دسته: شنیداری

A project management meeting

 

قبل از گوش کردن به فایل صوتی، تمرین زیر را انجام دهید و لغات آن را یاد بگیرید:

[su_box style=”glass-light” title=”تمرین های آمادگی”]

[/su_box]

حالا به فایل صوتی زیر گوش دهید و تمرینات زیر را انجام دهید:

[sc_embed_player_template1 fileurl=”/Englishaudios/Listening/C1/A_project_management_meeting.mp3″ ]

[su_box style=”glass-green” title=”تمرین شماره ۱”]

[/su_box]

[su_box style=”glass-green” title=”تمرین های شماره ۲”]

[/su_box]

[su_box style=”glass-gold” title=”متن فایل صوتی”]

Transcript

John: Thanks, everyone, for coming to this project meeting. I know we’re all working cross – functionally on this project, but so far the key stakeholders are really pleased with how it’s going. This project will really benefit our overall value proposition and the company as a whole.

Akiko: Thanks, John. It’s an important project. It’s good to be collaborating on this together.

Matteo: Yes, it’s important, but we’re all so busy with our regular jobs. It’ll be difficult to fit things in.

John: It’s OK, Matteo. We’ll work it out. I know that you all have a lot on at the moment, combining this project with your regular jobs.

Barbara: So, what do we need to do, and by when?

John: Good questions, Barbara. We have a number of key deliverables to discuss so it’s essential we’re all in agreement about roles and responsibilities and also the timelines we’re working to.

Akiko: Great.

Matteo: Yes, it’s good to get this clear.

John: So, the first thing we need to do is design the customer survey questionnaire. In my experience, this is best done through an online survey tool.

Akiko: That sounds like a great idea. I’m glad you have experience with this.

John: Yeah, we’ve done something similar on previous projects.

Matteo: So will you do that, John?

John: I’d love to but I’m already tied up managing this project, and my line manager, Kate, has agreed that I should focus on the timelines, reporting and financial management. I’d like Akiko to lead on the questionnaire. You learned about this on your marketing and PR course, didn’t you?

Akiko: Yeah, happy to take it on.

John: Thanks, Akiko. Next thing is we need the new designs finalised. Matteo, you said you could do this in a couple of weeks, right?

Matteo: Yeah, I know, but that was last month, and then nothing happened. I’m overloaded at the moment and my line manager won’t be happy if I don’t hit my targets. Sorry, but this project has to take lower priority.

John: Hmm. I see. I can understand the challenge you’re facing. I’ve been in that situation before. So, what can we do to help you hit those targets and free up some time?

Matteo: That’s a good question. If I could get a slight reduction in my targets, I could use the extra time that would create to finish the designs for this project.

John: OK. We might not be able to get your targets reduced, but I’ll see what we can do.

Barbara: How about if I support Matteo there? I know his job well and I have some capacity at the moment. I can help him meet his targets so he can free up some time to finish the designs for this project.

Matteo: Could you, Barbara?

John: Hmm. I’m not sure if it’s fair to ask Barbara to be supporting Matteo in his regular job so he can work on this project.

Barbara: It’s up to you, but I’m happy to support Matteo with his regular work, just for a couple of weeks so he can create the designs. He’s the only one with the expertise.

John: Yeah, you’re right. OK, thanks a lot, Barbara. I appreciate it. Matteo, would that work for you?

Matteo: Yes, that would work. Thanks. OK, you’ve made it easy for me to say yes.

John: OK, then that’s settled. Thanks, both. I really appreciate your help in this. So, can you get them done by the end of the month?

Matteo: Yes, that should be no problem.

[/su_box]

[su_note style=”3″ type=”warning” icon=”yes”]حالا شما برایمان به انگلیسی بگویید:

Do you have any tips for effective meetings?

[/su_note]

An interview about two books

 

قبل از گوش کردن به فایل صوتی، تمرین زیر را انجام دهید و لغات آن را یاد بگیرید:

[su_box style=”glass-light” title=”تمرین های آمادگی”]

[/su_box]

حالا به فایل صوتی زیر گوش دهید و تمرینات زیر را انجام دهید:

[sc_embed_player_template1 fileurl=”/Englishaudios/Listening/C1/An_interview_about_two_books.mp3″ ]

[su_box style=”glass-green” title=”تمرین شماره ۱”]

[/su_box]

[su_box style=”glass-gold” title=”متن فایل صوتی”]

Transcript

Presenter: Today we’re looking at the darker side of literature with two books about not-so-happy families. And we’ve got writer Helen Slade and book critic Anna Kimura to talk us through them. First up, we’re looking at Her Mother’s Daughter by Alice Fitzgerald, a novel written from two points of view, one of a child and the other of her very troubled mother. Helen, I have to be honest. I found this one hard to read. It’s very well written but, well, how did you find it?

Helen: I know what you mean, but I literally couldn’t put it down and stayed up till three in the morning to finish it. There’s something about immersing yourself in a family this flawed, this damaged, that’s compelling. You’d never want to be in that family yourself, but that’s what reading is about, isn’t it? Wearing someone else’s shoes for a while without ever having to live their reality.

