GUIDE TO LISTENING 9NARRATOR
Narrator:
Now get ready to answer the question. You may
Professor:
Good question. I’m going to let you all think
use your notes to help you.
about it for just a minute—talk it over with the person sit-
ting next to you, if you want—and then . . . then you’re
Narrator:
Question 5: What is the main topic of this
going to tell me.
discussion?
Narrator:
Listen to a discussion in an advertising class.
Narrator:
Question 4: What is the main purpose of this
Professor:
Morning, class. In our last class, we were talking
about regulation, about regulation in the advertising indus-
AUDIOS
CRIPTtry. In fact, you may remember I said that, in the United
States, in some European countries, too, advertising is one
Narrator:
Listen to a discussion in an art class.
of the most heavily regulated industries there is. What did,
Professor:
Hello, everyone . . . today I’m going to be show-
um, what example did I give of regulation, government reg-
ing you some slides of . . . well, I’m just going to project a
ulation of advertising?
slide on the screen and see if you can tell me who the artist
is and what the name of the painting is. This is his most
Student A:
Well, you . . . you gave the example of . . . that the
United States banned cigarette advertising back in the
famous painting. Here we go. Anyone know?
1960’s . . .
Student A:
Yeah, I’ve seen that painting before . . . I don’t
Professor:
The early 1970’s, actually. That’s right. Up until
remember the name of the artist, but I think the painting is
called Nighthawks at the Diner.
then, tobacco companies and their advertising agencies
would portray smoking as part of this . . . oh, this carefree,
Professor:
Yeah, that’s . . . well, a lot of people call it that,
this oh-so-glamorous lifestyle. And then it came out in
but the real name of the painting is just Nighthawks.
these scientific studies done by the government that
Anyone know the artist? Anyone? No? The painter is
tobacco smoking was really dangerous, really unsafe, and
Edward Hopper. Now tell me . . . what sort of a reaction do
so . . . no more tobacco advertisements. At least, not on
you have when you see it?
television or radio. You could still advertise in magazines,
Student B:
It’s kind of . . . lonely . . . kind of depressing, and,
on billboards, and so on, for a long time after that—don’t
uh, bleak. It’s so dark outside, and inside there are these
bright lights but . . . but they’re kinda harsh, the lights are,
ask me why, but you could. And some studies showed that
. . . the studies seemed to indicate that the advertising ban
and the people in the diner seem . . . well, to me, they look
. . . oh, and I might mention, there was also negative adver-
really lonely.
Professor:
A lot of Hopper’s works show . . . loneliness, iso-
tising by the government and anti-smoking groups telling
people not to smoke . . . anyway, these studies showed
lation. He was a very realistic painter. One of the reasons he
that smoking, that the use of tobacco actually went down.
was so realistic, maybe, is that he started off as an illustra-
tor, a commercial artist, and you know, of course, a com-
Okay, there were also some examples in the article I asked
you to read for today, other examples of government
mercial artist has to be able to paint and draw realistically.
regulation . . .
In fact, Hopper spent most of his early career doing illus-
trations and just traveling around. He didn’t develop his
Student:
There was the example from Sweden, about how
Sweden completely banned advertisements for children.
characteristic style, his mature style, until, I’d say, not until
he was in his forties or maybe fifties. Anyway, most of his
Professor:
Right, for children under twelve. That happened
back in 1991. Now . . . not to get too far off track here, but
paintings show empty city streets, country roads, railroad
since that article was written, there was a European Court
tracks. There are paintings of storefronts, restaurants, and
of Justice ruling, and it said that Sweden still has to accept
. . . let me show you another, this is the first one of his
. . . that it has no control over advertisements that target
mature paintings, and the first one that really made him
Swedish children, advertisements that come from neigh-
famous. It’s called The House by the Railroad. It’s pretty
bleak, too, isn’t it? You’ll notice as we look at more slides
boring countries . . . or from satellite. So this undercuts to a
certain extent what the Swedes were trying to do, but still
that, uh, well, there aren’t many people in the paintings,
and the ones that you do see, they look . . . you could
. . . you can see their intent to . . . to protect their children
almost say impersonal. Melancholy. That’s the . . . mood he
from, uh, from the effects of advertising.
tried to convey. Wait, let me back up just a second. He,
Student A:
Don’t you think that law was . . . a little extreme,
Hopper, always said he was just painting what he saw, that
maybe?
