IELTS Preparation Series 2, Episode 5: Virtual Doctor
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Hello. I'm Margot Politis. Welcome to Study English, IELTS preparation.
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Today, we have a story about new technologies in medicine. We're going to look at 'linking'
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in spoken English, and then we'll talk about the word 'there'.
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Let's listen to Dr Stuart Stapleton talk about how he treats patients in other locations
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using computers and cameras.
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At the Blue Mountains end, there are four cameras. There's one which stands roughly
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where I would stand as the team leader in a resuscitation that gets the overview of
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the room and the patient and the environment. There's another camera that's located above
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the patient's bed.
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There's also a camera that lets us look at things like X-rays, cardiographs, blood pressure
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charts and the like.
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And there's a final camera which is actually a mobile camera, which can also be head mounted.
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So for example, if one of the staff up there needs to perform a procedure, which they may
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have done maybe once or twice, then someone who's got a lot more experience can be at
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this end and guide them through the process.
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To speak English fluently and sound like a native speaker, it's important to link some
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words together. Knowing how native speakers link their words together will also make it
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easier to understand spoken English.
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Sometimes it may be difficult to know where one word ends and the next one begins.
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For example, 'healthy ear' sounds the same as 'healthy year'. When 'healthy' is linked
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together with 'ear', a /j/ sound is added.
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So 'healthy ear' and 'healthy year' have the same pronunciation, shown phonetically like
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this, /'hɛlƟi j ɪə/, /'hɛlƟi jɪə/.
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Normally, the context of the sentence would give you the meaning.
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Listen to Dr Stapleton talking about a mobile camera that can view X-rays or cardiographs.
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Listen to how Dr Stapleton links his words, but in particular listen for the /j/ linking
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sound.
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And there's a final camera, which is actually a mobile camera, which can also be head mounted.
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So for example, if one of the staff up there needs to perform a procedure, which they may
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have done maybe once or twice, then someone who's
2:39
got a lot more experience can be at this end and guide them through the process.
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Dr Stapleton, like most native speakers, speaks quickly! Listen to how he says the phrase,
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'which is actually a mobile camera.'
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And there's a final camera which is actually a mobile camera.
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Dr Stapleton says: 'actually a' like this /'ækʧuəli ə/.
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To make your speech flow as smoothly as Dr Stapleton's, it's important to focus on the
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last sound of a word and the first sound of the next, and then link the words together.
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There are different types of linking in English.
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This is linking type 1: vowel + /j/ + vowel.
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'Actually' ends in an /i/ vowel sound and the next word begins with a /ə/ schwa sound.
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Linking these words together we have /'ækʧuəli j ə/.
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Listen once again to Dr Stapleton. See if you can hear another example of /j/ linking.
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Then someone who's got a lot more experience can be at this end and guide them through
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the process.
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Dr Stapleton says 'be at' /bi æt/, /bi j æt/.
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'Be' ends with the vowel sound /i/, and 'at' begins with vowel /æ/. Linking these
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words together with the /j/ sound we have: