节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2014-03-03
难易度:High
关键字:assumption, take charge, regardless, narrow-mindedly
Hello, and welcome to Studio Classroom.
My name is Gabe.
And I'm Carolyn.
And today you are joining us for a lesson on A New View of Leaders.
Well, before we get into our lesson, let me ask you a question:
What comes to your mind when you think of leadership?
What makes someone a good leader?
What is your view?
See how your answer compares with what you read in our lesson.
So let's get started.
Open up your magazine and let's begin reading.
(Music).
A New View of Leaders.
Becoming a better leader in business and in life.
Many people have assumptions of what business leaders should be like.
They might picture good leaders as being tough and confident people who can make
quick decisions.
While it may be true that leadership requires taking charge, other important
leadership qualities aren't so obvious.
The following are some assumptions about leaders and their behavior that could
use some adjustment.
What leaders have to say is important.
Well, yes, that is clearly true.
However, if leaders dominate every discussion and never listen to their
teammates, they shouldn't expect their colleagues to stay motivated for long.
Hi, everyone. I'm Michelle.
(Chinese).
Thank you, Michelle.
Well, let's go back to the title, and we read A New View of Leaders.
A view of someone is how you see them or how you perceive them.
What do you think of someone? That's how you view that person.
So this word "view" is both a verb and a noun.
You could ask someone what their view is on a certain subject.
Right. And there are many issues that people argue about these days: feminism,
gay rights, abortion, gun laws, the war on drugs, Tibet, lots.
You could ask the question "what's your view on..." and then state the topic.
Wow, those topics could get people pretty heated.
Yes.
So you should be careful who you ask and where.
But you could ask the question: What's your view on for many topics?
And what is your view on leadership?
Good question. And perhaps our article could also be called A New View of
Leadership.
Leadership, of course, is the ability of someone to lead, or it's the idea of
guidance or direction.
Right. So you could talk about someone's leadership skills, for example.
Her leadership skills are amazing, or he is improving his leadership skills.
Well, if there's a new review of leaders, then that means there is an old view
as well.
There is a way that people think leaders should be.
But today's lesson will help us learn how to become better leaders.
Right, and not just in your business, but in life as a whole.
Many of you will become leaders in some way if you aren't already.
And we read here about assumptions of what a good leader is.
Yes. And the way that you think about something is your assumption about it.
Perhaps you have seen leaders act in certain ways or you watch them in movies,
and you assume that's how leadership should be.
But the fact is many of us have perhaps seen bad examples and just become used
to them.
Or our society and cultural norms make us assume that's how it should be.
You know, we make assumptions about other areas of life, too.
For example, many cultures teach us men, that we should always be strong, and
that it's not OK for men to show emotions or cry.
But that's not true, and it isn't healthy for you or your relationships.
That's right. Gabe cries all the time.
Hey!
Uh... well, you know, just... just kidding.
It's true, sometimes we make assumptions about things, and maybe they're not
true.
That makes me think of the phrase: false assumption.
Sometimes we make false assumptions about things.
That's right.
For example, little Timmy always gets poor grades in class.
His teacher makes the assumption that Timmy just never studies at home.
However, this could be a false assumption.
The truth could be that Timmy just needs extra help in that subject.
Right. Even teachers or parents could make false assumptions about situations.
But let's get back to assumptions about leadership.
People might picture good leaders as being tough and confident people who can
make quick decisions.
And when you picture someone a certain way, that means you imagine them that
way.
For example, I saw an actor in Taipei recently.
I'd seen him on TV before, but I pictured him to be taller than he was in real
life.
Or sometimes we use the phrase: Picture this.
That means imagine this.
For example, picture this: you're in line at a coffee shop when you see your
favorite singer walk through the door.
What would you do if that happened?
OK, in line at... OK. Well, I would find a way to tell him I appreciate him and
love his music.
Well, it's time for us to join two people that I appreciate right now: Steve and
Ken.
They're waiting for us in the Information Cloud.
In today's lesson we see the word "quick," which reminds me of a question
someone asked recently:
Why does English have the letter Q? Can't C or K do everything Q does?
Sure. But as we've discussed before here at the Info Cloud, the evolution of
English has never been a logical or coherent process.
Early on before the French influence, old English used plenty of Cs, Ks and Ws,
but no Qs and Us.
Back then, "quick" was spelled C-W-I-C.
But then, in 1066, William the Conqueror arrived.
And with his French army's came the letter Q and its partner U.
By the 1300s, the fashionable Q-U duo completely displaced its Germanic C-W
equivalent.
Q is the second least commonly used letter in the English alphabet.
And as such, you might think we could do away with it along with a few others
like Z.
But the reality is English needs all the letters it can get.
Some have said the alphabet could use at least 10 more letters to be properly
phonetic,
that is to denote English's many irregular sounds that one or even two letters
just can't represent, like the T-C-H sound in the word watch.
(Chinese).
Thank you, guys.
Well, what is one thing that many people think leaders should do?
Take charge.
We read that here in our lesson: Leadership requires taking charge.
And when you take charge, you are making the important decisions that lead you
and your group forward.
Now this is a little different from being in charge.
If you're in charge, that means you are the leader; but taking charge implies
action.
Yes. Even a leader, someone in charge, might not be good at taking charge and
making decisions or making important changes.
And maybe you need to take charge sometimes.
For example, if something needs to be done, but nobody is doing it, maybe you
can take charge.
Yes, you can make change.
Well, what makes a good leader?
Is what leaders have to say always important?
Of course! But as we read, they should also take the time to listen to their
teammates.
And we have more to say about that right afterthis.