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Transcriptions Transcrip tions (Asdcripción Ph I, Prof. Graciela Moyano, 1 ‘F’, 2000)
Selected & Compiled by Prof. Cinthia P. Smith
TRANSCRIPTIONS (2000) (advanced) Ordinary spelling 1.
UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY EDUCATION IN BRITAIN BRITA IN
Education is compulsory in Britain from five to sixteen years of age. After this time, students can, if they wish study for their “A” level examinations and go on to some form of further education. Many apply for entry to one of Britain’s universities. Entry to university is competitive and simply obtaining a pass in your “A” level examinations does not automatically give you the right to attend a university. The university first interviews you and if you are successful in the interview, it examines your marks and on the basis of these decides whether to offer you a place. Most university courses last three years. Students studying modern languages usually spend an additional year in the country of the language they are studying. Students studying medicine or dentistry do a five year course. Some universities have examinations at the end of the first year which students have to pass to continue with their university education. 2.
NOISE
While noise usually won't kill us, it can certainly make our lives miserable. Whether it's an inconsiderate neighbour listening to their music loud enough to rattle our teeth or a jet plane take-off that shakes our whole house, noise is not a laughing matter for the 20 million or more U.S. residents estimated to be "exposed on a regular basis to hazardous noise levels that could could result in hearing loss" (National Institutes of Health, Health, 1990) or the millions of others who lose sleep, feel constantly stressed, or otherwise suffer from unwanted sounds they can't escape in the office or at home. And people aren't the only creatures affected by noise pollution. Airplane noise can cause birds to abandon their nests and young, and many species of whales run away from the low frequency noises of ship engines and from high frequency sonar. 3. BRITISH WOMAN WINS GOLF SEXUAL DISCRIMINATION CASE A woman who quit her job with Britain's Professional Golf Association (PGA) after she was told not to wear trousers has won her sexual discrimination claim against the golfing body, the Equal Opportunities Commission said on Thursday. “The tribunal found in Judy Owen's favour on all counts,” a commission spokeswoman said. “It is a victory for women's rights.” But she said it was unclear what financial compensation Owen was awarded by the industrial tribunal judging the case in Birmingham. Owen, who had argued her boss had bullied and harassed her when he told her to go home and change into a skirt just weeks after she started the job, said she was “extremely pleased” at the result. “The fact that the PGA thought it could inflict these kinds of prejudicial judgements on its female employees is outrageous,” a commission statement quoted Owen as saying.
4. Travel Health : TUMMY TUMMY TROUBL TROUBLE E To avoid illness, select your meals carefully. All raw food is subject to contamination. Particularly in areas where hygiene and sanitation are inadequate, travellers should avoid:
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Transcriptions Transcrip tions (Asdcripción Ph I, Prof. Graciela Moyano, 1 ‘F’, 2000)
Selected & Compiled by Prof. Cinthia P. Smith
salads, uncooked vegetables, and unpasteurised milk and dairy products such as cheese. Eat only food that has been cooked and is still hot, or fruit you've peeled yourself. Remember: boil it, cook it, peel it, or forget it. Undercooked and raw meat, fish, and shellfish may carry various intestinal pathogens. Cooked food that has been allowed to stand lukewarm for several hours may provide a fertile place for bacterial growth - and should be thoroughly reheated before serving. Street food vendors have been associated with increased risk of tummy trouble. Some fish and shellfish can contain poisonous biotoxins, even when well-cooked. The most common type of fish poisoning in travellers is ciguatera fish poisoning. Barracuda is the most toxic fish and should always be avoided. Red snapper, grouper, sea bass, and other tropical reef fish contain the toxin at unpredictable times of the year.
5. AGEING "How old would you be if you didn't know how old you were?" - Satchel Paige Senescence is used to refer to the deteriorative processes that are associated with the development of debility and death. Aging, however, should be used to refer to the processes of "accruing maturity with the passage of time". The goal of geriatrics is not to promote senescence, but to maximize the positive aspects of aging. In the words of the Gerontological S ociety of America, gerontology should be "adding life to years, not just more years to life." Compression of morbidity therefore is a major goal of geriatrics, which can be achieved by delaying the onset of chronic disease and maximizing function despite that disease. A concern which many younger individuals have about older individuals is the association of aging and death. "In America, dying is the most culturally obscene subject. We talk easily about sex, money, hate, and private family matters - but not about death." Ebersole suggests that the desire to shun death in the Western cultures may be a major factor contributing to the negativism surrounding aging.
