Active
Listening
1. Barriers to communication
2. Noise
3. Classification of barriers
4. Types of Listening
5. Active versus Passive Listening
6. Traits of a good listener
7. Implications of Effective Listening
1. Barriers to Communication
2. Noise
3. Classification of barriers
We all believe we communicate well. We all
believe we know the art of communicating. We are confident we have no
difficulty (in) communicating. However, if we paused for a moment and thought
about an instance or two, we might just begin to wonder.
1. Raghu : Hi, Sundar!
Somu
: …….
Raghu : Go to hell!
2. Rani : How is your mother today?
Devi
: Much better.
Rani
: I want to visit her. I’ll join you
this evening.
Devi
: She’ll be happy. But my grandpa is
arriving. I have to get supper ready.
Rani:
Okay. When are visitors allowed?
3. Joseph: Are you too busy, John?
John : I’m completing Experiment 3 in the
Chemistry Lab Record.
Joseph:
Oh.
John : You need help? [Joseph nods] Okay.
Tell me.
Joseph:
Thanksda*. I don’t… * ‘da’ is a
suffix in Thamizh used between friends.
4. Raju : [is answering an exercise on tenses,
has his pen between his teeth,
looking hard at the
exercise sheet
(as if that would somehow
locate
the answer for him!)]
Raghu: Move over. Let me help you.
Raju : [moves away without a
word]
Raghu: [angrily] There’s always a next
time,
my friend!
5. Sales Manager : Sir, I need your
permission to attend my
cousin’s Shashtiaptapurthi.
General
Manager: Permission? Don’t you have any casual leave left?
Sales
Manager : No, sir.
General
Manager: You’re a senior manager. You shouldn’t have mismanaged your
leave account. How could you have planned it
so badly?
Sales
Manager :???
Shashtiaptapurthi is a joyous occasion for
sons and daughters when they get their parents to re-perform their marriage on completion
of 60 years of age of their father. The father re-marries the mother by tying
the knot of a yellow thick thread with an emblem in gold around her neck.
6. Floor
Supervisor:
Babu, Can’t you ever
(accusingly) do a thing right?
Babu
: Sir, I was only mending
( taken unawares) …
F.M. : You mean you were fiddling.
(glaring)
Babu : Sir, …..
(clearly upset)
F. M. : Don’t argue with me.
(cutting him off)
Babu : No, sir. Let me…..
(firmly)
F.M. : How dare you talk back to me?
(threatening)
Babu : Yes, sir. I mean, no sir. (!)
(bewildered)
A few more instance of communication. Read
on
7.
I had once submitted an article for consideration for publication in a
magazine to be brought out by the Ministry of Education in an African country
for which I was working on a contract. The article depicted the feelings of a
frustrated teacher and how he viewed his students, his colleagues and his
principal.
A top ministry official was very angry and threatened to cancel
my contract. His accusations implied that I was referring to the local students
and principal and that my article was an affront to his nation and race.
I was perplexed because I thought that my article would be seen
as no more than a literary piece based on imagination. I was naïve enough to
expect objective assessment of my article. Instead, the officer perceived me
not as a writer but as a foreigner who in his perception had no right to
comment or say the things that I said in the article.
A young fresh teacher entered his class for the first time. While
lecturing, he observed two women students chatting and smiling while looking at
him on and off, and he concluded that they were not only disrespectful but
mocking at him and that they were not behaving as women students should. When
he warned them and put them in their places, one woman student got up to say
that she and her friend had not done anything to deserve the warning; the
teacher became enraged at this audacity and punished them in as many ways as he
could think of.
Communication in dialogues 2 and 3 goes on
smoothly whereas in 1,4,5 and 6 you notice
barriers to
communication, don’t you? The two incidents in 7 and 8 are two clear instances
where barriers to communication are working effectively!
Or
think of some other ordinary events. Like, for instance, ordering a coffee. I
might order a coffee, drink it, pay for it and leave the hotel. Or the server
might come late to receive the order or bring the coffee late. Based on my
perceptions and attitudes, I might draw inferences that are not there in the
server’s behaviour, and what might follow could be unpleasant for the server
and me as well. Let’s say somebody knocks on the door, I take a little time to
reach the door, in the meantime, the knock gets longer and louder. I might not
make much of the longer and the louder knock, open the door, speak to the
person. Or influenced by my perceptions of how a person knocking at a door
should behave, I might misinterpret the event and there could be trouble! And
the guest may have his ideas of me for not answering the door immediately!
Barriers
What are these barriers?
These barriers can be classified as
‘intrapersonal’, ‘interpersonal’ and ‘organizational’.
Intrapersonal refers to barriers coming from
within an individual. Interpersonal refers to barriers arising from actions
or no actions between individuals. Organizational combines intrapersonal
and interpersonal barriers in the place of work.
What are barriers after all?
Obstacles or obstructions that prevent
genuine communication.
Barriers are of two kinds:
1. internal [occurring within an individual
and between individuals]
2. external [environment outside the
individuals]
1. Internal Barriers
Communicating or not communicating depends
on assumptions and expectations. In the eight samples presented in the previous
pages are examples of assumptions and expectations.
In sample 1, Raghu considers Somu his
friend [assumption], so greets him and expects response from
Somu but Somu doesn’t respond [probably
he assumes, for whatever reason, Raghu is not his friend]. Raghu’s expectation
is not fulfilled, he gets upset and says something unpleasant. The barriers are
assumptions and nonfulfillment of expectations.
In sample 4, Raghu tries to help Raju but
Raju doesn’t accept it. The barriers here are Raghu’s assumption that Raju
would want help and Raju is perhaps too proud to accept help from anyone, even
from Raghu who may be his friend.
In sample 5, the barrier is the
authoritative attitude and tone of the GM. He could’ve refused permission
without being bossy. The sales manager assumes that exhausting casual leave and
asking for a day’s permission is no crime. But the GM thinks so because he
believes that no subordinate should exhaust casual leave early.
In sample 6, the barriers are [1] the floor
supervisor’s assumption that a worker should observe silence, respond only by
accepting his boss’s reprimand, and that he is haughty if he tries to respond
[2] Babu’s assumption that he is entitled to explaining his position and his
explanation is not arguing with his boss on equal terms.
In sample 7, the barriers are the
perceptions and the resultant assumptions and expectations. Because the article
portrayed a negative picture, the ministry official saw the article through his
perception of who a foreigner should be and interpreted the article as an
offence. Because I expected the ‘educated’ ministry official to look at the
article as no more than an imaginary piece. Both of us failed to acknowledge
that there could be difference between intended and perceived meanings
irrespective of whether or not we were ‘educated’.
In sample 8, the teacher’s perceptions of
how a woman student should behave in a classroom and the student’s perception
of how a teacher should perceive her behaviour stand as barriers. The teacher
felt he was superior and his superiority meant that no student should question
his interpretation. The women students should not have thought it their right
to chat and smile while looking at the teacher and expect the teacher to accept
their behaviour.
Perception
is how we see and understand (a view, an image, idea or understanding of)
people, places, things. It leads to assumptions. These assumptions lead
to expectations.
Now the question is: how is perception
formed?
Perception is formed through self-image and
images of others, relationship between the perceiver and the other person(s)
and health of the perceiver. Both images get shaped by the
language and body language employed, the kind of
stereotyping in the mind, cultural influences, physical characteristics and of
course silence.
