最全TPO原文TOFEL听力

目录

TPO1 (10)

Conversation 1 (10)

TPO 1 Lecture 1 Contemporary art (11)

TPO 1 Lecture2 Geology (13)

TPO 1 Conversation 2 (14)

TPO 1 Lecture 3 Archeology (16)

TPO 1 Lecture 4 Biology (17)

TPO2 (18)

Conversation 1 (18)

TPO2 Lecture 1 Psychology (20)

TPO2 Lecture 2 Botany (22)

TPO 2 Conversation 2 (23)

TPO2 Lecture 3 Philosophy (25)

TPO 2 Lecture 4 Astronomy (26)

TPO 3 (28)

Conversation 1 (28)

TPO 3 Lecture 1 Environmental science (30)

TPO 3 Lecture 2 Film history (31)

TPO 3 Conversation 2 (33)

TPO 3 Lecture 3 Art History (34)

TPO 3 Lecture 4 Astronomy (36)

TPO 4 (37)

Conversation 1 (37)

TPO 4 Lecture 1 Biology (39)

TPO 4 Lecture 2 Literature (41)

TPO 4 Conversation 2 (42)

TPO 4 Lecture 3 Geology (44)

TPO 4 Lecture 4 United States government (45)

TPO-5 (47)

Conversation 1 (47)

TPO 5 Lecture 1 Sociology (49)

TPO 5 Lecture 2 Astronomy (50)

TPO 5 Conversation 2 (52)

TPO 5 Lecture 3 Chemistry (54)

TPO 5 Lecture 4 Literature (55)

TPO 6 (57)

Conversation1 (57)

TPO 6 Lecture 1 Economics (59)

TPO 6 Lecture 2 Biology (60)

TPO 6 Conversation 2 (62)

TPO 6 Lecture 3 Creative Writing (63)

TPO 7 Lecture 1 Theater History (68)

TPO 7 Lecture 2 Biology (70)

TPO 7 Conversation2 (71)

TPO 7 Lecture 3 Anthropology (72)

TPO 7 Lecture 4 Geology (74)

TPO 8 (75)

Conversation 1 (75)

TPO 8 Lecture 1 Animal Behavior (76)

TPO 8 Lecture 2 Art History (77)

TPO 8 Conversation 2 (79)

TPO 8 Lecture 3 History (80)

TPO8 Lecture 4 Chemistry (81)

TPO 9 (83)

Conversation 1 (83)

TPO 9 Lecture 1 Theater (84)

TPO 9 Lecture 2 Environmental Science (85)

TPO 9 Conversation 2 (87)

TPO 9 Lecture 3 Geology (88)

TPO 9 Lecture 4 Linguistic (90)

TPO 10 (91)

Conversation 1 (91)

TPO 10 Lecture 1 Marine Biology (92)

TPO10 Lecture 2 European History (94)

TPO10 Conversation 2 (95)

TPO10 Lecture 3 Ecology (97)

TPO10 Lecture 4 Psychology (99)

TPO 11 (100)

Conversation 1 (100)

TPO11 Lecture 1 Biology (103)

TPO11 Lecture 2 Architecture (104)

TPO 11 Conversation2 (106)

TPO11 Lecture 3 Environmental science (108)

TPO11 Lecture 4 Business (110)

TPO 12 (111)

Conversation 1 (111)

TPO12 Lecture 1 Biology (113)

TPO12 Lecture 2 Business (114)

TPO 12 Conversation 2 (116)

TPO 12 Lecture 3 Music history (118)

TPO12 Lecture 4 Environmental science (120)

TPO 13 (121)

Conversation 1 (121)

TPO 13 Lecture 4 Astronomy (131)

TPO 14 (132)

Conversation 1 (132)

TPO 14 Lecture 1 Psychology (134)

TPO 14 Lecture 2 Biology (135)

TPO 14 Conversation 2 (137)

TPO 14 Lecture 3 Astronomy (139)

TPO 14 Lecture 4 Archeology (140)

TPO 15 (142)

Conversation 1 (142)

TPO 15 Lecture 1 Psychology (143)

TPO 15 Lecture 2 Geology (145)

TPO 15 Conversation 2 (146)

TPO 15 Lecture 3 Art History (148)

TPO 15 Lecture 4 Biology (149)

TPO 16 (151)

Conversation1 (151)

TPO 16 Lecture 1 geology (153)

TPO 16 Lecture 2 music history (155)

TPO 16 Script Conversation 2 (156)

TPO 16 Lecture 3 biology (158)

TPO 16 Lecture 4 art history (160)

TPO 17 (161)

Conversation 1 (161)

TPO 17 Lecture 1 Art History(Prehistoric Art Dating) (164)

TPO 17 Lecture 2 Environmental Science(Milankovitch Hypothesis) (166)