Presenter: You surprise me! The families in your own books are a million miles away from this one.

Helen: Yeah, my readers can always be sure they’re going to get a happy ending. Which you definitely … I don’t want to give too much away here, but you definitely don’t feel like a happy ending is coming for these characters.

Presenter: OK, so don’t mention the ending, but can you just describe for listeners what the book is about?

Helen: So, it’s about a family with secrets. The mother has hidden her troubled childhood from her husband and her two children but, of course, it’s shaped her entire personality and how she behaves as a mother and as a wife. Which is especially obvious when we’re reading the sections told in the child’s voice, even though the little girl herself doesn’t understand the meaning of everything she’s seeing.

Presenter: For me, what was really so shocking was less what happened to the mother when she was a child but how the mother treated her own children. Why is that, do you think?

Helen: I think we’re all programmed to see mothers as something sacred and pure. As a child she was mistreated by her father, and in some ways we’re not that shocked by that, which is a sad thing in itself, and her own mother didn’t help her. As a reader we’re less affected by that, I think, because that part of the story is revealed to us in the mother’s voice, the adult voice.

But the reason the way she treats her own child is so much more shocking is that the child is telling us about it and we sympathise with her. It’s very clever how the author plays on our natural instincts to protect a child.

Presenter: Though we do feel sorry for the mother too. Or, at least, I did.

Helen: It’s hard not to. She’s trapped in her own unhappiness.

Presenter: And we’re trapped right there with her as the reader. It made me wonder, Anna, why is it that miserable books like this one sell so well?

Anna: Because all of us have families. I suppose the books play out things we all see in much smaller ways in our own family lives.

Presenter: The other hard-hitting book this week is We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver. Now there’s a family who have a problem!

Anna: They definitely do. Very few people will ever have a killer as a teenage son like the narrator in the book, but we can all identify with the challenges and often terrifying reality of raising teenagers!

Presenter: So can you give us the lowdown on Kevin, then, Anna?

Anna: This book is written from the point of view of the mother in letters she’s writing to her husband, Kevin’s father. Again, we shouldn’t say too much about the ending, but the way the author uses the letters is very clever.

Presenter: I have to admit, I really enjoyed this book. It’s a difficult topic, but it was much easier to read than Her Mother’s Daughter.

Anna: As Helen said before, it’s about the voice of the narrator. There’s no child’s voice and, in this story, the victims in many ways are the adults, though, of course, Kevin’s sister is a victim of her brother’s evil.

Helen: Yes, and the idea of where ‘evil’ comes from is a theme that comes out in both books. If you choose to call it ‘evil’ that is. I prefer to describe it as a complete lack of empathy. The mother in Her Mother’s Daughter had a terrible childhood, but Kevin’s from a happy home and good parents.

Presenter: Is he though? The mother often admits she found motherhood hard. Aren’t we supposed to think she might have caused Kevin to turn out the way he does? Just like in Her Mother’s Daughter.

Anna: Both books certainly look at how the mistakes of the parents affect children. And this is another reason we relate to these books. Parents are always worrying if they’re doing a good job.

[/su_box]

[su_note style=”3″ type=”warning” icon=”yes”]حالا شما برایمان به انگلیسی بگویید:

Do you like to read ‘dark’ books?

[/su_note]

Catching up after a trip

 

قبل از گوش کردن به فایل صوتی، تمرین زیر را انجام دهید و لغات آن را یاد بگیرید:

[su_box style=”glass-light” title=”تمرین های آمادگی”]

[/su_box]

حالا به فایل صوتی زیر گوش دهید و تمرینات زیر را انجام دهید:

[sc_embed_player_template1 fileurl=”/Englishaudios/Listening/C1/Catching_up_after_a_trip.mp3″ ]

[su_box style=”glass-green” title=”تمرین شماره ۱”]

[/su_box]

[su_box style=”glass-green” title=”تمرین های شماره ۲”]

[/su_box]

[su_box style=”glass-gold” title=”متن فایل صوتی”]

Transcript

Dave: Jean, hi!

Jean: Hi, Dave. How are you?

Dave: Good, good.

Jean: Wait a second, I’m not calling you in Canada, right? You’re back now, aren’t you?

Dave: Yeah, I got back two days ago.

Jean: Oh good, phew. Because I wouldn’t want to be calling you long distance without realising it and suddenly …

Dave: You’ve spent a fortune on a long-distance call. No, I know, it’s OK. I actually wouldn’t answer the phone while I was over there if I saw the call was coming from England. But no worries, we’re in the same country now.

Jean: Yeah. So, how was the trip? Did you meet your long-lost uncle?

Dave : I did, actually. It was very good. I flew to Toronto and stayed there for a few days. At first I was really worried about my accommodation because I kept reading these appalling stories about rental flats going all wrong.

Jean: Oh, was it one of those?

Dave: Yeah.

