Transcript for test 36

Section 1

Customer Care Officer: Hello, it's Tom Burlinson calling from clean-it vacuum cleaners Mr.
Sergeant is it ?

Mr. Sergeant: Yes

Customer Care Officer: I understand you recently purchased a vacuum from us. Is that correct?

Mr. Sergeant: Yes, that's right.

Customer Care Officer: This is simply a call to find out if you've been happy with your purchase.
Our company prides itself on its after sales service just because you bought from us doesn't
mean you're no longer important to us. Could you spare a few moments to answer some
questions?

Mr. Sergeant: Sure, how long will this take?

Customer Care Officer: Well... not long at all Mr Sergeant, usually only about three or four
minutes.

Mr. Sergeant: Okay, what would you like to know ?

Customer Care Officer: Okay great, I'll just go through the survey form and if you'll just bear with
me this shouldn't take long at all. Okay, first question which model did you purchase and when?

Mr. Sergeant: Yes, it was the super cleaner. We bought it about two weeks ago. Uh see it was a
Monday I think because my wife's birthday was on the Sunday 24th that will make it the 25th,
yes August 25th.

Customer Care Officer: Okay, now do you remember the name of the sales person? Was he
worth remembering?

Mr. Sergeant: Yes his name was Jim. My wife and I were very impressed with him. He was a
great source of information. Very helpful.

Customer Care Officer: Great, I'll make sure that your kind words about Jim are passed on to
him. Okay, now let's see. Ah! yes, have you purchased any other products from us this year?

Mr. Sergeant: Oh! let's see. Of course we bought the super cleaner, I think that's all. Well we
bought some vacuum bags with it as well. Um… I think Daisy bought some carpet cleaner from
your store back in February, that's about all I think. I have to ask my wife about that one, she's
not here at the moment.

Customer Care Officer: No... no that's okay. Your answer will do fine. We don't have to be too
picky. Okay, so how much money would you say you've spent all told in the store. Just an
approximate amount will do, fine?

Mr. Sergeant: Well, that's a difficult question I don't really know, the vacuum was 150 pounds
the other stuff I'd say around 15 pounds. I suppose the total was around 165 pounds but I
couldn't be totally sure. It may be a bit more than that.

Customer Care Officer: That's fine. Now the next thing on my list is how would you rate the
quality of the products you purchased?

Mr. Sergeant: Good actually… Very good. So far we've not had any problems with the products
from cleanit. Service and value have been very good, so I guess you have a loyal customer.

Customer Care Officer: Oh wonderful! I'm really pleased that your experience with our company
has been a positive one. Tell me do you purchase any other items of cleaning equipment, if so
from whom?

Mr. Sergeant: I'm very fussy about the interior of my car, you know. The seats and carpets. I
found a product from easy clean which works well on the carpets and an air freshener from Mr
Tidy that really smells good. Apart from that ...oh! I couldn't say for sure I think my wife buys
floor cleaner from Johnson Brothers.

Customer Care Officer: Well, we've just introduced a new line of car freshners you might like to
stop by. We'll offer you a 20% discount . Okay, we're almost to the end of the questions. Now I
know you are happy with Jim, but overall how would you rate the quality of our service?

Mr. Sergeant: Fine, I thought it was good. The lady in accounts was a little unfriendly but overall
I would say the service was quite good actually. Jim made all the difference and you certainly
seem to be a very nice person.

Customer Care Officer: Oh thanks Mr. Sergeant

Mr. Sergeant: Please Tom, call me Terry.

Customer Care Officer: Oh okay, Terry very good. Second last question. We're thinking of
expanding our trading hours. When are the best times, the most convenient for you to shop?

Mr. Sergeant: Oh I'm not a shopper. I mostly leave it all up to my wife. She works full time. Let's
see, for me I guess I'd have to say, Sundays between one and three and I'm not working on
Thursdays now so if I had to, I guess thursdays between say 11 and 12 noon.
Customer Care Officer: Okay, last question Mr Sergeant. Terry, do you have any other
suggestions for us? Anything at all?

Mr. Sergeant: Well, come to think of it now there was one thing. Turn up the air conditioner, I
seem to remember sweltering in there and it was unpleasant and hot. Also and this is just me. I
always like to have some music playing, you know quietly in the background. It just makes the
place seem friendlier, you know, more professional.

Customer Care Officer: Well. I'll certainly mention that to management. Well, that's it. Thanks so
much for your time Terry. if there is anything we can do in the future to help you don't hesitate to
call us.

Mr. Sergeant: Okay, bye now!

Customer Care Officer: yes bye-bye and thanks again.

