新编大学英语4视听说材料UNIT 3

Three guys are out having a relaxing day fishing. Out of the blue, they catch a mermaid who begs to be set free in return for granting each of them a wish.

Now one of the guys just doesn't believe it, and says, "OK, if you can really grant wishes, then double my IQ." The mermaid says, "Done." Suddenly, the guy starts to recite flawless Shakespeare followed by a short pause and an extremely insightful analysis of it. The second guy is so amazed that he says to the mermaid, "Hey, triple my IQ." The mermaid says, "Done." The guy begins pouring out all the mathematical solutions to problems that have puzzled scientists of varying fields: physics, chemistry and astronomy.

The last guy is so interested in the changes in his friends that he says to the mermaid, "Quintuple my IQ." The mermaid looks at him and says, "You know, I normally don't try to change people's minds when they make a wish, but I really wish you'd reconsider."

The guy says, "No, I want you to increase my IQ five times, and if you don't do it, I won't set you free." "Please," says the mermaid, "you don't know what you're asking... It'll change your entire view of the universe. Won't you ask for something else... A million dollars, anything?"

But no matter what the mermaid says, the guy insists on having his IQ increased by five times its usual power. So the mermaid sighs and says, "Done." And he becomes a woman.




(Dr. Herring, author of a book on language and communication, is being interviewed by Bob White, a writer for an academic journal on communication.)

Bob White: Good morning, Dr. Herring! We both know that many communication specialists believe that gender bias exists in language, culture and society. Do you think this is really so?
Dr. Herring: Yes, I certainly do. How we talk and listen can be strongly influenced by cultural expectations, and these begin during childhood. Children usually play together with other children of the same gender, and this is where our conversational style is learned.
Bob White: Can you give some specific examples?
Dr. Herring: Certainly. We find that girls use language mainly to develop closeness or intimacy as a basis for friendship. Boys, on the contrary, use language mainly to earn status in their group.
Bob White: But, in communication by electronic devices like email discussion groups, there should be no gender distinction if writers' names are not used in the messages.
Dr. Herring: One might think so, but in fact, email writing style is most comparable with spoken language, so basic language styles are still evident.
Bob White: I thought email messages were gender neutral!
Dr. Herring: No. While theoretical gender equality exists for the Internet, in reality women are not given equal opportunity because of different communication and language styles between the sexes.
Bob White: How does that happen? Do you have any hard facts to back up this impression?
Dr. Herring: Yes. I've

done a research project using randomly selected email messages from online discussion groups. I found that females use language that is more collaborative and supportive such as "Thanks for all your tips on...", "Good point." and "Hope this helps!". Men tend to use more aggressive or competitive language such as "Do you understand that?", "You should realize that...", "It is absurd to think...".
Bob White: How great are these gender differences?
Dr. Herring: Males wrote messages using aggressive, competitive language more than twice as often as females did, while females used collaborative and supportive language three times as often as males did. In this study, it is clear that there is a gender difference in email messages just as there is in other communication styles.
Bob White: So the "battle of the sexes" is still with us, even online.


Questions:
1. Whom do children usually play together with?
2. Which of the following is most similar to email writing in the style?
3. Why are women not given equal opportunity on the Internet?
4. What comparison did Dr. Herring make in her research?



"Equal" does not always mean "the same". Men and women are created equal. But, boys and girls are not born the same.

You throw a little girl a ball, and it will hit her in the nose. You throw a little boy a ball, and he will try to catch it. Then it will hit him in the nose.

A baby girl will pick up a stick and look in wonder at what nature has made. A baby boy will pick up a stick and turn it into a gun.

When girls play with Barbie dolls, they like to dress them up and play house with them. When boys play with Barbie dolls, they like to tear their hair off.

Boys couldn't care less if their hair is untidy. But for girls, if their hair got cut a quarter-inch too short, they would rather lock themselves in their room for two weeks than be seen in public.

Baby girls find mommy's makeup and almost instinctively start painting their faces. Baby boys find mommy's makeup and almost instinctively start painting the walls.

