TEXT 1: LISTENING TO LECTURES - TED: MALCOLM GLADWELL ON SPAGHETTI SAUCE
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/malcolm_gladwell_on_spaghetti_sauce.html
If you decide to go on after your vocational education and want go on to higher education, you will be required to attend lectures, some of which will be in English. This exercise is to check if you are able to understand a lecture in English. You are going to listen to a lecture by journalist Malcolm Gladwell about spaghetti sauce. It is almost 18 minutes long. Read the questions before the start of the video.
1. What is the name of Malcolm Gladwell’s new book?
a) Blank
b) Blink
c) Wank
d) Wink
2. How old is Howard Moskowitz?
a) He is in his fifties
b) He is from the fifties
c) He is in his sixties
d) He is from the sixties
3. What does the speaker know about psychophysics?
a) He still has no idea.
b) It is about relationships.
c) It is about dating girls.
d) It is about measuring things.
4. What did Pepsi want Howard Moskowitz to find out?
a) How much artificial sweetener to put in their new cola.
b) Whether to put in eight or twelve percent of this new thing in their cola.
c) How much sugar to put in their new cola.
d) To discover a substance called aspartame.
5. Why was Pepsi asking the wrong question?
a) They asked for one perfect cola and they should have asked for many perfect colas.
b) They asked for many perfect colas and they should have asked for one perfect cola.
c) They should not make cola with aspartame, because it tastes bad.
d) They should have known that Howard Moskowitz was crazy.
6. What did Vlasic Pickles need to do, according to Howard Moskowitz?
a) Improve their regular pickles.
b) Make their regular pickles more zesty.
c) Put zesty in their pickles.
d) Create a new sort of pickles.
7. Which was the best brand of pasta sauce?
a) Prego
b) Campbell’s
c) Ragu
d) Adherence
8. How many bowls of pasta sauce did the members of the test panel have to taste?
a) 0
b) 10
c) 45
d) 100
9. Which type of spaghetti sauce was unavailable in the early eighties?
a) Plain
b) Spicy
c) Extra Spicy
d) Extra Chunky
10. How many different kinds of products does the speaker mention?
a) 14 kinds of vinegar, 7 kinds of mustard, 71 kinds of olive oil, 36 kinds of Ragu
b) 7 kinds of vinegar, 14 kinds of mustard, 71 kinds of olive oil, 36 kinds of Ragu
c) 71 kinds of vinegar, 14 kinds of mustard, 7 kinds of olive oil, 36 kinds of Ragu
d) 7 kinds of vinegar, 36 kinds of mustard, 71 kinds of olive oil, 14 kinds of Ragu
11. Which of the following sentences does the speaker not use to explain why don't people know what they want?
a) We don’t understand our own desires and tastes.
b) We cannot always explain what we want deep down.
c) We cannot rationalise our deepest desires.
d) The mind knows not what the tongue wants.
12. What did Grey Poupon put in their mustard the others didn’t?
a) Turmeric
b) Paprika
c) White wine
d) Yellow mustard seeds
13. Grey Poupon mustard is...
a) much better tasting than other mustards.
b) much more expensive than other mustards.
c) much better in quality than other mustards.
d) a French mustard.
14. Which of the following statements is false according to Howard Moskowitz?
a) There is no good mustard, or bad mustard.
b) There is no perfect mustard, or imperfect mustard.
c) There are only different kinds of mustards that suit different kinds of people.
d) Grey Poupon is a mustard of more sophistication and culture and meaning than other mustards.
15. What does the speaker mean with a Platonic notion of food?
a) The idea there is one specific way of making a specific food product which pleases all of us.
b) The idea that food has to be authentic.
c) The idea that food has to be thin and without chunks.
d) The idea that the chef of a restaurant is always right.
TEXT 2: LISTENING TO LECTURES - TED: SETH GODIN ON STANDING OUT
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/seth_godin_on_sliced_bread.html
1. What is one of Seth’s biggest failures?
a) A record label that made a CD called “Sauce”.
b) That he wanted to become an architect.
c) The fact that he met Jeff Koons.
d) Everyone knows that Seth doesn’t fail.
