Transcript

Good morning. In the last few lectures I’ve been talking about the history of domestic building construction. But today I want to begin looking at some contemporary, experimental designs for housing. So, I’m going to start with the house which is constructed more or less under the ground. And one of the interesting things about this project is that the owners – both professionals but not architects – wanted to be closely involved, so they decided to manage the project themselves. Their chief aim was to create somewhere that was as environmentally-friendly as possible. But at the same time they wanted to lie somewhere peaceful – they’d both grown up in a rural area and disliked urban life.

So, the first thing they did was to look for a site. And they found a disused stone quarry in a beautiful area. The price was relatiely low, and they liked the idea of recycling the land, as it were. As it was, the quarry was an ugly blot on the landscape, and it wasn’t productive any longer, either.   

Welcome to the Selmore Public Library which as just been reopened after major refurbishment. This tour will introduce you to the building and its services. At any time you can stop the tour. We enter by the café and our tour begins at the issue desk.

If you stand between the information dest and the issue desk and look at the opposite wall, you will see shelves of book in the left-hand corner. (11) This is where you will find a large number of novels and short stories.  They are arranged alphabetically. If you’re looking for something in particular and it’s not on the shelf you can reserve it. The next area, directly opposite the issue desk, (12) is a section where people can study. The library provides computers for users free of charge on the next floor beside the reference books but this area is for people to use their own laptops. You should ask for the internet passcode at the information desk.

In the right-hand corner of this floor there is a café. A selection of daily newspapers is always available there but you can also take magazines into the café to read while you have a drink. (13) You will find these on the racks to the left of the café and there is a large selection. They are for reference only and cannot be borrowed but you are welcome to photocopy any articles of interest. We ask you fiction or any other books from the shelves into the café.

Next to the café is the exit door leading to the stairs and escalator to the other floors. The largest collection of books in the library is fiction (14)  and the next largest is non-fiction which is in the corner of this floor opposite the café.  These can all be borrowed as opposed to the reference books on the next floor, most of which cannot be taken out of the library – but they can be photocopied. There are several photocopiers available for this purpose downstairs in the basement. To one side of the issue desk is a door leading onto a gallery. This was added to the library as a public space where talks are given once a week on a Saturday by visiting authors of both fiction and non-fiction. (15) It also houses the biography section. There are notices advertising the talks in the study area.

Any books that you want to borrow should be taken to the issue desk. Before we leave this floor I will give you some information about using the library. There are also helpful notices by the information desk.

To join the library and take books out, you need a membership card. Take your passport or identity card, as well as proof of your home address, to the information desk and you will be issued with a card. (16)  After a period of two years, all readers are required to go to the desk with a document that has their name and current address on it so the library can keep up-to-date records of where people are living. There’s no charge for this but any lost cards are charged at £5.

If you can’t find the book you want on the shelves, you can reserve it. If it’s in another library in the city, we can usually get it for you within a week. If someone else has borrowed it, it can take a few weeks. (17) Either way, we notify you by phone or email when the item is available to be picked up.  We will hold it for you for five days.

Books can be borrowed for fourteen days and can be renewed for a further two weeks. Children’s books also have a two-week borrowing period. The same system exists for CD-ROMs and CDs but (18) DVDs, both children’s and adult’s, can only be borrowed for up to seven days. It isn’t possible to renew them. Some reference books can be borrowed but normally only for one day, so 24 hours.

The library opening hours have been changed slightly. Instead of opening late on Wednesday evenings till 8PM, we will be closing at 6, as on other weekdays, (19) but we will close at 7 instead of 5.30 on Saturdays and a new development – we are going to open on Sunday mornings from next month – 9 to 1. We are closed on public holidays and notices are posted in the library about these.

Before you go upstairs, please note that if you are going to the exhibition area on the third floor, large bags are not allowed. (20) There are lockers beside the reference area on the second floor where you can deposit them. If you need change, you can get that from the information desk on the first floor.

Now press ‘pause’ and proceed to the second floor. When you reach the top of the stairs press ‘play’.

Speaker: Good morning. It’s a great pleasure to be here in London and to see so many people interested in working in hotels. We in the International Finest Group of hotels are very proud of our business and we are always on the lookout for quality recruits in every department.

Now, I’m going to outline some of the areas of work where we are currently recruiting and the essential skills or qualifications for them, then I’ll run through our recruitment procedure. OK?

At the moment we’re looking for a number of people for administrative posts in different parts of the world and also some roles which involve a lot of travelling.

