question 12: Professor Speed mentions several

stages in the history of the case method. Put these steps in

around awhile, but I still don’t quite understand why we’re

the proper order.

. . . well, why do we study cases, exactly?

Professor:

Okay, before the case method was introduced,

Narrator:

Question 13: What does Professor Speed say

about exhibits?

the study of law and business was very . . . abstract . . . the-

Narrator:

Question 14: What does the professor mean when

oretical. It was just, just lectures about theory. Professor

he says this:

Longdell thought—and a lot of educators think—that really,

Professor:

It wasn’t until . . . when was it? Probably about

the best way to learn law, business, any discipline you can

think of, is by studying actual situations and analyzing

1910, 1912, something like that, that it was used . . . first

used at Harvard Business School.

these situations . . . and learning to make decisions.

Narrator:

Question 15: Why does Professor Speed mention

Student A:

That makes sense, but . . . I mean, what does a

his wife?

case look like, exactly . . . I mean, what does it . . . ?

Narrator:

Question 16: In this lecture, the professor

Professor:

What does a case look like? Well, cases are basi-

cally descriptions of actual—let me stress that—of real

describes the process of the case study method. Indicate

business situations, chunks of reality from the business

whether each of the following is a step in the process.

world. So, you get typically ten to twenty pages of text that

Narrator:

Question 17: Which of the following reasons does

the professor give for using the case study method?

describe the problem, some problem that a real business

actually faced. And then there will be another five to ten

pages of what are called exhibits.

Narrator:

Listen to a student giving a presentation in an

astronomy class.

Student B:

Exhibits? What are those?

Student Presenter:

Well, uh, hi, everyone . . . Monday, we

Professor:

Exhibits . . . those are documents, statistical doc-

heard Don tell us about the Sun, and, uh, Lisa talk about

uments, that explain the situation. They might be oh,

spreadsheets, sales reports, umm, marketing projections,

Mercury, the planet closest to the Sun. My . . . my, uh,

anything like that. But as I said, at the center of every case,

report, what I’m talking about is the next planet, the sec-

at the core of every case, is a problem that you have to

ond planet, Venus. Okay, to start off, I’m going to tell you

solve. So, you have to analyze the situation, the data—and

what people, well, what they used to think about Venus.

First off, back in the really . . . in the really ancient days,

sometimes, you’ll see you don’t have enough data to work

people thought Venus was a star, not a planet, and . . . well,

with, and you might have to collect more—say, from the

Internet. Then, you have to make decisions about how to

actually, you know how you can see Venus in the early

solve these problems.

morning and in the evening? Well, so they thought it was

two stars, Phosphorus—that was the morning star . . . and,

Student B:

So that’s why we study cases? I mean, because

uh, let’s see, Hesperus, the evening star. And then, once

managers need to be able to make decisions . . . and solve

they figured out it was just one planet, they named it Venus

problems?

after the goddess of love—I don’t really know why, though.

Professor:

Exactly . . . well, that’s a big part of it, anyway.

And then later, people started studying Venus through a

And doing this, solving the problem, usually involves role-

playing, taking on the roles of decision-makers at the firm.

telescope, and they found out it was covered by clouds. Not

One member of the group might play the Chief Executive

partly covered by clouds, like Earth, but completely

Officer, one the Chief Financial Officer, and so on. And you

wrapped up in clouds. And since it was closer to the Sun

than Earth, people imagined it was warm there, like it is in

. . . you might have a business meeting to decide how your

the tropics. In the nineteenth century, there was this belief,

business should solve its problem. Your company might,

say, be facing a cash shortage and thinking about selling off

a lot of people believed, for some reason, that there were

one division of the company. So your group has to decide if

these creatures on Venus who were superior to us, almost

perfect beings, like angels or something. Then, uh, in the

this is the best way to handle the problem.

Student B:

So we work in groups, then?

early part of the twentieth century, people imagined that,

uh, under the clouds there were swamps and jungles and

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4 Section 2 Guide to Listening

Student Presenter:

Yes, Professor?

monsters. There was this guy, this author, um, Edgar Rice

Professor:

First, I just want to say . . . good job on your

Burroughs, he also wrote the Tarzan books, and, uh, he

wrote books in the 1930’s about . . . well, the series was

presentation, Charlie; it was very interesting, and then . . .

called “Carson of Venus,” and it was about some explorer

well, I just want to add this. You said you weren’t sure why

the planet Venus was named after the goddess of love. It’s

from Earth having wild adventures and fighting monsters

in the jungles. This idea of a “warm” Venus lasted until

true Venus was the goddess of love, but she was also the

the 1950’s.

goddess of beauty and . . . well, anyone who’s ever seen

Okay, so . . . Venus is the brightest object in the sky,

Venus early in the morning or in the evening knows it’s a

beautiful sight.

except for the Sun and the moon, and except for the moon

Student Presenter:

Okay, so, there you have it, everyone—a

it comes closer to the Earth than any other planet, a lot

mystery solved. Thanks, Professor. Well, I don’t have any-

closer than Mars, the, uh, fourth planet. One of the articles

I read about Venus said that Venus is Earth’s sister . . .

thing to add, so unless anyone has any questions . . . no?

