2023年12月25日发(作者：)
Unit 1 Happiness
Part 1
Teacher: Hi, good morning. Did you hear about the lottery winner last night? The man
won…what?… Two million dollars…?
Student: No, three.
Teacher: Three million dollars? Three million. That’s a lot of money isn’t it? Do you think that
three million dollars would make you happy? …I’m asking you this because when you ask people
what they need to be happy, many people will answer “more money!” We assume that money will
make us happier. But is this true? Will winning the lottery help you achieve happiness?
Today we’re going to look at the idea of happiness, at the psychology of happiness---what makes
some people happier than others. We’ll look at three personality factors that we find in happy
people. To find out about these personality factors, psychologists talked to hundreds of people.
Now, first, they asked the people how happy they felt---you know, from “very happy” to “not
happy at all.” Then they asked some more questions. They wanted to find out about people’s
personalities, such as their attitudes about life, and so on. They looked at the differences between
happy people and unhappy people. They found three factors that are very important for achieving
happiness. So… let’s look at those factors now.
The first personality factor is that happy people are… satisfied with themselves. This means that
they like themselves as they are, and they’re happy with what they have. Happy people may not
like everything about their lives---they may be a little bit overweight, or may not have the best job,
or may not live in a big, fancy house, but they don’t need to change those things to be happy. They
think more about the things they are satisfied with, not the changes they want to make. This
feeling of happiness comes from the inside, not from something outside.
Part 2
Teacher: So…happy people feel satisfied with themselves. On the other hand, unhappy people are
often dissatisfied with themselves. They…uh…feel that something must change so they can be
happy. They think if they lose some weight or get a better job or a nicer house they will be happy.
They are always looking for something outside themselves to make them happy. But the problem
is---they never find it! No matter what they get, they’re still dissatisfied and unhappy.
The second personality factor is that happy people are optimistic---they look at the positive side of
life, not the negative. Now, we all have problems, whether we’re happy or not. But when happy
people have problems, they assume that things will improve. They don’t worry a lot and think
about all the bad things that can happen. Instead, they have a positive attitude. However, unhappy
people are the opposite. They are not optimistic and don’t have a positive attitude. When they have
a problem, they think about how bad everything is and assume that it’ll get worse. So they make
themselves even more unhappy when think about all the bad things that might happen.
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Finally, the third personality factor is that happy people have good relationships with other people.
They try to have close, loving relationships with friends and family. Studies show that close,
loving relationships are one of the most important factors in achieving happiness. So happy people
don’t spend all their time building their careers or trying to make money. They also spend time
building relationships with friends and family. Now, on the other hand, unhappy people don’t have
as many close relationships. They may have trouble making friends. Or they may spend all their
time working and then find that they’re very lonely and unhappy. But for whatever reason, they
don’t have close relationships and this makes them unhappy.
So…what does this tell us? Well, if you want to be happier, don’t assume that winning the lottery
will help. There are other, more important factors for achieving happiness. Now, let’s take a break,
and when we come back we’ll talk more about the factors that make a person happy…
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Unit 2 New Kinds of Food
Part 1
Teacher: Hi, everybody…how’s it going?…Good…..Has everyone turned in their homework? All
right, then let’s get started. If you remember, last week we were discussing some research in the
area of genetics. Today, I’d like to talk about something I’m sure you’ve all heard
about---genetically modified or “GM” food. Genetically modified food is food---either a plant or
animal---that has been altered in the laboratory by scientists. The scientists take something from
one plant or animal, and add it to a different plant or animal to make it grow in a different way.
Today, we’ll look at some of the benefits, and the possible risks, of genetically modified food.
Let’s start with a discussion of some of the benefits of GM food. Genetic scientists are really
trying to make food plants that are better than normal plants, to make plants that are altered in
ways that make the plant grow better or taste better or be healthier to eat than normal plants.
One benefit is that genetically modified plants may need fewer pesticides than normal plants. For
example, there is a type of corn that is bad for insects---when the insects eat the corn plant, they
die. However, the corn doesn’t hurt people. This type of corn is beneficial because farmers use
fewer pesticides to grow the corn, and so there is less pollution in the environment. Also the corn
is less expensive because the farmers don’t have to spend a lot of money on pesticides. So, by
using fewer pesticides, the corn is cheaper and the environment is cleaner.
Another benefit of genetically modified plants is that they may grow better that normal plants.
One example is a type of genetically modified strawberry that can grow in cold weather. These are
better than normal strawberries because farmers can plant the strawberries earlier in the spring and
later in the fall, when normal strawberries usually die. So, as a result, farmers can grow many
more strawberries than they used to. So that’s another benefit--- plants that grow better.
Finally, a third benefit is that many genetically modified plants stay fresh longer after they are
harvested. So, for example, there is a kind of tomato that stays fresh in the store for about two
months, instead of one or two weeks. This means that there is more time to get the food to the
stores and that stores have more time to sell the food. Less food is thrown away and wasted. So
it’s a great benefit to have food that stays fresh longer---and we can consume more of the food we
grow.
