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Transcripts
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01 Anatomy
W: Yesterday, we only started to talk about chemoreceptors.
Does everybody remember what chemoreceptors are?
Let me give you a quick definition just to make sure that
we’re all clear on this. OK, so chemoreceptors are the group
of cells that act kind of as translators for chemical stimuli.
So, when your body is exposed to certain chemicals, the
chemoreceptors prompt your body to react, respond, or
both. Does that make sense? What I want to talk about
specifically today is the role of chemoreceptors in two
human sensory systems: the olfactory and gustatory
systems.
OK, then. First, the olfactory system is what allows you to
perceive smells. Smelling is important. I mean, it gives us
a way to tell if there’s food close by, or if food has gone
bad. Anyway, the chemoreceptors used for smelling are
called distance chemoreceptors. Humans have millions
and millions of chemoreceptors that are located in the
nose. If you want to get really technical, the receptors
are all actually located in a certain part of the nose called
the epithelium. In humans, it’s about two inches long. It’s
actually by studying the epithelium that scientists can tell
if an animal has a good sense of smell or not. Let’s consider
two examples: humans and dogs. Humans have about
sixteen square centimeters of the epithelium covered
with chemoreceptors. Dogs, meanwhile, have 150 square
centimeters. So, what can we guess by that? That’s right,
that dogs have a much better sense of smell than humans.
Anyway, when odor molecules pass through the nose,
they bind to the receptors. The receptors transduce . . .
ah, right, transduce. When you transduce something, you
change it from one form to another. So, yeah, the receptors
transduce the chemical stimuli into electrical signals
that can be understood by the brain. The brain can then
interpret what the odor is, tell how concentrated the odor
is, or even match up the odor with a memory of an odor
smelled in the past.
So that’s how chemoreceptors work in the olfactory system.
In the gustatory system, which allows us to taste, it’s a little
different. Again, being able to taste is very important to
humans. Before we all were able to get our food at the
supermarket, humans used to have to go out and hunt for
food. The sense of taste allowed humans to tell if a food
was nutritious or bad for them. Moving on, I’m sure you
all know that our tongues are covered with thousands of
taste buds. There are about 10,000 taste buds in the human
mouth. Scientists have learned that different buds are able
to discern, or, uh, to figure out different types of flavors.
Well, that’s actually where the chemoreceptors are found.
See, there are two kinds of cells that make up each taste
bud. The supporting cell usually forms the outside of the
bud. Then the gustatory cell, which is the chemoreceptor, is
found in the center of the bud. Unlike the chemoreceptors
in the nose, the chemoreceptors found on the tongue are
called direct chemoreceptors. There are five different kinds
of receptors on the tongue. Each one is able to perceive
salty, sweet, bitter, sour or savory flavors. Interestingly, each
receptor has a distinct way of communicating with the
brain.
02 Art History
W: We’ve been talking a lot about the Spanish Renaissance
in art. You probably remember that this movement dates
back to the 1500s. Today I want to give you a, um, a profile,
I guess, of one of the most well-known painters of this
period: El Greco.
M: Wait a minute, but wasn’t El Greco kind of an exception in
terms of his ideology and style? I thought that he wasn’t
even popular at the time.
W: That’s absolutely right. But I bring him up for two reasons:
one, because he was an extraordinarily gifted artist, and
two, because his work exhibits features that popped up
in art later. So consider this a preview of sorts. Now, you
said that ideologically, he was very different from his
contemporaries. Why don’t we talk about that? What were
some of the beliefs that informed El Greco’s work?
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 M: Well, first of all, his work was mostly informed by his
imagination and intuition. And he thought it was important
to depict subjects in ways other than what was expected.
W: Great point. I think that element is probably best exemplified
in the way he portrayed his subjects as stretched out.
M: You know, I read something interesting about that once,
about the elongation of El Greco’s subjects. It was an article
by this art historian . . . he proposed that the reason that
El Greco’s subjects looked all stretched out like that is
probably because he had astigmatism. Is that true, or were
the elongated figures really part of El Greco’s style?
W: Well, uh, for those of you who don’t know, astigmatism is a
condition that affects the eyes. Very simply put, it can cause
objects to appear more stretched out than they actually are.
Anyway, that’s an interesting theory. I know it seems like
astigmatism could account for El Greco’s style, but if you
think about it for a minute, you’ll see that it doesn’t really
make any sense. See, the astigmatism theory recognizes
that the subject will be seen differently, but it fails to
acknowledge that the artist with the astigmatism would
also see the canvas and the room and really everything
with the same distortion. Does that make sense?
M: 
Um, yeah, I guess I can see that. But still, to me it made a
lot of sense actually looking at El Greco’s paintings. I mean,
even if everything is distorted, it would still produce that
effect, wouldn’t it?
W: Not exactly. Here, let me give you an example. According
to the astigmatism theory, the reason that the subjects in
El Greco’s work are stretched out is because that is how he
actually perceived them due to astigmatism. But consider
a work where the subject is lying down horizontally. If he
were, in fact, just painting what he saw, the subject would
appear to be quite thick. Instead, his subjects are never
really elongated horizontally; it’s more like they’re stretched
out vertically. That effect in his work is really just a result of
his desire to get away from the tradition of having perfect
measurements and proportions.
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03 Service Encounter
W: Hi, I’m looking for someone who can help me with my
identification card.
M: I can help you. What’s the problem? Is it not letting you into
buildings anymore? You know, sometimes if you leave the
card close to a magnet, the card readers can’t read them.
W: 
No, actually, I, um, seem to have misplaced my card
somewhere. But I’m almost sure that it’s in my room
somewhere. I just don’t have the time to look for it now
because I have a laboratory session all afternoon. So I was
wondering if I could have a temporary card or something
until I find my own.
M: Oh, I’m so sorry, but we can’t issue temporary cards. It’s just
too risky to have that many ID cards circulating around
campus. Especially since we use them for so many things. I
mean, think about it. You use it to get into buildings, to eat
at the cafeteria. Anyway, we’ll just have to get you a new
one.
W: Oh, but I really don’t want to have to pay for a new one if I
know that I haven’t really lost mine.
M: 
I’m really sorry, but you’ll have to purchase a replacement.
The bright side is that if this is the first time you’ve had to
replace your card, it will only cost you five dollars. After that,
it’s ten dollars if you have to replace it again.
W: See, the thing is, I’ve already lost it twice. So it’s ten bucks.
It just kills me. And I know it’s not lost this time. It has to be
somewhere in my room.
M: To be honest, you don’t have much of a choice. Once a card
is reported missing, we are required by university policy to
deactivate it. Really, it’s just what we have to do to protect
the students.
W: OK, I guess I can see that. What information do you need to
deactivate it?
M: Just your name.
W: It’s Olivia Bentham.
M: Let me just put that in the system here. OK, Ms. Bentham,
your old card is now deactivated. Now, let me just make
you a new one and you can be on your way.
W: Thanks. Um, so, it’s ten dollars.
M: That’s right. You can either pay with cash or put it on your
student account.
W: I’ll just pay for it now. My parents will freak if they find out
I’ve lost it again.

Chapter 1 Main Idea Questions
01 Linguistics
M: I wanted to talk a little bit about language acquisition. As
you all probably know, learning a new language is a process
that is not yet completely understood. Linguists examining
language acquisition have formulated several theories
about it, including one called the transactional model. This
model will be our topic for today. Let’s start off by defining
it. OK, so first, the transactional model emphasizes the
effect of the language environment on the learner. Right.
This is a huge part—let me explain. It means that a learner
of a language will be affected by things that he or she is
exposed to—different sounds, words, and so on. The most
obvious example might be children who learn the same
language in different parts of a country. Depending on the
environment—in this case, geographical location—they
might develop different accents.
The transactional model can also work in the opposite
direction, which is my second point. It also states that
the learner can manipulate his or her environment. For
example, um, one child’s habit of oh, using a certain word
or phrase, might be transferred to the other students in
the same class, which is the children’s shared environment.
Then, soon, all of the students in the class are using this
word or phrase, and it becomes habitual behavior in that
environment.
02 History
W: Today I want to continue our lecture on Alexander the
Great. As you already know, Alexander was a Greek military
leader who conquered much of the known world in the
mid-4th century BCE. An interesting thing is, aside from
all the territory he conquered, Alexander the Great also
contributed significantly to the spread of Greek culture.
Alexander was legendary for his policy of fusion. What
I mean by that is that he promoted the assimilation of
foreigners in the army. Hmm, I think I’m still confusing
you all. Basically, he was more welcoming of people from
other countries than many other rulers in history tended to
be. For example, he would have his Greek generals marry
noblewomen from Persia. He allowed his own culture to
Transcripts
combine with cultures from around the world. Another
way that Alexander helped spread Greek culture was by
his, uh, his sheer notoriety. I mean, the guy was practically
a superstar, as famous in his day as some of the musicians
you might listen to today. When you consider that he was
undefeated in battle, it’s easy to understand why he had
fans around the world. One good example is the Romans.
It’s said that the Romans really esteemed Alexander and
sought to associate themselves with him. One way we
can see that is that the Romans all prided themselves on
speaking Greek. In fact, it was the unofficial language of the
academics.
03 Office Hours
W: Excuse me, professor? I was hoping you had a second to
talk about class.
M: Hi, Gracie, I’m happy that you came. I’ve been curious about
the students’ sentiments toward the class. So what’s on
your mind?
W: Um, well, honestly, I guess I’m just having a problem with
the setup of the class. I feel like you don’t give us the
information we need during class, and that we’re, well, uh
kind of wasting time with the group discussions.
M: What do you mean, exactly?
W: Well, it just seems like every time I’m in a group discussion,
nobody’s ever really sure what we’re supposed to talk
about.
M: But the purpose of the group discussion is to see what
ideas you all have. I figured nobody wanted to hear me go
on and on by myself.
W: No, and I can appreciate that, but . . . I don’t know. I mean,
you are the authority.
M: Huh, and here I was thinking that I was probably boring
everyone to death with the lectures.
W: No, definitely not. I mean, I’m pretty interested in hearing
what you have to say.
M: That certainly gives me something to think about. Thanks
for your input.
W: No problem. And I want you to know I really do enjoy your
class. See you later!
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 04 Service Encounter
W: 
Hi, did you call about a problem with your Internet
connection?
M: Wow, that was fast. Anyway, yeah, I just can’t seem to
connect to the campus network. I’ve tried just about
everything I can think of, but nothing seems to work.
W: Let me do some quick troubleshooting. Let’s see, well, it
looks like your hardware is all in working order. Did you get
your network password already?
M: My network password? Oops, I didn’t even know about
that.
W: A lot of incoming students don’t know about it. Basically, it’s
just a way for the Campus Computing Department to track
who’s on the network. You know, to make sure that only
students can access the network.
M: Gotcha. Well, no, I definitely don’t have one of those. How
do I get one?
W: Normally, you’d have to go to the computing building,
but since I’m here, I can walk you through it. First, open up
your browser and type “University Log-in dot e-d-u” in the
search bar. Then click on the link that says, “Get network
password.”
M: Um, I don’t see it anywhere.
W: It’s on the lower left-hand side. There you go! Now all you
have to do is follow the directives on the screen.
M: Wait, and after I finish up filling in this information, it will
give me the password?
W: No, this is just going to set up your campus profile. It’s their
way of verifying that you’re actually a student. After this is
another step.
M: Oh, I get it. So now that I have my campus profile approved
I have to . . .
W: You have to check your campus email address.
M: OK. Oh look, there it is. Thanks a lot for your help.
05 Literature
W: 
So, last night I had you read some poems by Emily
Dickinson. I imagine that by now you’ve gotten a good
sense of her style and how different it is from other writers’
of that period. Today, I want to talk about those differences
and how Dickinson sort of blazed the trail for other writers
after her. Can anybody start us off with how, stylistically,
Dickinson was different from her contemporaries?
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M: I guess I would say that her style is characterized by the
use of dashes everywhere and, um, like weird capitalization
in places you don’t really expect it. After reading some
other female poets of the period, I found it to be quite a
departure from the standard punctuation practices of the
time.
W: You’re right. One big difference is that Dickinson didn’t
follow the accepted rules of punctuation. Dickinson
used dashes in her poems to connect ideas that weren’t
always complete thoughts. Oh, and speaking of complete
thoughts, uh, I guess I should mention grammar, too. See,
she—Dickinson—didn’t always use complete sentences,
either. She used a lot of sentence fragments and sometimes
even used sentences that only consisted of one word.
Other poets focused on language that was very clearly
grammatical and flowed much better than Dickinson’s.
Another thing you’ll notice that’s pretty different are the
themes that Dickinson covered. If you remember reading
the other poets of the period a couple of weeks ago, they
were nothing like Dickinson. All the other poets from
that period seemed to talk about religion all the time.
But Dickinson would talk about the importance of the
individual. Most of her poems were very personal, very
emotional. She definitely focused on the importance of
the self. And it is refreshing to see topics outside of the
standard—someone writing about different subjects than
other writers of that period.
06 Medical Science
M: Today, I want to talk about infectious diseases. Just to be
clear, an infectious disease is a disease that is caused by any
number of pathogens—er . . . I’m talking about biological
agents—you know, things like viruses, bacteria, parasites.
One question I’ve heard a lot over the years I’ve been
teaching this class is, “How did treatable diseases such as
smallpox or even the flu kill so many people in the past?”
Well, let’s answer that.


First, let’s remember that we’ve come a long way in
understanding how diseases are transmitted. Now we
know that some diseases can be transmitted through the
air we breathe or the water we drink. We now know that
our environment can affect our health. It’s obvious to us.
That knowledge has helped us up our standards as far as
hygiene is concerned. So, for example, it’s widely accepted
that the Black Death that wiped out about two-thirds of
Europe was pretty much eradicated when people started
being more careful about cleanliness. Remember, the Black
Death is thought to have been a bubonic plague, which
was spread by rats and the fleas that they carried. When
people learned about this, they were able to make changes
in their environment to avoid contracting the disease.
Another important factor in the mortality rates of infectious
diseases is the lack of immunity within certain groups of
people. First of all, do you all get what I mean when I say
mortality rates? OK, all that means is the number of people
that die from disease. Anyway, the lack of immunity can
occur for many reasons. Take the American Indians, for
example, who simply had never been exposed to diseases
like smallpox, which was, of course, very common in Europe
at the time of the first settlers.
07 Office Hours
M: Excuse me, professor. Do you mind if I ask you a question
about the course outline?
W: Hi, um . . . I’m sorry, I’m still trying to remember everyone’s
name. Is it Paul?
M: Right. It must be hard trying to keep track of everybody,
huh? Anyway, I was wondering about the course outline . . .
see, um, here it says that we’ll be working from the third
edition of Classical Mechanics. Is that right?
W: Um, yes, that’s correct. If you’re wondering why I didn’t
assign the most recent edition, it’s a purely economic
decision. The editions are virtually identical, and I don’t
think it’s right to have students pay fifty percent more for
the newest edition if it’s all the same anyway.
M: I appreciate that. But the reason I was concerned is because
that’s the same book that Professor Maggart uses in his
introductory course. So I guess I just wasn’t sure about how
much material will be repeated from that course.
W: Really? I don’t understand. Why would he use that book?
There are much more comprehensive basic textbooks for
an intro course on electricity and magnetism.
Transcripts
M: 
I think that’s a different course. I’m talking about
Foundations of Mechanics, or something like that. It’s a
prerequisite for just about all of the upper-level courses in
the physics department. That’s why I know about it.
W: I guess that makes sense, then. You know, this is the first
time I’ve ever heard about us using the same book. Do you
remember what chapter you got up to?
M: If I remember correctly, it was up to chapter six, which
would be, um . . .
W: 
Calculus of variations. Well, I’m kind of surprised that
that’s as far as he took you all in a survey course on
classical mechanics. Especially since it’s a prerequisite
for the department. But anyway, as for your question,
unfortunately, there will be some overlap. I can tell you right
now that we’ll be blowing through the first six chapters
within the first couple weeks of class. I’ll mostly just review
that material, especially now that I know that everyone in
the course is supposed to have taken an entire semester on
it.
M: OK, and if that’s the case, would it be safe for me to assume
that we’ll be covering more advanced topics, then?
W: Most definitely. My course will give you deeper knowledge
of those subjects. Is there anything else?
M: Nope, that answers my questions. Thank you so much. See
you in class.
W: Bye, Paul!
08 Service Encounter
M: Hi, is this where I can change my meal plan?
W: Yes, this is the dining services office, so I can help you with
that. Why don’t you take a seat?
M: OK, well, here’s the thing. I’m a freshman, so I don’t really
know what my options are. But I did hear from some
people that there’s a deadline coming up, so I figured I’d
come in and try to see what’s going on.
W: Yes, there is a deadline. But why don’t we start from the
beginning so we make sure you’re clear on everything?
M: That sounds good. I’m sorry for trying to charge through
stuff.
W: Don’t worry about it. I know this stuff gets really bewildering.
Anyway, you said you’re a freshman, right?
M: Right.
W: OK, so what that means is that, as per university policy, you
have to be enrolled in one of the three meal plan options.
All freshmen must be on one of the meal plans. The one
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 that all students are automatically enrolled in is twenty
meals per week, and that comes with 200 dining points.
This is just the default plan for all new students.
M: Sorry, what are dining points for?
W: Oh, no problem. The dining points can be used at all the
campus eateries, excluding the cafeterias, of course, since
you use one of your 20 weekly meal vouchers in the
cafeterias.
M: Oh, that’s cool. But that sounds excessive for me. I never
even wake up early enough for breakfast.
W: Well then, you can try the second meal plan. It’s fourteen
meals per week, plus 150 dining points. And the last meal
plan is seven meals, plus 70 dining points per week.
M: You know, I really think that seven meals per week is
probably enough for me. I don’t mind cooking for myself,
anyway. Is there a big difference in the cost of the plan?
W: 
There’s certainly a difference. Many students prefer to
downgrade a little bit. And as for the cost, each plan is $500
less than the next step up. So that means if you go down
to the seven meals per week, you’ll be saving $1,000 per
semester.
M: Oh, that would be great. I know my parents will like that,
anyway.
09 Geology
W: Good afternoon, class. Today we’re going to talk about
landslide processes and types. I know that for most people
a landslide is a landslide, but there are actually different
kinds. What they have in common is that they all involve
rocks and soil and other debris moving down a slope. So,
if there aren’t any questions, I’ll talk a little bit about these
three types.
The first type I’m going to talk about is creep. Just in case
you’re wondering, um, I think your textbook calls it downhill
creep. It’s the same thing. Anyway, creep is when rocks
and soil move slowly down the side of a slope. This mostly
occurs because of gravity. This phenomenon is responsible
for the gentle, um, rounded slopes you often see on
hillsides. Creep is affected by several factors, including
the grade of the slope and vegetation. Another important
factor in creep movement is water. Some water will act like
glue and help keep the slope fixed. However, excessive
water causes the creep to move faster. Creep happens so
slowly that you can’t really see it; however, if you take a look
at the vegetation in an area, you can tell if it is happening.
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For example, in regions where creep has taken place, you’ll
find curved tree trunks or bent fences.
OK, let’s move on, then. The second type is most commonly
known as a mudslide, but geologists prefer the term “debris
flow.” You all probably think I’m being nitpicky about the
term, but they actually do refer to different processes. We’ll
use the scientific terms. Debris flow, unlike downhill creep,
moves pretty rapidly. It’s pretty much comprised of the
same rock and soil materials; however, a debris flow can be
recognized by the rocky front, which is called the head, and
the slushy, um, concrete-like tail end. As with creep, there
are different factors that cause debris flows. But excessive
water is usually to blame. What happens is that the loose
soil on the slope becomes saturated and causes it to, well,
just slip off.
Finally, let me talk a little bit about a debris avalanche. It’s

pretty much the same process as creep except that it moves
extremely fast. Just like an avalanche of snow. So, yeah, this
is a very dangerous kind of flow. A debris avalanche can
travel several kilometers before losing speed. It can also
have devastating effects on landscapes. For example,
many areas affected by debris avalanches are permanently
altered.
10 Zoology
M: All right, now, we’ve all witnessed animals playing before.
Seems like they’re just having fun, right? But there’s a lot of
evidence telling us that animals play for explicit reasons. So
let’s all take a moment to think of the possible reasons why
animals might play—uh, outside of having fun, of course.
We’ll come up with some theories. Any ideas?
W: Well, it’s a learning tool, right? And considering they’re
playing at fighting, wouldn’t it be, in a way, practicing to
hunt other animals?
M: Great idea. Let me use wolves to support that idea. OK, so,
young wolves always engage in a sort of play-fighting. In
fact, mothers will encourage this conduct. The mother will
do this because she knows that the cubs will need those
skills once they go off on their own. They will need to be
able to defend themselves against attackers, and they will
need to be strong enough to hunt other animals.
W: Yeah, but I’ve studied wolves before, and I thought that
their fighting was real. I mean, they would actually fight,
not just play. Isn’t that true?

