Professors on TV

7/25/2019 Professors on TV

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Professors on TV

The author of the passage is describing the benets of professors making

appearances on TV. However, the lecturer disagrees with the opinion presented

in the reading passage.

Instead of the reputation that the professors acquire b appearing on TV, the

will onl gain some popularit not in terms of their academic eld, but rather in

terms of providing entertainment. The speaker believes that it will then reduce

the validit of the professors themselves as scholars. !or e"ample, the will not

be invited to academic discussions or conferences.

In addition, in contrast with the author#s claim that universities will get positive

publicit from such appearances, the speaker stated that the professors will onl

have less time for their students and the universities as a whole. $ince the will

spend most of their time merel on preparing and rehearsing before appearing

on TV, the will not be able to do their %ob.

!urthermore, the speaker e"plains that, the public will not necessaril benet

from appearances of professors on TV, since the public will onl care about

listening to brief information, not the one which is full of technical and analtical

data.

Essay #1

$tatement& Onlypeople who earn a lot of mone are successful.

'e used to be taught and thus believe that onl those who can earn a lot of

mone are destined to be successful, so to speak. (abe, this kind of view was

inherited from the past. )owadas, in m opinion, one should rst dene success

itself before making such arguments.

$o, what is success* $uccess is about getting all that ou want to have. It+s a

state that makes ou think that ou#ve achieved our goals or fullled our

plans. Hence, ou#ll feel both happ and satised. !rom this denition, we can

see that the above statement is alread awed.

$uccess doesn#t alwas have to be linked to mone and achievement, it includes

a lot of meaningful things to people. It could be anthing as long as people value

it. !or e"ample, in a sport term, a successful football striker is the one that has a

high goal to goal attempts ratios. $uccess is such a signicant thing that people


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achieve in life. In a famil, parents who are able to build their famil in harmon,

and thus live in a house with warmth and love, sharing everthing together can

also be called success, in comparison to other families who are in the contrar

situations. (other Teresa, for instance, had devoted her entire life in helping the

poor and had won man awards from it. -et, she never kept an of the mone for

herself. $he preferred staing and living with those people, despite the

opportunities to be wealth. Hence, to sa that she is not a successful

humanitarian would be underrated.

It is undeniable that rich people can have more opportunities to develop their

talents and improve their knowledge to become successful and therefore

become richer and wealthier. -et, if the do not grasp the opportunities, the

ma not know what to do with their mone.

It is true that mone ma reect people#s success, but it does not guarantee we

will be happ in our lives. eing rich or wealth is %ust a bonus. 'e all, however,

have di/erent criteria how we %udge our own achievements.

Bus Service Elimination Planned

The man clearl opposes the universit#s plan to discontinue its free bus service

for the students. He states that instead of terminating the bus service ande"panding the student parking lots, the universit should update the bus route

so that it can serve more students who are mostl living in the outer area of the

e"pensive neighborhoods. 0pgrading the parking lot will onl create more noise

and trac. Therefore, the man disagrees with this solution as well.

Social Interaction

The passage claims that people tend to alter their behavior with the presence or

the visibilit of an audience. This is strengthened b the e"periments of tingshoes and tping. 'hen some people were being watched when the#re ting

their shoes, the tend to do it faster than some other people who weren#t aware

of the audience. In the second e"ample, two groups had to learn to tpe. Those

who were aware of being observed tped faster and made more mistakes than

those who weren#t aware.

Field Trip

The woman was alread withdrawn from the waiting list for the spring break eldtrip. 0nfortunatel, she had alread promised the other professor to set up a

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museum e"hibition. $he had two options& rst, she had to ask the professor to

nd someone to replace her3 or, second, she had to nish the e"hibition setup

before the trip begins. In m opinion, if she had alread developed such

professional4based relationship with the professor, she should nish rst the

museum setup before %oining the trip.

Money

The professor di/erentiates between two denitions of mone, namel a broad

and a narrow one. 0sing the broad term, mone is anthing that can be used as

pament for goods and services, besides coins and paper bills. Hence, we have

another form of mone, called barter sstem. If a farmer took a ta"i service, he

could e"change or trade his vegetables as pament for the service. 0sing thenarrower term, mone is nothing more than coins and bills. $uch pament can be

considered legal, or is known as legal tender. In the 0$, it is illegal to accept

other pament besides using coins or bills.