TPO 17 Conversation 2 (168)

TPO 17 Lecture 3 History(Ancient Egyptian Calendar) (170)

TPO 17 Lecture 4 Biology(Octopus) (172)

TPO-18 (174)

Conversation 1 (174)

TPO 18 Lecture 1 Astronomy (174)

TPO 18 Lecture 2 Art History (176)

TPO 18 Conversation 2 (177)

TPO 18 Lecture 3 European History (177)

TPO 18 Lecture 4 Biology (179)

TPO 19 (181)

Conversation 1 (181)

TPO 19 Lecture 1 Linguistics(Proto-Indo-European) (183)

TPO 19 Lecture 2 Astronomy(Radio Astronomy & Optical Astronomy) (185)

TPO 19 Conversation 2 (188)

TPO 19 Lecture 3 Marine Biology(Plant Life in Salt Marshes) (190)

TPO20 Lecture1-Linguistics(Gricean Maxims) (195)

TPO20 Lecture2-Environmental Science(Interglacial Periods) (197)

Conversation2 Student&Professor (198)

TPO20 Lecture3-Literature(Folktales) (200)

TPO20 Lecture4-Biology(Snowshoe Hare) (201)

TPO-21 (204)

Conversation1 (204)

TPO 21 Lecture 1 Astronomy(Geocentric&Heliocentric theory) (206)

TPO21 Lecture 2 Computer Science(Software Development) (208)

TPO21 Conversation 2 (209)

TPO21 Lecture3 Biology(Snake Evolution) (211)

TPO21 Lecture 4 Art History(Alice Neel) (213)

TPO 22 (214)

Conversation 1 (Faculty Advisor) (214)

TPO22 Lecture 1 (Anthropology) (215)

TPO22 Lecture 2 (Astronomy) (216)

TPO22 Conversation 2 (Professor) (217)

TPO22 Lecture 3 (Zoology) (218)

TPO22 Lecture 4 (Music History) (219)

TPO 23 (221)

CONVERSATION 1 (221)

TPO23 Lecture l- Archaeology (Antikythera (Mechanism) (222)

TPO23 Lecture2 - Environmental Science (Earth Budget) (223)

TPO 23 Conversation 2 (223)

TPO23 Lecture3 Biology (Dolphins) (224)

TPO23 Lecture4 Choreography (Screen Dance) (225)

TPO 24 (227)

Conversation l Student & Clerk in the Bookstore (227)

TPO 24 Lecture l-Biology (Crocodile Vocalization) (228)

TPO 24 Lecture2-Art History (Modern Dance) (229)

TPO 24 Conversation 2一Student & Geography Professor (230)

TPO 24 Lecture3-Archaeology (Megafauna in North America) (231)

TPO 24 Lecture4-Astronomy (Shield Volcanoes on Venus) (232)

TPO 25 (233)

Conversation1 (233)

Lecture1-Conservation Biology [Assisted Migration) (234)

Lecture2-Music History (Béla Bartók) (235)

Conversation2 (236)

Lecture3-History (Egyptian Hieroglyphs) (238)

Lecture4-Animal Behavior (239)

TPO 26 (240)

Conversation1 (241)

Lecture3-Astronomy (Comets) (246)

Lecture4-Art Conservation (Archimedes Palimpsest) (247)

TPO 27 (249)

Conversation1-In the Library (249)

Lecture1-Marine Biology (Coral Reefs) (253)

Lecture2-History of Musical Instruments (Violins) (255)

Conversation2-Hydroponics (Chinampas) (258)

Lecture3-Zoology (Sauropods) (261)

Lecture4-Studio Art (Primary Colors) (263)

TPO 28 (264)

Conversation1 (264)

Lecture1-Philosophy (266)

Lecture2-Animal Behavior (268)

Conversation2 (270)

Lecture3-Botany (272)

Lecture4-Archaeology (274)

TPO 29 (275)

Conversation1 (275)

Lecture1-Ecology(Pedodiversity) (278)

Lecture2-Architecture(Reverberation) (280)

Conversation 2 (282)

Lecture3-Archaeology(Clovis Culture) (284)

Lecture4-Structural Engineering(Carbon Nanotubes) (286)

TPO 30 (288)

Conversation1 (288)

Lecture1 (291)

Lecture2-Paleontology (293)

Conversation2 (295)

Lecture3-Astronomy (297)

Lecture4-Music History (299)

TPO 31 (300)

Conversation1 (Community Planning in the Colonies) (300)

Lecture1-Music (Ancient Greek Music & Plato) (301)

Lecture2-Geology (Movement of Tectonic Plates) (302)

Conversation2 (Credits for Internship) (304)

Lecture3-Marine Biology (Coral Reefs & CoT starfish) (305)