2. Otto Rohwedder invented
a) bread
b) white bread
c) sliced bread
d) a bread slicer
3. This talk is about..?
a) The success of sliced bread.
b) The patents of companies.
c) Getting your ideas spread.
d) What a factory is like.
4. Which people will win?
a) The people who have good ideas.
b) The people who own the patents.
c) The people who can make presentations about ideas.
d) The people who can spread the idea around.
5. What is “the TV industrial complex”?
a) The entertainment industrie.
b) Television and stuff like television.
c) The heart of spreading ideas.
d) Television, radio and the internet.
6. Forty years ago Americans only had the following magazines ...
a) Time Magazine and Newsweek
b) Newsweek and the Saturday Evening Post
c) Time Magazine, Newsweek and the Saturday Evening Post
d) Hydrate, Time Magazine, Newsweek and the Saturday Evening Post
7. Coca Cola in Japan comes out with a new product...
a) every three days
b) every three weeks
c) every three months
d) every three years
8. Why do customers ignore you?
a) They just don’t care.
b) They have too many choices.
c) They don’t have enough time.
d) They have too many choices and not enough time.
9. The speaker uses a purple cow as an example, because..
a) it is purple.
b) it is a Milka cow.
c) it stands out .
d) he likes purple cows.
10. Every week a different movie is number one, but it is always
a) a first rate movie with a second rate star
b) a second rate movie with a third rate star
c) a second rate movie with a first rate star
d) a third rate movie with a second rate star
11. What statement does not describe Lionel Poilane’s bread?
a) He sold 10 million loaves of this bread.
b) Every loaf is baked by a single baker
c) It didn’t look like French bread.
d) It’s neat and remarkable.
12. What does the Japanese word “otaku” mean?
a) It refers to someone who is obsessed.
b) It refers to the desire of someone who is obsessed.
c) It is the new name for the perfume, formerly known as Obsession.
d) It is the name of a restaurant in Tokyo where you can buy noodles.
13. Why isn’t there a thing such as mustard otaku?
a) Mustard isn’t interesting enough.
b) People don’t like mustard.
c) People don’t tell their friends about mustard.
d) People don’t get obsessed with mustard.
14. You sell to the people who are..
a) interested and they tell their friends
b) otaku and they tell their friends
c) listening and they tell their friends
d) car stereo nuts and they tell their friends
15. The Dutch Boy paint company made a paint can that is...
a) 35% more expensive to make than regular paint cans
b) easy to use
c) able to talk
d) remarkable
16. What’s funny about the ring?
a) It is made from his grandmother’s remains.
b) It used to belong to his grandmother.
c) His grandmother really liked that ring.
d) It looks ridiculous.
17. The riskiest thing you van do is..
a) Gamble.
b) Make your product average.
c) Play it safe.
d) Make your product cool.
18. Silk is...
a) milk
b) not milk
c) cool
d) awful
19. Frank Gehry is…
a) an economist
b) a builder
c) an artist
d) an architect
20. If the founding father of Soap Lake were smart they’d invest in a...
a) clean lake
b) purple cow
c) 55 foot lava lamp
d) bank
TEXT 3: LISTENING TO LECTURES - TED: DAN GILBERT ON OUR MISTAKEN EXPECTATIONS
http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_gilbert_researches_happiness.html
1. When did Bernoulli formulate his formula for happiness?
a) 1378
b) 1387
c) 1738
d) 1783
e) 1837
f) 1873
2. Bernoulli’s formula calculates
a) how we should behave.
b) how we shouldn’t behave.
c) how we will gain something.
d) the value of something of gain.
3. The coin toss game the speaker proposes is
a) a winning game for the person offering the bet.
b) a winning game for the person taking the bet.
c) damning for the person offering the bet.
d) damning for the person taking the bet.