Part 2
Teacher: Now that we’ve looked at some of the benefits of genetically modified plants, let’s talk
about the risks of growing this type of food. We don’t really know what the harmful effects are,
but there are several things that people are worried about.
One risk is that the genetically modified plants may start to dominate the other wild plants in the
environment. This is a problem with some types of tomatoes, for example. The new tomato plants
are stronger than normal plants, and because they are stronger and grow faster than the wild plants,
the genetically modified tomatoes may start to dominate the environment, causing the wild plants
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to die. So having one plant dominate all the other plants isn’t good for the environment.
Another risk is that genetically modified plants will hurt wild animals and insects in the
environment. For example, the genetically modified corn I mentioned earlier has already caused
this problem. Now some butterflies that live near the corn are dying---butterflies that are good
insects, and don’t eat the corn. It’s possible that corn is killing the butterflies somehow, but we’re
not sure. We just know that more butterflies are dying than normal. But clearly there’s a risk that
genetically modified foods can hurt animals and insects in the environment.
But probably the most important risk is that genetically modified food may be harmful to the
people who consume the food. The alterations in the plants may cause serious problems for
people---we just don’t know. Scientists are trying all kinds of new things, such as putting the
genes from animals into a plant. For example, to make a fruit like strawberries stay fresh longer,
scientists took a gene from a fish---a gene that helps the fish live in cold water---and put that into a
strawberry. Will that strawberry be harmful to people? We don’t know. But it may be.
So it’s clear that there are some important benefits to genetically modified food but also some
risks---risks that a lot of people aren’t willing to take. So let’s stop here and discuss any questions
you have at this point…
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Unit 3 Public Art
Part 1
Teacher: Good morning, everybody. I hope you all enjoyed our trip to the art museum last week.
Today we’re going to talk…uh…more about modern art. We’ll…uh…take a look at some
examples of public art---art you can only find outdoors…uh…in public places. I’ll explain the
purpose of public art, and …uh… then I’ll describe some examples of public art that illustrate
three common types of modern art: pop art, realism, and surrealism.
But first, public art….These days public art is becoming more and more popular. Many business
and city leaders are putting up art in public places---in parks and gardens, near office buildings,
and so on. Cities like to put art in public places for a couple of reasons. First of all, art helps to
make our cities look more beautiful and interesting. Also, when art is outdoors, many people can
look at it and enjoy it every day; they don’t have to go to a museum. So having art in public places
lets more people enjoy art every day.
Now, I’m going to move on to some examples of public art. Here’s our first example---a silver
spoon and a red cherry. This piece is huge: it’s twenty-nine feet wide and over fifty feet long! It’s
made of metal---steel and aluminum. It’s painted silver and bright red to look like a spoon with a
red cherry on it. The sculpture is a good example of pop art. Pop artists like to make art that shows
popular things---things people see in their everyday lives. This artist likes to take common objects,
like food, and make them into huge sculptures. So what do you think about it? Anyone?
Student 1: I think it’s great! It’s really unusual. I like it because it’s simple and easy to understand.
Teacher: Yes, that’s why many people like pop art. Any other opinions? Yes…Mark?
Student 2: Well, I think it’s OK, but I … I think art that is out in public should be something
important, something that’s very beautiful or that means something. It shouldn’t just be… just
some everyday thing, like…a spoon.
Teacher: Interesting point. So you can see that one problem with public art is that people interpret
the purpose differently---they disagree about what it should look like or mean. And some people
may like or understand a piece of art, while other people may not like it at all.
Part 2
Teacher: As I already mentioned, one purpose of public art is to add beauty to public places where
everyone can enjoy it. But another purpose of art is to illustrate ideas or concepts---to show some
kind of meaning. Instead of using words, artists can send messages through their art to people who
see it. Sometimes, artists even use their art to promote their own beliefs. To give you some
examples, here are a couple of sculptures that were made to promote the concept of peace. The
first one is a large---about sixteen-foot tall---metal sculpture that shows a young woman on a
horse. Notice how real and lifelike the features of the woman and the horse look. Because they are
so realistic, we call this style of art realism. But the woman in this sculpture is actually a symbol
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for peace. So in this example, the art is realistic and symbolizes a concept---the concept of peace.
Any questions so far?…OK then. Let’s take a look at another sculpture that was made to promote
the idea of peace. It’s also made of metal and looks like a gun. It’s a little smaller than the first
example. It’s about six feet wide and thirteen feet long---huge for a gun. It looks just like a gun,
until you notice that it is tied into a knot at the end. We all know that it is impossible to tie a gun
into a knot, right? And so, because it’s impossible, this sculpture is a great example of surrealism.
Also, as you know, a gun itself doesn’t symbolize peace. However, because the gun is tied into a
knot and can’t be fired, it illustrates the concept of peace.