Lecture4-Anthropology (the Botai People & Horses) (306)

TPO 32 (308)

Conversation1 (308)

Lecture1-Archaeology (Bananas & African History) (309)

Lecture2-Biology (Populations in an Ecosystem) (310)

Conversation2 (311)

Lecture3-Earth Science (the Copper Basin) (313)

Conversation1 (315)

Lecture1 – Archaeology (The Great Pyramid) (316)

Lecture2 – Environmental Science (Water Management) (317)

Conversation2 (319)

Lecture3 – Biology (Notothenioids) (320)

Lecture4 – Art History (Renaissance Gardens) (321)

TPO 34 (323)

Conversation1 (323)

Lecture1-Art History (Dadaism) (324)

Lecture2-Environmental Engineering (APS digestion) (325)

Conversation2 (327)

Lecture3-Botany (Plants and Pollinators) (328)

Lecture4-Business Management (The Life Cycle of Innovation) (329)

TPO34 (331)

Conversation 1 Policies For Library's Annual Book Sale (331)

Lecture 2APS Digestion (333)

Conversation 2 Discuss Welty's Writing Style (334)

Lecture3 Plants And Pollinators (335)

Lecture4 The Life Cycle Of Innovation (336)

TPO35 (337)

Conversation1 Part-Time Positi (337)

Lecture1 Animal Navigation System (338)

Lecture2 Earliest Permanent Settlement (339)

Conversation2 Source Material Of The Paper (340)

Lecture3 Frescos (341)

Lecture 4 Permian Extinction (342)

tpo36 (343)

Conversation1 change of academic plan (343)

Lecture1 Potential Energy Source - Helium-3 (344)

Lecture 2 Vegetation Discoloration And Mayan Ruins (345)

Conversation2 Talk Show Application (346)

Lecture3 Suburb Housing Design (347)

Lecture4 Gause's Hypothesis (348)

Tpo37 (349)

Conversation1 Ancient Peru Featherwork (349)

Lecture1 Soil Formation (350)

Lecture2 Cats' Domestication (351)

Conversation2 Preparation Of A Shakespeare Play (352)

Lecture3 Vasari's Biographies Of Famous Artists (353)

Lecture4 Endotherms And Ectotherms (354)

Tpo38 (355)

Conversation 1 Campus Housing For Summer (355)

Lecture 1 Tulip-Breaking Virus (356)

Lecture4 The Formation Of Gas Planets (360)

TPO39 (361)

Conversation1 Grotowski's idea About Thea (361)

Lecture1 Mineral Evolution (362)

Lecture2 Community-Determined Film (363)

Conversation2 Career Fair (365)

Lecture3 Thoreau's Ideas About Train (365)

Lecture4 Potential Alternative Source Of Energy-Cellulose (366)

TPO40 (367)

Conversation1 Discuss A Project On Service Design (367)

Lecture 1A Formal Analysis Of Art (368)

Lecture 2Cape Cod (369)

Conversation2 Ask A Librarian For Recommendation For A Job (370)

Lecture3 Greenhouse Effect (371)

Lecture4 Infrastructure Privatization (372)

Tpo41 (373)

Conversation1 Suggestions On Research Project (373)

Lecture 1 Desert Plants (374)

Lecture 2Christopher Columbus (375)

Conversation 2 Get Help On Paying Tuition (376)

Lecture3 Analysing The Ownership Of Works Of Art (377)

Lecture 4 Exoplanets (378)

Tpo42 (379)

Conversation 1 Discussion About The Bauhaus (379)

Lecture 1 Greek And Roman Statues (380)

Lecture 2 Distribution Of Galaxies (381)

Conversation 2 Find A Rehearsal Space (382)

Lecture 3 fungui (383)

Lecture 4 Service Failures (384)

Tpo43 (385)

Conversation 1 Printers In The Student Center Broken Down (385)

Lecture 1 Leaves Turn Color (386)

Lecture 2 Approximate Number Sense (387)

Conversation 2 Discussion About A Professor (388)

Lecture 3 Theodor Seuss Geisel (389)

Lecture 4 Electromagnetic Waves (390)

Tpo44 (391)

Conversation 1 way to solve a problem (391)

Lecture 1 An Application Of Nanotechnology (392)

Lecture 2 The Structure Of Theater (393)

Conversation 2 Discussion About The Monthly Exhibition (394)

Lecture 3 New Guinea (395)

Lecture 4 Renewable Energy Sources (396)

Conversation 1 Rent A Mailbox Or Not (398)

Lecture 1Techniques Used During The Renaissance (398)

Lecture 2 T-Cells (399)

Conversation 2 Get Information About A Program (401)

Lecture 3 Homogeneous And Heterogeneous (401)

Lecture 4 Early Pottery (403)

Tpo46 (404)

Conversation 1 Choose A Place To Live (404)