Professor:
In my opinion? As a matter of fact, yes, yes, I do.
he wasn’t trying to show isolation and loneliness but . . .
one look at his paintings tells you he wasn’t being com-
Personally, I think advertisements meant for children
pletely honest about this.
should be controlled—maybe controlled more carefully
than at present—but not necessarily eliminated. And I . . .
Student A:
Some of these paintings remind me of . . . of
speaking for myself still, I think they should be controlled
those old black-and-white movies from, like, the thirties
and forties.
by a combination of government regulation and self-
regulation. And that’s what we’re going to be talking about
Professor:
Yeah, I agree. That type of movie, that style of
today. Sometimes self-regulation works well enough, but,
moviemaking is called film noir. And yeah, it does have that
but if the idea of self-regulation is to create nothing but
same feel, doesn’t it? And it’s interesting that you should say
that, because Hopper did have an influence on some
honest advertisements, advertisements that are in good
taste . . . well, you only have to turn on your TV and you’ll
moviemakers. On the other hand, he did not have much of
an influence on his own generation of painters. Nobody
see that this system of self-regulation has its faults, right?
else painted the way Hopper did, at least not until . . . well,
until the photorealistic painters in the sixties and seventies.
But his contemporaries weren’t interested in realism. They
Narrator:
Question 6: What is the class mainly discussing?
were . . . well, we’ll see some of their works next week when
we talk about abstract expressionism.
Narrator:
Listen to a lecture in a world literature class.
TOEFL_ASAK_001-140.qxp 4/21/06 1:16 PM Page 10
10 Section 2 Guide to Listening. . . oh, and Jan Smuts of South Africa, and, well, there were
Professor:
So, for the rest of the class today, we’re gonna
others too . . . they recognized the need for an international
talk about the two most important poems, epic poems, in
Greek literature. And really, not just in Greek literature, but
organization, an organization to keep the peace. So when
in any literature, anywhere in the world. These are the Iliad
the agreement that ended the war, the Treaty of Versailles, it
and the Odyssey, written by the blind Greek poet Homer—
was called, was signed, it included a provision that . . . that
at least, we think he was blind. Now, if you happen to have
included formation of the League of Nations. Its headquar-
a copy of the syllabus that I gave you last week, you’ll
ters were in Geneva, Switzerland.
But, the problem with the League from the beginning
notice that we’re not gonna be able to . . . we just don’t have
was that some of the most powerful nations of the time
time to read all of these two poems and talk about them.
never joined. As I said, the, ah, the main drive, the main
An epic poem . . . I probably don’t have to tell you this—is a
impetus for forming the League came from Woodrow
narrative poem, a really long narrative poem. So we’re
going to read a few passages from the Iliad, and we’ll read a
Wilson, president of the United States. But during the
1920’s, the United States went through a period of isola-
bit more from the Odyssey. What I want to talk about today
tionism. In other words, it just basically withdrew from
are some of the . . . the ways these two long poems, espe-
international affairs. Wilson worked and worked to get the
cially their main characters, how they’re different.
Some people have said that the Iliad is the world’s great-
U.S. Senate to agree to join the League, but he never could.
