For Audio Comprehension class, Monday, October 17: Two TED talks

English accent: actress Thandie Newton. American accent: lexicographer Erin McKean.

Those of you who like existentialist themes will love Thandie Newton. Erin is very down-to-earth. Both are full of examples of good contemporary English usage. Questions for both presentations are below the videos.

NOTE: The video windows include subtitle menus which become visible after you push the "play" button.

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Listening comprehension: Here are questions for Thandie Newton's presentation. (Click here to jump to Erin McKean's questions.)

1. Newton believes that we each have a self
   a. ... that has been evident from the day we were born.
   b. ... that begins to develop when we are given our names.
   c. ... that remains unformed and primitive.
   d. ... that was not there when we were born.
2. The self becomes a vehicle for navigating our social world,
   a. ... even though it is a projection based on other people's projections.
   b. ... according to the nuns at Newton's Catholic school.
   c. ... but without it we panic and become confused.
   d. ... because separateness is all that is real in this world.
3. "I was an anomaly":
   a. ... I was able to fit and belong.
   b. ... I was an atheist in a Catholic school.
   c. ... I couldn't hatch plans and climb the staircase of popularity.
   d. ... I was other before even being a girl.
4. At the age of sixteen, Newton stumbled across an opportunity:
   a. ... she began to realize that she was a really good dancer.
   b. ... she began to confront her dysfunctional self.
   c. ... she applied to her university's anthropology department.
   d. ... she earned a film role.
5. Dancing and acting allowed Newton to:
   a. ... spend time not dreading her self-hood.
   b. ... put all her emotions into her struggles with self.
   c. ... develop a stronger connection between her self and her body.
   d. ... assure her anxious parents that she could succeed despite her
   identity problems.
6. Anthropologist Phyllis Lee's understanding of race
   a. ... asserts that all human beings are black to some degree, except
   Norwegians.
   b. ... is based on variations in skin color.
   c. ... is based on calculations of the time needed to create genetic diversity.
   d. ... denies that race has any biological basis.
7. Academic and career achievements gave Newton
   a. ... bulimia and a therapist's couch, but led to a car crash.
   b. ... little or no relief from her desire to disappear.
   c. ... an entire value system and a physical reality to support the worth of
   self.
   d. ... a clever brain to cheat herself from the reality of death.
8. Newton believes that healthy selves, connected with their creator and with our oneness,
   a. ... understand their origins as projections, and respect their functions.
   b. ... cannot resist the temptations of iPods, Pads, and bling.
   c. ... will continue to surge through the cracks in our constructed world.
   d. … will still be freaked out by our bountiful nothingness.

Here are questions for Erin McKean's presentation :

1. "And just by saying double dactyl, I've sent the geek needle all the way into the red." What does Erin mean by sending the "geek needle all the way into the red?"
2. As a lexicographer, Erin McKean does not want to be a "traffic cop." What does she actually not want to do? Metaphorically, what profession would she prefer to compare her job with?
3. Describing an online dictionary, McKean says "This is flat.... There's not a lot of clickiness." What does the word "flat" mean when used about online media?
4. "And when you improve searchability, you actually take away the one advantage of print, which is serendipity." What is "serendipity"?
5. What is the point of the "ham butt" story? What characteristics of traditional dictionaries is McKean referring to by using this story?
6. What makes a word real?
7. "Newspaper archive goes back to 1759. 58.1 million newspaper pages. If only one in 100 of those pages had an un-dictionaried word on it, it would be an entire other OED. That's 500,000 more words." What is the OED and what is her point here?
8. "One of them [the definitions of the word 'set' in the OED] is just labeled 'miscellaneous technical senses.' Do you know what that says to me? That says to me it was Friday afternoon and somebody wanted to go down to the pub." In other words, what is her explanation for this definition?
9. "So again, lexicography is not rocket science." When somebody says "X is not rocket science," what are they saying about X?
10. "And this is a little-known technological fact about the Internet, but the Internet is actually made up of words and enthusiasm. And words and enthusiasm actually happen to be the recipe for lexicography." What additional characteristic does McKean wish all word-collecting sites on the Internet had?
11. The Internet could be the site for dictionaries that are not simply being regarded "synecdotichically," but include...what?

Audio Comprehension: "Art & Business"

This week's British English audio text comes from the British Council.