Altruism of Meerats

oth the passage and the lecturer discuss altruism in terms of animal,

specicall meerkats, and human behavior. The author of the passage describes

altruism as an opposite act of being selsh, where the individuals performingaltruistic acts gain nothing for themselves.

In contrast to this, the lecturer refutes the passage. 5iving as evidence a recent

stud of meerkats, she argues that instead of risking their lives as sentinels or

guardians to the whole group of meerkats, the sentinel meerkats are less

e"posed to the predators. These sentinel meerkats seem to alread have full

stomach before guarding the whole pack. !urthermore, it is a mistake to consider

the act of these sentinels sounding the alarm to alert the pack from the

predators as altruism. In fact, it causes such panic among the pack that each

meerkat gets highl e"posed to the predators. 6ventuall, this kind of situation

leaves the sentinels with a better chance of escaping from the danger.

In addition to the meerkats e"planation, the lecturer gives di/erent arguments

regarding the altruistic acts done b certain people who share or donate their

food or organs to someone else. $he states that in the end the donors will gain

self4worth, either in terms of appreciation or non4material rewards from the

societ, rather than gain nothing nor little reward as the te"t mentioned.

Essay #!

$tatement& 7eople behave di/erentl when the wear di/erent clothes.

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It is commonl said that clothes are one of the basic needs for an human being

to protect themselves from di/erent environmental conditions. )owadas, the

term 9clothing: has been broadened. -ou have to take into account the qualit,

the stle and the cost of the clothes before deciding to bu, since it depends on

our a/ordabilit and the occasion. !or e"ample, when ou are at a formal part,

ou are e"pected to wear a suit if ou are a man and a gown if ou are a lad. In

addition, the stle and the qualit of the clothes among the guests more likel

will be di/erent. Therefore, clothes are not onl considered to cover a human

bod, but also to determine one#s personalit and status.

;n the other hand, it is undeniable that our e"ternal appearance reects our

attitude. (ost of us are tempted to tr to %udge a person#s behavior or attitude

based on what clothes the wear. 'hen we see a person wearing well4tailored

clothes, there Is an inclination for us to have a good opinion about the person.

Indeed, it is an unpleasant fact that we live in such a world, where people are

seen based onl on how the are dressed. 'hen we somehow come across an

untid person, a beggar for instance, with dirt ripped clothes, most of us will

probabl %ust walk b or sta awa without even noticing him. )evertheless, if he

appeared with a clean look, a nice suit, people might have looked or %udged him

di/erentl3 in addition, the could also throw a glance at him.


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His friend suggests two options to solve his problem& he can either borrow his

roommate#s notes or attend the Thursda class. In m opinion, it would be better

for him to sit in the Thursda class, as he mentioned that it is important for him

to do better in the sub%ect. =fter all, he could ask his teacher about the possibilit

to give the same lecture he wants.

Animal &omestication

To begin with, the passage lists two indicators that determine whether an animal

is suitable for domestication& the hierarchical social structure and how protective

the animal is of its territor.

;n the other hand, the lecturer also strengthens the point made in the reading

passage b using two di/erent animals. Horses, are the animals that can easil

be domesticated since the have a hierarchical social structure, namel a leaderto follow. The are also non4territorial animals, so the can also be put together

easil.

=nother kind of animal that the speaker describes are antelopes. The are

territorial animals and do not have social structure, which means that the are

hostile to each other and will not follow an leader. To sum up, it is easier to

tame horses than antelopes.

American Inventions

The 0nited $tates is such a big countr. Its people used to speak, act, and dress

di/erentl. However, since the inventions of cars and the radio, the people

started to have something in common. The cars connected the gap between

regions, consequentl bringing much more mobilit among =mericans. (oreover,

the e"istence of radio stations helped spreading the same news and songs

throughout the countr, which allowed its people to share the same information.

Team'or

The passage described teamwork as the best possible wa for organi>ations to

deal with certain new pro%ects3 however, the lecturer#s opinion contrasts with

that e"pressed in the passage.

!irstl, though it was said in the passage that the work done b a team would

probabl be faster than the individual work, the lecturer stated the opposite& it

could actuall be much slower. The reason is that the team members would

sometimes take more time than needed %ust to reach the same conclusions, or

even onl to simpl decide what is the ne"t thing to do.