And so, in these three examples, we can see how public art can be used to make our cities more
beautiful and interesting, and we can see how public art can communicate ideas or concepts to
people. Let’s take a break now, and when we come back we’ll look at some more examples of
modern sculpture…
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Unit 4 Journey to Antarctica
Part 1
Teacher: Good afternoon. Please take your seats. I have a lot to discuss today. Today I’m going to
talk about one of the greatest adventures of the twentieth century---Ernest Shackleton’s trip to
Antarctica. Now, there are other explorers who have been to Antarctica, but Shackleton’s trip is
especially interesting because his goal was to be the first person to walk across the continent of
Antarctica. Also, as you’ll find out, this trip was also special because of the problems and
difficulties that Shackleton and his crew endured along the way. In fact---and this is
interesting---Shackleton made his trip to Antarctica on a ship called the Endurance. It’s almost as
if he somehow knew about the difficult events to come.
Let’s begin in England. The Endurance left London in 1914 with a crew of twenty-nine men,
sixty-nine sled dogs, and a cat. After stopping in Argentina, the ship proceeded to South Georgia,
an island about 800 miles from Antarctica. Then, on December 5, 1914, the Endurance left South
Georgia. And right away, the ship entered water that was filled with ice. However, despite the
danger, Shackleton and his crew proceeded on their journey. Shackleton believed that they could
reach the Antarctic continent despite the ice. He was wrong about this, however, and on January
18, 1915, as the Endurance approached Antarctica, it became stuck in the ice, it couldn’t go
anywhere. The crew stayed on the ship, which floated along with the ice for more than ten months.
During that time, the crew lived on the ship, although they could go down on the ice and walk
around if it was not too cold.
On October 27, 1915, Shackleton ordered the crew to leave the Endurance. They took food and
other supplies (including three smaller boats) off the ship and set up camp on a large piece of
floating ice. This turned out to be a good decision, because just a month later, they watched as
their ship was crushed by the ice and sank under the water.
Part 2
Teacher: So…is everyone with me so far? Any questions? …OK, then let’s continue. For the next
six months, the crew of the Endurance lived on the ice floating around the edge of Antarctica.
They ate the food from the ship, but when that was gone, they hunted animals in the area and
finally killed and ate their dogs. Finally, in April of 1916, the crew saw land. It was Elephant
Island, which was about 100 miles away. They knew that the ice below them was getting thinner
and might break at any time, so they decided to proceed to the island.
So, on April 9, 1916, Shackleton and his crew got into the three small boats they rescued from the
Endurance before it sank. They put all their supplies in the boats and began the journey to
Elephant Island. It took them seven days to get there. The journey was terrible and they all almost
died.
So now the crew was on land, but there was no hope that they would be rescued form Elephant
Island. It was too far away from anything. The nearest people were on South Georgia Island, over
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800 miles away. Despite the danger, Shackleton decided to go to South Georgia. He knew it was
their only hope for rescue. So on April 24, 1916, Shackleton and five men left in one of the small
boats to try to get to South Georgia. Twenty men stayed on Elephant Island.
After seventeen days in stormy seas, Shackleton and his men reached South Georgia. But they
weren’t finished yet---they had to walk for thirty-six hours to reach the whaling station. Finally, on
May 20, they reached the whalers. But remember---Shackleton still had to rescue his men on
Elephant Island. This took more than three months. Three ships tried to get to Elephant Island, but
they couldn’t get there because of all the ice.
Finally, on August 30,1916---twenty-two months after they left on their journey---Shackleton
rescued his men. Amazingly, everyone on the island was alive and they were all rescued. It’s hard
to believe, isn’t it? So, as you see, this is an important and interesting example of exploration from
the last century.
Now let’s take a look at some other famous explorers of the twentieth century…
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Unit 5 Violence on Television
Part 1
Teacher: Hello, everyone. Are you ready to get started? …OK, today I’d like to continue our
discussion of violence in the media by focusing on television---on TV violence and its impact on
children. First I’ll discuss how much violence is on TV, and then we’ll talk about the impact of TV
violence on children. There’s a lot of debate about this issue today because children watch a lot of
TV, right?
TV has a huge impact on children; kids today watch a lot of TV. In the U.S., almost all families
have a TV---ninety-eight percent. Many families have more than one TV. Fifty-two percent of
children have televisions in their bedrooms, so they can watch TV whenever they want. And how
much TV does the average child watch each day? Can anyone guess?
Student 1: Two hours?
Teacher: OK, that’s one guess. Anyone else?
Student 2: Four?
Teacher: Yes. It’s about…about three to four hours of TV every day, or almost 1,500 hours a year.
Now, compare that to the amount of time that kids spend in school each year, about 900 hours, and
you can see that TV must have a big impact.
Now, many people feel that children shows, such as cartoons, are much too violent. Some people
even feel that the violence on television is teaching kids to be more violent. But is this true? Is
there a link between the violence children see on TV and real violence? To answer this question, I
want to focus on some of the research---research that has been done to assess the violence on
television and how it affects children.
To assess how much violence is on TV, research has focused on counting the number of acts of
violence on TV in an average day. Now, this includes any act that could hurt or kill people in real
life. Surprisingly, cartoons for children have the most violence---more than many shows for adults.
Cartoons have an average of thirty-two violent acts per hour. So, thirty-two times every hour, one
cartoon character hurts another character in some way. Well, you’ve seen this in cartoons, I’m sure.
The characters hit each other on the head, or shoot each other---many different violent acts.
Other kids shows have a lot of violence as well. For example, many kids shows have characters
that fight each other---hit and kick and punch each other---so those are very violent as well.
