B2U1 College Culture Scripts

Unit 1 College cultureInside viewConversation1Janet ：So this is the Cherwell Boathouse –it’s lovely! And look at those people punting! It looks quite easy.Mark ：I’m not so sure about that! Janet, there’s something Kate and I wanted to discuss with you. Some people in college are organizing charity events this term. We’ve decided to get involved.Janet ：Raising money for charity? Right. In China, people raise money for charity but students don’t usually do that.Mark ：Students often do that here. Anyway, we’re thinking of doing sponsored punting.Janet ：Sponsored punting! What’s that?Kate ：Sponsoring is when people pay you to do something –like run a long distance. So people would be sponsoring students to punt.Janet ：What a great idea! I’d love to join you!Mark ：That’s why we’re telling you about it. So that’s decided then. Let’s make a list of things we need to do.Kate ：I’ll do that. One of the first things we should do is choose the charity.Mark ：Yes. And choose a day for the event. And we need to design thesponsorship form. I’ve got one here.Kate ：That looks fine, but we must change the wording. Who wants to do that?Mark ：I’ll do that. What have we got so far?Kate ：Choose a charity. Also a day for the event. Change the wording on the sponsorship form…Um … We have to decide where the punt will start from.Mark ：Cherwell Boathouse, no question! It’s a very beautiful route from here, apparently.Kate ：I’m with you on that.Janet ：Me too …Conversation2Janet ：I’m not used to boats –Woah!Mark ：Whoops!Kate ：Watch out! You nearly hit me with that thing!Mark ：Sorry! I didn’t mean to. …OK, we’re off!Kate ：Maybe I should do the punting.Mark ：It’s fine. I’ve got the hang of it now –give me a chance.Kate ：Well, I’d like to have a go.Mark ：Supposing I do the first hour. Then you can take over for a while, if you want to.Kate ：Yes, great.Janet ：You’re really good at it, Mark! This is fantastic! It’s exactly how I imagined life here! Look over there – isn’t it lovely!Kate ：Yes, it is.…Janet ：Kate, everything’s organized, isn’t it, for collecting the sponsorship money?Kate ：Yes, I’ve arranged for people to get the money to me by next Friday –if they haven’t paid online. I’ll count it all up.Janet ：Good. We’d better have a meeting soon after that, don’t you think? How much have we raised?Kate ：About 600.Janet：Fantastic! I’m so enjoying this!Mark ：Hey guys, I’ve got a suggestion –how about moving over to the bank and we can have our picnic! Hey, look, there’s Louise and Sophie!Mark ：Whoo …Girls: Mark!Janet ：Are you all right?Mark ：Er …Of course. I’m all right. Kate, I think it’s your turn to punt! Outside viewV/OHarvard University in Cambridge is one of the best universities in the world. We spoke to Alex Jude, the university’s Head of Communications. He explained that Harvard looks for the best and most talented students from around the world.AlexHarvard actually seeks students from around the world, the best students that we can find, to study chemistry, or study literature, or study government, or business. Our business school is particularly well-known around the world, as is the medical school and law school, so, um, and, and the Kennedy School of government, for the John F. Kennedy School of Government, so, er, we do seek very, very talented students and we have open doors for them.V/OWe asked five students at Harvard to tell us what kind of social life they have.AshleyUm, well relaxing is a little hard to do around here, but basically, I mean, I still, I, I live nearby anyway, so I see a lot of my friends, and … Um,there’s a good social life here if you look for it. I go to the gym, run. So that’s what I do.AdamIt is whatever you want it to be. It’s good. If you wanna go out party, do anything you can. If you wanna sit in your room and study all night like my friend over here, you can also do that.BrianSocially, like you said, it’s, it’s a lot of what you make it. Um, we don’t have fraternities here, and so, you know, that’s, it’s obviously not as social. There’s not as many parties as there would be on another campus. Um, but on a Friday or Saturday night, there, there, there will be a party. Usually we end up studying until about 10 o’clock. And then we, and then we’ll go out and have fun maybe, or just watch a movie with friends, or, you know, whatever is going on for the night.JodieNot everyone would agree with me, obviously, but it’s, I think it’s a fun place to be.Int.Have you made a lot of friends?JodieOh, definitely.Int. ：Mm.JodieMany.Int.What, what do you do with your friends?JodieUm, well, I like to go to concerts. I’m in three music groups, so I have lots of rehearsals during the week for that. Um, just do, you know, some fun things, on the weekend.V/OWe asked the Harvard students if they use theInternet.AshleyUm, I, I use it a fairly good amount. Um, our library system is online, so I use that a lot. And a lot of my classes, you know, have to do research papers. You can find a lot of information on there, so.Int.So how often do you use it, a week, a day?AshleyUm, I use it probably on more of a weekly