12月02日

The Land of Hypercommunication

Wireless technology keeps the Finnish in constant communication

Technology is a family affair

The Nygard family—dad, mom and two daughters—lives north of Helsinki in Vanda. Hasse Nygard, the father, said he wouldn’t call his family typical when it comes to technology use. On one hand, they rely on cell phones; on the other, they are much bigger computer and high-speed Internet users.

“We aren’t following the masses,” Hasse said. “It’s not according to what our neighbors do; it’s according to what you need.”

Daughter Annina frequently does her college homework on a laptop and daughter Maria, who studies in Austria, uses one, too. Everyone has a cell phone and mother Lenita has two: one for work and one for personal use.

Hasse said he used to read e-mail on the phone but abandoned that because of the cost. Still, the phone is useful for other things. When presenting slide shows on his laptop at client offices, he uses the phone to click to the next image.

Face-to-face talk remains key

The cell phone rules the workplace in Finland with very few offices having landlines. That’s the situation at Mr.Goodliving, a mobile-game developer in Helsinki. To communicate, game developers have several options for keeping in touch. From immediate to not-so-important, they use shouting, instant messaging, e-mail and a database program used for tracking deadlines.

For the most part, though the managers say as much as they use technology, it is not the key to communicating. Talking in person is always best. In fact, Mr.Goodliving introduced a solution recently—a red leather couch. Snug in the back corner of a workspace, the couch is a favorite meeting place. With wireless Internet access, the employees can work there with laptops.

“We try to meet regularly face-to-face as much as possible,” said lead game designer Harri Granhom. “[That way] we can take care of many things at once.”

Vocabulary Focus

Abandon (v) to stop doing an activity before you have finished it

Snug (adj) giving feelings of warmth, comfort and protection or fitting closely

Discussion Question

‘Two people are chatting through QQ, though they are in the same office, only five meters far away.’ Maybe it’s a joke, but it’s common. Is that a sickness of society?

Extra Exercise

1. Translate the following sentence into Chinese, ‘From immediate to not-so-important, they use shouting, instant messaging, e-mail and a database program used for tracking deadlines.’

说明：

1.文本摘自《Advanced 彭蒙惠英语》，由chandler30亲自录入，转载请注明转自沪江英语论坛《彭蒙惠英语》。更多节目可访www.studioclassroom.com

2.回帖内容为大家讨论类话题，如非个人隐私，请不要选中“只有楼主可见”，以便大家交流。

3.参与讨论奖励50沪元，回答问题奖励50沪元，本栏目谢绝灌水!

12月01日

The Land of Hypercommunication

Wireless technology keeps the Finnish in constant communication

It’s common to hear people chatter on the cell phone these days. But a large number of users are now letting their thumbs do the talking.

Text messaging, or sending 160 characters of fewer to another cell phone, has become a discreet way to contact someone and, because it takes some tech-savvy know-how, it’s a litmus test of sorts on how advanced a nation is in using wireless technology.

In Finland, home of Nokia, mobile phones have spawned a culture all their own. This Nordic country may not be the center of civilization, but it is home to cutting-edge communication. Of Finland’s 5 million people, 98 percent have cell phones and only half have a landline.

Here is what cell phone use looks like on the ground in one of the more advanced wireless cultures in the world.

Texting keeps teacher connected

Anna Maija Luomi, 41, is a hypercommunicator. As a language teacher, Luomi speaks nine languages and relies on her cell phone to keep in constant communication—not through talk, but snippets of text. She considers these text conversations a necessity in her social life and a way to keep family and friends up to date.

On a typical Saturday evening, Luomi will have sent and received 100 messages—and no phone calls. Over dinner, she easily handles 40 more. During a couple of hours, Luomi texts in five different languages.

Luomi remembers life before texting and doesn’t believe it was as good. Now she is in constant touch with friends, which has created stronger bonds.

“You say things you probably wouldn’t say if you talked one or two times a week,” she said. “I think you have better insight into the way people are thinking.”

When is it a bad time to text? There’s no bad time.

Vocabulary Focus

Discreet (adj) 隐秘的

Litmus test (n) a response to one thing, which suggests the same response to a wider range of related things

Spawn (v) to cause something new, or many new things, to grow or start suddenly

On the ground (idiom) on the scene at a place that is exciting, interesting or important

Snippet (n) a small and often interesting piece of news, information or conversation

Discussion Question

Why do people prefer texting to phone call?

