B2 listening about a Conference
فایل صوتی سطح پیشرفته درباره ی کنفرانس
محتوای درس
نمایش اطلاعات
You will hear an interview with an organizer of the Tall person's Club conference. For questions 1-7 choose the best answer A, B or C.
medium or short? At one meter 84. I've always thought of myself as being a little on the tall side, particularly when I stand next to the people I work with here in the Round Britain studio. Rather curiously, most of them are below the national average height of one meter 78 for men and one 62 for women. But when I popped in yesterday to the annual conference of the TPC - that's the Tall Person's Club of Great Britain and Ireland - I felt decidedly small. I asked one of the organizers, Jenny Parfitt, to tell me about the conference.
J: Well, this is the main event in the club's very busy social calendar. Throughout the year we put on a whole number of activities for members in their local area, like barbecues, theatre excursions, walks and so on. And this conference is the highlight of that year. It's a three-day event that gives tall people from all over the country the chance to meet in the comfort of a hotel, where they can chat, eat, dance and go sightseeing with others who are also above average height.
P: But there's also a serious side to it as well, I gather.
J: That's right, it's not all partying! We discuss a lot of important issues, too. One of the aims of the TPC is to promote the interests of tall people, to change current attitudes. We live in a heightist world, where tall people are discriminated against. Beds in hotels are usually too short for us, and we often have to sleep with our feet hanging off the end. Travelling by bus, train or plane is a major problem too - there's very little leg room and it can feel very cramped. The main difficulty, though, is finding shops that sell long enough trousers or big enough shoes. That can be a real headache.
P: I imagine too that the attitudes of other people can be a problem.
J: Yes, people do tend to stare at us when we walk into the room, treat us like circus freaks. And some actually laugh out loud, as if something funny has just happened, I think if I weren't so used to it now, I might take offence - I know many fellow TPC members do. But to be honest, I find it a little bit annoying. You get tired of it all, particularly when the fifteenth person in a day says something like 'What's the weather like up there?' And they think it's so funny.
P: Yes, not very original. is it? Does the club offer help to tall people who come across attitudes like these?
J: Yes, we regularly give advice to victims of insults and bullying at school or in the workplace. But perhaps the greatest benefit of the club is the opportunity to see that as a tall person you are not alone. When people come to their first meeting and walk into a room full of tall people,they start standing up straighter. They lose their shyness and very soon begin to feel less awkward, more comfortable about their height. It's a remarkable transformation.
P: You've mentioned some of the negative aspects of being taller than average. But surely there must be some advan¬tages, too?
J: Oh Yes, there are plenty of them. Erm, for example, you can always see over everyone's head if you're watching something in a crowd or an audience, and if you're in a supermarket you can get things off the top shelf that most other people have a job to reach. And then also you auto-matically become first choice for sports like basketball, volleyball or rowing. I've never been very good at volleyball, but I always got picked for the university team when I was a student.
P: Now, one thing of course we've failed to mention, Jenny, is your height. How tall are you?
J: One meter 88. And actually, I'm one of the smaller members at this conference, the tallest woman here is exactly two meters and the tallest man two meters 30, that's an incredible 7 foot six inches.
P: Goodness me!
J: Yes, impressive, isn't it? Incidentally, though, you don't need to be above a certain height to qualify as a member or the Tall Person's Club. Unlike some clubs in the USA, which can be difficult to join because of their restrictions, we are very inclusive over here. We believe that people know for themselves whether they are tall or not and it's up to them to decide if they should join.
P: Jenny, it's been fascinating talking to you ...
J: Well, this is the main event in the club's very busy social calendar. Throughout the year we put on a whole number of activities for members in their local area, like barbecues, theatre excursions, walks and so on. And this conference is the highlight of that year. It's a three-day event that gives tall people from all over the country the chance to meet in the comfort of a hotel, where they can chat, eat, dance and go sightseeing with others who are also above average height.
P: But there's also a serious side to it as well, I gather.
J: That's right, it's not all partying! We discuss a lot of important issues, too. One of the aims of the TPC is to promote the interests of tall people, to change current attitudes. We live in a heightist world, where tall people are discriminated against. Beds in hotels are usually too short for us, and we often have to sleep with our feet hanging off the end. Travelling by bus, train or plane is a major problem too - there's very little leg room and it can feel very cramped. The main difficulty, though, is finding shops that sell long enough trousers or big enough shoes. That can be a real headache.
P: I imagine too that the attitudes of other people can be a problem.
J: Yes, people do tend to stare at us when we walk into the room, treat us like circus freaks. And some actually laugh out loud, as if something funny has just happened, I think if I weren't so used to it now, I might take offence - I know many fellow TPC members do. But to be honest, I find it a little bit annoying. You get tired of it all, particularly when the fifteenth person in a day says something like 'What's the weather like up there?' And they think it's so funny.
P: Yes, not very original. is it? Does the club offer help to tall people who come across attitudes like these?
J: Yes, we regularly give advice to victims of insults and bullying at school or in the workplace. But perhaps the greatest benefit of the club is the opportunity to see that as a tall person you are not alone. When people come to their first meeting and walk into a room full of tall people,they start standing up straighter. They lose their shyness and very soon begin to feel less awkward, more comfortable about their height. It's a remarkable transformation.
P: You've mentioned some of the negative aspects of being taller than average. But surely there must be some advan¬tages, too?
J: Oh Yes, there are plenty of them. Erm, for example, you can always see over everyone's head if you're watching something in a crowd or an audience, and if you're in a supermarket you can get things off the top shelf that most other people have a job to reach. And then also you auto-matically become first choice for sports like basketball, volleyball or rowing. I've never been very good at volleyball, but I always got picked for the university team when I was a student.
P: Now, one thing of course we've failed to mention, Jenny, is your height. How tall are you?
J: One meter 88. And actually, I'm one of the smaller members at this conference, the tallest woman here is exactly two meters and the tallest man two meters 30, that's an incredible 7 foot six inches.
P: Goodness me!
J: Yes, impressive, isn't it? Incidentally, though, you don't need to be above a certain height to qualify as a member or the Tall Person's Club. Unlike some clubs in the USA, which can be difficult to join because of their restrictions, we are very inclusive over here. We believe that people know for themselves whether they are tall or not and it's up to them to decide if they should join.
P: Jenny, it's been fascinating talking to you ...
Question No. /
1 What comment does the presenter make about his height?
Question No. /
2 Jenny says that the Tall Person's Club conference
Question No. /
3 According to Jenny, what is the biggest problem faced by tall people?
Question No. /
4 How does Jenny feel about some people's reactions towards her height?
Question No. /
5 Jenny says that at their first meeting, new club members
Question No. /
6 According to Jenny, one advantage for tall people is that
Question No. /
7 What does Jenny say about membership of the Tall Person's Club of Great Britain and Ireland?
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درک مطلب از سطح مبتدی تا پیشرفته
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