Section 1

Spot dictation:

Today we will talk about what other effects watching TV might produce on children. Children should be discouraged from watching a lot of television. Many experts and parents agree. But there is at least one circumstance when that might be beneficial, muting pain. A recent study conducted by Italian researchers found that children who viewed cartoons immediately preceding and during blood tests experienced less pain than children whose mothers attempted to distract them during the procedure or children whose mothers were at present but did not interact with them.

The research led by Carlo Brown MD at the University of Sienna is published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood. 69 children participated in the study. None received any type of anesthesia. The children and their mothers determine their pain scores. Both the groups whose mothers attempted to distract them form the blood tests and those whose mothers simply observed reported substantially higher pain ratings than the group who watched the cartoons. For that group, the levels of pain were less and the children were better able to tolerate the pain they did experience.

One of the possible explanations is that children might have picked up on their mothers' anxiety during the procedures, exacerbating their perception of pain. The higher pain level reported by children during mothers' efforts at distraction shows the difficulty mothers have in interacting positively at a difficult moment in their children's life, the authors write. However, they stress that the mother's presence still provided benefits, noting that the children would appreciate not being left alone during the procedures. Indeed, children state that having their parent present provides the most comfort when in pain, say the authors.

Another possibility offered for consideration is the notion that the pleasure of watching TV might release pain-quelling endorphins. Endorphins, biochemical compounds produced by the pituitary gland resemble opiates in their ability to produce analgesia and a sense of well-being. In other words, they might function as natural pain killers. In any case, the study results suggest that health workers should consider allowing children to watch TV during painful procedures to minimize their distress.

Q1-5

Female: Now let's turn to eating habits. France is traditionally known as home of the two-hour, sit-down, mid-day meal, but nowadays it's witnessing a boom in take-out sandwiches. At noon, customers line up outside Paris bakeries, waiting to buy long fan versions of a shrimp salad and fruit sandwich or other delicacies. The variation in eating habits is reflecting a deeper change in French society.

Male: Right! It starts with the change in the workforce, so it's a feminization, white-collarization, if I can say so.

Female: The result has been a revolution in one of France's core industries, the bakery. Formerly, bakeries here offered a limited range of albeit excellent products about four kinds of bread, breakfast, and dessert pastries. Now that's just the start.

Male: Au Pair Gourmet , a bakery on the corner of a market street, is in the ordinary working class area of Paris. It is eight in the morning, and the owner already has the slicer going, cutting bread for lunch sandwiches.

Female: Every morning Au Pair Gourmet, with its glass cases stacked full, does so much sandwich business. The owner says she is just responding to the demands. She even tried making a four-course sandwich meal. It was a bit much for people to swallow.

Male: Nowadays, people want to eat faster at noon, and leave earlier at the end of the day. Life is changing. We have to keep up. The changes include women making up almost half the labor force now, and men more likely to be working behind a jack hammer, not needing to eat so much.

Female: They also have to pick up the children as early as possible from the day care center.

Male: So basically, they look for something that's very close to what is called fast food, and the interesting point is that the supply that has developed goes well beyond your basic MacDonald's hamburgers.

Female: For example. Au Pair Gourmet's multi-shaped, multi-content sanwiches. They are obviously a hit with the lunch time customers who line up all the way onto the sidewalk. They agree this recent phenomenon is growing. It's exploding, this kind of eating. Every baker offers sandwiches.

Male: Because before it was only with ham and butter, and now we have salad and tomatoes. Because we eat sandwich, but it's French products in it.

Female: French products in it. That may be the key. Instead of being overrun by MacDonald at some field, the French have adapted the idea of fast food and made it their own.

Q1: What is the main topic of the conversation?

Q2: What is the reason behind the revolution in the bakery industry?

Q3: Which of the following statements best describes the fast food supplying in France now?

Q4: Which of the following statements is true according to the conversation?

Q5: Why are the hamburgers offered by bakery such as "Au Pair Gourmet" so popular now?