Lecture 1 Swarm Intelligence (404)

Lecture 2 Preference In Portrait Painting (406)

Conversation 2 Using Old Newspaper To Finish The Term Paper (407)

Lecture 3 Challenge To The Use Of Blue (407)

Lecture 4 Copper And The Penny (408)

Tpo47 (409)

Conversation 1 Background Knowledge Of A Concert (409)

Lecture 1 Hernani (410)

Lecture 2 Albatross (411)

Conversation 2 Feedback On An Assignment (413)

Lecture 3 Things Coaches Should Know (413)

Lecture 4 The Role Of Wind (414)

Tpo48 (416)

Conversation 1 Get A New Campus Job (416)

Lecture 1 20th Century Photography In The USA (416)

Lecture 2 Formation Of Some Special Volcanos (418)

Conversation 2 Take A Polish Class Or Not (419)

Lecture 3 Symbiotic Relationship (419)

Lecture 4 How Business Leaders Get Political Power In 19th (421)

Tpo49 (422)

Conversation 1 Restricted Access (422)

Lecture 1 Alaska (423)

Lecture 2 Montessori Method (424)

Conversation 2 Extension For Paper (425)

Lecture 3 Reindeer (426)

Lecture 4 Pottery (427)

Tpo50 (428)

Conversation 1 Straw Poll (428)

Lecture 1 Ancient Egyptian Glass (429)

Lecture 2 The Classification Of Creatures (430)

Conversation 2 Disturbance From Library Maintenance (431)

Lecture 3 American Realism (432)

Lecture 4 Petroleum (433)

Tpo51 (434)

Conversation 1 Biology Experiment Reproduction (434)

Lecture 1 Maize And Teosinte (435)

Lecture 3 Audubon The Famous Illustrator (438)

Lecture 4 Heliocentric Theory (439)

TPO1

Conversation 1

Narrator

Listen to part of a conversation between a student and a librarian.

Student

Hi, um…, I really hope you can help me.

Librarian

That’s why I’m here. What can I do for you?

Student

I’m supposed to do a literature review for my psychology course, but I’m… having a hard time finding articles. I don’t even know where to start looking.

Librarian

You said this is for your psychology course, right? So your focus is on …

Student

Dream Interpretation.

Librarian

Well, you have a focus, so that’s already a good start. Hmmm… well, there’re a few things… oh wait… have you checked to see if your professor put any material for you to look at on reserve?

Student

Aha, that’s one thing I did know to do. I just copied an article, but I still need three more on my topic from three different journals.

Librarian

Let’s get you going on looking for those then. We have printed versions of twenty or so psychology journals in the Reference Section. These are ones published within the last year. Now that I think about it…there’s a journal named Sleep and Dreams.

Student

Oh, yeah, the article I just copied is from that journal, so I’ve got to look in other sources.

Librarian

Ok, actually, most of our materials are available electronically now. You can access psychology

d atabases or electronic journals and articles through th

e library’s computers, and i

f you want to search by title with the word ‘dream’ for example, just type it in and all the articles with ‘dream’ in the title will come up on the screen.

Cool, t hat’s great! Too bad I cannot do this from home.

Librarian

But you can. All of the library’s databases and electronic sources can be accessed through any computer connected to the university network.

Student

Really?! I can’t believe I didn’t know that. It still sounds like it’s going to take a while though, you know, going through all of that information, all of those sources.

Librarian

Maybe, but you already narrowed your search down to articles on Dream Interpretation, so it shouldn’t be too bad. And you probably notice that there’s an abstract or summary at the top of the first page of the article you copied. When you go into the databases and electronic sources, you have the option to display the abstracts on the computer screen, skimming those to decide whether or not you want to read the whole article should cut down some time.

Student

Right, abstracts! They’ll definitely make the project more doable. I guess I should try out the electronic search while I’m still here then, you know, just in case.

Librarian

Sure, er… that computer’s free over there, and I’ll be here till five this afternoon.

Student

Thanks, I feel a lot better about this assignment now.

TPO 1 Lecture 1 Contemporary art

Listen to part of a lecture in a contemporary art class.

Professor

Ok, I’m going to begin this lecture by giving you your next assignment. Remember I said that at some point during this semester I wanted you to attend an exhibit at the Fairy Street Gallery and then write about it? Well, the exhibit that I want you to attend is coming up. It’s already started in fact, but it’ll be at the gallery for the next month, which should give you plenty of time to complete this assignment.

The name of the artist exhibiting there is Rose Frantzen. Frantzen’s work may be unfam iliar to you since she’s a relatively young artist. But she’s got a very unusual style, compared to some of the artists we’ve looked at this term. But anyway, Frantzen’s style is what she herself calls Realistic Impressionism. So you’ve probably studied bo th of these movements separately, separate movements, Realism and Impressionism, in some of your art history courses. So who can just sum these up?