One of our main business streams is hosting special events for other businesses. If you have good communication and organizational skills (11) with a good level of fluency in at least once European and one non-European language. I’d suggest you think about becoming part of the team which sets up these events for all our centres. This would mean being based full-time in our London office. The work ranges from setting up small meetings a few days ahead to organizing international conferences two years in advance, so there’s plenty of variety. Some of the conferences we run have as many as a thousand delegates, so it’s quite challenging.

Then there are some posts available for professionals in the catering field. Chefs we can find; it seems this is a popular career choice in many parts of the world as in the UK these days, in spite of the exacting standards, but (12) people to manage catering departments need more than a love of producing quality food. We’re after really energetic and totally efficient young managers, who already have the relevant business qualifications – no training on the job here – and they must share the team’s determination to make everything run smoothly at any tine of the day or night.

Or, if you are the type of person who enjoys a challenge, what about becoming one of our relief housekeepers? You’ll be a good people person, well organized, and supremely flexible. As well as covering UK holidays, maternity and paternity leave, (13) there will be times when you have to fill a key post when someone’s sick, which could be anywhere in our European, Middle Eastern or Far Eastern hotels so you must be prepared to hop on a plane  at five minutes’ notice.

The International Finest brand name attracts visitors from all over the world and on all kinds of business and leisure trips. Our swimming pools and gyms need to be run by people with the highest standards of customer service. You don’t have to be a great athlete, but smart appearance and a pleasant manner are necessary. (14) A diploma in sports science would be the minimum requirement here. Lastly, I’d just like to mention that the main London office has another vacancy. Most bookings come online, especially from the Far East for people coming to Europe. (15) If you have fluency and some keyboard skills in , for example, Spanish, or any Far Eastern languages, either having taken a degree, or preferably from having lived and worked overseas, you might be just the person we’re looking for to deal with email booking and queries in the office here. A flexible attitude to working hours is also important as you may have to come in outside normal office hours.

So that’s an overview of the kind of jobs, now how to get them! First of all, provided you have a UK work permit, you can go online and register an interest in working for us. By return, you’ll receive a unique applicant’s code, which is your personal identification number and which we’ll use in all communications. (16) Along with that you get access to the Human Resources website, where you should make sure you understand the legal terms and conditions which apply to all our employees. That’s also where you can then download (17) the application form – fill it in and send it back along with your CV. You’ll know within 48 hours whether you’re being considered as you get an automated response. Sorry if it’s a bit impersonal, but at least it’s quick. Hopefully, if we like the sound of you, there will be in that automated response (18) a list of times for an initial interview which will take place by telephone during the following week. You confirm by email which of the time slots will suit you. Provided the interview is satisfactory, at that point we’ll ask for (19) any evidence of qualifications required, which might be your degree or diploma certificate or so on, which you have to send certified copies of, and we contact your referees. The last thing you have to do is you come along and have a look round the International Finest Group head office, get to know some of our team in Human Resources face to face, and (20) participate in a one-day recruitment seminar, which involves a number of group and individual activities along with other potential employees.

Then, with luck, we’ll offer you a job! So, I hope you like the sound of joining our organization.

Chloe: Oh, hi Ivan.

Ivan: Oh, hi Chloe

Chloe: I'm glad I bumped into you because I've been looking at this prospectus about courses at the university. I'm thinking of doing a business studies degree. Isn't that what you're doing? Ivan: Yes, I'm about to start my third year. I think you'd enjoy it. Is there something on the course that you're not sure about? Chloe: Well, you know I've been working for a publisher for the last four years as a production assistant ...

Ivan: That will be really valuable experience because a lot of people go to university straight from school and don't have that kind of background.

Chloe: Yeah, I know and I'm used to dealing with figures and percentages and things, but (21) it's been a while since I've sat down and put my ideas into an essay. I was never that good at it and I'm not sure I can do it now.

Ivan: But you did OK at school, so I'm sure you'll soon get into it again. I was worried about different things when I started, like if I'd be able to use all the computer programs, but you only really need the basics. You have to do a lot of presentations and I thought that would be hard, but we'd actually had such a lot of practice at school it was fine.

Chloe: But did you find writing essays easy?

Ivan: It was OK but (22) I was hopeless at getting them in by the deadline and I was always late for lectures, so I had to work hard at that and I tend to be early now.

Chloe: It's good that you've sorted yourself out before you go and get a job or you might not have it very long! I think the course looks really interesting.

Ivan: It is and it also gave me the chance to spend six months working in a local business last year.