In other words, barriers arise from ‘intrapersonal’
and ‘interpersonal’ behaviour like ‘wrong
assumptions’, ‘varied perceptions’, ‘various backgrounds’, ‘wrong inferences’,
‘prejudices’, ‘complexes –superior/inferior’, ‘lack in language use’, ‘mismatch
between verbal and nonverbal communication’, ‘emotions, ‘being selective in
focusing only on specific portions of message’, ‘cultural variations’.
Self-image
This
refers to
what you are, who you are as you grow out of your experience
[your abilities, attitudes, values, emotions, feelings, needs, memory,
thinking etc.]
In other words, you think of yourself as a superior,
modest or inferior person. Non-English medium students, for
instance, may behave confidently even if they are unable to use English as a
medium.
Image
of others
This
refers to the
pictures you have of other people as superior, modest or inferior persons.
You may think well or ill of their language
abilities, of their body language; you may or may not like their physical
appearance [height, weight, colour, hair etc.], dress, perceptions, attitudes. ‘he doesn’t like me’, ‘she looks pretty’, ‘he
looks aggressive’, ‘she is so selfish’, ‘he thinks he’s an expert on women’,
‘she thinks she can teach me a thing or two’, ‘oh god, what colours does she
choose’ are how we think about others.
Health
This
refers to physical
condition [ill or well], physical ease [comfortable or not], mental disposition
[motivation, willingness, confidence, curiosity, concern, fear, doubt and so
on].
Relationship
between you and others
This
refers to the
closeness or distance you’ve developed or you’ll develop with people around
you.
All these factors impinge on the
communicating act every time, every moment favourably or unfavourably. They may
become barriers to or support interaction.
2. External Barriers
They are: 1. location 2. noise 3. audience 4. authority
Location: This refers to the climate and
the geography of the place of communication.
‘Climate’ refers to atmosphere
available for communication. If music is
blaring on one side, if heavy
traffic flows on either side of the building, if a
politician’s voice amplified,
the climate cannot be thought of as congenial to
communication.
Noise
: It is anything that makes it hard for a communication act to complete,
anything
that interrupts and makes
sending or receiving messages. It can be external
like a noisy restaurant,
construction noise outside, music blaring and
deafening, traffic snarls and the
resultant noise, children playing near. Or it can
be internal such as poor use of
language [vocabulary and structure],
pronunciation, too low or high
a volume, delivery speed, distracting
mannerisms, unpleasant body
language.
Audience : This refers to people in the
communication scene. They can influence a
communication. Presence or
absence of one individual or certain individuals,
arrival or departure of
a person or a group of persons in a communicating
situation may change the
complexion of the communication. Say, your were
about to confide in your
friend (leaning close) and somebody walked in,
you’d shut up (drawing
away). Or you could be prepared to come out with
your story once a person was
out of earshot. You may wait to pass on
information until someone
you wanted to be present arrived.
Authority : This is part of organizational
barriers. Exercise of excessive authority
prevents open and frank and
encourages pretence and routine. Again, a
management may have so many
channels that communication can get
distorted. Communication in
a team can become difficult if it consists of
people believing in
different value systems. And there may be too many
messages to receive and hence
there may be difficulty in comprehension.
Listening
Definition
Listening is sustained effort to receive
sounds and make meaning.
importance of listening
Can you recollect what happens in our
waking moments? If we think back on what happens in a day, we’ll find to our
surprise that we speak less and listen more. If only for this reason, we should
develop the ability and the habit of listening carefully. Moreover, according
to a study mentioned by Stanton “……..the white-collar worker spends 45 percent
of all communicating time listening….” ( p.23, N. Stanton’s Communication, Macmillan,
1990). And if we don’t listen to others, we cannot expect others to listen to
us.
Moreover, Listening leads to thinking,
thinking to analyzing, analyzing to accepting, modifying, rejecting the ideas,
the thoughts, the concepts that speakers project.
Need for listening
1.
respect the speaker so that he will respect you when you speak
2.
receive information, new or old
3.
understand the message
4.
respond to the message [become the speaker]
5.
give information, new or old
6.
show emotions
7.
receive instruction/knowledge/wisdom
8.
benefit from the experience of others
9.
indicate respect/affection/love/admiration for the speaker
10.show politeness and courtesy to the
speaker
Barriers to listening
In ideal conversations, someone speaks, the
other listens, the other speaks, the someone listens. But does listening go on all
the time? The answer is a ‘no. Then we might ask: what makes us not listen? The
answer is that there are certain barriers preventing us from listening all the
time.
What are these barriers?
Sometimes we are unable to listen. Some
other times, we avoid listening. Still, some other times, we refuse to listen.
we are unable to listen
If we are unable to listen, it’s not
because we are deaf. Physically we may not be deaf. Sounds may reach our ears
but they don’t reach our brain for it to understand. Because we’re preoccupied.
In other words, our mind is already busy with something[s] or some other
person[s]—problems, questions, expectations, emotions, sentiments and so on.
We’re so busy thinking about these things, we’re so busy analyzing them, trying
to understand, trying to anticipate, trying to solve.
Sekar: I don’t know why these things
always happen to me.
People
misunderstand me. The
other day
I met Jabbar. He was
angry…..
Raj, are you listening?
Raj : Sorry, Sekar. I was
thinking of
tomorrow’s interview.
You were
saying?
we avoid listening
If we avoid listening, it’s because someone
is not worth listening to.
Because we think we know better than the other person. What’s the
meaning of ‘not worth’? What we are hearing may not be important enough to pay
attention to or may not affect us immediately or seriously to worry about. Or
because the person may be below us in status or position. The person may be
younger to us in age or may be a subordinate, may be uneducated or poor or a
stranger.
we refuse to listen
If we refuse to listen, it’s because we’re
under the influence of prejudices or complexes.
complexes
We may feel inferior or superior to others;
these complexes are the result of how we see ourselves in comparison
with others around us.
prejudice
Prejudice can be in favour of someone or
against someone. We’re generally prejudiced in our favour. In other words, we
see ourselves as positive, helpful, favourable or good. We’re generally
prejudiced in favour of some relatives, friends because we see them as positive
or good towards us, helpful or favourable to us and what we do. We’re generally
prejudiced against some relatives and friends because we see them as negative,
unhelpful, bad or even evil. In other words, we like some and we dislike some.
Therefore, we refuse to listen to those whom we dislike for some reason or
other.
The reasons for the dislike can be hearsay
or personal. We dislike some because we readily believe or accept what our
relatives or friends whom we like may say about them. This is known as hearsay;
we accept this report as true, and refuse to listen to them. We dislike some
because we have had bad or bitter experiences with them.
So, we don’t pay attention to what some
people say to us or when they talk to us because
1. we’re preoccupied with
our own thoughts
2. we assume we have
nothing to gain
3. we’re prejudiced
against them.
Need for training
Listening is a neglected skill and taken
for granted. We may all feel that as long as we are able to hear, we can also
listen. “…..it seems to be assumed that so long as we don’t have a physical
hearing deficiency, we are automatically capable of listening from the day we
are born and do not therefore need to be taught.”(p.24, ibid)
There’s a lot of stress on learning to
speak, on conducting courses to train how to speak to different purposes but
there’s hardly any awareness about listening efficiently and effectively.
Nonetheless, in our value system we don’t
give importance to listening. We as listeners expect speakers to behave
responsibly, to speak in such a way that it becomes an invitation for us to
listen to them.
