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[Assistant] Yeah, and that particle accelerator's what damaged it in the first place. Cut off a piece at low power.


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[Assistant] But that reservoir's gotta be mobbed with symbiotes. And you know Harry's not gonna let that rock out of his sight.


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[Assistant] And I can handle all the symbiotes.


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[Assistant] Alright, fire up the accelerator. No more hive mind. World saved. We all get your rose? Theoretically.


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[Assistant] Are you, are you sure it's, it's a big city? I can handle it. As long as I can still call you for advice. You don't need it.


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[Assistant] Maybe not now, but there'll come a time. I'm here for you. Always. Big bro.


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[Assistant] Some guy in Harlem. Probably seen him volunteering in the city. Helping out his city council mom. Trying to live up to his hero dad.


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[Assistant] On the day following the evening which had contained so many exciting events, McMurdo moved his lodgings from old Jacob Shafters and took up his quarters at the Widow McNamara's on the extreme outskirts of the town.


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[Assistant] Scanlan, his original acquaintance aboard the train, had occasion shortly afterwards to move into Vermissa, and the two lodged together.


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[Assistant] There was no other border, and the hostess was an easy-going old Irish woman who left them to themselves so that they had a freedom for speech and action welcome to men who had secrets in common.


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[Assistant] Shafter had relented to the extent of letting McMurdo come to his meals there when he liked, so that his intercourse with Etty was by no means broken. On the contrary, it drew closer and more intimate as the weeks went by.


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[Assistant] In his bedroom at his new abode McMurdo felt it safe to take out the coining moulds, and under many a pledge of secrecy a number of brothers from the lodge were allowed to come in and see them, each carrying away in his pocket some examples of the false money.


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[Assistant] Why, with such a wonderful art at his command, McMurdo should condescend to work at all was a perpetual mystery to his companions.


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[Assistant] Though he made it clear to anyone who asked him that if he lived without any visible means it would very quickly bring the police upon his track. One policeman was indeed after him already.


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[Assistant] But the incident, as luck would have it, did the adventurer a great deal more good than


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[Assistant] After the first introduction there were few evenings when he did not find his way to McGinty's Saloon, there to make closer acquaintance with The Boys, which was the jovial title by which the dangerous gang who infested the place were known to one another.


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[Assistant] His dashing manner and fearlessness of speech made him a favourite with them all.


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[Assistant] While the rapid and scientific way in which he polished off his antagonist in an all-in bar-room scrap earned the respect of that rough community.


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[Assistant] Another incident however raised him even higher in their estimation.


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[Assistant] Just at the crowded hour one night the door opened and a man entered with the quiet blue uniform and peaked cap of the mine police.


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[Assistant] This was a special body raised by the railways and colliery owners to supplement the efforts of the ordinary civil police, who were perfectly helpless in the face of the organized ruffianism which terrorized the district.


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[Assistant] There was a hush as he entered, and many a curious glance was cast at him


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[Assistant] But the relations between policemen and criminals are peculiar in some parts of the States, and McGinty himself, standing behind his counter, showed no surprise when the policeman enrolled himself among his customers.


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[Assistant] A straight whiskey for the night is bitter, said the police officer. I don't think we've met before, counselor.


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[Assistant] You'll be the new captain, said McGinty.


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[Assistant] That's so. We're looking to you, councillor, and to the other leading citizens, to help us in upholding law and order in this township. Captain Marvin is my name.


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[Assistant] For we have our own police of the township, and no need for any imported goods. What are you but the paid tool of the capitalists, hired by them to club or shoot your poorer fellow citizens?


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[Assistant] Well, well, we won't argue about that," said the police officer good-humidly. I expect we all do our duty same as we see it, but we can't all see it the same.


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[Assistant] He drunk off his glass and had turned to go when his eyes fell upon the face of Jack McMurdo, who was scowling at his elbow.


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[Assistant] Hello, hello!" he cried, looking him up and down. "'He is an old acquaintance." McMurdo shrank away from him. "'I was never a friend to you, nor any other cursed copper in my life,' said he. "'An acquaintance isn't always a friend,' said the police captain,


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[Assistant] You're Jack McMurdo of Chicago right enough, and don't you deny it." McMurdo shrugged his shoulders. I'm not denying it, said he. Do you think I'm ashamed of my own name? You've got good cause to be, anyhow.


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[Assistant] What the devil do you mean by that?" He roared with his fist clenched.


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[Assistant] No, no, Jack, bluster won't do with me. I was an officer in Chicago before ever I came to this darned coal bunker, and I know a Chicago crook when I see one." McMurdo's face fell.


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[Assistant] Don't tell me that you're Marvin of the Chicago Central," he cried.


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[Assistant] Just the same old Teddy Marvin at your service. We haven't forgotten the shooting of Jonas Pinto up there. I never shot him. Did you not? That's good impartial evidence, ain't it?


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[Assistant] Well, his death came in uncommon handy for you, or they would have had you for shoving the queer.


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[Assistant] Well, we can let that be bag-ons, for between you and me—and perhaps I'm going further than my duty in saying it—they could get no clear case against you, and Chicago's open to you to-morrow. I'm very well where I am.


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[Assistant] Well, I've given you the pointer, and you're a silky dog not to thank me for it.


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[Assistant] Well, I suppose you mean well, and I do thank you," said McMurdo in no very gracious manner.


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[Assistant] It's mum with me so long as I see you livin' on the strait," said the captain. But by the Lord, if you get off after this, it's another story. So good night to you, and good night, counsellor." He left the bar-room, but not before he'd created a local hero.


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[Assistant] Murdo's deeds in far Chicago had been whispered before. He put off all questions with a smile, as one who did not wish to have greatness thrust upon him. But now the thing was officially confirmed.


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[Assistant] The bar loafers crowded round him and shook him heartily by the hand.


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[Assistant] He was free of the community from that time on He could drink hard and show little trace of it


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[Assistant] But that evening had his mate Scanlon not been at hand to lead him home.


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[Assistant] A fated hero would surely have spent his night under the bar.


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[Assistant] On a Saturday night McMurdo was introduced to the lodge. He had sought to pass in without ceremony as being an initiate of Chicago.


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[Assistant] But there were particular rites in Vermissa, of which they were proud, and these had to be undergone by every postulant.


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[Assistant] The assembly met in a large room reserved for such purposes at the Union House. Some sixty members assembled at Vermissa.


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[Assistant] But that by no means represented the full strength of the organisation.


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[Assistant] For there were several other lodges in the valley, and others across the mountains on each side, who exchanged members when any serious business was afoot, so that a crime might be done by men who were strangers to the locality.


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[Assistant] Altogether, there were not less than five hundred scattered over the coal district.


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[Assistant] In the bare assembly-room the men were gathered round a long table.


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[Assistant] At the side was a second one, laden with bottles and glasses, on which some members of the company were already turning their eyes.


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[Assistant] McGinty sat at the head with a flat black velvet cap upon his shock of tangled black hair, and a coloured purple stole round his neck, so that he seemed to be a priest presiding over some diabolical ritual.


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[Assistant] To right and left of him were the higher lodge officials, the cruel, handsome face of Ted Baldwin among them. Each of these wore some scarf or medallion as emblem of his office.


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[Assistant] They were for the most part men of mature age, but the rest of the company consisted of young fellows from eighteen to twenty-five, the ready and capable agents who carried out the commands of their seniors.


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[Assistant] Among the older men were many whose features showed the tigerish, lawless souls within.


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[Assistant] But looking at the rank and file, it was difficult to believe that these eager and open-faced young fellows were in very truth a dangerous gang of murderers, whose minds had suffered such complete moral perversion


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[Assistant] That they took a horrible pride in their proficiency at the business, and looked with deepest respect at the men who had the reputation of making what they called a clean job.


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[Assistant] To their contorted natures it had become a spirited and chivalrous thing to volunteer for service against some man who had never injured them, and whom in many cases they had never seen in their lives.


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[Assistant] The crime committed, they quarrelled as to who had actually struck the fatal blow, and amused one another and the company by describing the cries and contortions of the murdered man.


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[Assistant] At first they had shown some secrecy in their arrangements, but at the time which this narrative describes their proceedings were extraordinarily open, for the repeated failure of the law had proved to them that on the one hand no one would dare to witness against them


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[Assistant] And on the other they had an unlimited number of staunch witnesses upon whom they could call


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[Assistant] And a well-filled treasure chest from which they could draw the funds to engage the best legal talent in the state.