6. ARGENTINA DESPERATE TO CUT LABOUR COST Buenos Aires, Feb. 4 (Reuters). Argentina’s new Alliance government has launched a crusade to cut labour costs, combat high unemployment and bring new investment to the recession-plagued economy. The first step is a bill now in Congress to modernize Argentine labour law, allowing a llowing salaries sa laries to be negotiated at company level and a nd not n ot just by sector, as is currently the case. The flexibility would allow companies across the country to negotiate salaries depending on where jobs are located, helping to lower expenses. This, in theory, would help cut unemployment in far-away regions, where costs such as transport are higher. “Cuts in costs are an indirect consequence of the modernization of labour law.”
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2nd CHILD CHILD CHOKES on POKEMON POKEMON TOY: TOY:
INDIANAPOLIS Burger King says it will run national ads next week publicizing a second recall of its Pokemon toy ball after a 4-month-old Indianapolis boy suffocated in his crib on one of the toys. The Miami-based restaurant chain's announcement came hours after the Consumer Product Safety Commission issued its second nationwide alert in a month about the dangers posed by “Poke Balls.” More than 25 million of the toys were handed out with
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Transcriptions Transcrip tions (Asdcripción Ph I, Prof. Graciela Moyano, 1 ‘F’, 2000)
Selected & Compiled by Prof. Cinthia P. Smith
Burger King children's meals late last year. The packaging contained no warnings and described them as “safety tested and recommended for all ages.”Jones was the second infant to suffocate when half of the hollow ball, about the size of a tennis ball, covered his mouth and nose. He died Tuesday. Another plastic ball was blamed for the suffocation death of a 13-month-old California girl in December. Burger King said it will start running 15-second television advertisements on Tuesday warning parents about the toys. The ads will run for one week on all major networks and more than 20 cable outlets spokeswoman Kim Miller said. 8. THE STORY OF ST. VALENTINE’S DAY Valentine’s Day started in the time of the Roman Empire. Under the rule of Emperor Claudius II, Rome was involved in many bloody and unpopular military campaigns. Claudius the Cruel, as he was known at the time, was having a difficult time getting soldiers to join his military leagues. He believed that the reason was that Roman men did not want to leave their loves or families. As a result, Claudius cancelled all marriages and engagements in Rome. This was when a Christian priest named Valentine came to defend love in the empire. Valentine began to secretly marry couples despite the emperor’s orders. When Emperor Claudius was informed of these ceremonies, Valentine was sent to prison where he remained until his death on February 14 in the year 270, when Valentine was clubbed, stoned, then beheaded. History claims that while Valentine was in prison awaiting execution, he fell in love with the blind daughter of the jailer, Asterius. Through his unswerving faith, he miraculously restored her sight. He signed a farewell message to her “From Your Valentine”, a phrase that still lives today. If this is true, that would have been the first Valentine’s card.
9.
FROM “ TWO
CHEERS FOR DEMOCRACY” b y E.M.FORSTER E.M.FORSTER (1939)
To me, anti-Semitism is now the most shocking of all things. It is destroying much more than the Jews; it is assailing the human mind at its source, and inviting it to create false categories before exercising judgement. I am sure we shall win through. But it will take a long time. Perhaps a hundred years must pass before men can think back to the mentality of 1918, or can say with the Prophet Malachi, “Have we not all one father? Hath not one God created us?” For the moment, all that we can do is to dig in our heels, and prevent silliness from sliding into insanity. 10. SUGAR OVERLOAD Soft drinks contribute to US sugar o verload. NEW YORK, Jan 12 (Reuters Health) - Americans are consuming excessive amounts of sugar and other sweeteners, a recent survey reports. Much of this sugary overload comes from drinking too many soft drinks, according to the report, published this month in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association. Consumption of added sweeteners accounts for about 16% of total calories, exceeding dietary recommendations to limit intake from 6% to 10%. Soft drinks are the greatest source of added sweeteners for everyone except the youngest children and oldest adults, the researchers report. “The most important source of added sweeteners was regular soft drinks, which contributed one third of intake of added sweeteners,” they note. Other sources include table sugar, syrups, sweets, sweetened grains such as cereals, and dairy products such as chocolate milk. According to government researchers, the findings may help to explain rising rates of obesity in the US.
