Transcript:

Part 1. You hear a conversation between a father and his son.

1. In what way does the father admit to being mistaken?
A. He was surprised how he was able to stay resolute for the benefit of his family.
B. What happened between the two men was in direct contrast to what he had
expected to happen.
C. He thought his own children would have taken the news in a considerably
worse fashion.
D. The effect that the incident had on him was more severe than he thought it
would be.
2. What view does the son express towards his father?
A. Despite the incident he should have been more attentive to the needs of his
children during the ordeal.
B. That he has the ability to process matters such as a death in an admirable way.
C. How he regrets the manner in which he reacted to the incident with his mother.
D. That the father is considered to be a stoic character.
3. What change in behavior does the father recognise after his wife's emergency?
A. He quickly became emotionally withdrawn from the rest of his family.
B. He started to develop relationship issues outside of his personal relationships.
C. He started to become observant of members of his own family.
D. He noticed how he became more emotionally dependent on others from this
time.
4. What is the biggest loss according to the father?
A. An inability to do the activities that they felt brought them closer.
B. A loss of how the two are able to interact with one another.
C. Their ability to experience their golden years in a state of rest and relaxation.
D. The loss of being in contact with others outside of the family.
5. To what does the father confess?
 A. That he is emotionally damaged by trauma and continuing hardships of caring
for a stroke victim.
B. That he is overcome with guilt as he feels he is inadequately able to care for his
wife.
C. He is concerned as to how his proposal to hire professional help will be
perceived by the rest of the family.
D. He lacks the ability to manage the situation without the aid of others.

Part 2:
Transcript:
Presenter: Hi, everyone. On today's Tech-times podcast we're lucky to have Sam
Wogan, a well-known digital journalist, with us. So, Sam – what interesting techie-topic
would you like to talk about today?
Journalist: Hi Brad. Today I'd like to talk about some of the reasons why we shouldn't
automatically believe everything we read online, and how false information spreads so
easily with the help of technology. One of the reasons for this is a phenomenon known as
circular reporting.
Presenter: Circular reporting? What's that?
Journalist: Well, it's basically reports which are based on other reports, rather than on
the primary evidence or source. To the reader, it looks like the information is coming
from several different independent sources, which normally means it can be trusted. But,
in actual fact, all the reports are based on each other. Imagine a piece of false information
is published, for example on Wikipedia, and then is referenced in a newspaper article or
other publication. Then, in turn, the original Wikipedia entry references or quotes the
article as validation that the information is true. In a nutshell, it's the confirmation of
false information by more than one publication.
Presenter: OK, let me see if I've understood this correctly. So, someone writes an article
on Wikipedia which contains some false information ...
Journalist: That's right, false information which is not referenced or checked and in no
way is obvious as being false.
Presenter: OK, and then this false information is copied from Wikipedia by a journalist
and included in a newspaper article.
Journalist: Yes, or other type of article, as if it were true information.
Presenter: And then Wikipedia references the newspaper article, which verifies the
information in the original Wikipedia article as being true.
Journalist: That's right! And sometimes it's not just one newspaper article that cites the
false information. Several publications may include it and so it becomes very difficult to
prove that the original information is false. Let me give you an example. A few years ago
a 17-year-old American student was on holiday with his family in Brazil. He spotted
what he believed to be an aardvark, but which was in fact a type of Brazilian raccoon
called a coati. When the boy got home after his holiday, he went online and changed the
Wikipedia entry by adding the name 'Brazilian aardvark' to the information on the article,
as a sort of joke, and then he forgot about it and thought nothing more of it. However,
what started to happen was that articles and blogs began to quote the information from
Wikipedia and then those articles were re-reported as evidence in Wikipedia. Before
long, everyone was talking about the 'Brazilian aardvark' as if it were factual
information.
Presenter: So when information makes its way from a Wikipedia page into a published
article, the article could be spreading false information without even realising it?
Journalist: Exactly! It makes you wonder how many hoaxes initiated by people in this
way have ended up as truths in many people's minds just because people copy and paste
vandalised Wikipedia pages. That's not to say that all information on Wikipedia is false
by any means. There's a ton of really valid information there and it is constantly being
updated – many people consider it to be the most up-to-date and unbiased encyclopaedia
in the world. However, it is the open structure of Wikipedia, compared to a traditional
encyclopaedia, which makes it a target to be tampered with.
Presenter: So we just have to be aware that there may be a certain amount of
inaccuracies on Wikipedia?
Journalist: Yes, and it's also worth mentioning that circular reporting is not just
restricted to harmless information like the 'Brazilian aardvark'.
Presenter: Isn't it?
Journalist: No. For example, some time ago, claims that certain vaccines could cause
autism in children were published in a prestigious medical publication by a British
surgeon. The problem was that the unsupported claims were picked up by the media and
the news spread like wildfire. Soon enough the general public were understandably
concerned about the risks and huge numbers of parents refused to vaccinate their
children. Consequently, in recent years we have seen an increase in the number of
children suffering childhood diseases such as measles. By the time the claims were
proven unfounded, the damage was done and even to this day some people still believe
that there is a link between vaccines and autism.
Presenter: It just goes to show how difficult it is sometimes for the truth to be heard.
Journalist: Absolutely.
Presenter: So, in practical terms, how can we be sure that what we're reading is true?
Journalist: Well, we can take certain steps such as checking the original source of the
information and, if at all possible, checking that the original source is reliable and not
just taken from either Wikipedia, Facebook or the media.
Presenter: Right, so we need to be a little more critical and not just believe everything
we read online.
Journalist: That's right, although it's difficult because we want information quickly and
immediately, so it's not always viable to spend time checking the sources of information,
even though we should. And we should certainly try and reflect on the information and
decide ourselves if we think it's true or not. If you feel unsure about the validity of
certain information, then there's no harm in looking into it further to check how true it
actually is.
Presenter: That's very true. We often take things at face value and don't really take the
time to think critically about them.