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[Assistant] In ten long years of outrage there had been no single conviction, and the only danger that ever threatened the scourers lay in the victim himself.


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[Assistant] Who, however outnumbered and taken by surprise, might and occasionally did leave his mark upon his assailants.


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[Assistant] McMurdo had been warned that some ordeal lay before him, but no one would tell him in what it consisted.


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[Assistant] He was led now into an outer room by two solemn brothers.


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[Assistant] Through the plank partition he could hear the murmur of many voices from the assembly within.


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[Assistant] Once or twice he caught the sound of his own name and he knew that they were discussing his candidacy.


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[Assistant] Then there entered an inner guard with a green and gold sash across his chest.


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[Assistant] The body-master orders that he shall be trust, blinded and entered, said he.


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[Assistant] The three of them removed his coat, turned up the sleeve of his right arm, and finally passed a rope around above the elbows and made it fast. They next placed a thick black cap right over his head and the upper part of his face so that he could see nothing. He was then led into the assembly hall.


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[Assistant] It was pitch dark and very oppressive under his hood.


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[Assistant] He heard the rustle and murmur of the people round him, and then the voice of McGinty sounded dull and distant through the covering of his ears. John McMurdo said the voice. Are you already a member of the ancient Order of Freeman? He bowed his assent.


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[Assistant] Dark nights are unpleasant, said the voice.


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[Assistant] Yes, for strangers to travel, he answered. The clouds are heavy. Yes, a storm is approaching.


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[Assistant] Are the brethren satisfied? asked the body-master. There was a general murmur of assent.


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[Assistant] That you are indeed one of us, said McGinty.


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[Assistant] As the words were said, he felt two hard points in front of his eyes pressing upon them, so that it appeared as if he could not move forward without a danger of losing them.


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[Assistant] Nonetheless, he nerved himself to step resolutely out, and as he did so the pressure melted away. There was a low murmur of applause. He is of a stout heart, said the voice. Can you bear pain? As well as another, he answered. Test him!


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[Assistant] It was all he could do to keep himself from screaming out for an agonising pain shot through his forearm. He nearly fainted at the sudden shock of it.


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[Assistant] But he bit his lip and clenched his hands to hide his agony. I can take more than that, said he. This time there was loud applause.


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[Assistant] A finer first appearance had never been made in the lodge.


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[Assistant] Hands clapped him on the back, and the hood was plucked from his head.


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[Assistant] He stood blinking and smiling amid the congratulations of the brothers.


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[Assistant] One last word, Brother McMurdo," said McGinty. You have already sworn the oath of secrecy and fidelity.


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[Assistant] And you accept the rule of the Bodymaster for the time being under all circumstances? I do.


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[Assistant] And we will drink to our worthy brother." McMurdo's coat had been brought to him.


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[Assistant] But before putting it on, he examined his right arm, which still smarted heavily.


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[Assistant] There on the flesh of the forearm was a circle with a triangle within it, deep and red, as the branding-iron had left it.


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[Assistant] One of the two of his neighbours pulled up their sleeves and showed their own lodge marks.


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[Assistant] We've all had it," said one, but not all as brave as you over it. It was nothing, said he, but it burned and ate all the same.


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[Assistant] When the drinks which followed the ceremony of initiation had all been disposed of, the business of the lodge proceeded.


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[Assistant] McMurdo, accustomed only to the prosaic performances of Chicago, listened with open ears and more surprise than he ventured to show to what followed.


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[Assistant] There is a job to be done on Andrew Ray, of Ray and Sturmush, coal-owners near this place.


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[Assistant] You will remember that your lodge owes us a return.


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[Assistant] You will send two good men, they will be taken charge of by Treasurer Higgins of this lodge, whose address you know. He will show them when to act and where. Yours in freedom.


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[Assistant] Windel has never refused us when we have had occasion to ask for the loan of a man or two, and it's not for us to refuse him.


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[Assistant] McGinty paused and looked round the room with his dull, malevolent eyes. Who will volunteer for the job? Several young fellows held up their hands. The Bodymaster looked at them with an approving smile. You'll do, Tiger Cormack?


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[Assistant] If you handle it as well as you did the last, you won't be wrong. And you, Wilson.


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[Assistant] Well, you have to be blooded sometime.


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[Assistant] It'll be a great start for you. As to the pistol, you'll find it waiting for you or I'm mistaken.


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[Assistant] If you report yourselves on Monday, it'll be time enough. You'll get a great welcome when you return. Any reward this time?


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[Assistant] asked Cormack, a thick-set, dark-faced, brutal-looking young man whose ferocity had earned him the nickname of Tiger. Never mind the reward. You just do it for the honour of the thing. Maybe when it's done there'll be a few odd dollars at the bottom of the box. What has the man done? asked the young Wilson.


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[Assistant] Sure, it's not for the likes of you to ask what the man has done. He's been judged over there. That's no business of ours.


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[Assistant] All we have to do is to carry it out for them, same as they would for us. Speaking of that,


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[Assistant] Two brothers from the Merton Lodge are coming over to us next week to do some business in this quarter. Who are they? asks someone. Faith, it is wiser not to ask.


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[Assistant] If you know nothing, you can testify nothing and no trouble can come of it.


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[Assistant] But they are men who will make a clean job when they're about it.


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[Assistant] And time too," cried Ted Baldwin. Folk are getting out of hand in these parts. It was only last week that three of our men were turned off by Foreman Blaker. It's been owing him a long time, and he'll get it full and proper." Get what?" McMurdo whispered to his neighbour.


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[Assistant] The business end of a buckshot cartridge," cried the man with a loud laugh. What think you of our ways, brother?


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[Assistant] McMurdo's criminal soul seemed to have already absorbed the spirit of the vile association of which he was now a member.


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[Assistant] I like it well," said he, "'tis a proper place for a lad of metal."


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[Assistant] Several of those who sat around heard his words and applauded them.


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[Assistant] What's that?" cried the black-maned body-master from the end of the table.


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[Assistant] That if a man should be wanted, I should take it as an honour to be chosen to help the lodge. There was great applause at this.


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[Assistant] It was felt that a new sun was pushing its rim above the horizon. To some of the elders it seemed that the progress was a little too rapid.


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[Assistant] I would move," said the secretary Harraway, a vulture-faced old greybeard who sat near the chairman, that Brother McMurdo should wait until it is the good pleasure of the lodge to employ him.


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[Assistant] Sure, that was what I meant. I'm in your hands," said McMurdo.


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[Assistant] Your time will come, brother," said the chairman.


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[Assistant] We have marked you down as a willing man, and we believe that you will do good work in these parts.


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[Assistant] There is a small matter to-night in which you may take a hand if it so please you. I'll wait for something that is worth while. You can come to-night anyhow.


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[Assistant] I have one or two more points to bring before the meeting.


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[Assistant] First of all, I will ask the treasurer as to our bank balance. There is the pension to Jim Conaway's widow. He was struck down during the work of the lodge, and it is for us to see that she is not the loser.


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[Assistant] Jim was shot last month when they cried to kill Chester Wilcox of Marley Creek, McMurdo's neighbour informed him.


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[Assistant] The funds are good at the moment," said the treasurer with the bank book in front of him. The firms have been generous of late. Max Linder and Co. paid five hundred to be left alone. Walker Brothers sent in a hundred. But I took it on myself to return it, and asked for five.


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[Assistant] If I do not hear by Wednesday, their winding gear may get out of order. We had to burn their breaker last year before they became reasonable. Then the West Section Colling Company has paid its annual contribution.


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[Assistant] He has sold out and left the district. The old devil left a note for us to say that he had rather be a free-crossing sweeper in a New York than a large mine owner under the power of a ring of blackmailers. By gar it was as well that he made a break for it before the note reached us. I guess he won't show his face in this valley again.


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[Assistant] An elderly clean-shaved man with a kindly face and a good brow rose from the end of the table which faced the chairman.


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[Assistant] Mr. Treasurer," he asked, may I ask who has bought the property of this man that we have driven out of the district?


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[Assistant] Yes, Brother Morris, it has been bought by the State and Merton County Railroad Company.


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[Assistant] And who bought the mines of Todman and of Lee that came into the market in the same way last year? The same company, Brother Morris.