But do we behave responsibly? We think it’s our right to listen or not
listen. We feel that speakers cannot blame us if we don’t listen because
listening is not obligatory. They may take the initiative on their own to speak
to us or they might have been invited by our higher-ups. We didn’t ask them to
speak to us, did we now? Listeners have the freedom to do anything but
listen.
Shall we now do something about this
training?
This training consists of some useful
information about listening and several exercises where you’ll exercise your active
listening skills sufficiently enough for it to become part of your
personality.
4. Types of Listening
Different purposes require different types
of listening. We may be listening to
• receive information needed for a particular action
[informative/comprehending
listening]
• improve relationship with a
particular individual
[relationship /empathetic
listening ]
• show appreciation for a person
or an activity
[appreciative listening]
• evaluate an individual or an activity critically
[critical listening]
• discriminate between things or people.
[discriminative listening]
Informative listening [comprehending listening]
Here we as listeners are interested in
understanding the messages we receive from others. Our intention is to decode
the encoded message in such a way that we receive the same message that the
sender [encoder] sent.
This is the most common listening activity
that goes in all areas of our lives. Much of our knowledge and wisdom comes
from this activity. For instance, we listen to lectures or instructions from
our teachers. In our workplace, we listen to instructions, briefings, reports,
explanations, new procedures, policies or practices.
Mastery of
this skill depends on our
• knowledge of the medium senders use
• concentration
• memory.
The most
common medium is a language, say English. The messages [content or subject
matter] may be clothed in general English or scientific/technical vocabulary.
So we should have a good understanding of such vocabulary and also sentence
structures senders use. Non-English medium students studying in colleges where
they learn medicine, engineering disciplines, or science disciplines would need
to learn and master, as quickly as possible, the technical/scientific
vocabulary so that they may not miss information passed on by their faculty.
Concentration
is an essential feature of this listening. It is difficult to concentrate on
the messages from start to finish. But if we allowed ourselves to be
distracted, we might miss some vital information or instruction for which we
may have to regret later. Say your boss is giving you oral instructions and
you’re thinking of where to go coming weekend or you’re gossiping with your
neighbour. You might not be able to carry out the duty given to you and you
might have to face the wrath of your superior.
It’s not
enough if you have a good command of the medium and the ability to concentrate;
your memory should be strong enough to
recall information accurately
so that
you are able to perform tasks successfully.
relationship [empathetic]
listening
This listening enables us to help people or
to build/maintain/improve relationship between others and us.
There are three features: attentive,
supportive, empathetic.
We pay attention to the speaker by verbal
cues: ‘I see’, ‘yes’, ‘I understand’, ‘really?’, ‘uh-huh’ and nonverbal cues:
nodding, smiling, frowning, eye contact, tone expressing concern, gentle
touching.
We support by patient listening, by
expressing confidence in the speaker’s abilities, or by not attempting to
advice, not manipulating the speaker, by lending a shoulder to lean on.
We empathize with the speaker by reflecting
their feelings and thinking. We enter into the world of the speaker and become
one with him.
appreciative listening
This occurs when you’re enjoying sources of
enjoyment such as music, film, radio, comedy, television, and oratory. As
listeners, we appreciate [speak highly of] the quality of these sources.
It brings pleasure to us and happiness to
musicians, actors, comedians, radio/TV jockeys, orators. It brings pleasure
because we see the value of quality in performances; it brings happiness
because the performers know that there is a crowd who will gather any time to
listen and exhibit their appreciation through verbal and nonverbal mediums.
critical listening
When we apply our intellect and
intelligence to analyse objectively and to look for logic, expertise
and emotion in a speech, in a dialogue, in a conversation, in a
discussion, in a brainstorming, listening is termed as critical.
We are being critical when we say things
like, ‘he’s no expert’, ‘she’s excellent’, ‘today he isn’t bowling his best’,
‘they aren’t truly sorry’, ‘we’ve done our best under the circumstances’, ‘what
a brave child!’, ‘how can you be so cruel?’, “he’s whipping up unwanted
emotions’, ‘how can he miss in the penalty kick?’.
discriminative listening
We’re using discrimination when we are able
to detect fine and minute changes that distinguish one thing from another. We
are discriminative listeners when we are sensitive to the changes in the
speaker’s volume, pitch, tone, rate, stress, when we are able to detect even
nuances of communication [meaning difference, speaker intentions], when we are
able to identify a sound, among several occurring at once, belonging to a
specific machine.
Of course, to be able to do all these, we
should have a good professional knowledge of the related field.
5. Active versus Passive Listening
Passive listeners just hear the sounds
around them. For instance, how many students or teachers can recollect
correctly the essentials and the details of a speech given by a chief guest on
their annual college day?
We become passive listeners when we have
been made to listen, when the topic is of little interest to us, when we have no
idea who the speaker is, when we have nothing better to do, when we don’t like
the speaker for some reason. We welcome any distraction like watching through
the open window people passing by, mannerisms of the speaker, any invitation
for gossip from a neighbour listener, mentally drifting away from the speaker.
Passive listening leads to distortion in
communication and results in time getting wasted for both the speaker and the
listener.
In contrast, active listeners try their
best to make meaning out of the sounds they hear around them. They don’t become
victims to distractions, their concentration is total, they take notes, they
put down on paper questions for the question hour at the end of the
speech/lecture/talk/presentation, they indicate to the speaker that they are
attentive by several nonverbal gestures—nodding, smiling, frowning, maintaining
eye contact, leaning forward, they come back into the room/hall without delay
from refreshments.
Active listening leads to mental
satisfaction of having listened to a good speaker, meaningful gathering of
thoughts conveyed by the speaker, deriving benefits from the expert talk,
strengthening memory, retention and recall skills.
6. Traits of a good listener
A good listener does not
:
· remain silent, indifferent, mechanical
[non-participation]
· yawn, look elsewhere, respond
irrelevantly, read, gossip (engages in small talk
with neighbours), daydream [negative feedback]
· act superior, intimidate/become
aggressive [pressure through personality]
· judge/evaluate speaker by appearance,
mannerism [use prejudices, assumptions]
· become preoccupied with own thoughts,
assume no gain from listening
A good listener
· is attentive, involved, respond
[encode] [participation]
· maintains eye contact, smiles, nods,
leans forward, frowns [nonverbal]
· is speaker-oriented [you-oriented, not
I-oriented], respects, supports, empathizes,
admires, appreciates, is objectively critical [positive attitude,
behaviour]
· clarifies doubts by
paraphrasing/restating/summarizing with expressions like
If I’m not mistaken, you’re
saying……… [formal] }[genuine]
You mean
that…………[non-formal]
}[listening]
· during question hour, suggests better
techniques, adds to content. [feedback]
7. Effective Listening
Active listening is effective listening. A
good listener is an effective listener.
Tips for effective listening are the same
as those that a good listener does.
Reasons for effective listening
1. We seem to assume that as long as we
don’t have a physical hearing problem, we
are automatically
capable of listening.
This is not true.
2. Listening is not the same as hearing.
When we wait for a bus, when we are traveling on a
bus
or train, sounds from people or vehicles reach our ears. Do all these sounds
reach the
brain
and does the brain see meaning in them? If we are busy with our own thoughts,
that
is,
if our mind is thinking about something or some person important to us, our
ears will
receive
the sounds but our mind will not register them. So hearing is different from
listening.
What’s the difference?
The difference is as follows:
Hearing takes place automatically.
