LESSON 19
TEST PART TRAINING
Speaker A
I've hated job interviews since I had one in a doctor's office. The doctor talked about himself for a good twenty minutes. He would ask me a question and interrupt me before I even answered. So basically I answered no questions and he knew nothing about me. As I was leaving, the office manager said they had a lot of other interviews so they would call me back about a week later. Guess what! A few hours later the phone rang and they offered me the job. Of course I turned it down, because I didn't want a job where no one is actually interested in you.
Speaker B
I had plenty of job interviews. Honestly, I never worked in a real job before; just did promotions and similar stuff. When I had to make an interview for the best position ever in a very reputed company, my nerves betrayed me. I mumbled too much, didn't respond well to questions, and said things I realized I shouldn't have said. I even performed low on a test that was about media statistical information, which I actually know well. The annoying part is that the test was for 30 minutes and involveda lot of thinking. Naturally, I failed.
Speaker C
As for being the interviewer, I had one applicant for a computer networking position who asked me if it would be OK if he carried a gun on the job because 'You can never be too safe.' I wasn't sure he was packing heat at the moment so I just smiled and said 'That's something you can discuss with the owner if he calls you back for a second interview,' which of course, we didn't. Another person I interviewed had a CV that said he'd worked six months before at the company he was applying to. Moreover, he'd worked there for two years and in my position while I was there!
Speaker D
Job interviews put a lot of pressure on applicants. All you can do is relax and be yourself. Your grades will speak for themselves, but so will the grades of dozens of other people applying for the same job. You may have a few failures at interviews, but something will turn up. Someone will recognize that your personality is right for their business. Even though you have a good Grade Point Average, remember that a 'good' job only comes about through learning on the job skills. College and intern ships can help a lot.
Speaker E
Yesterday I had a job interview at a company where there were thirty people. We were split into groups and set activities to do. When we had breaks, the people overseeing us would come and tap the people they didn't like on the shoulder and lead them away. It was like 'Survivor' and it was terrifying. You saw them coming towards you and then they'd take away the person you were talking to. I ended up getting the job but I think I lost five years of my life from the stress of it.
Speaker F
I had a horrible interview at a pet shop a couple of weeks ago. Everything was normal until they asked me to 'sell' them a product. I was given about one minute to look over some obscure bottle with fish tank fluid. Then the manager asked me the weirdest questions about it like 'Why is the bottle dusty? Is it old or something?' What can you say to that? 'Umm, no sir, it is just dusty because we don't bother to clean the store? Or better, yes it is old, frankly it is crap and no one buys it!' Well, there is no way you can prepare for that.
I've hated job interviews since I had one in a doctor's office. The doctor talked about himself for a good twenty minutes. He would ask me a question and interrupt me before I even answered. So basically I answered no questions and he knew nothing about me. As I was leaving, the office manager said they had a lot of other interviews so they would call me back about a week later. Guess what! A few hours later the phone rang and they offered me the job. Of course I turned it down, because I didn't want a job where no one is actually interested in you.
Speaker B
I had plenty of job interviews. Honestly, I never worked in a real job before; just did promotions and similar stuff. When I had to make an interview for the best position ever in a very reputed company, my nerves betrayed me. I mumbled too much, didn't respond well to questions, and said things I realized I shouldn't have said. I even performed low on a test that was about media statistical information, which I actually know well. The annoying part is that the test was for 30 minutes and involveda lot of thinking. Naturally, I failed.
Speaker C
As for being the interviewer, I had one applicant for a computer networking position who asked me if it would be OK if he carried a gun on the job because 'You can never be too safe.' I wasn't sure he was packing heat at the moment so I just smiled and said 'That's something you can discuss with the owner if he calls you back for a second interview,' which of course, we didn't. Another person I interviewed had a CV that said he'd worked six months before at the company he was applying to. Moreover, he'd worked there for two years and in my position while I was there!
Speaker D
Job interviews put a lot of pressure on applicants. All you can do is relax and be yourself. Your grades will speak for themselves, but so will the grades of dozens of other people applying for the same job. You may have a few failures at interviews, but something will turn up. Someone will recognize that your personality is right for their business. Even though you have a good Grade Point Average, remember that a 'good' job only comes about through learning on the job skills. College and intern ships can help a lot.
Speaker E
Yesterday I had a job interview at a company where there were thirty people. We were split into groups and set activities to do. When we had breaks, the people overseeing us would come and tap the people they didn't like on the shoulder and lead them away. It was like 'Survivor' and it was terrifying. You saw them coming towards you and then they'd take away the person you were talking to. I ended up getting the job but I think I lost five years of my life from the stress of it.
Speaker F
I had a horrible interview at a pet shop a couple of weeks ago. Everything was normal until they asked me to 'sell' them a product. I was given about one minute to look over some obscure bottle with fish tank fluid. Then the manager asked me the weirdest questions about it like 'Why is the bottle dusty? Is it old or something?' What can you say to that? 'Umm, no sir, it is just dusty because we don't bother to clean the store? Or better, yes it is old, frankly it is crap and no one buys it!' Well, there is no way you can prepare for that.
