Science and technologytapescript

Prof

The United Kingdom of Great Britain was formed in 1707. A hundred years lat•
er, the Act of Union in 1801 joined Ireland to Great Britain and the name "the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland" was first used. Since 1921, only
Northern Ireland has been part of the United Kingdom and so the name changed.

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Susan And the last question is why and how does England dominate the UK?

!

Prof That's a good question. Let's look at the map. England is a country in
the UK !
and occupies most of the southern two thirds of Great Britain. The
total area of
England is 130,410 sq km. England contains about 84% of the UK
population.
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Susan Yes, England is the biggest country in the UK.
Prof
Second, the capital, seat of the government, and the largest city in
the United
Kingdom is London. London is also the capital of England. All of Great
Britain has
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been ruled by the UK government in London since 1707.

Susan

Yes, the capital of the UK is in England.

Prof

The next reason is that the English language comes from England.
As its name suggests, the English language, today spoken by
hundreds of millions of people
around the world, originated �s the language of England, where it
remains the
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Susan Yes, it makes a good sense. And we all know the British Royal family live

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in England.

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Prof

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Yes, you are right. You gave a good reason.

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7. Science
Listening Activity No.1

Qi 073.MP3
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Global warming

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rth's surface are forcing animals and plants to move to cooler areas and
make other changes. Their studies found that warmer weather is causing
many kinds of wildlife to leave their native environments.
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They also found that such natural events as tree flowering and
migration - long-dis• tance travel by birds are now happening earlier in the
year. Nature Magazine reported the findings. The scientists say the results
of these changes could be environmental damage and local losses of

wildlife. They also warn that some creatures could disappear completely.

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Plants and animals have always had to react to changing environments. The cli•
mate is now changing faster than ever before. Many scientists blame greenhouse
gases for the warmer weather. They found that the territory where the plants and
animals live had moved north by an average of six kilometres every ten years. In
Europe, some butterflies now live as much as one hundred kilometres to the north
because of changes linked to higher temperatures.
American scientists examined 172 kinds of wildlife and examined the timing of
events in spring, such as the appearance of flowers and the reproduction of animals.
They found that these events happened an average of two days earlier than normal every
ten years. The scientists at Stanford University examined wildlife and climate informa.
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tion from 143 st udies. They found that about 80% of creatures studied had made changes I
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because of warmer weather.

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Listening Activity No.2

Snow

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Snow is loved by many people. When the winter comes, the snow returns and people
begin to skate and ski and do other sports on the snow.
Snow. is a form of frozen water. It contains many groups of tiny
snow crystals. These crystals grow from water particles in cold clouds.
around a piece of dust. All snow crystals have six sides, but they grow
The shape depends mainly on the temperature and water levels in the

ice particles called
They usually grow
in different shapes.
air.

Snow crystals grow in one of two designs - plate-like and columnar. Plate-like crystals
are flat. They form when the air temperature is about fifteen degrees Celsius below zero.
Columnar snow crystals look like sticks of ice. They form when the temperature is about
five degrees below zero.
The shape of a snow crystal may change from one form to another as the crystal passes
through levels of air with different temperatures. When melting snow crystals or raindrops
fall through very cold air, they freeze to form small particles of ice, called sleet. Groups of
frozen water droplets are called snow pellets. Under some conditions, these particles may
grow larger and form solid pieces of ice, or hail.
When snow crystals stick together, they produce snowflakes. Snowflakes come in differ•
ent sizes. As many as one hundred crystals may join together to form a snowflake longer
than two and a half centimetres. Under some conditions, a snowflake can be five centi•
metres long. Usually, this requires near freezing temperatures, light winds and changing
'conditions in the Earth's atmosphere.
Snow contains much less water than rain. About fifteen centimetres of wet snow
has as much water as two and a half centimetres of rain. About seventy-six centimetres of
dry snow equals the water in two and a half centimetres of rain.

The colour of snow and ice appears white. This is because the light we see from
the sun is white. Most natural materials take in some sunlight. This gives them their
colour.
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However, when light travels from air to snow, some light is sent back, or reflected. Snow I
i crystals have many surfaces to reflect sunlight. Yet the snow does take in a little sunlight. I I
It is this light that gives snow its white appearance.
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Listening Activity No.3

UN world food report

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Listening Activity No.4

Centenarians

Q

076.MP3

This is VOA Special English Science Report.
The Italian island of Sardinia recently lost its oldest citizen. Family members
say Antonio Todde died in his sleep early this month. Mr. Todde was one hundred
twelve years old. He was less than three weeks away from his one hundred thirteenth
birthday. Record-keeping experts say he was the world's oldest man.