4. People are
a) not very good at estimating the odds of possible gain.
b) not very good at estimating the value of possible gain.
c) not very good at estimating either the odds or the value possible gain.
d) very good at estimating the odds of possible gain.
e) very good at estimating the value of possible gain.
f) very good at estimating either the odds or the value possible gain.
5. The speaker uses pigs and dogs as an example, because
a) you expect to see a lot more dogs than pigs on leashes around Oxford.
b) you expect to see a lot more pigs than dogs on leashes around Oxford.
c) you expect to see both dogs and pigs on leashes around Oxford.
d) you expect to see neither dogs and pigs on leashes around Oxford.
6. There are a lot more English four-letter-words with a ‘R’ in the
a) first place.
b) second place.
c) third place.
d) fourth place.
7. Which cause of death is the least common in America?
a) tornado
b) fireworks
c) asthma
d) drowning
8. Which of the pictures on the slide doesn’t belong, because it’s by far the most dangerous?
a) The terrorist attack.
b) The crashed plane.
c) The collapsed building.
d) The pool.
9. You pay stupidity tax when you
a) flush money down the toilet.
b) invest your money.
c) are an economist.
d) buy a lottery ticket.
10. Whether the nine tickets have been sold to nine individuals or to one person
I. changes your actual odds of winning with only one ticket.
II. changes your perception of your actual odds of winning with only one ticket.
a) Statement I. is true and statement II. is false
b) Statement I. is false and statement II. is true
c) Both statements are true.
d) Both statements are false.
11. Why would people choose a certain job despite earning less money than in the other job?
a) Because inclining wages feel worse.
b) Because declining wages feel worse.
c) Because a lot of people are satisfied with less money.
d) Because it is a better job.
12. Finish the sentence: “A good deal that used to be a great deal is not nearly as good as
a) an awful deal that once was a better deal.”
b) a horrible deal that once was an awful deal.”
c) a horrible deal that once was a better deal.”
d) an awful deal that was once a horrible deal.”
13. Which bottle of wine would most people buy?
a) The $8,- bottle
b) The $27,- bottle
c) The $33,- bottle
14. Which of the following statements is True
I. Having a can of spam in the same room makes eating potato chips seem more tasty
II. Having a box of chocolates in the same room makes eating potato chips seem more tasty
a) Statement I. is true and statement II. is false.
b) Statement II. is true and statement I. is false.
c) Both statements are true.
d) Both statements are false.
15. According to the speaker, is there any real difference between the $100,- you can save when buying a car stereo and the $100,- you can save when buying a car?
a) yes
b) no
c) he isn’t clear about it
16. Why won’t the big monolithic speakers be as worthwhile a purchase as they seemed to be when you bought them in the store.
a) They won’t fit in your house.
b) Your house doesn’t have the good acoustics of the store.
c) They weren’t really that good to begin with.
d) They won’t match with the interior design of your house.
17. Which of the following statements about having to choose between $50,- and $60,- is true?
I. People will choose $50,- if they can have it immediately, rather than $60,- if they’d have to wait a month.
II. People will choose $60,- if they’d have to wait 13 months, rather than have $50 after only 12 months.
a) Statement I. is true and statement II. is false.
b) Statement II. is true and statement I. is false.
c) Both statements are true.
d) Both statements are false.
18. The speaker says: “If we're so damn stupid, how did we get to the moon?” What does he mean by that?
a) He thinks that the odds of us going to the moon in the near future are very small.
b) He thinks going to the moon is a bad idea, because we are so bad at estimating odds.
c) H e cannot believe we actually went to the moon in the past, because of the impossible odds.
d) He cannot imagine how we were able to go to the moon despite at being so bad at estimate odds
19. The only thing that can destroy us...
a) is fate.
b) are we ourselves.
c) are significant predators.
d) is our physical environment.
Stop de video na 24 minuten, dan is de lezing afgelopen en volgt nog een vragenrondje.