Interviewer: With us today is Ricky Foyles, a songwriter you might be familiar with if you are under 20 ...Ricky, your songs are really extraordinary. Are they about real people?
Ricky Foyles: Well, yes, there's nothing in them that I've invented. For example, my latest song, 'Sara Jane', is about a young woman I know well, and it's basically about her strength in a difficult situation. My subjects are people and events I'm familiar with, but not the well known personalities everyone would recognise...
Interviewer: And people like that kind of subject matter...
Ricky Foyles: Yes, though you often have to listen three or four times to one of my songs before you realise that it's about something completely different from what you thought it was about. That's because I use everyday words, so you understand their meaning straight away. It's the message behind them that's more complex, what the song as a whole is really saying. I suppose the advantage of that is you don't get bored and tired of a song so quickly...
Interviewer: Would you say you're more popular now than you were when your album Rocket Love appeared last year?
Ricky Foyles: Mmm... I've always dreamt of selling millions of records, but that hasn't happened of course. I've got faithful followers, though, and I know that I'd be able to fill a 500 seat concert hall now, just as easily as I did two or three years ago. When my next album appears, that will certainly change things, that'll be in about six months' time.
Interviewer: So you might make a fortune then...
Ricky Foyles: Well, funnily enough I've always written my songs for the pleasure of it. The financial side of it has never been the driving force.
Interviewer: So is your new album very different from what you've done so far?
Ricky Foyles: Well, for a start, I took into account what some of my fans had said about my songs. They'd said I only write about what's unhappy, you know, they asked me to be a bit more optimistic. Well, I find that strange, because on the whole I think my songs are about real life, and in real life it's not always summer time... But I've tried to give it a more positive flavour, see what happens.
Interviewer: So are you writing more songs at the moment?
Ricky Foyles: Oh, sure, I need to have a new challenge all the time. I'm convinced my next album is going to be better than anything I've produced so far.
Interviewer: Well, we all wish you the very best of luck. Ricky Foyles, thank you for talking to us today...
Ricky Foyles: Well, yes, there's nothing in them that I've invented. For example, my latest song, 'Sara Jane', is about a young woman I know well, and it's basically about her strength in a difficult situation. My subjects are people and events I'm familiar with, but not the well known personalities everyone would recognise...
Interviewer: And people like that kind of subject matter...
Ricky Foyles: Yes, though you often have to listen three or four times to one of my songs before you realise that it's about something completely different from what you thought it was about. That's because I use everyday words, so you understand their meaning straight away. It's the message behind them that's more complex, what the song as a whole is really saying. I suppose the advantage of that is you don't get bored and tired of a song so quickly...
Interviewer: Would you say you're more popular now than you were when your album Rocket Love appeared last year?
Ricky Foyles: Mmm... I've always dreamt of selling millions of records, but that hasn't happened of course. I've got faithful followers, though, and I know that I'd be able to fill a 500 seat concert hall now, just as easily as I did two or three years ago. When my next album appears, that will certainly change things, that'll be in about six months' time.
Interviewer: So you might make a fortune then...
Ricky Foyles: Well, funnily enough I've always written my songs for the pleasure of it. The financial side of it has never been the driving force.
Interviewer: So is your new album very different from what you've done so far?
Ricky Foyles: Well, for a start, I took into account what some of my fans had said about my songs. They'd said I only write about what's unhappy, you know, they asked me to be a bit more optimistic. Well, I find that strange, because on the whole I think my songs are about real life, and in real life it's not always summer time... But I've tried to give it a more positive flavour, see what happens.
Interviewer: So are you writing more songs at the moment?
Ricky Foyles: Oh, sure, I need to have a new challenge all the time. I'm convinced my next album is going to be better than anything I've produced so far.
Interviewer: Well, we all wish you the very best of luck. Ricky Foyles, thank you for talking to us today...
The accident at the Fukushima power plant in Japan has led to much discussion about the future of nuclear power. I believe one important lesson of the accident has been overlooked. Nuclear power is often touted as a solution to climate change, but Fukushima serves as a warning that far from solving the climate problem, nuclear power may be highly vulnerable to it.
Of course, the emergency in Japan was caused by an earthquake and tsunami. But the effects of climate change could cause very similar problems. Two facts that everyone should now know about nuclear power are that it needs access to large volumes of water to cool the reactor and a supply of energy to move the water. For this reason nuclear power plants are typically sited near large bodies of water. It is this attachment to water that makes nuclear power vulnerable to climate change.
First of all, coastal areas are highly dynamic: storms batter, and land shifts. This already poses problems for the safety of nuclear plants, and is only going to get worse. Secondly, nuclear power can be disrupted by water scarcity and rising water temperatures.
