Lesson 109 Part I

Lesson 109

Part Ⅰ Warming-up Exercises

Note-taking: Leaving a Message

Training Focus:

Note-taking: important points of telephone conversations

Directions: You are going to hear two short telephone conversations. Listen carefully. Note down the information you need to fill in the blanks in the telephone slips.

Key:

1. A: Hello! B: Hello. Is Bamboo Li home? A: She isn't home now. May I take a message? B: Yes, would you tell her Neil Young called or have her call me? A: Wait, let me get a pencil. OK? B: My number is 785----1234. A: That was 785----1234? B: Right. A: Anything else I should tell her? B: Tell her I have to work, so I will be late. A: What time? B: I'll pick her up at 8∶15. Got that? A: Got it. B: Thanks. A: Sure thing.

2. A: Hello. B: Oh. Is that Stuart? A: Yes. B: Hello Stuart, it's Fiona. A: Oh. Hi Fiona. B: Hi. Erm… is Judy there by any chance? A: No, sorry she's just popped out to the shops. B: Oh dear. Erm… could you possibly leave a message? A: Yes. Yes. Just a second, let me get a piece… bit of paper. B: Thank you. A: OK. B: Er… the thing is that we've arranged to play tennis this afternoon (Mm-mm) at 3 o'clock (Yes) … erm… but I've got a problem because the string on my racquet's broken (Mm-mm) but I think that Judy's got an extra racquet (Yes I think she has) and so I was wondering if you could ask her to bring the extra one along. A: Yes. OK. I'll do that. B: OK and…er … oh yes one other thing. She borrowed a book from me (Mm-mm) and I think she's probably forgotten all about it. I wonder if you could possibly remind her to bring that along as well. A: She knows what it is, does she? B: Yes, yes. It's a novel. A: Yes. OK. So bring extra racquet and… er… the book that she borrowed. B: That's right. (OK) 3 o'clock. A: I'll tell her. B: Thanks very much, Stu.  A: OK. Cheerio. B: Bye. A: Bye.

Lesson 109 Part Ⅱ Advantages And Disadvantages Of Telephone

Lesson 109

Part Ⅱ Advantages And Disadvantages Of Telephone

Ex. Ⅰ

Directions: Complete the statements with what you hear on the tape.

Key: (see tapescript)

Ex. Ⅱ

Directions: Re-arrange the statements in Ex. Ⅰ in the form of an outline.

Key: Ⅰ. Advantages of Telephone

A. Speed ---- getting an immediate answer

B. Directness ---- feeling closer

Ⅱ. Disadvantages of Telephone

A. Unwelcome interruption

B. No record

C. Possible misunderstanding

Tapescript:

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Telephone (2′32″)

----Which topic are you going to talk about?

----I'd like to talk about the first topic----on the advantages and disadvantages of telephones.

I think there're two main advantages of telephones. The first is speed and the second is directness. And provided you can get an immediate connection, it's obviously easier to phone someone rather than to write a letter. I always think it's such a long process writing a letter. You have to sit down and write it out or type it out. Then you have to search for a stamp then you have to walk to the pillar-box to post it. If you want information, it's often possible to get it very quickly by telephone, whereas a letter always takes several days. It's not only that the postal services are getting worse in many countries. I think it's also the fact that people don't always reply to your letters. Sometimes they never reply at all and at other times they don'treply immediately. So if you phone them, you can make sure that you can get an answer at once.

I think another advantage of the telephone is that it's personal. If you want to speak or get in contact with a friend or a relative you feel much closer to them if you're talking to them on the telephone. Uh, whereas in a letter when you are writing words down, it's rather impersonal, I think.

Now the other side of the topic, the disadvantages of telephones. There obviously are disadvantages. If you have a telephone at home, it often rings at an inconvenient time. At home, my telephone often rings when I'm sitting in my bath or when I'm watching my favourite television programme. And I find it very annoying. I think another disadvantage sometimes is that you can't have a record of a telephone conversation. And sometimes you might misunderstand what somebody's saying. Uh, and if it's a matter of really important information, it's probably safer to have it in writing in a letter rather than on a telephone. But telephones are very convenient. They are very swift, and I think they are very personal. Those are their advantages. And I can't really imagine how we get on without them.

Lesson 109 Part Ⅲ Alexander Graham Bell Directions:

Lesson 109

Part Ⅲ Alexander Graham Bell

Directions: Write down the pre-listening questions in the space given in Ex. I and try to answer these questions with your previous knowledge.

Key: 1. Who is Alexander Graham Bell?

2. Do you know anything about his early experience?

3. Have you ever heard of the name Thomas A. Watson?

4. What did Bell and Watson discover during their experiment?

5. How long ago did the invention take place?

6. Can deaf persons now use telephones to communicate with each other? How?

Now listen to the passage.

Ex. Ⅰ

Directions: Answer the questions according to what you hear on the tape.

Key: (see tapescript)

Ex. Ⅱ

Directions: Retell the story about Alexander Graham Bell by using the notes that you've made.

Tapescript:

Alexander Graham Bell (1'47")

Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876. But the story behind his invention of the telephone begins before 1876.

Bell first worked for his father. He taught the deaf to speak by using his father's system of “visible speech.” From this early experience with the study of sound, Bell became interested in the telegraph, a device which sends sounds by an electric current. During one experiment with his assistant, Thomas A. Watson, Bell was adjusting the tone of the telegraph's steel spring. He heard other sounds coming through the spring. This discovery showed him how the current could transmit the vibrations of a person's voice.

On March 10,1876, Bell and Watson were working in separate rooms. Bell spilled some acid on his clothes by accident and said, “Mr Watson, come here. I need you!” Watson heard the message through the telephone spring and came immediately. This was the first complete sentence transmitted over the telephone.

Within a year the new device was greatly improved. On April 3, 1877, Bell completed the first telephone conversation between Boston and New York, a distance of more than two hundred miles.

Now people almost everywhere in the world can speak to each other by telephone. A special telephone can also transmit a picture of the speaker as well as the voice. This device lets deaf persons use the telephone. By lip reading, or watching the movements of the speaker's lips, a deaf person can actually see what the person at the other telephone is saying.