Part 2
Teacher: So, by counting all these acts of violence, we can estimate that by the time a child is
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twelve, he or she will have seen an average of about 100,000 acts of violence on television. That’s
about thirty violent acts per day! But does the violence really cause children to act more violently?
Well, that leads us to our second question: how do we assess the impact of TV violence on
children?
First, we’ll focus on some immediate effects of watching TV violence---what happens
immediately after a child watches something violent on TV. In the first study we’ll look at today, a
group of children saw a TV show of a child hitting and kicking a doll. Then, after they watched
the video, each child was left alone in a room with the same type of doll. And guess what? All the
children in this study---100 percent---hit and kicked the doll, just like they saw on TV. So the link
here between what kids see and what they do seems quite strong.
Another way to assess the effects of TV violence on children is to focus on the long-term
effects---what happens many years after a child watches violent TV. Now let’s talk about the
second study. In 1960, researchers studied eight-year-old children in a typical American city. They
studied how much violent TV the children watched and whether the children acted violently at
home or at school. Then, ten years later, they studied the same children at age eighteen. The
researchers found that children who watched a lot of violent TV at age eight were more violent at
age eighteen. Children who watched less violent TV were less violent at age eighteen. So this
study suggests that there is a link between TV violence and real violence---that watching violent
TV has long-term impact on these kids.
So do these studies prove that TV violence causes children to be violent? Even with the research,
many people still disagree about that. So, when we come back, we’ll talk more about the impact of
TV violence…
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Unit 6 Too Old to Learn?
Part 1
Teacher: OK, everybody. Let’s get started. Today we’re going to talk about the critical period in
language learning. But first I’d like to ask you a question: how many of you have tried to learn a
new language as a teenager or as an adult?…Ah, I see, quite a few of you. Well, then I’m sure you
agree that it’s much more difficult to learn a new language when we are grown than it was to learn
your first language as a child, right? But do you know why it’s so much harder?…no idea? Well,
linguists believe it’s because of the critical period of language development.
The critical period is a theory that explains why it is easier for children to learn languages than for
adults. That’s what I’d like to discuss today. But first, I’d like to start by defining the critical
period…and I’ll give you some examples of a critical period in animals---in songbirds and cats.
Then I’ll talk about evidence for a critical period for language learning in humans.
So what exactly is a critical period? The idea of a critical period comes from the study of animals.
We say that there’s a critical period---the only time---when the animal can learn a new skill. Now,
the critical period starts in the first weeks or months of an animal’s life. During this time its brain
is ready to learn new things. However, when the animal gets older, the critical period ends; it
cannot learn any more. So there are skills that must be learned when the animal is young; if not,
they can’t learn them as adults.
Now, I’m going to move on to some examples. First, let’s take songbirds. A songbird learns to sing
the first few months after it’s born by listening to its parents’ song and repeating it. The bird can
only learn to do this when it’s a baby. An adult bird cannot learn to sing. So, if you remove the
baby bird from its parents---so that it doesn’t hear the song---the bird just won’t learn to sing when
it’s older. So there is a perfect example of a critical period.
Take another example---cats. A kitten must learn to use its eyes in the first few weeks of its life. At
first, the cat can’t see very well. But over time, it begins to use its eyes. However, if you remove
all the light in the room so the cat grows up in the dark, it won’t be able to use its eyes. When the
cat is an adult, it won’t be able to see well. So there is another critical period---when a cat must
learn to see.
Part 2
Teacher: Now let’s look at the critical period for learning languages in humans. As you’ve
probably noticed, children learn new languages much more easily and quickly than adults. But we
don’t really know why.
One theory is that there is a critical period for language learning. The theory is that people’s brains
change when they’re adolescents and that these changes make it more difficult for adults to learn a
new language than for children.
Of course, adults can learn---many adults learn to speak a new language. They may not speak it
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perfectly, but they speak it very well, well enough to use the new language for daily life. So we’re
not like adult songbirds, who can’t ever learn a new song. We can learn.
That said, however, there is evidence for a critical period for learning to speak with a native accent.
Somehow children can hear the different sounds better, and their mouth muscles can make the new
sounds. In many cases, a child will speak a new language with no foreign accent at all.
But generally, adults who learn a new language after adolescence speak with a foreign accent.
They never learn to speak with a native accent, no matter how hard they try. It can be very
frustrating. We may be able to hear the correct accent, but our mouths just can’t pronounce the
sounds correctly. Have you ever felt this way? So, unfortunately, this shows that there may be a
critical period when humans must learn to speak with a native accent.
So we can conclude that there is a critical period when both animals and humans can learn certain
things. For animals like birds and cats, they must learn to do things when they are still very young.
Humans, on the other hand, can still learn some new things as adults, like languages, but it’s more
difficult. Adult humans have a critical period for learning new accents.
So that’s all for now. Let’s get into our discussion groups. Does everyone have a copy of the
handout?
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Unit 7 Are We Alone?
Part 1
teacher: Hello, everyone. Is everyone here? Well, let’s get started. We were talking last time about
the possibility of other intelligent life in the universe. So that’s where I want to pick up today.
