Tiêu đề Keys and tapescript for part 1.3.docx ✅

Questio ns Answers Tapescripts 21 C I wanna talk about learning languages. I’ve lived in many different countries, both in Western Europe, Middle East, and now here in Hong Kong. And during all of that time, I’ve learned five or six different languages, to one degree or another. I love learning languages, not only are they important when you move to a country, I just find them fascinating. Before I came to Hong Kong, I lived in Barcelona Spain for ten years. And when I first arrived, the most important thing was being able to communicate with people locally. I don’t attend classes. I don’t think I’m particularly good in classes. I prefer to learn by just talking to people, finding out what I need to say by looking at dictionaries and listening carefully. Other things that helped me when I first moved to Spain, were watching the typical kinds of programs we see everyday on channels around the world. For example the weather. This is great, because they always say the same things. So you can really quickly hear the same words repeated again and again. And the pictures helped of course. Other types of program that helped me learned Spanish quickly were things like game shows, where the same thing happens. They have a catchphrase or a slogan that they repeat endlessly when contestants win or when they are called to compete. As well as that, I used to pick up the Spanish newspapers. First of all, I just accepted that there was no way I was going to understand anything but one or two words. But gradually, I found that I learned lots of new things about this. I was interested because I wanted to know what was happening in the country I lived in. But, I also knew that I could learn a lot of language this way. So I'd take a dictionary with me sometimes, or I'd notice a word and I'd ask other people what …it meant. Anyway, by far the best practice I ever had was just talking to people in the street, or in shops where I'd rehearse in my head what I wanted to say beforehand, before I went in. Usually, I'd make a right mess of it first of all, but, after you get over the embarrassment, it’s quite funny really. And people are very sympathetic and supporting in most cases. It took me a long time to develop a good level of Spanish. I lived there for ten years, and I think I’m very fluent now. But I think for the first two years I was there, it was quite a struggle to hold a decent conversation. There were always lots of words or expressions that I didn’t pick up on. In particular with the colloquial expressions, idioms, that kind of thing, that people use in everyday talk, but you 22 C 23 C 24 A 25 C
don’t necessarily see written down. I didn’t find those very easy to learn at all. But it was a lot of fun. And people as I said are really supporting when they know that you are genuinely interested in learning their language. 26 C Hello Ladies and Gentleman. It gives me great pleasure to introduce our keynote speaker for today's plenary address, Dr. Howard Miller. Dr. Miller, Professor of Sociology at Washington University, has written numerous articles and books on the issues facing older Americans in our graying society for the past 15 years. Dr. Miller. Dr. Miller: Thank you for that introduction. Today, I'd like to preface my remarks from a story from my own life which I feel highlights our common concerns that bring us here together. Several years ago when my grandparents were well into their eighties, they were faced with the reality of no longer being able to adequately care for themselves. My grandfather spoke of his greatest fear, that of leaving the only home they had known for the past 60 years. Fighting back the tears, he spoke proudly of the fact that he had built their home from the ground up, and that he had pounded every nail and laid every brick in the process. The prospect of having to sell their home and give up their independence, and move into a retirement home was an extremely traumatic experience for them. It was, in my grandfather's own words, like having a limb severed off. He was quite emphatic exclaiming that he felt he wasn't important anymore. For them and some older Americans, their so-called "golden years" are at times not so pleasant, for this period can mean the decline of not only one's health but the loss of identity and self-worth. In many societies, this self-identity is closely related with our social status, occupation, material possessions, or independence. Furthermore, we often live in societies that value that which is "new" or in vogue, and our own usage of lexicon in the English language often does not bode well older for Americans. I mean how would your family react if you came home tonight elated exclaiming, "Hey, come to the living room and see the OLD black and white TV I brought!" Unfortunately, the word "old" conjures up images of the need to replace or discard. Now, many of the lectures given at this conference have focused on the issues of pension reform, medical care, and the development of public facilities for senior citizens. And while these are vital issues that must be 27 A 28 B 29 A 30 A
addressed, I'd like to focus my comments on an underlying issue that will affect the overall success of the other programs mentioned. This has to do with realigning our perspectives on what it means to be a part of this group, and finding meaningful roles the elderly can play and should play in our societies. First of all, I'd like to talk about . . . 31 A Hello. I’m going to talk about British festivals. I’m sure you’ve heard about the Notting Hill Carnival in London and the Edinburgh Festival, but today we’re going to look at a lot more that you might not know about. Actually, a lot of these are not exactly festivals, but strange races or competitions. Some of them are ancient and some are modern. So, let’s start in January in the north of Scotland with the Burning of the Clavie. This is a whisky barrel which is set alight then carried through the streets as a bonfire. It’s an ancient tradition which always takes place on 11th of January, the first day of the year, according to an older form of the calendar. The bonfire brings good luck for the coming year and people used to keep bits of burnt wood as protection against evil spirits. At the end of January, even further north, in the Shetland Islands, there’s another fire festival, the Up HellyAa. This seems like an ancient festival, but has actually only been going for about 130 years – well, it is fairly old, I suppose. People carry fire-lit torches and a Viking boat through the streets, then set fire to the boat. There’s lots of dancing; it’s good fun. Now to the north of England. On Shrove Tuesday in February, otherwise known as Pancake Day, a special Pancake Bell is rung in Scarborough. Everyone goes down to the road next to the beach where they skip – yep, they jump over long ropes, up to fifteen people to one rope. And they have pancake races. This is quite common in the UK – running with a frying pan and tossing a pancake at the same time. Another kind of race takes place in spring – cheese rolling.In Gloucestershire, in the south-west of England, round cheeses in round boxes are sent rolling down a hill and people run after them and try and catch them. The hill is very steep, so people often fall over – if you take part in this you need to be very fit and wear your oldest jeans. Nowadays this strange custom attracts visitors from all over the world, but the people from the local village are usually the ones who catch the cheese. From people-racing, to animals, very tiny animals. World Championship Snail Racing takes place in a village in Norfolk. The snails have to race from an inner 32 D 33 B 34 B 35 A
circle to an outer circle and the winner gets a lot of lettuce.There’s a party and barbecue for the snail owners and observers. This custom began in the 1960s after a local man saw something similar in France. In the UK we don’t eat snails, by the way.