Boys grow their fingernails long because they're too lazy to cut them. Girls grow their fingernails long—not because they look nice—but because they can dig them into a boy's arm.

Girls are attracted to boys, even at an early age. At an early age, boys are attracted to dirt.

Most baby girls talk before boys do. Before boys talk, they learn how to make machine-gun noises.

Girls turn into women. Boys turn into bigger boys.




In order to understand this story, you have to know the nursery rhyme Hickory Dickory Dock. In this nursery rhyme, the words in the title have no meaning. The rhyme goes like this:

Hickory Dickory Dock,
The mouse ran up the clock.
The clock struck one,
The mouse ran down!
Hickory Dickory Dock.

Here is the story:
One day I took my seven-year-old son with me to shop for an electric wall clock for

the kitchen and found a whole counter full of them on sale at a discount store. I had trouble deciding which clock to buy. While I held one clock in my hand and looked at another, I asked my son which one he liked better.

"The one you're holding with the mouse in it, Mom," he said.

Before I understood his words, a real, live mouse jumped out onto the counter and ran away. I screamed so loud everyone turned to see what was wrong. I was so embarrassed. I tried to make my way quietly out of the store. Everyone was looking at me. On the way out the door, my delighted son recited Hickory Dickory Dock. What a naughty boy!



Questions:
1. Where did the story take place?
2. Why did the mother ask her son which clock he liked better?
3. Which clock did the boy like better?
4. Why did the mother feel embarrassed?
5. Why did the boy recite Hickory Dickory Dock?



John: Cathy, do you think it's appropriate for females to continuously expect guys to behave in a standard gentlemanly fashion like opening the car doors?
Cathy: Well, I think it would be nice if men could do such things.
John: My side of the story is that we all have to admit that we are living in the world of change. Right? Nowadays, sometimes the equation changes if the driver is a girl and the passenger is a guy who doesn't drive. So what happens? Should the girl open the door for the guy or should the guy open the door for the girl? Maybe we should just adopt an "open your own door" policy.
Cathy: Yes, I agree, John. But...sometimes it's just a matter of courtesy. It doesn't matter who opens the door for whom. Maybe females just should not expect too much. Life isn't a fairy tale after all.
John: It's absolutely true. Sometimes I feel that there isn't any difference in the roles both genders can perform. Of course I'm not saying that men can give birth. Rather what I meant was except for the physical and natural differences between both sexes, there isn't much difference between them.
Cathy: Well... But seriously, though I don't expect guys to open doors for me, or to pull out a chair for me, I am usually quite impressed if they do so, as many guys don't do it nowadays. If the guy was walking in front of me and went through the door first, I'd appreciate it if he could hold the door and not let it slam in my face.
John: Well, if I'm the one walking in front, I will open the door and hold it for the people behind me, be it a girl or a boy. I actually had the door slam right in my face a number of times though, when the person walking closely in front of me didn't hold the heavy glass door and let it swing back in my face. Of course, I tried to hold the door, but it was too heavy and too late. But I think it was more embarrassing for him than me as everyone was looking at him, while I was rubbing my squashed nose.
Cathy: So being a gentleman does not stop at opening doors. There are many other aspects I believe.


Questions:

1. Why do the speakers think that females should not expect too much of men?
2. What does John think of the different roles that men and women can perform?
3. Why would Cathy like the person walking in front to hold the door for her?
4. How was John hurt by the door several times?
5. Who felt very embarrassed when John was hurt by the door?



How do we learn gender roles? Do you know how you learned to be a woman? Do you know how you learned to be a man? What makes the difference in terms of gender and our roles in society? Even when our physical structures are revealed to be really similar, women and men "tend" to play different roles in society. In an article in the latest issue of Psychology Today, we find a study that reflects how parents of fifteen girl babies and fifteen boy babies differed in their descriptions of their babies. Despite the fact that objective data such as birth length, weight, irritability, etc. did not differ, when the parents were asked to describe their babies, they said that girl babies were softer, littler, more beautiful, prettier, cuter than boy babies. Based on these facts, we could conclude that parents' attitude is influencing their children.

