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[18:48] English Listening Report and Source Citation Techniques Explained

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This article features 100 classic TED talks, providing MP3 streaming, downloads, and English transcripts. It explains methods for improving English listening as well as techniques for citing sources and expressing conclusions in reports, helping you better understand and use English information.

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Selected 100 classic TED talks, lasting 8-15 minutes, covering topics such as innovation, growth, and future trends. Provides MP3 streaming, downloads, and English transcripts to help improve your listening and speaking skills. Ignite your learning passion with the power of ideas! Below is this issue's collection of 100 classic TED talks listening materials. Persist in accumulating them to make your English closer to daily life!

So far, we've talked about what to say when you hand out a document and how to direct people's attention to important information. Now, we're going to focus on language that you would use to discuss that information. You'll be able to explain where you got the information, summarize what it says, draw conclusions or make predictions, and discuss future plans. Sometimes, a report isn't one you've written yourself. Then it's important to explain where the information or report is from. According to the International Chocolate Association, consumption of chocolate is growing. This is a report from the tourist bureau. We found a lot of data about chocolate consumption on the ICA website.

Students often ask me about the word data. Is it singular or plural? It can be either. If you're using it to mean information, then you can use it in the singular. The data is interesting. If you mean a series of facts or numbers, then you're thinking of many individual responses. In that case, it's plural. If you work in math or science, you will use it most often in the plural. The word statistics is always plural unless you're talking about a course or the field of statistics. The data is interesting. It shows how much visitors spend when they visit Seattle. The data are incomplete. We haven't finished our survey yet. Here are some statistics about chocolate consumption. Statistics is an interesting field.

Be careful about word order when you have a question word like where or how much within a statement. Look at the two examples. The first one is a question. Where should we open a new store? The second one is a statement and it has regular subject verb word order. We are discussing where we should open a new store. Here are some other examples. Notice the word order in the statements is subject verb. How much does it cost? I asked how much it costs. Where is the store? I don't know where the store is.

Okay, now you try it. Read the question that Renear chocolates asked in their survey. How will it be different in the report? Listen to the correct answer. We want to know how much you spend. We ask them how often they buy chocolate. We're trying to figure out where we should open a new store. Here are some phrases you can use to talk about conclusions you draw from the information. As you can see, pipe place market is the best place to be. This means that sales will probably be higher at the market. So, we think that the market is the best choice. If that's true, then the choice is clear. The market is the best place for us.

When you're drawing conclusions, if you're certain, you will to talk about the future. If you're less certain, frame the idea as a possibility with would or might instead of will. If we are at the market, people will buy our gift boxes to take home. If we were at the market, people would buy our gift boxes to take home. If we do that, we might get more orders later on our website.

Listening Comprehension

statistics
noun
1. a branch of applied mathematics concerned with the collection and interpretation of quantitative data and the use of probability theory to estimate population parameters
data
noun
1. a collection of facts from which conclusions may be drawn
e.g. statistical data
Synonym: information
order
noun
1. the act of putting things in a sequential arrangement
e.g. there were mistakes in the ordering of items on the list
Synonym: ordering
2. (architecture) one of original three styles of Greek architecture distinguished by the type of column and entablature used or a style developed from the original three by the Romans
3. a degree in a continuum of size or quantity
e.g. it was on the order of a mile
an explosion of a low order of magnitude
Synonym: order of magnitude
4. a commercial document used to request someone to supply something in return for payment and providing specifications and quantities
e.g. IBM received an order for a hundred computers
Synonym: purchase order
5. a legally binding command or decision entered on the court record (as if issued by a court or judge)
e.g. a friend in New Mexico said that the order caused no trouble out there
Synonym: decreeedictfiatrescript
6. a body of rules followed by an assembly
Synonym: rules of orderparliamentary lawparliamentary procedure
7. (often plural) a command given by a superior (e.g., a military or law enforcement officer) that must be obeyed
e.g. the British ships dropped anchor and waited for orders from London
8. a request for something to be made, supplied, or served
e.g. I gave the waiter my order
the company's products were in such demand that they got more orders than their call center could handle
9. (biology) taxonomic group containing one or more families
10. a group of person living under a religious rule
e.g. the order of Saint Benedict
Synonym: monastic order
11. a formal association of people with similar interests
e.g. he joined a golf club
they formed a small lunch society
men from the fraternal order will staff the soup kitchen today
Synonym: clubsocial clubsocietyguildgildlodge
12. logical or comprehensible arrangement of separate elements
e.g. we shall consider these questions in the inverse order of their presentation
Synonym: orderingordination
13. established customary state (especially of society)
e.g. order ruled in the streets
law and order
14. a condition of regular or proper arrangement
e.g. he put his desk in order
the machine is now in working order
Synonym: orderliness
possibility
noun
1. a possible alternative
e.g. bankruptcy is always a possibility
Synonym: possible actionopening
2. a tentative insight into the natural world
a concept that is not yet verified but that if true would explain certain facts or phenomena
e.g. a scientific hypothesis that survives experimental testing becomes a scientific theory
he proposed a fresh theory of alkalis that later was accepted in chemical practices
Synonym: hypothesistheory
3. a future prospect or potential
e.g. this room has great possibilities
4. capability of existing or happening or being true
e.g. there is a possibility that his sense of smell has been impaired
Synonym: possibleness
summarize
verb
1. give a summary (of)
e.g. he summed up his results
I will now summarize
Synonym: sum upsummariseresume
2. be a summary of
e.g. The abstract summarizes the main ideas in the paper
Synonym: summarisesumsum up
conclusions