Jean: My friend had a disastrous experience in Barcelona with one of them. The place didn’t look anything like the photos, and all the neighbours hated that there was a holiday flat in their building. Awkward situation. Urgh.

Dave: Right. So, as I was saying, I was really worried because I heard these stories. And at first I couldn’t find the place. Turns out I was in the wrong building. It was next door, and on the top floor, and … wow. Jean, this place was fabulous! Really spacious, with these floor-to-ceiling windows and the most scenic views of the city. I could see the lake and the whole city skyline and skyscrapers from my bedroom. I had to pinch myself to prove I wasn’t dreaming.

Jean: Sounds pretty cool. So, what’s it like? The city, I mean. I’ve always wanted to go to Canada.

Dave: It’s nice. I mean, it’s another big, vibrant, modern city. But it’s really clean, and there’s lots of parks. One of the things I liked was the multiculturalism. We visited Chinatown, Little Italy, Greektown, Little India … umm, I can’t remember the others but it was sort of a new area every three or four blocks, you know?

Jean: Hey, is it true that there’s a whole part of the city that’s underground? I read that somewhere about Toronto, or saw it on some TV show.

Dave: It’s true! I asked about that. They call it the PATH. There’s, like, almost 30 kilometres of restaurants, shops, cinemas and stuff all underground. In the middle of the downtown area.

Jean: Amazing!

Dave: Yeah, but actually once you’re down there it’s not that noticeable. There’s actually a lot of natural light. I forgot we were underground. It’s mostly useful to get out of the cold weather.

Jean: What temperature was it while you were there?

Dave: It was still only November, but it was getting cold. We had at least a day where it was less than zero. My uncle told me that in January and February it can go down to 20 below zero.

Jean: Oh, wow. I think I’d die!

Dave: Yeah, and the worst thing was what they call the ‘wind-chill’ factor. So they say the temperature is zero degrees, but minus eight with the wind chill. So it feels like minus eight. And my uncle said the wind-chill factor can go down to minus 40.

Jean: Stop it! You’re making me feel cold just thinking about it. So, how was meeting your uncle? The famous Uncle George.

Dave: That was great too. He lives outside of Toronto, in a cottage by a lake. Really tranquil and unspoiled nature.

Jean: I’m dying to see photos. You want to meet up soon? Or are you too jet lagged still?

Dave: Yeah, I’m actually free tomorrow if you like.

[/su_box]

[su_note style=”3″ type=”warning” icon=”yes”]حالا شما برایمان به انگلیسی بگویید:

What was the last place you travelled to? Would you recommend it to a friend?

[/su_note]

Challenges at work

 

قبل از گوش کردن به فایل صوتی، تمرین زیر را انجام دهید و لغات آن را یاد بگیرید:

[su_box style=”glass-light” title=”تمرین های آمادگی”]

[/su_box]

حالا به فایل صوتی زیر گوش دهید و تمرینات زیر را انجام دهید:

[sc_embed_player_template1 fileurl=”/Englishaudios/Listening/C1/Challenges_at_work.mp3″ ]

[su_box style=”glass-green” title=”تمرین شماره ۱”]

[/su_box]

[su_box style=”glass-green” title=”تمرین های شماره ۲”]

[/su_box]

[su_box style=”glass-gold” title=”متن فایل صوتی”]

Transcript

A

I’ll never forget the first time I met our new contact from Retrolink, one of our top five customers. I had travelled to their office to meet him in person, talk about the history of our companies together and define a shared vision for future co- operation. I wanted to focus on building a good relationship with him which would be a good foundation for working together.

So, when we met I wanted to make a good impression and also show him respect. I greeted him with a handshake and addressed him by his surname. When I put my hand out I realised he had been moving in to give me a hug, so we did an awkward mixture of the two! Also, when I greeted him by his surname, he responded politely, though he used my first name. It was all a little uncomfortable.

In this situation, I guess I made assumptions about the level of formality he expected. Even though he had never met me before, he knew our two companies had been doing business with each other for years and he wanted to build on that history by being less formal with me from the beginning. The real learning here for me was that I shouldn’t assume we all have the same ideas about meeting people for the first time.

B

I’d never worked with a virtual team on an international project before. It was quite exciting, though also challenging to work with people from different countries, many of whom I would never actually get to meet in person. There were a lot of things that were different about working in the same office and it was quite challenging at the beginning.

For example, there were different time zones, different IT systems and even different local regulations, which impacted on what each person was allowed to, or able to, do for the project.

There were also interpersonal differences, such as different ways of working, approaches to deadlines and when to reply to emails. And we shouldn’t forget the fact that English was the project language and that most people on the team had to work in a language which wasn’t their first. A positive of this was that it meant that everyone, including the native English speakers, had to make the effort to communicate clearly and clarify their own and everyone else’s understanding.

To help us all get on the same page, we defined the communication norms and the rules the team would follow, as well as the meeting dates and deadlines. We laid this all out in a document called a team or project charter. This was really useful and in the end the project was a great success. I’m looking forward to working on my next international project.