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$econdl, the passage suggested that teamwork might give ou an advantage,

et the lecturer argued that it might also be a negative thing. The people who

made themselves leaders in the group ma %ust be wrong in certain decisions b

assuming that the had produced ver creative ideas. 'hen in realit, the were

not and would not work. 0nfortunatel, the rest of the team members reluctantl

opposed and would still follow them, resulting in the degradation of the team

performance.

!inall, the te"t noted that everone will feel responsible for their own part3

consequentl, the are all more e/ective as a team. However, the lecturer#s

statement is quite the opposite in suggesting that some team members are

there onl for the 9free ride:, and the don#t do much of anthing to contribute,

et still get the credit as a whole.

(ealt" Insurance

The reading states that all international students are required to purchase

student health insurance from the universit. It is strengthened b the foreign

student advisor as he e"plains about the o/ering of low4cost health insurance

through the school. He provides two reasons.

!irst, the health care costs in the countr are so high, that the would burden the

nancial condition of the students# famil if the need to be hospitali>ed for

some time.

$econd, the dicult of validating the foreign insurance providers# coverage for

the medical services has forced the local doctors and hospitals to stop accepting

it.

E)tra Money

=ccording to the conversation, the woman#s problem is that she needs additional

income. Her friend gives her two solutions& rst, she could get a %ob at the

cafeteria3 or, second, she could rent her e"tra bedroom in the apartment for at

least a fee of A2@B a month.

If I were her, I would choose the rst solution. =s for the second solution, even if

she would get the pament that could fund the rent and the utilities costs, she

might still have to live with a disturbing and nanciall irresponsible roommate.

The rst solution is better, because even though a %ob at the cafeteria provides

little pament, at least she could still have the free meal, not to mention that she

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would not even need to think about an troublesome roommates and contracts,

hence she could maintain her focus on her studies.

*a+oratory Microscope

The teaching assistant is e"plaining how to use the laborator microscope. It has

two di/erent sstems& the illuminating and the imaging sstem. The former, has

a built4in light source which allows its user to view the specimen that is thin

enough for light to pass through.

The latter is actuall a magnifing sstem which operates using a switch to

higher or lower the >oom power. If the user switches to a higher power, it will

>oom onl a smaller part of the specimen, and vice versa. In addition to the

switch of powers, there are two knobs to ad%ust& the large one is for the coarse

ad%ustment, whereas the smaller one is for the ner ad%ustment.

Flyin

The lecturer recalls her good old memories that she once was a fearless pilot.

However, her current perception on ing has changed3 she somehow shows a

sense of fear as mentioned in the reading passage. (an things that she sas

support the points made in the reading passage. )evertheless, she also adds

factors that were not mentioned in the reading passage.

The lecturer is pointing out the fear in her heart regarding the dangers of ing

commercial airlines nowadas. $he does not trust and is questioning the

maintenance standards set b government authorities and ight companies.

(oreover, she speaks lowl about the bureaucrac of the industr in which more

paperwork is involved than phsical work. This similar thought is reected in the

reading passage, in which the maintenance work in airplanes is neglected due to

increased reliabilit on paperwork.

The pilot then speaks of the cost4cutting and the long hours that have become a

tradition to sustain the airline industr. $he speaks on behalf of herself, ight

attendants, mechanics, air trac control sta/s, and her colleagues. ;verworkand cost4cutting break the pilot#s heart in particular. However, unlike the

passage, the pilot does not indicating an corruption. These thoughts about the

personnel are not discussed in the reading passage although cost4cutting in the

form of outsourcing is.

In conclusion, both the reading passage and the lecturer concur on the safet

issues. ;nl a few points mentioned b the pilot are not mentioned in the

reading passage.

Enlis" ,e-uirements

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=ccording to the notice, the college is going to change its language requirement

polic. The polic states that all the international students are required to have a

minimum score of EB for the T;6!F. In addition, students who scored lower than

EB are referred to the 6nglish Fanguage Institute.

The student in the listening passage is keen on this decision because of severalreasons. $he states that international students are still good enough in their

ma%or eld, despite their lower score in the 6nglish test. The second reason is

that if the are allowed to take a credit class, the will not have to stud onl

6nglish. Hence, the polic will provide a transition for the students before the

start taking the regular courses.