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[Assistant] And who bought the ironworks of Manson, and of Schumann, and of Van der Heer, and of Atwood, which have all been given up of late?


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[Assistant] They were all bought by the West Gilmerton General Mining Company.


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[Assistant] I don't see, Brother Morris," said the chairman, that it matters to us who buys them, since they can't carry them out of the district.


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[Assistant] With all respect to you, eminent body-master, I think it may matter very much to us.


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[Assistant] This process has been going on now for ten long years.


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[Assistant] We are gradually driving all the small men out of trade. What is the result?


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[Assistant] We find in their places great companies like the Railroad or the General Iron who have their directors in New York or Philadelphia, and care nothing for our threats. We can take it out of their local bosses


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[Assistant] But it only means that others will be sent in their stead, and we are making it dangerous for ourselves.


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[Assistant] So long as we did not squeeze them too dry, they would stay on under our power.


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[Assistant] But if these big companies find that we stand between them and their profits, they will spare no pains and no expense to hunt us down and bring us to court.


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[Assistant] There was a hush at these ominous words, and every face darkened as gloomy looks were exchanged.


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[Assistant] So omnipotent and unchallenged had they been,


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[Assistant] At the very thought that there was possible retribution in the background had been banished from their minds.


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[Assistant] On the day that they have all been driven out, the power of this society will have been broken. Unwelcome truths are not popular.


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[Assistant] So long as the members of this lodge stand together, there is no power in the United States that can touch them.


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[Assistant] Sure, have we not tried it often enough in the law courts?


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[Assistant] I expect the big companies will find it easier to pay than to fight. Same as the little companies do. And now, brethren—


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[Assistant] McGinty took off his black velvet cap and his stole as he spoke.


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[Assistant] This lodge has finished its business for the evening, save for one small matter which may be mentioned when we are parting.


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[Assistant] Here were these men, to whom murder was familiar, who again and again had struck down the father of the family, some man against whom they had no personal feeling, without one thought of compunction or of compassion for his weeping wife or helpless children,


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[Assistant] And yet the tender or pathetic in music could move them to tears.


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[Assistant] McMurdo had a fine tenor voice, and if he had failed to gain the goodwill of the lodge before, it could no longer have been withheld after he had thrilled them with I Am Sitting on the Style Mary and On the Banks of Allen Water.


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[Assistant] In his very first night, the new recruit had made himself one of the most popular of the brethren, marked already for advancement and high office.


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[Assistant] There were other qualities needed, however, besides those of good fellowship, to make a worthy freeman, and of these he was given an example before the evening was over.


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[Assistant] The whiskey bottle had passed round many times, and the men were flushed and ripe for mischief when their body-master rose once more to address them.


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[Assistant] Boys," said he, there's one man in this town that wants trimming up, and it's for you to see that he gets it.


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[Assistant] I'm speaking of James Stanger of the Herald.


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[Assistant] You seen how he's been opening his mouth against us again?


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[Assistant] There was a murmur of assent with many a muttered oath.


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[Assistant] McGinty took a slip of paper from his waistcoat pocket. Law and order! That's how he heads it.


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[Assistant] Twelve years have now elapsed since the first assassinations which proved the existence of a criminal organization in our midst.


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[Assistant] From that day these outrages have never ceased until now they have reached a pitch which makes us the opprobrium of the civilized world.


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[Assistant] Is it for such results as this that our great country welcomes to its bosom the alien who flies from the despotisms of Europe?


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[Assistant] And that a state of terrorism and lawlessness should be established under the very shadow of the sacred folds of the starry flag of freedom, which would raise horror in our minds if we read of it as existing under the most defeat monarchy of the East. The men are known. The organization is patent and public. How long are we to endure it? Can we forever live? Sure, I've read enough of the slush.


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[Assistant] cried the chairman, tossing the paper down upon the table. That's what he says of us.


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[Assistant] The question I'm asking is what shall we say to him? Kill him! cried a dozen fierce voices.


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[Assistant] I protest against that," said Brother Morris, the man of the good brow and shaved face. I tell you, brethren, that our hand is too heavy in this valley, and that there will come a point where in self-defence every man will unite to crush us out.


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[Assistant] James Stanger is an old man. He is respected in the township and the district. His paper stands for all that is solid in the valley.


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[Assistant] If that man is struck down, there will be a stir through this state that will only end with our destruction.


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[Assistant] And how would they bring about our destruction, Mr. Standback?" cried McGinty. Is it by the police? Sure, half of them are in our pay, and half of them are afraid of us. Or is it by the law courts and the judge?


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[Assistant] There is a Judge Lynch that might try the case," said Brother Morris.


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[Assistant] A general shout of anger greeted the suggestion. I have but to raise my finger, cried McGinty, and I could put two hundred men into this town that would clear it out from end to end.


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[Assistant] Then suddenly, raising his voice and bending his huge black brows into a terrible frown,


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[Assistant] You've no heart yourself and you try to take the heart out of others.


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[Assistant] It will be an ill day for you, Brother Morris, when your own name comes on our agenda-paper, and I am thinking that it's just there that I ought to place it." Morris had turned deadly pale.


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[Assistant] I apologize, eminent body-master, to you and to every brother in this lodge, if I have said more than I should. I am a faithful member. You all know that.


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[Assistant] And it is my fear lest evil come to the lodge which makes me speak in anxious words.


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[Assistant] But I have greater trust in your judgment than in my own, eminent body-master, and I promise you that I will not offend again.


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[Assistant] The body-master's scowl relaxed as he listened to the humble words. Very good, Brother Morris. It's myself that would be sorry if it were needful to give you a lesson, but so long as I am in this chair


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[Assistant] That if Stanger got his full desserts, there would be more trouble than we need ask for.


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[Assistant] These editors hang together, and every journal in the State would be crying out for police and troops.


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[Assistant] You'll come, Gower, and you, Mansell, and you, Scanlan, and the two Willoughbys.


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[Assistant] I promised a new brother he should go," said the chairman.


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[Assistant] Ted Baldwin looked at McMurdo with eyes which showed that he had not forgotten nor forgiven.


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[Assistant] The company broke up with shouts and yells and snatches of drunken song.


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[Assistant] The bar was still crowded with revelers, and many of the brethren remained there. The little band who had been told off for duty passed out into the street, proceeding in twos and threes along the sidewalk, so as not to provoke attention.


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[Assistant] It was a bitterly cold night, with a half-moon shining brilliantly in a frosty, star-spangled sky. The men stopped and gathered in a yard which faced a high building. The words, Vermissa Herald, were printed in gold lettering between the brightly lit windows.


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[Assistant] From within came the clanking of the printing press. Hear you! said Baldwin to McMurdo.


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[Assistant] You can stand below at the door and see that the road is kept open for us. Arthur Willoughby can stay with you.


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[Assistant] You others come with me. Have no fears, boys, for we have a dozen witnesses that we are in the Union bar at this very moment.


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[Assistant] It was nearly midnight, and the street was deserted save for one or two revelers upon their way home. The party crossed the road, and pushing open the door of the newspaper office, Baldwin and his men rushed in and up the stair which faced them. McMurdo and another remained below.


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[Assistant] From the room above came a shout, a cry for help, and then the sound of trampling feet and of falling chairs.


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[Assistant] An instant later a grey-haired man rushed out on the landing. He was seized before he could get farther, and his spectacles came tinkling down to McMurdo's feet.


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[Assistant] There was a thud and a groan. He was on his face, and half a dozen sticks were clattering together as they fell upon him. He writhed, and his long, thin limbs quivered under the blows. The others ceased at last,


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[Assistant] But Baldwin, his cruel face set in an infernal smile, was hacking at the man's head which he vainly endeavoured to defend with his arms. His white hair was dabbled with patches of blood.


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[Assistant] Baldwin was still stooping over his victim, putting in a short vicious blow whenever he could see a part exposed when McMurdo dashed up the stair and pushed him back. "'You'll kill the man,' said he. "'Drop it.' Baldwin looked at him in amazement. "'Curse you!' he cried.


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[Assistant] Who are you to interfere? You that are new to the lodge. Stand back!" He raised his stick, but McMurdo had whipped his pistol out of his pocket.