Our parents and later our school, television and the Internet are showing us a whole set of expected behaviors that create our patterns. Thus, a simple cartoon can suggest to children how they are supposed to act. Male cartoon characters are not only more prominent than female characters, but they also portray a broader range of masculine traits. Male characters are powerful, strong, smart and aggressive.

Of course roles have been changing over the past decades. Nowadays, women are not necessarily expected to stay home raising their family and supporting their husbands. In the same way, men are no longer expected to be the only breadwinners like they used to be; now women and men share these responsibilities. But traditional roles still have a big influence.



Paul: Hey Gary! You've been standing here all night. Get out and dance with someone like that girl over there.
Gary: No way! She's more of the intellectual type.
Paul: What kind of woman do you like?
Gary: I want a woman that fulfills my every need, and that girl is not the right type.
Paul: Hey. Where have you been? Times are changing, and you're never going to find a woman that will shine your shoes and fill your beer mug all the time. Wake up.
Gary: Oh really? I've met a lot of women like that, just not at this party. I prefer women that stay home, cook, clean, and watch the kids.
Paul: Okay, but where do you fit into this wonderful plan? I mean what are your household responsibilities once you get home from work?
Gary: Hmm. Eat, watch TV, and throw out the trash.
Paul: Wait, wait, wait. I can't believe I'm hearing this. You're never going to get married. I recently read a news report that says 40 percent of women don't think their husbands do t

heir share around the house, and you seem to fit into that mold.
Gary: That's interesting, Paul, but that doesn't change my point of view. I guess I'll have to settle for TV dinners and my dog, Bob.
Paul: I think so. Well, I like women who are open-minded and have something interesting to say. And if I stick with you here, this is going to be a long, lonely night. Say hello to Bob for me.


Questions:
1. What was Gary doing at the beginning of the dialog?
2. What kind of women does Gary like?
3. Which of the following does Gary consider as part of household responsibilities?
4. What does Paul think of Gary's views on women?
5. What is Gary most likely to do for the rest of the evening according to the dialog?



It is my belief that gender stereotypes are very real gender characteristics that are exaggerated to the extreme ends with no gray areas. So in truth a woman is "weak" physically only because a man is in reality "stronger". A woman is "submissive" only because a man in reality is more "aggressive". A woman is "emotional" only because a man is "less emotional". All these are scientific facts.

Are there ways to avoid the stereotyping? This is a hard thing to do. We as males and females love to exaggerate our differences. It seems we love to do this in many ways. We love to exaggerate gender traits as if to say "Look how female I am" or "Look how male I am". Do we go so far as to actually create differences that do not exist? Not from what I see. I think we like to exaggerate our differences because the more male we feel or the more female we feel the more attractive we feel.

So all in all I believe stereotypes are true differences that are exaggerated. I don't think stereotypes should be avoided because they are real. I do think that we should not place extremes of a trait to a gender and most certainly not limit someone's potential abilities based on a stereotype. Stereotypes should apply in general but not to an individual. They should serve to help make judgment but not as an absolute.

Men, it is said, are generally more aggressive than women and enjoy taking risks. They play fighting games and enjoy "dares". More men than women are convicted for crimes, especially crimes of violence.

Some say that this is simply a matter of biology; others suggest that it is a function of the way we organize the sex and gender roles in our society. In fact, many of the findings, in this area, have turned out to be unsatisfactory, and often there turns out to be very small differences with a large degree of overlap.

Biologically, men certainly seem to be the weaker sex. On average, men experience heart attacks 10 years earlier than women, but have a better rate of survival if they survive the first year after an attack. Symptoms also vary by sex: Women experience shortness of breath, fatigue, and chest pain; most male heart attacks come on as a sudden, striking pain in the chest. In adultho

od, men are more likely to be infected with viruses and have a shorter average lifespan.

In recent years, a great many biological sex differences have been found throughout the body, including the brain. However, regardless of the findings that sex differences really do exist after all and despite the pressure to deny them, socially, we still expect women to behave like women and men like men.