Nuclear regulators are already well aware of several safety issues, including flooding, loss of power and equipment malfunction. Hurricanes pose a major threat. Many climate models predict an in crease in hurricane intensity. Even if they are wrong, existing reactors were built during a period of historically low hurricane activity and a return to baseline seems likely.
This is not to say an accident will happen every time a hurricane passes by a nuclear power plant. Unlike earthquakes, hurricanes can be predicted, allowing time for preparation. Still, preventative measures are not always taken. For instance, during hurricane Francis in 2004 doors designed to protect safety equipment from flying debris at the St Lucie nuclear power plant in Florida were left open.
Another cause for concern is floods. All nuclear power plants are designed to withstand a certain level of flooding based on historical data, but these figures do not take climate change into account. Floods due to sea level rise and heavy rain will increase in frequency.
Heat waves are another serious concern, for two reasons. First, the colder the cooling water entering a reactor, the more efficient the production of electricity. And second, once the cooling water has passed through the system, it is often discharged back where it came from in a much warmer state.
During the 2003 heat wave in Europe, reactors at inland sites in France were shut down or had their power output reduced because the water receiving the discharge was already warmer than environmental regulations allowed. Citing 'exceptional circumstances', the French government relaxed the regulations to maintain the supply of electricity. After subsequent heat waves it became a permanent measure during the summer months.
The relaxing of the regulations causes thermal pollution that reduces the ability of aquatic ecosystems to adapt to warmer temperatures. Some may argue these regional impacts are insignificant compared to the global ramifications of climate change, but they illustrate that nuclear power can actually worsen its impact.
The International Atomic Energy Agency advises the nuclear industry to build power plants to last for 100 years. Given that climate models don't agree on what to expect within this time period, it is not at all clear how this can be achieved. New reactors could use dry or hybrid systems with lower water requirements, but the costs of running these systems are likely to be prohibitive.
What is to be done? Most forms of energy generation are vulnerable in some way to the effects of climate change, and the fact that nuclear power is among them is yet another argument against a wholesale shift towards this source of energy. The bottom line is that if nuclear power is to be used to mitigate the effects of climate change, it must also be capable of adapting to them. Still, there are serious doubts that it can.
Of course, the emergency in Japan was caused by an earthquake and tsunami. But the effects of climate change could cause very similar problems. Two facts that everyone should now know about nuclear power are that it needs access to large volumes of water to cool the reactor and a supply of energy to move the water. For this reason nuclear power plants are typically sited near large bodies of water. It is this attachment to water that makes nuclear power vulnerable to climate change.
First of all, coastal areas are highly dynamic: storms batter, and land shifts. This already poses problems for the safety of nuclear plants, and is only going to get worse. Secondly, nuclear power can be disrupted by water scarcity and rising water temperatures.
Nuclear regulators are already well aware of several safety issues, including flooding, loss of power and equipment malfunction. Hurricanes pose a major threat. Many climate models predict an in crease in hurricane intensity. Even if they are wrong, existing reactors were built during a period of historically low hurricane activity and a return to baseline seems likely.
This is not to say an accident will happen every time a hurricane passes by a nuclear power plant. Unlike earthquakes, hurricanes can be predicted, allowing time for preparation. Still, preventative measures are not always taken. For instance, during hurricane Francis in 2004 doors designed to protect safety equipment from flying debris at the St Lucie nuclear power plant in Florida were left open.
Another cause for concern is floods. All nuclear power plants are designed to withstand a certain level of flooding based on historical data, but these figures do not take climate change into account. Floods due to sea level rise and heavy rain will increase in frequency.
Heat waves are another serious concern, for two reasons. First, the colder the cooling water entering a reactor, the more efficient the production of electricity. And second, once the cooling water has passed through the system, it is often discharged back where it came from in a much warmer state.
During the 2003 heat wave in Europe, reactors at inland sites in France were shut down or had their power output reduced because the water receiving the discharge was already warmer than environmental regulations allowed. Citing 'exceptional circumstances', the French government relaxed the regulations to maintain the supply of electricity. After subsequent heat waves it became a permanent measure during the summer months.
The relaxing of the regulations causes thermal pollution that reduces the ability of aquatic ecosystems to adapt to warmer temperatures. Some may argue these regional impacts are insignificant compared to the global ramifications of climate change, but they illustrate that nuclear power can actually worsen its impact.
The International Atomic Energy Agency advises the nuclear industry to build power plants to last for 100 years. Given that climate models don't agree on what to expect within this time period, it is not at all clear how this can be achieved. New reactors could use dry or hybrid systems with lower water requirements, but the costs of running these systems are likely to be prohibitive.
What is to be done? Most forms of energy generation are vulnerable in some way to the effects of climate change, and the fact that nuclear power is among them is yet another argument against a wholesale shift towards this source of energy. The bottom line is that if nuclear power is to be used to mitigate the effects of climate change, it must also be capable of adapting to them. Still, there are serious doubts that it can.
HOMETASK