"Art and Business"

Here are the questions I gave out during the class:

1. According to the interviewer, «Art & Business is an organisation that develops ___________ ____________ between business and the arts.»
2. Peter Jones believes that productivity now depends on what factor(s)?
3. What can books do for us, according to Peter Jones?
4. Jones mentions a recent survey of businesspeople. When asked which books inspired them and had a positive influence on their career, what proportion of the surveyed people cited business books? (30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, or 70%?)
5. What critical skills (name two or three from the interview) do readers combine?
6. The left side of the brain, according to Jones, analyzes the plot. What is interesting to the right side of the brain?
7. Reading groups at Marks and Spencer have apparently improved working relationships in the company. Based on what Jones said, why might this have happened?

Kieran Kane's song "In a Town This Size"

Charlie Musselwhite (at left in my photo) performed the version I used in our first class of the year.



Words:

In a Town This Size, Kieran Kane (performed by Charlie Musselwhite with Kelly Willis)

In a town this size, there’s no place to hide
Everywhere you go, you meet someone you know
You can’t steal a kiss in a place like this
How the rumors would fly in a town this size.

In a smoky bar, in the back seat of a car,
In your own little house, someone’s sure to find you out,
What you do and what you think, what you eat and what you drink,
If you smoke a cigarette, they'll be talking about your breath

In a town this size, there’s no place to hide
Everywhere you go, you meet someone you know
You can’t steal a kiss in a place like this
How the rumors would fly in a town this size.

He: Oh, I had a fight with my girlfriend last night,
Before the moon went down, it was all over town
She: How I made him cry, how I said goodbye,
If it’s true or not, it don’t count a lot

In a town this size, there’s no place to hide
Everywhere you go, you meet someone you know
You can’t steal a kiss in a place like this
How the rumors would fly in a town this size. In a town this size. In a town this size.

Homework: Essay on the Internet as a source of information

Here is this week's new assignment. Please bring it to class next week. Thanks!

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You have 40 minutes to do this task. Please be prepared to read your essay.... Please comment on this statement:

These days, the Internet is a popular way to find out information. Some people, however, think this way of finding information has more drawbacks than advantages.

What can you say for and against finding information by using the Internet? Write 200-250 words using the following plan:

• write an introduction (state the problem/topic)
• list advantages and give reasons/examples
• list disadvantages and give reasons/examples
• draw a conclusion (give your opinion or a balanced consideration of the topic)

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Exercise is adapted from Olga Afanasyeva, Virginia Evans, Victoria Kopylova, Practice Exam Papers for the Russian State Exam, 2010 Revised Edition, Moscow: Express Publishing/Prosveshchenie Publishers.

"Someone Else Is Steppin' In (Slippin' Out, Slippin' In)"

"Someone Else Is Steppin' In (Slippin' Out, Slippin' In)" Denise LaSalle (performed by Buddy Guy)

I took my photos of Buddy Guy (and many other blues musicians) at this past summer's Portland Waterfront Blues Festival. Another festival attender made the video below, which I also posted back on August 29, along with my festival photos:

(Language caution--Buddy Guy uses language you should not use in polite company.)

I came home this morning, oh what a shock

When I found out my key no longer fit my lock

Oh baby

You just go right back out there where you've been

While you were slippin' out

Oh someone else was slippin' in

I thought I was your fool that you could count on

One was right there when no one else is at home

But oh baby, I think I found myself a new friend

But while you were slippin' out

Oh Lord, someone else was slippin' in

Now cry your heart out

Oh you don't mean a thing to me

I'm a brand new man, and you can plainly see

A new way to walk people, and of wearin' my hair

This big smile you see on my face

You didn't put it there

I got a new way of wearin' my hair

This big smile on my face, babe

You didn't put it there

Oh baby

You just take me back out there where you've been

While you were slippin' out

Someone else was slippin' in, Oh Lord

Now cry your heart out

Oh you don't mean a thing to me

I'm a brand new man

Even Stevie Wonder can see

A new way to walk people and of wearin' my hair

This big smile on my face baby

You didn't put it there

I got a new way of wearin' my hair

This big smile on my face

You didn't put it there

Oh baby

You just go right back out there where you've been

'Cause while you were slippin' out

Someone else was slippin' in

I said while you were slippin' out

Someone else was slippin' in...

The summer in pictures

Welcome back! I'm looking forward to seeing you again next week. First I have to spend a few days in Paris, France, where I'll see our son Luke, who is on a research fellowship here.

Sergei Anatolyevich will teach my Friday classes on September 2, but I'll be back the following week.

You'll come back to a very busy Institute. Look what's happening behind 32 Radio Street! ...

Emergency Christmas

Hello from Eugene, Oregon, USA, where I'm celebrating Emergency Christmas with my family. Emergency Christmas is what we've named our family Christmas celebrations, which take place when we are able to get together--not necessarily when the calendar says we should.

Here's the reason we call this family holiday Emergency Christmas:

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