Mr. Todde was born in a village on Sardinia in 1889_. He cared for farm animals in
the mountains almost all his life. Mr. Todde often said that drinking a glass of red wine
every day helped him live to an old age.
His long life and that of other very old Sardinians are the subject of a scientific project
called Akea. Luca Deiana of Sassari University is directing the study. He says the name
Akea comes from a traditional greeting on Sardinia. It means "health and life for one
hun• dred years".
Professor Deiana and his team started to collect information for the study in 1997.
They identified more than 220 Sardinians who were centenarians - one-hundred years
old or older.
His team required three documents to confirm a person's age. They are a government
birth record, a church record and a statement by a close family member. The Akea study
has produced two major findings. The first is Sardinia's extremely high number of cen•
tenarians. The island has about 135 centenarians for every one million people. In other

Western countries, the average is about 75 centenarians for every one million people.

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The second major finding was an unusual rate of female to male centenarians. Sardinia

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h_�� ��� women _ centenarians for every mal� centenarian. In central Sardinia, there are 1
equal numbers of female and ma-le centenarians- - - ---- - ------ - -- --- ------- ----�-11

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Studies in other parts of the world have shown a much higher percentage of female
centenarians. The Akea study collected information about the health and diet of about
140 of the centenarians. About 90 per cent of those in the study also agreed to provide

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blood for scientific testing. The study team hopes to identify genetic material in the blood
that can be linked to successful aging.
Study leaders say there is no single reason why people in Sardinia live so long. They
believe the answer is a combination of genetic and environmental conditions.

Listening Activity No.5

Looking for weight-loss answers

Qi 077.MP3

Obesity, also known as severe overweight, is a complex condition. A doctor may advise
medical interventions in addition to changes in behaviour. But experts say the most suc•
cessful weight-loss plans include a well-balanced diet and exercise. To lose weight, you can
reduce the number of calories you take in, or increase the number of calories you use, or
both.
Experts at the National Institutes of Health say to lose weight, a person should do an
hour of moderate to intensive physical activity most days of the week. This could include
fast walking, sports or strength training. You should also follow a nutritious eating plan
and take in fewer calories than your body uses each day.
A recent study looked at four of the most popular dieting plans in the United States. Re•
searchers at Stanford University in California studied more than three hundred overweight
women, mostly in their thirties and forties.
Each woman went on one of the four plans: Atkins, the Zone, Ornish or LEARN. The
women attended diet classes and received written mformation about the food plans. At the
end of a year, the women on the Atkins diet had lost the most, more than four and one-half
kilograms on average. They also did better on tests including cholesterol levels and blood
pressure.
Christopher Gardner led the study, reported in the Journal of the American Medical As•
sociation. He says the Atkins diet may be more successful because of its simple message to
lower intake of sugars. Also, he says the advice to increase protein in the diet leads to more
satisfying meals. He says there was not enough money to also study men, but that men
would probably have similar results.

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But last week, another report suggested that only a small minority of people have long•
term success with dieting. The report in the journal American Psychologist was based on
thirty-one studies.
Researchers at the medical school of University of California, Los Angeles, found that
most dieters regained their lost weight within five years. And often they gained back even
more. But those who kept the weight off generally were the ones who exercised.

Listening Activity No.6

A UN population study

Q

078.MP3

The United Nations Population Fund has released a new study on the condition of the world's population. The main
idea of the report is poverty and its relationship to population issues. It says that several steps need to be taken
immediately to reduce poverty by half by the year 2015.

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The first is to improve health care systems. In the world's poorest countries, people are
ex• pected to live just 49 years. One in ten children does not reach their first birthday. The study
says that poor health and poverty are linked.
The

report also

says that women are affected

most by poor health care systems,

especially pregnant women. It says that better reproductive health can reduce poverty and build
economic growth. The report says family planning and helping women avoid unwanted
pregnancies are also ways to reduce poverty.
The study says that when given a choice, poor people in developing countries have fewer
chil• dren than their parents did. Smaller families have fewer expenses and more chances to
increase their earnings and savings.
Since 1970, developing countries with lower birth rates and slower population growth
have had faster economic growth. They have had higher productivity, more savings and more
invest• ment. The report also notes that poor people are more at risk from the infection that
causes
AIDS. This is because they lack the knowledge and power to protect themselves against the
disease.
The

report says that investing

in education, especially for women, can

also

reduce

poverty. Educated women have more choices in life and are more likely to send their children
to school. The study found that the right to an education has improved over the past ten years.
However, poor people in many developing countries are still less likely to attend school. The
report urges governments to change this and make sure all citizens learn to read and write.
The UN study also says that women and men should be treated equally. This means that legal
and human rights of women should be strengthened, as well as their ability to earn money and
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speak out socially and politically. The UN report says that half the world's population live on less
than two dollars a day. 1,00.0 million people live on less than one dollar a day.