C

I went through a bit of a rough patch last year at work. I was already committed to too much and then we lost a team member through restructuring and I quickly became overloaded. This led to me doing too much overtime and feeling very stressed. My boss was really helpful and

she pushed back against the unrealistic targets that had been set for our department. She also introduced me to the smart approach to goal setting. It’s an acronym, S-M-A -R-T. You use it to create goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Timely.

I used this approach to deal with all of the things that were overloading me. It helped me to prioritise some tasks, to do some later and to drop some completely.

I often use this approach now and feel much more in control of my time and workload.

D

Have you ever missed a flight or had one cancelled? I did. It happened to me last week. My flight home from a business trip was the last one of the day and we were told it was going to be delayed. That’s always a risk at the end of each day. The ground crew kept extending the delay until eventually they cancelled the flight completely. They then told us to go back through the airport to the departures area to talk to their agent who would organise hotels for everyone and rebook us on the following day’s flight.

As soon as they made the announcement about the cancellation, I knew I had to think quickly as it would not be likely that the flight would have capacity to take everyone from my cancelled flight. I hurried back through the airport and was one of the first to make it to the desk. That turned out to be a good idea, as there were only nine seats available on the flight the next morning. Everyone else had to fly to a different airport and then continue back to our destination airport in coaches. Lucky me! Right?

[/su_box]

[su_note style=”3″ type=”warning” icon=”yes”]حالا شما برایمان به انگلیسی بگویید:

Do you ever face challenges at work? How do you overcome them?

[/su_note]

Innovation in business

 

قبل از گوش کردن به فایل صوتی، تمرین زیر را انجام دهید و لغات آن را یاد بگیرید:

[su_box style=”glass-light” title=”تمرین های آمادگی”]

[/su_box]

حالا به فایل صوتی زیر گوش دهید و تمرینات زیر را انجام دهید:

[sc_embed_player_template1 fileurl=”/Englishaudios/Listening/C1/Innovation_in_business.mp3″ ]

[su_box style=”glass-green” title=”تمرین شماره ۱”]

[/su_box]

[su_box style=”glass-green” title=”تمرین های شماره ۲”]

[/su_box]

[su_box style=”glass-gold” title=”متن فایل صوتی”]

Transcript

Welcome to today’s Business4U podcast. The focus of this podcast is to think about innovation and why it’s important, and also to look at different types and stages of innovation. By the end of it, you will hopefully have a better grasp of the topic of innovation and be able to better understand and drive innovation in both your working and personal lives.

So, why is innovation important? Well, simply put, without innovation it would be difficult to make progress. Organisations and societies would stagnate. Innovation is what drives us forward. It’s what forces us to compete in the business world. It’s what leads to better products and services, and solutions to new and existing problems. From a business point of view, it’s also something which is necessary for survival.

Four key types of innovation are incremental, disruptive, architectural and radical.

Incremental innovation involves innovating in increments, or small stages. Step by step. It focuses on existing markets and technologies and aims to make improvements and design changes to existing products and services.

Disruptive innovation aims to bring new ideas, like technology or processes, to existing markets. In that sense, the innovations will disrupt the market and the companies currently serving that market. The first touchscreen smartphones disrupted the mobile phone industry because up to then, mobile phones had buttons and keypads.

Architectural innovation involves taking successful ideas from one market or industry and applying them to a new or different market. This often happens when people think of other unconventional uses of existing technology. A good example of this can be seen in vacuum company Dyson’s entry into the hand dryer and hairdryer market. Their advanced airflow technology from their vacuum cleaners was applied in reverse to machines that blow out air. In the case of these examples, it’s personal hairdryers and hand dryers in public toilets.

And finally, we come to radical innovation. This is where a completely new idea is created for a market that doesn’t exist yet. It’s often what we think of when we think of innovation and it often swallows up existing markets. For example, the birth and growth of digital and downloadable music has practically led to the death of music CDs, and even DVDs. Similarly, film and TV streaming services may lead to the demise of traditional TV within a few short years.

Moving on from types of innovation, let’s have a quick look at five key stages of innovation.

The first stage is Idea generation. This is where you think of the initial idea and develop it into a more detailed proposal or plan.

The next stage is Support. You need to check if you can get support for it, for example from senior leaders or stakeholders in your company. If you’re innovating in your personal life, then the support you might need could be from friends or family. Do they think it’s a good idea and do they think it would work?

The third step is to Experiment and test out the idea. This could mean creating a sample or a prototype of it, if it’s a product. Or if it’s a service, you could test out a basic version of it.

The fourth step is Evaluation. You need to assess how successful your experiments were and what chances of larger success your idea will have.

And finally, you then need to actually Implement your idea. That’s the fifth stage.

So, there you have it. We’ve looked at four key types of innovation: incremental, disruptive, architectural and radical, and also five stages of successful innovation: firstly, idea generation. Then, get support. Next, experiment and test out the idea. The fourth stage is evaluation and finally implementation.

