open forum 2 academic listening and speaking tests answer key 6108

ACADEMIC LISTENING AND SPEAKING

2


Contents
Answer Key. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Assessment Tests
Test 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Test 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Test 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Test 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Transcripts
Chapter 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Chapter 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Chapter 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Chapter 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Chapter 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Chapter 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Chapter 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Chapter 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Chapter 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Chapter 10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Chapter 11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Chapter 12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

1

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Answer Key
Chapter 1

Environmental Studies
2 Listening Practice
A Preparing to Listen
Exercise 2 (p. 2)

2.
3.
4.
5.

suburbs
inner cities
decline
revitalize

B Focus on the Listening Skill



2.



3.





4.
5.
6.

7.



8.

Exercise 2 (p. 3)
Answers will vary.
building, commute, diversity, downtown, housing,
growth, residential, suburbs

D Thinking and Speaking (p. 7)
Photo a: bad seating and a lack of activities
Photo b: entrance exposed to wind and sun
Photo c: a path that leads nowhere

C Listening for the Main Idea (p. 3)



a. 4
b. 1

c. 2
d. 3

5 Pronunciation
Exercise 2. (p. 8)

example, park, playground, one, fountain, middle,
nice, there, together, water, safe, play, summer,
seating, both, more, go

D Listening for More Detail (p. 4)




1. a
2. a
3. b

4. a
5. b
6. a

7. b
8. a

7 Speaking Skills

3 Vocabulary

Exercise 3 (p. 9)

Exercise 1 (p. 5)
business district, City Hall, Opera House, shopping
area, department stores, sidewalk cafes, rush hour,
subway station.

Exercise 2 (p. 5)




2. mall
3. stop
4. building

2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Chapter 4
Chapter 6
Chapter 5
Chapter 12
Chapter 7

Chapter 2

Psychology

B Listening for Main Ideas (p. 6)
a. ✓

5. park
6. market

4 Listening Practice


graffiti, or is just a green space with nothing to
attract people
Museums, a zoo, an outdoor theater, a skating
rink, playgrounds
To provide more reasons for people to go to a
place
Food
Women and elderly people
There’s not enough seating, or it’s uncomfortable,
or it’s out in the wind or the sun
So that people can see what’s inside and don’t feel
afraid to enter
Paths that don’t lead anywhere, or don’t go where
people want to go

c. ✓

d. ✓

2 Listening Practice
B Listening for Main Ideas (p. 11)


1. a

2. b

3. b

C Listening for More Detail (p. 7)


1. A park that is not successful is not used or is for
criminal activity, is usually empty, has litter and

Open Forum 2: Answer Key  


C Listening for More Detail (p. 12)




1. T
2. F
3. T

4. T
5. T

6. F

7. F
8. T

E Focus on the Listening Skill
Exercise 2 (p. 13)






1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Chapter 1
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 7
Chapter 8

Exercise 1 (p. 15)

When adding -ion to a word ending in e, the e is
dropped.
1. People say they experience deep feelings of

concentration and enjoyment.
2. Many people experience relaxation.

Exercise 2 (p. 13)
noun (with -ion) noun (with -ation) noun (with -ment)
connection
preparation
requirement
contribution
combination
retirement
discussion
organization
development
motivation
exploration
management
participation
achievement

I usually play the guitar at least three times a week. I
play in a group with friends and I play by myself too.

Exercise 2 (p. 16)

1.
2.
3.
4.

relaxation
contribution
discussion
motivation

5.
6.
7.
8.

achievement
preparation
requirement
indication

4 Listening Practice
B Listening for Main Ideas (p. 14)





1.
2.
3.

4.

Julia: driving, playing guitar
Leo: working on computers, socializing
Annie: participating in sports, coaching sports
Robert: doing dishes, fixing up his house,
bicycling

C Listening for More Detail (p. 14)







Julia
1. an hour and a half
2. listen to the radio or music
3. three times
4. with friends and alone
Leo
1. very little
2. plays computer games

  Open Forum 2: Answer Key

1.
2.
3.

4.
5.

an
a
the
and
for

6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

and
to
at
with
to

6 Speaking Skills
Exercise 1 (p. 16)
Annie says more than just “Yes” or “No.” Saying
more than just “Yes” or “No” helps keep conversation
going.

Exercise 3 (p. 13)

3. computer game
4. likes
Annie
1. many
2. team and individual sports
3. coach
4. sometimes
Robert
1. relaxing
2. finds solutions to problems
3. is stressful
4. enjoys bicycling

5 Pronunciation

Exercise 1 (p. 13)

3 Vocabulary






Exercise 2 (p. 16)
Answers will vary.

Chapter 3

Food Science
2 Listening Practice
B Listening for Main Ideas



1. ✓
2. ✓

4. ✓
6. ✓

C Listening for More Detail (p. 20)

1. c
2. c
3. b

4. b
5. a
6. c

3 Vocabulary
Exercise 1 (p. 22)
Where to have tea and coffee

7. b
8. c


Exercise 2 (p. 22)
would love, prefer, don’t feel like, would like, want,
can’t stand, don’t mind

Chapter 4

Visual Art

Exercise 3 (p. 22)

2 Listening Practice

A Preparing to Listen

2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

having/to have
getting
eating
to eat
eating/to eat

4 Listening Practice
B Listening for Main Ideas (p.23)



1. ✓
4. ✓

3. ✓
6. ✓

C Listening for More Detail (p. 23)

Answers will vary.
1. People eat out much more nowadays.
2. People, especially kids, used to drink a lot more
milk. Now they drink twice as much soda.
3. If people have more income, they eat out more.
4. There will be greater demand for variety.
5. Immigration affects the variety of food available,
including types of restaurants.
6. People will ask more for quality, rather than just
quantity.

5 Pronunciation
Exercise 1 (p. 24)





1.
2.
3.
4.

Wh
Y/N
Wh
Y/N

1. b




2. c
3. b

4. e
5. a

B Focus on the Listening Skill (p. 28)


a. ✓

c. ✓

e. ✓

C Listening for More Detail (p. 29)

1. a
2. b
3. c

4. c
5. b
6. a

7. c
8. a

3 Vocabulary
Exercise 1 (p. 30)
types of painting: (portrait), landscape
words to describe a painting: (realistic), abstract,
colorful, traditional, calm
things in a painting: (lines), dots, circles, shapes,
symbols, figures, scene, detail
location: (in the corner), in the foreground, in the
center, in the background

4 Listening Practice
B Listening for Main Ideas (p. 32)


a. ✓

c. ✓

e. ✓

C Listening for More Detail

Exercise 2 (p. 25)


Exercise 2 (p. 28)

2. a

6 Speaking Skills
Exercise 1 (p. 25)
The person is trying to eat more fruits and vegetables
and gave up chocolate for a while.

Exercise (p. 25)
Hmm, Let me think, Well, Let’s see

Exercise 1 (p. 32)









Answers will vary.
1. it’s imitated/copied a lot in popular culture

2. 1930
3. Dutch and German art/16th century Dutch
portraits
4. the style of the window in the house
5. Wood’s sister and his dentist
6. the 1890’s
7. unfriendly/not welcoming/suspicious
8. farmers/country people/people in small towns

Exercise 2 (p. 32)
a. 3
d. 2

b. 6
e. 5

c. 4
f. 1

Open Forum 2: Answer Key  


5 Pronunciation




Exercise 3 (p. 33)

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

He was an American painter.
His sister was probably the model.
It’s a famous photograph.
Who is the woman supposed to be?
It’s a bit of a mystery.