Student

Well, Impressionism started in the late 19th century. Um…the basic impressionist style was very

dif ferent from earlier styles. It didn’t depict scenes or models exactly as they looked. Um… Impressionist

painters tended to apply paint really thickly, and in big brushstrokes, so the texture of the canvas was rough.

Professor

Good. What else? What were the subjects?

Student

Well, a lot of impressionist artists painted everyday scenes, like people on the streets and in cafes, uh, lots of nature scenes, especially landscapes.

Professor

Good. So when you go to the exhibit, I really want you to take a close look at a certain painting. It’s a farm scene. And you will see it right as you enter the gallery. The reason I think this painting is so important is that it stresses the impressionist aspect of Frantzen’s style. It’s an outdoor scene, an everyday scene. It’s kind of bleak, but you can really see those broad brushstrokes and the blurry lines. The colors aren’t quite realistic. The sky is kind of, well an unnatural pinkish yellow. And th e fence in the foreground is blue, but somehow the overall scene gives an impression of a cold, bleak winter day on a farm. So that’s the impressionist side of her work.

Oh, and speaking about farms, that reminds me. One interesting thing I read about Franzten is that when she first moved back to Iowa after living abroad, she often visited this place in her town called the Sales Barn. And the Sales Barn, it was basically this place where the local farmers bought and sold their cattle, their farm animals. And the reason Frantzen went there, and she later on would visit other places like dance halls, was to observe people and the ways that they moved. She really found that this helped her work---that it gave her an understanding of body movements and actions, how humans move, and stand still, what their postures were like, too.

So, what about Realism? What are the elements of Realism we should be looking for in Frantzen’s work?

Student

Um… real honest depictions of subject matter, pretty unidealized stuff, and pretty everyday subject matter, too.

Professor

Good. One other painting I really want you to look at is of a young woman surrounded by pumpkins. You will notice that the woman’s face is so realistic looking that it’s almost like a photograph. The

wom an’s nose is a little less than perfect and her hair is kind of messed up. This is realism. But then, the background of the painting, this woman with the pumpkins is wrapped in a blanket of broad thick brushstrokes, and, it’s all kinds of zigzagging brushs trokes and lines, kind of chaotic almost when you look at it close. And there are vibrant colors. There’s lots of orange, with little hints of an electric blue peeking out.

I find Frantzen to be a very accessible artist. I mean, some artists, to appreciate them, you have to know their life story. But here’s a little bit about Rose Frantzen’s life anyway. She attended art school, but was told by one of her instructors that she was not good at illustration, that she should go into advertising instead. So she took advertising classes and fine arts classes too, until she was convinced by the head of

easy as that, and so Frantzen had to paint other peopl e’s portraits at places like art fairs just to make money to buy paint for her more serious art work. No matter what, she never stopped painting. And now, Frantzen is doing extremely well. And her work is being shown all over the country. So I think most of us would be discouraged if we had to face challenges and difficulties like that. But what’s important is that you keep at it that you don’t give up. That’s what is really important to remember.

TPO 1 Lecture2 Geology

Listen to part of a lecture in a geology class.

Professor

Ok, let’s get started. Great. Today I want to talk about a way in which we are able to determine how old a piece of land, or some other geologic feature is - dating techniques. I’m going to talk about a particular dating technique. Why? Good dating is key to good analysis. In other words, if you want to know how a land formation was formed, the first thing you probably want to know is how old it is. It’s fundamental.

Uh… Take the Grand Canyon for instance. Now, we geologists thoug ht we had a pretty good idea of how the Grand Canyon in the southwestern United States was formed. We knew that it was formed from sandstone that solidified somewhere between 150 and 300 million years ago. Before it solidified, it was just regular sand. Essentially it was part of a vast desert. And until just recently, most of us thought the sand had come from an ancient mountain range fairly close by that flattened out over time. That’s been the conventional wisdom among geologists for quite some time.

B ut now we’ve learned something different, and quite surprising, using a technique called

Uranium-Lead Dating. I should say that Uranium-Lead Dating has been around for quite a while. But there have been some recent refinements. I will get into this in a minute. Anyway, Uranium-Lead Dating has produced some surprises. Two geologists discovered that about half of the sand from the Grand Canyon was actually once part of the Appalachian Mountains. That’s really eye-opening news, since the Appalachian Mountain Range is, of course, thousands of kilometers to the east of the Grand Canyon. Sounds pretty unbelievable, right? Of course, the obvious question is how did that sand end up so far west? The theory is that huge rivers and wind carried the sand west where it mixed in with the sand that was already there.

