R1
Portrait The definition of “portrait” is too simple. Portrait is complex actually. At first, the objects should sit in front of the painters. Then it became that painters could paint even the objects did not show in front of it. Painters used their memory.
R2 Palace The functions of palace, such as store, distribution. (Q: Exception.) Some people wanted to replace the term “palace” by “temple”. However, the writer thought some big palaces had temples in them. Some temples were built outside of palaces. Therefore, it was not suitable to use “temple” instead of “palace”. (Q) Finally, the writer talked about the royalty in palaces but still had no enough evidence to prove. (Q: The author’s attitude about the royalty.)
R3 Economy in UK before the Roman Empire
The economy focused on the house and decoration. (I forgot most of the article) It mentioned the usage of iron and the English did not use iron until the Industry Revolution. (Q: Why?)
R4 Telecommunication The history and influence of developing of telecommunication, also mentioned telegraph. Differences between America and Europe: Europe: controlled by government. America: private but then monopoly and ruled by government. Telecommunication shortened the distance between big cities.
R5 Birdsongs It mentioned two kinds of birds: C*** and White-*** Bird Experiments: 1) Because C***s have a simple pattern but every c*** has individual song differ from others, scientists wanted to know if it is heritage. After the birth of a c***, scientists isolated it from others. The C*** could sing simple pattern like others. (I am not sure if it can build up complex songs.) 2) White-*** Birds have different dialects in different areas. After the birth of a white-*** bird, scientists isolated the bird from others within four month and then let it back to bird group. The White-*** Bird could learn the dialect. However, if scientists let the bird to back to bird group after four month, it could not learn any dialect. 3) I am not sure the object of the experiment, it seems the objects were both C*** and White-*** Bird. Scientists not only isolated the bird, but also let the bird can not hear its own voice. The result was that the bird could make song but disordered.
L1
Faculty (Woman) in Writing
Center v.s. Student (Man) The student had some problems about his essay. The faculty talked him that he should discuss with his professor because writing center modified only writing and grammar. S: Do I put my paper here and take it after being reviewed? F: (Laugh) How can you improve your writing if we do everything for you? (Q: Why did the teacher say this?) You must make an appointment with a tutor. S: Can I make an appointment tomorrow? F: The available time will be Friday afternoon. S: But my due date will be Friday morning. The faculty said there is a Writing
Center in North building, but the center only help engineering students. Then she suggested the student to go to the Writing
Center in West
Building. However, the student thought the building was too far. They checked the appointments on computer. The student found his friend’s appointment. He said he would ask his friend to change the appointment because his friend’s paper would due next week.
Q: Why did the student go to the Writing
Center? Q: The reasons why the student could not go to the Writing Centers in North and West buildings?
L2 Water painting Watercolor painting artist: Winslow Homer Firstly, the professor compared Watercolor Painting and Oil Painting. It seems that Watercolor painting is cheaper. However, before 19th century, oil painting was more popular. Watercolor painting became popular after the exhibition in New York. Then the professor talked about Homer’s life, such as he show his painting interesting (or skill) in his childhood, he did a commercial work and produced magazine in Massachusetts. The screen showed an example of watercolor painting as http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/homr/ho_1995.378.htm
Q: What did he do about painting when he was a child? Q: What did he do in Massachusetts?
P.S. Winslow Homer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winslow_Homer
Winslow Homer's interest as a watercolor artist began when he was still a child. His mother was an illustrator of books on flowers and routinely used that media to produce her work. Skills family members related she taught to her son. However, it was not until 1873 that Homer, by then established as a respected painter in oils, that Homer actually painted watercolors, which he intended to exhibit and sell. At that time, he spent about half of the year 1873 in the fishing town of Gloucester, Massachusetts, where he was sent to produce magazine illustrations for Harper's Weekly. The watercolor paintings he produced as a result of this trip were exhibited in New York that year, marking his start as a painter in this media.
Watercolor painting http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watercolor_painting
L3 Botany About long-lived trees. The professor compared two trees, B*** Pine & California *** and mentioned what’s the different between those two. (It is possible that the B*** Pine is Bristlecone Pine and the picture showed on the screen was similar. Furthermore, in the lecturer, the professor talked about it can live in cold temperature and dry soils.) (It is possible that the California *** is California Sequoia. In the lecturer, the professor talked about it is the tallest and its diameter.) Please pay attention to how they can live long and the differences.