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Mary

Qi 079.MP3

AIDS

Listening Activity No.7

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Hi, David, here is a report about AIDS. The death figure is terrible.

David What is it?
Mary

40.3 million people around the world are living with AIDS in 2005. Approximate•
ly 11 of every 1,000 adults aged 15 to 49 are HIV infected. 25 million children.
will be orphans by 2010 because of AIDS. Over 27 million people have died since
the first AIDS case was identified in 1980. ·
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David

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Some docfors: say AIDS is th�first leading. ca;se �f death around the world.

Mary- . Do you know .what l=lIV-is?
David
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I'm not sure about it .. - - --- -

HIV is short for Human Immunodeficiency Virus, which is the virus that causes
AIDS. This virus is passed from one person to another through bloocl-to-blood or·

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sexual contact. In addition, infected pregnant women can pass HIV to their baby
during pregnancy or delivery, as well as through breast-feeding. People with HIV
have what is commonly called an HIV infection, but sometimes it is also called
the AIDS virus.
Mary

I see. AIDS virus is the germs that can cause AIDS.

David Yes. Different viruses infect different cells and cause different sorts of illnesses.

For example, HIV infects the cells of the "immune system" - the very thing the
body uses to fight against germs. Most people with HIV will eventually develop
Mary

AIDS as a result of their HIV infection.

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How is

HIV transmitted from one person to another?

David mentioned before, HIV is most commonly spread by coming into direct

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Well, as I
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contact with blood or sexual contact. HIV is also frequently spread among injec• I
tion drug users by the sharing of needles or syringes contaminated with very small
quantities of blood from someone infected with the virus. The HIV virus can i
enter the body through a vein, the mouth, as well as other mucous membranes,
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e.g. eyes or inside of the nose, or cuts and sores. Intact and healthy skin is an
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excellent barrier agamst HIV and other viruses and bactena.

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David

Yes, that is right. You know, people cannot get virus from touching,
talking to, or sharing a home with a person who is HIV infected or has
AIDS.

Mary

Can people get virus from using swimming pools, hot tubs, drinking
fountains, toilet seats, doorknobs, gym equipment, or telephones used
by people with HIV infection or AIDS?

David

No, they can't get it from them.

Mary

I see. What are the early symptoms and stages of HIV?

David

According to the medicine book, many people do not have any
symptoms when they first become infected with HIV. Some people,
however, have a flu-like ill• ness within a month or two after exposure
to the virus. This illness may include recurring fever or profuse night
sweats, headache, profound and unexplained tiredness.

Mary

I see. Thank you very much.

Mary

David With pleasure.

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Q

Storms

Listening Activity No.8

080.MP3

Powerful storms are called hurricanes when they form over the Atlantic Ocean and the
eastern Pacific. They are called typhoons in the northwestern Pacific, and cyclones when they
develop over the Indian Ocean.
Severe ocean storms in the northern half of the world generally develop in late summer
or early autumn near the equator. Storms can result when the air temperature in one area is
different from that of another. Warmer air rises and cooler air falls. These movements create
a difference in the pressure of the atmosphere.
If the pressure changes over a large area, winds start to blow in a huge circle. Highpressure air is pulled into a low-pressure centre. Severe ocean storms happen less often in the
southern hemisphere. There the season of greatest activity is between December and March.
South of the equator, the winds blow in the same direction as the hands on a clock.
North of the equator, they blow counterclockwise. This is because as the Earth turns, air is
pulled to the right in the northern hemisphere. In the southern hemisphere, air is pulled to
the left.
Weather scientists use computers to create models that

show where a storm might

go. Models combine information such as temperatures, wind speed, atmospheric pressure and the
amount of water in the atmosphere. Scientists collect the information with satellites, weather
balloons and devices floating in the world's oceans. They also collect information from ships and
passenger flights

and from

planes that fly

into

and

around

storms. The crews drop

instruments on parachutes to record temperature, pressure, wind speed and other conditions.
The Saffir-Simpson