basis. Maybe three or four times a week.BrianOh yes, definitely. We live through the Internet actually. Well, I do a lot ofresearch through the Internet, follow my stocks on the Internet. Um, well, even though e-mail is not officially Internet, we, that’s how we communicate a lot at college, so, through the e-mail.JohnUm, I use the internet mostly for, er, I’d say, sort of leisure purposes. I mean, I play, um, I use it for a lot of, I don’t, we don’t have TV in my room, so I use it, uh, uh, go to the CNN website, keep up on current events, things like that. Uh, I also, uh, you know, there’s some little games to play over the Internet. Um, just um, I go to to see what’s happening, follow the Boston Red Sox, things like that. Um, I think a lot of courses use it to post things, but I, I don’t usually use it that much for research, or things. I tend to use the libraries for such things, so.Listening inPassage1V/OHi, I’m Nick Carter, and this is SUR, your university radio station. This morning we went around campus to ask freshers – now half-waythrough their first year –the question, “How are you finding uni?” Here are som e of the answers we got.Speaker 1It’s cool. It’s everything I hoped it would be. I’m very ambitious, I want to be a journalist and I want to get to the top of the profession. I’ve started writing for the university newspaper so I’ve got my foot on the ladder already.Speaker 2I’m working hard and the teaching is as good as I expected. And I’ve made some good friends. But I’m very homesick. I’m Nigerian and my family’s so far away. I went home at Christmas for a month – that really helped, but man, I miss my family so much.Speaker 3“How am I finding uni?” It’s great. It’s not perfect, nothing is, but, like, I’ve got a brilliant social life, just brilliant, and I’ve made lots of friends. For the first few months I just didn’t do, really enough work. But I –I talked about it with my parents and I’m working harder now and getting good grades.Speaker 4Actually, I’ve been quite lonely to be honest. I’m a bit s hy … everyone else seemed to find it so easy to make friends straight away. But things have been better recently – yeah, they have. I’ve joined a couple of clubs and like, it really helps to get to know people when you have shared interests. So, yeah – I’m feeling a lot happier now.Speaker 5Uni’s great, I love it. My only problem – and it’s quite a big problem – is money. My parents are both unemployed so, you know, they can’t help me financially. My grant just isn’t – it’s just not enough for me to live on, so I’ve taken a part-time job as a waitress – a lot of people I know, like a lot, have had to do the same. I don’t want to have huge debts at the end. Speaker 6I love my subject, History, and I’m, I’m getting fantastic teaching here. I want to be a university lecturer and that means I have to get a first. I have a good social life but work definitely comes first for me.Passage2Oxford and Cambridge – two universities so similar that they are often spoken of together as “Oxbridge”. They’re both in the UK, fairly near London, and both regularly come top in any ranking of the world’s best universities.The two universities began within a century of each other. Oxford University, now 900 years old, was founded towards the end of the 11th century. In 1209 there was a dispute between the university and the townspeople of Oxford. As a result, some of the Oxford teachers left and founded a university in the town of Cambridge, some 84 miles away. Ever since then, the two institutions have been very competitive.Unlike most modern universities, both Oxford and Cambridge consist of a large number of colleges. Oxford has 39 and Cambridge 31. Many of these colleges have old and very beautiful architecture, and large numbers of tourists visit them.In all UK universities, you need good grades in the national exams taken at 18. But to get into Oxford and Cambridge, it’s not enough to get A grades in your exams. You also have to go for a long interview. In these interviews, students need to show that they are creative and capable of original thinking.Through the centuries, both universities have made huge contributions to British cultural life.They have produced great writers, world leaders and politicians. Cambridge, in particular, has produced scientists whose discoveries and inventions have changed our lives.Among the great university institutions is the world’s most famous debating society, the Oxford Union, where undergraduates get a chance to practise speaking in public. Cambridge’s comedy clubFootlights has produced many first-class comedians, while some of the UK’s most famous actors and actresses began their careers at The Oxford University Dramatic Society, known as OUDS. Then there’s the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race, which takes place every year in March or April, and is watched on television all over the UK.B2U1 College CultureSo with all this excellence in so many fields, it’s not surprising that the ambition of clever students all over the world is to attend either one of these great universities.11。