[/su_box]

[su_note style=”3″ type=”warning” icon=”yes”]حالا شما برایمان به انگلیسی بگویید:

Can you think of other examples of each of the four types of innovation mentioned?

[/su_note]

Introverts – redressing the balance

 

قبل از گوش کردن به فایل صوتی، تمرین زیر را انجام دهید و لغات آن را یاد بگیرید:

[su_box style=”glass-light” title=”تمرین های آمادگی”]

[/su_box]

حالا به فایل صوتی زیر گوش دهید و تمرینات زیر را انجام دهید:

[sc_embed_player_template1 fileurl=”/Englishaudios/Listening/C1/Introverts_–_redressing_the_balance.mp3″ ]

[su_box style=”glass-green” title=”تمرین شماره ۱”]

[/su_box]

[su_box style=”glass-gold” title=”متن فایل صوتی”]

Transcript

If I asked you to describe a great leader, I’d be willing to bet certain traits come to mind … someone charismatic, dynamic, inspiring, a confident public speaker. You’re probably imagining a man too, but that’s a bias we’ll save for another talk! We tend to think of great leaders as people who naturally take to the stage, who draw other people to them by their sheer presence, who are extroverts. But history has also been transformed by people who don’t fit these descriptions. People like Rosa Parks, Eleanor Roosevelt and Gandhi. These people would have described themselves as shy, quietly spoken … as introverts.

Of course we’re drawn to extroverts. They’re usually charming and persuasive, fun to be around. They’re not quietly in the corner somewhere reading a book where we might not notice them. Introverts are mostly happy to let the extroverts take the attention; they’d rather not be in the spotlight, they’d rather finish that book. If they become leaders, it’s not because they want to be the centre of attention, it’s because they feel compelled to act. They lead not because they enjoy giving orders but because circumstances have put them in a position to make change. If they’re the boss, they allow space for the ideas of others to grow because they’re not trying to make their mark. An introvert sounds like a pretty good boss, right? You won’t need to worry about them stealing your ideas or talking over you in a meeting.

Some of our great creators are introverts too. People like the writer JK Rowling, the great thinker Darwin and the designer of the first Apple computer, Steve Wozniak. It turns out coming up with good ideas is easier when you’re engaged in quiet, solo contemplation than when you’re leading the cheerleading squad. Not that I’m saying there’s anything wrong with cheerleaders! Extroverts are great – some of my favourite people are extroverts. But why is the world so set up for extroverts and so hard for introverts? Why are we always encouraging our kids to speak up, join in, work as a team?

Nowadays, most schools and most workplaces are set up with the extrovert in mind. Children no longer sit in rows in desks, they sit in groups of four or six, doing group projects. Even subjects like maths and creative writing are taught with an emphasis on group collaboration, even though most writers sit alone in front of their computer or typewriter, with nothing between them and the blank page. A kid who prefers to go off into a corner and work alone starts to look like a problem. What’s wrong with Janie? Why isn’t she joining in? Studies show teachers think extroverts make better students, even though introverts actually tend to get higher grades. We’re telling our introverted kids something is wrong with them, that they need to be more sociable, more outgoing. We’re giving them fewer opportunities for the quiet contemplation they need in order to produce the best work and be their best selves.

And then at work we do the same. Most offices today are open plan, everyone working and creating noise in one big room, attending team-building workshops or group brainstorming sessions; the introverts’ worst nightmares. The introverts at school are judged negatively by their teachers and when they reach the workplace, they’re passed over for promotion into leadership positions. But introverts typically take fewer risks and make more careful decisions, and don’t we need those traits too?

I’m not saying let’s get rid of extroverts and grab all those talkative, sociable performers at primary school and send them off to the library for four hours a day of solitude until they learn

to tone it down. I’m not saying that at all. I’m saying we’re doing something like the opposite of that to introverts and we need to stop. We need to allow them space to be themselves and then we’ll end up getting the most out of our extroverts and our introverts. Let’s teach all our kids how to work with others and how to work on their own. Let’s create space in offices and at conferences for people to work on their own when they want to and give them the opportunity to come together to share ideas. Let’s give staff ‘away days’, where they go off into the woods, walk up a mountain or wherever, to work on something alone, as well as the ‘team-building day’ where everyone learns to dance salsa together.

The future is complicated, with a lot of huge, complex problems to solve. Let’s make sure we’ve got our best people working on those problems in the way that suits them best. And then we’ve got to make sure we listen to our extroverts and our introverts and everyone who sits somewhere in between on the scale. We’re going to need all of them.

[/su_box]

[su_note style=”3″ type=”warning” icon=”yes”]حالا شما برایمان به انگلیسی بگویید:

Are you more of an extrovert or an introvert?