6 Speaking Skills
Exercise 1 (p. 34)
The spoken version has more imprecise expressions.

Exercise 2 (p. 34)




2. sort of
3. kind of
4. It’s like

5. kind of

6. It’s as if
7. or something

2 Listening Practice
A Preparing to Listen (p. 37)
Answers will vary.
Oceans: fish, coral, whales, crab, beach, sand, snail
Medicine: prescription drugs, cancer, human disease,
bacteria, painkiller, anatomy, heart disease
Both: bacteria

B Listening for Main Ideas (p. 38)
c. 6
d. 1

e. 2
f. 5

C Listening for More Detail (p. 39)







1. More than half
2. 71%
3. Researchers are hoping to learn more about how
their eyes work to help learn more about eye

disease in humans.
4. They have new technologies that allow them to
go deeper into the oceans than before.
5. In the 1950s
6. It can swim incredibly fast.

D Focus on the Listening Skill
Exercise 1 (p. 39)
2. a
Because of “derived from the sea” before it

Exercise 2 (p. 40)


1. b

3 Vocabulary
Exercise 1 (p. 40)
careful, useful, hopeful

Exercise 2 (p. 41)
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Life Science

a. 4
b. 3

5. a

useful
beautiful
hopeful
harmful
X
helpful
wonderful
thoughtful
painful

useless
X
hopeless
harmless
priceless
helpless
X
thoughtless

painless

Exercise 3 (p. 41)

Chapter 5




2. a
3. b

4. b

  Open Forum 2: Answer Key

2.
3.
4.
5.

painless
useful
hopeful
thoughtless

6. wonderful
7. priceless
8. useless

4 Listening Practice
B Listening for Main Ideas (p. 42)



a. 2
b. 4

c. 1
d. 3

C Listening for More Detail (p. 43)









Answers will vary.
1. In 1987
2. California, Arizona, and Baja, Mexico
3. The birds have very large wings that could knock
you out and very sharp beaks.
4. That condors fly more distance than they realized;
that the species is more intelligent and complex
than they’d realized
5. They didn’t learn to be afraid of humans.

6. They’re trained to act like parent condors.
7. They learn from older, more experienced birds.
8. One group of birds travels 160 miles just to visit
and socialize with other birds.

D. Working Out Unknown Vocabulary (p. 43)



1. b
2. b

3. a
4. b


5 Pronunciation

3 Vocabulary

Exercise 1 (p. 44)


1. b

2. a

Exercise 1 (p. 49)
3. a.

Exercise 2 (p. 44)




1. learned
2. knocking
3. harassing

4. teaches
5. raising
6. socialize








2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

time off
salary
employer

part-time
temporary
hires

8. get laid off
9. project
10.freelancers
11. job security
12.benefits

Exercise 2 (p. 50)

6 Speaking Skills
Exercise 1 (p. 44)
The number of condors living in the wild
How they attach GPS units to the birds
Another example of how the birds learn
What the biologist meant when he said the birds are
intelligent and complicated

Exercise 2 (p. 44)
How many did you say . . . ?
Could you explain . . . ?
Can you give another example of . . . ?
What did you mean . . . ?

2.
3.
4.
5.

benefits
time off
hired
temporary

6. job security
7. freelancer
8. get laid off

4 Listening Practice
B Listening for Main Ideas
Exercise 1 (p. 51)
The man has three jobs.

Exercise 2 (p. 51)
She has a baking business.

Exercise 3 (p. 51)


Chapter 6

Social Studies
B Listening for Main Ideas (p. 47)

b. ✓

d. ✓

C Listening for More Detail (p. 47)




1. F
2. T
3. T

4. F
5. T
6. F

7. T
8. F

D Focus on the Listening Skill
Exercise 1 (p. 48)




a. 6
b. 3
c. 4

d. 2
e. 8
f. 7

b. ✓

c. ✓

C Listening for More Detail (p. 52)

2 Listening Practice


a. ✓

g. 5
h. 1

Exercise 2 (p. 48)
Announcing what a speaker is going to say or do:
We’re going to look at; I’m going to suggest; I’d like
to point out that
Signaling a change in topic: Now if you look at;
Compare that to; Let’s turn to
Summarizing: I’ve described

Answers will vary.
1. He likes not getting involved in the day to day
stuff, and his work time is flexible.
2. His wife’s job
3. She got laid off.
4. She’s living and working at her parents’ house.
5. Find a partner who could do marketing, and
maybe have her own place one day
6. There are entrepreneurs, freelancers, and parttime employees.
7. Economic reasons, the growth of software and
media industries, and the change in attitudes
8. Marketing themselves, and being organized,
especially with time

D Working out Unknown Vocabulary (p. 52)



1. b
2. a

3. b
4. b

5. a

Open Forum 2: Answer Key  


5 Pronunciation

Exercise 3 (p. 59)







Exercise 1 (p. 53)






2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

It’s
I’m
It’s

I’ve
it’s

7. who’ve
8. they’ve
9. they’ve
10.there’s

Answers will vary.

Answers will vary.

4 Listening Practice

Chapter 7

Language and Communication

A Preparing to Listen
Exercise 1 (p. 60)
French and English are the official languages. Cree,
Inuktitut, Mohawk, and Ojibwa are examples of
minority languages.

2 Listening Practice
A Preparing to Listen (p. 57)
1.
2.
3.
4.

5.

82.12%
17.88%
Vietnamese, Italian, Korean, Russian
Answers will vary.
Answers will vary.

B Listening for Main Ideas (p. 57)


c

C Listening for More Detail (p. 58)
1.
2.
3.

4.
5.
6.

The thirty most common languages in the US
From census data
a. 2
c. 1
b. 4
d. 3
Almost 900,000
Southern California and Washington state

New York

D Focus on the Listening Skill
Exercise 1 (p. 58)




2. 86
3. 1 or 2
4. 72

5. 49
6. 8
7. 6

8. 4
9. 4

3 Vocabulary
Exercise 1 (p. 59)



almost
Just over
just under
less than
more than
something like

Exercise 4 (p. 60)

Exercise 2 (p. 53)







1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

2. just over
3. a little over

Exercise 2 (p. 59)
Approximately: about, around, something like
More: just over, a little over, more than
Less: a little under, less than, almost, just under

  Open Forum 2: Answer Key

Exercise 3 (p. 61)
Answers will vary.

B Listening for Main Ideas (p. 61)






1. Different opinions on how many languages exist
today
2. Criteria for deciding if a language is in danger
3. Why the topic of language loss is important
4. The situation with the Welsh language
5. Programs for revising Native American languages

C Listening for More Detail (p. 61)








Answers will vary.
2. Believed that half world’s languages could be lost
by end of century
3. Are last speakers of their languages
4. Make it difficult to find agreement on the number
of languages at risk

5. Don’t know what information or traditions we’re
losing when a language disappears
6. Example of a language getting stronger
7. Used to be 250 Native American languages, but
now only about 150 in use
8. Use older peoples’ knowledge; tape record older
people; have older people care for children and
teach them; have speakers teach and learn on the
telephone; study the old records of ancestors


5 Pronunciation

Exercise 4 (p. 67)
b

Exercise 1 (p. 62)
Stress is on the second syllable (-teen) in item 4. Stress
is on first syllable in the others.

Exercise 1 (p. 67)

Exercise 2 (p. 62)
It’s easier to hear the difference between items 2 and
4, because the stress is different.

Exercise 3 (p. 62)

1. sixty
2. forty
3. thirteen

3 Vocabulary

4. seventy
5. eighteen
6. fifteen

set out, give up, took off

Exercise 2 (p. 67)




Answers will vary.

6 Speaking Skills
Exercise 1 (p. 63)

Brainstorm ideas
Select ideas
Order ideas and outline
Fill out an outline
Rehearse

b

C Listening for More Detail (p. 69)




2 Listening Practice
B Listening for Main Ideas (p. 65)
3. a
4. c

1. a
2. c

3. b
4. c

5. c
6. a

D Focus on the Listening Skill
Exercise 1 (p. 66)





1.
2.
3.