Chloe: That's not so important for me unless I could go abroad to use my foreign languages but that doesn't seem to be on offer, which is a shame. (23) What really appeals to me though, is the idea of being assessed throughout the year, I think that's a much more productive way of learning instead of everything being. decided in an exam at the end.

Ivan: It's good for people like you who are hard-working all year round. You'll be spending all your time in the library. They've just expanded it too.

Chloe: That's good.

Ivan: Well, yes and no. They've made the study area bigger but it means they've taken some of the magazines and periodicals away, so I think it was better as it was. The university's expanding all the time and (24) there are lots of new courses coming next year.

Chloe: Well, that's great news, isn't it? It means the college will have a better reputation as more people will hear about it, so that's good for us.

Ivan: Mm, I agree but they really need to add more lecture rooms as we often have lectures in tiny rooms.

Chloe: Well, you obviously think overall it's a good place to do a degree. I should probably go and have a look round.

Ivan: Well, it's holidays now and there's not much going on there.

Chloe: Oh, so it's probably not worth going in now.

Ivan: But (25) you could email my tutor - I know he'd be happy to answer any questions. I can give you his email address. I looked at quite a lot of other universities and read loads of prospectuses but I thought this one was the best.

-------------------------------

Chloe: I was a bit unsure about all the different subjects you can choose on this course.

Ivan: Well, I can tell you a bit about them. There are some subjects you have to do and some that you can choose. The most interesting course I've done is (26) public relations.

Chloe: From what I've read it doesn't look very demanding - some of it is really just common sense. Ivan: But it will be really useful if you want to go into marketing or advertising.

Chloe: That's true, but I need to find out a bit more about it first before I decide - if it will really help me. It's difficult to tell from the prospectus.

Ivan: But you are interested in marketing?

Chloe: Oh, yes... Ivan: Well, you can choose a (27) marketing course. I wasn't very impressed with that course actually. The tutor didn't make it very interesting.

Chloe: Mm, it's good to put on your CV that you've done a marketing course, though, so that would be a definite for me and maybe I'd get a different tutor. What other courses did you choose?

Ivan: I'm doing (28) taxation as I was thinking of training to be an accountant but I'm not sure now.

Chloe: Oh, that will be a good option for me because I enjoy working with figures. Although I don't want to be an accountant. It'll be good to have an understanding of taxation, especially if I ever run my own business,

Ivan: Then there's the most popular course, which is (29) human resources and a lot of people seem to get jobs in that field.

Chloe: My friend works in human resources and she's really good at it, but I don't think I've got the right personality so I'd give that one a miss. I'm more interested in how businesses actually work - the structure.

Ivan: That's a compulsory course -- the structure of business - but you might find (30) information systems helpful.

Chloe: Is that kind of computer programs?

Ivan: Some of it is, but also databases, project management, and other things.

Chloe: Oh, sounds useful, but I'll have to look at some of the other possibilities first. You know, Ivan, this course sounds as though it would suit me. I'm going to apply.

Ivan: Great! If there's anything else you want to ask me, you've got my number

Chloe: Thanks!

Dr Erskine: Well, Cressida, that was an interesting presentation you gave yesterday on your placement at the TV news centre.

Cressida: Thank you, Dr Erskine. I did work hard on it.

Dr Erskine: Yes and (21) you did entertain that class, they enjoyed your humour, but you informed them too. But I feel there was a bit of a back story – you know, something you weren’t telling us? So how was it really?

Cressida: Yeah, well, I learnt a lot, as I said. But I think some of the lesson weren’t ones I wanted to share with the whole group. I mean (22) my expectation about what it would be like were too high. I’d been fantasizing a bit about what I’d be doing. I mean, it all worked out OK in the end… but I got off to a bad start.

Dr Erskine: Yes, I heard something similar from (23) the producer – um, Ainsley Webb – who assessed your performance. He was quite negative about some of the things you did, and your initial attitude, I’m afraid. Would you like to give me your version?

Cressida: I didn’t prepare properly is the main thing. On my first morning, I hadn’t check my commuting route properly, and I didn’t notice that it says the buses don’t start till six. I had to run all the way to the studio, but I was still late, and I looked a mess.

Dr Erskine: Well, (24) better at this stage of your career than later. To be honest, I made the same kind of mistakes when I was your age. But anyway, as I say, I think the presentation yesterday when extremely well, and I will bear that in mind when I grade your work experience overall.

Cressida: Thank you for being so understanding.

Dr Erskine: Right. Now, have you completed your diary of what you did there? (25) Professor Jenkins hasn’t received it, he says.