M: You’re right. Wolves do fight each other. And they do this
for a few different reasons, but I just want to focus on one,
and actually, we’re going to bring the discussion back to
play-fighting. But I promise, I’ll answer your question in
more detail.
W: Hold on. I think I might know what you mean. Are you
saying that when animals really fight, they are just doing it
for the same reason as when they play-fight?
M: Not exactly. What I mean is that play-fighting actually
establishes a sense of hierarchy in the pack. I realize that
was a lot of information. Let me slow it down. What I mean
is that—and make sure you write this down—animals use
play-fighting to develop a sense of place in the group. You
know the term “alpha male,” when one wolf is the leader of
the group? Well, as you know, wolves can’t exactly vote for
a leader like we do. So instead, wolves use play-fighting.
When wolves fight with each other, they learn which one is
the strongest. That wolf will become the head of the pack.
W: So, I still don’t understand why wolves would really fight,
then.
M: Well, sometimes there might be a dispute over which one
is the leader. Maybe another wolf thinks it should be the
alpha male. So it’s the same idea of developing the social
structure, but the fighting becomes real.
Chapter 2 Detail Questions
01 Sociology
M: In today’s discussion of group dynamics, we’re going to
focus on the very smallest group possible—a group of
two, formally known as a dyad. Love affairs, marriages, and
even really close friendships are dyads. And there are two
characteristics that make these relationships very special,
um, unique. In fact, they’re unlike any other relationship.
The first thing that sets off dyads from all other social
relationships is that they are typically much more intense
than the others. Yeah, there’s no one to focus on, other
than the other member, so naturally, the relationships can
be very intense—deep, strong, and often very passionate.
What does this lead to? Well, put simply, these relationships
tend to be the most consequential relationships of our
lives.
Transcripts
The next thing that makes these relationships unique
is that they are highly unstable. If both members don’t
actively work on maintaining the relationship, then the
thing ceases to exist. I mean, think about it. What happens if
a member, of, oh, say, the photography club quits the club?
What happens to the club? Well, probably not too much.
The group survives. This is not the case in a dyad, right? If
one person quits, the group is finished.
02 Psychology
W: Let’s go over some theories about the development of
panic disorder. Panic disorder is a disorder—disorder
being a physical or mental health problem, basically—
and with panic disorder you have inexplicable feelings of
really intense anxiety. Researchers believe that there’s a
link between panic disorders and an unusual awareness of
one’s own body. Confused? Allow me to explain.
During a study on the development of anxiety and panic
symptoms, a group of randomly selected children were
asked to guess what their heart rate was, and to complete
questionnaires about their anxiety. It was found that
children who were better at approximating their heart-
rates—you know, guessing whether their hearts were
beating too fast or not—they were more hypersensitive
to physical manifestations of bodily malfunctions—um, let
me put that another way. It seems as though being very
aware of your body, such as being able to accurately guess
your heart rate, sets you up to be more prone to anxiety. If
you’re constantly worried about how your body is working
. . . well, I think you can understand what would happen.
So, OK, what if that’s true for heart rate? What about when
experiencing pain? Some people have pain and just bear
it and brush it off. Some people, however, feel like their
bodies are being attacked and start to experience anxiety.
These people tend to lead very psychologically unstable
lives—um, I mean that since they are worried that their
bodies are not working right, they start to develop panic
disorder.
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 03 Office Hours
W: Hey, John, how are you today?
M: I’m good. Actually, I need to ask you a question.
W: Sure, what’s on your mind?
M: Well, um, I’m really concerned about my performance in
class. I feel as though my grades haven’t been as good as
I’d like them to be, and well, I was hoping to ask you what I
can do to bring them up.
W: Sure. We still have the final exam, so doing well on that is
your best bet. Well, let’s see, let me get the grade book.
Hmm . . . OK, so I see that you got a seventy-eight on your
midterm exam . . .
M: Yeah, even though I studied and studied for it.
W: I always suggest studying smarter rather than just studying
more. Study only the large, main points of the book and my
lectures. Oh, and of course on top of that, make sure you’re
taking the suggestions I make in class about what to study.
M: Well, I thought I did that, and I was pretty sure that I took
everything in. It didn’t quite hit me until I received my test
grade.
W: Well, come see me before the final exam so I can clear up
the main points. I certainly don’t expect you to remember
everything I say. But I absolutely don’t mind going over
what to expect.
M: That sounds great. Thank you.
W: Sure. I’m usually available in the afternoons, so come see
me any time you’re uncertain about something.
04 Service Encounter
M: Excuse me, ma’am, I’m looking for the National Journal of
Environmental Science, but I just can’t seem to find it.
W: OK, well, have you looked on the shelves?
M: Yeah, I’ve looked up and down. I didn’t see it at all.
W: Hmm, maybe it’s checked out. Let me look it up. Ah, no, it’s
not in our system. We must not subscribe to that particular
journal. Let’s see, the National Journal of Environmental
Science, right? No, we don’t have it.
M: Really? I need an article from it to use in a research paper. Is
there any other way to get it?
W: Hmm. Have you tried the interlibrary loan system?
M: No, I’ve never heard of it. What is it?
W: It’s a system that we have that allows us to borrow materials
from other libraries.
8
M: Really? But how much does it cost?
W: We do it for free. I think most other libraries do, too.
M: That’s great. OK, so how can I get this journal?
W: Well, we can either get it from a university library or a public
library. It’ll be faster from a university library, but there’s
usually more demand for things from university libraries. As
for public libraries, you’ll be more likely to find it in stock,
but they can take up to a month to get it to us.
M: Yeah, that’s not good. My paper’s due in three weeks. How
about the other university libraries?
W: Let me search through them. OK, I see that, actually, one of
our university libraries does have it, except it’s on reserve
for the next couple of days. So let’s make a request right
now. That way, you can make sure that you’re given first
priority as soon as it’s released from reserve.
M: Definitely. Thank you so much. I really don’t want to miss
the opportunity to get it.
W: Sure. Just fill out this form with your name and the name of
the journal.
05 Botany
W: Today we will be discussing two widespread diseases that
roses are vulnerable to. Gardeners know how difficult roses
are to take care of since, well, they can be susceptible to
various fungi and bacteria. We’ll talk about these rose
diseases today.
The first disease we will discuss is black spot, caused by
a fungus. It’s one of the most severe diseases that affects
roses.
M: Let me guess, it causes black spots?
W: 
How did you guess? It can be detected by, uh, the
characteristic development of round black spots which
spread out throughout the leaf, changing the rest of the
leaf into a . . . yellowy color. It causes the affected leaves
to fall off prematurely. If nothing is done to control black
spot, well, then the entire plant becomes weak and won’t
blossom as well. It’s worse after wet and warm times of the
year. So, the best thing to do is keep it, keep the plant as dry
as possible. Preventative maintenance, basically.
Now then, onto to the next disease—rose rust is also
brought on by a fungus. Any guesses as to what this one
does?
M: Well, I don’t think it actually causes rust, since roses aren’t
made of metal. So, um . . .

W: Actually, rose rust causes orange spots to show up on the
leaves and stems of the plant. So it looks like rust. If the
rose is badly affected, then an orange dust will appear not
only on the plant but also on the ground below it. Usually
brown growths appear underneath the leaves and the
leaves become twisted. After that, they die and drop off.
Like black spot, wetness is the rose’s worst enemy. As for
preventative measures, it’s best to make sure the plant
stays dry. So, watering in the evening is out, and, uh, well,
just try to control the humidity around the plant as much
as you can. So, with that said, are there any questions?
06 Anthropology
W: The environments where we build our cities are not always
the best of places. You know, the environment may be too
cold, too hot, too dry or whatever. But humans have the
incredible ability to adapt to their environments, and, uh,
more to the point, to make these environments adapt to
them. That’s my claim, and to, uh, to back it up—yes, I’d like
to illustrate this key concept by talking about a place called
Tenochtitlan. Tenochtitlan was the capital city of the Aztecs,
in what is now Mexico.
To begin with, Tenochtitlan was originally built on an island.
Solid ground. But with the expansion of the population
to around 200,000, they could no longer fit on the island.
There were just too many people. Now, they were actually
surrounded by a shallow lake, along with swampland, and
it’s not so easy to build in such places. But these ancient
people adapted. They built what we call floating gardens,
which were made by, well, just by piling tree branches
and mud together. Then they planted trees, and the tree
roots actually kept the islands in place. The islands were
anchored by the roots that grew and secured themselves
to the lake floor. They basically made solid land where there
wasn’t any. Innovative idea, huh?
Another problem they had was, um, well there wasn’t
enough fresh water in the city. Again, the people adapted
the environment to their needs and overcame the
problem. Now, there were sources of fresh water away from
the city, but retrieving the water was difficult. So they built
aqueducts. Aqueducts are structures that are built to carry
water to a place—manmade channels for water, basically.
With so many people to provide water to, the Aztecs built
two aqueducts that allowed fresh water to travel from
Transcripts
springs, past the salty lake water, and into the city. These
aqueducts helped the Aztecs have fresh water in a place
where it was hard to find naturally.
07 Office Hours
M: Hi, Kate, how’s it going?
W: Pretty well, thanks. I hope I’m not bothering you.
M: No, I have time right now. What’s up?
W: Well, I took your class on public policy last semester . . .
M: Yes, I remember.
W: And I see that you’re teaching two other courses in the
Political Science department this semester. I went to both
classes, and I’m very interested in both of them. However,
my schedule is so full that it won’t permit me to take both,
so I have to choose one of them.
M: I see.
W: I was hoping that you could help me decide. So one of
them is “Introduction to International Relations” and the
other one is “Representations of Race and Politics.” Both of
them look great—right up my alley.
M: OK. Now, what year are you in, Kate?
W: I’m actually only a freshman; this is my second semester.
M: Well, the second course is somewhat advanced, so I usually
recommend that for either juniors or seniors.
W: I thought about that, but I also know that courses in
Political Science are always changing, and I’d like to take
this course before it’s no longer offered.
M: OK, fair enough. The International Relations course is for
those who are more business-oriented. Are you interested
in working for an international corporation after you
graduate?
W: Maybe. I’m not sure.
M: Well, tell me, what is it about Political Science that got you
interested in the first place?
W: I’ve always been interested in the ways that various policies
affect minorities, and I’m just realizing how much they
affect me. I think that this field opens up an entirely new
world for me.
M: 
Interesting. Well, like I said, “Representations of Race
and Politics” is a bit advanced and I usually wouldn’t
recommend it to a freshman. But in your case, I think you
can probably handle it. You’re just beginning to develop a
strong awareness of your identity in relation to society and
its constructions of race, and perhaps the best way to dig
9
 into it is by studying it. You could also bring your personal
experiences to class and allow others to learn from you.
W: That’s exactly what I wanted to hear. What a relief; I really,
really wanted that class.
08 Service Encounter
M: Hello, can I help you?
W: Yes. You see, I’m all set to start school as a freshman this fall.
I got accepted on the WOW Scholarship.
M: Congratulations!
W: Thanks. But I just received a bill in the mail. It’s for $200. And
I have no idea what the bill is for.
M: Hmm . . . Let me just type in your information here. What’s
your name?
W: Melanie Woods.
M: And what is your student number?
W: Oh, hang on. I’ve got it written down. It’s down here in my
purse somewhere. Here it is. My number is 33569762.
M: OK. Yes, your account says that you owe $200.
W: But my scholarship is supposed to cover my tuition costs
and my books. That’s what the letter said.
M: What about your student fees? Does your scholarship pay
for those as well?
W: What student fees?
M: Well, many classes have an additional fee. For instance, if
you’re taking a lab class, there’s usually a lab fee in addition
to the tuition cost. In fact, now that I look at it, your account
does say that this $200 is for student fees.
W: Why didn’t they tell us that in orientation? This bill is due at
the end of the week, and I don’t have enough money.
M: I’m sorry, but you’ll have to pay in order to take your classes,
or you’ll be disenrolled.
W: What am I going to do? My parents don’t have the money
to loan me $200. Is there any way that I could get an
extension until I get paid?
M: I’m very sorry. We aren’t allowed to grant extensions. You’ll
have to pay the bill by this Friday.
W: Gosh. Well, I could ask my grandparents for the $200 this
time, but I don’t know how I’m going to pay for class fees in
the future. I can’t afford to pay a couple hundred dollars for
class fees every new semester.
M: Have you ever considered applying for another scholarship?
That could certainly solve your problem.
10
W: You mean I can apply for another scholarship? I thought
that students could only apply for one.
M: Of course not. I know many students who have used more
than one scholarship to get through school. There’s no limit
on the number of scholarships you can apply for.
W: Wow. I didn’t know that. I only need a couple hundred
dollars each semester to pay for class fees. Do they give out
scholarships for that small an amount?
M: I think so. You’ll have to research them to know for sure. I’d
suggest looking for scholarships online. You should be able
to find what you need on the Internet.
W: I’ll do that. Thanks for your help.
09 Political Science
W: A monarchy is a form of government in which a single
person has sovereign power over the entire state or nation.
Now, absolute monarchies are monarchies in which the
person in power can rule completely as he or she wants,
without facing any opposition from the people, or even
from legal forces. This deal sounds great if you’re the
person in power—not so great if you’re one of the people
being ruled over. And, well, I can read your minds . . . you’re
probably thinking that this method of governing is bad,
really bad. Always really bad. But you know what? You’d be
wrong. Actually, absolute monarchies have some distinct
advantages.
One good thing about an absolute monarchy is that,
well, with a good leader, a strong leader, that leader can
do great things for the country because that person has
the power to do anything they can think of. For example,
Catherine the Great, the Empress of Russia between, let’s
see . . . 1762 and 1796, pushed for absolute power. And
regardless of what you think of her personally, she actually
did some great things for Russia. Like, uh, well, for one, she
strengthened the middle class and tried to get rid of taxes
for the people. What else . . . oh, she wrote a document that
helped abolish cruel practices in the justice system. So, she’s
proof that if the monarch is educated and good-hearted as
was Catherine the Great, then many good things can come
about through an absolute monarchy.
Another benefit is that absolute monarchies don’t require
elections. Now, it may seem like a bad thing that the citizens
wouldn’t get to choose who governs them. But that’s not
necessarily the case, especially in the past. You see, much

of the population used to be illiterate—they couldn’t read
or write—and this would clearly make elections difficult.
What’s more, such people would have a hard time learning
about government in the first place. With an absolute
monarchy, the population doesn’t have to worry about
elections, voting, or any government issues. The new ruler
is generally decided by succession—the son of the current
king, for example—and laws are made by the monarch.
10 Music History
M: What we will talk about today are bards—uh, as understood
in the Celtic tradition. There are actually a few different
definitions of a bard, but we’re going to focus on one.
W: Sorry for the interruption, but what does Celtic mean?
M: Oh, Celtic just refers to a culture in—uh, along Western
Europe. Think Ireland, Scotland, but before and during
the Middle Ages. OK, now, to define a bard. In the Celtic
tradition, a bard was essentially a musician, though they
had a very different role than the musicians we know today.
I want to talk more about the role of the bard in a minute.
But basically what the bard did was compose and perform
music—alone, almost always—and the bard would play an
instrument and sing. But it’s what the bards sang that was
really interesting. In fact, the music had more in common
with our modern literature than it does with our music.
Bards generally sang songs that told long, epic stories,
sometimes of real events that happened, or maybe just folk
stories that had been passed on from previous generations.
W: So, a bard was like a storyteller. But with music, too.
M: That’s right. Now, I’m sure you’re aware from your history
classes of how important storytelling can be in the, uh, the
understanding of a culture’s history. Regardless of whether
a story is true or not, it can give insight into how a culture
thought, uh, that sort of thing . . . you know, rather than the
actual events that happened. So, as I think you can see—
uh, yes?
W: I get that the bards are also a source of history, like other
storytellers, but how can history be passed on through a
story if it isn’t written down?
M: That’s a good question. See, the bards were so influential to
the people that they actually helped them—the people—
commit these histories to memory.
This is likely to show up on a quiz next week, by the way.
Back to the question, the effectiveness of a bard comes
Transcripts
in—well, let me give a modern example. Have you ever
heard a melody that is just so catchy that you can’t get it
out of your head? Well, that helps you remember the words
of the song too, right? That’s just what the bards did—they
sang songs that people could remember.
W: I get it, so that quality—the way songs can get stuck in our
heads, actually helped pass on history because it would
help people remember the stories.
Mini Test 1
01 Anthropology
M: For last night’s homework, I asked you to read a couple
of myths from both the Mayans and the Aztecs. You’ll
remember that the Mayan and the Aztec civilizations
were two of the largest empires in what we now call Latin
America. You probably noticed how many similarities
there were between the two different mythologies. They
both have a great reverence for corn, they both place a
lot of importance on sacrifice, and they both have similar
creation myths. But why do you all think this is? Why are
there so many similarities in the mythologies between two
cultures that were so distinct?
One of the first theories about why Mayan and Aztec
mythology are so similar is that they must have descended
from the same group of people. That is, anthropologists
believe that since they share all this mythology, they must
have once been part of the same tribe that just diverged,
uh, split up, at different points. But, you know, there’s a lot
of evidence that refutes this theory.
First, anthropologists have been able to reconstruct