4.

determination
believed absolutely
mood
positive attitude

Exercise 2 (p. 66)




C Listening for More Detail (p. 65)



7. go on
8. set out
9. getting along
10.went off

B Listening for Main Ideas (p. 69)

Technology

1. a
2. b

turned up
took off

came over
ran out
came up

4 Listening Practice

Chapter 8




2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Answers will vary.

Exercise 2 (p. 63)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

8. b
9. f
10.h

Exercise 4 (p. 68)

Answers will vary.






5. c
6. j
7. d

Exercise 3 (p. 67)






Exercise 4 (p. 62)

2. g
3. a
4. i

Answers will vary.
1. The photocopy machine was a very successful
product and the technology is still used today.
2. 1937
3. He was poor and had to support his father after
his mother died.
4. It was to keep his ideas in. He wanted to be an
inventor.
5. When studying law, he had to copy pages
longhand from books.
6. Nobody would invest in his idea or give him
money to develop his idea.
7. 1947
8. 1960
9. The machine was an instant success.
10. He lived simply, and gave away most of his
money.

D Working Out Unknown Vocabulary (p. 70)



1. b
2. a

3. b
4. a

5. a

a

Exercise 3 (p. 67)
c

Open Forum 2: Answer Key  


5 Pronunciation

Exercise 2 (p. 75)
b

Exercise 1 (p. 71)








2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

8.

imagine
inspire
invent
mechanic
technology
photograph
electric

imagination
inspiration
invention
mechanical
technological
photographic
electrical

Exercise 3 (p. 75)

photography
electricity





Exercise 4 (p. 76)
Answers will vary.

Exercise 2 (p. 71)






2.
3.
6.
7.
8.

imagine
inspire
technology
photograph
electric

imagination
inspiration
technological
photographic
electrical

3 Vocabulary
photography
electricity

Exercise 2 (p. 76)

Exercise 3 (p. 71)





1. Carlson invented an automatic xerographic
machine.
2. The process was called Xerography.
3. His invention used light and electricity to
duplicate an image.
4. Carlson went to university at the Institute of
Technology.

First, . . . ; Now, . . . ; Then, . . . ; OK?

Chapter 9

Marketing and Advertising
2 Listening Practice
B Listening for Main Ideas (p. 74)
e. ✓

C Listening for More Detail (p. 74)
1. c
2. b

3. b
4. a

5. a
6. c

D Focusing on the Listening Skill
Exercise 1 (p. 75)



Answers will vary.
2. network TV stations; all the commercials
3. advertising in school

  Open Forum 2: Answer Key

2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

competition
advertise
market research
product
sponsor

7. commercials

8. attract
9. on the market
10.geared toward

c ✓

C Listening for More Detail

Exercise 2 (p. 72)












A copy machine

d. ✓
h. ✓

Exercise 3 (p. 76)

B Listening for Main Ideas (p. 78)

Exercise 1 (p. 72)

b. ✓
f. ✓

1. conduct surveys; look at the competition
2. TV or radio commercials, newspaper or magazine
advertisements, the Internet, popular events

4 Listening Practice

6 Speaking Skills




Answers will vary.
1. attract customers to survive
2. market their products
3. would not exist; products and services

Exercise 1 (p. 78)
Where?
2. In the front of the store
3. In the front of the store
4. Around the sides of the store
5. In the aisles
6. Near the checkout counter

Exercise 2 (p. 78)

Why?
1. To make customers pass other items
2. Smells good and attracts customers
3. Smells good and attracts customers
4. Most people go around the side
5. People need it and will look for it
6. People stand next to it at checkout

5 Pronunciation
Exercise 1 (p. 79)




1. interested
2. not interested
3. interested

4. not interested
5. interested
6. interested


6 Speaking Skills

Exercise 3 (p. 86)

Exercise 1 (p. 80)

Answers will vary.
1. The people are discussing how to advertise
something.
2. Susan is proposing a hot air balloon.






1.
2.
3.
4.

program; classes; grades
graduated; got
took; take; got
financial aid

Exercise 4 (p. 87)
Answers will vary.

Exercise 2 (p. 80)
What do you mean?; Oh, you mean . . . ; I don’t get it;
You’re saying that . . .

4 Listening Practice
B Listening for Main Ideas (p. 88)

Chapter 10

Education

3. b
4. c

C Listening for More Detail

2 Listening Practice






B Listening for Main Ideas
Exercise 1 (p. 84)
Life experience

Exercise 2 (p. 84)


1. d
2. a

a. ✓

b. ✓
d. ✓
Ben and Mona do not have the same opinion.

1.
2.
3.
4.

b
a
c
b

5.
6.
7.
8.

5 Pronunciation
Exercise 1 (p. 89)
Both sentences sound very similar.

C Listening for More Detail

Exercise 2 (p. 89)

Exercise 1 (p.84)

1. F
2. T
3. F

4. T
5. T
6. F

7. T
8. F

D Focus on the Listening Skill (p. 85)




Answers will vary.
2. It would be difficult to evaluate two very different
experiences.
3. It takes discipline. You have to attend, do the
work, take exams, and pass classes to get credit.
4. He says that college was social for him and that
he really started learning after college.

3 Vocabulary
Exercise 1 (p. 86)
Answers will vary.

Exercise 2 (p. 86)








2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

a program
it; credit
a subject
classes
an exam
an exam
college.

c

a
c
b

1. wanted
2. want it

3. want it
4. wanted

Exercise 3 (p. 89)






1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

start it
started
predicted
predict it
repeat it

6. repeated

7. need it
8. needed
9. suggested
10.suggest it

Exercise 4 (p. 90)
Answers will vary.

6 Speaking Skills
Exercise 1 (p. 90)




1. interested
2. good
3. hard
The effect of the repetition is to emphasize the point.

Exercise 2 (p. 90)
Answers will vary.

Open Forum 2: Answer Key  


Chapter 11

4 Listening Practice

Astronomy

B Listening for Main Ideas (p. 97)

2 Listening Practice



B Listening for Main Ideas (p. 94)



4. ✓
6. ✓

C Listening for More Detail (p. 11)

C Focus on the Listening Skill
Exercise 1 (p. 94)





2. different theories, part, separate, captured or
pulled in, gravity, rock, crash
3. connection, craters, formed, rock, crash,
dinosaurs, killed

3.
4.
5.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

The models are unstressed.






can
will
would
can
could

Exercise 1 (p. 99)
She returns to the topic of supernovas.

Exercise 2 (p. 99)
If you’ll let me come back to that . . . ; .
I want to add . . . ; Now, back to . . . ; By the way . . .

Chapter 12
5. f
6. a
7. h

8. g

Exercise 2 (p. 96)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

6 Speaking Skills

Exercise 1 (p. 96)










7. b
8. a

Exercise 2 (p. 99)

water
lava
ice
theories
part
separate
pulled
gravity
rock
dinosaurs
connection

crashed
craters
theory
rock

2. b
3. e
4. c

4. b
5. b
6. b

Exercise 1 (p. 99)

3 Vocabulary




1. b
2. a
3. a

5 Pronunciation

Exercise 3 (p. 94)
1.

2.





3.