That is, we can’t stop
hearing unless
we are deaf. So hearing
is involuntary.
Listening does not take
place automatically.
We have to consciously or knowingly
decide
to listen. That is, we
decide that our mind
should receive the
sounds and understand
what they mean. So
listening is voluntary.
3. Listening doesn’t occur all the time
someone is speaking to us.
By nature, our mind has a very limited ‘attention span’. So we hear,
listen, hear, listen. Because our mind now and again wanders here
and there, think of this or that; in other words, our mind doesn’t
stay with the speaker from beginning to end. We don’t listen
‘actively’. Naturally, there will be gaps in receiving the
communication from the speaker. Such incomplete listening can
affect our relationship with the speaker negatively.
4.
Again it’s human nature to predict or anticipate what the
speaker is going to say and, without further listening, to
complete the thought or the message before the speaker
completes it. Very often, our completion of the message
is the same as that of the speaker. However, it’s always
possible that errors can occur and our completion of the
thought is different from the speaker’s.
Guna: I don’t know what’s
happening
to me. My boss
is a pain in the
neck. No promotion.
The job is
boring; I wonder if I
should resign….
Somu: You’ve resigned? You’re a
fool.
Guna: Don’t call me that! I never
said
I resigned.
Somu: But you did. I heard
you.
Somu’s mind did not wander but registered
information very different from what it
heard. It connected Guna’s difficulties with ‘resign’. Somu could
realize his error or
the wrong prediction could hurt the relationship.
5. The speaker may not meet our expectations. The speech or the talk
could be ordinary
or even boring. We may stop listening and face unpleasant consequences.
8. Implications of effective listening
Effective listening leads to
1. gaining understanding, respect, admiration, friendship from others
2. feeling the pulse of other people: how they think, what they believe
in
how they come to conclusions
3. gathering knowledge, experience, wisdom from others
4. experiencing satisfaction, growth, development, happiness.
________________________________________________________________________
Listening
Exercises
For
all the exercises, the sentences or the paragraphs on which the questions are
based are available with the teacher.
The
teacher will read them to you or you’ll listen to them on a tape.
•
Listen carefully.
•
Read the instructions, listen to ‘listening’ statements and passages, read your
choices
and select the correct answer.
Exercises
one
Here
is a sample for the following exercise.
You’ll
hear:
Sunitha has understood the
instructions.
Here
you have four choices. You’ve listened to a sentence. Now select that choice
which
gives the same meaning as that of the sentence you heard.
a.
Sunitha is ready to answer questions.
b.
Sunitha answered the questions.
c.
Sunitha has no doubt about what she should do now.
d.
The instructions were easy to understand.
It’s
necessary to remember the question sentence and match the choices with it.
Choice
[a] mentions one possible result of the action mentioned in the question.
Choice
[b] mentions something that is yet to take place.
Choice
[c] expresses the same thought that the question sentence contains.
Choice
[d] talks about the ‘easiness’ of the instructions, which only partly agrees
with the
question sentence you heard.
So
the correct choice is [c].
Have
a paper and a pen ready to select the correct choices. You’ll hear sentences
spoken. At the end of every sentence, there will be a pause. During this time,
read the choices, select that choice that best paraphrases or expresses the same thought in different words.
Now
listen.
1.
a. Sam types as fast as I do.
b. Sam types very fast.
c. Sam types 120 words per minute.
d. I type as fast as Sam.
2.
a. She served six years.
b. She served two years.
c. She came once between the two contracts.
d. She liked the country.
3.
a. The party was a success.
b. Only half the guests turned up.
c. Only three-fourths of the guests turned
up.
d. The party was a failure.
4.
a. My daughter is a bank officer.
b. My daughter’s salary is Rs. 2,40,000 a
year.
c. My daughter’s salary is taxable.
d. My daughter earns 1 lakh and 20,000 a
year.
5.
a. You had an appointment with the dentist for tomorrow evening.
b. You see the dentist in the evenings.
c. I’m reminding you about the appointment
with the dentist.
d. I’m asking you to meet your dentist
tomorrow evening.
6. a. You have a problem with your eyesight.
b. Why don’t you listen to my advice?
c. You’d better get your eyes checked.
d. You did not go to the eye specialist.
7.
a. Today is a very unpleasant day.
b. Today’s weather is not bad.
c. The weather has always been good.
d. Today’s weather is the best so far.
8.
a. The talk contained a lot of useful information.
b. The talk was very boring.
c. The talk was very exciting.
d. The talk contained information we
already knew.
9.
a. Tharini fainted.
b. Tharini couldn’t kill the snake.
c. Neither of us could kill the snake.
d. One of us tried to kill the snake but
failed.
10.
a. The exercise is good.
b. The exercise is difficult.
c. The speaker is questioning the
listener’s reaction to the exercise.
d. The speaker wants to know about the
listener’s reaction to the exercise.
Spoken
sentences for exercises one
1.
I type 40 words per minute. Sam types twice as fast.
2.
The contract was for three years. She worked for two contracts.
3.
All the guests enjoyed the party.
4.
My daughter earns Rs.20,000 per month.
5.
You’re seeing the dentist this evening.
6.
You should’ve your eyes examined.
7.
The weather has never been better.
8.
The lecture was very informative.
9.
The snake escaped before we could kill it.
10.
How do you find the exercise?
________________________________________________________________________
Exercise two
In
the first two exercises you listened to sentences and selected sentences from
the choices that had a meaning same as those of question sentences. This is known
identifying paraphrases.
In
the next two exercises, you’ll practise understanding question sentences for
their inner meaning or inferences.
Here
is an example:
You’ll
hear
I have understood the instructions.
You
have the choices:
a. I’m ready to do the experiment.
b. I did the experiment.
c. I have no doubt about what I should do
now.
d. I understood the instructions easily.
Choice
[d] talks about the level of understanding which is not implied.
Choice
[c] is a restatement, that is, a paraphrase.
Choice
[b] is not right because understanding instructions does not imply
doing the experiment.
Choice
[a] is the answer if only through elimination of other choices. Also because
it implies readiness to take
the next step.
Now listen to the sentences. Between sentences there will
be pauses. At each pause, read the choices below and select the one containing
an inference.
1.
a. I’m your P.A.
b. I’m your boss.
c. I have a problem—an aching tooth.
d. It’s my duty to remind you.
2.
a. I served the firm sincerely.
b. I didn’t join the recent strike.
c. My project brought profit to the
company.
d. My boss liked my project.
3.
a. I demanded that salary.
b. I am taxable.
c. I earn Rs1,44,000 per year.
d. I earn Rs. 44 thousand per year.
4.
a. We had to order for more food.
b. The party was a huge success.
c. Everybody praised us for giving such a
large party.
d. The guest were thrice the number invited.
5.
a. I spent a huge sum of money.
b. I understood that painting was not the
only solution.
c. I painted the house myself and it was a
poor job.
d. I liked the house looking dull.
6.
a. I was ready to give you the money.
b. You weren’t serious about borrowing
money.
c. I refused to give you the money.
d. I know you badly need the money but I
don’t have it.
7.
a. Why didn’t you listen to me?
b. What’s the use of feeling sorry now?
c. You didn’t listen to me.
d. You listened to me.
9.
a. He cannot be prosecuted because he’s dead.
b. He was killed in jail.
c. He cannot give evidence because he’s
dead.
d. His enemies killed him.