Well, this was a pretty revolutionary finding. Um… and it was basically because of Uranium-Lead Dating. Why? Well, as everyone in this class should know, we usually look at the grain type within sandstone, meaning the actual particles in the sandstone, to determine where it came from. You can do other things too, like look at the wind or water that brought the grains to their location and figure out which way it was flowing. But that’s only useful up to a point, and that’s not what these two geologists did.

Uranium-Lead Dating allowed them to go about it in an entirely different way. What they did was: they looked at the grains of Zircon in the sandstone. Zircon is a material that contains radioactive Uranium, which makes it very useful for dating purposes. Zircon starts off as molten magma, the hot lava from volcanoes. This magma then crystallizes. And when Zircon crystallizes, the Uranium inside it begins

the grain was formed. After that, you can determine the age of Zircon from different mountain ranges. Once you do that, you can compare the age of the Zircon in the sandstone in your sample to the age of the Zircon in the mountains. If the age of the Zircon matches the age of one of the mountain ranges, then it means the sandstone actually used to be part of that particular mountain range. Is everybody with me on that? Good. So, in this case, Uranium-Lead Dating was used to establish that half of the sandstone in the samples was formed at the same time the granite in the Appalachian Mountains was formed. So because of this, this new way of doing Uranium-Lead Dating, we’ve been able to determine that one of o ur major assumptions about the Grand Canyon was wrong.

Like I said before, Uranium-Lead Dating has been with us for a while. But, um… until recently, in order to do it, you really had to study many individual grains. And it took a long time before you got results. It just wasn’t very efficient. And it wasn’t v ery accurate. But technical advances have cut down on the number of grains you have to study, so you get your results faster. So I’ll predict that Uranium-Lead Dating is going to become an increasingly popular dating method.

There are a few pretty exciting possibilities for Uranium-Lead Dating. Here is one that comes to mind. You know the theory that earth’s continents were once joined together and only split apart relatively recently? Well, with Uranium-Lead Dating, we could prove that more conclusively. If they show evidence of once having been joined, that could really tell us a lot about the early history of the planet’s geology.

TPO 1 Conversation 2

Narrator

Listen to part of a conversation between a student and his professor.

Professor

Hi Mathew, I’m glad you could come in today. You’ve been observing Mr. Grable’s third-grade class for your approaches to education paper, right?

Student

Um, yes. I go over to Johnson Elementary School, you know, to watch Mr. Grable teach the children in class. It’s been amazing, I mean, I’m just learning so much from just watching him. I’m so glad the classroom observations are a requirement for the education program. I mean it’s like the best thing ever to prepare you to be a good teacher.

Professor

Well, I’m glad to see you feel that way, Mathew. You know, that’s the goal. So, I’ve been reading over your observation notes and I’m quite interested in what’s going on, in particular with the astronomy unit he’s been teaching.

Student

The astronomy unit?

Professor

It seems that Mr. Grable has mastered the interdisciplinary approach to teaching that we’ve been talking about in class.

Student

Oh! OK, yeah, so like when he was teaching them astronomy, he didn't just teach them the names of the planets, he used it as a way to teach mythology.

Professor

Really! So, how did he do that?

Student

Well, some of the students could already name the planets, but they didn’t know that the names had any meaning — the stories behind them.

Professor

So, he…

Student

He introduced Greek and Roman mythology as a way of explaining. Like, you know, how like Jupiter’s the biggest planet, right, and how Jupiter was the name of the king of the gods in Roman mythology, right? So since Jupiter, the planet, is the largest planet in our sola r system, it’s like the king of the planets, like Jupiter was the king of all the gods.

Professor

Oh, Mathew, that’s a great example.

Student

Yeah! And each student chose a planet and then did research on it to write a report and make a presentation. They went to the library to do the research, then they made presentations about the planet they chose.

Professor

So, in one science unit, in which the focus was astronomy, the students also learned about the literature of Greek and Roman mythology, used research skills in the library, wrote a report and practiced their oral presentation skills.

Student

Exactly! He used this one topic to teach third-graders all that stuff — how to use the books in the library, to write reports, and even how to speak in public. Plus they had a great time doing it.

Professor

You know, Mathew, this is just what we’ve been talking about in our class. I’m sure everyone can learn something from your experience. You know, Mathew, I’d love for you to talk about this astronomy unit i n class on Wednesday.

Student

Really?! Um… ‘cause I don’t really think I’ll have any time to write my paper by then.

Professor

Oh, you won’t need to write anything new just yet. For Wednesday, use your class observation notes and explain the things we’ve discussed today.

Student

Ok, that sounds all right.

TPO 1 Lecture 3 Archeology

Listen to part of a lecture in an archeology class.