Part 3:
Transcript:
Welcome to this information board. This is a national charity community aimed at
helping people who suffer from severe anxiety and social phobic disorders.
We all know that feelings of anxiety are a part of our everyday life. Most of us feel
uneasy about snakes, or mice. But for phobics it´s not just a question of disliking
something: their fear has grown into such a distress that it affects their normal behaviour.
They may have serious symptoms of pain, dizziness and nausea; feel they are short of
breath or have shaking limbs. This fear may be triggered by the mere sight of animals,
people or things, like insects, dentists or utensils.
Freud was the first to attempt a systematic description of the development of phobic
behaviour.
The onset of social phobias generally takes place during adolescence when social
awareness and interaction are evolving. Cultural influences also play a role, as well as
genetic factors. In fact, parents of social phobics are more likely to develop major
depression. Family difficulties, conflicts, frequent family moves, physical and sexual
abuse in childhood are all factors generating phobias.
Socio-cultural variations in social phobia are beginning to emerge and receive more
attention. Findings suggest that there are similarities in the expression of social phobia
across cultures.
Phobic conditions are frequently manifested by a reluctance to interact, usually from
childhood.
Recent studies have proved that there are physiological factors such as conditioned fear
responses produced by a disorder in the neural circuitry centred on the 'amygdala'. The
amygdala may function as a protective 'brake' during evaluation of a potential threat, and
it has been suggested that social anxiety may involve a de-regulation or hyperactivity of
the amygdala evaluative process.
Family studies have shown high rates of social phobia in offspring, or other close
relatives of sufferers of social phobia. This suggests that social phobia is somehow
familial and possibly specific in its transmission.
There are also parenting and family environmental factors. Obsessive controlling and
over-protectiveness can play a role in causing phobic conditions while, parental
modelling or avoidant responses and restricted exposure to social situations have an
effect on the development of social phobic “parent/child” reinforcement of each other’s
anxiety.
Compulsive washing is a phobia-like condition and so is agoraphobia, the fear of being
in public places where there are many other people.
Treatments are complicated and phobics get limited help from the medical establishment.
However, there are self-help groups, like “Phobics Together”, in which sufferers learn to
ease their anxiety and thus reduce symptoms by sharing experiences following special
training programmes implemented by psychiatrists and psychologists working together.
If you would like to discuss any kind of phobic condition you can find details of local
events and confidential counselling via the website at [Link].

Part 4:
1. joints 2. synovial fluid
3. lubricant-like substance 4. egg yolk
5. snapping sound tendons 6. self-describe researcher
7. arthritis 8. cracking your knuckles
9. hand swelling 10. scrip strength