10.
a. This indicates friendship.
b. This happens only in a party or large
gathering.
c. This is a greeting used at the time of
being introduced by a mutual friend.
d. This is a greeting between strangers.
11.
a. I’ll regret joining this College.
b.
We’ve stayed only for a short time.
c.
I’ll be sorry we’ll be saying good-bye to each other soon.
d.
I’m eagerly waiting to leave the College.
12.
a. The speaker is giving a serious warning.
b.
The speaker is boasting of his physical prowess.
c.
The speaker says he will need one step to hit you.
d.
Don’t take any step. Then you’ll be dead.
Spoken
sentences for exercise two are:
1.
Remember you’re seeing the dentist tomorrow morning.
2.
I received three advance increments.
3.
I earn Rs.12000 per month.
4.
We’d invited twenty but sixty arrived.
5.
The house appeared dull even after painting.
6.
If I had the money, I’d give it to you.
7.
You should’ve listened to me.
8.
He was murdered while he was out on bail.
9.
The drunken driver was taken into custody.
10.
‘How d’you do?’ ‘How d’you o?’
11.
How time flies! What a time we had! Another month we’ll be out of college.
12.
Another step and you are dead.
________________________________________________________________________
Exercise
three
You’ve
listened to sentences, understood them for their literal and implied meanings.
Now you’ll listen to short conversations and see what they mean to you.
Example
Voice
: where are the speakers?
Ram : You aren’t playing well at all. What’s
wrong?
Ganesh:
I don’t know. I’m just not able to move.
Choices:
a. Ram’s place b. At a cafe c. a new basketball court d.at Ganesh’s home.
The
answer is ‘c’.
Listen
to short conversation and make your choices:
1.
a. Mahabalipuram b. Weekend c. By bus
d. For a holiday
2.
a. Babu is not in his senses. b. His
mother doesn’t like Suresh.
c. Babu has a test. d. Babu wants to go.
3.
a. confession b. denial c. no from Suman d. Silence
4.
a. He knows there is a strike. b. He
knows nothing about the strike.
c. His car is in good condition. d. He’s
not interested in the strike.
5.
a. He’s read the ad. b.
He wants to buy BPL.
c. He’s not giving her a cheque. d. He’ll
let his wife buy a TV.
6.
a. She wants to know if her husband has read the real ad.
b. She’s interested in buying a TV.
c. She knows her husband wants a TV.
d. She wants a cheque written.
7.
a. He’s willing to help. b. He
understands that speaker A is a stranger.
c. He refuses to help speaker A. d. He doesn’t
like speaker A.
8.
a. He indicates that he doesn’t know his way about.
b. He just wants to know if B knows the
way.
c. He’s testing speaker B.
d. He’s teasing speaker B.
9.
a. He’s laughing at student B. b. He
appreciates student B.
c. He is students B’s brother. d. Student B is doing everything except
studying.
10.
a. He doesn’t like student A’s observation.
b. He is sorry student A is not his roommate.
c. He’s asking whether student A is his
roommate.
d. He is happy student A is not his
roommate.
Short
conversations for this exercise:
1.
Voice: when is Babu going?
Mother: Did I hear you on the phone
planning for the weekend?
Babu
: Yes, mom. Subash and I are visiting Mahabalipuram.
2.
Voice: Why can’t Babu go?
Mother: Are you in your senses?
Babu
: Mom!
Mother: isn’t there a test on Monday?
3.
Voice: What does dad want?
Dad: You went to Ramu’s house?
Suman: No, dad.
Dad: say it now, I know you did.
4.
voice: What does speaker B say?
Speaker A: isn’t there an air strike?
Speaker B : I’m taking my car.
5.
voice: What’s the man saying?
Woman: Did you see this ad? They’re selling
BPL at throwaway prices.
Man
: Shall I write out a cheque?
6.
voice: What does the woman want?
Woman: Did you see this ad? They’re selling
BPL at throwaway prices.
Man
: Shall I write out a cheque?
7.
voice : What does speaker B infer?
Speaker A: Can you tell me how to reach the
post office?
Speaker B: I’m also a stranger here.
8.
voice : What does speaker A say?
Speaker A: Can you tell me how to reach the
post office?
Speaker B: I’m also a stranger here.
9.
voice : What does speaker A say?
Speaker A: You’re hardly studying these
days.
Speaker B: you’re not my roommate, are you
now?
10.
voice : What does speaker B say?
Speaker A: You’re hardly studying these
days.
Speaker B: you’re not my roommate, are you
now?
___________________________________________________________________________
Exercise
four
Now
you’ll listen to very short passages. Listen to the questions first and bear
them in mind and make your choices as you listen.
1.
a. water pollution b. boiling is the best
process. c. pollution is not serious d. solutions to
water pollution
2.
a. several b. some c. none
d. Five
3.
a. There is poor market for used equipment.
b. it’s not cost-effective.
c. equipment becomes useless assets.
4.
a. sewage b. pollution c. POPs
d. Organo chlorides.
Short
passages for this exercise:
1.
What’s the topic of this passage?
Water
pollution has become a household issue today, and every housewife wishes to
protect her family from the dangers of infected water. She is offered a range
of domestic disinfection methods, which range from boiling, chlorination,
ozonisation to U-V radiation. Chlorination is done by adding chlorine tablets
to the water. But this is recommended only in emergencies, and non-availability
of other methods. This is because chlorination has toxic side-effects like
formation on by-products like chloroform, carbon-tetrachloride etc. Ozonisation
works through the process of oxidation, killing bacteria, viruses and other
spores found in the water. Any excess is quickly converted to oxygen. But even
this process is claimed to have some side-effects and is a bit expensive. U-V
radiation is effective depending on the strength and duration of the dosage.
On
the other hand, boiling is a simple process and can be done at a very minimal
cost. Drinking water should be boiled for 10-20 minutes, cooled and then
filtered in a water filter before use.
[an
extract from ECO news, September-December 1995]
2.
How many steps does Dr Raj intend to take?
In
the last two decades, nearly 20 species of fish have totally disappeared from
the pulicat lake, situated about 60 km north of the City. But according to Dr
Raj it is possible to restore the lake’s ecosystem before things get out of
hand. He has planned a series of steps. He plans to take up offbottom algai and
oyster cultivation. To done on rafts, these cultures will provide food for the
birds. He is confident that even the species of fish that have now disappeared
would reappear.
The
crab species that ar being exported will be bred in captivity so that the eggs
that are now being exported can be saved, thereby increasing their population.
The
sandbar will be manually dug up by the fishermen in a traditional system known
as ‘paadu’ (zone). This would take them a week for which the villages involved
in the operation would pay them to compensate for the loss of fishing days.
This would reduce salinity levels in the lake.
And
as the last stage, mangroves would be reforested.
[an
extract from The Hindu 22 January 1977]
3.
What’s the principal argument against buying?
The
question of whether to lease, rent or buy is very complicated. It depends very
much on the tax and cash position of a company. But one thing is clear; our
present policy of buying is unwise. Because this type of equipment is
constantly improving. It’s necessary to make frequent changes. If you own a
copier, you have to sell it. The trouble is that there is a very poor market
for used machines. A secondary point is that interbloc is a large company that
does not need to build up its assets in this way or have a debt on the balance
sheet. At the same time, the advantages of leasing have been overstated. Many
companies have regarded leasing as a means to avoid tax. In fact, it only
postpones it. The company must face a tax bill in the end. The only way to
avoid making payment is for the company to go on leasing at an increasing rate.
