Listening Passages

LISTENING PASSAGES

GOAL SETTING

J. Listen to the following story

The Olympic Games began in Greece about three thousand years ago. All wars stopped for the Olympics in those days. The discus and the Pentathlon began in these early Olympic Games. In 394 the Romans stopped the Greek Olympic Games, because they didn’t like them. In 1896, a Frenchman – Pierre de Coubertin began the Olympic Games again. These days the Olympic Games usually happen every four years. But how did the Paralympics for disabled begin? In the 1940s Sir Ludwig Guttmann was a doctor at the stoke Mandeville hospital in England. At the hospital there were many disabled soldiers from World War II and Guttmann wanted these soldiers to get better by doing sports.

The Paralympics are younger than the Olympics, but they are getting bigger all the time. The first true paralympic Games happened in Rome in 1960. Four hundred disabled athletes from twenty-three different countries came to these Games. At the Being Paralympics in 2008, there were 4,000 disabled athletes from 144 countries! These days there are Paralympic Games every four years, and because it’s easier for Paralympic athletes to stay in Olympic hotels and to run in Olympic stadiums, the Paralympics usually happen in the Olympic cities, too. Think of swimming with only one leg against people with two legs. Think of running with artificial legs. Think of playing basketball in a wheelchair. Disabled people can do some wonderful things!

[source : True Heroes of Sport by Donatella Fitzgerald]

STOPPING BY WOODS ON A SNOWY EVENING

F. Listen to the following passage

When you make a promise, keep it, even if it costs you more than you expected or you have to work much longer on it than you intended. Do not make promises you cannot keep or that you do not know you can keep. Sometimes it is best to promise that you will try, though be sure the other person understands that you are not promising to deliver.

A useful saying is ‘Under-promise and over-deliver’. Do not promise too much. Then deliver more than you promised. In doing this only deliver a little more. If you deliver too much you can cause embarrassment or cause suspicion as to your intent.Promise leads to expectation, and expectation leads to prediction. When predictions fail we feel a loss of control

Promises also acts at the personal, relationship level. A promise seeks trust and bonds people together more tightly. Breaking the promise causes a betrayal response, damaging or even severing the bond

Some people make promises too easily. They agree to actions without knowing whether they will be able to keep the promise. This often happens when they are focusing on the short term. The prospect of immediate gain, especially if it is significant, can overwhelm thoughts of future punishment and lead people into deception. We also make promises when we want to be liked and are trying to please people. Saying ‘yes’ is socially easier than refusal but can lead to disappointment and decrease in trust.

Promises can vary in intensity. There is a difference between saying casually you will do something and swearing you will do it. Breaking a sworn promise has far greater damage to trust So before making promises, however minor, size up the other person, consider the long-term impact on your reputation. This includes making promises they might doubt you will keep. When you surprise them with your determination to keep promises, their trust in you will leap upwards.

(Transcript source: changingminds. org/techniques/how_to/trust_me/keep_ promises.htm)

THE SPIRIT OF ADVENTURE

D. Leena has a great fascination for adventure. During her winter holidays she wishes to explore an adventure sport. Listen to the conversation between Leena and her mother and complete the dictionary activity.

Mother :

Leena, what are your plans for the winter vacation? I thought we could go to a heritage site in India.

Leena :

No Mom. This time, I wish to take up an adventure sport which I have been planning for long. But I am not sure whether we have good options for adventure sports in India.

Mother :

Why  not!  India  is  a  versatile  and multifaceted  country  and  every  part of  it  offers  some  new adventure    to    see, some   new   place   to visit. Ranging from the wonderful treks on the powerful  and  the  bold mountain ranges of Himalayas, sky diving adventures in the west, hill stations of the south, proclaiming beauty of the Karst caves to the desert trips in Thar, all the varieties are found in one nation.

Leena :

That’s great to know that with the brooding modern nation, you can savour all the adventures either in the midst of towns or surrounded with the nature’s bounty.

Mother :

But we must carefully choose the organization that offer such programmes. We should go for ones that are registered with Adventure Tour Operators Association of India and Ministry of Tourism.

Leena :

Ok, Mom. Let us see if any of those places have bungee jumping. I have been dreaming of doing this dare-devil jump for the past two years.

Mother :

If you are really ready for bungee-jump-ing, I suggest we go to Rishikesh. Apart from leaping off a cliff, you can do white-water rafting too. What do you say? Let's talk to your father and ask him to do some enquiries.

Leena :

Yaayyy!!! I am so excited. I can’t wait for Dad to come back from office.

A POISON TREE

H. Listening input for Anger Management

It’s natural to get angry. But it’s a virtue to know how to handle it. It deals with certain anger management issues . Here are some of the best anger management tips to help you get over being angry quickly.

Meditation is definitely a great technique to calm your inner self, thereby controlling those   sudden   angry outbursts.   Meditation does not always require that you sit in a place and  keep  peeping  at the  watch.  You  need a peaceful place to sit upright. Start relaxing with the top of your head and then slowly release the tension of your body, one muscle at a time and breathe deeply.

Try to connect yourself with your inner person. There is a person living inside you who always tells you how to act. After a strong situation, it is you that inner person who understands you better than anyone else. So initiate a positive conversation within yourself. Close your eyes and speak to yourself and calm yourself.

Anger is something that releases the tension you have been feeling all the while but who will take care of the reason why you got angry in the first place? It is as simple as a solution that you need. Forgive and forget . It’s easier to get the apologies over and done with right away so you can forget about your anger and move on.

Start good one by saying , “I’m sorry” or “I forgive you”. Forgiving is a blessing. Spread the goodness. Instead of allowing others to laugh at you, laugh at your oneself. Think of all the words you said and think of how you could have changed the situation by acting in a different way.

OLD MAN RIVER

L. Listening input for fill in the blanks

The 2015 South Indian floods resulted from heavy rainfall generated by the annual north east monsoon in Novem-ber-December 2015. They affected the Coromandel Coast region of the South Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, and the union territory of Puducherry, with Tamil Nadu and the city of Chennai particularly hard- hit.

More than 500 people were killed and over 18 lakh people were dis-placed. With estimates of damages and losses ranging from nearly 200 billion rupees to over 1 trillion ru-pees, the floods were the costliest to have occurred in 2015, and were among the costliest natural disasters of the year. The flooding has been attributed to the2014-16 El-Nino event .