Extra Exercise

1. Translate the following sentence into Chinese, ‘Text messaging, or sending 160 characters of fewer to another cell phone, has become a discreet way to contact someone and, because it takes some tech-savvy know-how, it’s a litmus test of sorts on how advanced a nation is in using wireless technology.’

说明：

1.文本摘自《Advanced 彭蒙惠英语》，由chandler30亲自录入，转载请注明转自沪江英语论坛《彭蒙惠英语》。更多节目可访www.studioclassroom.com

2.回帖内容为大家讨论类话题，如非个人隐私，请不要选中“只有楼主可见”，以便大家交流。

3.参与讨论奖励50沪元，回答问题奖励50沪元，本栏目谢绝灌水!

11月30日

Monkey Lends a Helping Hand

Paralyzed Florida woman gets assistance from a six-pound monkey

Helping hands

Brown directs Tracey by pointing a laser light at an object and using simple commands. If Brown aims the laser light at the TV remote and says "fetch clicker," Tracey will pick it up off the floor and hand it to Brown.

    "Do sun" tells Tracey to flip on a light switch. "Open" means go into the refrigerator, and "push" is for switching on a CD player.

    "She can pick up the portable (phone) and hand it to me, or she will give me the headset. Or she can turn on the speakerphone," said Brown.

Monkey training

Monkeys like Tracey initially spend six or seven years in foster homes, where they learn how to interact with people, to fetch, be diapered and take baths, said Megan Keppeler, director of placements for Helping Hands. Then they attend the "Monkey College" in Boston, where they are trained to imitate their trainers, Keppeler said. School can last 18 to 24 months.

Choosing the right recipient

Couple that with breeding and placement and each monkey costs the nonprofit agency about $33,000, she said. Brown pays for Tracey's food, medicine and diapers, about $3,500 a year, and will keep Tracey as long as she needs her. If Brown's needs change, Tracey will be placed with another patient, Keppeler said.

    When a monkey is matched to a recipient, a trainer spends about eight days at the recipient's home, teaching that person how to work with and care for the monkey, Keppeler said. Afterwards, the patient and trainer remain in telephone contact.

    "What we look for in our recipients are people who say there is more out there than this and I want to do everything I can," Keppeler said. "Linda is amazing, such a good person with such a great attitude, always positive. What keeps her going is the monkey."

Specialized Terms

Laser light (n) 激光笔 a pen-shaped device that produces a narrow beam of bright red light that appears as a red dot on any surface at which it is aimed

Foster home (n) 寄养家庭 a household in which care and training are provided

Vocabulary Focus

Clicker (n) a device used to control a machine from a distance

Handset (n) 电话听筒

Imitate (v) to copy the actions or behavior of someone

Recipient (n) a person who receives something

Couple (v) to combine or link together

Discussion Question

Here is a video clip about how monkey helpers work. It’s amazing, I think.

Extra Exercise

1. Translate the following sentence into Chinese, ‘What we look for in our recipients are people who say there is more out there than this and I want to do everything I can’

2. According to the recording, why is ‘clicker’ called ‘clicker’?

说明：

1.文本摘自《Advanced 彭蒙惠英语》，由chandler30亲自录入，转载请注明转自沪江英语论坛《彭蒙惠英语》。更多节目可访www.studioclassroom.com

2.回帖内容为大家讨论类话题，如非个人隐私，请不要选中“只有楼主可见”，以便大家交流。

3.参与讨论奖励50沪元，回答问题奖励50沪元，本栏目谢绝灌水!

11月29日

Monkey Lends a Helping Hand

Paralyzed Florida woman gets assistance from a six-pound monkey

When Linda Brown wants to hear music, watch TV or adjust her bedroom lights, she calls on Tracey. Tracey can slip a CD into the player, flip a light switch or hand Brown the television remote with deft fingers.

    "It doesn't sound like a lot, but that's my world, and it makes it more bearable," said Brown, 51, a quadriplegic. "She [provides] friendship, she's a companion, and she senses a lot."

    Tracey is also a highly trained capuchin monkey whose job is assisting Brown with simple tasks. Owned by Helping Hands: Monkey Helpers for the Disabled, Tracey is the Boston agency's only active-service monkey in Florida and one of 108 placed nationwide since 1979. The little monkey began changing Brown's life two years ago.

A reason to live

"When I started with her, I was already in the wheelchair and I was so depressed," said Brown, of Tamarac, Florida who suffers from syringomyelia, a degenerative spinal cord condition that causes paralysis and chronic pain. "I was really not adjusting to life in a wheelchair."

    Enter Tracey, a six-pound capuchin whose mischievous nature gave Brown a reason to want to live. The monkey also gave Brown's husband and caretaker, Craig, a much-needed break.

    "What's unique about Tracey is that she can help me with simple objects. It's that little bit of freedom. I don't have to yell, 'Craig, come help me!'" said Brown, who has only minimal arm movement.

    About five years ago, Brown's doctor suggested she look into monkey helpers, so her husband went online and found the Helping Hands Web site. Three years later, the Helping Hands agency matched Brown with Tracey, and soon Brown found herself doing something she hadn't done in years: laughing.

Specialized Terms

Quadriplegic (n) 四肢瘫痪的人 a person who is permanently unable to move either of their arms or legs, often because their spine has been injured

Capuchin (n) 僧帽卷尾猴 a monkey of Central America and South America having thick hair like a hood on its head

Vocabulary Focus

Deft (adj) skillful in physical movements, especially of the hands

Syringomyelia (n) 脊髓空洞症

Mischievous (adj) 淘气的

Degenerative (adj) describing an illness in which the body or a system of the body gradually stops working

Caretaker (n) someone who looks after a person who is old or ill

Discussion Question

Monkey helpers, that’s a creative idea. Could you figure out other animals or insects to be helpers of human beings?

Extra Exercise

1. Translate the following sentence into Chinese, ‘Owned by Helping Hands: Monkey Helpers for the Disabled, Tracey is the Boston agency's only active-service monkey in Florida and one of 108 placed nationwide since 1979.’

2. According to the recording, what does plegic mean?

说明：

1.文本摘自《Advanced 彭蒙惠英语》，由chandler30亲自录入，转载请注明转自沪江英语论坛《彭蒙惠英语》。更多节目可访www.studioclassroom.com

2.回帖内容为大家讨论类话题，如非个人隐私，请不要选中“只有楼主可见”，以便大家交流。

3.参与讨论奖励50沪元，回答问题奖励50沪元，本栏目谢绝灌水!

11月28日

Jeff Immelt: Running the electric Giant

A candid conversation with the CEO of General Electric about leadership and creativity

Q: So how do you get people excited?

A: People want to win. If people think they've been given the capability to win and are with winners, that's how you get people in the game.

Q: If you had to carve up how much time you spend with customers, on people development, and other things, what would that pie [chart] look like?

A: You can't delegate growth or customer satisfaction. I'm spending four or five days a month with customers. Twice every month, I do town-hall meetings with several hundred customers to share ideas on GE's direction and listen to their thoughts on what we can do better. I'm probably spending 30% of the time on people, teaching and coaching. I'm using 10% of my time on governance, working with the board, meeting with investors. The rest would be time spent on the plumbing of the company, working on operating reviews and strategy sessions.

Q: What's the idea behind imagination breakthroughs?

A: We had to have some way to pull ideas out of the pile, make sure they were funded, and really try to redefine what it meant to innovate in a big company. We started two years ago. We tested the time-honored tradition of pulling things out of the pile, putting good people on them, and finding ways to share ideas. We had 30 ideas. About 20 of them turned out to be good projects, from a dual card for consumer finance to a hybrid locomotive for GE railcars. We picked who would lead them, and every penny is funded. Our leaders know they have to pony up. So I now have 80 projects inside the company that are fully funded with the best people we can find. That's the way you drive change.

Specialized Terms

Town-hall meeting (n) 镇民大会 a gathering of the people who pay taxes in a town, for the purpose of governing the town

Governance (n) 管理系统 a system of management

Plumbing (n) 内部系统 an internal system

Dual card (n) 双功能金融卡 a personal finance card that functions as a credit card and as a bankcard

Pony up (v) 提供所需款项；还钱 to pay what is owed

Vocabulary Focus

In the game (idiom) committed to a business or occupation

Carve up (v) to divide something into smaller parts

Fund (v) to provide the money to pay for an activity or project

Time-honored (adj) of long standing and acceptance

Discussion Question

Well, the only question today is any suggestions to improve this way of learning Advanced Studio Classroom?

说明：

1.文本摘自《Advanced 彭蒙惠英语》，由chandler30亲自录入，转载请注明转自沪江英语论坛《彭蒙惠英语》。更多节目可访www.studioclassroom.com

2.回帖内容为大家讨论类话题，如非个人隐私，请不要选中“只有楼主可见”，以便大家交流。

3.参与讨论奖励50沪元，回答问题奖励50沪元，本栏目谢绝灌水!