4.
What has sea become today?
The
oceans provide food and transport for most of the world’s people. Their
currents affect our climate. Over 60% of the world’s population live within a
few miles of the sea. But our oceans are in trouble. Sea pollution—70% of which
comes from our activities on land—is reaching disastrous levels.
Sewage
is one threat. Most countries use the seas as a dumping ground for raw sewage,
which kills marine life, pollutes coastal ecosystems and causes human disease.
But the most serious problem is the poisoning of the oceans by long lived
artificial toxic chemicals, known as ‘persistent organic pollutant’ or POPs.
Some of these linger in the seas for decades. A cocktail of DDT, PCBs, dioxins
and thousands of other chemicals is being carried around the world by ocean
currents and is ending up in the seafood on our dinner tables.
Artifical
pesticides and fertilisers from agriculture flow into the sea from the land and
down the rivers. Meanwhile, industries around the world have been using the
seas as a giant drain for poisonous chemicals for decades. Now the consequences
are beginning to unfold.
In
recent years, there has been a stead world wide increase in the number of fish
being born deformed. POPs have caused drastic declines in some seabird populations,
and some scientists believe that recent ‘mass die-offs’ of dolphins in the
polluted Mediterranean, North Sea and the US east coast could be the start of a
process which could threaten their very survival.
The
effect on humans is equally worrying. Artificial chemicals in the food chain
have been linked to dramatic fall in human sperm counts, by as much as 40% in
some countries over the last fifty years. Poisonous chlorine has even found in
the breast of Inuit women in Artic, who live far from any industry.
Organochloirdes,
of which 11000 are estimated to be in use around the world, are believed to
weaken the human immune system, and are thought to be responsible for the
impaired mental development of babies.
[an
extract form Eco News Sept.—Dec. 1995]
___________________________________________________________________________
Exercise
five
This
exercise will help you learn to take notes while listening.
Listen
attentively; don’t let you mind wander and miss some key points. Write down
important points in words and phrases; you may use you own abbreviations for
this notes is meant for you but make sure you know what expressions your
abbreviations represent(!).
Passage
1
The
country has witnessed over a decade of consumer activism, which turned active
and aggressive after the enactment of the Consumer Protection Act of 1986. All
of must realise that every Indian citizen, irrespective of age, sex, religion
caste or such else, is a consumer with rights.
The
forthcoming elections, I fear, is not going to be any different from the past
ones. It will once again produce leaders who personal needs will far exceed
those of the country. They will use their parties to entrench themselves in power.
Where does that leave the Indian consumer, who above 18 years of age is the
franchised voter?
Assuming
that the Government itself would be spending, on an average, Rs.1.25 crores for
each constituency, approximately Rs. 600 crores will be spent on the elections.
Add to this an accountable expenditure of Rs. 15 lakhs for each constituency
and twice that unofficially and we are looking at a cost of Rs.1000 crores to
elect our representatives to govern this country. What do we get in return?
Fish markets! (It is indeed amusing to see our honourable members perform in
the well of Parliament.)
Do
any of these elected representatives really care about the ordinary citizens of
the country? Does anyone do anything to reduce the prices of commodities or
products? Whenever, due to over-production, prices show a tendency to fall,
there is a rush to ‘peg the prices’ so that manufacturers are not affected.
What does it mean? What are they trying to tell us, my fellow consumers?
Simply
this: “We have been elected by you, but we have to please all the lobbies who
supported us to win you over to get elected. But we will definitely think of
you, if not immediately, at least just before the next elections.”
In
my opinion, if the country is to have a truly honest and efficient democracy,
we must ensure the following:
No
candidate or political party should be allowed to spend on elections. The State
should fund all elections.
Each
candidate should be given a fixed number of posters of standard size per
thousand voters in the constituency.
Candidates
should speak from common platforms constructed by the Election Commission at
one or more places in every constituency with adequate space for the crowds.
Such a place should not obstruct traffic or cause any other inconvenience to
the ordinary citizen.
Companies,
industries, and their association should be banned from donating to any
political party. They should be asked to pay a fractional percentage of their
turnover as election contribution. In addition, ever ID card-holder of voting age
should pay a rupee or some election fund cess.
On
the economic front, all licensing should be abolished. But strict quality
control should be enforced. The Government must ensure development of quality
infrastructure at reasonable prices.
In
order to tackle unemployment the Government should create jobs by allowing
expansion of production and exports.
Once
money power is removed from the election arena, the power of Members of
Parliament (MP) and Members of Legislative Assembly (MLA) are limited to
parliamentary practices—to legislate and protect the country economically and
militarily, codes for civilized parliamentary behaviour are laid down and all
merchandising powers of elected leaders removed, then we will see persons of
character and integrity at the helm of the country’s affairs.
...
Will
this remain merely as the Great Indian Dream?
R.
Desikan, The author is a former chairman, Federation of consumer organisations,
Tamil Nadu.
Passage
2
Hindustan
Lever Ltd. Has set a turnover growth target of 18-19 per cent and a net profit
growth target of 25-26 per cent for 1998, Mr K B Dadseth, the Chairman said.
He
said this target had been set without considering the merger of Pond’s (India)
Ltd. With HLL and the acquiring of the 50 per cent stake in Lakme Ltd.
“We
hope to double out turnover every four years and double our net profit every
three years,” Mr Dadiseth said. The company’s challenges in the current year
are to consolidate its food business and to buck the recessionary trends, he
said.
“Our
strength has been to understand Indian consumers and we will continue to
significantly invest in understanding them,’ he said.
Queried
on the economic reforms programme in the context of parliamentary elections, Mr
Dadiseth said the new Government, whatever its political hue, would continue to
press ahead with liberalisation to a large extent “though with minor deviations”.
“Today
the political reality recognises the fact that ultimately you cannot be on an
island,” he said. ___________________________________________________________________________
Exercise
six
Listen
to the dialogue and answer the questions.
1.
What’s the conversation about?
a. the dead phone b. replacing the dead phone c. the father and the mother
d.
buying medicine
2.
say true or false:
a. The nature of the repair is not
stated. b. Sunil is a friend. c. Mom is not at home.
The
conversation for this exercise:
Read
this dialogue to students.
Son : Dad! The phone is
dead.
Father : Why don’t you ring up the
telephone department?
(absent-mindedly)
Son : Oh, Dad! I said the
phone isn’t working.
Father : oh, did you now? I’m
sorry, son.
What do we do
now?
Son : I’ll ring from
Sunil’s house.
Father : ...
Son : Dad!
Father : Whose phone did you say?
Son : Sunil’s.
Father : Who will you contact?
Son : Mr Sundaram.
Father : Who is he?
Son : He’s the one who attends
to complaints.
Father : I see. Alright. Tell mom
I want coffee.
Son : She isn’t here.
Father : Where has she gone?
Son : To the chemist’s.
Father : What for?
Son : To buy medicine.
Father : For whom?
Son : For you, dad!
________________________________________________________________________
Exercise
seven
Listen
to the passage entitled Forest? What
Forest?
Background
information
Forests
are one essential part of our environment. They are the home of tribals.
Wildlife and plant life are part of forests. The Central Government of India
has declared several forests as protected areas. Environmentalists are those
who fight against those who exploit environment for personal gain.