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[Assistant] "'Stand back yourself,' he cried. "'I'll blow your face in if you lay a hand on me. As to the lodge, wasn't it the order of the bodymaster that the man was not to be killed? And what are you doing but killing him?' "'It's truth he says,' remarked one of the men.


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[Assistant] By guy, you'd best hurry yourselves," cried the man below. The windows are all lighting up, and you'll have the whole town here inside of five minutes.


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[Assistant] There was indeed the sound of shouting in the street, and a little group of compositors and pressmen was forming in the hall below and nerving itself to action. Leaving the limp and motionless body of the editor at the head of the stair, the criminals rushed down and made their way swiftly along the street.


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[Assistant] Having reached the Union House, some of them mixed with the crowd in McGinty's Saloon, whispering across the bar to the boss that the job had been well carried through.


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[Assistant] It was the 4th of February in the year 1875. It had been a severe winter, and the snow lay deep in the gorges of the Gilmerton Mountains.


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[Assistant] The steam ploughs had, however, kept the railroad open, and the evening train, which connects the long line of coal-mining and iron-working settlements, was slowly groaning its way up the steep gradients which led from Stagville, on the plain, to Vermissa, the central township which lies at the head of Vermissa Valley.


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[Assistant] From this point the track sweeps downward to Barton's Crossing, Helmdale, and the purely agricultural county of Merton. It was a single-track railroad


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[Assistant] But at every siding, and they were numerous, long lines of trucks piled with coal and iron ore, told of the hidden wealth which had brought a rude population and a bustling life to this most desolate corner of the United States of America. For desolate it was,


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[Assistant] Little could the first pioneer who had traversed it have ever imagined that the fairest prairies and the most lush water pastures were valueless compared to this gloomy land of black crag and tangled forest.


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[Assistant] Above the dark and often scarcely penetrable woods upon their flanks, the high bare crowns of the mountains, white snow and jagged rock, towered upon each flank, leaving a long winding tortuous valley in the centre.


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[Assistant] Up this the little train was slowly crawling.


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[Assistant] The oil lamps had just been lit in the leading passenger car, a long, bare carriage, in which some twenty or thirty people were seated.


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[Assistant] The greater number of these were workmen returning from their day's toil in the lower part of the valley. At least a dozen, by their grimed faces, and the safety lanterns which they carried, proclaimed themselves miners.


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[Assistant] These sat smoking in a group and conversed in low voices, glancing occasionally at two men on the opposite side of the car, whose uniforms and badges showed them to be policemen.


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[Assistant] Several women of the labouring class and one or two travellers who might have been small local storekeepers made up the rest of the company, with the exception of one young man in a corner by himself. It is with this man that we are concerned.


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[Assistant] He's a fresh, complexioned, middle-sized young man, not far, one would guess, from his thirtieth year.


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[Assistant] He has large, shrewd, humorous gray eyes which twinkle inquiringly from time to time as he looks round through his spectacles at the people about him.


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[Assistant] It is easy to see that he is of a sociable and possibly simple disposition, anxious to be friendly to all men.


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[Assistant] Anyone could pick him at once as gregarious in his habits and communicative in his nature, with a quick wit and a ready smile. And yet


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[Assistant] The man who studied him more closely might discern a certain firmness of jaw and grim tightness about the lips, which would warn him that there were depths beyond, and that this pleasant, brown-haired young Irishman might conceivably leave his mark for good or evil upon any society to which he was introduced.


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[Assistant] Having made one or two tentative remarks to the nearest miner, and receiving only short, gruff replies, the traveller resigned himself to uncongenial silence, staring moodily out of the window at the fading landscape. It was not a cheering prospect.


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[Assistant] Through the growing gloom there pulsed the red glow of the furnaces on the sides of the hills. Great heaps of slag and dumps of cinders loomed up on each side, with the high shafts of the collieries towering above them.


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[Assistant] Huddled groups of mean, wooden houses, the windows of which were beginning to outline themselves in light, were scattered here and there along the line, and the frequent halting places were crowded with their swarthy inhabitants.


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[Assistant] The iron and coal valleys of the Vermissa district were no resorts for the leisured or the cultured.


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[Assistant] Everywhere there were stern signs of the crudest battle of life, the rude work to be done, and the rude strong workers who did it.


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[Assistant] The young traveller gazed out into this dismal country with a face of mingled repulsion and interest, which showed that the scene was new to him.


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[Assistant] At intervals he drew from his pocket a bulky letter to which he referred, and on the margins of which he scribbled some notes.


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[Assistant] Once from the back of his waist he produced something which one would hardly have expected to find in the possession of so mild-mannered a man.


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[Assistant] It was a Navy revolver of the largest size.


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[Assistant] As he turned it slantwise to the light, the glint upon the rims of the copper shells within the drum showed that it was fully loaded.


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[Assistant] He quickly restored it to his secret pocket, but not before it had been observed by a working man who had seated himself upon the adjoining bench.


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[Assistant] Hello, mate," said he, you seem healed and ready. The young man smiled with an air of embarrassment. Yes, said he, we need them sometimes in the place they come from. And where may that be? I am last from Chicago. A stranger in these parts? Yes. You may find you need it here, said the workman. Ah, is that so? The young man seemed interested.


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[Assistant] Have you heard nothing of doings hereabouts? Nothing out of the way. Why, I thought the country was full of it. You'll hear quick enough. What made you come here? I heard there was always work for a willing man. Are you a member of the Union? Sure. Then you'll get your job, I guess. Have you any friends? Not yet, but I have the means of making them. How's that, then?


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[Assistant] I am one of the eminent order of freemen. There's no town without a lodge, and where there's a lodge I'll find my friends." The remark had a singular effect upon his companion.


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[Assistant] He glanced around suspiciously at the others in the car. The miners were still whispering among themselves. The two police officers were dozing.


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[Assistant] He came across, seated himself close to the young traveler, and held out his hand.


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[Assistant] Put it there," he said. A hand-grip passed between the two. I see you speak the truth, said the workman, but it's well to make certain. He raised his right hand to his right eyebrow. The traveller at once raised his left hand to his left eyebrow. Dark nights are unpleasant, said the workman.


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[Assistant] Yes, for strangers to travel, the other answered.


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[Assistant] That's good enough. I'm Brother Scanlon, Lodge 341, Vermissa Valley. Glad to see you in these parts.


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[Assistant] Thank you. I'm Brother John McMurdo, Lodge 29, Chicago. Bodymaster J. H. Scott. But I'm in luck to meet a brother so early.


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[Assistant] Well, there are plenty of us about. You won't find the order more flourishing anywhere in the States than right here in Vermissa Valley. But we could do with some lads like you.


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[Assistant] It's early days to talk of such things," said McMurdo with the air of a man who had been surprised into saying more than he intended.


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[Assistant] I've my own good reasons for leaving Chicago, and let that be enough for you.


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[Assistant] Who are you that you should take it on yourself to ask such things?


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[Assistant] His grey eyes gleamed with sudden and dangerous anger from behind his glasses. All right, mate, no offence meant. The boys will think none the worse of you, whatever you may have done. Where are you bound for now? Vermissa. That's the third halt down the line. Where are you staying?


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[Assistant] McMurdo took out an envelope and held it close to the murky oil lamp.


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[Assistant] Here is the address. Jacob Shafter, Sheridan Street. It's a boarding house that was recommended by a man I know in Chicago.


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[Assistant] Well, I don't know it, but Vermissa is out of my beat. I live at Hobson's Patch, and that's here we're drawing up to now.


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[Assistant] But say, there's one bit of advice I'll give you before we part. If you're in trouble in Vermissa,


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[Assistant] Go straight to the Union house and see Boss McGinty. He's the bodymaster of Vermissa Lodge, and nothing can happen in these parts unless Black Jack McGinty wants it. So long, mate.


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[Assistant] Maybe we'll meet in Lodge one of these evenings, but mind my words, if you're in trouble, go to Boss McGinty.


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[Assistant] Scanlan descended, and McMurdo was left once again to his thoughts.


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[Assistant] Dark figures were bending and straining, twisting and turning with a motion of winch or of windlass to the rhythm of an eternal clank and roar.


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[Assistant] I guess hell must look something like that," said a voice. McMurdo turned and saw that one of the policemen had shifted in his seat and was staring out into the fiery waste.


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[Assistant] For that matter," said the other policeman, I allow that hell must be something like that. If there are worse devils down yonder than some wicked name, it's more than I'd expect. I guess you're new to this part, young man.