Professor

OK, we’ve been talking about early agriculture in the near east. So let’s concentrate on one site and see what we can learn from it. Let’s look at Catalhoyuk. Um… I’d better write that down. Catalhoyuk, that’s about as close as we get in English. It’s Turkish, really. The site’s in modern day Turkey, and who knows what the original inhabitants called it. Anyway, u h…Catalhoyuk wasn’t the first agricultural settlement in the near east, but it was pretty early, settled about 9,000 years ago in the Neolithic period. And ... um... the settlement...uh...town really, lasted about a thousand years and grew to a size of about eight or ten thousand people. That certainly makes it one of the largest towns in the world at that time.

One of the things that make the settlement of this size impressive is the time period. It’s the Neolithic, remember, the late Stone Age. So the people that lived there had only stone tools, no metals. So everything they accomplished, like building this town, they did with just stone, plus wood, bricks, that sort of thing. But you got to remember that it wasn’t just any stone they had, they had obsi dian. And um... obsidian is a black, volcanic, well, almost like glass. It flakes very nicely into really sharp points. The sharpest tools of the entire Stone Age were made of obsidian. And uh... the people of Catalhoyuk got theirs from further inland, from central Turkey, traded for it, probably.

Anyway, what I wanna focus on is the way the town was built. The houses are all rectangular, one storey, made of sun-dried bricks. But what’s really interesting is that there are no spaces between them, no streets in other words, and so generally no doors on the houses either. People walked around on the roofs and entered the house through a hatchway on the roof, down a wooden ladder. You can still see the diagonal marks of the ladders in the plaster on the inside walls. Once you were in the house, there would be one main room and a couple of small rooms for storage. The main room had the hearths, for cooking and for heat. It would’ve been pretty cold during the winters. And it also looks like they made their tool s near the fire. There tends to be a lot of obsidian flakes and chips in the hearth ashes, but no chimney. The smoke just went out the same hatchway that people used for going in and out themselves. So there would have been an open fire inside the house with only one hole in the roof to let the smoke out. You and I would have found it a bit too smoky in there. You can see on the walls, which they plastered and decorated with paintings. They ended up with a layer of black soot on them, and so did people’s lu ngs. The bones found in the graves show a layer of soot on the inside of the ribs.

And that’s another unusual feature of Catalhoyuk, the burial sites. The graves have all been found under the houses, right under the floors. And it maybe this burial custom that explains why the houses were packed in so tightly without streets. I mean, you might think it was for protection or something, but

maybe they want ed to live as near as possible to their ancestors’ graves and be buried near them themselves. But it makes a good point. Based on excavations, we can know the layout of the houses and the location of the graves, but we’re only guessing when we tried to say why they did it that way. That’s the way it is with archeology. You are dealing with the physical remains that people left behind. We have no sure access to what they thought and how they felt about things. I mean it’s interesting to speculate. And the ph ysical artifacts can give us clues, but there is a lot we can’t really know. So, for instance, their art. They painted on the plastered walls and usually they painted hunting scenes with wild animals in them. Now they did hunt and they also raised cereal c rops and kept sheep, but we don’t know why so many of the paintings are of hunting scenes. Was it supposed to have religious or magical significance? That’s the kind of thing we can only guess at based on clues. And hopefully, further excavation of Catalhoyuk will yield more clues. But we’ll probably never know for sure.

TPO 1 Lecture 4 Biology

Narrator

Listen to part of a lecture in a biology class.

Professor

For today’s discussion, we’ll review the case study on how some animals have behaviorally adapted to their environments. Now you had to read about two animal species, the Eastern marmot and the Olympic marmot. Marmots are rodents. They are large ground squirrels, about the size of an average house cat. And they live in a variety of habitats. And even though they spend the significant portion of the year hibernating, according to this case study, marmots are still considered excellent subjects for animal behavioral studies. Why is that?

Student

Well, when they are not hibernating, you can find them in open areas. And they are pretty active during the day, which makes them easy to observe, right?

Professor

Uh-huh, so first let’s discuss the Eastern marmots. They reside throughout the eastern region of North America where there is a temperate climate, where the growing season lasts for at least five months of the year, which is when they do all their mating, playing and eating.

Student

Oh, I see. At first I wasn’t sure what growing season meant, just from the reading. But now I get it. It's the amount of time it takes for them to grow, right? So it would be five months?

Professor

Umm? Oh, uh… I’m sorry but no. It has nothing to do with that. It's not about the time it takes for Eastern marmots to grow. It’s when the food is available. That is when it’s not covered in snow and there is no frost covering the grass and, umm, vegetative parts of a plant’s herbs and the flowers the marmots like to eat. So growing season refers to the availability of the food they eat, OK? So now how would you describe the Eastern marmots’ social habits?

Student

Well, they are really territorial, and loners, and just so aggressive even with other Eastern marmots. And their mating ritual is just so impersonal.