Today we’ll look at the SETI project---that’s the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. This is a
project to look for signs of intelligent life on other planets in the universe.
So,…first, why do we think there may be other intelligent life in the universe? Well, it’s because
there are many, many other galaxies in the universe that could support life. We on earth, we are
one planet going around one star. But our galaxy has approximately 400 billion other stars---stars
that may have other planets where intelligent beings could live.
And, throughout the universe, there are at least 100 billion—that’s 100 billion---other galaxies. So
most scientists think that somewhere in these 100 billion galaxies, there must be other planets that
are similar to our earth and that at least one of those planets has other intelligent beings. We just
have to locate them.
Now how does the SETI project search for life? The SETI project searches for life using large
radio telescopes. These radio telescopes search for radio signals in space. They’re looking for
signals that could be from other intelligent beings. We hope that somewhere there are intelligent
beings who are looking for us, who are sending out a signal. Perhaps they are asking the same
questions we ask: Are we alone? Is there anyone else out there?
Now, in my opinion, this is some of the most exciting scientific research being done today.
Why…why is it so exciting? Well, I think that locating other intelligent life—if and when this
happens—will completely change how we think about ourselves and about the universe. Just
imagine—knowing that there are other beings out there, that we are not alone. So I think this is
one of the most interesting areas to investigate.
Part 2
Teacher: so the SERI project tries to locate intelligent beings in the universe by searching for radio
signals from space. But why radio signals? Well, there are two reasons radio signals are better.
First, they travel very quickly. Second, they have a long range—they can go very far into space.
So how fast do radio signals travel? Well, they travel very quickly, at the speed of light. So, for
example, the nearest galaxy, Alpha Centauri, is approximately 4.2 light years away. Traveling at
the speed of light, it takes four years for a radio signal to reach us. On the other hand, the fastest
rocket only travels about ten miles per second. At that speed, it would take 60,000 years to reach
the Alpha Centauri galaxy. So radio signals are definitely faster.
Now what is the range of radio signals? Well, they have a very long range—they could travel
through several galaxies to reach Earth. Radio signals can also travel through space dust and other
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things floating around in space. So if any intelligent beings in other galaxies are sending radio
signals, there’s a good chance that the signals can reach Earth….I see a question.
Student 1: Yes. Why don’t we just send rockets to look for intelligent life?
Teacher: Good question. I’m glad you asked. Well, for one thing, they’re much slower. Unlike
radio signals, rockets can’t travel at the speed of light. Also, they don’t have a very wide range. In
addition, you’re restricted to looking in one direction—you point the rocket in one direction and
go that way. But we can search for radio signals in every part of the universe, not restricting
ourselves to one direction. So overall, you can see why searching for radio signals is better.
OK, so that’s all for today. Next time we’ll talk more about this and talk about what we will do
when we hear a signal—a very important question. So think about that: what should we do when
we hear a signal from another intelligent being? Until then, have a good week, I’ll see you next
time.
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Unit 8 Do The Right Thing
Part 1
Teacher: Ethics…Most of you are probably familiar with this term. But what does it mean? Ethics
are the rules we follow to decide what is right and what is wrong. So, in this class, we’ll be asking
ourselves: what is ethical in different situations? How do we decide what is right or wrong? We’ll
look at different ethical principles to do this. We’ll use these ethical principles to analyze a
situation and justify our decision about what to do.
So…today we’re going to use an example—the example from your homework—and look at it
from two different ethical principles. We’ll look at it from the principle of “individual rights” and
the principle of “common good.” Let me repeat that…we’re going to look at two principles.
First, I’ll just review the example. A woman is dying. She has $10,000 in the bank, but she has no
family. The woman tells her friend to use her money to hold a very expensive funeral. She tells the
friend to buy a lot of flowers and the most expensive coffin. However, the friend thinks this is a
waste of money. The friend decides to use some of the money for a simple funeral, and then give
most of it to a school for homeless children. However, the friend lies to the woman and says he
will use all the money to pay for the funeral.
Now, is this lie ethical? Let’s start with the principle of individual rights. The source of this
principle is the writing of Immanuel Kant, the German philosopher of the eighteenth century. Kant
had believed that our most important right as humans is our ability to think and make decisions.
Unlike an animal, each person has the power to make choices and think about what we’re doing.
Animals cannot think and decide like people can. This ability to think is what makes us human.
Therefore, to be ethical, you must think: am I respecting the right of other people to think and
make decisions? So that’s how we can define the principle of individual rights—to respect other
people’s right to think and make decisions.
So, …what would Kant say about our example of the dying woman and her friend? Can we justify
the lie under the principle of individual rights? Well, using this principle, the friend’s lies are
ethically wrong. Actually, any kind of lie is wrong, because each person has the right to know the
truth. Lying is wrong because when we lie, we take away the other person’s ability to think and
make decisions. So in our example, the friend is not respecting the dying woman’s right to make
decisions about her money. So, following the principle of individual rights, a lie is not ethical. It is
wrong. Do you see that?