Other powerful nations joined but then quit—or were
est war story, and the Odyssey, that it’s the world’s greatest
travel story. The Iliad tells about the Trojan War, the war
kicked out. This included Brazil, Japan, Germany, the Soviet
Union . . . The other problem was, ah . . . the League of
between Troy and the various Greek kingdoms. The Odyssey
Nations never had any power, really, no power to enforce
tells about a Greek warrior’s trip home, and all the amazing
its decisions. It had no armed forces. It could only apply
adventures he has on the way—and he has some wild ones,
economic sanctions, boycotts, and these were pretty easy
too. The warrior’s name is Odysseus, hence the name for
to get around.
the poem. I think the reason that I prefer the Odyssey to the
Iliad, myself, is that . . . well, I guess you could say, I just
The League of Nations did have a few successes early
on. It helped prevent wars between Bulgaria and Greece,
like the main character of the Odyssey better than the main
Iraq and Turkey, and Poland and Lithuania in the 1920’s.
characters of the Iliad. As I said, the Iliad is the story of the
And the League also had some success in refugee work and
Trojan War and about the clash, the personality conflict,
famine relief and so on. Oh, and it brokered some deals,
between the main characters. The conflict isn’t just
between warriors from either side—a lot of the story deals
some treaties to get countries to reduce the size of their
with an argument between the two strongest Greek war-
navies. But . . . the League was completely, totally powerless
to stop the buildup to the Second World War in the 1930’s.
riors, Achilles and Agamemnon. Anyway, the main charac-
So, ah, during the war, during World War II, I mean, the
ters in the Iliad, they’re strong, they’re great warriors, but
League didn’t meet. Then, after the war, it was replaced by
you know . . . they’re not as clever, not as smart as
the United Nations, which, of course, was headquartered in
Odysseus. He’s the one who thinks up the plan to end the
New York City.
war—after ten long years—and defeat the Trojans. He’s the
Still, the League of Nations was, ah . . . well, I think it
. . . the mastermind behind the scheme to build the Trojan
served an important role. It developed a new model of
Horse—you probably know something about that already,
the Trojan Horse has been in lots of movies and so on . . .
Internationalism. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth
anyway, he helps end the ten-year war, and then he sets off
century, “Internationalism” really just meant alliances of
powerful nations, and these alliances often dragged other
for home and his family. It takes him another ten years to
get home, where his wife has been waiting faithfully for
countries into conflict—that’s what happened, really, that’s
him for twenty years, but . . . but like I said, he has plenty of
what led to World War I. But the League was at least an
attempt to bring all the nations of the world together to
adventures on the way.
work for peace. True, it didn’t work, not really, but at least
Oh, and the other thing about Odysseus that I like is that
. . . well, the characters in the Iliad are pretty static . . . you
there was an effort made. Oh, and another thing I meant to
add, the structure of the League of Nations, the, ah, admin-
know what I mean? They are . . . they don’t change much.
This is true of most of Homer’s characters, in fact. But it’s
istrative structure, the “government,” if you will—was very
similar to that of the United Nations. The secretary-general,
not true of Odysseus. During the course of the epic, on
the secretariat, the general assembly, the security council,
account of the long war and all the, the bizarre experiences
these are all fixtures of the United Nations that came from
he has on the way home . . . he changes. He evolves as a
character, just like characters in most modern novels do.
the League of Nations.
Okay, we’re going to have to wait until next class to dis-
Okay, then, before we go on . . . does anyone have any
cuss the United Nations, but . . . I just wanted you to be
comments? Comments or questions?
aware of the League of Nations because of its role, its, ah
. . . place in history, which I think has often been
misunderstood . . .
Narrator:
Question 7: What is the main point of this lecture?
Narrator:
Listen to a lecture in a modern history class.
Professor:
All right, then, I want to talk about the founding
Narrator:
Question 8: What is the main subject of this
lecture?
of the United Nations, but before I do, I want to just men-
tion the League of Nations, which was the predecessor of
the United Nations. Last week, we talked about the end of
Narrator:
Listen to a lecture in an environmental studies
class.
the First World War—it ended in 1918, if you remember.
Well, right after the war, several leaders of the countries
Professor:
Let’s go ahead and get started. I’d like to finish up
our discussion of alternative energy sources this week
that had won the war, including Wilson of the United
. . . Remember our definition of an alternative energy
States, and Lloyd George of Britain, Clemenceau of France