Professor

Uh-huh? Now when they emerge in the spring from hibernation, the mating process begins. For them, well, they come together to mate and then they go their separate ways. Then about six to eight weeks after birth, the offspring leave their mothers.

Student

Really? Just six weeks? Is that possible for the offspring to make it on their own so young?

Professor

Well, it’s not as if they aren’t ready for the real world because they are. Remember, they mature quickly and the weather’s nice. Also they live in open fields where there is lots of edible vegetation. So roughly six weeks after birth, Eastern marmots are just old enough to take their chances of surviving in the temperate environment. So how does this relate to their behavior?

Student

Oh, I get it. Since the climate’s not too bad, the Eastern marmots do n't have to rely on each other too much and they really don't need to stay together as a family to survive either.

Professor

Uh-ha. Any contrast, the Olympic marmots? What about them?

Student

Well, they live together as a family and take care of their young until they are at least two years old. They’re really friendly with each other. And what I really like is that they even have greeting ceremonies. And they are not at all aggressive and territorial like the Eastern marmots. So their social behavior is so different from Eastern marmots because of the climate where they live? That seems so bizarre.

Professor

Well, the Olympic marmots inhabit meadows high in the Olympic Mountains where the weather conditions are much harsher. So there is a lot more wind and snow. The growing season only lasts about two to three months. So in that much shorter period of time, all the Olympic marmots, male and female, eat, play, work and nurture the young together. Because the climate is so harsh, cooperation increases the survival rate of the Olympic marmots. They keep their young at home until they are physically able to survive on their own. This could explain why the social behavior of the Olympic marmots is so unlike that of the Eastern marmots.

TPO2

Conversation 1

Narrator

Student

Uh, excuse me, Professor Thompson. I know your office hours are tomorrow, but I was wondering if you had a few minutes free now to discuss something.

Professor

Sure, John. What did you want to talk about?

Student

Well, I have some quick questions about how to write up the research project I did this semester—about climate variations.

Professor

Oh, yes. You were looking at variations in climate in the Grant City area, right? How far along have you gotten?

Student

I’ve got all my data, so I’m starting to summarize it now, preparing graphs and stuff. But I’m just. . . I’m looking at it and I’m afraid that it’s not enough, but I’m not sure what else to put in the report.

Professor

I hear the same thing from every student. You know, you have to remember now that you’re the expert on what you’ve done. So, think about what you’d need to include if you were going to explain your research project to someone with general or casual knowledge about the subject, like . . . like your parents. That’s usually my rule of thumb: would my parents understand this?

Student

OK. I get it.

Professor

I hope you can recognize by my saying that how much you do know about the subject.

Student

Right. I understand. I was wondering if I should also include the notes from the research journal

you suggested I keep.

Professor

Yes, definitely. You should use them to indicate what your evolution in thought was through time. So, just set up, you know, what was the purpose of what you were doing—to try to understand the climate variability of this area—and what you did, and what your approach was.

Student

OK. So, for example, I studied meteorological records; I looked at climate charts; I used different methods for analyzing the data, like certain statistical tests; and then I discuss the results. Is that what you mean?

Professor

Yes, that’s right. You should include all of that. The statistical tests are especially important. And also be sure you include a good reference section where all your published and unpublished data came from, ‘cause you have a lot of unpublished climate data.

Student

Hmm . . . something just came into my mind and went out the other side.

Professor

That happens to me a lot, so I’ve come up with a pretty good memory management tool. I carry a little pad with me all the time and jot down questions or ideas that I don’t want to forget. For example, I went to the doctor with my daughter and her baby son last week and we knew we wouldn’t reme mber everything we wanted to ask the doctor, so we actually made a list of five things we wanted answers to.

Student

A notepad is a good idea. Since I’m so busy now at the end of the semester, I’m getting pretty forgetful these days. OK. I just remembered what I was trying to say before.

Professor

Good. I was hoping you’d come up with it.

Student

Yes. It ends up that I have data on more than just the immediate Grant City area, so I also included some regional data in the report. With everything else it should be a pretty good indicator of the climate in this part of the state.

Professor

Sounds good. I’d be happy to look over a draft version before you hand in the final copy, if you wish.

Student

Great. I’ll plan to get you a draft of the paper by next F riday. Thanks very much. Well, see ya.

Professor

OK.

TPO2 Lecture 1 Psychology

Narrator

Listen to part of a psychology lecture. The professor is discussing behaviorism.

Professor

Now, many people consider John Watson to be the founder of behaviorism. And like other behaviorists, he believed that psychologists should study only the behaviors they can observe and measure. They’re not interested in mental processes. While a person could describe his thoughts, no one else can see or hear them to verify the accuracy of his report. But one thing you can observe is muscular habits. What Watson did was to observe muscular habits because he viewed them as a manifestation of thinking. One kind of habits that he studied are laryngeal habits.