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[Assistant] Well, what if I am? McMurdo answered in a surly voice.


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[Assistant] Roared McMurdo in a voice which brought every head in the carriage round to witness the altercation. Did I ask you for your advice, or did you think me such a sucker that I couldn't move without it? You speak when you're spoken to, and by the Lord you'd have to wait a long time if it was me.


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[Assistant] He thrust out his face and grinned at the patrolman like a snarling dog. The two policemen


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[Assistant] Heavy, good-natured men were taken aback by the extraordinary vehemence with which their friendly advances had been rejected.


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[Assistant] No offence, stranger," said one. It was a warning for your own good, seeing that you are by your own showing new to the place.


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[Assistant] I'm new to the place, but I'm not new to you and your kind," cried McMurdo in cold fury. I guess you're the same in all places, shoving your advice in when nobody asks for it.


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[Assistant] Maybe we'll see more of you before long," said one of the patrolmen with a grin.


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[Assistant] You're a real hand-picked one, if I'm a judge.


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[Assistant] I was thinking the same, remark the other. I guess we may meet again.


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[Assistant] I'm not afraid of you, and don't you think it?" cried McMurdo. My name's Jack McMurdo. See, if you want me, you'll find me at Jacob's Shafters on Sheridan Street, Vermissa. So I'm not hiding from you, am I? Day or night, I dare to look the like of you in the face. Don't make any mistake about that.


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[Assistant] There was a murmur of sympathy and admiration from the miners at the dauntless demeanour of the newcomer.


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[Assistant] While the two policemen shrugged their shoulders and renewed a conversation between themselves.


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[Assistant] A few minutes later the train ran into the ill-lit station, and there was a general clearing, for Vermissa was by far the largest town on the line.


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[Assistant] McMurdo picked up his leather gripsack and was about to start off into the darkness, when one of the miners accosted him.


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[Assistant] Let me carry your grip and show you the road. I'm passing shafters on the way to my own shack.


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[Assistant] There was a chorus of friendly good nights from the other miners as they passed from the platform.


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[Assistant] Before ever he had set foot on it, McMurdo the Turbulent had become a character in Vermissa. The country had been a place of terror, but the town was in its way even more depressing.


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[Assistant] Down that long valley there was at least a certain gloomy grandeur in the huge fires and the clouds of drifting smoke, while the strength and industry of man found fitting monuments in the hills which he had spilled by the side of his monstrous excavations.


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[Assistant] But the town showed a dead level of mean ugliness and squalor.


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[Assistant] The broad street was churned up by the traffic into a horrible rutted paste of muddy snow.


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[Assistant] The sidewalks were narrow and uneven. The numerous gas lamps served only to show more clearly a long line of wooden houses, each with its veranda facing the street, unkempt and dirty.


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[Assistant] As they approached the centre of the town, the scene was brightened by a row of well-lit stores, and even more by a cluster of saloons and gaming houses, in which the miners spent their hard-earned but generous wages.


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[Assistant] That's the Union House," said the guide, pointing to one saloon which rose almost to the dignity of being a hotel. Jack McGinty is the boss there. What sort of man is he? McMurdo asked. What, have you never heard of the boss?


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[Assistant] How could I have heard of him, when you know that I'm a stranger in these parts?


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[Assistant] Well, I thought his name was known clear across the country. It's been in the papers often enough. What for? Well, the miner lowered his voice, over the affairs. What affairs?


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[Assistant] Good lord, mister, you are queer. If I must say it without offence, there's only one set of affairs that you'll hear of in these parts, and that's the affairs of the scourers. Why, I seem to have read of the scourers in Chicago. A gang of murderers, are they not?


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[Assistant] On your life, cried the miner, standing still in alarm and gazing in amazement at his companion.


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[Assistant] You won't live long in these parts if you speak in the open street like that. Many a man has had the life beaten out of him for less. Well, I know nothing about them. It's only what I've read. And I'm not saying that you've not read the truth.


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[Assistant] The man looked nervously round him as he spoke, peering into the shadows as if he feared to see some lurking danger.


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[Assistant] If killing is murder, then God knows there's a murder in despair. But don't you dare to breathe the name of Jack McGinty in connection with it, stranger. For every whisper goes back to him, and he's not one that is likely to let it pass.


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[Assistant] Now, that's the house you're after. That one, standing back from the street.


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[Assistant] And shaking hands with his new acquaintance, he plodded, gripsack in hand, up the path which led to the dwelling-house, at the door of which he gave a resounding knock.


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[Assistant] It was opened at once by someone very different from what he had expected. It was a woman, young and singularly beautiful.


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[Assistant] She was of the German type, blond and fair-haired, with the piquant contrast of a pair of beautiful dark eyes, with which she surveyed the stranger with surprise, and a pleasing embarrassment which brought a wave of colour over her pale face.


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[Assistant] Framed in the bright light of the open doorway, it seemed to McMurdo that he had never seen a more beautiful picture.


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[Assistant] The more attractive for its contrast with the sordid and gloomy surroundings,


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[Assistant] A lovely violet growing upon one of those black slag-heaps of the mines would not have seemed more surprising.


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[Assistant] So entranced was he that he stood staring without a word, and it was she who broke the silence.


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[Assistant] I thought it was father," said she, with a pleasing little touch of a German accent.


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[Assistant] He's downtown. I expect him back every minute.


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[Assistant] McMurdo continued to gaze at her in open admiration.


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[Assistant] Until her eyes dropped in confusion before this masterful visitor. "'No, Miss,' he said at last. "'I'm in no hurry to see him. But your house was recommended to me for board. I thought it might suit me, and now I know it will.' "'You are quick to make up your mind,' said she with a smile.


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[Assistant] Anyone but a blind man could do as much," the other answered. She laughed at the compliment.


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[Assistant] My mother's dead, and I run the house. You can sit down by the stove in the front room until father comes along. Ah, here he is. So you can fix things with him right away.


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[Assistant] A heavy elderly man came plodding up the path.


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[Assistant] In a few words McMurdo explained his business. A man of the name of Murphy had given him the address in Chicago. He in turn had had it from someone else. Old Shafter was quite ready—a stranger made no bones about terms—to


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[Assistant] Agreed at once to every condition and was apparently fairly flush of money.


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[Assistant] For seven dollars a week paid in advance, he was to have board and lodging.


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[Assistant] Good idea, mama. There's nothing like a kiss to make things better.


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[Assistant] Wow, Jessie has big hooves for such a teeny draw. Teeny? She's two meters tall.


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[Assistant] Well, Cecil thinks it's dee-licious.


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[Assistant] By the time he gets back up, Cecil and his mother will be long gone. Good job, Cecil. You swim so well for a beginner.


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[Assistant] Woah! Look at Samson's nice teeth!


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[Assistant] And Samson's going deeper. What's he gonna do down there, Tim? Take a nap. To sleep underwater, they stop breathing and slow down their heartbeat.


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[Assistant] Serena prefers to nap near the surface, floating like a log. Do you know what this position is called? Uh, I don't know. It's called the bottle position.


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[Assistant] Aww, what a cute couple. So romantic.


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[Assistant] Kaden too! Good job little guys. Uh oh, they still aren't that steady.


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[Assistant] That doesn't surprise me, Emma. You do sleep like a marmot.


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[Assistant] Aww, you're so cute. I'm going to call you Marvin.


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[Assistant] Good altitude, plenty of sun, and there are lots of plants to munch on too.


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[Assistant] But he's just stuffing his face. Since they're about to hibernate, they need to fatten up as much as possible. If I were a marmot, I'd sleep through the whole winter.


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[Assistant] My little Marvin is so skinny now. That's normal. He lost half his weight. But he's still got some fat reserves.


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[Assistant] If you are one of the millions of word users who started out as a word perfect user, you might remember something called reveal codes. Reveal codes allowed us to see the formatting that was in place for a section of text.


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[Assistant] The way we do that here in Word is similar. It's called reveal formatting. So, I can learn about styles with the style pane, but to learn about specific formatting, simply select a section of text. Then hold shift and hit F1.


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[Assistant] And this opens the reveal formatting pane on the right side of the screen. There's my text that's selected.