Cressida: Um, yes. I have finished it, but wanted to just tidy it up a bit. Some of it was written in a bit of a hurry. I’ll email it to him this afternoon.

Dr Erskine: OK. But I’m afraid he says this will have to be the last time you submit late. Journalism is all about deadlines and if you can’t manage them on your course he can’t give you a diploma saying you’re competent, can’t he?

Cressida: Oh, yes. I’ll do it straight after this. I didn’t realize.

Dr Erskine: Well, he can be a bit abrupt if he’s kept waiting. It’s the one thing he really doesn’t like. I’m sure everything is going to be fine. You’re getting very good grades on your work, so, as long as you remember that.

Cressida: Yes.

Dr Erskine: Now, did you manage OK generally, do you think?

Cressida: Yeah, OK, I think. Well, it took a while to get to grips with all the equipment. Some of it was quite old, not as fast as what we have here in college and at first I kept thinking it was my fault – I none of (26) the TV centre staff asked me if I wanted instructions. If I asked them how to do some particular operation, they were perfectly civil and would show me, and even say thank you for what I did do, but I felt awkward to keep asking.

Dr Erskine: Now, um, well, let’s just review where you are, your write-up, and what you’re going to include going forward to next term. First of all, did you eventually feel you were given enough to do?

Cressida: The first couple of days were manic, the production team was short of staff and (27) I was rushing all over the building taking messages to various people and fetching things. Of course, I didn’t know my way around, so I kept ending up in some store room or somewhere instead of the studio I was meant to be in. Or I mistook some important visitor for a colleague, because I didn’t know who anyone was. Then after that, things sort-of calmed down, so sometimes I was hanging about until someone decided to give me a choice. (28) But I had a piece of luck at the end of the week because they got a new bit of equipment which was the same as we have in the editing suite here and I knew how to use it, which none of them did. So that gave me a bit of status. Unfortunately, it meant that I spent the next three days stuck in the editing suite. But by the end, I’d shown I wasn’t just a silly student, so then, when the senior reporter needed someone to go out with him when he went to interview a junior minister, I got to go along because he knew I could handle the technical side.

Dr Erskine: Well, that’s good.

Cressida: Yes. Well, I know (29) I need to learn from my mistakes, I mean, basically I need to think more about forward planning, but on the other hand I feel much more confident now; I did survive, I didn’t ruin anything, I did actually make a contribution, according to the producer. (30) One thing I want to take forward to my final assignment, though, is some reflections on ethics.

Dr Erskine: Yes?

Cressida: I had a bit of an argument with one of the senior presenters. He was editing part of an interview and he just changed something someone said. When I questioned him he just snubbed me. And I mean, this wasn’t some public relations expert or government professional spokesperson, it was, like, a member of the public, but he said ‘Oh they never remember what they said anyway’.

Dr Erskine: Mm… you want to develop this into part of your final assignment? It would be a very positive line. I can give you some references.

Cressida: Oh, thanks, that would be great.

Tutor: So, let’s hear what you’re doing for your next project.

Student: I’ve decided to design a roof garden for a supermarket. I’ve been looking at some on the web and I think that a garden on top of a building is the up-and-coming thing.

Tutor: OK. So you’ve done a bit of reading already? What benefits would there be for the client? (21/22) Why do you think a supermarket chain would be willing to meet the expense of construction? You do realize that would be the first thing they raise.

Student: Yes, I know.  But I’d explain that in spite of the initially high expense, they would save that much in approximately five years. Well, I’d have to do sums, I mean calculate specifically…

Tutor: Yes, how would the saving come about?

Student: Mainly through lower heating and aircon bills. The extra insulation offered by having a layer of living plants in the soil would make a huge difference.

Tutor: OK. (21/22) But they might feel the expense of maintenance would be an issue. After all, supermarkets don’t normally employ gardeners.

Student: What I thought was, if they made it a community garden rather than a simple low-maintenance green roof….

Tutor: So there’d be public access?

Student: Oh yes! Then there’d be a sense of ownership in the local community and people could take responsibility for it, instead of the supermarket paying a commercial company, and It’d really boost their public relations.

Tutor: That’s a good point. And have you been looking into how rook gardens are built nowadays?

Student: I’m still exploring that, but if take advantage of the latest technologies for roof gardens, it shouldn’t be too difficult. But in any case, you have to use lightweight materials.

Tutor: But that’s a matter of making the right choices. You can even use quite traditional ones such as wood for the planting areas.