[/su_note]

Introverts – redressing the balance

 

قبل از گوش کردن به فایل صوتی، تمرین زیر را انجام دهید و لغات آن را یاد بگیرید:

[su_box style=”glass-light” title=”تمرین های آمادگی”]

[/su_box]

حالا به فایل صوتی زیر گوش دهید و تمرینات زیر را انجام دهید:

[sc_embed_player_template1 fileurl=”/Englishaudios/Listening/C1/Introverts_–_redressing_the_balance.mp3″]

[su_box style=”glass-green” title=”تمرین شماره ۱”]

[/su_box]

[su_box style=”glass-gold” title=”متن فایل صوتی”]

Transcript

If I asked you to describe a great leader, I’d be willing to bet certain traits come to mind … someone charismatic, dynamic, inspiring, a confident public speaker. You’re probably imagining a man too, but that’s a bias we’ll save for another talk! We tend to think of great leaders as people who naturally take to the stage, who draw other people to them by their sheer presence, who are extroverts. But history has also been transformed by people who don’t fit these descriptions. People like Rosa Parks, Eleanor Roosevelt and Gandhi. These people would have described themselves as shy, quietly spoken … as introverts.

Of course we’re drawn to extroverts. They’re usually charming and persuasive, fun to be around. They’re not quietly in the corner somewhere reading a book where we might not notice them. Introverts are mostly happy to let the extroverts take the attention; they’d rather not be in the spotlight, they’d rather finish that book. If they become leaders, it’s not because they want to be the centre of attention, it’s because they feel compelled to act. They lead not because they enjoy giving orders but because circumstances have put them in a position to make change. If they’re the boss, they allow space for the ideas of others to grow because they’re not trying to make their mark. An introvert sounds like a pretty good boss, right? You won’t need to worry about them stealing your ideas or talking over you in a meeting.

Some of our great creators are introverts too. People like the writer JK Rowling, the great thinker Darwin and the designer of the first Apple computer, Steve Wozniak. It turns out coming up with good ideas is easier when you’re engaged in quiet, solo contemplation than when you’re leading the cheerleading squad. Not that I’m saying there’s anything wrong with cheerleaders! Extroverts are great – some of my favourite people are extroverts. But why is the world so set up for extroverts and so hard for introverts? Why are we always encouraging our kids to speak up, join in, work as a team?

Nowadays, most schools and most workplaces are set up with the extrovert in mind. Children no longer sit in rows in desks, they sit in groups of four or six, doing group projects. Even subjects like maths and creative writing are taught with an emphasis on group collaboration, even though most writers sit alone in front of their computer or typewriter, with nothing between them and the blank page. A kid who prefers to go off into a corner and work alone starts to look like a problem. What’s wrong with Janie? Why isn’t she joining in? Studies show teachers think extroverts make better students, even though introverts actually tend to get higher grades. We’re telling our introverted kids something is wrong with them, that they need to be more sociable, more outgoing. We’re giving them fewer opportunities for the quiet contemplation they need in order to produce the best work and be their best selves.

And then at work we do the same. Most offices today are open plan, everyone working and creating noise in one big room, attending team-building workshops or group brainstorming sessions; the introverts’ worst nightmares. The introverts at school are judged negatively by their teachers and when they reach the workplace, they’re passed over for promotion into leadership positions. But introverts typically take fewer risks and make more careful decisions, and don’t we need those traits too?

I’m not saying let’s get rid of extroverts and grab all those talkative, sociable performers at primary school and send them off to the library for four hours a day of solitude until they learn

to tone it down. I’m not saying that at all. I’m saying we’re doing something like the opposite of that to introverts and we need to stop. We need to allow them space to be themselves and then we’ll end up getting the most out of our extroverts and our introverts. Let’s teach all our kids how to work with others and how to work on their own. Let’s create space in offices and at conferences for people to work on their own when they want to and give them the opportunity to come together to share ideas. Let’s give staff ‘away days’, where they go off into the woods, walk up a mountain or wherever, to work on something alone, as well as the ‘team-building day’ where everyone learns to dance salsa together.

The future is complicated, with a lot of huge, complex problems to solve. Let’s make sure we’ve got our best people working on those problems in the way that suits them best. And then we’ve got to make sure we listen to our extroverts and our introverts and everyone who sits somewhere in between on the scale. We’re going to need all of them.

[/su_box]

[su_note style=”3″ type=”warning” icon=”yes”]حالا شما برایمان به انگلیسی بگویید:

Are you more of an extrovert or an introvert?

[/su_note]

Tech addiction

 

قبل از گوش کردن به فایل صوتی، تمرین زیر را انجام دهید و لغات آن را یاد بگیرید:

[su_box style=”glass-light” title=”تمرین های آمادگی”]

[/su_box]

حالا به فایل صوتی زیر گوش دهید و تمرینات زیر را انجام دهید:

[sc_embed_player_template1 fileurl=”/Englishaudios/Listening/C1/Tech_addiction.mp3″]

[su_box style=”glass-green” title=”تمرین شماره ۱”]

[/su_box]

[su_box style=”glass-green” title=”تمرین های شماره ۲”]

[/su_box]

[su_box style=”glass-gold” title=”متن فایل صوتی”]

Transcript

Presenter: The sound of kids hanging out together. Or, at least, how it sounded a few years ago. Nowadays a group of, well, just about anyone – kids, teens, tweens, their parents – might sound a lot more like this …

Most of us spend hours a day with our heads bent over our smartphones. Research suggests teenagers spend as many as nine hours a day, while pre-teens spend up to six.