Well, Caroline will be giving the next report, which is about

Earth’s twin, I guess it said. That’s because Venus is about

the same size as Earth . . . and uh, it’s made out of the same

the third planet, and since we all live here, that should be

basic materials. And Earth and Venus are about the same

pretty interesting.

age; they, uh, were formed about the same time.

But really, we know nowadays that Earth and Venus are

Narrator:

Question 18: How does the speaker introduce the

not really much like twins. For one thing, the air, the

topic of Venus?

atmosphere of Venus is made out of carbon dioxide and

Narrator:

Question 19: According to the speaker, which of

sulfuric acid—not very nice stuff to breathe. And it’s really

the following were once common beliefs about Venus?

thick, the atmosphere is. It’s so thick, it’s like being at the

Narrator:

Question 20: In this presentation, the speaker dis-

bottom of an ocean on Earth, so if astronauts ever went

there, they’d have to have a . . . something like a diving bell

cusses some similarities between Earth and Venus and

some of the differences between the two planets. Indicate

to keep from getting crushed. And they’d need really good

air conditioning, too, because it’s really hot down there, not

which of the following is a similarity and which is a

warm the way people used to think. All those clouds hold

difference.

in the Sun’s heat, you see. It’s hotter than an oven, hot

Narrator:

Question 21: Which of the following is not true

enough to melt lead, too hot to have any liquid water. So,

about the length of a day on Venus?

Narrator:

Question 22: In what order were these space

guess what that means—no jungles, no swamps, and no

probes sent to Venus?

weird creatures!

Okay, now here’s a really strange fact about Venus. It

Narrator:

Question 23: It can be inferred that the topic of

takes Venus only 225 Earth days to go around the Sun, as

the next student presentation will be about which of the

following?

opposed to the Earth, which of course takes 365 days—

what we call a year. But Venus turns around on its axis

Narrator:

This is the end of the Listening Preview Test.

really slowly. Really slowly. It takes 243 Earth days to spin

around completely. The Earth takes—you guessed it—24

[CD 1 Track 3]

hours. This means that a day on Venus is longer than a year

on Venus! In fact, a day on Venus is longer than . . . well,

than on any planet in the solar system, longer even than on

Lesson 9: Main-Topic and Main-Purpose Questions

those big gas planets like Jupiter. And here’s something else

weird. All the planets of the solar system turn on their axis

Sample Item

in the same direction as they orbit the Sun. All except

Narrator:

Listen to a conversation between a student and a

Venus, of course! It has what’s called a . . . wait, let’s see . . .

professor.

okay, a “retrograde” spin.

Student:

Professor Dixon? I’m Brenda Pierce. From your

Now, there have been quite a few space probes that have

Geology 210 class . . . ?

gone to Venus, so I’m only going to mention a few of them,

Professor:

Yes. I know. That’s a big class, but I do recognize

the most important ones. I guess, umm, one of the most

you. As a matter of fact, I noticed you weren’t in class yes-

important was called Magellan. Magellan was launched in

terday morning. Did you oversleep? That’s one of the prob-

1990 and spent four years in orbit around Venus. It used,

lems with an 8:00 class. I almost overslept myself a couple

uh, radar, I guess, to map the planet, and it found out that

of times.

there are all these volcanoes on Venus, just like there are on

Student:

Oh, uh, no, I didn’t oversleep. In fact, I was up at

Earth. The first one to go there, the first probe to go there

5:00—one of my roommates had an early flight and I took

successfully, was Mariner 2 in, uh, 1962. Mariner 1 was sup-

her to the airport. I thought I’d make it back here in time,

posed to go there, but it blew up. There was one, it was

but, uh, well, you know . . . you know how traffic can be out

launched by the Soviet Union back in the, uh, let’s see . . .

on Airport Road at that time of day. Anyway, uh, I know you

let me find it . . . hang on, no, here it is, Venera 4 in 1967 . . .

were going to tell us . . . give us some information about

and it dropped instruments onto the surface. They only

our research paper in class today. Do you have a few min-

lasted a few seconds, because of the conditions, the heat

utes to fill me in?

and all, but this probe showed us how really hot it was.

Professor:

Well, umm, a few minutes, I guess. This isn’t my

Then, there was one called Venus Pioneer 2, in 1978. That

regular office hour. I actually just came by my office to pick

was the one that found out that the atmosphere of Venus is

up a few papers before the faculty meeting.

made of carbon dioxide, mostly. And, uh, well, as I said . . .

Student:

Okay, well . . . about the research paper . . . how

there were a lot of other ones too.

long does it have to be?

Well, that’s pretty much it—that’s about all I have to say

Professor:

Well, as I told the class, the paper counts for 30%

about Venus, unless you have some questions.

of your grade. It should be at least twelve pages . . . but no

Professor:

Charlie?

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