Student: Yes, that’s what I thought. It’ll look good and it isn’t too heavy.

Tutor: But the basic construction, the issue you have to address first is the material used between the building and the garden.

Student: (23/24) You mean the barrier fabric, which ensures there’s no chance of rainwater leaking down into the building?

Tutor: Yes, nowadays that is very good, and quite easily sourced.

Student: Then on the other hand, there’s the business of water within the roof garden itself.

Tutor: You mean drainage? That’s an important feature of the construction in any roof design.

Student: Yes, but I think most drainage issues have been well understood for quite a long time.

Tutor: OK, but another thing is with plants in an exposed situation, (23/24)  you usually need to find ways to optimize rainfall.

Student: Yes, because rainwater is best for the garden, if you can store it for when it’s needed. What I’ve been looking at are some buildings which use fairly conventional storage tanks, the kind that have been in use for decades, but have them linked to modern automatic watering systems.

Tutor: Sounds complicated.

Student: It’s less so in practice than it sounds, I think. I’ve been researching them and actually the latest ones definitely work very well and they can be electronically regulated to suit the local microclimate.

Tutor: Mmm, that sounds interesting. You seem to have been doing some thorough research! Make sure you reference all your source when you write it up.

Student: Yes, sure. Um, there’s one more aspect I’d just like to run past you, if there’s time? I want to include a light feature in the design.

Tutor: Of course.

Student: I’ve got a sketch here.

Tutor: Let’s have a look then.

Student: Well, I was really impressed by something I saw on a roof in Cornwall and I’d like to design something similar. Um, you have an area of planting, and l’m thinking of installing this lighting in an area filled with low-growing evergreen shrubs.

Tutor: Mmm. You’d have to have lights and things well away from anywhere children might be. How would it work? On this drawing, this is a section view? (25) You have this low wall on the right?

Student: Yes, that’s it. This is just one element and these areas would be repeated all round the planted area. I think this will probably  be a wooden wall, using reclaimed timbers, with an angled ceramic top surface.

Tutor: Perhaps even ridge tiles like they use on roofs?

Student: Oh, yes, that’d be just the sort of thing. And that’d make it weatherproof. Um and then (26) the heavy duty electric wiring comes up through the floor just outside the planted area and into the wall.  Then it’s brought through a projector low in the side of the wall, and that sends a beam of light along the fibre optic cable.

Tutor: So there’s no electricity in the actual lights. It's in the actual lights. (27) The fibre optic goes across the surface of the soil in the planting area.

Student: Yes, that’s the beauty of it. The shrubs will soon grow to cover it up, of course, and then the cable goes (28) past a wooden post which is between the shrubs, and can be a support for them as they grow bigger, and then runs up into each element of the installation.

Tutor: So (29) the light beam is carried up to the top of each element and illuminates a kind of conical glass cap?  I see! Is that the bit which would glow in the dark?

Student: Yes.

Tutor: And what’s the cap supported on? Is it a wall?

Student: No, (30) it’s a slender acrylic rod, er, like the stem of a flower or mushroom, which the cable runs up inside of.

Tutor: Well, I’ll be interested to see the final drawings.

Student: Thank you! I’m looking forward to putting it all together.

Tutor: Well, Anita and Lee. That was an interesting presentation you made about John Chapman. There are a few points I’d like to run through before you write it up. One thing which you didn’t explain was why you decided to do a presentation on this man who spread apple varieties across the US?

Anita: Well, ages ago, we were chatting about stuff we’d read as children, and I told Lee the Johnny Appleseed story – I had these American story books when I was small. Then (21)  when we were looking into the area of domesticated species of plants for you presentation, we realized that the introduction of the apple with the settlers in the US would be a good case study…

Lee: And I remembered Chapman, so we looked up the real guy behind the legend.

Tutor: Right. I think that would have a good intro.

Anita: I thought it was too personal.

Tutor: Just a couple of minutes would have drawn your listeners in. Anyway. Now a more serious point. You didn’t mention the sources of some of your information.

Lee: We used some books and journal articles and did an internet search and found some good sites.

Anita: (22) We’ve put them on the back of the handout we gave everyone at the end.

Tutor: Ah, let me see. Oh, here it is. Johnny Appleseed: Man and Myth, 1967. Well, the thing is, you really have to make this explicit when you talk. And anything you show, data you project from your laptop, etc, you must have the source on it.

Anita: Right, OK.

Tutor: At least you have got it all documented. I was a bit concerned about that.

Anita: Sorry.