Answers will vary.
1. Robert Evans searches for supernovas and dying
stars.
2. He can memorize patterns of stars very well.

come about
broke off
get away
came up with
broke down
figure out
left out
run out of

International Studies
2 Listening Practice
B Listening for Main Ideas (p. 102)

1. Answers will vary.
2. Brazil
3. A psychology professor

C Listening for More Detail (p. 102)




1. c
2. a
3. b

4. c
5. b
6. a

7. b
8. a

D Focus on the Listening Skill
Exercise 1 (p. 103)



10  Open Forum 2: Answer Key

3. of another country, foreign
4. getting used to, adjusting


Exercise 2 (p. 103)

D Working Out Unknown Vocabulary (p. 107)






a. ✓

Exercise 3 (p. 104)




1. Difficulties with language and privacy
2. “It’s a piece of cake” means something is not a
problem; having difficulties with language and
privacy turned out to be “a piece of cake.”
3. “Distress” is unhappiness, being upset. Brazilians’
ideas of time and punctuality caused him distress.

1. a
2. b

3. a
4. a

5 Pronunciation
Exercise 1 (p. 108)
Linking can make it hard to hear word boundaries.

Exercise 3 (p. 108)

Exercise 5 (p. 104)









Exercise 4 (p. 108)

Exercise 4 (p. 104)
difficulties with things like language and privacy;
dealing with Brazilian’s ideas of time and punctuality

(

(

(
(

(

(

(

3 Vocabulary

(
(

shuffle their books; look uncomfortable, like they
have to leave.

(

Exercise 6 (p. 104)

I felt at home in England.
I opened a bank account.
But I didn’t have a job.
In the end, I worked it out.
But it took a lot of time.
(

2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

felt at home in
opened a bank
didn’t have a
worked it out
took a lot of time

(









2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

(

1. Because students start shuffling their books, have
strained expressions
2. Moving around of books to make a shuffling
noise
3. The students have strained expressions. Strained
means looking worried or in pain
4. No

5. b
6. a

6 Speaking Skills
Exercise 1 (p. 109)
What you need to know about a country before you
live in that country.

Exercise 2 (p. 109)

Exercise 2 (p. 105)
Punctuality: ahead of time, early, in time to, in time
for, on time, punctual
Lateness: behind schedule, late for, in a hurry,
running late, “It’s about time!”

Are we all clear about . . . ?; Let’s go to the next
point.; What do you think?; Does anyone have
anything to add to that?; Can we move on

4 Listening Practice
B Listening for Main Ideas (p. 106)



a. 2
b. 5

c. 4
d. 1

e. 3

C Listening for More Detail (p. 107)





4. Irritated at stores, taxi drivers, food, and feeling
ignored and miserable
5. Complain about new culture, feel that your home
culture is better
6. Getting used to new culture, start making friends,
enjoying work, realize that there’s good and bad
everywhere.
7. When you go back to your own culture, you may
feel disappointed, prefer some things in new
culture

Open Forum 2: Answer Key  11


Test 1

Test 3

Chapters 1–3

Chapters 7–9

Part 1


Part 1

1. c

2. a

3. c

Part 2





4.
5.

6.
7.



1. a

2. b

Part 2
a
b
c
c

8. c
9. a
10. a





3. T
4. F
5. F

6. T
7. F
8. T

9. F
10.F

Part 3
11. T

12.T

Test 2

Chapters 4–6

Test 4

Part 1

Chapters 10–12



1. d

Part 1

Part 2



2. F

3. T

4. F
5. T

6. F
7. T

9. a

10.a

Part 3


8. b



1. b

3. a

6. a
7. b

8. a
9. b

11. a

12.b

Part 2



4. b
5. b

Part 3
10. b

12  Open Forum 2: Answer Key

2. a


Test 1: Chapters 1–3
Name:

   Date:

   Score:

You are about to hear part of a radio program in which people discuss the advantages and
disadvantages of living in certain places. Before you listen, think about the city or town where you
live. What are the advantages and disadvantages of living there?

1.Read questions 1–3. Then listen to the

radio program and choose the correct
answer for each question.






1. What does caller 1 say about
Amsterdam?
a. She would like to take a trip there.
b. She lives there.
c. She thinks it’s a good place to live.
2. Which of the following is true about
caller 2?
a. He is happy where he lives now.
b. He lives in the city.
c. He would like to live in the city.
3. Where does caller 3 live now?
a. In the suburbs
b. In a city
c. In a small town

2.Now read questions 4–10. Listen to
the radio program again and choose
the correct answer for each question.

7. Which point does caller 2 not make about where
he lives?
a. It’s safe for children.
b. The schools are good.
c. The streets are cleaner than in the city.
8. How much time does caller 2 spend .
getting to work?
a. More than he did before
b. Less than he did before
c. About the same amount of time as before
9. What does caller 3 say about the town .
where he lives?
a. People are very curious about each .
other’s business.
b. It’s not safe.
c. It’s a good place to do business.
10. How much time does caller 3 spend in his car?
a. More than he did before
b. Less than he did before
c. About the same amount of time as before

4. What part of the radio program is this
extract taken from?
a. The beginning
b. The middle
c. The end

5. What was the main point that caller 1
made about Amsterdam?
a. It’s a friendly place.
b. People don’t need cars to get around.
c. The public transportation system .
is cheap.
6. According to caller 1, what effect do cars
have on the environment?
a. They make it more noisy.
b. They make it more polluted.
c. Both of the above

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Open Forum 2: Assessment Tests  13


Test 2: Chapters 4–6
Name:

   Date:

   Score:

You are about to hear an interview about visual art in the community. Before you listen, think
about the different kinds of art you know about. What different kinds of art are there? What are
some possible ways that art might help people?

1.Read question 1. Then listen to the
interview and choose the correct
answer for the question.


1. Which of these topics does Alan Tam not
talk about?
a. Art for doctors
b. Art for elderly people and people
with disabilities
c. Art in schools
d. Art in museums and galleries

2.Now read questions 2–7. Then listen
to the interview again and write T for
true or F for false for each question.








3.Read questions 8–10. Then listen to
three extracts from the interview.
After listening to each extract, choose
the correct answer for each question.

8. Urge probably means
.
a. a sad feeling
b. a strong need or desire



9. Topography probably means
.
a. the physical features of an .
area of land
b. the history and culture of a people

10. Outlet probably means
.
a. a way of release for emotions
b. a challenge

2.Art for All helps artists to sell their
work.
3.Alan Tam says that art has been
important to people for a very long
time.
4.Alan Tam recommends keeping
art separate from other subjects in
school.
5.Alan Tam says that studying art
from a certain time period can help
students learn about the history of
that time.

6.According to Alan Tam, older
people and disabled people often
don’t enjoy doing art.
7.According to Alan Tam, art
appreciation classes can help
doctors diagnose illnesses better.

14  Open Forum 2: Assessment Tests

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Test 3: Chapters 7–9
Name:

   Date:

   Score:

You are going to hear people talking about a book called “Better Off: Flipping the switch on
technology.” Before you listen, think about this title. What do you think the book might be about?

1.Read questions 1 and 2. Then listen
to the conversation and choose the
correct answer for each question.

1. The book is about
.
a. the experience of living without
technology
b. communities that live without
technology
c. how technology improves our lives
2. The writer concluded that
.
a. it’s impossible to live without
technology
b. where possible, people should use
less technology than they do now
c. everybody should use hand-powered
machines

3.Read questions 11 and 12. Then listen
to two extracts from the conversation.
After listening to each extract, write
T for true or F for false for each
question.




11.The speaker talks about people
helping people to explain why
the work wasn’t as much as you
might expect.

12.The speaker talks about cars to
show that sometimes technology
is expensive and not always
effective.

2.Read questions 3–10. Then listen to
the conversation again and write T for
true or F for false for each question.









3.The couple lived without
technology for over a year.
4.The people in the community did
not use any machines at all.
5.The place the author describes in
the book is not a real place.
6.The couple did not use a lot of
money while they were there.
7.The author disliked the slowness
of life in his new hometown.
8.The people enjoyed their work
because they worked together .
and socialized.

9.The item of technology that the
writer missed the most was a car.
10.The people in the community used
tools that didn’t work well.

