Inside Listening and Speaking 2

Transcripts
© Oxford University Press. Permission granted to reproduce for classroom use. 1
Unit 1 Solving a Mystery
ENGINEERING
LISTENING SKILL: Cause and Effect Relationships
Listen 1 (Audio)
ILS_L2_U1_Listen1
M1: Good afternoon. Today I want to talk to you about the crash of Air France Flight
447 and what we can learn from this accident. In the summer of 2009, Flight 447
was flying above the ocean off the coast of Brazil. It was going to Paris, France…
However, the plane suddenly disappeared from air traffic control computer screens.
Now this was a modern airplane, an Airbus 330, which was considered very safe and
was equipped with excellent technology. But at the time, no one knew what had
happened to it.
So how did we solve this mystery? Well, investigators started to look for the plane in
the ocean. Five days later, they recovered parts that revealed that the plane had
crashed into the ocean at a very high speed. But still, no one knew the cause of the
accident.
So next, experts looked at the plane’s air traffic control records for answers. These
records showed the plane’s flight path. It appeared that Flight 447 had flown into a
large storm. But, planes can handle strong winds and even lightning strikes, so
investigators decided that the storm was not the cause of the accident.
Investigators then decided to look at the plane’s automated systems, which can
control and fly the plane without a lot of guidance from the pilot. This is what
investigators realized. On the outside of the plane, the speed sensors had frozen
because the plane had travelled through an area with large amounts of super-cooled
water. This extremely cold water froze the plane’s external speed sensors. Now this
is the key point here. Speed data is needed for the plane’s automated systems to
work properly… BUT, the speed sensors were frozen, so the plane’s automated
systems were not getting the necessary speed data. As a result, the automated
systems stopped working and started to fail one by one… And because these
automated systems weren’t working, the pilots decided to fly the plane themselves
by taking manual control of the plane.
But, even after taking manual control of the plane, the pilots had difficulty flying it.
Since the external speed sensors were still frozen, the pilots didn’t know the speed
of the plane. And by mistake, the pilots slowed the plane too much, too quickly. As a
result, the plane fell dramatically and crashed into the ocean. Now, as engineers, we have to
learn from accidents like these so that we can help
prevent them in the future. The Flight 447 accident revealed a need for design
improvements on our speed sensors to protect them from freezing. With almost 2.9
billion people traveling every year, we must be committed to improving the safety of
our planes. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak here today
SPEAKING SKILL: Facilitating Group Discussions
Listen 2 (Audio)
ILS_L2_U1_Listen2
Dr. Wang: Okay, should we get started? We’ve been learning a lot about structures
lately. And for homework, you read about a new, very complex structural design
that I want to talk about today. So has everyone done the reading? I’ll take your
silence as a ‘yes’. Maria, could you start? What’s interesting about this new building?
Maria: Well, it’s really innovative because it’s an 80-story, rotating building. It’s
always turning around. It’s going to be the first rotating skyscraper after it’s
completed.
Dr. Wang: Yes, that’s right. Okay, what else? Kareem, go ahead.
Kareem: Um, I thought it was interesting that the building will always be changing
shape, because each floor turns separately from the other floors. Also since it’s
always turning, the views from each floor will vary, too. So that means you could
wake up in the morning with the sunrise, and then at the end of the day, you could
see the sunset from the same window.
Dr. Wang: Right. That’s definitely an interesting aspect of the building. Now, I want
to proceed to the second part of the article. Tell me about the construction plans.
Yes, Maria.
Maria: The plan is to construct each story of the building in a factory.
Dr. Wang: Yes, it’ll be the first skyscraper built in a factory… Could you explain how
they plan to do this?
Maria: Sure. After they build the floors at the factory, they’ll take each finished floor
to the construction site and attach it to the building’s center…which is a core made
of concrete.
Dr. Wang: Right. So what’s the significance of this plan? Kareem?
Kareem: Well, by building each floor in a factory, they’ll be able to construct the
building very quickly. And that means they’ll save money, too.
Dr. Wang: That’s a good point. Okay, now why don’t we move on. What about green
technology? To me, that’s a really interesting part of this building’s complex design.
Kareem: I thought so, too. When the skyscraper’s finished, it’ll be the world’s first
building that can generate its own power. There’ll be machines between each floor
that generate wind power for the building.
Dr. Wang: Uh huh, right. What do you think, Gary? Are we missing anything related
to the building’s green technology?
Gary: Um, I remember the article saying that the building will have external solar
panels to generate power from the sun, too.
Dr. Wang: Excellent, Gary. But I have a question for you: This is a structural
engineering course. Why should we care about green technology?
Gary: Well…we know that buildings use a lot of power and resources, and those can
be really expensive. Our clients want to save on energy costs. And it’s always good to
help the environment, right?
Dr. Wang: That’s right. So, since our clients are going to be asking for this, we have
to understand how to use green technology in the structures we build. Now let’s go
on to another topic. How do engineers plan to make sure the building is strong and
to ensure the integrity of the building? Maria, can you help us out?
Maria: Actually, it’s that central concrete core we were talking about earlier – that’s
what provides the strength and support for the building.
Dr. Wang: Exactly. Okay, so let’s summarize the article. What are some aspects of
this building that make it unique or special? Gary?
Gary: Well, it’s the first rotating skyscraper. It’s also going to be constructed in a
factory and then attached to a central core. That’s never been done before with a
skyscraper.
Dr. Wang: Okay, and …
Maria: And it uses green technology that enables the building to generate its own
power
Dr. Wang: That’s a good summary. I think that covers everything. Any questions
about the reading assignment, then? Okay, let’s move on to the next topic.
End of Unit Task B (Audio)
ILS_L2_U1_End_B
F1: Hello. My name is Sarah Stewart, and I’m the head engineer for the landfill
project. Building this new landfill will result in several benefits for our area, and I’d
like to discuss those benefits with you today.
Now we all know that landfills are places for our waste materials and other garbage.
Currently, we’re paying other cities to take our trash, and that’s costing us a lot of
money. The new landfill will enable us to save a lot of money because we won’t have
to pay other cities anymore.
Also, we can recover gas from waste and garbage. The gas that we take from our
garbage can be used to produce power, so this will decrease our city’s energy costs.
Finally, a landfill is one of the safest ways to store garbage. As a result, we can limit
environmental problems. So overall, this is a great project that will benefit us all.
Thank you.
End of Unit Task C (Audio)
ILS_L2_U1_End_C
M1: Good afternoon. I’m Frank Yamato. My environmental protection company did
a study of the landfill project, and our study revealed several negative effects of
building the landfill.
First, they want to build the landfill very close to homes and families. In fact, there
are around 100,000 people living near the landfill site. Those people would have to
live with terrible smells and other chemicals from the landfill, which can even lead
to serious health problems.
Another negative effect of the landfill is water pollution. Almost 25 percent of our
water comes from underground—right under our city, in fact. The proposed landfill
site is very close to an important water source. As a result, the landfill could pollute
our water supply.
And also, since this is a big project, it’ll cost a lot of money and take a long time to
complete. We think it would be cheaper to spend money on improving our local
recycling facility. In conclusion, we think that there are just too many negative
aspects of this project. Therefore, our company strongly recommends not building
the landfill.