LISTENING

Listen to the following news stories, and then answer the questions. For each story, you will receive 2% added to one of your lowest listening test scores if you get more than 75% correct.

To Download Real Player, Click HERE

ACTIVITY ONE:

Fast Food Drive-Throughs

Questions to answer:

• In what way(s) are fast food restaurants making the drive-throughs faster?

• How many fast food restaurants are working on increasing drive-through speed?

• Why is it important to increase the speed at the drive-through windows?

• Why would tough-less credit card systems be beneficial to fast food restaurants?

ACTIVITY TWO:

Black Civil War Veteran Gets Over-due Honors

Questions to answer:

• Why is Stephen Atkins Swails important in history?

• What was discovered that brought Swails back into the media and social spotlight?

• In what way was Swails recently honored?

• What did Swails do after he was discharged from the army?

ACTIVITY THREE:

Listen to the story, “First Comes Junior in a Baby Carriage,” and answer the questions below.

Vocabulary:

to stick around

Marital bliss

sperm donor

biological clock

tentysomethings

cohabitating

cohabitation

idealize

self-fulfillment

stigma

shotgun wedding

surge

out-of-wedlock births

child poverty

welfare dependency

to tie the knot

to counter

premarital

1. What is the main idea of the story?
2. What is the rate of babies born outside of marriage?
3. How has the rate of teen pregnancies changed?
4. What do sociologists think is the reason for women staying away from marriage?
5. What is the average age for women to get married? For men?
6. Why are conservatives worried about the trend in out-of-wedlock births?
7. What is the Bush administration doing to persuade people to get married?

GRAMMAR

You will need to get 75% of the following handouts correct to receive 2% extra credit to your final grade.

· Verb Forms: Irregular forms of past tense and past participle