Transcripts
Adrie Bijan Adrie Bijan
Yes! That’s what happened to me! But of course you should pay. Oh.
He may even say it three times, that you can have this thing for free. But he expects you to pay. Everyone in Iran understands this. It’s the same when someone you don’t know very well invites you to their home for dinner.
Adrie Bijan
Adrie Bijan
Aha, yes! That happened to me, too.
But, of course, they don’t really want you to go to their house. Oh.
I know that in the west ‘yes’ means ‘yes’. But in Iran ‘yes’ sometimes means ‘yes’, but it can also mean ‘maybe’. And, often, it actually means ‘no’.
Presenter How … awkward! So, while there is no definitive way to prevent culture shock, a good bit of advice is to get to know the ways of the new culture and understand it as much as possible. The better you understand a culture and the reasons why people behave in a certain way, the more easily you will be able to adjust to it.
Unit 5
5.1 a the engineer b the seed c the dog d the answer e the invention f the plant
5.2 Eiji Nakatsu was one of the chief engineers for the Shinkansen rail network in Japan, the network of ‘bullet’ trains in Japan that connects Tokyo with other major cities. One of the challenges Nakatsu had to solve was a problem of noise caused by the high-speed train. When a train enters a tunnel, a cushion of air builds up in front of it. And when the train exits the tunnel, the air rapidly expands. The cushions of air created by the Shinkansen trains caused such a loud noise as they exited tunnels that they disturbed residents a quarter of a mile away.
While trying to find a solution to this problem, Nakatsu thought back to a lecture on birds he had been to some years previously, and in particular he remembered what he had learnt about kingfishers. When a kingfisher spots a fish, it leaves its perch and dives into the water at great speed. You might think that this sudden change in pressure would cause a loud splash and scare the fish away. But, a kingfisher’s beak is pointed, wedge-shaped in fact, which allows it to enter the water with almost no splash. There is very little noise at all.
The science, Nakatsu realized, was very similar. It was all about the change in pressure. So, he designed the front of the
126 English for the 21st Century • Transcripts
Shinkansen trains in the shape of a kingfisher’s beak. The front of the train is nearly 50 feet long. Consequently, the trains make a lot less noise.
My next example of biomimicry is also from Japan, where microengineers have created a minute needle just one millimetre long and with a diameter of 0.1 millimetre. Not only is the needle incredibly small, but it has been designed in a way which makes it painless. And how did these engineers come up with the design? They imitated the mouth of a mosquito. You may think that a mosquito bite is painful, but that is actually just the irritation caused by the mosquito’s saliva which it injects into you. You don’t actually feel anything as it pierces your skin. If you did, you would simply brush it off, or kill it. The mosquito is able to bite you without you noticing due to the intricate, serrated design of its mouthparts.
From the mosquito to a very different animal. Did you know that dolphins can communicate with each other up to distances of 25 kilometres? They do this by employing several frequencies to transmit signals to each other. A company called EvoLogics studied dolphin communication for eight years and developed a way to detect underwater earthquakes and transmit the information as part of a tsunami warning system. Small transmission devices called modems are now being used as an early warning system for tsunamis in the Indian Ocean.
And finally, from the Indian Ocean to an environment with very little water. Some of the poorest areas in the world also suffer from severe water shortage, and finding a way to provide water to the people of these countries is one of the world’s biggest challenges today. One animal that has been forced to overcome a similar challenge is the Stenocara beetle, which lives in the Namib Desert in Southern Africa. This beetle copes in these very dry conditions thanks to the unique nature of its shell, which is covered in tiny bumps. These bumps collect humid air from the desert’s morning fog which become droplets of water. These droplets then roll down the beetle’s neck and into its mouth. This remarkable design has been copied by many companies hoping to solve the challenge of harvesting water in dry areas. One example is Warka Water, a company that has designed nine-metre-tall structures which collect fog and in ideal conditions can collect 100 litres of water overnight.
Unit 6
6.1 a A What do you think of social media sites like Twitter and Facebook?
B I think it’s great that people are able to comment on the news and give their opinions in real time. It’s helped to bring a wider selection of voices, ideas and witness accounts to each story.
A And what do you see as the biggest problem with social media?
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