Lesson 84 Part I

Lesson 84

Part I Warming-up Exercises

Numbers: Numbers in News Items

Training Focus:

Identifying numbers read in different ways

Numbers are important in some news items. Radio announcers sometimes read the numbers in different ways. This drill aims at increasing the students' sensitivity to numbers in news broadcasting programs.

Directions: You are going to hear some simple news items,  which include numbers ranging from 1.5 to 210,000,000,000  Listen carefully. Write down the numbers rapidly.

Key:

1. A record number of shares, almost 93,000,000 were  traded Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange.

2. Trading was heavy again Friday on the New York Stock  Exchange. About 97,000,000 shares were traded, a  number second only to the record 133,000,000 shares  traded Wednesday.

3. Manufacturers' Hanover Trust Company of New York and the First National Bank of Chicago both reduced  their prime rate 1.5% to 16%. 

4. President Reagan has announced that the Soviet Union  will be permitted to buy as much as 23,000,000 tons of  American grain in the next twelve months.

5. The World Bank has approved a 100,000,000 dollar loan to the Ivory Coast.

6. The Japanese government has decided to lend more than  255,000,000 dollars to China this year.

7. Japan's cabinet has approved a proposed budget plan  for next year. The 210,000,000,000 dollar budget will  reduce total spending. Military spending will be increased 5.1%

Lesson 84 Part II News

Lesson 84 

Part II   News

Ex. I

Directions: Complete the summary for News Item 1.

Key: Asia's economic position in the 1990s

Ex. II

Directions: Fill in the blanks with the information you  get from the news.

Key: (see tapescript) 

Ex. III

Directions: Complete the summary for News Item 2. 

Key: the second largest trading day in history

Ex. IV

Directions: Fill in the blanks with the information you  get from the news.

Key: (see tapescript)

Tapescript:

News (1'36")

News Item 1

In Other Economic News

An American news magazine says Asia will become a major economic power in the 1990s. It said Asia will become a more important economic power than Europe. The magazine, Newsweek, said Asia already has replaced Europe as America's major trading partner. And it said that Hong Kong now is the world's third leading financial market behind New York and London.

News Item 2

Financial News

110,000,000 shares were traded Monday on the New York Stock Exchange. It was the second largest trading day in history. Last Wednesday a record 132,000,000 shares were bought or sold. The Dow-Jones average of industrial stocks was up more than 21 points today, and more major banks in the United States have reduced their prime lending rates to 13.5%. The prime rate is the interest banks charge their biggest borrowers. A reduction in the prime rate last week helped cause the record stock market gains.

Lesson 84 Part Ⅲ Science Report ----Use Of Laser In HeartSurgery

Lesson 84

Part Ⅲ Science Report

----Use Of Laser In Heart Surgery

Ex. I

Directions: Give brief answers to the questions you hear on the tape.

1. How many Americans die every year from heart attacks caused by blocked arteries?

2. How many patients received laser treatment? Where did they come from?

3. What was the result of the new treatment?

Key: (see tapescript)

Ex. Ⅱ

Directions: Fill in the blanks with what you hear on the tape.

Key: (see tapescript)

Ex. Ⅲ

Directions: Study the statements and order them correctly so that they reflect the procedure of the operation. Put  the numbers in the right circles.

Key: 2----4----3----1

Tapescript:

Science Report   (3'55")

---- Use Of Laser In Heart Surgery

American doctors working in France have used laser light beams to treat patients with heart disease. Heart disease kills more people in industrial countries than any other disease. A major form of heart disease is arteriosclerosis ---- or the narrowing and hardening of the arteries that carry blood to the heart. When a person suffers from severe arteriosclerosis, fatty materials build up in his or her arteries. This build-up blocks the flow of blood, reducing the heart's blood supply. If the heart's blood supply becomes dangerously low or blocked completely by a blood clot, the patient will have a heart attack. More than 600,000 Americans die every year from heart attacks caused by blocked arteries.

American doctors from Seaton Medical Center in California used laser light beams to destroy material blocking the arteries of four French heart patients. The scientists tried the new laser technique after they were invited to do so by doctors from Pupan Hospital in Toulouse, France. It was the first time that doctors had used the intense, powerful beams of laser light to burn through and destroy substances blocking human arteries. The American doctors first made a small cut through the patient's skin into the heart artery that was blocked. They then placed a long, plastic tube through the cut into the artery until the end of the tube reached the blocked area. The tube contained tiny fibers of glass through which the laser light could travel. Doctors fired a laser machine outside the patient's body. The powerful light traveled through the tube to destroy the blood clots and fat that were blocking the artery. Doctor Daniel Choy, the American doctor who led the team, said the scientists examined three of the four patients treated 25 days after the laser operation. In one patient, the artery had remained unblocked, but in the other two patients, the arteries had closed up again after the treatment. Dr. Choy said he does not know if the new laser treatment might someday replace medical operations now used to treat arteriosclerosis patients. He said more study is needed before scientists will really know if the new method is safe and effective. The American government has not yet given doctors permission to use the laser treatment on human heart patients in the United States.