Q: How B*** Pine can keep nutrition? Q: Why does the disease of B*** Pine not easy to spread? (I guess because it grows isolatedly.)
P.S. Bristlecone Pine http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristlecone_pine
California Sequoia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coast_Redwood
L4
Professor (Man) and Student (Woman) The student wanted to drop the class about Shakespeare because she took the similar class in the past. She wanted to drop the class but she could not go online because she was in England. The professor said his class would be different from others. The student said she wanted to do independent study. She had the ability to do that because she had the same experience. The professor said ok, but she needed to provide her papers for last semester.
Q: What’s the student’s problem? Q: Why did the student not want to take the Shakespeare class? Q: Why would the professor’s class be different from others? Q: Why did the professor ask the student to provide her papers last semester? Q: The reaction of the professor about her independent study.
L5
Biology The professor mentioned body temperature and then said some animals can survive in the situation that temperature is under 0 Centigrade (that means water is frozen). For example, painted turtles live in the lakes of South Canada and North America where is very cold in winter. The professor talked about a lot of details about how painted turtles can survive when the water is frozen. The most important is that painted turtles are able to let themselves not to become freezing.
Q: Where do the hatching eggs live? Q: How can turtle avoid to be frozen?
P.S. The information of wikipedia is useful http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Painted_Turtle
L6
Psychology Firstly, the professor mentioned “memory” and explained that if she put a pencil on the desk, she would remember even she left the desk. There is a term, “object permanence” to describe the ability. Scientists did 3 experiments: 1) Put a banana in one of two different colors cups. (I am not very sure.) 2) Put a banana in one of two same colors cups. (I am not very sure.)
For the two experiments above, the monkey could pick the correct cup. 3) I forgot the third experiment, but the monkey picked the wrong cup. The scientist felt the monkey was upset. There were several questions the professor doubted. ¨ The monkey really knew what it wanted to pick? ¨ Did the monkey want to pick a specific object or no matter what kind of object? ¨ Was the monkey really upset after it picked the wrong cup?
Q: Why did the professor take pencil for example? Q: About the professor’s questions.
P.S. Object permanence: used to describe the awareness that objects continue to exist even when they are no longer visible. From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Object_permanence
S1
Describe a class that you don’t enjoy but it is very important.
S2
Do you prefer watching movie in a theater or at home (on television)?
S3
Reading: In a campus newspaper, a student suggests that food should be available in residence building in final exam week for the two reasons. 1) Students don’t need to go out. 2) When students study late, it is easy to find food to eat. Listening: The woman thinks the idea is too great for the reasons. 1) The study would not be interrupted when they want to eat. 2) Students need food to have energy. However, if there is only snack food, students will feel sleepy. It is better if the school also provide sandwich.
S4
Reading: Halo error, means the tendency of generalize a person’s ability. For example, if a person is good at one thing, people think he/she good at everything. Listening: The professor took a friend for example. James was good at physics so he invited James to be his roommate. However, James was a terrible roommate. James was not organized and messy. Why did he think James would be a good roommate? Because he assumed that James was good at physics so he was good at everything, such as clean.
S5
The woman wanted to go home during holidays and her roommate could drive her home the next day. However, she wanted to finish her assignment before leaving. If she would go home with her roommate, she needed to do the assignment overnight. The man asked her if she could take a public transportation. The woman said there was a bus near school. If she would take the bus, she would be bored on the bus but she would have all day to finish her assignment.
S6
Two styles of Group Hunting 1) Cooperation: Ex. Lions hunt zebras. 2) Different animals Ex. Honeyguide bird & other animals (p.s. from the internet, I think the animal is honey badger “It has been written, in fable more than in natural histories that the honeyguide and the ratel or ‘honey badger’ (Mellivora capensis) has a relationship in which the bird coerces the mammal to follow it to a bees nest where the ratel tears open the nest to eat the honey and the honeyguide then dines on the beeswax. Although this remains a possibility, it has never been fully researched.” <From http://www.nashvillezoo.org/piciformes/indicatoridae.htm>)
W1
Reading
| Listening | In the UK, there are some problems about archeology. | According to the New guideline | 1. Artifacts are destroyed by construction.
| Constructors should submit their plan and the plan should be evaluated by archeologists before construction. | 2. No financial support for archeology. | Financial support will be provided by construction companies, not government. | 3. It is difficult to find a job about archeology. | There will be more related work opportunities. |
W2 In order to succeed, it is better to be most like others or different from everybody else. | 