hundreds of years of history for the Mayans by studying
the architecture and tools they left behind. In fact, they
estimate that the Mayan civilization got started somewhere
around 1800 BCE. Aztec civilization, meanwhile, dates back
only seven hundred years. The exact origin of either culture
has still not been determined, but one thing is sure: these
two civilizations probably came from two distinct times,
though they did exist at the same time for a while.
So, if that’s not it, then we’re still left with the question about
why their mythologies are so similar. Here’s something I
want you to consider: the Mayans and the Aztecs inhabited
completely different territories. The Mayans were found in
11
 the western and southern parts of modern Mexico, as well as
Belize, Guatemala and El Salvador. The Aztecs, on the other
hand, lived in central Mexico. But the thing is that they did
come into contact quite frequently. There was some trade
between the Mayans and Aztecs, and it’s believed that in
the course of these negotiations, some of their beliefs were
transferred. This could easily account for why sometimes
archeologists will find statuettes of Mayan gods in Aztec
territory or vice versa.
Something else that I think is significant is the fact that
even if they inhabited different territories, both cultures
moved around over a large expanse of land. What does this
mean? Well, it means that they probably ended up seeing
a lot of the same landscapes while they wandered around.
Remember that the mythology of any culture is heavily
influenced by the world around them. So, for example, if
both the Mayans and the Aztecs saw that sometimes the
land produced and at other times it didn’t, they were bound
to incorporate the importance of those conditions into their
mythologies. Does that make any sense to you all? Or, just
to give another example, if they understood that corn was a
staple of their diets—which it was for both cultures, by the
way—corn would inevitably have some significance in their
mythology.
02 Business
M: Hi, I’m glad that so many of you made it to this review
session. I want to make sure that we go over the material
that you guys feel you need reinforcement on. I decided
that the best way to do this is to just let you all ask questions,
and we’ll just go from there. So, um, as of now, the floor is
open.
W: Um, OK, here’s something that I definitely should have asked
earlier in the semester, but here goes: what exactly is a low-
cost carrier? I know that it’s a pretty recent type of company,
but I don’t quite understand how they make money.
M: That’s definitely going to be on the test, so I’m glad you
got around to asking that. To answer the first part of your
question, a low-cost carrier is an airline that cuts out all the
extra services. That means no delicious mystery meat for
dinner, and definitely no first-class service. But, this allows
them to provide extremely low fares to customers, which is
always popular, as you can imagine.
W: Ah, so they make money by bringing people in with low
12
prices. But that’s really only part of it, isn’t it? I mean, there’s
more to the low-cost carrier business model that helps
them make money.
M: Do you remember some of the features of the business
model?
W: Um, well . . . I think they’re able to cut costs by only operating
one kind of plane.
M: That’s a great point. Let me explain. See, by only using one
kind of plane, the company is able to save on training costs.
Plus, they’ll also spend less on maintenance and servicing.
And by buying many of the same type of aircraft at once,
the airline can negotiate discounts with the manufacturer.
Great point. What else?
W: Don’t they also use less busy airports?
M: Yes, they do. These airports are sometimes referred to as
secondary airports. And since secondary airports are usually
less busy and not so affected by delays at the major airports,
the airline can avoid delays.
W: Wouldn’t they also pay less for landing fees at secondary
airports?
M: Yes, that’s also true. Because remember, every time a plane
lands at an airport, that airline has to pay a fee to the airport.
Now, what else do you think is a significant cost for all
airlines in general?
W: I would say fuel charges.
M: Good. All airlines, even low-cost carriers, have to worry about
the cost of fuel because it can make operating that much
more expensive. But low-cost carriers avoid fluctuations in
the price of fuel by incorporating fuel hedging programs.
W: I know we covered this recently, but what is a fuel hedging
program again? Doesn’t it mean that they buy fuel in bulk?
M: Good try, but that’s not quite it. An example of a fuel hedging
program would be when a company buys fuel in advance at
a fixed price so that they won’t be subject to changes in the
future.
03 Service Encounter
W: Good afternoon. How are you today?
M: I’m good, thank you. But, uh, well, I have a weird question.
W: What is it?
M: I officially graduated last spring, but I’m still kind of working
on an independent study project that I started in my senior
year. I’m working under a professor, but I guess by the
university’s standards, I’m not really a student here anymore.

W: Ah, so you can’t use the university libraries. Don’t worry,
there’s a way around that.
M: What a relief! I was really starting to worry about how I was
going to get the rest of my research done.
W: We actually have a lot of people in similar situations, so
we have to find a way to accommodate people. I mean, it
doesn’t make sense to have a facility like this and not make
it available to people like you. Anyway, what you have to do
is apply for a non-student pass.
M: But like I said, I’m kind of a student. Sort of.
W: Officially, you’re not. But it’s really just a label. You’d get all
the same access as a student, and you’ll even get to keep
your campus email address, since all that stuff is actually
administered by the library.
M: That’s cool. Well, I’d like to get this processed as soon as
possible, so I’d be glad to fill out whatever you need me to.
W: OK, then. Here’s the application. At the bottom it asks you
about your relation to the university—make sure to note
that you’re a recent graduate and the name of the professor
you’re working with. And if you can put a contact number
for the professor, that would be even better because then
we can confirm the project faster.
M: Um, I’m sorry, but I just saw that there’s a fee for this. What’s
that all about?
W: That’s right. I thought I mentioned that. It’s basically like
a membership fee and if you think about it, it’s a pretty
good deal. I mean, access to all campus libraries and the
computer network for only $50 a semester. It’s really not
that bad.
M: Does that apply even for people in situations like mine?
I mean, I’m actually working on this at my professor’s
request. It just doesn’t seem fair that I should have to pay
extra at this point.
W: I’m sorry, but everybody who wants non-student library
access has to pay.
Chapter 3 Function Questions
01 Literature
W: We’re going to start today by talking about genres, and
we’ll discuss genres in the history of literature, all the way
back to ancient Greece. OK, so, in the first place, what’s a
genre? Basically, it’s a defining category of art, literature or
music, that sort of thing. Let’s talk about a few genres.
Transcripts
One of the earliest genres of literature was tragedy. There
are a lot of different defining qualities of a tragedy, but in
general there’s a heroic character with a tragic flaw, uh,
something in the character’s personality that makes him
or her meet with bad fortune. Like, uh, well, like Medea.
Medea is a play by Euripides, where the main character,
Medea, meets with bad fortune because of her jealousy. So
yeah, her tragic flaw was jealousy.

OK, comedy is another genre. Now, comedy today
usually means something is really funny, but comedies
earlier in history were more lighthearted than funny.
Generally, strange events happen because of some sort of
misunderstanding. Can I go on? OK. So, perhaps the most
famous comedies come from Shakespeare, whom I’m
sure you all know. Shakespeare’s comedies usually involve
people in love who are tricked or confused through some
clever ruse. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a good example
. . . people fall asleep in a forest—it’s kind of silly—where a
magical flower makes them fall in love with anyone they
see.
02 History
W: OK, everyone, today we’re going to be discussing the Sea
Dogs, who were, well, basically, they were pirates, around
the 1580s. They were actually English pirates—and, like
other pirates, they stole stuff from ships they captured. But
they were actually employed by the Queen of England in
secret, and, uh, their goal was to rob and steal from Spanish
ships and ports. Let’s get more into why they did this.
First, I want to talk about why they stole gold from Spanish

ships. See, Queen Elizabeth of England didn’t really like
King Philip of Spain. They didn’t have a good political
relationship, but Elizabeth wanted to make it seem like they
did. So, she hired these Sea Dogs in secret as a way to attack
King Philip without officially declaring war. What I mean is . . .
by stealing gold from Spanish ships, she was stealing gold
from Spain, and thus, from King Philip. And, uh, the Spanish
didn’t know it was really Elizabeth behind it.
Also, the Sea Dogs actually went as far as to, uh, to capture
land, ports mostly. One of the pirates, Sir Francis Drake,
started taking land from the Spanish in the name of
England. Over time, Drake became more, um, daring in his
exploits, and eventually war broke out between England
and Spain. Some would say that Drake caused the war, but
not me.
13
 03 Office Hours
W: Hi, Professor Burke. Do you have a couple of minutes to
talk?
M: Of course I do. What can I help you with?
W: I was hoping that you could give me some advice. See,
yours is the first class I’ve taken in psychology, and I’ve really
enjoyed it so, far. So much so, that I’m starting to wish it
was my major. Do you think that I could do that? Switch my
major?
M: 
Really? What a great compliment! Let me tell you about the
major requirements and then we can talk about what you
do next.
W: 
Actually, I read about the requirements. I was at the
registrar’s office earlier, and I found the department
handbook. I guess my biggest concern at this point is if I’ll
have the time to fulfill the requirements. Especially the lab
requirements.
M: 
I see. Yes, the lab requirements are pretty rigorous. What
year are you in, again?
W: 
This is my fourth semester.
M: I see. Well, that certainly is late to change majors, but you
might think instead about making psychology your minor
since it takes less time. You won’t have that same level of
specialization that a major would grant you, but at this
point, I think it’s probably your best bet. But a major isn’t
out of the question. I’d advocate some deep thought at this
point. Take some time to weigh your options.
W: 
Hmm, you’re right. Thank you so much.
04 Service Encounter
W: 
Hi, welcome to the Academic Support Center. How can I
help you?
M: Hi, this is kind of embarrassing, but I really need someone
to help me with my writing. I have this crucial essay for my
history of mathematics class and I have to do really well
on it, or I’ll fail. Do you have anything for me here, or is it all
tutors and that kind of thing?
W: Well, first of all, yes, we do have someone to help you with
essays. They’re called writing fellows, and what they do is
walk you through the essay-writing process. Like, they’ll
help you put together your research and organize your
paper. Then they’ll help you revise your drafts.
14
M: 
That sounds perfect for me. It’s exactly what I need. How
can I get hooked up with one of these writing fellows?
W: 
Well, first you need to fill out an application. Don’t worry.
It’s mostly so that the center can keep track of what kind of
demand there is for tutors and that kind of thing.
M: OK, and will it take long for me to get in touch with a
writing fellow?
W: It can take between two and three days. What we’ll do is
use the information on your application to try to find a
good match for you. We’ll be looking for someone who
might possibly know a thing or two about, what was it?
The history of mathematics.
M: 
Oh, wonderful. And then will this person get in touch with
me, or will I have to contact them somehow?
W: He or she will contact you via email and set up a time for
the two of you to meet and go over the topic and such.
M: Thanks. Let me get that application filled out, then.
05 Environmental Science
W: 
Good morning, class. I noticed on the last pop quiz that
you all didn’t do so well on the part that had to do with
the rain cycle. After grading the quizzes, I realized that most
of you didn’t really understand how each step is related to
the others, so that’s what we’re going to work on today.
Would anybody care to start us off by naming one step in
the cycle?
M: I guess I’d start with the evaporation of water.
W: Great. That’s step one. And what does water turn into when
it evaporates?
M: 
Um, well, it goes from a liquid state to a gaseous state. Is
that what you mean? The water droplets turn into water
vapor.
W: That’s right! And then the vapor gets sucked into the air
currents in the atmosphere. Since the air is cooler there, it
condenses and turns into a liquid. So condensation is the
second step.
I want to expand upon the third step, since most of you
forgot that on the quiz. It’s called advection. Keep in mind
that once the water hits an air current, it’s moved along by
the current. That is called advection. That’s why water that
evaporates over oceans will eventually fall over land. Water
moves in air currents. That’s all you need to remember. If
you have trouble remembering those terms, remember
that condensation is the opposite process of evaporation.

That is, condensation occurs when a gas is cooled. And
evaporation happens when a liquid is heated. OK, with that
said, let’s move on. Of course, the next and most obvious
step is precipitation, and that’s just rain, snow, hail. Water
falling back to Earth.
06 Psychology
M: 
Good afternoon, everybody. At the end of yesterday’s
lecture, I mentioned Bruce Tuckerman, who developed a
model of group development. Today I want to expand on
Tuckerman’s theory, which is characterized by four steps:
forming, storming, norming, and performing.
The first stage is called “forming.” So, as you can probably
tell from the name, this is the time when the group actually
comes together and forms. This is also going to be the
stage where the members of the group get to know each
other and try to establish some familiarity. Are we all clear
on this? To recap, it’s just when the group convenes and the
members get to know each other.
The second stage is called “storming.” This is a period of
constant conflict within the group as different members
struggle for leadership. Some could see this as the period
of “growing pains” for the group as the members become
accustomed to the processes of operating as a group. I
want to point out that sometimes groups don’t really make
it out of this stage. Tuckerman believed that advancement
past this level was dependent on the maturity level of the
members of the group.

The third step is called “norming,” which is when some calm
comes over the group as they resolve some of the initial
conflicts. The assumption is that the group reaches a sort
of consensus about operating. You should also remember
that at this point, team members start trusting each other.
It’s also been noted that at this stage, members of the
group seem to share a set of values about rules, professional
behavior, and methods.
Finally, we’ve got the “performing” stage. At this point,
 and then see how many other students will be affected.
the group is able to maximize the potential of its varied
members’ strengths. A group in the performing stage will
demonstrate efficacy, organization, and competence.
Transcripts
07 Office Hours
W: Hi, Professor Albright? I hope this isn’t a bad time. If you
don’t mind, I just wanted to ask you a quick question.
M: Hi, Caroline. I’ve got a couple of minutes to spare. What’s
the problem?
W: I just don’t know what to do. I was reviewing the finals
schedule on the website yesterday, and I realized for the
first time that the final for your class is Thursday at nine a.m.
M: 
No, that can’t be right. My schedule says Tuesday morning.
Maybe there was a mistake in the schedule.
W: That’s what I thought, too, so I asked my other professors.
And it turns out that according to the official university
calendar, this final is on Thursday, not Tuesday.
M: Oh, no. I must have been looking at last year’s academic
calendar. This is a disaster. Then again, if I’m the only one
that was going by that calendar, I guess all that really
means for my students is that they get two extra days to
study. I can’t see anybody objecting to that.
W: 
Um, well, I sort of have a problem. See, this semester I’m
taking a theater class, and for our final we have to do a solo
performance for the class. Since I didn’t think I had any
commitments for Thursday, that’s when I signed up to do
my performance.
M: Oh, I’m so sorry. Would you be able to switch places with
someone else in the class?
W: I already asked some people in my class, but the fact is that
there are so few slots and so many people that there’s really
no way to change. I really hate to ask, but I wanted to know
if I could take the final on a different day.
M: Oh, Caroline, I don’t know. The university has strict policies
about that kind of stuff. I’d have to request another lecture
hall and find a proctor to administer the test.
W: See, if I can’t do my performance, I’ll fail the course. It’s such
a big component that it’s worth forty-five percent of our
grade for the semester.
M: OK, I definitely wouldn’t want that. Listen, here’s what I’m
going to do. Tomorrow during the lecture, I’ll tell the class,
And I won’t forget about you. Then we can all try to figure
out an alternative time that will work for everyone.
15
 08 Service Encounter
M: Hi, are you the Housing Director?
W: Yes, that’s me. Can I help you with something?
M: Yeah, I was actually sent up here from the Student Services
Department. I’ll have a strange housing requirement next
year, and they told me I’d have to get special permission to
see if they can accommodate me.
W: 
OK, why don’t we start at the beginning? What’s your
special need?
M: See, I just got an internship to work abroad with a language
institute. The thing is that the dates don’t exactly match up
with the school calendar. Since it’s part of my independent
study, my academic calendar is pretty flexible. But
practically speaking, I won’t be returning to Boston until
mid-March, and I’ll need housing at that point.
W: 
That’s impossible. I’m sorry, it’s just that with the housing
shortage, there’s no way we can guarantee that space. We’ll
probably be short on rooms as it is.
M: Right, I understand that. But what if I could live off-campus?
I mean, if I can arrange my own housing, then there would
be a way to accommodate everyone.
W: That’s a fine idea. I don’t see any problems with that. I don’t
even need to give you any special permission. All you have
to do is file for off-campus housing for that semester and
then submit some proof of residence when you get back.
M: That’s what I wanted to do, but the folks at Student Services
told me that since I’m technically still a second-year
student, I can’t move off-campus. So I wasn’t able to file for
off-campus housing.
W: Oh, I didn’t realize that you weren’t an upperclassman. We
don’t usually have underclassmen getting internships.
M: Yeah, I saw this one and I knew it was something I had to
go for. I’m really excited and I’m just hoping that I can get
everything settled over here so that it actually happens.
W: I see, so you need my special permission to file for off-
campus housing because you’re an underclassman.
I understand now. Well, to be honest, I don’t see any
problem with writing a letter for you.
M: Really? I’d really appreciate that. Would I need to provide
you with any forms or anything? It seems like everybody
needs some form.
W: Um, why don’t you just bring me the letter of acceptance
for the internship. That should suffice.
16
09 Astronomy
M: 
Today I wanted to talk about black holes, but I have to say, I
was surprised at the amount of emails I received in response
to the last lecture. The confusion seemed to surround the
main sequence stage in a star’s life. In fact, one question in
particular that kept on coming up in the emails was why
stars send off more energy as they get older, rather than
when they first form. So, let’s cover that.
The first thing I want you to understand is the basic idea
of how stars are created. Remember, when stars are being
formed, energy is mostly created when the atoms from the
gaseous materials that make up the star collide. Do you all
follow what I’m talking about? Here, let me clarify. Basically,
all the different atoms at the star’s core crash into each
other, creating heat energy. At this stage, the star is called
a protostar. The protostar is not very bright and doesn’t
really send out too much energy at all, at least not when
compared with the output it will have as a main sequence
star—uh, that’s just the stage where stars spend most of
their lives. The most important thing to remember about
this stage is that it’s when the star begins to shrink.
However, when the star reaches a certain age, hydrogen
fusion begins in the star’s core. It has now started
undergoing the main sequence stage. One by-product of
hydrogen fusion is helium. This is important, now, so please
make sure you’re paying attention: the fusion of hydrogen
particles at the core causes some high-temperature and
high-pressure reactions. This is where all that extra energy
you all were asking me about in the emails comes from.
Do you all get that? Let me reiterate that: during the main
sequence stage in the lifespan of the star, hydrogen fusion
occurs in the star’s core. This causes high temperature
reactions that result in the steady increase of the star’s
luminosity and temperature.
Also remember that the star does eventually run out of,
uh, fuel, energy, which is when the star begins to die. It’ll
probably make sense to you that bigger stars run out of
fuel more quickly, and therefore die out fairly quickly.

