AUDIO SCRIPTS
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H:
Mmm, that could be a big problem for us. It
would have a huge impact on our profits if
that information was made public. It would
also result in other patients coming forward
with complaints.
S:
Yes, it would be very damaging. But let’s
face it, all drugs have side effects, she’s just
been unlucky. I think we need to go softly
with this one. We should talk to her, be
very honest. And remind her that she has a
wonderful doctor to treat her. I think she’s
been with him for some years.
H:
True, but she’s not very happy with him at
the moment.
S:
It’s understandable, I suppose.
LESSON 4.5 RECORDING 4.7
My name is Jeffrey Davies and I’m a business
consultant. My job is to advise individuals and
companies on ways in which they can improve
their performance in terms of work processes,
team building and better customer and client
service.
I use the Internet all the time – for research, for
contact-building and networking, and generally
for keeping up to date with trends and issues in
areas of business that are relevant to my work.
In terms of research, I read a lot of studies
and articles written by academics and
researchers on topics that are linked to what
I do – work-place efficiency, staff training
and development, and so on. There is a huge
amount of material out there, of course, and
the hard part is finding out what I need to learn
about and not spending time reading through
what I already know. I follow a number of
management professionals online – their blogs
and articles – and I often look up the reading
which they recommend. I also often use an
RSS news feed. This lets me know if there are
any new and relevant blogs, articles and other
publications that’ll be useful to me.
As far as networking goes, services like
LinkedIn and more specialised professional
sites are very useful for making new contacts,
letting people know what I do and sharing
information with other professionals. In some
cases it leads to new working relationships
– working with other consultants in order to
share our experience and offer an expanded
service to potential clients. You can learn a
great deal from fellow professionals in this way.
It’s so important to keep up to date with
trends and issues in business, and the Internet
offers so much with its truly global reach.
The problem, always, is the sheer amount
of information and the lack of time to wade
through it. So people who can design really
good information selection systems – which
filter out key content and let you access it
quickly and easily – are going to make a lot of
money in future, I’m sure!
LESSON 4.5 RECORDING 4.8
Remember, anyone can create a website, so
there’s a lot of information out there and it’s
not easy to know if your source of information
is reliable and appropriate for your research.
But I can give you some tips to help you.
First, consider who has made the website.
Is the author a recognised authority on the
subject? Can you trust the person behind
the website? So, look for clues which
point to the credibility of the writer or the
organisation who created the website.
Secondly, you need to know why the
website was created and what its purpose
is. For example, if you want to find factual
information about a new drug, you’ll
want to know if the webpage is produced
by the company making the drug or by
an independent research group. The
information from the independent research
group may be more trustworthy.
Thirdly, you need to consider whether the
website is providing facts or if it is clearly
giving the author’s opinion. If it’s providing
facts, ask yourself what evidence the author
gives to back up his or her facts.
My next tip is about the age of the website.
You’ll want to know how old the website
is and if it’s been well maintained. It’s
important that the information you obtain is
up-to-date. You don’t want to use out-of-date
information in your research.
My fifth tip concerns the need to check
the information you find. Does the writer
indicate where their information comes
from? Can you check the information
from other sources, for example, from an
encyclopedia, an authoritative report or
article or from some published statistics?
Finally, see if the website provides links to
other relevant information. And if it does,
check that all the links work. You may also
want to check if the website has a real postal
address and telephone number so that you
can respond to the author or organisation.
You know, evaluating website information
is all about critical thinking. You need to be
constantly asking yourself questions while you
read a webpage so that you can decide if you
want to use the information in your research.
LESSON 5.1 RECORDING 5.1
1
I’m afraid I’ve had a lot of bad experiences,
and this was more of the same. It’s not that
it is inefficient, it’s just for me there is too
much waiting around. The last time was
a nightmare. Admittedly, it did involve a
stopover, and a missed connection, but even
so it seemed like everything went wrong.