Part 2
Teacher: now let’s look at the problem using another ethical principle, the principle of common
good. Let’s start by defining common good. The source of the principle of common good is the
writings of Jeremy Bentham, who lived in England during the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries. Common good basically means choosing whatever is good for most people. This
principle says that it is OK to hurt some people sometime but only if the same action helps more
people.
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So basically, the principle of common good means that, to be ethical, we should choose the action
that helps the most people and hurts the fewest people. I’ll repeat that. The action that helps the
most people and hurts the fewest people…got that? OK.
So let’s look at our example of the dying woman and her friend. What are the choices here? Well,
the friend can tell the truth to the dying woman. He can tell her that he won’t have the expensive
funeral, that he’ll give the money to the school. But then what? The dying woman may disagree.
She may decide to pick someone else to organize the funeral, someone who will follow her wishes.
And she’ll get mad at her friend. So from a common good view point, this is not a good choice.
The woman gets mad, the friend gets hurt, and the school doesn’t get any money.
On the other hand, if the friend lies, he helps more people than he hurts. Sure, the dying woman
will not get her wish, but many children will be helped because they will get a better education.
Also, you can say that the children with a better education will be better people, will earn more
money in their jobs, and give more to society. So, following the principle of common good, the
friend can justify the lie to the dying woman. One person will be hurt, but many people will be
helped.
So I’ve explained the difference between the ethics of individual rights and the ethics of common
good. Now let’s look at some more examples and analyze the ethics of these new examples…
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Unit 9 A Good Night’s Sleep
Part 1
Teacher: Hi, everyone. Let’s get started. Do you have the handout from our last class? OK, for
homework, I asked you to answer the questions on your handout about sleep. Let’s look at the first
question: how many hours of sleep did you get last night?
Student 1: Six hours.
Teacher: Hmmm, I see. Anyone get less sleep than that?
Student 2: I got five hours of sleep.
Teacher: Only five hours? Well, I hope you can stay awake during my lecture today. Well, later
we’ll talk some more about our own sleep habits. But first, today I’m going to talk about the
problem of sleep deprivation—of not getting enough sleep. I’ll talk about some of the causes of
sleep deprivation and then some of the effects.
Let’s start with the problem of sleep deprivation. Many people don’t recognize that this is a
serious health problem. However, today, more and more doctors are becoming worried about it. In
fact, some call it the biggest health problem today! Most people today are deprived of sleep; they
simply do not get enough sleep each night—and from your answers to the survey questions today,
we can see that this is true in this class as well.
Every year, the National Sleep Center does a survey in the United States, asking people about their
sleep habits and the effects of sleep deprivation on their lives. The results are quite dramatic. The
information I’ll give you today is from that survey.
First, what are the causes of sleep deprivation? Why don’t we get enough sleep? You may be
surprised to learn that our modern lifestyle—that is, the way we live our lives—creates many of
our sleep problems. People today are very busy; they’re working more and more hours every day.
In fact, did you know that more than 30 percent of American adults work more than fifty hours a
week? Well, as a result, there’s less time to do other things, like read or pay bills or clean house, so
people stay up later and get less sleep.
The problem is also created by modern technology. A hundred years ago, after the sun went down,
there wasn’t much to do. Everything was dark, and people went to sleep early. Now everything is
turned on twenty-four hours a day. Think about it—we have electric lights, TV, and the Internet.
You can watch TV or listen to music or work on the computer any time, and that makes us stay up
later. In fact, 43 percent of Americans say that they often stay up later than they should watching
TV, or using the Internet. How many of you would say that…that you don’t go to sleep when you
should because of the TV or the Internet?…yeah, sometimes it is hard to stop doing all those
things and go to bed.
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Part 2
Teacher: Now I’m going to move on to the effects of sleep deprivation. Everyone needs a certain
amount of sleep; our bodies require a certain amount of sleep to function well. Now, most people
require a minimum of eight hours of sleep each night, although some people need more and others
need less. But most people don’t get enough sleep. Every night, many people sleep only five, six,
or seven hours, instead of eight.
So now, what are the effects of sleep deprivation? The most common effect is, of course,
sleepiness during the day. Let me ask you…when do you feel sleepy?
Student 1: After lunch.
Student 2: When my alarm clock wakes me up in the morning.
Teacher: Yes, both of those are very common. Many people have trouble waking up and getting
out of bed in the morning. And a lot of us feel sleepy after lunch. We may feel that it’s normal to
feel sleepy at those times. But really, it’s related to sleep deprivation; it’s an effect of not getting
enough sleep. If you get all the sleep you need, you won’t feel sleepy during those times.
So, most people feel sleepy during the day. One consequence of this is mistakes at work. Without
enough sleep, we don’t function well—we don’t have enough energy and…uh…we can’t always
think very clearly. And there are many people at work each day who need more sleep. About 50
percent of Americans say they’re usually sleepy at work. And about 20 percent say they make
mistakes at work because they’re sleepy. These mistakes can cost a lot of money or can cause
accidents that hurt or even kill people!
Another consequence of sleep deprivation is car accidents. In the United States, there are 100,000
sleep-related accidents each year, causing 71,000 injuries and 1,500 deaths. But people don’t
recognize that driving while you’re sleepy is very dangerous; it can have serious consequences.
