英語口語對(duì)話(高級(jí)) lesson 3 Like Master Like Dog
Summary:
Vanessa and Denise discuss about personality similarities between dogs and their owners.
In this episode of World Report, Vanessa talks to Denise, who reports live from Cincinnati, Ohio. Barbara Boat, director of the Childhood Trust at the University of Cincinnati, also joins them. Listen to their conversation and answer the question that follows about the main idea.
Dialogue:
Vanessa: Welcome to World Report and hello to Denise in Ohio. Denise, what’s this new study all about?
Denise: Hi Vanessa. A study of 355 dog owners here in Ohio showed that owners of vicious dogs such as pit bulls, rottweilers or chows had all had at least one brush with the law.
Vanessa: What! Each and every owner?
Denise: That’s right. And 30 % of people who failed to register them had at least 5 criminal convictions.
Vanessa: Criminal convictions?
Denise: For instance, domestic violence or drug trafficking.
Vanessa: Amazing. What about the owners of gentler dog breeds?
Denise: Ah, now, only 1 % of owners of licensed and ‘gentler’ dogs, you know, like terriers, collies, poodles, had any past convictions.
Vanessa: That’s a world of difference, Denise, what are the implications of this study?
Denise: Well, I’m sure Barbara Boat, director of the Childhood Trust at the University of Cincinnati, will have more to say on that. Thanks for joining us.
Barbara: My pleasure. Owners of vicious dogs are obviously more likely to break the law. In fact, those who failed to register them are 3 times more likely to have been convicted of domestic violence and 8 times more likely to have been charged with drug crimes than owners of gentler dogs.
Denise: That’s remarkable.
Barbara: It is. So in all probability, choosing to own a vicious dog is a marker of social deviance.
Denise: How do you think these findings might be useful in the future?
Barbara: The chances are that social and law enforcement workers will use them as a basis for further research.
Now answer the following question…
What does the recent study suggest about the owners of violent dogs?
They are more likely to be law breakers.
Now listen again to the dialogue in parts. After each part there will be 3 to 4 questions on some details...
Part 1
Vanessa: Welcome to World Report and hello to Denise in Ohio. Denise, what’s this new study all about?
Denise: Hi Vanessa. A study of 355 dog owners here in Ohio showed that owners of vicious dogs such as pit bulls, rottweilers or chows had all had at least one brush with the law.
Vanessa: What! Each and every owner?
Denise: That’s right. And 30 % of people who failed to register them had at least 5 criminal convictions.
Vanessa: Criminal convictions?
Denise: For instance, domestic violence or drug trafficking.
Vanessa: Amazing. What about the owners of gentler dog breeds?
Denise: Ah, now, only 1 % of owners of licensed and ‘gentler’ dogs, you know, like terriers, collies, poodles, had any past convictions.
Vanessa: That’s a world of difference, Denise, what are the implications of this study?
Now answer some questions…
1. What was Denise giving an example of when she said “such as pit bulls, rottweilers or chows…”
When Denise said “such as pit bulls, rottweilers or chows…” she was giving an example of vicious dogs.
2. What was Denise giving an example of when she said “like terriers, collies and poodles…”
When Denise said “like terriers, collies and poodles…”she was giving an example of gentler dogs.
3. What was Denise giving an example of when she said “for instance domestic violence or drug trafficking.”
When Denise said “for instance domestic violence or drug trafficking” she was giving an example of criminal convictions.
Now listen to the second part of the dialogue…
Part 2
Denise: Well, I’m sure Barbara Boat, director of the Childhood Trust at the University of Cincinnati, will have more to say on that. Thanks for joining us.
Barbara: My pleasure. Owners of vicious dogs are obviously more likely to break the law. In fact, those who failed to register them are 3 times more likely to have been convicted of domestic violence and 8 times more likely to have been charged with drug crimes than owners of gentler dogs.
Denise: That’s remarkable.
Barbara: It is. So in all probability, choosing to own a vicious dog is a marker of social deviance.
Denise: How do you think these findings might be useful in the future?
Barbara: The chances are that social and law enforcement workers will use them as a basis for further research.
Now answer some questions…
1. What did Barbara mean when she said “… are obviously more likely to break the law”?
When Barbara said “they are obviously more likely to break the law.” she wanted to express certainty that vicious dog owners are more likely to break the law than owners of gentler dog breeds
2. What did Barbara mean when she said “In all probability, choosing to own a vicious dog is a marker of social deviance”?
When Barbara said “In all probability” she meant most likely.
3. What did Barbara mean when she said “The chances are that social and law enforcement workers will use them as a basis for further research”?
When Barbara said “The chances are” she meant that it’s most likely.
Please visit our site at www.hau.gr to find the transcripts, explanations and activities.
GLOSSARY
A brush with: A brush with someone is an expected and unpleasant encounter with someone. If you have a brush with the law, you have an unpleasant experience because you broke the law on one occasion.
Charged with: If someone is charged with an offence, he or she is officially accused of an offence. A criminal charge is an official accusation of a crime.
Convicted of: If someone is convicted of a crime, he or she is found guilty of a crime in a court of law. The noun is conviction. ‘Having at least five criminal convictions’ means having been convicted on five different occasions.
Domestic violence: Domestic violence is violence between members of the same family.
Drug trafficking: If you traffic in drugs, you trade in drugs. Drug trafficking is the illegal trade of drugs.
Fail to register: In the report you heard that owners of vicious dogs who failed to register them are three times more likely to have been charged with certain crimes. If you fail to do something, you don’t do something that you are supposed to do.
Implications: The implications of an event, an action or a decision are the effects or impact that this event, action or decision will have on people or things in the future.
Social deviance: The noun social deviance is used to refer to any kind of behaviour that is considered abnormal or unacceptable by most people – deviant behaviour.
A world of difference: The expression a world of difference means a huge difference. If there’s a world of difference between two things, they are poles apart. If something makes a world of difference, it improves a situation greatly.