10 Biology
M: Yesterday we wrapped up our discussion on the Sirenia
order. If there are no questions about yesterday’s lecture, I’d
like to move on to discuss Order Cetacea. So, are there any
questions? No? Good.
So, there are about ninety different species of the Order
Cetacea. Can anyone think of any cetaceans?
W: Dolphins and manatees.
M: You’re right about dolphins, but not manatees. Those are of
the Order Sirenia, remember?
W: Um, OK . . . what about whales and porpoises?
M: 
That’s right, on both counts. And if you ever have trouble
remembering that, consider that Cetus actually means
“whale” in Latin. Well anyway, cetaceans are pretty well
known as the most aquatically adapted mammals. So then,
what other qualities do you think that cetaceans might
share?
W: Don’t they all live in the ocean? Like they’re all marine
species, right?
M: You’re almost right. Of all the species, there are only five
freshwater varieties. And those would be the five species—
the freshwater dolphins.
W: 
OK, and I think I remember reading somewhere that
cetaceans actually have hind legs, don’t they?
M: Right! But obviously, they aren’t really used at all. In fact,
they can’t be because one, they are so tiny and two, they
aren’t even attached to the backbone. But anyway, unlike
other mammals, cetaceans also have no body hair.
W: How do they keep up their body temperature then? I
mean, I know that most other mammals have fur to keep
them warm.
M: 
Cetaceans have a thick layer of fat called blubber that helps
keep them warm.
W: 
Oh, OK. That makes sense.
M: All right, moving on then, cetaceans are thought to have
evolved from land mammals into primarily marine animals
about fifty million years ago. Signs of their evolution are
evident to marine biologists today. The most obvious
example is that they need to breathe air from the surface.
But other signs of cetacean evolution include the bones
of their fins, which, if you’ve ever examined them, actually
look like jointed hands.
W: That’s really interesting. What other adaptations did they
undergo?
Transcripts
M: Well, there are probably too many to name during one
lecture, but I can give you some examples. Scientists
believe that the first adaptation that occurred was the
loss of the hind limbs. Interestingly enough, they also lost
external ears, since they didn’t really have a use for them
anymore.
Chapter 4 Stance Questions
01 Literature
W: Let’s move on to Henry James, and the, uh, the interesting
and groundbreaking characters he created. James was one
of the first novel writers to really capture—to uh, create
characters that seemed human. Before James, uh, we’re
talking late 19th century, early 20th century, here . . . before
this, literary characters were often overly heroic, totally evil,
completely pure—and, well, a bit implausible.
OK, so let’s get talking about his characters, starting with
something called an unreliable narrator. So . . . to explain.
We sometimes tell lies, right? We lie to one another, whether
we mean to or not. Well, what if a narrator lies to you? This is
one of the ways that a narrator can be unreliable. We can’t
trust the narrator. And Henry James used these kinds of
narrators, which gave his stories, er, I mean his characters
more realistic personalities.

James also used a “stream of consciousness” style,
especially toward the end of his writing career. This style
involves getting onto paper whatever comes to your
head, without censoring what you’re writing. He did this
to explore the inner thoughts of his characters, trying to
understand everything they thought, even if it was difficult.
I’m personally not wild about this style, but many feel it
adds to the overall realism.
02 Agriculture
M: 
Moving on, let’s talk about biofuel, which is, um, it’s
basically any sort of biological material—dead or alive—
that can be used as a source of energy. As for biological
material, anything goes, such as plants, wood, wastes, you
name it. Today, I’m going to go through the advantages
and disadvantages of biofuel.
17
 OK . . . the pros: it’s a renewable fuel, meaning it won’t run
out like fossil fuels will. We can always grow more plants,
right? Right now, scientists are experimenting with a
fuel made from corn—called ethanol. This kind of fuel
produces fifty percent fewer emissions, so it’s better for the
environment. Biofuels like ethanol will help keep smog out
of cities. So these are some things that are pretty attractive
about biofuels, pretty exciting, actually.

Now, for the cons: just because it’s renewable doesn’t
mean that the Earth goes unharmed from its use. In fact,
it still could contribute to global warming. For example,
while they’re being made, biofuels still put out gases that
contribute to the greenhouse effect when they’re burned.
In addition, since many biofuels are extracted from plants,
there would have to be more land used for agriculture. And
if you ask me, for this reason we really need to do more
research on this subject.
03 Office Hours
W: Hey, Harold. Anything I can do for you?
M: Actually, yeah, Professor Steele. I had a dentist’s appointment
on the day that we went over the material for the
upcoming exam. Even though I’ve borrowed notes from
another student, I feel like I still have a shaky grasp on what
to expect.
W: OK, sure. But shaky . . . how?
M: 
Well, uh, I know that you’ll be asking about society’s
perceptions of mental illness. I’m not sure, though, in how
much detail.
W: Well, let’s put it this way: the exam has twenty multiple-
choice questions, but those are just basic concepts. So you
should have no problems with those. The rest of the exam
consists of essay questions.
M: That’s the part I’m worried about.
W: OK, well, the two essays will mainly go over the topics we’ve
covered more than once, since those are the, well, the most
important things we’ve covered. What I said in the review
session was that I don’t want to be reading essays about
what people think about those topics in general. I mean,
they should reflect a deep understanding of the material,
not something that a first-year student could answer. I
know I keep restating that, but it’s happened a lot in the
past.
18
M: OK, then, I’ll remember that. Anything else?
W: Not really. If you’ve listened to lectures, you should do just
fine on the exam.
04 Service Encounter
M: Hi, can I help you?
W: Yes, I’m looking for a textbook.
M: OK, but just to let you know, we don’t carry many textbooks
here at the campus bookstore at this point of the semester.
So I can only let you know about textbooks for next
semester.
W: Actually, I’m looking for a textbook for this semester.
M: Huh? This semester? Did you lose your old textbook? In
that case, you might have to talk to your professor. We can’t
order replacements.
W: No, actually, up until now I’d been sharing the textbook
with my roommate, but she transferred to another dorm,
so . . .
M: I see. Well, the thing is, we only order the books right before
the semester begins and we usually order just enough for
the students enrolled in each course. If, for whatever reason,
there’s a surplus, we send them back to the manufacturer a
few weeks after classes have started.
W: You’ve sent them back already?
M: I’m afraid so.
W: Lovely. So I can’t get the book here.
M: No, but you could try the library.
W: OK . . .
M: Actually, I believe the library is required to have a copy of
every textbook for each course, so that students who can’t
afford to have the books will still have access. But what a
drag—you’ll have to do all your reading in the library. And
another student might be reading it when you want to. Not
a good option.
W: Yeah, I don’t want to go back and forth to the library. Do
you know of any other bookstores around here that might
have it?
M: Well, not around here, but . . . Oh, I’ve got it . . . right, right.
I almost forgot. A friend told me about a website called
unibooksunlimited.com. My friend said that it has every
title you can think of—new ones, old ones, whatever.
That’d be your best bet.
W: Thanks! I’ll try that.

05 Environmental Science
M: 
OK, everyone, today we’re going to be talking about
invasive species, which, um, which are any species of plant
or animal that is not native to an area, but is somehow
introduced. After being introduced to the new area, they
cause serious damage—they can really cause problems for
other species. Sometimes, the naturally occurring species
become extinct. Yes, invasive species are very strong
competitors. Let me give you an example.
Interestingly enough, farmed salmon is causing huge
problems in the northwestern US and, uh, the west coast
of Canada. You see, these fish, the farmed ones, are raised
in huge pens, um, you know, areas of the sea that are
surrounded by nets. But the problem is that many of the
farmed salmon are escaping from the netted areas and
heading out into the ocean.
Let’s talk about the effects on the ecosystem. To begin,
these farmed salmon introduce new parasites and diseases
to the native fish of these regions. See, the local salmon
haven’t had any exposure to these diseases until now, so
they lack resistance to disease. Therefore, when the farmed
salmon invaded, they spread a lot of disease among the
local salmon. And it’s this point, this first point, that I’m
the most worried about. I’m afraid we may see entire
populations of native salmon disappearing.
Second, like I said, they’re really competitive, these invasive
salmon. The environment—I’m talking Canada and Alaska
now—these places had a balance of resources, and the
environment was able to support the existing life there.
However, when the farmed salmon invaded, suddenly
there were more fish competing for food. It’s a big ocean,
but an event like this can change things for a lot of species.
In this case, other fish started dying because they couldn’t
find enough food.
06 History
W: The Gettysburg Address is the great speech delivered by
President Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
that touched many Americans’ hearts. But did you know it
was only about two minutes in length? Amazing, huh?
OK, so first, let me give you some background info. The
president made this speech during the American Civil War,
Transcripts
back in, um, in 1863. And he gave it at Gettysburg, the site
of a huge battle. But here’s my question . . . why was the
speech so effective? Simple. It touched people’s emotions,
and that’s what I want to focus on now.
Well, first of all, Lincoln evoked strong emotions by talking
about the importance of human equality, and, um, many
people thought that was really what the Civil War was
being fought over. In his speech, he was referring to the
American Revolution, about how people made great
efforts to achieve freedom, reminding the American
people what they are about: about liberty and equality
among all. Not among a select few. But among all. So he
made an emotional appeal—a very strong demand that all
people be equal.
Next, and despite the split within America—remember,
the nation was divided at this time—Lincoln made sure
to constantly use the word “nation,” to emphasize that
America would not remain divided, but would come
together as one to devote itself to its main causes, which,
again, were liberty and equality. This made Americans feel
as if they were part of a whole again, creating a feeling of
great unity. They needed to hear this, and it made people
react very emotionally.

Oh, and one more key point. Lincoln did not introduce any
new concepts to the people—in fact, he reminded them of
what they knew, which is probably why it touched them so
deeply.
07 Office Hours
M: Professor Jones?
W: Hey, Zach. Come in. I haven’t seen you in a while.
M: Yeah, in fact, that’s why I’m here—I’ve been sick, and I’m
pretty worried about my grades.
W: I understand, for sure. So what’s on your mind?
M: Well, I’ve been meeting with one of the deans, and she’s
advised me to go directly to my professors to discuss what
policies each one has—about, well, students that get sick
and then suffer academically. I have to be honest with you.
I, um, I just don’t think I can finish classes this semester.
W: I don’t really have any specific policy. But in my experience,
students who do get sick tend to go on medical leave,
which is when students get permission to take time off
from school in order to recuperate.
19
 M: Right. I heard from the dean that it takes quite a while to
process a medical leave, and since the end of the semester
is drawing near, I’d end up with an incomplete for my
classes this semester.
W: Well, that wouldn’t be the end of the world.
M: Thing is, I’m on a scholarship, and one incomplete semester,
then, well, the scholarship will be withdrawn.
W: Ah, I see. This is a bit complicated. So there’s just no way you
can finish up on time . . . hmm. In that case, let me see. Well,
how about I give you an O.H.?
M: Sorry, an O.H.?
W: Yeah, it stands for “On Hold,” and it wouldn’t register as an
incomplete. It’s nice because it takes into account all of the
work that you’ve done up to now. You can just continue
when you’re ready. I mean, you can take your time and
complete it over the winter break if you’d like. It’s all up to
you and your health.
M: That sounds wonderful.
W: Hmm, the thing is, participation counts for ten percent of
your grade, and you’ve missed a lot of classes due to your
illness. Well, in place of that, how about writing a three-to-
four-page paper to demonstrate what you’ve learned. I’d
be satisfied with that.
M: Thank you. Thank you for being willing to work with me on
this.
W: Well, you can’t help being sick. It’s important that you focus
on getting better instead of stressing out over grades. I
really do hope your health improves soon.
M: Thanks. So do I.
08 Service Encounter
W: Hi, there.
M: Hi. Is this the residential life office? For student housing?
W: You’ve come to the right place. Anything I can help you
with?
M: 
Yeah, how can I get housing for next semester if I’m
changing rooms?
W: Well, we have a system called the housing lottery, which
randomly assigns dormitory rooms to students. You have
to show up next Monday at six p.m. at this building for the
lottery drawing.
M: I know, I went through it last year, and it was hectic. I’m not
too fond of the system.
W: I’m afraid that’s all we have for the moment.
20
M: Well, I’d actually rather not deal with the hassle of on-
campus housing.
W: Have you considered off-campus housing?
M: I have, but it seems to be quite a hassle as well.
W: Actually, it’s not that bad.
M: Really? I’ve always thought that it would require special
permission.
W: You do have to obtain permission, but anyone can get it.
And it doesn’t take too long to apply for it or to receive it.
M: OK, so how does it work?
W: 
You can get it right here, right now. Just fill out a
“permission-to-relocate” form and I can guide you through
it, or if you’re in a rush, you can take it with you and fill it out
later. Just make sure to bring it in by next Friday, by five p.m.
That’s the deadline.
M: Actually, I’m in no hurry.
W: OK, then. First of all, you’re not a freshman right now, are
you?
M: No, I’m going to be a junior.
W: Oh, that’s right; you mentioned that you had already gone
through the lottery process. So you can apply. Here’s the
app.
M: Thanks.
W: It’ll take about three weeks before we let you know if you’ve
been approved or not.
M: And once I know that I’ve been approved, do I ever have to
apply again?
W: Well, it’s good for one year. After one year is up, you have to
reapply.
M: OK . . . This looks kind of long. On second thought, I think I’ll
fill it out later and bring it back.
W: Sure thing. It’s pretty straightforward, so you shouldn’t have
any problems with it.
M: Great. I’ll give it a try. I have to admit, I was really worried
that this would be a long, complex process, but it looks like
it’ll be a piece of cake. Thanks for your help.
09 Biology
W: We all know animals communicate, but how? Well, some
communicate through vocalizations such as songs, or
by performing certain kinds of movements. Now, I’m
sure you’re already familiar with these, but today’s topic
might not be so widely known—and that’s the use of the
olfactory sense—which is, simply, smell.