Tutor: Anyway. Now, the content of your talk. (23) What your listeners wanted to understand was whether there were apples in the US before the Europeans started to live there. You told us the early settlers had brought young apple tree but that few of them had thrived because the climate was harsh, but what about native species? I don’t think you were very clear about species already there.

Lee: Um, according to what I’ve read, there were some crab apples, but that was all. Everything that people now think of as traditional American apples, were species that the Europeans either introduced or bred by chance.

Anita: Because they tended to sow seeds rather than use grafting.

Tutor: Yes, quite. But (24) what to me was fascinating – and I saw most members of your audience start to take notes – was when you discussed how the apple genes spread via the Silk Route into Europe from the wild apple woods of Kazakhstan.

Lee: Yes, well, I’d like to have said more about the development of grafting in ancient China, as a way of producing predictable varieties. It was so early in history!

Tutor: But it’s the natural development of the original wild apple into new species that people wanted more about. Which says a lot for your presentation. You enthused your audience! So, now we need to discuss the form your follow-up work will take. Are you going to produce a paper? Or are you thinking of putting it all up on the department website?

Anita: Um, I felt we could do both. And we could do a poster of some of the data. But Lee wasn’t sure.

Lee: No, (25) I think it would be enough to use the website. We can offer a link to our email for queries. That would be save time and trees!

Tutor: I think Lee’s right. A poster would be nice, but It’d take too much time.

Anita: OK.

Tutor: Now I just want to give you a few pointers about the techniques of your presentation. Mostly it was good, but there are a few things you need to bear in mind next time you do one. (26) You both managed the hardware, I mean the projector and things, very well indeed, which is always a great help.

Anita: Good.

Lee: Thanks.

Tutor: You’d obviously checked it out carefully.

Lee: Yes. But (27) unfortunately we hadn’t finished our maps when we did the practice on my computer at home, that’s why there were some the wrong way up.

Anita: We didn’t realize the software on the laptop was a bit different from the one I have.

Tutor: But you sorted out the problem very quickly and didn’t let it fluster you, so it wasn’t a big problem. We could all read the map when we needed to.

Anita: So, it was OK, but we could have done better, we realize.

Tutor: Mm, there was a bit at the end where I felt something didn’t go as you’d planned – am I right?

Lee: We had a few maps which we ended up leaving out, because we needed to get on to our conclusions.

Anita: Yes, (28) it took longer to explain the technical aspects of grafting than we’d expected.

Lee: So, sticking to the time limit for each part of our presentation is something we didn’t manage at all. Which means we’ve definitely got to improve before we do another one.

Anita: Yes.

Tutor: Apart from that, well, (29) the handout was perfectly adequate for a seminar like this, it gave all the key information, and of course, now I realize the sources are listed at the back. But you need to do those references in the correct format, as footnotes in future.

Anita: OK.

Lee: Yes, sorry, we will.

Tutor: And finally, other students will be presenting projects later in the course. I shall be reminding them (30) how well you both spoke and that no one had any problem hearing or understanding either of you. In that respect your talk was a model that the others can follow.

Lee: Oh, thank you.

Anita: Yes, thanks very much. This feedback has been very helpful.

Tutor: Well done, both of you. See you in a fortnight.

Anita and Lee: Bye thanks.

This morning I’m going to describe for you a few of the kinds of experiments that have been used to investigate the sense of taste, which is now recognized as being a far more complex and important area of neurological science than was previously believed by most people. The results of some of these experiments can be quite fun and I shall suggest that you may want to choose one or two to try out in groups before having a go at designing a new experimental procedure of your own and trying to pinpoint the cause of your findings.

The first one concerns a marketing exercise by a soft drinks company. (31) The green colour of some cans was altered by the addition of yellow, so they were a brighter green. Then test subjects were asked what they thought about the flavor of the drink in the new-style cans, and (32) they stated that there was more lime in the drink if it was in the ones with the new colour. This was because the brain picks up cues from the way the product is presented, as well as the product itself, which trigger taste sensations. Before food was packaged, humans used colour to gauge the ripeness of fruit, for example.

Next there’s the old problem with chewing gum. Everyone knows that after a few minutes’ chewing it loses its minty flavor. However, (33) if you ask people to chew up to the point where it becomes tasteless, and then ask them to eat a little sugar and continue chewing, to most people’s surprise, what happens is that (34) the original mintiness actually returns because it is the sweetness which is needed to make the mintiness perceptible. So combinations of flavours can be significant, as the brain needs one of them in order to recognize the other.