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Photocopiable

Open Forum 2: Assessment Tests  15


Test 4: Chapters 10–12
Name:

   Date:

   Score:

Look at the title of the news report you are going to listen to: “The Mystery of the Moon Trees.”
What do you think the story might be about?

1.Read questions 1–3. Then listen to the
news report and choose the correct
answer for each question.

1. Moon trees are trees grown from seeds
that
.
a. were planted on the moon
b. have traveled to the moon and back
2. The moon trees look
.
a. like regular trees
b. much bigger than regular trees
3. The moon trees were
.
a. distributed to many people
b. kept in a laboratory permanently

2.Read questions 4–9. Then listen to
the news report again and choose the
correct answer for each question.


4. Stuart Roosa took tree seeds along on a
space mission because
.
a. the U.S. Forest Service asked him to
b. he loved nature and trees



5. The seeds
.

a. were carried onto the moon
b. stayed in the space module as it
orbited the moon



6. The trees were sent to places
.
a. around the United States and in
different countries
b. only within the United States

16  Open Forum 2: Assessment Tests



7. People sometimes find moon trees
a. because they are only in parks or
nature areas
b. because they usually have a sign .
near them



8. Dave Williams’ list of moon trees .
has
.
a. sixty or more trees on it
b. less than sixty trees on it

9. Examples of other items astronauts
carried into space are
.
a. coins, stamps, golf balls, and golf
clubs
b. coins, stamps, golf balls, and a
sandwich

.

3.Read questions 10–12. Then listen to
three extracts from the news report.
After listening to each extract, choose
the correct answer for each question.
10. Mutant probably means
.
a. a seed that doesn’t grow
b. an animal or plant with unexpectedly
different characteristics from the
parent animal or plant
11. Scatter probably means
.
a. to drop or throw things in different
directions over a wide area
b. to put things in one place
12. Germinate probably means
a. to die
b. to start to grow

© Oxford University Press 

.

Photocopiable


Transcripts
Chapter 1

Environmental Studies
2 Listening Practice
C Listening for Main Ideas (p. 3)
Now, as you probably know, U.S. inner cities have been
in a bad state for several decades. They tend to be high
crime areas with a lot of vacant buildings and so on.
Today we’ll talk about how this happened and what is
being done about it.
Well, first, you can’t talk about the decline of the inner
cities without looking at the growth of the suburbs,
because the two are connected. There was—and still is—
a huge demand for suburban housing in the last 30, 40
years or so. So what we’ve seen all over the country is a
lot of development of areas just outside of cities—areas
that were once farmlands—acres and acres of land just
given over to suburban housing. We call it “suburban
sprawl” because of the way the houses are kind of
spread out all over the countryside.
As the suburbs grew, the inner cities declined. Well, you

can imagine how this happens. When people move to
the suburbs it’s more convenient for them to shop at the
shopping malls closer to home. So the department stores
in the downtown area, they don’t get as much business,
and maybe eventually they have to close. You see this
particularly in small and mid-size towns. You might
have an area that has quite a large population, but the
downtown is dead—especially at night.
As a result of that, we’ve had growing crime rates and
poverty in downtown areas. So people are afraid to go
there at night, and there ends up being less cultural life
in these towns.
So city planners have been trying to attract people back
to the cities. It’s become a necessity, really, because you
can’t keep building suburbs forever, and people don’t
want to commute two or more hours to get to their jobs.
They want to come back to live in the cities, but you
have to make the conditions right.
So how do you do that? Well, city planners are using
an approach called “smart growth” as a way to plan
neighborhoods and revitalize inner cities. I’ll explain
some of the main characteristics of smart growth.

First, smart growth encourages diversity of use. For
example, many planners believe now that it’s healthy
to have some light manufacturing—say, bakeries or
printing presses—mixed in with retail and residential
buildings, all together in the same area, and one reason
to do this is that a street has people in it all day long.
You’ve got the people who work there during the

day and the people who live there coming back in the
evenings. The area is used more. Sidewalks are busy.
This makes it possible for stores and restaurants to open
up to serve all these people, which in turn encourages
more people, and then that makes a neighborhood more
attractive.
OK, secondly, you want to have diversity of housing.
Instead of having streets and streets of identical houses,
like you have in the suburbs, you would have a mix
of single-family homes, townhouses, and apartment
buildings that would encourage a wider range of
people—in terms of ages and income levels—to live in
an area so people can stay in a community. They can
move up to a larger house, or move to a smaller house
when they get older, without leaving the community.
The other big aspect of smart growth is to make it
possible for people to walk to schools, public libraries,
stores, and so on. So you put these things within
walking distance of residential neighborhoods. It’s also
important to have attractive places outside—places to
gather or sit and relax. This brings people out onto the
streets. And streets that have people in them are safer
streets. When you have safer streets, you have more
people wanting to live downtown. And that causes a
demand for more housing, and that in turn revitalizes
inner cities even more.
Now one city where this kind of thing is being done is
Pittsburgh. Let’s have a look at some photographs that
were taken . . .

4 Listening Practice
B Listening for Main Ideas (p. 6)
A = Host, B = Charles Ong

A: Public spaces are the places where we interact with
other people in our community: streets, shopping
malls, public parks, and so on. Public spaces have a
huge impact on the quality of life of the people who

Open Forum: Transcripts  17


B:
A:
B:

A:
B:
A:
B:

A:
B:

A:
B:

A:
B:

A:
B:

use them, especially in cities. Today we’re going to talk
about parks. Our guest is Charles Ong from the Parks
Planning Association, and he’s going to tell us what
makes a good public park. Welcome to the program.
Thank you.
First of all, is there such a thing as a bad public park? I
mean, aren’t all parks good?
Well, no. I think if you think about it, some parks just
don’t work for one reason or another. They’re not
used, or they’re used for criminal activity. They’re
usually empty. They’ve got litter and graffiti, or
they’re just a green space put there with nothing to
attract people.
Now that you mention it, I can think of a few places
like that!
A good public park or any public space—doesn’t have
to be a park—is above all, attractive. People want to
go there.
Give me an example of a public park that works.
Oh, there are lots. Central Park, in New York, for
example, is a great park. There’s a lot to do there.
You’ve got several museums right around it, and in
the park itself you have the Children’s Zoo, you have
an outdoor theater, you have a skating rink, lots of
playgrounds, community centers, and so on—all of
that brings people in. Same kind of thing with Boston
Common, Balboa Park in San Diego, the Lakefront in

Chicago. I could go on.
But what about smaller parks? You can’t always have
an art museum or a zoo.
No, but the principle is the same. If you’re designing
a smaller park, you still need to provide enough
activities. And what you want to do is connect the
activities to each other. For example, let’s say you
have a park with a playground in one corner, and a
fountain in the middle. Well, that’s nice, but there’s
not enough there to attract people. But if you link
the two together—say you make a water feature in
the playground, or you make the fountain safe so
that kids can play in it in the summer—and if you
add some good seating where people can watch both
areas, then you provide more reasons for people to go
there. And if you add a food stand, then you’re getting
somewhere. Food always attracts people.
Right, I get it.
You want to have it used by different kinds of people.
You want children, and older people, and women—
and that, by the way, is often a good indicator of how
successful a city park is.
What? Women?
Yeah, women and elderly people. Women are
generally more aware of their surroundings. They’re
much less likely to sit down or relax in public area if
they feel uncomfortable.
Right. Now that I think of it, some places don’t even
provide places to sit.
Yeah, seating is a big thing. A lot of parks don’t have

enough seating, or it’s uncomfortable, or the seats are

18  Open Forum: Transcripts

A:
B:
A:
B:
A:
B:

A:
B:

A:
B:

out in the wind or the sun. Ideally, people should be
able to move the seats around. You get that in some
parks in Europe. People can pick up a chair and move
it wherever they want.
But that raises some security issues.
Yes. It’s only possible where there’s a fairly good
security presence.
What about access to a park? You know when you
spend ages trying to find the way in into a park? I’ve
had that experience.
Yeah, when you’re walking around and around
looking for the entrance.
Yeah.