Animals use smell to communicate a message. As you’ll
see, the sense of smell is keenly developed in many animals.
Yes, while we humans have a rather limited capacity for
smell, in most animals it is highly developed—a very primal
sense. Whether they communicate through the smell of
waste products like feces and urine, or through a glandular
process like sweating, smell is an important means of
animal communication.
Let’s start with cats, shall we? Cats rely on scents for many
purposes. Cats have scents glands on the sides of their
bodies, on their foreheads, along their tails, underneath
their front paws, and on their lips and chin. Have you ever
noticed that a cat might rub its forehead against you, or
its tail, or any of these areas I just mentioned? And, uh,
and I know several of you must be cat lovers, but frankly,
guys, I find this behavior really, well, tiresome. It really gets
on my nerves. Ah, sorry, I digress. Anyway, why does a cat
do this? Well, it’s simple. It may be trying to communicate
something, like affection, or it may be marking you! Yes,
cats do indeed use scents to mark their property. Yes, you
belong to the cat, at least in the cat’s mind. Oh, and they
also mark territory, since cats are so territorial.
Another example of communicating with smell can be
seen in ants, who use scent for a variety of purposes. They
use pheromones, kinds of chemicals that can influence
animal behavior, or signal that they’re looking for a mate.
Oh, and ants can also release a chemical that acts as an
alarm. As, uh, a warning to other ants. So if a particular ant
is in trouble in some way, ants release this chemical as a
crying-out signal for help, which other ants respond to by
coming to its aid. So ants use pheromones not only for
mating, but also to relay important information for survival.
Luckily, we can’t smell all of these different chemicals.
Imagine what that would be like.
10 Environmental Science
M: We’ll be discussing why the oceans are salty—causes and
effects, well, really just causes. But first, a question. Tell me,
what happens when the water evaporates from the ocean?
What happens to the salt?
W: Well, the salt doesn’t evaporate, it stays in the ocean. That’s
obvious.
M: Right, and so we need to look at the hydrological cycle,
which you’ve read about, so I’ll move on . . .
Transcripts
W: Sorry, Professor McGuiness, I’ve done most of the reading,
but I’m not familiar with that term.
M: Ah, the, uh, the hydrological cycle is simply the process
by which water evaporates, makes clouds, rains down to
Earth, and so on and so on. And the first step in the process
is evaporation. But salt, of course, is left behind. It doesn’t
evaporate.
W: OK, of course, I get it. But how does the salt get there in the
first place?
M: Good question. And I’ll ask you another question to get
the answer. Where do oceans get their water from? I mean
mostly?
W: Rivers, right? Freshwater rivers dump billions of liters of
water into the ocean every day. Well, I’m guessing it’s
billions.
M: Oh, it is . . . and then some. So first of all, when the rain falls
to the ground, and begins to run over the soil and rocks, it
begins to dissolve them. That’s how it picks up mineral salts.
Next, rivers collect these and then head for the ocean.
W: OK, but isn’t there another way the oceans get salty?
M: Absolutely. And, uh, you’ve hit upon a very fascinating
point. The answer is through hydrothermal vents. The
connection between the saltiness of the ocean and these
vents is intriguing. Now, you may not be familiar with these,
so let me explain. They are basically, um, they’re cracks in
the Earth’s crust that hot water passes through. OK, so this
super-hot water dissolves minerals in the Earth’s crust. Now
guess where this salt-rich water goes back to?
W: Back into the ocean.
M: Exactly. Now, we’ve talked about all these ways that salt is
brought to the ocean. Does this mean that the ocean is
getting saltier and saltier over time?
W: I guess so, if the salt remains in the ocean and has nowhere
to go. Seems like common sense.
M: The thing is, and really, this is kind of shocking. The salt does
have somewhere to go. See, the ocean actually doesn’t
get saltier over time. It’s because these dissolved salts go
back to create new minerals on the oceanic floor. I mean,
everything’s a cycle, right? So while the rivers and the other
processes are bringing in salt, a lot of the ocean’s salt makes
formations at the bottom of the sea—at the same rate,
more or less. So the salinity of the ocean is at a steady state.
It’s about 3.5 percent, and that’s where it stays.
21
 Consider this, it only takes Jupiter ten hours to rotate. And
Mini Test 2
we all know it takes the Earth about twenty-four hours to
rotate. Anyway, the fast rotations affect the wind patterns
01 Astronomy on Jovian planets. What happens is that the wind patterns
are broken up into latitudinal, or east-west, bands. If you’ve
M: 
All week, we’ve been talking about the different
ever seen pictures of Jupiter, you’ve probably seen the
characteristics of the inner planets. Just to refresh your
stripes that go across them. And on a more personal note,
memory, the inner planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth, and
well, I find these to be the most beautiful planets in our
Mars. Today, however, I want to focus on another group of
solar system. The bands are pretty noticeable on all of the
planets: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. These planets
Jovian planets with the exception of Uranus.
are known as the Jovian planets. The most immediately
obvious characteristic that the Jovian planets share is that
they are the most distant from the sun. This is a significant
02 Philosophy
point, and we’ll discuss later in class how their position
in relation to the sun affects their makeup. But before
W: 
This week we read excerpts from Hobbes’s Leviathan.
we get to that, I want to touch upon some of the other
Earlier in the week, I gave you some topics to think about
characteristics that the Jovian planets have in common.
for this discussion section. Why don’t we just work off the
The feature that really, by definition, all the Jovian planets
questions on that sheet? Can somebody read the first one
share is that they’re mostly made up of gas. In fact, another
out loud for the class, please?
term for Jovian planets is gas giants, because they are
M: 
OK, here goes: Hobbes explores themes of human nature
made up of gas, and they are huge! Anyway, if you think
in his works. What are his ideas about human nature and
about what that means, you can probably guess that for
how do they relate to his famous social contract theory?
these planets, there is no crust or outer surface, like, say,
W: Thank you, Carl. So, what’s your response to that?
on Mars. You couldn’t land on Jupiter, or any of the Jovian
M: Um, well, I guess the main point of his social contract
planets. The atmospheres are mostly made up of helium
theory is that it’s everybody’s duty, I guess, to act in ways
and hydrogen. Does that sound familiar to you all? Maybe
that will maintain order and peace. Sometimes this means
because it’s very similar to the chemical makeup of the sun.
giving up some rights to the institution that helps maintain
See, we don’t completely understand the origins of the
order, namely the government. And that’s why Hobbes was
Jovian planets, but one theory is that they, the uh, Jovian
in support of a strong government.
planets may have come from the same stuff that formed
W: Right. Great summary. OK, so the way you all see it, how
our sun. Interesting theory. If you read what’s out there on
does the social contract theory relate to Hobbes’s views
the subject, you’ll probably find it quite convincing. I mean,
on human nature? That is, how did Hobbes construct his
I haven’t read anything that explains it better, really.
social contract theory according to his ideas about human
What else do Jovian planets have in common? Well, in spite
nature?
of their significant distance from the sun, they still manage
M: He believed that the need for a social contract arose from
to have very hot cores. I think your textbook calls them
the fact that human nature is disruptive and selfish. I
“rocky cores,” but I think that’s a little confusing, since, the
interpret that to mean that since he thought that humans
temperatures at the center of the planets melt the heavier
are more inclined to be motivated by self-interest, there
elements found there. What I mean is that sometimes they
needs to be a system, the social contract, to ensure that we
are called rocky cores because that’s where heavy elements
can promote peace and not war, which is not in anyone’s
such as nickel or iron can be found. But you shouldn’t
best interest. So, like the book said, his idea is kind of like
imagine that there’s a solid ball of rock at the center of
a tarnished Golden Rule. Sort of like, don’t do unto others
these planets because at those temperatures, they are
what you wouldn’t want them to do to you. And that’s how
molten liquid rock.
we can maintain peace in the world.
Um, what else? Oh, right. OK, so the last thing I wanted to
W: 
Yes, that’s a nice, simple way of putting it. You all clearly
mention is that all of the Jovian planets rotate very rapidly.
have a pretty good grasp on the general concepts of

22

Hobbesian philosophy. So, having reviewed that material,
what’s your general reaction to Hobbes’s ideas on human
nature?
M: 
I guess I’m still confused about that. I mean, doesn’t
participating in the government count as a selfless thing to
do? I don’t know how he can say that people are intrinsically
selfish and then promote a strong government.
W: 
That’s true, but the idea of having a strong government is
also more prescriptive. Do you understand what I mean? So,
basically, he thinks that one way to counter the selfishness
of humans is to have a strong government. And that way,
there’s a central institution that looks out for everyone, not
just for the individual.
M: OK, so he’s not necessarily saying that any and all acts
that bring about a beneficial outcome originate with
selfishness? I mean, doesn’t morality sort of factor into the
equation at some point, as well?
W: Exactly. You know, later in the semester, we’ll be revisiting
the question about altruism and morality. Anyway, great
discussion today. You guys really seem to have a good
grasp of this stuff.
03 Service Encounter
W: Hi, how are you today? It’s pretty busy, huh?
M: 
Yeah, it’s always packed around dinnertime. Can I swipe
your card, please?
W: 
Oh, right. Sorry, here you go. I just don’t know where my
head is today.
M: 
No problem. It is Monday, after all. Um, I’m sorry, but it looks
like you don’t have enough points to pay for this meal.
W: Huh? That can’t be. I barely even eat on campus. It must be
some mistake. Do you mind swiping my card again?
M: Sure, let me give it a try. Sometimes the system is a little
slow. I guess even our card reader is having one of those
days. Hm. Nope, I’m sorry. According to the system, you’re
all out of meal points.
W: 
I don’t understand. I know you must hear this a lot, but
really, this has got to be a mistake. I’ve seriously eaten on
campus, like, five times this semester.
M: It could be that the system is misreading your card. It
happens sometimes. But I honestly have no way of telling
that from here. I couldn’t override the system even if I
wanted to.
W: OK, I understand. But what do I do now? I mean, I have to
eat.
Transcripts
M: Well, when situations like this come up, I can only offer two
options. You can either pay cash for this meal and then go
by Dining Services later to see if you can clear it up and get
a refund, or you can just get your dinner somewhere else.
W: Those are my options? How do I even know that they’ll
reimburse me?
M: 
Here’s the thing . . . I’m sure you’re being honest, but, believe
it or not, there are plenty of people that come by and try
to get free meals from us. It wouldn’t be fair to the other
students who pay.
W: 
I can see that. OK, I just want to eat. How much is it again?
And you said I’d have to fill out a form.
M: It’s $7.50. And here’s the form. This is kind of like a receipt.
Then you have to go to Dining Services and file a complaint.
I’m sure that they’ll be able to find out what happened
with your account. They’re really good about fixing those
problems fast. Because as you said, you have to eat.
W: I’ll give it a try. Thanks.
Chapter 5 Organization Questions
01 Linguistics
W: Yesterday, we started talking about how linguists study
etymology, which, uh, is the study of the, uh, the history
of words. Today I want to continue with that discussion by
describing some of the ways that etymologists think that
new words are formed.
One of the most common ways that new words are
added to a language is by the borrowing of words from
other languages. Now, these borrowed words are called
“loanwords” in linguistics. Loanwords are almost never
translated and are pretty much taken directly from a
foreign language. Another way that new words are created
is through compounding or derivation—uh, these are
two different concepts, but we’ll discuss them together.
Compounding is when two separate words are put
together. One example of a compound word is skyscraper.
So, “sky” plus “scraper” equals skyscraper. Derivation, on the
other hand, is when prefixes or suffixes are added to a word.
An example of a word that was created through derivation
is enrich. The prefix en- has been added to the word “rich” in
this case.
Another interesting case is when the origin of a word comes
from an invention—like when speakers attempt to imitate
23
 sounds with language. If you think back to English class,
you’ll remember that a word, uh, that sort of imitates the
sound it is supposed to represent is called onomatopoeia.
Click, buzz and boom are examples of imitative words.
02 Biology
W: This week, we’ve been talking about the different qualities
and functions of blood. Let’s see, we talked about the
makeup of blood early in the week, then, for the last lecture,
we focused specifically on the blood of mammals. Everyone
OK with that? Well then, for today’s lecture I wanted to talk
a little bit about blood production and degradation and
the process of it all.
The term for the process of generating new blood is called
hematopoiesis. That is actually spelled pretty much like it
sounds, hee-ma-toepoe-ee-sis. OK, so what hematopoiesis
entails is the creation of new blood cells. And where might
you guess that this takes place? OK, this is imperative, so
make sure to write this down: new blood cells are created
in the bone marrow, specifically red bone marrow. The
bone marrow, I’m sure you remember, is the tissue located
on the inside of bone.
Are we all still on the same page so far? OK. As for the
degradation of blood, the next step, most of it takes
place in the spleen. Oh, I mean breaking down when I
say degradation. There are also special cells in the liver
that degrade blood cells. In a healthy person, blood cells
are typically replaced in 120-day cycles. Cells are replaced,
by the way, to keep the body healthy. We’ll go into more
depth about that next.
03 Zoology
M: Well, I hadn’t really planned on going over this, but one
of the students asked me about it, and, well, I think it’s
pertinent to a discussion on anthrozoology. Anyway, today’s
lecture is going to be about the sport called falconry. Since
we’re talking about the relationships between humans and
animals, we’ll contrast this discussion with our previous
topic of people and dogs.
Falconry is a sport that began in central Asia about, oh,
4,000 years ago. In essence, a person would raise and train
a falcon and then use the falcon to hunt. The falcon will
24
hunt for food when its trainer decrees, and it will bring back
whatever prey it finds. This correlates closely with how we
said that dogs and people hunt together. However, the
motivations are where things start to diverge. We discussed
how dogs have a bond with people—they, uh, they want
to please their owners. However, falcons don’t really bond
with owners. In fact, they really only hunt to get a meal—
not to please anyone but themselves. We—uh, people—
are actually the enemy, naturally. That’s probably why
falconry isn’t really a popular sport, especially for hunting.
But some people still do it today, but mostly just because
they, uh, like falcons, I suppose.
04 Psychology
W: Now, moving on, there’s another experiment that was
done in 1908 that is also related to learning, but it was
trying to prove a slightly different theory. The basic idea
here was motivation—how to, um, how motivation affects
performance, or in other words, how . . . well, let me just
tell you about the experiment and how it showed that
excessive motivation can actually hurt performance rather
than help it.
M: I think I remember hearing about something like this. It was
a study done by, um, Yerkes and . . .
W: Yerkes and Dodson, yes. So, what they did was put a mouse
in, well, basically in a maze, where there would be different
colored exits, either white or black, in random places. And
Yerkes wanted to see how long it would take the mouse
to learn to use only one of the exits, and how its learning
would be affected by different intensities of motivation. Uh,
in this case, the motivation was an electric shock. Nothing
that would harm the mouse, mind you . . . just a little shock
when it made a mistake, like if you pinch yourself.

So, the researchers used a few different levels of
motivation—of electric shock—to see how the mouse
would react to it . . . to see how it affected the speed with
which the mouse learned to pick the correct exit. Any ideas
on how the level of motivation, the, uh, level of shock,
related to the speed of learning?
M: I’d guess that the highest level of motivation caused the
mouse to learn the fastest. Seems obvious.
W: 
It all depends, actually. They found that given an
undemanding task, higher levels of motivation generally
caused the mouse to learn faster. If given a slightly more

difficult task, a medium level of shock actually helped the
mouse learn the fastest. The higher levels actually started to
affect the mouse negatively. With the highest difficulty—
the hardest task—the mouse actually learned most easily
with lower levels of motivation—electric shock. And to the
mice, choosing the right door was well, kind of hard. When
you consider it, it actually makes a lot of sense. If you’re
stressed out about taking a test, the stress can cloud your
mind, and you might not perform very well.
05 Economics
M: Today’s lecture will spark a lot of discussion, and I just want
to let you know that I welcome it, so please feel free to
jump in. I’m going to talk about why Marxism failed. Many
economists today agree that Marxism is basically just a
bunch of trite “maxims” that don’t reflect reality. But, uh, is it?
Well, why don’t we get started? Um, OK, so I guess one big
shortcoming of Marxism is that it mainly emphasizes class
struggle and, therefore, doesn’t include other social forces
that may divide a society, such as race. Does everybody
understand what that means?
W: Sure, you just mean that class isn’t the only divider in a
society, right?
M: Exactly. But that’s minor compared to the next point. The
uh, the next reason for the failure of Marxism is so obvious,
you’re going to wonder why Marx never thought of it
himself.
Marx said that the value of a product, and indeed the value
of a business itself is a function of two things: workers’ efforts
plus the value of the machinery that workers use to make
whatever product it is they’re making. Oh, and when Marx
said “workers,” he meant specifically the people who do
the manufacturing of products. OK? Seems like a, well, an
erroneous assumption if you ask me. Who can tell me why?
W: Umm . . . I’ll take a stab at it. So you said value equals
workers’ efforts plus machinery. But, um, but what about
the value of management, for one? I mean, the skill of
management is really what holds a business together and,
uh, and advances a business.
M: Right! Anything else?
W: Well, sure. What about the value of marketing? Like, what
would some of these big, highly successful companies
be without marketing, and, uh, and salespeople. And
accountants and strategic planners and . . .
Transcripts
M: OK, OK! You’ve got it, for sure. To say that the value of a
business is only a function of manufacturing effort and the
machinery is, well, pretty naive.
06 Art History
W: 
I noticed that many of you still aren’t sure about
the differences between Impressionism and post-
Impressionism. You got the similarities: vivid colors, thick
application of paint. Let me make some further points to
help you understand the distinctions.
The Impressionists started off as a group of artists who just
wanted to do something different than what was currently
being prescribed by the Academy of Fine Arts in 19th-
century France. The Impressionists departed from tradition
by painting contemporary scenes. Additionally, they
painted open-air scenes and landscapes. This is significant
because before the Impressionists, nobody painted
landscapes. On the other hand, the post-Impressionists
felt like the scenes painted in Impressionist works were too
trivial. They felt like, well, that there wasn’t any emotion.
So they stressed emotion in their paintings, and therefore
focused more on people. Should I sum up? Couldn’t hurt.
When you think Impressionist, think landscapes without
much emotion, and with the post-Impressionists, think
human subjects and more emotion.
Now, moving on, there were also some artistic methods—
some techniques—that differed between the two. With
Impressionism, it’s suggested that Claude Monet one
day just—uh, he just decided to walk outside and start
painting. He felt like it was important to capture something
at that very moment, uh, in the state it was in. So, what
this translates to is very quick brushstrokes and a focus
on the way that the lighting—the light at that time of the
day affects a piece. But with the post-Impressionists, they
generally took a few different, uh, people like Van Gogh
and Seurat took more time with their brushstrokes. Van
Gogh used a lot of swirling patterns, while Seurat made
tiny dots of color to form a picture. And instead of being
concerned with lighting, they cared more about capturing
the emotion of the subject than capturing the light of a
landscape.
25
 07 Business
M: All right, we’ve been talking about advertising theory for a
long time. We’ll be wrapping up our advertising unit soon.
Anyway, today we’re going to go over another popular
method of advertising and we’ll cover the, uh, the pros and
cons of it. Oh, before we move on, are there any questions
about attractiveness?
W: Um, excuse me. We never went over attractiveness.
M: Oh, you know what? I used the term likeability. But it’s the
same concept. That’s my mistake. Anyway, we’ll probably
return to that in today’s discussion about spokespeople. Let
me get right to it.
Well then, at the moment I want to focus on owners
who become the spokesperson for the company. This
has happened with some frequency throughout recent
advertising. Car dealers are the most likely to do this, I’d say.
Anyway, a—sorry, lost my train of thought.
W: Owner spokespersons, uh, spokespeople.
M: That’s right, thank you. I’ll start with the advantages. The
first is really just a monetary advantage. Some advertisers
hire an actor—maybe somebody famous. Sure, people pay
attention when they see a famous person on the screen—
we’ve already talked about that—but this comes at a
price, as you know. When it comes to a company’s owners,
well, you don’t have to pay an owner. No money has to
change hands, and therefore, the advertising becomes
less expensive. Another advantage is that it can give an
advertisement a sense of authority. If a message is coming
straight from the owner of the company, it can give an
authoritative vibe, uh, feeling, to the message. People
might be more likely to believe what the speaker has to say.
OK, well, an owner-spokesperson doesn’t always work. Back
to likeability. First of all, well, some people just don’t belong
in front of a camera. I’m sure you’ve seen a commercial
where some guy is standing there, stiff as a board, reading
lines off of a card in a monotone voice. Not an effective way
to advertise. This is because some people just aren’t good
at delivery. And no one wants to watch someone like that.
Second, sometimes the opposite happens. If you have
someone who is too excited, too egotistical, or whatever
the case may be, it will give people a bad impression of the
company. It just sends the wrong message when someone
gets up there and, I don’t know, thinks they are better than
everyone else. Of course, the point of advertising is to say
26
you’re better than the competition, but you have to do it
right or it just alienates potential customers.
08 Zoology
W: Good morning, class.
Students:  Good morning, professor!
W: Wow, you’re all in a good mood today. That’s good, because
we’re going to be going over a pretty, uh, involved and
difficult topic. So, I recommend a lot of participation today
because it is really going to help you understand these
concepts.
Anyway, we’re going to be going over the theory of
memory in animals, and I’m going to support the theory
with a specific example . . . but I’ll save that for a little later.
First, to introduce it all, what do you think the relationship
is between animal size and memory function?
M: Um, I’d have to guess that the bigger the animal, the better
the memory.
W: Actually, there’s not a concrete correlation to be seen here.
So, this leads us to the topic for today. I want you all to
understand that some animals have much more developed
memories than you would have ever anticipated. One such
type of animal is, well, an insect.
M: An insect? I can’t imagine a tiny insect having a great
memory.
W: Well, there’s a study that substantiates this fact. The study
involved an experiment where a group of researchers
placed a circle of pine cones around a female wasp’s nest.
The wasp was inside the nest when this happened. So,
what the wasp did—the wasp left the nest and started
checking out the pine cones, getting acquainted with their
positions, making sure they weren’t a threat . . . that kind of
thing. So, when the wasp left the area, a researcher moved
the circle of pine cones a little distance away from the nest.
It was the same pattern, but it was a few feet away from the
nest.
M: What, and the wasp came back and thought the nest was
still in the middle of the pine cones?
W: That’s exactly what happened. The wasp flew straight to
the middle of the pine cone circle and buzzed around for
a little while, seeming confused. So, what is it that we can
deduce from this experiment?
M: Well, it seems to me that wasps have extremely developed
memories.