Learn
these words before you listen to the passage:
Tribals, protected, denotification, land
grab, blatantly, shrank, strike down, ram, perturbed,
duplicity, assent, assault, conspire,
diktat (a Hindi term meaning ‘stipulation’ or ‘order’), fell trees,
wildlife, warden, open game, no letup,
fallout, icons, extermination
Read
these questions before you listen to the passage. If necessary, you may listen
twice.
1.
Environmentalists see denotification as ____________________ landgrab
2.
Forest land is owned and administered by ________________ state governments
3.
In the name of modernisation, forests are being denotified. Modernisation
refers to four
things; they are __________ __________ __________ _____________
(You’ll hear them towards the end) dams, industries, railroads, highways
4.
The passage gives you a chance to think about what’s happening around us. Do
you agree
with the writer of the passage? Share your
arguments with your class.
The
passage for this exercise:
Read
the background information in the
coursebook and then this listening passage to students:
Forest? What
forest?
Denotification:
It’s the legal term for undoing a protected area and opening it up for
development. Environmentalists simply look at it as a land grab—often that’s
exactly what happens. A protected area can be opened to development only after
approval from the state legislature. But ever since the tree-market economy of
the ‘90s, state governments ignore the law to favour industries.
Last
year, the Maharashtra Government shrank the Kalsubai—Harishchandragadh
Sanctuary to find a place for a pumping station and reservoir. The Government
told the local collector there was no need to refer the denotification to the
state legislature. No one’s challenged the illegal order yet.
In
1995, the Gujarat Government wiped out 322 sq. Km. of the Narayan Sarovar
Sanctuary to find a place for a cement plant belonging to the Sanghi group of
industries. When the Supreme Court struck down the denotification as illegal,
the government used its majority in the State Assembly to ram the
denotification through. The Himachal Pradesh Government went one better. It
simply wiped an entire sanctuary (all 6.2 sq.km. of Dalaghat) off the map to
accommodate a cement plant.
Perturbed
by such duplicity, the Supreme Court finally said last year that the state
legislature’s assent wasn’t enough. Every denotification now has to be cleared
by the Indian Board of Wildlife, an advisory body of experts, forest officials
and NGOs. “The message is that our state governments (who own and administer
forest land) just cannot be trusted,” says Bittu Sahgal, member of the Board
and editor of Sanctuary magazine. States get away with this assault on the
forests because many forest officials either conspire with the companies or
follow the diktat of local politicians. There is no other conclusion possible
when you examine documentation required to release forest land:
·
In
the Panna Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh, the operation of white sandstone
mines was described as ‘removal of
materials”.
·
In
building an irrigation project near the Sitanadi Sanctuary (tiger habitat and
last refuge of the central Indian wild buffalo) in Madhya Pradesh, the State
Government flatly denied that the protected area was being used; a site visit
revealed that 30 sq. km. of the land sought was part of the sanctuary.
After
approving the felling of 40,000 trees for a dam and nuclear plant in the
tropical forests of Karwar, Karnataka, the chief wildlife warden, when asked if
the area had significant wildlife, had this to say: “No, but tiger, panther,
Malabar squirrel are present in the area.”
Protected
areas are monitored by the Central Government; state forests are often open
game, The Centre, especially in this of federalism, cannot keep track of every
violation of the Forest(Conservation)Act, and so the forests recede.
There
will be no letup in grand visions, like the 191-km steamer route to Bangladesh
planned through the mangrove forests of Sunderbans. The 0.6 million cubic
metres of mud dredged each year will be piled on the forests alongside. The
project’s own environment impact assessment warns of extensive ecological and
health fallout. The MOEF is now examining 121 proposals for dams, industries,
railroads and highways through forests and protected areas. Unless they are
carefully examined and controlled, many Indian wildlife icons face termination.
___________________________________________________________________________
Exercise
eight
Learn
these words before listening:
suppress, redeem, reformer, upliftment, pioneer, initially,
resistance, abolition, crusade, enactment, delegation,
stipulate,
urge
1.
___________________________ and __________________________ were the two
British ladies who helped in the upliftment
of women.
2.
_______________________ was now the minimum age for a girl to be married.
3. The
education and training of girls ‘flew in the face of tradition.’ What does this
‘tradition’ refer to?
Read
this to class
That women
continued to be suppressed is clearly indicated by the attempts of several
individuals and the British government through their efforts to redeem the
status of women.
Several
reformers like Ram Mohan Roy, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Jyotirao Phule fought for the upliftment of women. British
ladies also played a part in this effort. Martha Mault (Mead) and her daughter Eliza Caldwell
(Mault) pioneered the education and training
of girls in south India which of course was met initially with local resistance,
as it flew in the face of tradition. Raja Rammohan Roy's efforts led to the
abolition of the Sati practice under Governor-General William Cavendish-Bentinck in 1829. Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar's crusade was
successful with the enactment of Widow Remarriage Act of 1856. Pandita Ramabai and several
other women reformers helped the cause of women’s upliftment.
In 1917, the
first women’s delegation met the Secretary of State to demand women’s political
rights, supported by the Indian National Congress. The All India Women’s Education Conference was held
in Pune in 1927. In 1929, the Child Marriage Restraint Act was passed, stipulating fourteen as the
minimum age for a girl to be married, through the efforts of Mahomed Ali
Jinnah. Mahatma Gandhi urged people to disallow child marriages and called upon
young men to marry child widows.
____________________________________________________________________
Exercise
nine
Learn
these words before listening to the passage:
emerge,
nicknamed, renowned, dribbling, hat-trick, eel, compact, physique, sprint,
melee, contain, feat, endear, tribute, spectacular, coyly, evasive
2.
What does ‘cannot but’ mean?
3.
say true or false:
i. Pele’s father was a goalkeeper.
ii. Santos is the name of the national team.
iii. Maradona scored the goal in the finals
against Germany.
iv. Maradona denied that he had scored with
his hand.
4.
Explain ‘he was the youngest ever to play in the World Cup’.
5.
Explain ‘unpenalized handball’.
6.
What did Maradona mean by ‘Hand of God’?
Listening
passage for this exercise:
Pelé and Maradona—the two greats
Think
of football, you cannot but think of Pelé. Think of football, you cannot but think of
Maradona. Two great players of all time since football emerged as an
international game.
Pelé’s
real name is Edison Arantes do
Nascimento. He is the son of a professional football player nicknamed ‘Dido’,
and got his nickname ‘Pele’, a mispronounced version of ‘Bile’ which was the
name of a goalkeeper friend of his father. He began playing for Santos at the age of 15 and his national team
at the age of 16, and won his first World Cup
at the age of 17. Though he had several offers from European clubs, he chose to
continue to play for Santos.
Pelé
played as an inside forward, striker,
and what later became known as the playmaker
position. His technique and natural athleticism have been universally praised,
and during his playing years he was renowned for his excellent dribbling
and passing, pace, powerful shots, exceptional heading ability, and prolific
goal-scoring. In all, he scored 1,285 goals in 1,321official matches. He played
as a member and as a captain and won three World Cups for Brazil in 1958, 1962
and 1970. As a member of the Brazilian team for the 1958 World Cup team, he was
the youngest ever to play in the World Cup. He is the only footballer to be
part of three World Cup-winning squads. At his first World Cup match in 1958,
he scored a hat-trick in the semifinal against France, thus becoming the
youngest one to do so. He had scored 12 goals in his 14 World Cup ties.
Pelé was
Brazilian and Maradona, Argentine.