Myt"s . *eends

The passage denes mths as stories that e"plain events from the distant past3the are usuall tied to religious beliefs and the supernatural. 'hereas legends

are stories about a more recent period of time involving real people and

characters with heroic elements.

The lecturer provides an e"ample of 7aul unan as one of the popular =merican

legends. He was considered a hero among the lumber%acks, had a gigantic si>e,

and was believed to be the one who created the 5rand


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The professor presents urban parks as an e"ample of man4made areas, which

provide the best wildlife habitat. This habitat eventuall serves as a wildlife

conservator for birds, freshwater animals, and also small mammals.

(oreover, articial structures such as chimnes in some tall buildings, and the

urban drainage sstems, have attracted certain species of birds and also streamand marsh animals, respectivel. Therefore, creating another wildlife habitat in

the cit.

Essay #

$tatement& 7eople should sometimes do things that the do noten%o doing.

Fife is full of challenges. In order to be happ and successful, we need to prepare

ourselves for the une"pected. =lthough participating in en%oable activities is

alwas desirable, in m opinion we also have to be open to the une"pected when

it comes the times to do things we do not en%o.

7ersonall, I believe b doing things which we do not like will help us build our

characters and helps us mature. !or instance, when we love someone, we are

willing or forced to give up our freedom in order to look after them. There are

moments when we barel get enough time for ourselves and still have to do our

personal activities. $imilarl, when students are in school and universit, the

need to spend a lot of time studing. In spite of being tempted to hang out with

friends and attend parties, those who have self4control and keep their priorities

straight are the ones who get high grades. Through such life#s less preferablee"periences people become stronger, wiser and more responsible.

!rom a social perspective, we live in a such mutuall dependent world which

compels its obligations on us. 6ach of us belongs to diverse social groups and

has various social roles. 6ver one of us is supposed to attend birthda parties,

weddings and funerals to show how much we care about our fellowship.

7articipating in events not for our own sake teaches us to go beond our ego

limits, not to mention sharing the %os and sorrows of others.

In nancial terms, people need to work and thus spend, to keep the local,

national and international econom growing. 'e need to support our own famil

in particular and our communit in general. In fact, most of us work man more

hours than we would like to work. 'hat drives us to keep on working are indeed

our nancial needs, commitments and obligations. ;nl in this wa we are nall

able to live comfortabl.

In conclusion, life places huge tolls on us. participating in a wide variet of

activities, both favorable and unfavorable, we can discover more about our

unique selves and live to the fullest.

Sydney Opera (ouse

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The passage describes the design of the $dne ;pera House more like a piece

of sculpture rather than a building. The $dne ;pera House, which was

designed b the anish architect orn 0t>on, is located in a cape that spans into

the harbor. Its curved roofs resemble a sailing ship on the water, thus making the

professor classif the opera house as a unique blend of art and architecture,

engineering and technolog.

In addition, she states that the $dne ;pera House does not t an

architectural school of the twentieth centur3 therefore, this building is a one of a

kind. ;n the other hand, it has some elements of the organic school, following

the works of !rank Flod, but it has a lack of functional purpose. It was created

onl to please the ee. ;n the other hand, the professor describes the opera

house as a creature of the new computer age. =ccording to the passage,

comple" calculations and models were required to complete the building.

;verall, the professor describes the $dne ;pera House as an imaginative and

modern work, as long as its shape breaks awa from an international school of

architecture of that period, and new materials and engineering principles were

used during its construction.

2arcissism

The lecturer e"plains the narcissistic tendencies using e"perimental studies, in

which, groups are placed in hpothetical scenarios, such as what would ou

salvage to survive in an uninhabited island. The point is not what or how the are

going to answer, but rather to detect the narcissistic people among the groups.

The group members with tpical narcissistic qualities, such as being overl

competitive, showing e"troverted opinion and inclined to dominate their

colleagues. This strengthens the points made in the reading passage that

narcissistic people often nd themselves superior, due to their forceful,

competitive, stubborn nature. =las, the are perceived as leaders b other

members in spite of the fact that the are not necessaril making better

leadership decisions.

0"enever you use a semi colon 3 4 5 remem+er t"at +efore and after ityou need to "ave independent sentences and you do not need to use

linin 'ords suc" as 6and7 if you "ave a semi colon8

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Professors on TV