W: Perhaps. I mean, it certainly proves that wasps have some
sort of memories, probably more than we would have
imagined.
M: Well, doesn’t it suggest something about the nature of a
wasp’s memory? I mean, how it works?
W: That’s what I was getting at. I mean, in a way that’s a whole
different topic, but I did want to put that out there.
09 Psychology
W: Today’s lecture is going to be very interesting. During the
course of the semester, the nature versus nurture debate
has come up a couple of times, and today I’m going to
present both sides of the argument.
Before we start, let me just reiterate the basics of the
debate involving how we develop personalities. The idea
is this: some people believe the intrinsic qualities of each
individual—the nature of a person, so to speak—are more
influential than the qualities that come from the individual’s
experience—the parts that are assumed to have been
nurtured. Then there’re people that believe the opposite.
Are we all more or less clear about that? OK, let’s move on,
then.
Anyway, let me start with the nature theory, which would
assume that people’s personalities arise as a result of their
innate traits, traits they were born with. The strongest
argument for the nature theory is heredity. In order to
test this theory, scientists usually test twins. For example,
a lot of twin studies go like this: they’ll observe twins, who
obviously share the same genetic traits. The thing is they’ll
be in different environments. And time and time again,
the results have shown that the twins exhibit striking
similarities in terms of personality. Nature supporters argue
that this wouldn’t be possible if the twin’s genes didn’t
influence their personality. So, to recap: the nature theory
says that people are born with certain traits that affect their
personalities. I hope that’s clear.
Now, let’s not forget that there’s some pretty compelling
evidence on the other side of the argument as well. The
nurture argument is based on the idea of tabula rasa. Tabula
rasa is Latin for “blank slate,” and the concept is basically
that humans are blank slates when they are born, uh . . .
fresh tablets waiting to be written on, so to speak. As we
grow up, we learn from the world around us. I want to bring
up B. F. Skinner, who will sound familiar to you because we
Transcripts
studied his work on conditioning, responses to conditions.
What Skinner did is actually very important to this debate
because it is completely based on the hypothesis that
behavior is learned and not innate. He suggested that we
learn everything after we’re born. Genes aren’t involved in
personality. It’s all about environments. Now, keep in mind,
we can combine these two theories, and they can both be
partially right. They aren’t mutually exclusive.
10 Art History
M: 
Today we’re going to talk about two important art
movements of the 20th century: cubism and surrealism. I
want our focus to be on how they are constructed, rather
than any sort of historical stuff. So, we’ll start off by talking
about how the cubists thought of their art. Let’s open up
the discussion. Any thoughts? Yes?
W: Well, I seem to remember reading about how cubism
began. It was, uh, Picasso and . . . uh, Georges Braque. They
thought of art in terms of little cubes.
M: That’s true. Let me expand on that. What cubism—cubist
art—tries to do is take apart a scene or a subject, and tries
to put it back together using geometric shapes, like cubes,
hence the name cubism. Is that clear?
W: Well, the thing I wonder is . . . I mean, everything is made of
shapes anyway, right? So how is cubism really different?
M: Good question. Putting the shapes back together really
isn’t all of it. The most important part of it is that the shapes
have to be reassembled in an abstract way. So, maybe
a cube goes at the end of an arm where a hand usually
would be. Therefore, it’s more abstract. Does that answer
your question?
W: Yeah, and actually, can I say something about surrealism? I
mean, if we’re done with cubism.
M: Sure, go ahead.
W: OK, so, from what I recall, surrealism had the same idea
of distorting reality, right? But the surrealists did it in a
different way. I remember someone saying that the best
way to describe surrealism was to think of it as putting real
things in a dream world.
M: You know, I like that idea. I’d say surrealism is very much
like that. But, in artistic terms, they took actual things and
merged them in strange ways, rather than re-assemble
them in different shapes. So, like in Dalí’s works, you might
see clocks on a table out in the desert, melting clocks, and
27
 a tree growing out of the table. You wouldn’t usually see
those things in real life, right? At least not together. So, it’s
almost like being in a dream world, even just looking at the
painting.
Chapter 6 Content Questions
01 Biology
M: Recently, everyone’s been talking about the sun as if it’s the
enemy—some even suggesting that we avoid it altogether.
However, I want to go over some of the benefits of sunlight
today, and, um, how it can be good for your health.
First of all, the sun provides us with vitamin D that our

bodies can use. Vitamin D is essential for our health—we
need it to absorb calcium. While we can get, uh, a small
amount from foods, such as liver and egg yolk, the sun is
actually our major source of vitamin D. Just 20 minutes of
sunlight during the summer causes your body to produce
20,000 units of this vitamin, when the minimum you need
is 2,000 units.
Secondly, research suggests that getting out in the sun can
actually help you be, well, happy. Sun exposure—and, uh,
this can be hard to grasp, so let me give an example. Some
people start to feel down during times when they don’t
get much exposure to the sun, you know, like in the winter.
Evidence suggests that exposure to sunlight can actually
reverse this trend of unhappiness. There are many theories
that try to explain why this happens, but they all agree that
it is related to sunlight.
02 History
M: A symbol, as you all know, is a thing that stands for, um,
represents something else. A tiger, for instance, may
symbolize power. An interesting thing is that the meaning
of a symbol might change over time. For example, the
Bastille was a prison in Paris, and yet somehow, it has come
to symbolize freedom. Let’s talk about how that happened.
First, let’s focus on the original—uh, what the Bastille used
 will help reinforce what you’re learning.
to be, used to stand for. The Bastille was a prison—this is
during the rule of King Louis the sixteenth. We’re talking
about the late 1700s. At that time, it was for those who
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acted, or wrote, or spoke rebelliously against the French
government. It represented a place of political oppression,
um, and the absolute monarchy that controlled France.
Anyone who said anything that the government thought
was rebellious was put in the Bastille.
But this all changed when the people of Paris got fed up
with the government and decided to free the prisoners.
In what’s referred to as the storming of the Bastille, an
angry crowd attacked the prison and released everyone
in it. This event actually triggered the French Revolution,
which brought great change to France. The people were
finally free of the absolute monarchy. So, as you can see, the
Bastille actually became a step toward France’s freedom,
and I think you can understand why it’s now a symbol of
freedom, too.
03 Office Hours
M: Hi, Professor Peters? I was hoping you had a moment to talk
about the upcoming test. I didn’t do very well on the last
one.
W: Sure, Paul. Would you like to talk about how you can
prepare for the next one? I guess I’m notorious for being
extremely tough.
M: Yeah, well, it is Organic Chemistry, after all.
W: True, it’s a very difficult subject.
M: I know, but it’s really frustrating . . .
W: Well, you know what? Since the department acknowledges
that my class is hard, they’ve required that I post all of my
older tests online.
M: Oh, right! I had almost forgotten about that!
W: Well, you’d be surprised at what a great study aid those
tests are—they’ll help give you an idea of what to expect.
Just go to the course website.
M: OK, I will.
W: And also, the department has created online tutorials for
this course. I’m sure I’ve mentioned that in class.
M: Again, I’ve been so caught up in trying to read the textbook
that I’d forgotten about the supplementary materials. I’ll
definitely check them out.
W: Yes, read the text—certainly do that, but these extra things

04 Service Encounter
M: May I help you?
W: Hi. I’m looking for some information about getting a job
here on campus.
M: Are you looking for a specific type of job?
W: Hmm, well, I’m particularly interested in working in food
services. Are there any positions that are open?
M: Indeed there are! They are always hiring. There’s a rather
lengthy hiring process, though. Now, there are different
areas that you could work in—the cafeteria kitchen, or at
one of the delis on campus, or in the bakeshop. And there’s
also catering, which is affiliated with the university. You’ll
have to decide which one of those you want.
W: Actually, one of my friends works with the catering service,
and she said that she really likes it. I’d like to work there.
M: OK. We have all the applications for Food Services here at
the employment center. Give me a sec. They should be
around here . . . here we go. You can fill it out now if you
want.
You should also be aware that you’re going to have to
attend an orientation session with Food Services if you
get hired. They always hold those on Mondays, actually. All
new staff need to attend one of those before they can start
working.
W: Monday shouldn’t be a problem.
M: OK, then, I’ll go ahead and pencil you in for an official
interview. One of the managers from Food Services will
meet you here in the employment office. Can you come
here at eight a.m. tomorrow?
W: Um, yeah, that should be OK. Is there any training I have to
go through before I can start working? Because I’d like to
start working as soon as possible.
M: Yes, there is some training. I’m glad you asked that, because
that’s the last step. Food Services does on-the-job training.
If you’re hired, you’ll actually start working right away, but
technically you’ll be training.
W: Wow, that’s great to hear. So, just come back tomorrow
morning for the interview?
M: Yep, at eight a.m.
W: Great. Thanks for your help.
Transcripts
05 Environmental Science
M: 
OK, so we’ll be talking about mountains, specifically,
why they get taller. Can anyone tell me what the tallest
mountain is on Earth?
W: Mount Everest.
M: Correct, and it’s getting taller, too. Well, I’ll be talking about
some mountain ranges today—the tall ones, that is, and
what causes them to be so tall, and even become, over the
years, even taller. OK?
So, some mountains are affected by plate collisions. You’ll
remember that the Earth’s crust is made of plates, and those
plates can move. First of all, the Andes were created when
the Nazca plates began to slide under the South American
plate, which you’ll remember is called subduction. Experts
created a computerized model of this range and discovered
that the reason why the Andes are especially high is that
the South American continental plate is particularly long—
uh, 7,400 kilometers, and this length has allowed more
room for the plates to push together against each other
at different places, resulting in a huge “w” shape. That’s a
huge subduction zone! OK, so we’ve got subduction as one
process for pushing up mountains.
Now, let me pick on someone—Mary, can you give another
reason that might cause mountains to grow—uh, I mean
old mountains to become taller?
W: Um . . . well, I can think of a lot of reasons why mountains
would get shorter, like erosion . . . but, um, no, I can’t think
of why one would get taller.
M: 
I’ll help you out, then. Actually one reason for taller
mountains is global warming. The European Alps, especially
the French Alps, have actually been growing over time. So
here’s what’s been happening. Where glaciers exist, there
is some pressure on the Earth’s crust, causing it to push
downward . . . because they’re so heavy, that is. So when
the ice begins to melt, the Earth’s crust, then, begins to
spring in the opposite direction—up. It’s just like a spring,
actually, so imagine that. This pushes these mountains
toward the sky. Interesting, huh? Who would ever guess
that global warming could make mountains grow taller?
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 06 History
W: Good afternoon, everyone. Today we’ll be exploring how
Confucianism has affected northeastern Asian countries,
such as China, South Korea, and Japan. Confucianism is an
early collection of ethics and social and philosophical ideas
that are based upon the teachings of the ancient Chinese
philosopher Confucius. The basic idea of Confucianism is
pretty much how each person can participate in creating
a peaceful, well-organized society. Each of the nations I
mentioned took Confucianism and modified it to suit its
particular tastes.
First of all, Confucian ideals shaped the social relations
 home because one, I can’t afford to get an apartment, and
of many people in northeastern Asia. For example, its
influence in Japan can be seen in the way that order and
relationships are understood. Confucianism stresses the
importance of individual relationships, basically, how
people relate to each other in terms of their place in society.
It’s like in a family . . . parents and children know their places.
So everyone should know their place in society. Many Asian
countries have taken this very seriously, and they enjoy a
lot of, uh, social harmony because of it.
Secondly, people have found ways to apply the idea of
Confucian social harmony to business. Um, Confucianism
actually discourages seeking profit—Confucius said that
profit led people to, uh, do wrong to other people. Well,
that idea wouldn’t be a good thing to apply to a business.
However, the idea of harmony can really help a business
run smoothly.
Confucianism’s ideals include an aversion to conflict . . .
so without conflict in the workplace, things run more
smoothly. Imagine a workplace where everyone worked
together in harmony. In addition, along the same lines as
social relationships, if everyone knows their place in the
workplace, there are no power struggles, and businesses
can operate without any of those complications. If workers
aren’t just trying to, you know, climb the corporate ladder,
they can instead focus on sharing ideas and cooperating.
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07 Office Hours
W: Hi, Mike. Come in.
M: Hi, Professor Oliver. Do you have a moment?
W: I sure do. What can I help you with?
M: Well, I really want to take some courses over the summer
here, but the problem is, I’ll be living at home, which is
nearly four hours away. I couldn’t even consider commuting
that distance.
W: No, certainly not! That’d be eight hours out of your day just
for traveling.
M: Exactly. But I don’t know what to do. I can’t live away from
two, my mom really wants me home.
W: Well, have you considered taking online courses?
M: 
You mean the ones offered by the university? I’ve
considered them, but really, I don’t think I could afford
them.
W: No, no, actually, they’re less expensive than conventional
courses you would take here.
M: Really? I had always thought that they were pricey.
W: No actually, in my experience, they don’t cost a lot, and
they’re well worth it. You know, I actually received some
of my continuing education credits while taking online
courses, so I have an idea of what to expect. They’re not
particularly expensive at all, especially compared to what
you’d have to pay for another semester of college. I assume
that the reason you want to take summer classes is to
graduate earlier.
M: Yeah, I’m actually a bit behind at the moment. So it’ll
help me graduate on time if I can take some summer
courses. I haven’t come across anyone who has taken
online courses until now. So I won’t miss out on the vital
parts of the classroom experience? Like lectures and real
communication?
W: Well, you’re a sophomore. I mean, you have two more full
years of classroom experience ahead of you. So you should
get plenty of experience that way. Is it the motivation you’re
worried about, like that by being at home you wouldn’t be
as motivated to complete assignments?
M: No, I mean, I just worry that there’ll be no interaction with
the professor . . . misunderstandings . . .
W: Sure, lectures can be a great way to learn, but they aren’t
the only way. You know, when I took one of my courses
online, we did all of our discussions on an Internet message