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[Assistant] And it shows me the formatting of the selected text. At the top, the information about the font, followed by the information about the paragraph. This is similar to the style. This entire section of text is formatted


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[Assistant] As the normal style. It's selected right here, I can tell that.


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[Assistant] With reveal formatting open, let me choose some different text. And notice that I have information about the font and the paragraph and it has all shifted.


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[Assistant] What if I select a couple of sections of text? It's still going to show me the first text that was selected. And if I'd like to know more about, for example, my note style, simply click and I can learn about the formatting that has been applied.


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[Assistant] There's another neat feature of the reveal formatting pane. I can find out if two paragraphs are the same.


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[Assistant] So if I select a paragraph for example and say compare this to another selection, I can then select another paragraph.


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[Assistant] And it will tell me there's no formatting differences between the two.


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[Assistant] There's one more formatting visualizer that I want to show you. It's a legacy tool from old Microsoft Word and yet it has some specific use. I'd like to make sure then that you have been exposed to it. It's called the style area.


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[Assistant] It used to be readily available in Word 2003 and earlier versions. Now it's hidden away. So two things. First, you have to turn it on. And second,


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[Assistant] It does not work in this view. It only works in draft or outline views. But if you use draft or outline views, you will want to know that this is available. And if you don't, this might give you a reason to use them. To use the style area, we're going to go to file. We're going to choose options. And then we're going to click advanced. Scroll down to the display area. Way down here.


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[Assistant] And notice style, area, pane, width, and draft and outline views. Right now it is set to zero inches. We need to give it some space to actually live in. So I'm going to say just one inch would be enough. Give me one inch wide.


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[Assistant] And then let's click okay. Now nothing changes because again, we are still looking at normal view, but if we switch to another view, if we go to view and we choose outline view,


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[Assistant] Notice on the left hand side of the screen, we have an inch here that shows me the style applied to each and every paragraph in my document. Now that I've created it, I can give it more room, but I normally really only need maybe an inch or an inch and a half.


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[Assistant] And this style area is available to me in outline view. It's available to me in draft view.


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[Assistant] And it goes away if I work in normal view, which is our print layout view.


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[Assistant] I like the ability, though, to quickly and easily switch over to a draft view and see all of my styles in one sweep. As I scroll, I can see that I'm using heading ones and normal and notes and so on.


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[Assistant] If you like this then, my advice to you is simply to leave it on. Particularly if you rarely work in outline or draft view.


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[Assistant] Once I've turned on the style area, if I'm working extensively with files, I'll switch over to draft view from time to time so that I can easily see my styles and then simply drop back to print layout view, which does not show my style area.


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[Assistant] I created and formatted this document so that we could talk about something called inheritance.


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[Assistant] Most of the styles that we have created and that we have worked with have been based on another style. Most of them based on the normal style. For example, if I point to heading 1, notice that heading 1 uses the default font, has some paragraph


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[Assistant] Attributes, but at the bottom where it says style it says based on normal following normal


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[Assistant] No spacing is not based on anything else.


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[Assistant] It doesn't say that it's based on normal, but the others so far have been. I've also created two unique styles that were not based on the normal style. One is simply called unique. And this font, this is not based on the default font, it's not based on normal. It calls out a font, Arial Black 14 point.


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[Assistant] Then I created Uniquely Green, which is based on Unique.


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[Assistant] But is a smaller font size and a different color.


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[Assistant] What this means is if I change the normal style, I can assume that my title style, my heading 1 style, my heading 2 style will all change because normal has changed. But that unique style and uniquely green style will not change because they're not based on normal and neither will no spacing. On the other hand, if I change unique style,


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[Assistant] The only style that would change as a result of that would be the uniquely green style that is based upon the unique style.


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[Assistant] Let's learn a little bit more about this concept, which is called inheritance. We have a normal style.


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[Assistant] It uses our body font that's specified in the theme.


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[Assistant] It's an 11 point auto color left justified. Then we have heading one. It's based on normal.


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[Assistant] And it uses that same body font, but we've specified that it's 16 point rather than 11 point and that the color is accent color 1 rather than the automatic color.


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[Assistant] It's also left justified, and it's bold. So when we modified normal to use it as an example for heading one, and in inheritance terms, the normal style is what would be called the parent style. And the style that is based on that normal style would be called a child style.


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[Assistant] In fact, when we created Heading 1, we didn't specify that it would be a body font. We didn't specify that it would be left justified. And the reason that we didn't specify those things


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[Assistant] What that means is that if I change the body font in normal or if I change the justification in normal, that will actually be inherited by heading 1 because I've said nothing specific about either the font or


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[Assistant] The justification in heading one. With inheritance, anything we don't specify from the style that our style is based on will bleed through when we change that original or parent style. Let's return to Word. Here's my normal style.


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[Assistant] I'm going to select my normal style and I'm going to center align this.


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[Assistant] Now I'm going to update normal to match my selection. And when I do, notice that all of the styles that are based on the normal style inherit being aligned center. Let's change normal style again. Let's align it to the right. Update normal to match selection. And there they all go to the right. Let's change normal back to the left.


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[Assistant] Update normal to match the selection and every one returns. Now if I change the color of normal, change it to orange and update normal to match the selection, notice that the headings don't change. They retain the color they had because part of what made that heading 1 and 2 style different was that it had a specific color, accent 1. Title on the other hand,


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[Assistant] Had no independent color of its own, so it inherits the color change from the normal style.


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[Assistant] Notice that unique style and uniquely green style have been sitting here the whole time. Totally unchanged. But if I take this unique style.


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[Assistant] And I modify it again by choosing a different font and then I update unique to match the selection. Uniquely green will follow because it is based on the unique style. However, the styles based on the normal style don't change at all. Now that you understand how this works, you can decide


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[Assistant] When you create a new style, whether you want to base it on an existing style, having titles and headings based on the normal style is normal. And the reason for that is if I change my font for the document, my headings follow.


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[Assistant] My title follows. But there may be times that you want to create a style like the unique style not based on any other style and therefore not inheriting from any other style.


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[Assistant] If you modify one style in your document and other styles change, now you know why and where to fix it.


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[Assistant] In this section you will hear two long conversations.


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[Assistant] At the end of each conversation you will hear four questions.


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[Assistant] You must choose the best answer from the four choices marked A, B, C and D.


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[Assistant] Then mark the corresponding letter on answer sheet 1 with a single line through the centre.


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[Assistant] No, it can't be. I've always been working hard, but I've never felt stress. Other people suffer and complain about that, but I don't. It must be something else.


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[Assistant] Yes, most days in fact. But I've been doing that for about twenty years now.


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[Assistant] Uhm, I'd have to think about it. I'm a restaurant manager and this industry is very competitive. There are many things to keep track of and stay on top of.


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[Assistant] Meg, I loved being an athlete, but I didn't love being a celebrity. I was in the limelight when I was still a high school student and went professional right after high school graduation, which was a mistake.


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[Assistant] I was a shy kid and I wasn't ready for all the media attention.


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[Assistant] But not at all. It was hard to quit. I was tempted to stay in the game because I loved basketball and I loved my team. As for money, I turned professional at 18, so I'd actually earned a lot and saved most of it because I had great financial advisors.


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[Assistant] I knew basketball wasn't a career with a lot of longevity for most players, so I wanted to change careers while I was still young.


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[Assistant] I went to university and I studied public health and learned about the seriousness of the obesity epidemic.


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[Assistant] Particularly among kids and adolescents in poor communities.


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[Assistant] I've spent the last two decades trying to alleviate the problem. The foundation is just the latest attempt.


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[Assistant] Actually, we support teams for secondary school students too, and also have some public funding.


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[Assistant] Questions 5 to 8 are based on the conversation you have just heard. Question 5.


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[Assistant] Why did John Williams leave the sport of basketball at just 25?


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[Assistant] What does the man say about basketball as a career for most players?


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[Assistant] What do we learn from the woman about John Williams 20 years later?


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[Assistant] What has the man spent the last two decades trying to do?


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[Assistant] Section B, Directions. In this section, you will hear two passages.


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[Assistant] At the end of each passage you will hear three or four questions.


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[Assistant] You must choose the best answer from the four choices marked A, B, C and D.


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[Assistant] Then mark the corresponding letter on answer sheet 1 with a single line through the centre.


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[Assistant] Questions 9 to 11 are based on the passage you have just heard. Question 9.


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[Assistant] When did Kate Atkinson begin to write from women's magazines?