That’s a problem sometimes. But it’s not just that.
Even if the entrance is visible, the interior has to be
visible too. You have to be able to see what’s inside.
You don’t want people feeling afraid to go in there,
like they’re going to be mugged or something. It has
to be welcoming.
You need to see where the paths go too, right? So you
can say, “Oh, I’ll take a shortcut through the park, and
that will take me over there, or over there”?
Right. And one thing that drives me crazy in public
parks is paths that don’t lead to anywhere, or that
don’t go where people want to go. They’re just there
for the sake of it. You want paths that attract people
and pull them along.
It seems so obvious.
You’d think so, wouldn’t you? But a lot of parks are
put in with very little consideration of how to make
them work.

Chapter 2

Psychology
2 Listening Practice
B Listening for Main Ideas (p. 11)
A = Host, B = Dr. Lynette Han

A: Hello, and welcome to our show. Our guest today is
Dr. Lynette Han, a psychologist who does research
into happiness. She spends a lot of time studying
people’s level of enjoyment during various activities,

and she’s especially interested in something called
“flow.” Dr. Han, could you explain what flow is?
B: Yes, it’s a concept described by a psychologist named
Mihaly Csikszentmihlayi. He talks about states of
optimal experience, where people say they experience
feelings of deep concentration and enjoyment during
activities.
A: Can you give us an example?
B: Of course. Do you have an activity that you really
enjoy?
A: Well I like a lot of sports and I love cooking.
B: OK, take cooking. Think about making a meal. If you
ever get so absorbed in preparing the food that you


A:
B:

A:
B:

A:

B:
A:
B:

A:
B:

A:

lose all awareness of time and other things around
you—when you are concentrating so deeply that you
completely forget all your problems—then you’re
probably experiencing flow.
Oh, I’ve had that happen, especially when I’m trying a
new recipe.
Yes, you’re more likely to experience flow with a
new recipe because that challenges you. According to
Dr. Csikszentmihlayi, one of the requirements for a
state of optimal experience is that the activity has to
be challenging and require skills. So, you would use
your cooking skills in a new recipe and it would be
challenging because you hadn’t done it before. Other
requirements are deep concentration, a merging of
action and awareness, a sense of control, clear goals,
and immediate feedback.
Are there only certain types of activities where this can
happen, or can it happen with any activity?
Well, flow can happen with a lot of different activities,
from reading, to playing chess, to rock climbing;
however, if you look at the requirements we just
talked about, some activities wouldn’t fit. Think of
watching TV, for example. You might concentrate
deeply on watching a TV program, but there’s really
no skill involved and it’s unlikely to be challenging.
Dr. Csikszentmihlayi actually uses a chart to show
the relationship between challenge and skill that is
necessary for flow to happen. It involves low levels of

boredom and worry, and high but balanced levels of
skill and challenge.
OK. I was a little surprised to see that reading is an
activity that could create a state of flow, but now
I understand. Reading involves some level of skill
and challenge in terms of understanding language,
whereas watching TV doesn’t typically offer that.
Yes, that’s right. Really there are so many activities
that can lead to flow: singing, skiing, painting, and a
lot of games that we play.
Is experiencing flow the same as feeling happy?
No, there’s definitely a difference. If you’re in a state
of flow, you’re attention is so focused that you aren’t
even aware of how you feel about the situation.
Reflecting on whether you feel happy or not would
mean you were out of flow. It’s only later, after the
state has passed, that you can be aware of the pleasure
of that state. So, in that way it’s different from flow.
And you can feel happy without experiencing flow.
For example, sitting on a beach might make you feel
happy but not necessarily create a state of flow.
Why does all this matter?
Well, I believe, as Dr. Csikszentmihlayi does, that
experiences of flow are pleasurable for people and
contribute to quality of life. So, if people are more
aware of which experiences produce this state, they
can work toward including more of them in their lives.
Well, thank you, Dr. Han. We’re going to take a break
right now. . . .

4 Listening Practice
B Listening for Main Ideas (p. 14)
A = Interviewer, B = Julia

A: OK, Julia. Now, from your responses it looks like,
of the daily activities like housework and driving,
you’ve rated driving as giving you quite high levels of
enjoyment, motivation, and concentration.
B: Yes, I was surprised when I looked at my answers too. I
wouldn’t have expected it, but now I realize that driving
is actually usually pleasant for me I mean, obviously
not when there’s a huge traffic jam or anything, but
otherwise I enjoy it. I concentrate on driving, which
usually means that I can’t worry about all my everyday
concerns and problems. I have about a half-hour drive
to and from work, so it allows me to get ready for work
on the way there and then relax and wind down on the
way home. I’m by myself and I usually listen to music or
interesting programs on the radio. So, I guess, all in all,
it’s a pretty pleasant experience for me.
A: Another activity with high ratings was doing a hobby.
You indicate that you play the guitar?
B: Yes. I was thinking of that when I answered the
questions. I usually play the guitar at least three times
a week. I play in a group with friends, and I play by
myself, too. I have to concentrate when I play, and
I’m usually motivated too—I don’t want to make a lot
of mistakes when I play with my friends. I just love
playing. When we get going on a new song, I just
forget everything else that’s going on.

A: Overall, doing housework didn’t rate very high.
B: No. Housework of any kind isn’t a favorite for me.
B = Leo
A: It looks like working with computers rated highly for
you, Leo. Do you work with computers at your job, or
is it a hobby?
B: Actually, both. I just love computers so much that
there isn’t really that much difference between
work and play for me when it comes to computers.
Computer programming is my job, but I also play
a lot of computer games when I’m not working. A
friend and I are actually working on developing our
own game to sell. I guess some people might see that
as work, but for us it’s fun. We get together and start
discussing it or working on it, and we can go for hours
and hours without stopping. We sometimes stay up
until three or four in the morning if we’re trying to
solve a problem or something.
A: Well, speaking of friends, it also looks like you rate
socializing highly too.
B: Yes. It might be a little surprising since many people
think that people who love computers don’t socialize,
but my friends are really important to me, and we get
together a lot. Of course, we talk about computers an
awful lot, but we talk about other things, too.

Open Forum: Transcripts  19


B = Annie

A: OK, it seems like you enjoy really active things,
Annie?
B: Yes, definitely. I like almost any kind sport, really, and
I do them as much as possible. Soccer, tennis, running,
whatever.
A: Do you prefer individual or team sports?
B: Well, both, really. It depends on the mood I’m in. I
play soccer at least once a week, so that’s a team sport.
But then, I also run about three times a week, and
that’s something I do alone. So I guess it’s probably
pretty much a mix of both.
A: What about your job? You’ve rated it in the middle.
B: Yeah. I’m an elementary school teacher, and I like
that, but then I also coach some school sports teams:
basketball and soccer. I get enjoyment from teaching,
but I think I like coaching more.
A: What about activities that are less active? Do you
participate in any?
B: Not very often. I’m home a few evenings a week, and
sometimes I sit down and watch TV, but it’s not all
that often.
B = Robert
A: So, Robert, a lot of people don’t find pleasure in
housework, but it looks like you rate washing dishes
pretty high.
B: Yes, I know it might seem a little strange. I’m an
executive with a high-pressure job. I’m busy all the
time, and I like doing dishes? But, it’s relaxing for me,
and it often turns out to be good thinking time. I’m
surprised at how often I come up with solutions to

problems while I’m washing dishes. Then, it’s always
satisfying when I finish and everything is completely
clean.
A: It looks like work—your job—has a medium rating.
B: Yes. As I said, I have a pretty high-pressure job. I like
it and I’m good at it, but it’s challenging, and the
stress gets to me. So I’m usually really happy when
the weekends come.
A: And what do you like to do on weekends?
B: Well, I’m pretty busy. I have an old house that I’m
fixing up. I’m doing all the work myself, so there’s
always something to do on that. I enjoy bicycling too,
and since I don’t have a lot of time during the week, I
try to ride a lot on weekends.