Section 2

Interviewer: After years of planning, Colin Clark finally got the opportunity in the winter of 2002
to visit and trek through the magnificent Sahara desert. Earlier today, I talked with Colin about
the trip and recorded this interview. Colin, thanks for taking the time to talk with me about your
recent adventure. Tell me how many days did the trip end up taking?

Colin Clark: It wasn't one of the easiest things I've ever done, let me assure you. Even with the
assistance of my two travel companions it was more difficult than I had expected it to be. Let's
see, the first day was the third no no the fourth yes we arrived back on the 18th. So, all told we
spent 14 days trekking through and around the Sahara. Although, it only got really difficult after
the third day. Out in the Sahara, you can forget about your nice comfortable bed. Try as I might,
I couldn't get comfortable at night so after day three I was feeling weary from lack of sleep.
Fortunately that changed after a few days, but those sleeping bags took some getting used to.

Interviewer: And how did you travel?

Colin Clark: Well, most of the trip was either in a four-wheel drive by land or by river in a type of
canoe which the natives called a Piro.

Interviewer: What was the weather like?

Colin Clark: Winter season is the dry season. In fact our guide told us that it hadn't rained in
winter in 20 years. Out in the desert, people don't even bother setting up a tent; they just jump
straight into a sleeping bag. You can imagine our surprise when on day eight, we encountered a
little light rain. Anyway on our first day and I remember this moment well. The sun had just
begun to rise. I was sitting on the roof of the four-wheel drive photographing some of the
landscape. At that very moment we knew we were going to be in for some scorching weather. It
was only about eight a.m and the roof of the car was getting too hot to sit on. I asked the guide if
he knew what the temperature was and he said it must be at least 85 degrees. That's fahrenheit
by the way. And this was supposed to be the cool of winter. The rest of the trip was pretty much
the same. Although at night there was a considerable break in the heat. One night I even
needed a blanket which is pretty common at that time of the year, but it was never that cold.

Interviewer: Highlights, I assume there were many, but are there any moments that really stand
out above the rest?

Colin Clark: Yes I'd have to say the simple pleasure of camping out in nature, especially at
night, was a highlight. The light of the moon and the stars were just breathtaking. Not a sound to
be heard in the still of the night. I won't forget that amazing experience. On day 12 we arrived at
the Niger River where we had to take a ferry across to Timbuktu. You don't know how
uncomfortable a four-wheel drive can be, until you've bounced around in one for four days. In
most parts of Africa, you have to drive through mud and deep potholes to get around and this
was certainly the case traveling to the ferry. When we got to the river, there were 26 vehicles
waiting to board it.

Interviewer: Wow!

Colin Clark: But I'll tell you. Finally arriving at the Niger River and getting out of that four-wheel
drive was a much welcome break which I won't forget. The ferry itself was built to hold five
vehicles and was supposed to take an hour and a half to make the return trip. We realized it
was going to take a better part of the day to get on the ferry, so we decided to take a pirro over
to Timbuktu with our luggage, which was another highlight for me personally. The Pirro is an
interesting form of African transportation. Basically it's a modest sized vessel which resembles a
dugout canoe. They're a common way to travel a river in that part of the world; they range in
size from two to six people but they never carry those numbers in Africa. It's not uncommon to
see a piro built to carry two people actually carrying eight people or the largest six person size
with 20 people on board but it has to be people that don't place a high value on their life.

Interviewer: I see

Colin Clark: Most of the Pirros are propelled by hand but a few have motors. There's a larger
canoe that they call a Pinissee. These are actually quite large. Almost all the pinaceas have a
motor and are used mostly for freight or cargo. I have to say that i'm very pleased to be safe at
home.
Section 3

Joe: Hi Martin, Hi Angela!

Martin: Hi joe!

Angela: Yeah. Hi Joe, so you're really worried about your presentation? The one about names.

Joe: I am

Martin: Well, you know your stuff on names pretty well... so it's just a question of selecting what
you want to use.

Angela: That's right.

Joe: But there's so much

Martin: Well, you don't have to include everything, let's start somewhere.

Joe: Well, for example there's a lot to discuss about people's names in terms of culture.

Angela: It would be a good way to start, bringing in issues of religion, society...

Joe: I thought so.

Martin: As long as you can keep it concise, since it's potentially a large area

Joe: I'll pick out some key points.

Angela: Good, now that will tend to be about differences. What about something on ways in
which naming practices are often similar across different languages?

Martin: That sounds good.

Joe: I'm not sure how much I could say that's really about just names and not really general
language

Angela: Maybe you need to give that some more thought.

Joe: Yes, I'm not ruling it out.

Martin: Well, what about what first names mean?

Martin: Yes there are all sorts of different principles at work.

Angela: It's a rich area for discussion and you can present lots of examples.

Martin: It would mean a good slide or two.

Joe: I'll enjoy making those up.