Another experiment demonstrates something we’ve all done. Drink half a fizzy drink straight from the fridge and then leave it at room temperature for a while. Take a sip and you may well decide you don’t like it. (35) The warm drink is too sweet to be refreshing. So put the rest back in the fridge until it’s chilled again. Now try it. Much better. Of course the sweetness doesn’t change, it is our perception, because how sweet it tastes depends on the temperature. The extent to which the drink is sweetened is less evident if the drink has been cooled.

Another interesting result has been derived from experiments with sound. (36) One of these involved eating crisps. Subjects were put into soundproof rooms and given batches of crisps to eat. As they ate, the sound of crunching which they made as they ate the crisps was played back to them. This was adjusted so that they sometimes heard the crunching as louder, or, at other times, more high-frequency sounds were audible in the sound feedback that accompanied their eating. (37) Fascinatingly, if the sound level was louder or higher frequency they reported that the crisps were actually fresher. Of course, the crisps were in fact the same every time! So, it was clear that the level and quality of what they were hearing was influencing their taste perceptions.

So, we’ve looked briefly at colour, at complementary flavours, at temperature and sound. If seems that all the senses are working together here, but what about the sense of touch? A number of experiments have been done in this area. If you take, for instance, cheese sauce and prepare different versions, some thicker and some thinner, but without any alteration in the strength of flavour, what do you think the subjects perceive? Yup, if the sauce is thicker, they’ll say the cheesy flavor is less strong. It was clear that the thing (38) that was influencing the subjects’ judgement about the flavour of the sauces was the texture of each one. Now, this result is important for dietitians as well as marketing executives.

Lastly, another variation on the two flavours theme. This concerns the capacity of the brain for bridging a sensory gap. (39) The subjects in this experiment stuck out their tongues so that the testers could drip two liquids onto them simultaneously, one strawberry flavoured and one sugar flavoured. The testers then took away each flavour in turn. When the sweetness was taken away, the subjects reported they could hardly taste anything, (40) but they continued to think they could taste strawberry even after it was taken away! So that taste gap was filled.

Well, that’s just a quick look at some of the examples in the current literature. The references will be in the handout you’ll get at the end of the session. Now let’s see about trying a few of them for ourselves.

Man: 'Holidays for You'. Sean speaking. Can I help you?

Woman: Oh hi. I've been looking at your website. Um, I'm interested in a cycling holiday in Austria in April.

Man: Ah! We have two trips in April - one lasts fourteen days and the other ten days.

Woman: Mm ... I think the (Example) 10-day trip is better. So let's see. I've got a calendar here. What are the dates?

Man: Well, that trip is in the middle of the month. (1) It starts on the 17th of April and it finishes on the 27th. Woman: That suits me. I can't leave work before the 10th of April.

Man: Let me see if there are any spaces. Is it just for yourself?

Woman: Myself and my sister - so two of us.

Man: Um, yes. We have spaces.

Woman: Is it a big group?

Man: At the moment there are 12 people booked on this trip and with you two that will be 14. (2) The maximum number is 16 so it's almost fully booked. We can't go over that because it's hard to keep a larger group together.

Woman: I need to check that I'm fit enough for this but the distances look OK. The website says (3) we'll ride approximately. 45km a day. Is that right?

Man: That's correct and I've got the exact distances here. It really depends on which part of the trip. Some days are only 35km and some are more. But you'll never have to cycle more than 50km in one day.

Woman: Oh, OK. I can manage that. And we stay in hotels?

Man: Yes. They all have restaurants and the rooms have en-suite facilities.

Woman: And do they have pools? It's how i relax after a long day.

Man: There is a (4) swimming pool in a few of the hotels but none of them has a gym.

Woman: I don't think we'll need a gym after all that cycling! I'd better find out how much the holiday costs before I get too excited.

Man: Including flights it's £1,177 for one person.

Woman: Oh, we'll book our own flights on the Internet.

Man: Ah, that's just £ (5) 1,013 then. And we can book insurance for you if you want.

Woman: Mm ... and which meals are included in that price?

Man: Well, er, breakfast of course. And the hotels will provide you with a packed lunch each day. We do stop during the afternoon in a village somewhere for a rest, so (6) any snacks you buy then are extra. Then dinner will be in the hotel every evening and that's included in the price of the holiday.

Woman: And you provide the bicycles of course. What else?