5 Pronunciation
Exercise 2 (p. 16)
See underlined extract from the interview above with
Annie.

6 Speaking Skills
Exercise 1 (p. 16)
See underlined extract from the interview above with
Robert.

20  Open Forum: Transcripts

Chapter 3

Food Science

2 Listening Practice
B Listening for Main Ideas (p. 20)
For many years, scientists have believed in the “wisdom
of the body,” the idea that our bodies know what they
need to stay healthy. So, by this theory, when we’re
hungry for a certain food, it’s just our bodies letting us
know that we need a specific nutrient. For example, you
might crave steak because you need protein.
But this idea doesn’t cover the reality of our eating
habits. So much of what we love to eat—think of cookies
or French fries—doesn’t offer much nutrition. And many
people don’t like foods that offer lots of vitamins—think
of spinach or broccoli. So, the idea that eating only
supports life doesn’t really offer a full explanation of our
eating patterns.
For a long time, there was a lot about our eating habits
that was not fully understood by scientists, but in the
last few years, new studies have given researchers more
information.
One discovery is that humans are born loving
sweetness. On its first day of life, a newborn baby will
prefer sweetened drinks to unsweetened ones. Sugar
can even block out pain. Doctors have found that babies
won’t mind the pain of a needle for an injection as much
if they are given some sugar beforehand.
Then there are sour tastes. It’s often surprising how
much young children love sour flavors. Think of how
many kinds of candy for children with really sour
flavors there are: lemon, sour apple, and so on. Candy
companies must have realized this a while ago, but it

was only recently that science confirmed it. A study
found that children between the ages of five and nine
years old actually enjoy the flavor of concentrated citric
acid, and citric acid makes things sour.
In contrast, bitter flavors are mainly appreciated by
older adults. Children and pregnant women usually
dislike bitter tastes. This is probably because bitterness
can be a sign of toxicity—that something could be
harmful—which would be more important during times
of growth and development.
However, as people get older, they often develop more
of a taste for foods with a little bitterness. Scientists
think this could make sense because foods like broccoli
or dark chocolate—both of which have a slightly bitter
flavor—usually also contain antioxidants that help fight
diseases like cancer.


So there are similarities in taste preferences, but then
why are our individual preferences so different? One
explanation is that our preferences are shaped by our
flavor experiences at a very early age, including before
we’re born. For example, one study found that if a
pregnant woman drank carrot juice late in pregnancy,
her six-month-old baby liked carrot-flavored cereal more
than other six-month-old babies.
Another area of difference involves food cravings—
intense and specific desires for a certain food. Scientists
now believe these are also probably more related to
childhood and culture than to some kind of biological

need for vitamins.
A study by psychologists on three continents—in the
countries of Egypt, Spain, and the United States—
looked at cravings by both men and women. Before
the study, one assumption was that women universally
crave chocolate, however, while the study found that
women often crave sweeter food than men, there were
differences regarding chocolate. In Spain, both men and
women were found to crave chocolate. But in Egypt,
only six percent of women named chocolate as a favorite
food. So a conclusion is that cravings are not universal
or based on biology, but are more the result of our
cultural experiences with food.
Now family and culture don’t explain all of our
individual differences in food preferences. Obviously,
there are people who have dramatically different
preferences from their parents. So there’s still more to
learn. Scientists are now paying a lot more attention to
the psychology of food choice. They may find that what
we think about food could turn out to be as important
as what we actually put in our mouths and eat.

3 Vocabulary
Exercise 1 (p. 22)

A: Let’s go to The Tea House. I’d love to have a cup of
tea.
B: Not coffee? I prefer drinking coffee.
A: No, I don’t feel like having coffee right now. I’d like to
have a nice cup of tea.

B: OK. Where do you want to go? Can we go somewhere
that has coffee too?
A: Sure. But, let’s not go to Coffee Corner. It’s always
crowded and I can’t stand waiting in line. How about
Zeno’s?
B: Oh yes, that’s a good place—if you don’t mind sitting
at small tables.
A: That’s OK.

4 Listening Practice
B Listening for Main Ideas (p. 23)
A = Host, B = Roger Sabarta

A: Good morning. Today we’re going to talk about one
of my favorite topics: food. It’s something we can’t
live without, yet we might take it for granted in some
ways. Have you ever stopped to think about how our
appetites and eating habits have changed, or for that
matter, considered how these habits might change in
the future? Our guest today is Roger Sabarta, a food
scientist who’s done a lot of research in these areas.
Welcome Mr. Sabarta.
B: Thanks for having me.
A: So what’s one of the biggest changes in eating habits
that you’ve found?
B: Well, I’d say that the biggest change, and really the
one that also has the most implications for health and
things like that, is the amount of eating out that most
of us do nowadays. In 1955 the percentage of food
budgets spent away from home was 19 percent, and in

1997 it was 38 percent . . . and it just keeps going up.
A: I’d never really thought of it, but of course, thinking of
my parents and how often they were likely to eat out
compared to me in my life, well, it’s a lot different.
B: Exactly. And then kids nowadays eat out even more
often. In the same 42 years from 1955 to 1997, fast food
consumption increased 166 percent for teenage boys.
A: One-hundred and sixty-six percent? Wow! So teenage
boys are eating a lot more fast food than they used to!
B: Yes, it’s really striking. Now think of some of the
effects of this change in habit.
A: I’d guess it probably isn’t all that healthy.
B: Not really. For example, there’s soda and soft drinks
versus milk. Twenty or 25 years ago, people—
especially kids—drank a lot more milk. Nowadays,
people drink about twice as much soda as they used
to and a lot less milk.
A: And that’s because of eating out so much?
B: Yes, at least to some extent. Of course there are other
factors contributing to this. The amount of advertising
done by the food and drink industry goes up every
year, so that certainly has an effect as well.
A: Does your research suggest that this trend will
continue?
B: Pretty much so. The strongest influence that we
see on this is income. If people have more income,
they usually eat out more. However, one factor that
could affect this is age. Older people typically eat
out less than younger people, and since we expect
the population of older people to increase, this could

result in smaller numbers for eating out.
A: Unless of course older people change their habits and
eat out more.
B: Absolutely. It’s certainly possible.
A: What else does your research predict for the future?
B: Well, a demand for more variety in foods is definitely
one thing. We’ve already seen this change and we

Transcripts   21


A:
B:
A:
B:

A:
B:

A:
B:
A:
B:

A:

expect it to continue. Just think of the variety of types
of food available in supermarkets and restaurants
these days.
You mean like Mexican food or Chinese food and

things like that?
Or Indian food, or Thai food, and so on.
Hmm, yes. There are so many different types of
restaurants in my area compared to ten years ago. I
assume this is because of immigration?
Yes, that’s right. As new populations come to the
United States, of course they bring food traditions and
preferences, so this definitely influences food trends.
And these can be positive influences. For example, the
consumption of citrus fruit is expected to rise over the
next twenty years or so because of consumers coming
from places where fruit is a big part of the diet.
Well, that would be good.
Another aspect of this is that people just want variety.
They may love a special new flavor of potato chip,
but after a while, it becomes a little boring and they
start looking for another new flavor. So this will also
produce continued variety in food options.
It seems like we already see this a lot. There’s one
flavor of something and then they have to make lots of
different flavors.
Yes, that’s right.
Were there any surprises in your predictions?
Well, I was a little surprised that we expect people
to want quality more than quantity in the future.
You know everyone seems to want quantity right
now—larger hamburgers, more French fries, and so
on—but our analysis suggests that this will change,
that people will ask for more quality. For example,
they might want a special type of meat, rather than

just a hamburger and things like that.
Yes, that is a little surprising. Well, we have to stop
here. Thank you very much, Mr. Sabarta.