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[Assistant] Question 10. What do Kate Atkinson's books touch on?


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[Assistant] What do we learn about the clever and deceitful characters in a comedy of manners?


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[Assistant] Why is adaptability an important skill to exercise in the workplace?


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[Assistant] Simply put, adaptability is a skill employers are increasingly looking for.


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[Assistant] When you spend time learning a new task rather than resisting it, your productivity goes up.


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[Assistant] You can also serve as an example to your co-workers who may be having trouble adapting and can help lead your team forward.


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[Assistant] Strategy consultant Dory Clark explains it to us this way.


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[Assistant] I'd say that adaptability is an important skill in the workplace because, frankly, circumstances change.


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[Assistant] Competitors introduce new products, the economy might enter a recession, customer preferences differ over time, and more.


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[Assistant] If you shake your fist at the sky and say, why can't it stay the same? That's not going to do very much good.


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[Assistant] Instead, you need to recognize when circumstances have changed so you can take appropriate action based on what is, rather than how you wish the world would be.


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[Assistant] That enables you to make more accurate informed and effective choices. Also, the workplace itself has been evolving.


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[Assistant] Today's work culture and management style is often based on teamwork rather than a rigid hierarchy.


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[Assistant] Brainstorming, which requires creativity, flexibility and emotional intelligence, is a typical problem-solving technique.


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[Assistant] Employees who are unable or unwilling to participate will not easily move forward in the company.


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[Assistant] Employees who are flexible demonstrate other skills too.


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[Assistant] They can re-prioritize quickly when changes occur and suggest additional modifications when something's not working.


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[Assistant] They can also regroup quickly when a setback occurs, adapting to the new situation confidently and without overreacting.


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[Assistant] In this section, you will hear three recordings of lectures or talks, followed by three or four questions. The recordings will be played only once. After you hear a question, you must choose the best answer from the four choices marked A, B, C and D.


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[Assistant] Mark the corresponding letter on answer sheet 1 with a single line through the centre.


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[Assistant] Questions 16 to 18 are based on the recording you have just heard. Question 16. What question does the speaker address in this talk?


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[Assistant] Question 17. What does the speaker believe about innovation?


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[Assistant] How does the human brain work according to the speaker?


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[Assistant] Many dog owners will tell you that their dog somehow knows when they're ill or upset. And, according to researchers who study dog cognition, those pet owners are right.


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[Assistant] Dogs do know when their human companions are having a rough time. Not only can your dog sense when you have a cold, but domestic dogs have shown an aptitude for detecting both much smaller mood fluctuations and far more serious physical conditions.


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[Assistant] This is because dogs are extremely sensitive to changes in the people they're familiar with, and illness causes change.


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[Assistant] If a person is infected with a virus or bacteria, for example, their odour will be abnormal.


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[Assistant] And dogs are able to smell that change even if the human can't. Because dogs have a much more powerful sense of smell than humans.


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[Assistant] Researchers have also found that a person's mood which can be an indicator of a larger illness triggers a dog's sense of smell.


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[Assistant] Human emotions manifest physically in chemical signals that are emitted by the body and dogs are able to smell those as well. Beyond smell,


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[Assistant] Researchers discovered that dogs have an area of the brain similar to one in humans that allows them to understand emotional cues in the tone of a speaker's voice.


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[Assistant] Beyond what they'd be able to pick up from familiar words alone.


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[Assistant] A person's voice can also carry indicators of illness.


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[Assistant] What's not understood quite so well is what dogs understand about these changes.


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[Assistant] Humans send out lots of cues, but whether dogs know some of these cues mean illness isn't clear. What we perceive as concern on a dog's part might be more like increased curiosity or suspicion that something is wrong with us, and sticking close by is a great way to gather more information about the situation.


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[Assistant] Some researchers assert dogs will one day help doctors diagnose diseases, as some dogs have already demonstrated the ability to detect an assortment of ailments, including diabetes and certain types of cancer.


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[Assistant] But those researchers can see that's probably in the distant future.


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[Assistant] For now, research suggests dog ownership can have an array of benefits in and of itself.


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[Assistant] Keeping a pet dog has been shown to bolster health and boost mood.


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[Assistant] Dogs also help people relax, and they can be a particular comfort to those with chronic diseases.


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[Assistant] We are finding the very best version of a person. We're not changing who they are, we're just excavating and making them the best that they can possibly be. With television, so much is edited so that what I do truly behind the scenes you will never get to see. You will see a Tadah moment and that makes for good TV.


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[Assistant] I've never been able to communicate how to really think the way I think when I'm shopping, when I'm styling myself, when I'm styling somebody else. I want to take this opportunity to really lay out the whole process, start to finish.


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[Assistant] The process of Queer Eye is this. When we know that we are about to work with a hero, a week before we send a questionnaire to them, it's a questionnaire that I created.


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[Assistant] It's questions like, what is your favorite color? What colors do you like? What colors do you absolutely not like? What colors do you wear? What colors would you like to wear but you don't know how? Do you wear print? If so, what print?


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[Assistant] Do you wear a skinny jean or a baggier jean? Do you wear jeans at all? Are you the kind of person that wants to...


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[Assistant] What colors do I like? What do I not like? What do I never want to put on my body? What prints do I like that I'm too scared to wear that I could potentially wear if I knew how? What kind of genre of clothes is my style? The questions that we ask, I then use to be able to create a style for our hero.


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[Assistant] When I meet them for the first time on the show, I delve deeper. I look in their closet and really see if what they're telling me matches with what's in their closet.


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[Assistant] Who do you like? Who do you, who do you look up to? Is there somebody at work? Is there somebody in your own home who's style you like? When you see you in the future, what do you look like?


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[Assistant] The main reason I'm asking these questions is because I want to know how they want to feel. What did they want to convey to the world?


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[Assistant] All of this is to help them develop their personal style. It's not about what I think they should be wearing because they are of a certain age, of a certain height, of a certain size. It's not that at all, it's who do they want to be so that they can feel like the very best version of themselves.


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[Assistant] One question in particular that I find really helps when I'm styling somebody is, was there ever an outfit that made you feel amazing?


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[Assistant] I've never met a person that would say no. I've never felt good.


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[Assistant] Everyone has that one thing, even if it was as a kid, that made them feel the way that they hoped they would always feel.


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[Assistant] And so, let's say for example, it's a dress, and this person doesn't wear dresses anymore, at all. I want to understand why, and so I'll start to dissect why, if you felt that good in that dress, you wore it as a bridesmaid, you felt the best you've ever felt, yet you've never worn a dress since. Why?


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[Assistant] How that thing made their day that day. And then I use that information to craft a whole new closet for our hero based on their answers, based on the style that they want to have.


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[Assistant] What you see on Queer Eye is a snapshot of what actually is happening behind the scenes. You see the boys playing, you see me getting a closet ready, and by the end of the episode there's a big reveal.


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[Assistant] Lovely. That's TV. What's going on behind the scenes is I'm trying to find out


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[Assistant] That has made them feel extra special. Let's get something that's a comparable shape, but just slightly different. Something that was in that colour that they once wore, that they loved, but a version of a colour that's close, but not identical. And then we'll play within that colour story.


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[Assistant] What's that one shoe that they've worn before that they felt really good in? Let's get it in more colors, but let's also get a heeled version or a flat version. So we start to really.


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[Assistant] Bring out that one thing, that one outfit and find versions of it that are very similar, comparable, that will have the desired effect. It's still a major departure from what they've ordinarily done before, but it's still very much in keeping with who they are.


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[Assistant] We then have a store visit or sometimes I've ordered online and I bring them to our loft.


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[Assistant] At that point, that is where I will take the quotes that I have already found for them that are based off that one nugget of information they gave me, which is when they felt their best.


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[Assistant] And we will start to really break down the new items that are similar to the ones that they once felt good in and they can decide of those items which ones they like and then that helps us whittle it down even further. So we'll have them try on as much as physically possible. I love the jacket. Look at how wicked your body looks.


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[Assistant] If somebody has a real aversion to something, I don't push for that. If somebody suggests that they just will not wear leopard print,


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[Assistant] I will not push leopard print. I may suggest that they try it, but if they still are not feeling it, I don't push for it. I want to make sure that their concern about that thing isn't unfounded. For example, we've had many heroes that have said that they don't like a slim or a skinny gene.