Teen voice: I don’t know, it’s, like, the first thing I do in the morning, check in and see who’s posted anything overnight. It’s my alarm clock so I kind of have to look at it and then, you know, it’s pretty hard not to scroll through.

Presenter: And it’s not just teenagers and millennials, Generation X and even the Baby Boomers are almost as bad.

Adult voice: I’m online most of the day for work and you’d think I’d be sick of screens by the time I get home, but most of my news comes through Facebook and I’m really into food so I’ll hold my hands up to being one of those people who posts photos of their meals.

Presenter: But are we addicted to our phones and apps? And does it matter? Former Google and Facebook employees certainly think so. So they’ve set up a non-profit organisation, the Center for Humane Technology, to reverse the digital attention crisis and promote safe technology for children.

Expert: Anyone who’s seen queues round the block for the latest iPhone has to wonder what these people are thinking. You’ve literally got people sleeping in the street to get the newest device, probably not even talking to anyone else in the queue because they’re on social media, taking selfies in the queue to post to Instagram. If that’s not addiction, it’s certainly obsession.

Presenter: A more formal definition of addiction describes it as a repeated involvement with an activity, despite the harm it causes. Someone with an addiction has cravings – that feeling that you haven’t checked your phone for two minutes and can’t relax until you get your hands on it again. They may have a lack of self-control and not realise their behaviour is causing problems – like texting while cycling or falling off a cliff taking a selfie. And, in case you’re wondering, I read about both of those via the news app on my phone, which updates every couple of minutes with the latest stories … definitely addicted. So the ‘Truth about Tech’ campaign by Common Sense Media and the Center for Humane Technology couldn’t come fast enough for most of us. But it’s children who are probably most at risk because of the effect tech addiction might be having on their brain development. Professor Mary Michaels of the Atlanta Future Tech Institute has been working with very young children. Mary, thanks for dropping by. What is your research telling us?

Mary: Well, we know that screen time is affecting key aspects of healthy child development, like sleep, healthy eating and what psychologists call ‘serve and return’ moments, which are when parents respond to babies seeking assurance and connection by making eye contact, smiling or talking. All perfectly normal things we do and which help lay the foundations of babies’ brains. It’s much harder to engage with a baby normally if you’re looking at your phone. Or, even worse, if parents give a crying child a phone to distract them instead of

talking to them or hugging them, and that might lead to them failing to develop their ability to regulate their own emotions.

Presenter: And what about older children?

Mary: Again, we know that teenagers who spend a lot of time on social media are 56 per cent more likely to report being unhappy and 27 per cent more likely to suffer depression. Teenagers are especially vulnerable because they’re more sensitive to highs and lows anyway, so we’re looking at, potentially, higher instances of suicide, schizophrenia, anxiety and addiction in teens which is exacerbated by dependence on technology.

Presenter: It sounds like a vicious circle. They’re more likely to get addicted to smartphones and social media and that addiction itself makes them candidates for other addictions.

Mary: Yes, that’s right.

Presenter: Time to stage an intervention! Is there anything we can do to make tech less addictive?

Mary: Setting devices to greyscale, which is basically black and white, might make them less appealing. Scrolling through a newsfeed of boring, washed -out photos just doesn’t create the same rush as bright colours perhaps. And you can turn off the notifications that are constantly pulling you back in to check your phone.

Presenter: So is it …

[/su_box]

[su_note style=”3″ type=”warning” icon=”yes”]حالا شما برایمان به انگلیسی بگویید:

Are you addicted to social media or smartphones?

[/su_note]

The helix

 قبل از گوش کردن به فایل صوتی، تمرین زیر را انجام دهید و لغات آن را یاد بگیرید:

[su_box style=”glass-light” title=”تمرین های آمادگی”]

[/su_box]

حالا به فایل صوتی زیر گوش دهید و تمرینات زیر را انجام دهید:

[sc_embed_player_template1 fileurl=”/Englishaudios/Listening/C1/The_helix.mp3″]

[su_box style=”glass-green” title=”تمرین شماره ۱”]

[/su_box]

[su_box style=”glass-green” title=”تمرین های شماره ۲”]

[/su_box]

[su_box style=”glass-gold” title=”متن فایل صوتی”]

Transcript

I’d like to turn now to the object which is the main point of this talk: the helix. This is a fascinating mathematical object which touches many parts of our lives. Movement, the natural world, the manufactured world and our genetic make-up are all connected to the shape of the helix.

A helix is a type of three-dimensional curve that goes around a central cylindrical shape in the form of a spiral, like a corkscrew or a spiral staircase. The helix is a very popular shape in nature because it is very compact. In fact, helices are sometimes referred to as ‘nature’s space saver’. In architecture too, the helix shape of a spiral staircase is an attractive option in buildings where space is very restricted.