Man: A lock and a bell come with the bike as well as lights, although you shouldn't need to cycle in the dark. There's a small bag, or pannier, on the front of the bike, where you can put the things you want to take with you during the day like water or fruit. (7) But we won't allow you to cycle unless you bring a helmet. We don't provide these locally because, like walking boots on a walking holiday, it's really important it fits properly.

Woman: OK.

Man: If there's any special gear you need for your holiday, we recommend a particular website and you can get a discount by quoting your booking reference.

Woman: Great. What is it?

Man: It's www.ballantyne.com. That's all one word, and I'll spell it for you: www dot (8) B-A double L-A-N-T-Y-N-E dot com.

Woman: Good. I've got that down. I've been looking at your website while we've been talking. I see we cycle along the river Danube?

Man: Yes, it's one of Europe's most well-known areas for cycling,

Woman: It looks fascinating - lots of beautiful countryside and things to see.

Man: I should warn you that we do reserve the right to make some (9) alterations to the route if the weather is bad. Some of the tracks sometimes get very muddy,

Woman: OK. Well, hopefully it won't rain too much! I know we stop in towns and villages but do we get a chance to look around? Because I'm really interested in history.

Man: Oh yes, you get opportunities to explore. Is there something in particular you want to see?

Woman: There's a (10) theatre in a town called Grein. A friend of mine went there last year and said it was amazing.

Man: Let's see. Um, ah yes, there's a guide who'll take you round. the building. We don't have any other tours arranged but you can visit several castles and museums on the holiday.

Woman: Well, thank you for all that information. I'd like to book that then.

Man: Right. Well, I'll just ...

Oh, excuse me, I wonder if you’d have the time to take part in some market research?

Umm ... What’s it about?

About this club and your experiences and opinions about being a member. It’ll take less than five minutes.

Oh ... OK then ... as long as it’s quick.

Can I start by taking your name?

It’s Selina Thompson.

Is that T-H-O-M-P-S-O-N?

Yes.

Great, thanks ... And what do you do for a living?

Well, I’m an accountant but I’m between jobs at the moment.

I understand, but that’s the job I’ll put down on the form. And would you mind my asking which age group you fall into? Below thirty, thirty-one to fifty and above.

Over fifty ... I think we can safely say.

Great, thanks. And which type of membership do you have?

Sorry, I’m not sure what you mean? Do you mean how long ... ?

No, is it a single person membership ... ?

Oh right ... no, it’s a family membership.

Thanks and how long have you been a member?

Oh ... let me see ... I was certainly here five years ago ... and it was probably two to three years more than that ...

Shall I put down eight?

I remember now ... it’s nine ... definitely ... sorry.

No problem ... I’ve got that. And the last question in this first part is, what brought you to the club?

Sorry ... ?

How did you find out about the club? Did you see any ads?

Well, I did actually but I have to say I wasn’t really attracted to the club because of that. It was through word of mouth.

So you were recommended by a friend?

Actually my doctor ... I’d been suffering from high blood pressure and he said the club was very supportive of people with that condition, so I signed up.

Great ... thanks.

Now for the second part of the form I want to ask a bit more about your experience of the club.

Sure.

How often would you say you use the club ... ?

It varies enormously depending on how busy I am.

Of course ... but on average ... per month?

I’d say it averages out at twice a week.

OK, so eight on average.

Yeah. And four of those are aqua-aerobics classes.

That leads me to the next question ... would you say the swimming pool is the facility you make most use of?

Fair to say that ... yeah.

Right, thanks ... And are there any facilities you don’t use?

One area I realise I’ve never used is the tennis courts ... and there’s one simple reason for that ...

You don’t play tennis?

Actually, I’m not bad at it ... it’s that I’m not happy having to pay extra ... for that privilege.

I’ve made a note of that ... thanks. Now in the last section are there any suggestions or recommendations you have for improvements to the club?

Only about health and fitness?

Anything at all ...

Well, I’d like to see more social events ... it isn’t just a question of getting together for games or classes but other things, you know.

Yes, sure.

And another thing that I was thinking when I had my yoga class in the gym last night - we were all sweltering in the heat - was that I think they should put in ... you know ... air conditioning.

That’s exactly what I mean. The rooms are really light and well designed but they do need proper installations.

Sure ... well I’ve made a note of that ...

Good.

... so is there anything else you’d like to suggest ... about quality of service, for example?

Oh, everyone’s very nice here ... they couldn’t be more friendly and helpful ... oh but I tell you what ... it’s a shame the restaurant isn’t open in the evening on Saturday ... and Sunday as well for that matter.

So ... the club should ...

... open it later on those days.

OK . well thank you very much, that’s all the questions .