board, and I think it allowed people to participate more
than they usually would in a classroom.
M: That’s a good point.
W: And some of the lectures will be text-based, so you can
reread what you don’t get, and maybe even learn better
that way.
M: Hmm, this is something to ponder.
08 Service Encounter
W: Hi! Can I help you?
M: Yes, please. I’m here to ask about the student activity fee.
W: Sure, any specific questions?
M: Yeah, first of all, what exactly am I paying per semester?
W: Well, it all depends on your enrollment status. How many
credits are you signed up for?
M: 
Fifteen. I’m a full-time student.
W: OK, meaning you’re paying the full-time fee. Let’s see.
Well, looking at this chart, you . . . are . . . paying $560 per
semester.
M: Whoa! That’s steep! Do I really have to pay that? I mean,
there’s no way to waive that fee?
W: I’m sorry, but it’s a mandatory fee for all undergraduate and
graduate students.
M: It just seems like an awful lot. Well, my second question is,
what exactly is it for? If it’s going to be so much, I might as
well find out if I can get any benefits from it.
W: Certainly. The student activity fee is mainly used to fund
two major things: campus events and campus services.
M: Campus events? Like what? I haven’t been to any this year,
not that I’m aware of.
W: Do you remember Spring Weekend? There were tons of
concerts, some big-name bands that came here to perform,
and lots of events like comedy shows that ran pretty much
all weekend.
M: Oh, yeah. When was that? In March? OK, but that’s once a
year.
W: Well, that’s one of our bigger events during the school year,
but we always have other, smaller events going on all the
time. For example, we have free barbecues every month—
have you been to one?
M: No . . .
W: Really? But they’re always being advertised . . . Anyway, there
are also movie viewings every Thursday night. And special
guest lecturers from time to time. If you keep your eyes and
Transcripts
ears open, you’ll find that there’s always something that’s
being arranged by the student government and by various
student organizations. They work really hard to keep up a
lively atmosphere on campus.
M: Didn’t you also mention services?
W: Yes, we have a wide array of available services, such as
health care, student-produced publications like the weekly
newspaper, and free on-campus transportation. There are
also computer centers located all around campus, special
library facilities, and most recently, the night walk program.
M: What’s that?
W: Well, we have groups of people that escort students around
campus after dark.
M: Hmm, I didn’t know that.
W: Yes, you see, though the student activity fee may seem like
a lot, if you consider all that it includes, it’s really not at all.
09 Astronomy
W: 
Continuing with our progression through the planets,
today we’re going to talk about Jupiter. Um, specifically I
want to focus on how weather patterns relate to how it
looks. Jupiter has an amazing look to it . . . striking bands of
color, bright spots. Today we’ll go over what makes Jupiter
look that way.
Jupiter’s weather can be attributed in large part to the
rotational speed of the planet. Let me talk about that for
a second before I get into Jupiter’s appearance. So, Jupiter
rotates really fast, much faster than Earth. And as we’ll see
in a second, this causes some interesting things to happen.
OK, first I’ll start by talking about the atmospheric bands
of color on Jupiter. The bands look like, well, like strips of
either a dark red or a lighter red, almost sandy color. Well,
these colored bands are caused by convection. Uh, do you
all remember convection from our previous classes? Well,
let me remind you, just in case . . . Convection refers to
warm air rising and cool air falling. As warm air rises, it takes
with it atmospheric gases. On Jupiter, the rising air makes
lighter bands, and the cooler air sinks and creates darker
colors. Does everyone follow so far? And here’s where the
rotational speed comes in. Because the planet is rotating so
fast, these bands wrap all the way around the planet. Let’s
compare that now with what’s going on in the Great Red
Spot. Now, first think of hurricanes as they occur on Earth.
They travel over water, build strength, and then dissipate
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 once they reach land. OK, with that said, the Great Red Spot
is a hurricane, though researchers estimate that it has been
going on for the past three hundred years. It’s also very big
. . . actually, it’s about the size of Earth, if not bigger! Now,
this sounds very different from Earth’s hurricanes, right?
Well, there are a couple of reasons for this. First, Jupiter’s
rotational speed comes into play again.
Scientists believe that the rotational speed helps to sustain
the storm, though they aren’t exactly sure how yet. In
addition, there are no continents, uh, land masses on
Jupiter like we have here on Earth. Hurricanes lose their
strength on Earth when they hit land, right? Well, there’s no
land on Jupiter to do that, so it just keeps going and going
and going . . .
10 Biology
M: All right, so we’ll be discussing alleles and hopefully, by the
end of this session, we’ll be able not only to define them,
but understand them as well. Here’s what I think I’ll do . . .
I’m going to go ahead and give you the basic definition,
then I’ll show you how alleles work—show them to you in
action, and hopefully then you’ll have a very clear idea of
what they are and what they do.
Alleles are a pair or sequence of genes that exist at a certain
location on a specific chromosome, a chromosome being
a strand of DNA that holds our genetic information. So,
what you need to remember about alleles is that they are
the part of DNA that determines a genotype—genotype
referring to characteristics—genetic characteristics of an
individual. OK, that was a lot of information. I see you all
frantically taking notes. Are there any questions at this
time?
W: Well, yeah, I’m not sure I understand yet what alleles do.
They’re part of DNA, but what do they do in DNA? I mean,
what’s their function?
M: That will be my next point, so if there aren’t any other
questions, I’ll get right into that.
OK, so on to the role of alleles. In essence, alleles determine
what traits people inherit as part of their genetic makeup.
Inherit from their—from the individual’s parents.
W: I’ve always wondered how that happens. I mean, I look
almost exactly like my mom, but not my dad. Does that
have something to do with dominant genes—or I guess,
alleles?
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M: You’re exactly right. To talk about the role of alleles, we need
to talk about the types. So put types in your notes. There
are actually four, but we will go over two of them now and
two of them tomorrow. The first two are dominant and
recessive. Luckily, these are the two that are the easiest to
understand.
W: Because they’re opposites, right? Dominant means they
dominate, and recessive means . . .
M: Well, yes, but let’s put it in clearer terms than that. Traits
need at least two alleles. A dominant allele will cause the
trait to materialize if just one allele of that trait is present. So,
let’s use the brown eyes trait and say it is a dominant trait.
If a child receives one brown eye allele and one blue eye
allele, what color will the child’s eyes be?
W: Brown.
M: Right. And a recessive allele means that two of that same
allele are required to make that trait occur. So, if we say that
blue eyes is a recessive trait, a child would need to have
two blue eye alleles to be born with blue eyes.
Chapter 7 Inference Questions
01 Environmental Science
M: Now, I know everybody knows what a sea is, but I’m sure
that if I asked around right now, we’d hear a lot of different
answers about what features make up a sea. Another thing
that a lot of people don’t know about is that there are
different types of seas. So, uh, that’s what we’re going to go
over.
OK, the first type of sea is called a mediterranean sea. And
just so we’re clear, although the Mediterranean Sea is an
example of a mediterranean sea, in oceanography we
use the term to describe a sea that has limited exchange
of deep water with the oceans. So how does the water
circulate? Well, it mostly depends on the temperature of
the water, which moves the water from place to place. The
density of water, due to salt dissolved in it, also changes as
its temperature changes. The denser water sinks, pushing
less dense water toward the surface. Some other examples
of mediterranean seas are the Caribbean Sea and the Red
Sea.

Next, uh, second, there are marginal seas. These are really
areas of the ocean that are somewhat enclosed by land.
I mean, they may have some islands around that help
define their boundaries. The big distinction to remember
with marginal seas is that their currents are mainly caused
by ocean winds. Some examples of marginal seas are the
Bering Sea and the North Sea.
02 Biology
M: We’ve been talking about marine life lately. Today I want
to talk about respiration. I thought it would be interesting
to talk not only about what mechanisms allow organisms
to breathe underwater, but how it’s done on land as well.
So, to get started, let’s talk about breathing underwater,
or aquatic respiration. Here’s a thing to remember: there
is relatively little oxygen in water. So animals that live
underwater need a system that allows them to process
oxygen differently from land animals. To do this, fish have
developed gills. Gills allow organisms to extract oxygen
from water.
Later, we’ll talk some more about how gills work, but right
now, I want to contrast that information with a common
system of respiration for animals that live on land. Since
respiration is really just an exchange of gases—you
know, where carbon dioxide is swapped for oxygen—for
simple, single-celled organisms, breathing is as simple as
constantly being exposed to the air. For those organisms
that have more than one cell, it’s a little different. An
example is vertebrates, which have lungs that allow them
to breathe. Special cells in the lungs saturate blood with
oxygen. OK, let’s contrast this with a detailed analysis of
what happens in fish.
03 Office Hours
W: Hi, Professor Cope. I know your office hours are almost over,
but I really wanted to talk to you about something.
M: 
All right, but let’s make it quick.
W: Sure. All I wanted to do was ask if it would be possible for
me to switch my group discussion section to another one.
M: Which of the two are you currently in?
W: I’m in the Friday section that starts at 10 a.m. It’s led by . . .
oh, what’s the teaching assistant’s name? Oh, Laura.
Transcripts
M: 
Would you mind if I ask you what the problem is?
Obviously, it’s completely confidential, but if it could help
me coordinate my teaching assistants better, I’d really
appreciate it. I want to make sure they’re getting the job
done.
W: No, no, no. It’s not Laura at all. In fact, she’s great. It’s just
that I have another class that starts at nine a.m. It normally
wouldn’t be a problem, since the class officially ends at
9:50, but the professor just keeps going on and on. I just
feel bad always showing up to the discussion group at least
ten minutes late.
M: Oh, I see. Let me just make a note of it in my roster. So you’ll
be changing to the Thursday night section with Bill.
04 Service Encounter
W: Hi, I’m Marilyn, the housing coordinator. Can I help you with
anything?
M: I was told to come here about a problem I was having. It’s
not really a problem . . . it’s just something I have to take
care of . . . soon.
W: OK, so what exactly do you have to take care of?
M: I was assigned a great room. It’s really nice and all, like, I
really like the private bathroom, and the closet space is
great.
W: You know, usually we don’t have students coming in to talk
to us about how great their rooms are. I have a feeling that
there’s a complaint somewhere in there.
M: Well, like I said, Barbour Hall is really great, but—
W: 
Wait, did you say Barbour Hall? But that’s a girls’ dormitory.
M: Exactly, which is a shame, because it’s probably the best
housing on campus. But I’m assuming that there was just
some mistake in the computers and I was assigned to the
wrong dorm.
W: OK, let’s fill out a “Change of Residence” form. I know I have
them here somewhere. Hold on just a sec. Here it is. All you
have to fill out is the top part. And please make sure to put
your Student Identification Number on there. Otherwise,
the only way we’ll have to track you down is by looking for
the only man in Barbour Hall.
M: OK, this looks pretty straightforward. Oh, wait, do I really
need a copy of my social security card? If I do, I’ll have to go
back to my room to get it. I don’t usually carry it with me.
W: Oh, since you’ve already been assigned a room, you’re
already in the system. That’s fine. You can leave that line
blank.
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 05 Business
M: Good morning, everybody. Last time, we talked about
various online business models, but today’s model is a
little different because it incorporates both online as well
as offline elements. It’s called the bricks and clicks model.
The name sounds funny, but it works. Let me give you an
example. Think about the last time you wanted a new, um
. . . let’s say radio. Maybe you went online and checked
prices at different retailers. And then you find that you can
even order the radio online. If you want it right away, you
could actually go to the store and pick it up rather than
wait for it to be delivered. That’s one example of how the
bricks and clicks model works.
Now, right off the bat, can anyone think of the kind of
business that would be best-suited to follow this kind of
model?
W: I would imagine that companies that have a strong brand
or some sort of presence in the market already.
M: You’re absolutely right. It’s just more feasible for those types
of businesses—and we’re talking about retailers really—
um, to use both offline and online resources to push them
forward. In contrast, a new business just wouldn’t have the
supply network or the customer following to make a bricks
and clicks model work. So, what does make the model
work?
Well, I kind of just mentioned this before, but let me
highlight the advantage of having supply and distribution
worked out already. Retailers don’t have to worry about
logistical stuff, and they get more choices about their
delivery policies or even price discounts. Does that make
sense?
W: What other kinds of advantages does it have?
M: Well, how about stability? Unlike purely Internet-based
businesses, bricks and clicks businesses usually have years
of experience under their belts. That perceived stability
helps bring people back, because remember, people like
to go with businesses they trust.
If there are no questions, let’s move on to the disadvantages
of this model.
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06 Anatomy
W: Last week, we left off talking about the major human
organ systems. We learned that there are eleven different
systems, all of which serve very important functions. Today,
I’m going to take some time to expand some more on the
integumentary system. In case you don’t remember from
the last lecture, the integumentary system comprises the
external covering of the body. So, we’re basically going
to be talking about skin, hair, and nails. To start with, the
integumentary system is the largest organ system that
humans have, at least in terms of surface area. Anyway, the
system has different functions. First, it provides protection
for internal organs. I’m sure you can all imagine how terribly
vulnerable we’d all be if we didn’t have any skin to cover up
all our organs. But also consider that skin helps keep out
infectious elements as well. So, we can consider our skin a
shield for us, and we’d be—well, just be happy you have it.
Another function of the integumentary system is that
it helps humans control their temperature. How does it
do that? Well, it acts as both an insulator and a regulator
between our internal organs and the external environment.
The skin also has certain mechanisms that help regulate
body temperature. Perspiration is an example of this. See,
when we produce sweat, the evaporation of the sweat has
a cooling effect, and it helps keep us from getting too hot.
Because of our skin, our bodies avoid the damage that can
occur from abrupt changes in temperature.
Finally, the integumentary system is also important for

sensory perception. Um, I mean, for the ability to feel
things. If you think about it, I’m sure it doesn’t take much
to appreciate the importance of the skin as a receptor for
touch, pain, or temperature changes.
07 Office Hours
W: Hi, Professor Daniels. I hope I’m not bothering you. I had
some questions about the paper you assigned today in
class.
M: 
Hi, Isabel. It’s been so long since you’ve come to visit me.
What exactly can I help you with today? Didn’t you like the
topics I came up with?
W: 
Oh, that isn’t it at all. The one on the comparisons of
theories of change was especially fascinating. I think that
topic would be so interesting to explore.

M: But you seem to have something else in mind. Care to
share?
W: 
Ha, I guess you know me pretty well. I suppose you would
by now; I’ve lost count of how many classes I’ve taken with
you.
M: 
I have as well. Anyway, about this paper topic. You’re
keeping me on the edge of my seat here.
W: Oh, of course. Well, there’s really nothing special about
my question. What I was thinking is that I’d like to work on
the paper I wrote earlier this semester. The one on Plato’s
theory of forms. Do you remember which one I’m talking
about?
M: Of course. Um, well, why don’t you tell me some more
about what you would be writing about exactly?
W: The last time, I really only discussed the main points of his
theory. Since then, I’ve read much more, and I think I want
to explore different aspects of the theory.
M: Can you give me something more tangible? Just so I have a
good idea of what you’re aiming for here.
W: Well, in concrete terms, I want to talk mostly about the
philosophical concerns that motivated Plato’s theory
of forms. It would probably amount to about ten more
pages—at least the material I’m planning on covering.
M: 
That sounds really interesting. I’m having a hard time
deciding if I should let you do this, though. Somehow it
seems kind of unfair to the rest of the class. Everybody else
will be writing on the newer material, you know?
W: Well, if you’ll allow me to make another point on my
behalf—the reason I want to expand on this paper in
particular is because I’d like to submit it to the department
for publication in the department magazine.
M: Oh, that would be great. I think so many people would
really enjoy that. OK, I’m sold. You can do it, but you’ll have
all the same due date and guidelines as the others.
08 Service Encounter
W: Next, please.
M: Hi, I need to talk to someone about my student health
insurance. I received my policy information and my card in
the mail a couple of days ago, but I’m still confused about
some things.
W: 
OK, well, I can help clarify it for you, if you’d like. Most people
need an explanation.
M: That would be wonderful. I don’t know, this insurance stuff
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is just strange. I mean, I’m glad that the university provides
insurance for all of the students, but so far I don’t have any
idea of what’s covered and what’s not covered, or whatever.
W: I know. The worst part is that insurance policies don’t ever
really get easier. I think people just get used to them. But
anyway, you already know that you’re covered under the
university health insurance. And just so you know, it’s not
exactly free. If you look at your student bill at the beginning
of the semester, you’ll see a Health Services Fee. That’s what
the university charges you to be covered in the plan.
M: 
I didn’t know that. I was wondering what that was all about.
I’m glad I didn’t decide to take it up with the bursar’s office
after all. Anyway, I guess my biggest question about this is
about what coverage I get.
W: The plan is pretty comprehensive. You have free doctor’s
visits, which would include routine check-ups or physicals.
Now, if you’re going to have any lab work done, it’s, um, let
me check on this, that’s right, a $15 fee that is not covered
by your policy. So that’s out-of-pocket. You’ll also have to
pay for X-rays. Oh, and since we’re talking about X-rays, you
should know that a lot of X-rays have to be taken at facilities
off-campus because we don’t actually have the equipment
to do all types of X-rays.
M: Oh, OK. And how about dental?
W: Unfortunately, the basic plan does not cover any dental
work. What the university suggests for students who want
dental coverage is to either seek out another insurance
provider, or check to see if you are covered under your
parents’ plan.
W: Gotcha. Well, I think that about answers my questions. I
guess I should take a look through the policy book as well.
Thanks a lot!
09 History
W: 
Continuing our discussion of the Spanish conquest in
Mexico, today, I want to briefly discuss an indigenous
group, called the Purépecha—which still exists today, by
the way—who offered some of the strongest resistance
against the Spanish. So I’ll just start by defining the tribe for
you—saying a little about them—but the main thing I want
to focus on is on, um, a couple of theories that try to explain
how they, uh, how they were able to survive as a culture.
OK, let’s go. Um, compared to other tribes, very little is
known about the history of the Purépecha. Anthropologists
35
 are still pondering their exact origins, but is it, I mean, it’s
widely believed that they came from somewhere in South
America. Anyway, what I want to segue into is that the
territory that they inhabited is Central America—modern
Mexico. This is of particular significance because of the
tribe’s relation to the Aztec empire. Are you all following
so far? Let me explain a little further, then. Of the little bit
of Purépecha history that has been reconstructed, it is
known that they were involved in numerous battles with
the Aztecs. In fact, it was one of the few tribes that were
able to successfully resist the Aztecs. Historians believe that
two factors played a big role in being able to do so.
First off, unlike any other tribes in the region, the Purépecha
 M: Really? So, what are ticks good for?
had knowledge of metallurgy. This is one of the reasons
that anthropologists think that they came from South
America. Anyway, their skill for working metal gave them
the capacity to create advanced weaponry. Additionally,
Purépecha warriors have been described in many
different accounts as having worn armor. It’s assumed
that the advanced weapons and body armor enabled the
Purépecha to defend themselves and their lands more
effectively.
Next, the Purépecha apparently had a military organization
that was pretty much unmatched by any other indigenous
group in the region. In size, I mean, and in organization,
training, and such. Let me share something I saw in my
readings recently. Not surprisingly, the Aztecs attempted to
invade Purépecha lands on numerous occasions. In 1478,
the Aztecs led a battle against the Purépecha. However,
they were badly defeated when more than 40,000
Purépecha soldiers met the Aztec forces, comprised of
24,000 soldiers.
10 Ecology
W: Now, both of the relationships we’ll talk about involve two
species that are in direct contact. To begin, who can tell us
what parasitism is?
M: It’s when one organism literally lives off of another one. Oh,
and the animal that the parasite lives off of is harmed, while
the parasite benefits.
W: Good. You just covered the two points that I would have
used to describe a parasite.
M: I almost want to compare a parasite to a regular predator.
I mean, I guess it’s different because the parasite is usually
36
smaller than the host, whereas a predator is usually larger
than its prey. But I guess that’s mostly off topic. Sorry.
W: No, don’t be sorry. That’s a very interesting observation. And
along with that, I’d also like to point out that some parasites
work from the inside, while others do their damage from
outside. So, can anybody give an example of a parasitic
relationship in nature?
M: How about ticks? They attach to animals and feed on their
blood for sustenance.
W: 
That’s a great example. I know that most people think that
the world would be better off without them, but even
parasites have a role in nature.
W: Well, like, they help control populations of species that
could do a lot of damage to an ecosystem if their numbers
weren’t kept low. Uh oh, we’re kind of running short on
time. Maybe we should move on to mutualism. Definition,
anyone?
M: 
Isn’t it just like the opposite of parasitism?
W: 
Not quite. I mean, you’re not wrong. But I’m looking for an
answer that goes a step further than that. Why don’t you
describe the characteristics of a mutual interaction?
M: It involves two species interacting, except that instead of
one bringing harm to another, they both sort of mutually
benefit. Right?
W: Good. In which ways can a species benefit from this kind of
interaction?
M: 
They can use each other for protection. I remember
reading about birds that would eat the flies and insects
off of rhinoceroses. Obviously, going around with a rhino
offers the bird some protection. But the bird also makes
loud noises when there’s a predator around, so it helps the
rhino protect itself, too.
W: Great example!
Mini Test 3
01 Computer Science
M: Good afternoon, class. Last time, we barely got started in
our discussion about computer networks. Oh, and just to
clarify: the last time, someone asked if there was some
magic number of computers that have to be connected
in order to officially have a network—I looked it up and