Hurricane Scale

is a way to rate storms

based on wind speed. It

provides an idea of the amount of coastal flooding and property damage that might be

expected.
The scale is divided into five categories. A Category One storm has winds of about 120 to
150 kilometres an hour. It can damage trees and lightweight structures. It can also cause
some flooding. Wind speeds 'in a Category Two hurricane can reach close to 180 kilometres an
hour. These storms are often powerful enough to break windows or blow the roof off a house.
Winds between about 180 and 250 kilometres an hour represent Categories Three and Four.
Anything even more powerful is a Category Five hurricane.
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An Australian weather scientist began to call storms by women's names before the end of
the nineteenth century. During World War Two, weather scientists called storms by the names
· of their wives or girlfriends. The weather service in the United States officially started to use

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women's names for storms in 1953. In 1979, it began to use men's names, too.

Scientists decide on lists of names years in advance. They agree on them at meetings of the
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World Meteorological Organisation.

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Listening Activity No.9

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Qi 081.MP3

Diabetes

Sara What's on tonight?
Tom Nothing special. I'm waiting for "Discovery" now.
Tom Thank you. These are my favourite TV food. You know, a new study shows that eating
nuts and peanut butter may help prevent one form of the disease diabetes.
Sara Oh, really? That's interesting.
Tom I heard diabetes affects about 135 million people around the world.
Sara

What is diabetes? I don't know about this disease.

Tom

Well, it is a little complicated. During digestion, the starches and sugars in the food
you eat are converted to glucose, a natural form of sugar that your body uses for
energy.

Sara

Yes, go on.

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Tom The disease results when the bod cannot roduce or use a substance called insulin.
Sara

Just a minute, what is insulin?

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Tom Insulin is a hormone produced by the organ called the pancreas that helps control j
the amount of glucose in blood. Without insulin, your body cannot use or store glucose. Insulin helps turn sugar from foods into energy.

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Tom

Sara

I see.

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You know, over a long period of time, poorly controlled diabetes may damage blood

vessels and nerves, increasing your risk for problems that can affect the eyes, heart,
kidneys, legs and feet.
Sara Well, Tom, how do you know all this?

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Tom Because my father has diabetes.
Sara I see. So you really do a lot of research on it.
Tom Yes, I like to read the news on it. Scientists from the Harvard University School of
Public Health in Cambridge, Massachusetts, completed the research project and the
Journal of the American Medical Association published the findings. They studied
more than 83,000 women for sixteen years. The women were 34 to 59 years old.
None of the women had diabetes, cancer or heart disease when the study began.
During the study, more than 3,000 women developed diabetes.
Sara Wow, how did they get diabetes?
Tom The women answered questions every four years between 1980 and 1996. The researchers asked what they ate, including information about nuts and nut products.
Sara

Yes, what did they find out?

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Tom

Some of the women ate nuts five days a week. The size of each serving weighed
about thirty grams. Or, they ate a serving of peanut butter five days each week. Other
· women in the study did not eat nuts or peanut butter. Those who ate nuts five times
a week were more than twenty per cent less likely to develop Type Two diabetes than
the women who did not eat nuts.

Sara

So women who ate nuts could prevent diabetes?

Tom

Yes, I believe so. Although the study involved only women, the researchers believe
eating nuts would also be good for men. The scientists say more research is needed
to confirm the findings. But the study suggests that the fats in nuts may improve the
way the body makes and uses insulin.

Sara I suppose I should eat more nuts than before to prevent diabetes.
Tom

Nuts contain magnesium. This element helps balance insulin and levels of sugar in
the blood. The fats in nuts also may improve the body's ability to process sugar in
the blood. People who suffer from diabetes have too much sugar in their blood and
urine, and the body's liquid waste.

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�Sounds interesting. Here is our programm�.

Health and heat

Listening Activity No.10

Q 082.MP3

Today, I'm going to talk about some health problems linked to extreme heat and what
we can do to prevent and treat these problems.

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Extremely hot weather is common in many parts of the world. It can cause medical .
problems and death. Health experts say that since the year 1900, extremely hot weather
has killed more people in the United States than any other natural event. One year - the
· unusual!y hot summer of 1980, heat caused about 1,700 deaths in t�e United State_s. In -.·
1995, more than 600 people died in a similar heat wave in one city - Chicago, Illinois.

water and salt.
For most people, the only result of heat stress is muscle pain. The pain .is a warning
that the body is becoming too hot; Doctors say drinking water will help the pain disap•
pear after the body again has the right amounts .of water and salt.
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Severe heat can help cause a heart attack or stroke arid increases problems for very
small children, older people and sick people. It is also bad for people who weigh too much and have
too much body fat, and for people who drink alcohol.