6 Speaking Skills
Exercise 1 (p. 25)
A = Interviewer, B = Interviewee

A: So how would you say your eating habits have
changed in the past year?
B: Hmm, Let me think, Well, I’ve been trying to eat
healthier foods, so I’ve been eating more fruits and
vegetables. But I . . . I have to eat out . . . eat out a lot
for work, so it’s sometimes a little hard.
A: Is there anything else that’s changed?
B: Let’s see. I gave up eating chocolate for a while, but,
well, I still do eat it occasionally.

22  Open Forum: Transcripts

Chapter 4

Visual Art
2 Listening Practice
B Focus on the Listening Skill (p. 28)
A = Host, B = Sandra Ellis

A: Today we’re going to take a look at the latest hot trend
among art collectors: Aboriginal art from Australia.
My guest today is Sandra Ellis, who is the owner and

curator of the Pine Lake Museum of Aboriginal Art.
Welcome to the program.
B: Thank you.
A: Firstly, why do you think Aboriginal art has become so
popular?
B: Well, one reason is that it’s very old. The Aboriginal
people . . . they’re the original native Australians.
They live far from civilization, and they’ve had very
little contact with outsiders, so they’ve maintained
their culture—and their art—for generations. You can
go to remote areas in Australia and see rock carvings
that date back at least thirty . . . 30,000 years. And you
can look at the paintings today and these are done by
the direct descendants of the prehistoric people. And
you’ll see the same images, the same symbols used in
the art today. They’ve survived for thousands of years.
A: I understand the art is connected to the belief system
of the people in some way.
B: Yes. To understand the art, you need to know a little
bit about the beliefs of the Aboriginal people. All of the
paintings refer to what they call “The Dream Time.”
A: And what is that?
B: The Dream Time refers to the time when—according
to the Aboriginal people—the world was created
and mythical figures, spirits and animals, wandered
around the Earth. The people have stories about these
figures and what they did. They didn’t have a written
language, so the stories were passed down from
generation to generation, and the old people used
the art as a way of telling the stories to the younger

people. That’s why most of the artists are older people.
They’ve memorized the stories. Through the art, the
people kept the stories alive.
A: What does a typical Aboriginal painting look like?
B: Well, you have different local styles, but what you
generally see is lots of . . . lots of lines and dots and
circles. So the effect is quite abstract and usually quite
colorful. But you’ll notice shapes and symbols that
recur again and again. For example, there’s a snake,
which may represent water, or a river snaking through
the desert. Other figures might represent animals or
people. Some paintings work almost like maps: they
show a particular place, with water holes, and hills,
and camps even. These kinds of paintings are about a
Dream Time story that happened in a particular place,
but some of them also give information about the place,
like the locations of water holes, and trails, and so on.


A: I see.
B: But the important thing is that for the artists, the
art itself—the product—is really not important. It’s
the doing of the art—the process—that’s important.
Traditionally the paintings were done as part of a
ceremony, and they were done as body painting, or
on the ground, and then they were washed away. So
they were temporary. It’s only recently, since the 1970s
in fact, that the art has ever been done on canvas or
paper, so that it can be kept and collected. But it’s still
the process, really, that matters to the artists.

A: And yet their work now sells for tens of thousands of
dollars.
B: Hundreds of thousands! Yes. One major painting
sold for nearly $500,000 recently. There are artists’
co-operatives all over Australia, and collectors come
from all over the world now. But thirty years ago,
you couldn’t give the paintings away. It’s only been
recently that the art, and the culture really, has come to
be recognized and valued for what it is.

4 Listening Practice
B Listening for Main Ideas (p. 32)
Now here you’re looking at one of the most well-known
paintings in the United States—maybe the most wellknown. Now if you haven’t seen the painting itself,
you’ve probably seen imitations of it in advertising
and popular culture in general. It’s been reproduced on
posters, and T-shirts, and cartoons. And a lot of famous
people have had their photograph taken in this pose. So
it’s really an American icon.
American Gothic: It was painted in 1930 by Grant Wood.
Wood was a self-taught painter from the Midwest.
He was from Cedar Rapids—that’s a small town in
Iowa. He was well known locally and a lot of his work
is landscapes of the local country, farming country.
Wood’s style is kind of folksy, a bit like folk art, but he
was really more sophisticated than that. He traveled to
Europe several times, and he was influenced by Dutch
and German art that he saw there, particularly 16thcentury Dutch portraits, the ones that showed people
standing in their homes, in their natural surroundings,
holding some kind of significant object. And you can see

that influence here, in this painting, where the man is
holding a pitchfork.
As you can see, the painting shows a couple standing
in front of a house with a gothic window in the
background. Gothic in the title first and foremost refers
to the style of the window in the house . . . like a church.
When we think of gothic windows, we usually think of
the grand cathedrals of Europe, but here the windows
are in a very ordinary looking house.

It’s actually not clear whether the couple is supposed
to be husband and wife. Some people say that, and
others say they’re father and daughter. This is one of
the mysteries about this painting. Wood never said who
they were supposed to be. What we do know is that
the models for the painting were Wood’s sister, who
was thirty at the time, and his dentist, who was 62. At
one point Wood suggested that they were father and
daughter, but that might have been to spare his sister’s
feelings, because maybe he didn’t want to suggest that
she was as old as the dentist. We don’t actually know.
The man and woman are wearing old-fashioned clothes.
Remember this painting was done in 1930, but the
clothes are more like what people might have worn in
the 1890s. The woman has a dress with a pattern and
with ruffles on it. You can imagine she probably made it
herself. And the man is wearing a black jacket, farmer’s
overalls, and an old-fashioned type of shirt without a
collar. He’s holding a pitchfork, which is a symbol of an
old-fashioned kind of farming. In the background, you

can see the house with the gothic window, and there’s
some plants on the porch downstairs.
Now, if you look at the detail of the painting, you’ll see
that the gothic lines in the window are also in the faces
of the people themselves. They’re kind of elongated. And
the lines are sort of repeated in the pitchfork and in the
lines of the man’s shirt. So it’s not just the house. The
Gothic theme is repeated in other parts of the picture.
For most people, the interesting thing about the picture
is the expressions on the faces of the couple . . . because,
although the style . . . of the painting is like folk art or
something like that, the people aren’t idealized in any
way. They look sort of unfriendly . . . you get the feeling
that you’re not welcome. They’re kind of shutting you
out. It’s like . . . they’re defending their world from
outsiders. The man looks as if he’d use that pitchfork
as a weapon if necessary . . . . And the woman looks . . .
kind of suspicious . . . . It’s as if she’s worrying about
somebody stealing her laundry or something.
Because of the expressions on the faces and because of the
title of the painting, there was some bad . . . some negative
reaction to it at the time. The word Gothic has a lot of
kind of different connotations, but some of the meanings
are dark, a little scary. And then other people point out
that there’s a contrast between the marvelous Gothic
architecture in Europe, where you have all these beautiful
cathedrals, and the architecture of the house here.
Many people think that Grant Wood was being ironic,
poking fun at farmers or people in small towns. He
himself said that that was not his intention. But then,

you know, he had to live there. He had to live in a small

Open Forum: Transcripts  23