I’m just glad I didn’t use one of the budget
carriers – it could have been even worse. The
weather started it all. A fogbound runway
meant nothing was leaving, and it’s true
you couldn’t see a thing. When we were
finally cleared for departure, it took almost
15 minutes to walk to the gate! I had priority
boarding and I’d booked an aisle seat, so that
was OK, but there was a lot of turbulence
shortly after take off, which scared a lot of
people. Then the transit lounge was closed
due to a security alert, and when I finally
arrived at my destination – guess what? Lost
baggage! My luggage had gone to Hong
Kong instead of Jakarta!
2
It’s a great way to travel, really. You can
work easily on board and the fares are
reasonable if you can book early enough.
I know a lot of people complain, and
for some people it has a bad image. You
know, they are always going on about the
delays because of signalling problems and
engineering work, but I guess I’ve been
lucky. Having said that, the last journey I
made was almost a disaster as there was
a last minute platform alteration, so I had
to run like crazy, but luckily I made it. It
seemed to be something to do with the
change to the winter timetable and some late
running due to the weather. It is supposed to
be a high-speed line, but it wasn’t that day,
I’m afraid. It hasn’t put me off though. Given
the choice, it’s how I like to travel.
3
The main problem is it is very unpredictable
as a way to travel – sometimes it’s fantastic,
fast and door to door – but other times it can
be awful, although getting out of the city is
better since they introduced the congestion
charge. It just depends. Last week I had a
terrible journey. There was a long tailback
due to a big accident. They talked about it
on the news – a multi-vehicle pile up, so that
really delayed things. Because of the lane
closures it caused a bottleneck, so the traffic
was very slow. You know, crawling along-
slower than walking – and very stop/start.
After about 45 minutes we started to move
properly again, but then there was another
problem. Someone had a breakdown. It
looked like a puncture, and was blocking
the carriageway, and right near a junction as
well! I don’t know – some days nothing goes
my way, but as I say, at other times it’s just
the best way to travel!
4
It’s not something I have used often, but a few
times, and generally I like it. It can be very
relaxing, and comfortable. The last time was
a bit different though. Well, there had been
engine trouble on the previous crossing so
everything was delayed. The Captain was very
apologetic and we did get an upgrade to a first
class cabin. Of course, by this time it was low
tide and we had to wait again – delayed sailing
they call it. Once we finally left the harbour
there was more rough weather, because of the
time of year. Most of the passengers and crew
were ill. It wasn’t pleasant, I can tell you. We
docked about twelve hours late, and I was glad
to get back on dry land. As voyages go, it was
one of the worst!
LESSON 5.2 RECORDING 5.2
Space tourism using ordinary rocket ships
has been talked about for a number of years.
We’ve all heard about Virgin’s plans to send
rich people into space. But recently a range of
new technologies to help people into space
has been suggested. In today’s technology
report, we’re going to look at two of them.
The first is the space train or Orbital
Maglev. A train carriage would be levitated
by magnets and would be contained inside
a vacuum tube. The final 20km of the
1,609km-long track would point upwards,
launching the carriage into space. The
space train is the idea of Dr George Maise
and Dr James Powell, who is one of the
inventors of the superconducting Maglev. It
is hoped that this system could significantly
reduce the cost of putting space tourists and
commercial cargo into space.
Let’s move on to another idea to get people
into space. Let’s look at the space elevator,
which was first talked about over 100 years
ago. The idea is to use a cable tied to a base
station to send elevators climbing into space
at a fraction of the cost of rocket-based launch
systems. A thin cable made from light material
would stretch from a base station near the
Equator to a point 95,560 km into space. The
Earth’s rotation and a weight on the upper
end of the cable would keep the line tight and
elevators travelling as fast as trains would be
sent up into space. Tokyo-based construction
company Obayashi Corporation is hoping to
have a space elevator capable of carrying 30
passengers a time working by 2050.