Byron
Butler of BBC Radio said this of Maradona:
Maradona, turns like a little eel,
he comes away from trouble,
little squat man... comes inside Butcher
and leaves him for dead,
outside Fenwick and leaves him for
dead, and puts the ball away...
and that is why Maradona is the
greatest player in the world.
Maradona
had a compact physique and could withstand physical pressure well. His strong
legs and low center of gravity helped him admirably in his short sprints. He
was a strategist, a team player, as well as highly technical with the ball. He
could weave himself effectively however limited space he was allowed by his
opponents and could quickly dash out of the melee (as in the second 1986 goal
against England), or give an assist to a free teammate. Being short, but
strong, he could hold the ball long enough with a defender chasing him to wait
for a teammate making a run or to find a gap for a quick shot. One of his
trademark moves was dribbling
at full-speed on the left wing, and on reaching the opponent's goal line, delivering
accurate passes to his teammates. Another trademark of his was the Rabona,
a reverse-cross pass shot behind the leg.
He
played in four consecutive FIFA
World Cup tournaments, leading Argentina to victory in 1986 and to second place in 1990. In the 1986 World Cup,
he captained Argentina and led them to victory over West Germany in the final and
won the Golden Ball award as the tournament's best player.
The Germans did their best to contain him by double-marking, but he found the
space to give the final pass to Jorge Burruchaga
for the winning goal. Beating West Germany 3–2 in front of 115,000
spectators at the Azteca
Stadium, Maradona lifted the World Cup trophy. Such a feat endeared
him to football lovers and others and is remembered as one of the greatest
players in football history. In a tribute to him, the Azteca Stadium
authorities built a statue of him for scoring the ‘goal of the century’ and
placed it at the entrance of the stadium.
The
‘goal of the century’ refers to the second goal he scored against England in
the quarterfinals. It was a spectacular 60-metre weaving through six England
players, including the goalkeeper: Maradona received the ball, swivelled around
and dribbled—all in one motion. This second goal was later voted by FIFA as the
greatest goal in the history of the World Cup. Earlier in the match, his first
goal was an unpenalized handball. Replays showed that he had struck the ball
with his hand. When asked about it, Maradona was coyly evasive, describing it
as ‘a little with the head of Maradona and a little with the hand of God’. It
became known as the ‘Hand of God’ or ‘la mano de Dios.’
He
finished first in an internet vote for the FIFA Player of the Century award, and shared
the award with Pelé.
___________________________________________________________________________
Exercise
ten
Learn
these words before listening to the passage:
out
of gear, flash floods, divert, water-logging, grim, rivulets, a grinding halt,
remain paralysed, be stranded, bear the
brunt of, marooned
2.
What did the heavy rains in Andhra result in?
3.
‘Boats were pressed into service in the city on Saturday to rescue people from
marooned
areas.’
‘Although the rains receded since Saturday
night, hundreds of houses remained under
water.’
Form similar sentences of your own.
Passage
for this exercise:
New Delhi: Heavy rains have thrown life out of gear in Pune, many parts of the
Konkan region and Andhra Pradesh.
The Pune-Mumbai intercity trains have been
cancelled and many trains, including the Mumbai-Banglore Udyan Express and the
Mumbai-Nagarcoil Express have been diverted.
Heavy water-logging has been reported from Chiplun,
Rajapur, Khed and Mahad with some villages in one-two feet water. All
the trains towards Pune have been stopped near Karjat and at least 70 villages
have been cut off. Kolhapur itself has recorded 1,266 mm rain overnight.
Meanwhile,
the flood situation in Andhra Pradesh continued to be grim on Sunday with
continuous rains claiming as many as 53 lives over the past five days. Weather
officials have predicted more showers.
Heavy
rains and flash floods since Tuesday caused widespread devastation in Hyderabad
and eight other districts in coastal Andhra and the Telangana region. Around 40
people have died since Friday and hundreds have been rendered homeless.
More
than 50 residential colonies in Hyderabad and dozens of villages in the eight
districts remain under water as several rivulets and water tanks were either
overflowing or have breached.
Normal
life came to a grinding halt in the affected districts. With some roads under
water, vehicular traffic between major towns remained paralysed. Hundreds of
vehicles were stranded on the Hyderabad-Vijayawada and the
Bhadrachalam-Vijayawada roads.
The
Visakhapatnam Cyclone Warning Centre said that heavy rains were likely in north
coastal Andhra and Telangana. The low pressure area over Bay of Bengal turned
into a well marked depression and lay centred close to the Orissa coast.
Some
places are likely to receive more than 25 cm of rainfall. During the last two
days, places like Hyderabad received over 15 cm rainfall.
Authorities
have warned people living in low-lying areas to move to safer places while
fishermen were advised not to venture out to the sea.
Officials
have termed the situation "quite serious" after the Kapra dam in
Guntur district breached, threatening low-lying areas.
The
water level in Vamsadhara and Nagavali rivers in Srikakulam district in north
coastal Andhra has been rising alarmingly due to heavy inflows from
neighbouring Orissa.
The
floods have damaged several houses and crops over thousands of acres. Minister
for Revenue and Relief Dharmana Prasad Rao said that assessing the losses
incurred would take time as the rains were still continuing.
Hyderabad
bore the brunt of the natural calamity with 14 people losing their lives,
mostly in house collapses. As many as 52 residential areas in and around the state capital
were inundated as 20 tanks and several major storm water drains overflowed.
Boats
were pressed into service in the city on Saturday to rescue people from
marooned areas.
Although
the rains receded since Saturday night, hundreds of houses remained under
water. The water level in the Hussain Sagar in the heart of the city rose
alarmingly due to heavy inflows.
The
level in the 400-year-old old lake, which has a capacity of up to 515 feet, has
crossed 513
feet.
CNN
IBN. August 10, 2008. http://www.ibnlive.com/news/rains-wreak-havoc-in-maharashtra-andhra---cj-pics/70786-3.html?from=rssfeed. Retrieved 2008-08-11
___________________________________________________________________________
Key
to exercise one—ten
Exercise
one
Key:
1. C 2. A 3. A
4. B 5. C 6. C 7. D
8. A 9. C 10. D
Exercise
two
Key:
1. C 2. C 3. B
4. A 5. B 6. D
7. B 8. A 9. C
10. C 11. C 12. A
Exercise
three
Key:
1. A 2. C 3. A 4. A 5. d 6. B 7.
B 8. A 9. D 10. A
Exercise
four
1.
Key: d 2. Key: d 3. Key:
b 4. Key: a
Exercise
five
Key:
Compare your notes with your neighbours. Read them to class. Show them to your
teacher. And you’ll know how good a listener you have been.
Exercise six
Key:
1. A 2. T,t, t
Exercise
seven
Key:
1.
landgrab 2. state governments 3. dams, industries, railroads, highways
4.
students support their opinions with convincing arguments
Exercise
eight
key
2.fourteen
3.
It refers to the suppression of women and their forced dependence on men that
was
supposedly started by Manu centuries ago.
Exercise
nine
key
2.
cannot avoid 3. F, F, F, F 4. No one who played before him was as young
as he was.
5.
If a player except the goalkeeper touches or plays with his hand, it’s
considered a foul
and
he would be penalized for it by the referee. But in Maradonna’s case it didn’t
happen. 6. destined to win
Exercise
ten
1.
Loss of lives, hundreds rendered homeless, water-logging in residential areas,
road
transport paralysed, evacuation, heavy
damage of crops and houses
___________________________________________________________________________
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