The most renowned type of helix is probably the double helix of DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid. DNA is made of two helices that curve around each other, a bit like a twisted ladder. DNA contains the genetic information or ‘code’ that determines the development and functioning of all known living things. The helix shape is a very efficient way to store a long molecule like DNA in the limited space of a cell.

There are different types of helices. Helices can twist clockwise, right-handed, or anti-clockwise, left-handed. An interesting experiment is to hold a clockwise helix, such as a corkscrew, up to a mirror. The clockwise helix appears to become counterclockwise.

We can perceive examples of helices in many areas of our world. Spiral staircases, cables, screws and ropes can be right-handed or left-handed helices. A helix that goes around a cone is called a conical helix. Examples of conical helices are screws or the famous spiral ramp designed by the architect Frank Lloyd Wright in the Guggenheim Museum in New York.

Helices are also prevalent in the natural world. The horns of certain animals, viruses, seashells and the structure of plants, flowers and leaves can all contain helices. The human umbilical cord is in fact a triple helix.

With the discovery that the helix is the shape of the DNA molecule, it is not surprising that the helix is found in so many areas. It’s one of the most natural shapes in nature.

Let’s turn our attention now to the mathematical description of the helix. You’ll need a pen and paper for the next part of the talk as I am going to give you some variables to write down. Take your time to notice the different …

[/su_box]

[su_note style=”3″ type=”warning” icon=”yes”]حالا شما برایمان به انگلیسی بگویید:

Do you ever watch scientific lectures or talks like this online?

[/su_note]

The history of hand gestures

 

قبل از گوش کردن به فایل صوتی، تمرین زیر را انجام دهید و لغات آن را یاد بگیرید:

[su_box style=”glass-light” title=”تمرین های آمادگی”]

[/su_box]

حالا به فایل صوتی زیر گوش دهید و تمرینات زیر را انجام دهید:

[sc_embed_player_template1 fileurl=”/Englishaudios/E-37-03.mp3″]

[su_box style=”glass-green” title=”تمرین شماره ۱”]

[/su_box]

[su_box style=”glass-gold” title=”متن فایل صوتی”]

Transcript

Earlier on in today’s lecture, I mentioned the importance of hand gestures and said that I’d touch on some of these, pardon the pun! Hand gestures are, of course, often culturally bound and can vary from group to group. But there are a few of them which, if not universal, are very common indeed around the world. I’d like to focus on the history of four gestures in particular: the salute, the thumbs up, the high five and the handshake.

The salute, a gesture most associated with the military, may have originated in the 18th century. The Grenadier Guards, one of the oldest regiments of the British Army, used helmets in the form of cones. These were held in place by chinstraps. It was difficult to raise your helmet when greeting someone, so the soldiers simply touched their head with one short movement of the hand before quickly putting it back down again at their side.

The thumbs-up gesture apparently goes back a lot further. It’s widely believed that this gesture goes back to Roman times when gladiators fought in front of the emperor and eager crowds in the Colosseum. The fallen gladiator’s fate was decided by the audience. If they felt he had fought well, they showed their approval with a thumbs -up gesture. The emperor would then confirm this and thereby would spare the gladiator’s life. If the crowd gave a thumbs down, on the other hand, that meant execution.

However, there are no reliable historical references to thumbs going either up or down in the Colosseum. It may be that if the crowd wanted to spare the gladiator’s life, then they would actually cover up their thumb and keep it hidden. They would only extend their hand and thumb if they wanted the gladiator killed. This actually makes more sense, as the emperor could much more easily see what the crowd was indicating when looking out over a huge arena.

The high-five hand gesture is almost universally used as a greeting or celebration. Many see its origins in baseball. Two US teams lay claim to inventing the high five: the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1977 or the Louisville Cardinals in 1978. It’s quite likely that it was neither, and the gesture might have a much earlier origin again. It is very similar to a 1920s Jazz Age gesture known as the ‘low five’, or ‘giving skin’. This gesture involved people slapping each other’s lower hands, also in celebration. There are, in fact, numerous references to the low five in films of the era. Perhaps the high five is just an evolution of that gesture.

The final gesture I’m going to mention today is the handshake. It dates back as a greeting at least as far as Ancient Greece. In the Acropolis Museum in Athens, the base of one of the columns shows goddess Hera shaking hands with Athena, the goddess of wisdom and courage. It’s thought that shaking hands, rather than bowing or curtseying, showed both parties as equals. In 17th-century marriage portraits in Europe we find many examples of handshakes between husband and wife. Now, of course, the handshake has a multitude of uses: meeting, greeting, parting, offering congratulations, expressing gratitude or completing an agreement. In sports or other competitive activities, it is also done as a sign of good sportsmanship. In this way, the gesture has not strayed from its original meaning to convey trust, respect and equality.

[/su_box]

[su_note style=”3″ type=”warning” icon=”yes”]حالا شما برایمان به انگلیسی بگویید:

Are there any other hand gestures that are common in your culture?

[/su_note]