Too many people—more than 50 percent of Americans surveyed—say that they sometimes feel
sleepy when they’re driving. Almost 17 percent report that they sometimes fall asleep while
driving. So this is a great health danger.
So as you can see, we need to recognize that sleep deprivation is a serious problem. We need to
find out what creates the problem and figure out a way to change our sleep habits, to educate
people about getting more sleep. As a first step, let’s look at our own sleep habits. Please take out
your homework again…
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Unit 10 Negotiating for Success
Part 1
Teacher: Good morning, everybody. So last class we began talking about negotiation, the
negotiation process. And we started to talk about some of the techniques you can use to
communicate better in a negotiation. So that’s where we’ll start today.
One of the most difficult issues in negotiation is when one side blames the other for something.
And this is very common, when one side feels that the other did something wrong or caused the
conflict in some way. So what I’m going to talk about today is a technique to help you
communicate better during this type of negotiation.
Let’s start with an example. Let’s say…that you are having a conflict with a co-worker. Now, my
co-worker—let’s call him Joe—Joe and I are working on a project together. But Joe didn’t finish
his work on time. And because of this, I couldn’t finish my work on time either. We need to give
the project to our boss, but it’s not ready. The boss is angry. I blame Joe for this problem.
Now, let’s imagine that I go into Joe’s office to talk to him. And I say…what I’m really thinking,
for instance: “Joe, you aren’t doing your work. The project’s going to be late because of
you.”…OK, so this is one way to explain the issue. But how do you think Joe will react to this?
How will he feel? Happy? Ready to communicate with me?
Student: Angry. I’d be angry.
Teacher: Yes, I think so. And do you think Joe will want to sit down with you and solve your
problem?
Student: No.
Teacher: No, I doubt it. Actually, you’ve probably made the problem worse. What’s happening
here is that you are blaming Joe for the problem. He will get angry and won’t want to
communicate with you.
Part 2
Teacher: So, as you can see, it is important not to blame the other person for the problem. You
may want to say, “this is your fault. You caused this problem.” And even though this may be true,
it will not help you solve the problem.
So now I’ll introduce a technique you can use to avoid blaming someone. This technique is called
“using ‘I’ statements.” What you do is, you start sentences with the word “I”. Say something like
“I am upset about this problem.” With this “I” statement, you avoid blaming the other person. You
are explaining how you feel, how the problem affects you.
So, let’s go back to our example of Joe and the project at work. Let’s see how we can rewrite the
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conversation using “I” statements. So, for instance, instead of saying “Joe, you aren’t doing your
work,” let’s make an “I” statement. OK, let’s change that to “Joe, I’m worried because the work
isn’t done.” OK. Do you hear the difference? Instead of blaming Joe for his late work, you are
explaining how the problem affects you, that you are worried.
Let’s try another one. “The project’s going to be late because of you.” …we can change that to
“I’m afraid that the project’s going to be late.”…again, now you are not blaming Joe. Instead, you
are explaining how you feel.
When a negotiation doesn’t work, the problem is not usually the issues in the negotiation; most
problems can be solved with enough time and communication. No, problems are caused by the
way the people on both sides feel about the negotiation. So you need to avoid anything that will
make people feel angry or upset. And using “I” statements is one way to develop that.
OK, that’s all our time for today. Next time…next time we’ll talk about some more negotiation
techniques.
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Unit 11 Risking It
Part 1
Teacher: Today, I’m going to talk about risk—or how people think about risk. First, I’ll
discuss…two concepts—perceived risk versus actual risk. Then I’ll talk about why we worry
about some risks more than others.
There are two important terms you need to understand before we begin—perceived risk and actual
risk. Perceived risk is the way a person thinks about risk. Perceived risk is how risky, or unsafe, a
person thinks an activity is. This is opposed to actual risk, which is the true risk—the risk of
something if you actually look at how many people are hurt or injured by an activity.
So, let’s begin with an example, an example of perceived risk versus actual risk. Let’s compare
two ways to travel: flying versus driving a car. Many people drive a car each day, but they don’t
worry about it very much. They know that there is a risk of an accident, but most people will not
say they are afraid of driving. They feel that the risk is low. So the perceived risk of driving is low.
On the other hand, many people worry about flying. They are afraid that the airplane will have an
accident and crash. They feel that the risk of flying is higher than the risk of driving. The
perceived risk of flying is high.
However, in these two examples, the actual risk is very different than the perceived risk. The
actual risk of driving a car is high. Many, many more people are actually hurt or injured in car
accidents than in airplane accidents. The actual risk of flying is low. In fact, flying is forty times
safer than driving a car. But our perception is that flying is more dangerous. Why? Why do we
worry about some risks more than others? Well, it turns out that we perceive risk differently in
special circumstances. Some factors make a person feel than an activity is less risky. Some make
us feel that an activity is more risky. But the circumstances really change our perception.
Part 2
Teacher: There are three factors that make us feel that an activity is less risky. The first factor is
control…whether the risk is an activity we control as opposed to one we don’t control. In
circumstances where we have more control, we feel there is less risk. For example, let’s look again
at driving a car versus flying in an airplane. When we drive, we control the car. We decide where
to drive and how fast to go. Therefore, we feel that driving is less risky. However, when we fly in
an airplane, we do not control it. Someone else is flying it. So we feel it is more risky.