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If heat stress is not treated, it can lead to a more serious problem called heat
exhaus• tion. Perspiration is one of the body's defences against heat. It is a process
during which the body releases water to cool the skin. However, a person suffering from
heat exhaus• tion loses too much water through perspiration. The person becomes
dehydrated.
A person suffering from heat exhaustion feels weak and extremely tired. He or she
may have trouble walking normally. Heat exhaustion also may produce a fast heartbeat,
breathing problems, headache, chest pain and a general feeling of sickness. Doctors say
that people suffering from these problems should move to a cool place and drink water.
Heat exhaustion can lead to heat stroke if it is not treated. With heat stroke, the body
temperature rises to more than forty degrees Celsius. The body stops perspiring. And the
skin becomes dry and very hot. A person may even become unconscious. Permanent brain
damage and death may result, so treatment should begin immediately or the person could
die before medical help arrives.
Immediate treatment should begin by moving the victim out of the sun. Then, take
off the person's clothes. Pour water over the victim's body, and put pieces of ice in areas
where blood vessels are close to the skin. These areas include the neck and under the

arms. T e purpose is to cool the victim as quickly as possible to stop the body's tem•
perature from increasing.
Water is very important for the health. Health experts say adults should drink about
two litres of water each day to replace all the body water lost in urine and perspiration
and drink more than that in hot weather. They say people should drink water even before
they start to feel like a drink. This is because people sometimes do not feel thirsty until
they already have lost a lot of body liquid.
In hot weather, drinking cold liquids is best. They do more than just replace lost body
water. Cold liquids also help cool people faster than warm liquids. This is because they
take up more heat inside the body and carry it away faster.

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In addition to drinking lots of cool water, there are other things to do to protect
against the health dangers of heat. Stay out of the sun, if possible. Wear loose, light•
weight and light-coloured clothes. Wear a hat or other head cover while in the sun. Eat
fewer hot and heavy foods. If possible, rest more often. Physical activity produces body
heat.
Health experts say these simple steps can prevent the dangerous health problems
linked to heat. They will prevent sickness, help you feel better and may even save your
life.

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Listening Activity No.11

World weather

Q 083.MP3

Severe weather is affecting people in many countries. In areas of South and East Asia,
about 700 people have been killed in floods and resulting landslides during the past month.
The hardest hit countries include North and South Korea, Vietnam, India, Nepal and
Bangladesh.

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In India, the flooding is the worst the country has experienced in 25 years. Areas in As•
sam and Bihar states have suffered from heavy rains and flooding. Twenty million people
have been affected. Indian officials say more than 300 people have died as a result of the
weather conditions.
The number of deaths in Nepal is even higher. More than 400 people have been killed
in floods and landslides in mountain villages there. Another 150 people have died in simi•
lar weather in Bangladesh. Flooding was also especially severe in China this year where
about 900 people have died.
Yet, there also are intensely dry conditions in parts of Asia. For example, although
floods are affecting part of the Indian state of Bihar, the seasonal rains have not begun as
expected in other areas of the same state. The lack of water is killing crops. A spokesman
for the aid organisation Red Cross says that 95 per cent of crops in Bihar probably will

not survive.
Huge floods are also continuing in several European countries. The heavy rains began
about two weeks ago. More than 60 people were killed in sudden floods in southern Russia.
Similar weather hit the Czech Republic. Czech safety officials ordered tens of thousands
of people to leave the capital, Prague, this week. The rain and overflowing rivers also
have damaged hundreds of smaller towns and villages in the Czech Republic. Roads and
railroads are underwater in a number of places. Bridges have been carried away by water.
Czech officials estimate hundreds of millions of dollars of damage.
The rains and floods are also damaging parts of Germany. Thousands of people have
been removed from the historic city of Dresden. The River Elbe in Dresden reached its
highest levels in more than 150 years.
The intense rains have also done great damage in Austria. Other affected countries
include Italy, Spain, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania, Hungary and Ukraine. Officials
estimate thousands of millions of dollars of damage across Europe.

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Many environmental experts say human activities are involved in large climate changes.
For example, many scientists believe that the release of industrial wastes is warming the

,
Earth's atmosphere. Yet no one has proven a direct link between human activities and
Lofspecific
natural incidents
causes. of weather. And, some scientists argue that climate changes are the result
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Listening Activity No.12

Sharks

Qi 084.MP3

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