Martin: Don't forget to put our names in.

Joe: No, okay. Right. Where we got up to? Yes, now there's the question of place names.

Angela: Ones where the name of the place is the word for the situation like something to do with
sea or mountain etc.

Joe: Yes people often don't realize the origin.

Martin: It sounds like it's just a translation issue to me. Don't you think you might give that a
miss?

Joe: Given the time limit perhaps, you're right.

Angela: You need something on place names, could you get history in?

Joe: Actually, the way migrants often used to name places after somewhere in their country of
origin is interesting.

Martin: Sounds a bit narrow to me.

Joe: Well, I'd hope to build it up a bit.

Angela: Perhaps you should make a final decision on that later.

Joe: Okay I'll see how the rest of it goes first.

Martin: Is that the lot?

Joe: No, there's still country names, the origins of those. I think that's an interesting area.

Angela: Yeah because it's something we often don't think about.

Martin: It'd be a way to bring in various aspects, history certainly.

Angela: Well that seems to be a foregone conclusion.

Joe: Fine, yes I'm feeling clearer already. You know there's another aspect that I think I'll cover.

Martin: Yes.

Joe: Brand names.

Angela: Isn't that more to do with business studies?

Joe: Well, international companies are finding it increasingly important to have brand names
that can be used in many different countries.

Martin: Oh! So, they can advertise the same product everywhere.

Joe: Yes and it seems that brand names are very special in our brains.

Angela: How so?

Joe: Well, there was a research study recently carried out on a group of about 50 students.
They showed them 108 words and the students had to say whether they recognized them as
real words or not. The list included all mixed up ordinary nouns, brand names and meaningless
words and they were shown all the words quickly and the brand names seem to be recognized
strongly and in the emotional right hand side of the brain. It was interesting that the brand
names were recognized more readily, if they were displayed in capital letters rather than
lowercase. Something which doesn't apply to normal words.

Martin: How strange. What else did the researchers find out?

Joe: Of course it's a relatively small study, but they suspect that other visual features are at play
and so that for example colour has a major effect in helping us to store brand names in a
special way in our brains.

Angela: I suppose that's logical but what do you ………….well they ……..mean by a special
way?

Joe: I'm not saying I understood everything about this study.

Angela: Of course not.

Martin: I guess this is great news for international companies.

Joe: Potentially certainly.

Section 4

Now balloons and airships are worth consideration because while on the one hand they
represent humans first successes at air flight after centuries of less than successful theory and
experimentation. They also on the other hand continue to be used today. We may have
appeared to have moved on to jet planes and space rockets but you can still see these more
primitive flyers in the skies.

Okay, gas balloons first. France saw the first balloon flight in 1783 and this began a process of
development. By 1862 in the civil war in the United States, we find thaddeus low replacing spies
with balloons to go behind enemy lines. The success of this led to the continued use of balloons
in peace time and they were employed in the creation of maps and such applications continue
to this day with balloons assisting in increasing our knowledge and understanding of the world
we live in. Unmanned balloons are still widely used to collect data, to inform scientific research
of various kinds. You'd be surprised at how much they contribute; all sorts of instruments can be
mounted in a balloon and ongoing investigations into climate benefit from the information that
can be gathered from a flight.

Well that's gas balloons. Now the increase in the popularity of ballooning as a sport or leisure
activity has been mainly due to the development of the modern hot air balloon being cheaper
and safer than the gas balloon. Heating air rather than using potentially explosive gas is what
makes these rise. Although the process doesn't generate as much lift as with gas balloons. But
this is a small price to pay for its other benefits and this type of balloon is no doubt here to stay.

Airships are also fairly old in their origins; the idea for a balloon that could be powered and
steered was first published in France in 1784, although 1852 was the date of the first successful
airship flight. The first airships like the first aircraft didn't provide any weather protection for their
crew, so it must have been rather uncomfortable up there. But designs continued to develop in
sophistication. It was realized that the ships would drift about if they weren't strengthened and
that to work effectively they would have to have a framework.

Once design started incorporating this, flights became longer and more reliable. Airships were
deployed for various uses in the first world war and once peace returned, designers began to
turn their attention to ambitious plans for regular intercontinental flights. However in the 1930s,
this program more or less came to an end. For one thing, the speed and popularity of airliners
meant that the airship appeared superseded. They just couldn't compete and as if that weren't
enough in itself, another factor in the decline of the airship was an alarming number of crashes
and this of course put people off. Nevertheless several countries have continued to build smaller
airships for various uses such as naval observation or publicity purposes. In fact their popularity
seems set for a slight revival and in the past few years there has been renewed attention paid to
the possibility of using them to transport cargo. Who knows, maybe the 21st century will be the
age of the airship.