The second factor is whether the risk is natural versus unnatural. When a risk is natural, we feel
that there is less risk. For example, we can compare being near a nuclear power plant as opposed
to being out in the sun. Nuclear power plants are unnatural—that is, they’re created by people—so
we feel that they have a significant risk. The sun is natural, so we feel that it’s low risk. However,
many more people get cancer each year from the sun than from nuclear power. So being in the sun
has a higher actual risk. But we feel that being in the sun is less risky because it’s natural.
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Finally, the third factor is how common the activity is—that is, whether the risk is part of an
everyday activity, in contrast to an unusual event. When the risk is an everyday activity, we feel
that there is less risk. For example, let’s look at our feelings about accidents in the home versus an
airplane accident. As I said before, flying is not a risky way to travel. Airplane accidents are
unusual, but they do sometimes occur. When there is an accident, it is reported in the news and it
gets lots of attention. So, people worry about these accidents more. However, accidents in the
home occur all the time. Each day, many people are injured or even killed doing everyday things
like…walking down the stairs. But we don’t worry about these everyday risks as much.
So you can see from these examples that people’s perception of risk is very different from actual
risk, and you can understand some of the reasons why…
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Unit 12 The Electronic Brain
Part 1
Teacher: As we have seen in this class, the history of the computer is a long one, starting with
ideas from the seventeenth century. But today, I’ll be discussing a turning point in the history—a
time when the dream of a computer became reality. I’m talking about the building of
ENIAC-spelled E-N-I-A-C—the first electronic computer.
There are several elements to this story. I’m going to start by discussing the reasons why the
computer was built. Then we’ll look at the two engineers on the project, the men who designed the
computer. Then I’ll describe the computer itself. Finally, I’ll tell you what happened after ENIAC
was built—what happened to the engineers who built it and to the computer itself.
So let’s begin with the reason why the computer was built. Work on ENIAC started in July of
1943, in the middle of World War II, at the University of Pennsylvania. It was a secret project paid
for by the United States Army. Previous to ENIAC, the Army had groups of young women who
did the calculations for their scientific projects. These women were actually called “computers.”
These women, the computers, they worked with adding machines to do the calculations by hand.
Of course, this was very slow. And they made some errors. The Army wanted a way to do faster
and better calculations. For this reason, they decided to try to build an electronic computer.
Now several scientists at this time were thinking about ways to design a computer. But most felt it
was too difficult, using the technology of the time. However, the army really needed a way to do
faster calculations, so it was willing to take this risk, to try building it. And so the project to build
ENIAC began.
OK. Let’s look at the engineers on the project. The two engineers who designed the computer
were named John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert. The first engineer, John Mauchly was a physicist.
He was 35 years old when the ENIAC project started. He first became interested in building a
computer because he wanted to predict the weather. But the calculations for this were impossible it
would take years to compute all the world’s weather information. So he became interested in the
idea of doing the calculations electronically. J. Presper Eckert, the second engineer on the ENIAC
project, was much younger. He was only 24 years old when he started work on it. He was a Ph.D.
student studying electrical engineering. He was a brilliant engineer who, from the time he was a
child, loved to design complex electronic machines. In this team, Mauchly was the idea guy. He
had a lot of great ideas. Eckert was the engineer; he found a way to make the ideas work. These
two men were probably the most important elements of the project. They worked very well
together, and were brave enough—or maybe crazy enough—to try something totally new.
Part 2
Teacher: Now, what did ENIAC look like? Well, if we compare it to computers today, of course
they are very different. First, ENIAC was really big. The machine filled an 1,800-square-foot
room—that’s about the size of a large three-bedroom apartment. Each part of the computer was
about nine feet tall.
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ENIAC was a very complex machine. The designers had to program the computer to add,
remember numbers, and so on. There were forty different elements, in a U-shape around the room.
In many ways, it was amazing that ENIAC worked at all. It had thousands and thousands of
electronic parts. Each element had to work perfectly. But it did! It did the calculations and didn’t
make any errors.
ENIAC could do 5,000 calculations per second-much more than any previous calculating machine.
Of course, compared to computers today, this is slow. Computers today do 100 million
calculations in one second. Today, you can put the computing power of ENIAC on a chip the size
of the end of your pencil! But ENIAC was much faster than other machines at that time.
It took two years to build ENIAC. It was finished in the fall of 1945 and shown to the public in
February 1946. For many, it was the first time they had heard of the idea of a computer!
Newspapers and magazines all over the world wrote articles about the amazing new “electronic
brain”.
But already, Eckert and Mauchly had ideas for new, better computers. They started their own
company, designing and building computers and selling them. And they did—they built two new
types of computers and they continued to work with computers for the rest of their careers.
Although they never made a lot of money, they will always be remembered as the first computer
engineers.
As for ENIAC, the Army used the machine for nine more years, until it was turned off for the last
time in 1955. You can now see some parts of ENIAC at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington,
D.C….
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