there’s not really a single answer. But for this class, let’s
just say a network is two or more connected computers.
Is that clear? Good. Anyway, today we’ll be delving farther
into this subject—we’ll talk about two different networking
methods, the local area network and wide area network.
Most of you are probably familiar with local area networks,
also called LANs. You’ll find these in homes and small offices,
and you probably use one in the campus library or even in
your dorms. By definition, they basically only cover a small
area. Local area networks are set up in different schemes,
with the most basic involving two or more computers
connected to a single server through an Ethernet or
wireless connection. I’m seeing some confused faces.
Remember, a server is the device that administers different
services or resources to users on a network. For example,
a server makes it possible for computers to transfer files to
each other over a network, or it makes files accessible to
anyone on the network. Are things a bit clearer, now? Let’s
move on.
Now, in the scheme I just described, all users are connected
to the server. There are many other configurations which
we’ll encounter throughout the semester, but overall,
LANs can be characterized by their relatively small scale,
especially when compared to a wide area network. But the
small scale of LANs also offers some benefits. For example,
they are often faster, especially in terms of file transfer, and
they are built with a leased line, which we’ll discuss a little
later in this lecture.
What about wide area networks? In computer science,
we usually refer to them as WANs. These make resources
available on a much wider scale. What I mean by that is that
a WAN can be used by people in other parts of the country,
or even the world. The best example of a WAN that I can
think of is the Internet, which is easily the largest network in
the world. WANs are built for many different purposes. They
can be used by private organizations to link up smaller
LANs to each other, or even by Internet service providers,
who use them to provide Internet access to users. The
most common way to build a WAN is by using a leased
line. A leased line is a connection between two sources
that is used to provide not only networking services, but
telephone and Internet services as well.
Since a WAN built with a leased line basically just connects
two LANs, it is probably the most secure. But the thing is
that leased lines are pretty expensive. To avoid this, some
WANs are built using different methods, such as circuit
switching or cell relay.
Transcripts
02 Literature
W: I’d like to talk today about the short story that you read for
homework over the weekend, The Sandman. Before we get
started . . . and, uh, rather than giving me a plot summary,
could anyone tell me what it’s about? Not a plot summary,
please, but just, well, in general, what’s it about? What’s its
theme?
M: It’s a tale about obsession, really. And well, I guess how
obsession can lead to one’s demise, you know, to a person’s
downfall, defeat, death, whatever.
W: Well said, Tom. And who might the Sandman be . . .
traditionally?
M: The, uh, the Sandman is a character in Western myth
who helps children fall asleep. But, Hoffman, the author,
changed the character into a terrible one—a character
who steals children’s eyes!
W: That’s it! Pretty gruesome, huh? Now, with this in mind, let’s
look at Hoffman’s use of motifs in the story.
M: Pardon me, but, uh, I’m not sure that I fully understand
what motif means, and looking around the class, I don’t
think I’m the only one.
W: I think you may be right about that. I can certainly clarify.
In literature, a motif is an, um, an element of symbolic
significance that is repeated throughout the story. Are you
getting what I mean? It can be a structural element, such as
when a certain kind of sentence or narrative voice is used
again and again. Or it can also be a repeated literary device,
like a metaphor. Does that make sense?
M: Oh yeah, now I remember. Thanks. Um, so, back to your
question, one motif that I think would be pretty hard to
miss is that of the eyes.
W: I’m glad you brought that up. Can you give me an example
of where the eye motif came up?
M: It was everywhere. I mean, the Sandman would supposedly
steal the eyes of children.
W: Good. And here’s something for you all to think about,
too—the names of the men that the main character, um,
Nathanial believed were the, um, I guess incarnations of
the Sandman also refer to the eyes. One guy’s name was
Coppelius, which comes from Coppola—this is related to
the Italian word coppo, which means eye socket.
M: That makes a lot of sense. I wondered if that name had
another meaning.
W: Uh-huh. Now, earlier I said that a motif has a symbolic
significance. What do you think the significance of the eyes
is in this story?
37
 M: I think it has to do with the connection to the soul. You
know, since the eyes are supposed to be the window to
the soul. That explains why another character—a robot,
actually—seemed so vacant to everyone, despite her
beauty . . . she had no eyes. So no eyes, no soul.
W: 
That’s a great interpretation. That would also explain
why Nathanial was so afraid of the Sandman, or those he
associated with the Sandman. Perhaps he was afraid the
Sandman would steal his soul.
03 Service Encounter
W: Hi, is this the study abroad office?
M: Sure, how can I help you?
W: I just got back from a semester abroad. I took four courses
while I was there, but now I don’t know what I’m supposed
to do to get university credit for them.
M: 
Have you had the department heads sign your credit
request forms yet?
W: Huh? I’m sorry, but I have no idea what that is.
M: Here are the forms. Basically, you fill one out for each course
you want to get credit for. Then you take them to the head
of the department you want credit from. They usually
ask you for the syllabus and the final exam or paper you
completed for the course.
W: OK, so I take the final and this form and they have to
approve it or something?
M: Yes, exactly. After they look through your material, they’ll
decide whether or not it’s on par with a course taught here
at the university. Then they will either reject or approve
your request for credit. It’s really a lot easier than it sounds.
W: It sounds like a lot of legwork. Is there a deadline for when
these forms need to be turned in?
M: Yes, in order for the credits to appear on your transcript,
we need the credit request forms submitted by March
20th. If you don’t get it done by then, we won’t have
time to process the credits before next semester. If you’re
graduating this year, you need to be extra careful to turn
the forms in by the deadline, or you may not have all the
credits you need to graduate.
W: Uh-oh. I guess I should try to get this done then. I don’t
want to have any problems at graduation time. Come May,
I want to get my degree and go.
M: I hear you. Well, then just make sure to turn in your forms
on time. And if you’re worried about making the time to do
38
this, I advise you to email the heads before you meet with
them to find out exactly what they want you to bring. That
way you won’t have any surprises and you can just get your
forms signed on the spot.
W: Thanks a bunch. I really appreciate it.
Practice Test
01 History
W: I’m sure you all have heard of the term “yellow journalism.”
In case you haven’t, it refers to a type of journalism that
focuses on sensational topics that will get people’s
attention. It shouldn’t be such a problem except that it’s
also associated with, um, unethical practices and sometimes
even outright lying. There are plenty of modern examples
of yellow journalism, but you might be surprised to learn
that it first appeared more than a century ago.
In spite of all the criticism it garnered then, it actually
played an important role in many historical events of
the era. It brought attention to the hardships of city life
for immigrants, and later, it drew public attention to the
Spanish-American War. You’re probably wondering how
this was possible. Why don’t we talk a little bit about how
that happened?
Let me begin by saying that yellow journalism was born,
in an official sense, as a marketing strategy by a young
newspaperman named Joseph Pulitzer. Very simply,
Pulitzer wanted to find a way to get more people to read
his paper. So he tried to make his paper interesting by
including games and contests. Additionally, he realized that
he could increase his readership significantly by tapping
into the immigrant market, which, as you can imagine, was
considerable in the early 19th century. So that’s what he
did, and his papers sold like crazy. At this point, I want to
note that, although Pulitzer wanted to find a way to make
more money, he also felt that it was his duty to improve
society. So, um, although he ran sensational headlines like
“Lines of Little Hearses” or, uh, well, “How Babies are Baked”
to catch people’s attention, many of the articles were
relevant to current events and society, especially to the
immigrant community of New York City.
Pulitzer’s enterprise became quite lucrative and it inspired
another young man named William Hearst to follow in his

footsteps. Hearst used many of the same techniques as
Pulitzer: his paper featured attention-grabbing headlines,
and its stories usually involved crime or celebrity scandals.
Furthermore, at only one cent, his newspaper cost less
than Pulitzer’s. As readership grew, Hearst had to search
high and low to keep finding scandalous material to draw
readers. Many times, Hearst was criticized for embellishing
stories. And, when there was no story, Hearst was happy
to stir one up. This was sort of the case with the Spanish-
American War. See, prior to the outbreak of the war, Hearst
supposedly told one of his reporters that he would furnish
a war for him to cover. And when the war finally did break
out in 1895, it was on the front page nearly every day.
Political cartoons depicted the Spanish as brutal and cruel.
The articles were not always accurate . . . that is, until Hearst
himself traveled to Cuba to cover the events. Interestingly,
although historians all pretty much agree that Hearst
played a very minor role, if any, in starting the war, many
say that his coverage later in the war helped promote
awareness about the realities that the Cubans faced under
Spanish rule.
02 Chemistry
M: Today I want to talk about crystallization, which is the
process by which a liquid solution turns into a crystal. This
is the process that is responsible for creating the beautiful
gemstones that we see in jewelry stores and stalactites that
hang from caves. Just so you know, this lecture is going
to be pretty term-heavy. So if you all need some more
explanation about anything, please let me know, and I’ll try
to explain until everything is, uh, crystal clear. Ha ha.
OK, so there are actually a couple of steps in the process
that create these pretty crystals. The first is called
nucleation. During nucleation, small particles in solution
start to accumulate in little clusters. The solution, of course,
is a mixture of two or more substances. The clusters can
stabilize in the solution and will eventually form the nucleus
of the crystal. If they don’t stabilize, however, the particles
in the solution just dissolve once again. And I want you to
understand that the stability of the clusters is completely
dependent on factors such as saturation levels and even
temperature. When a solution is supersaturated, it means
that it contains more particles than can be dissolved. Do
you all get that? Typically, supersaturated solutions are
Transcripts
more likely to support a stable cluster that can form crystals.
Meanwhile, temperature can affect saturation levels by
triggering evaporation or vaporization of the solution. So
both of these conditions are very important in the growth
of the crystal.
Anyway, once the nucleus is formed, the atoms of the
solution begin to form around it. The patterns in which
the atoms form is called the crystal structure. Just so we’re
all on the same page, I want to emphasize that the crystal
structure I refer to here does not reflect the shape of the
crystal once it has fully developed. Instead, the crystal
structure really just describes the pattern in which the
atoms are initially formed. And that’s the nucleation stage.
The next stage is when crystal growth occurs, and, as you
can guess, it mostly entails the maturation of the crystal. I
want to point out that nucleation and crystallization often
occur at the same time. That’s why, if you’ve ever seen a
crystal, you’ll note that there are usually different shapes
and sizes of crystals. So, does the crystal growth just go
on and on, or does it stop eventually? I’m sure you can
guess that there is an end to crystal growth. It sort of has
to do with the same conditions that either promote or stop
growth: temperature and saturation levels. See, when the
solution is no longer supersaturated, either because it has
been exhausted by the growth of the crystal or because
other changes have occurred, the crystal pretty much
stops growing. What’s interesting, though, is that you can
supersaturate the solution to start the crystal growing
again.
03 Service Encounter
W: Hi, is this where I sign up for the creative writing courses?
M: Actually, registration doesn’t open until next week.
W: 
I’m sorry, I must have gotten confused. It says in the
course announcement booklet to sign up in the English
Department.
M: That’s right. But we only open class registration for one day.
Since there are a limited number of spots in each class,
we only have sign-ups on the Wednesday before the next
semester begins.
W: How many spots are there available in each class?
M: It depends on which one you want to sign up for. For
example, the Introduction to Travel Writing course only
allows ten students. The more general courses allow
39
 slightly more students, but to tell you the truth, we need
to keep it pretty low. Otherwise, there are too many people
for it to be good for anyone, you know?
W: Yeah, that makes sense. I don’t think people have the
opportunity to learn if the class is too full. But anyway, how
does signing-up work, exactly? Is there a line around the
building or something? I’ll bet it gets pretty crowded.
M: Oh yeah, definitely. Some students start showing up really
early, like at five a.m. I don’t really understand why they do
that, since it’s not like signing up means you automatically
get into the class.
W: It doesn’t? Then why even have sign up sessions?
M: I know it seems pretty convoluted. The sign up is for the
professors to get an idea of how big the student pool will
be in the fall. After you’ve signed up for the course, you’ll be
on the professor’s list. But if you don’t show up to the first
class, you’ll get kicked out of the course.
W: So, all I really have to do is sign up and then show up to the
first day of class next semester?
M: 
Nope, that would be too easy. The fact is, there will
definitely be more students than spots. So the professor
will have everyone write and submit a sample.
W: Really? So after putting us through all this, we still have to
prove ourselves again later? There must be a lot of people
trying to get into these classes.
M: You’re right. But don’t worry about it. Just do your best.
And even if you don’t get in this semester, you can try next
semester. Just be sure to sign up on Wednesday, or you
won’t even have a shot.
04 Psychology
W: This week, we’ve been reading about dreams. For the
discussion section, I asked you to consider the following
question: how can humans interpret their dreams to
promote understanding about the self? What did you all
come up with?
M: I found that Freud actually had a set of processes that he
said are responsible for making dreams so incoherent
sometimes. But by understanding the processes, it would
supposedly be easier for people to understand what their
dreams mean.
W: You know, I don’t find that surprising at all. Freud was
one of the first to study sleep and dreams, and to this day
he remains a big influence in the field. Anyway, can you
describe the processes that Freud came up with?
40
M: If I remember correctly, the first is, um, condensation. The
idea is that sometimes in dreams, ideas or people or events
will be condensed into a single dream image.
W: 
Good. Do you all understand that? An example of
condensation is when you dream of a character that looks
like your dog, but has the voice of a childhood friend. How
about the second process?
M: The second process is called displacement. It’s when the
dreamer redirects emotions or actions to a seemingly
unrelated image. Like if a person was angry at their friend,
he might dream about breaking a possession dear to the
friend, instead of actually hurting the friend.
W: That’s a great example. If you all are clear on that, I’d like to
move on to the third process: symbolization. This process is
tricky because it pretty much requires that people interpret
their dreams on a symbolic level and not a literal level.
M: 
I’m not sure I understand. Does it mean that nothing in
dreams can be taken at face value?
W: More or less. It’s pretty, um, well, it’s hard to apply this
idea, considering that so many people will have so many
different subjective views on symbolism in their dreams. So
I’m not so sure that it’s realistic to expect people to have any
real use for symbolism. But, well, maybe you all disagree.
Would someone care to share the symbolic meaning of a
dream they once had?
M: One time, I had a dream that I was waiting at a stop light.
And it seemed like forever that I was waiting there, so
finally, I just got fed up and started driving without waiting
for the light to turn green. I just went. It didn’t even matter
if there were police around.
W: Interesting. So the literal meaning of that dream is that
you have no respect for laws. But what do you think the
symbolic meaning is?
M: I realized I was just feeling restless at the time. It was right
before the semester was about to start and I just wanted to
go already.
W: Good. So that should help you understand Freud’s idea of
symbolization now. OK, so on to the last process: secondary
elaboration.
M: Isn’t that when the dreamer adds logic and details to a
dream they’ve had?
W: Yup, and Freud suggested that if you want to capture a
dream without elaboration, try to record the dream as soon
as you wake up, before you embellish it with logical details.

05 Physics
M: Let’s move on to simple machines. You probably remember
that in physics, a simple machine is any mechanism or
device that requires force from only one source in order to
work. In class, we only had a chance to get sort of a broad
overview of these machines. But today, I want to go into
more detail about the types of simple machines there are
and the kind of work they perform. Why don’t we start with
the pulley?
In a nutshell, a pulley is kind of like a wheel that has a groove
in it. Then there’s a rope that runs through the groove in
the wheel. The pulley is used to change the direction of
the force that is applied to the rope. So, in the most basic
pulley systems, you pull the rope to help lift something that
is attached to the other end of the rope. I’m sure you’ve all
seen pulleys at work before.
Now, there are three types of pulley systems that I’d like
to discuss. The first type is called a fixed-base pulley. For
this type, the axle of the wheel is secured in one place.
And when you pull on the rope, you basically just change
the direction of the force currently on the rope. Does that
make sense to you? So when you pull on the rope it makes
it easier to lift whatever is attached to the other end of the
rope. Let me give you an example. OK, um, right. Picture
this. Imagine a fixed base pulley as the type used on flag
poles to help people raise flags.
W: 
It doesn’t seem like that kind of pulley would really be
useful for anything but raising something light . . . like a flag.
There’s a kind of pulley that can lift heavier things, right?
M: That’s right. It’s called a movable base pulley. You probably
guessed that the main characteristic for this type of pulley
is that the pulley—the wheel’s axis moves. This is pretty
helpful, especially if you want to multiply the force being
exerted on the rope. When you multiply the forces on the
rope, you’re increasing the mechanical advantage of this
simple machine. This means that when you pull on the
rope, you will have double the force on the object attached
on the other end.
OK, let’s move on to the last type of pulley: the compound
pulley. A compound pulley mixes both fixed base and
movable base pulleys. Compound pulleys are a good way
to give yourself an even better mechanical advantage over
the pulleys involved in your simple machine. In theory, the
more pulleys you add, the more mechanical advantage
you create, but in reality, every additional pulley adds more
friction. And if you have too much friction as a result of too
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many pulleys, you eliminate any advantage that you might
have gained.
06 Office Hours
W: Hi, Martin, good to see you. What can I help you with this
afternoon?
M: Hi, Professor Richtor, I wanted to talk to you about the
paper that’s due this Friday.
W: What’s the problem? Are you having trouble writing it? If
you want, sometimes it helps students to talk through a
topic. In fact, I’ve done it with three other students for this
paper already. I’d love to hear what kinds of ideas you’ve
come up with.
M: That’s the thing . . . uh, I haven’t really had any time to
put any ideas together. See, on Friday I’ll also be taking a
midterm for my chemistry class. As a prerequisite for all
upper-level biology courses, I really need to do well on it.
I’ve even been meeting with a tutor
W: But when do you plan on working on your paper for my
class?
M: Dr. Richtor, I would never ask for an extension under any
other circumstances, but I think this situation is different.
I just didn’t foresee that studying for my chemistry test
would take up so much time.
W: 
Actually, I don’t know about how valid an excuse that is.
This paper is on the syllabus, plus I assigned it over a week
ago. If you knew there was going to be some overlap with
your chemistry test, you could have approached me about
it earlier, not two days before the paper is due.
M: I’m sorry. I really just don’t know what to do. I think I could
do a good job on the paper if I only had the time to really
explore my ideas. But as long as I’m cramming for my exam,
I just don’t know how I’ll do that.
W: Martin, I don’t really know that there’s anything I can do for
you. I think that even with two days you could write a very
good paper.
M: What happens if it’s late? I mean, what if I just can’t have it
to you by Friday?
W: My policy for late papers is that I take off half of a letter
grade for each day that it is late. So if it’s due on Monday,
but you don’t turn it in until Wednesday, the best you can
get on your paper is a “B.” And that’s assuming that the
paper is worth an “A” to begin with.
M: That’s pretty strict. I guess I’ll just have to try my best to get
it in by Friday.
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