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[Assistant] We found that the majority of people who have said that have never tried that before. They just think because they are a larger size, they can only wear wide jeans. Learn something new every day. And so it's a case of educating and just opening their minds up to opportunities as opposed to saying, well you've told me that you don't like this, I will take that at face value.


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[Assistant] Then once we end that scene, I will then spend another day and a half


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[Assistant] Really dissecting that closet that we initially purchased and see what worked from that. We get rid of the things that didn't.


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[Assistant] That is important that I add into every single closet, a capsule collection.


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[Assistant] Every closet I've ever done on Queer Eye has a capsule collection in there. It may not be obvious when you're looking


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[Assistant] We know that we've got a version of everything I wanted to be in that hero's closet.


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[Assistant] Also, the day before it goes in that closet, everything is altered, everything is tailored. Tailoring is so important to me, and the majority of the people that we're helping


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[Assistant] Frightening at the time, because there's no time to adjust. And there have been a couple of heroes, and I'd love to give you a couple of examples.


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[Assistant] Tom Jackson was the first hero I ever helped on Queer Eye. I had no idea what I was doing because I'd never been on TV before and I was pretty much just trying to stay upright because I wanted to pass out the majority of the time because I was so scared of the cameras. And so, I didn't realize what I was meant to be doing in the meantime of meeting him and then the reveal.


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[Assistant] TV works, sometimes you don't get to do everything you wanted to, you don't know everything immediately. However, throughout the process of working on Queer Eye, I've really started to hone in on exactly what works for our heroes. And now, I go in very confidently on reveal day, knowing that we've got a wardrobe that makes sense for them. It's very unique, it's very particular to who they are, what they want to be, and it fits to perfection.


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[Assistant] With this information, I want you to understand that that translates to your life too. I am not there to give you a questionnaire to answer. I want you to start to ask those questions of yourself.


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[Assistant] You are taking that one nugget of information, going out to a store, trying on things that are similar to the thing that once made you feel so good, and then you're breaking down the things that work


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[Assistant] You're separating out the things that you don't want. You hand that back to the sales associate, go back onto that shop floor and find things that are similar to the thing that you've just tried on that makes you feel good about yourself. And at that point you start to figure out.


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[Assistant] What your style is and what's going to make you feel good. And then you go onto the next store and find versions of those things that you just found at that initial store. And that's how you start to really build a style for yourself that will truly change the way you view yourself.


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[Assistant] Question 6. What will the man do if he gets the job?


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[Assistant] Question 8 Why does the man think he is a very competitive


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[Assistant] What does the speaker think of the problem of waste?


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[Assistant] Question 17. What was the hypothesis of the speaker's research team?


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[Assistant] Peep had discovered something else the mirror could do.


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[Assistant] In this second module, I'm going to go through some specific examples. These are representative of what's out there in the scientific literature. There are also examples of what not to do.


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[Assistant] I want to start my slides with a disclaimer. I pick up snippets, sentences, paragraphs from various things I read. Sometimes my students work, sometimes the scientific literature. And I'm often critiquing that writing.


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[Assistant] So I tend to omit exact citations from my slides just so that it doesn't appear that I'm critiquing any particular author. Really, these examples just typify what's out there in the scientific literature.


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[Assistant] I want to start with a sentence that I was reading in an article in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. This is one of the top cancer journals and this was the first sentence of the introduction section. This is when the authors are supposed to be drawing you into their paper. And it reads,


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[Assistant] I have a background in biology and I still find this sentence hard to read. I have to struggle to get through it.


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[Assistant] And that's a shame, because if your reader has to struggle to get through your sentences, they may not finish reading your paper. They certainly aren't going to understand your ideas.


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[Assistant] So ask yourself the question, is this sentence easy to understand? I don't think it is.


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[Assistant] Is the sentence enjoyable and interesting to read?


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[Assistant] It was actually an interesting article that had some practical implications about the way that we apply sunscreen. And so I was trying to write about it for a very general audience. I was reading along in the article and then I get to this sentence.


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[Assistant] These findings imply that the rates of ascorbate radical production and its recycling via dehydroascorbate reductase to replenish the ascorbate pool are equivalent at the lower irradiance but not equivalent at higher irradiance with the rate of ascorbate radical production exceeding its recycling back to ascorbate.


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[Assistant] Alright, you can see that this sentence is incredibly difficult to read. Even if you had a strong background in chemistry, it's still very difficult to understand.


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[Assistant] So you again want to ask yourself, is this sentence readable? I don't think it's very readable.


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[Assistant] And I ask this question because sometimes when I'm reading the scientific literature, I wonder if the authors are being intentionally obscure, intentionally obtuse.


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[Assistant] If they're intentionally trying to obscure their material in the hopes that if nobody understands it, then nobody can poke holes in their research.


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[Assistant] Certainly we don't want to be doing that. Certainly the point of scientific writing is to inform.


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[Assistant] In both of those examples, they took some nice spunky verbs and turned them into clunky nouns.


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[Assistant] This is incredibly common in academic writing, but it makes the writing hard to read because verbs drive sentences, whereas nouns slow them down.


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[Assistant] In that first example, we have selection, activation, expression, and reinfusion.


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[Assistant] Those are all nouns that are dragging the sentence down, but they could have been verbs. Select, activate, express, and reinfuse. We have the same problem in the second sentence.


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[Assistant] We get production and recycling, which are nouns that could have been verbs, to produce, to recycle.


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[Assistant] So I took that second sentence and I tried to translate it into something understandable. Here's what I came up with.


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[Assistant] It's not the most exciting sentence ever, but I think it's at least understandable now. You can get the gist of what the authors are trying to say.


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[Assistant] Notice what I did here is I stripped a lot of extra words from that sentence. I've got it down to about half the size of the original.


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[Assistant] And then I turn those nouns, production and recycling, back into verbs, produced and recycled.


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[Assistant] I want to get across two themes in this course. One is that even though we're writing about science, about complex and technical things, that doesn't mean we have to use complex language.


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[Assistant] We can get across complex and technical ideas even with simple language.


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[Assistant] If we did that, scientific writing would be a lot easier and more enjoyable to read.


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[Assistant] And you want to aim to write things that are easy to understand and are enjoyable for your reader.


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[Assistant] I love this quote. I pulled this out of something I read back in 2003 and I've kept it in my slides ever since because I think it makes a really important point.


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[Assistant] There is pressure to publish and sometimes it may feel like you're just trying to get something published and get it on your CV. That's a shame because obviously that shouldn't be the goal of science.


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[Assistant] If nobody cares about your work and nobody reads it, then obviously it's not gonna move science along at all.


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[Assistant] So when you're sitting down to write, I want you to think very carefully about making sure that your reader understands your writing and that your reader cares about your writing. You want to make your reader care.


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[Assistant] If you do that, they're more likely to pick up on your ideas, they're more likely to cite your work, and it's more likely to move science forward.


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[Assistant] Welcome to the first week of Writing in the Sciences. I'm Kristen Sinani from Stanford University.


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[Assistant] Some of the goals I have for this course, I'm hoping to get you to rethink your approach to writing.


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[Assistant] In my course at Stanford, I always like to start by asking the question, what makes good writing?


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[Assistant] And feel free to discuss this on the discussion forum later. But for now, I'm gonna tell you what I think makes good writing. First and foremost.


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[Assistant] Because the whole point of scientific writing is to get your results across to other scientists, to policy makers, and sometimes even to the lay public. It's all about getting your idea across clearly and effectively. Then there's this other element of good writing.


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[Assistant] Good writing is beautiful. It's elegant and stylish. And I think what happens when a lot of people sit down to write


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[Assistant] Is that they're worried about this second element. They're worried about sounding a certain way. About sounding smart or sounding elegant.


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[Assistant] And they spend so much time focusing on this part that they forget about just trying to get their ideas across clearly and effectively. And this leads to all sorts of problems in the writing.


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[Assistant] So what I want you to do in this class is to keep your focus on one.


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[Assistant] Clear writing just takes having something to say and clear thinking.


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[Assistant] As scientists, all of us have something to say. We also have clear thinking. So this part really shouldn't be intimidating.


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[Assistant] Elegant and stylish writing happens in revision. Even for professional writers.


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[Assistant] A lot of professional writing that you see when you read a magazine or a novel.