•Narrator: Now listen to two students discussing the letter.

•Woman: So what do you think of the proposal?

•Man: I don't like it.

•Woman: Why not?

•Man: Actually, I don't think students are the right people to be making these decisions.

•They are too close to the situation.

•Woman: What do you mean?

•Man: Well, because students are directly involved in the groups,

•they can't be as objective, as fair as administrators.

•I mean what will prevent students on the committee from just giving money to their friends' groups or favoring the groups they're in themselves?

•I think having the university administrators make the decisions is more fair.

•Woman: Well, at least it would be good experience for the students who serve on the committee.

•Man: Well, that's another thing.

•I think they'd have a hard time finding students to serve on it.

•I mean, there are already a number of leadership positions open in various campus groups,

•but most students just aren't interested in them.

•Woman: That's true. The Student Council doesn't even have a vice president.

•Man: Right. Most students are just too busy.

•There's no way you're going to find enough students who are willing to volunteer their time for this committee.

•It's too big of a time commitment.

•Narrator: Now listen to part of a lecture in a business class.

•Professor: Okay, so, for example,

•I have a friend who owns a company that does construction.

•His company is often hired to make improvements to someone's house or yard.

•So recently this woman hired him to build a fence around her yard.

•She said she wanted a wooden fence running all the way around her backyard.

•She and my friend quickly settled on a price for the job.

•They basically just made a verbal agreement about the work that would be done without putting any of the agreement in writing.

•And so my friend got to work building the fence.

•So when my friend was almost finished building the fence around the woman's yard,

•the woman told my friend that she wanted the fence painted white.

•My friend was surprised by this,

•because he did not think that he had been hired to also paint the fence.

•He told the woman this that he'd just been hired to build the fence, not paint it,

•but the woman said she thought when she hired him to build the fence that this also meant the fence would be painted.

•They ended up arguing,

•and eventually my friend finally agreed to paint the fence without charging extra just to be nice.

•But he wasn't happy about.

•Narrator: Listen to part of a lecture in a Biology class.

•Professor: So we've been talking about forest fires,

•and usually when a forest fire occurs,

•the animals in the area will, of course run away,

•flee as fast as they can so as not to get hurt by the flames.

•Some animals, though,

•actually benefit from forest fires, and so will seek them out.

•Because forest fires can be helpful, can help them fulfill certain survival needs.

•Let's discuss two benefits forest fires can have for these animals.

•One benefit is that they can make it easier for predators to find food.

•A forest fire will force animals out of their hiding places and out into the open,

•which predators take advantage of,

•because fleeing animals are much easier to catch than they normally are when they are hiding.

•For example, scientists have observed wild turkeys doing this.

•These birds will go to the edge of a forest fire,

•and wait there in order to catch all the insects running out of the burning forest,

•which is a much easier way to catch insects than the normal way of pecking for them on the ground.

•Another benefit forest fires can have is to help provide a good place for the development of young animals.

•Forest fires can make an otherwise harmful environment more suitable for their development.

•For example, some trees in the forest are poisonous to beetles,

•they have a special chemical that keeps beetles away.

•But after a fire,

•beetles will seek out these trees because the trees are dead,

•and beetles are able to lay their eggs in the trees without being hurt by the chemical.

•The young beetles use the tree as nourishment until they mature into adult beetles.