Listening audioscript

7. HOW DOES THE PROFESSOR INTRODUCE THE TOPIC OF ANIMAL 
EMPATHY? 
8. HOW DOES THE PROFESSOR ORGANIZE THE LECTURE?
9. HOW DOES THE PROFESSOR EXPLAIN THE CONDITIONS OF THE STUDY ON 
RATS? 
10. FOR WHICH STUDY DID THE PROFESSOR SUGGEST EACH ALTERNATIVE 
 
EXPLANATION OF THE ANIMALS’ BEHAVIOR? 
 
PASSAGE FOUR 
Page 196
[ mp3 069-070]
 
Questions 11 through 14.
Listen to part of a lecture in a physiology class.
(Professor)
Now, we’ve already discussed the stages in the healing of fractures—
again, that term for our purposes today just means broken bones. Um, 
you’ve seen the stages in a general sense, but exactly how the bone 
heals and how we treat fractures can vary quite a bit depending on the 
type of fractures. 
OK, so, what I want to do today is to introduce a limited selection of 
fracture types. I mean, I haven’t chosen these by which ones are the 
most common, nor do I intend this to be comprehensive. Your textbook is 
a more complete resource, because there’s a lot more information in it 
than I have time to give here. I’m only going to introduce some fractures 
because I want to concentrate on a few different treatments and these 
fracture types will work well as examples. 
Let’s start with just a “simple fracture.” With a simple fracture, the bone 
is broken, but there might be little damage to the tissue around the bone. 
Now, to talk about the number of breaks in a bone, we talk about a 
single, a double, or a multiple break. A single fracture means one break, 
a double fracture means two breaks, and a multiple fracture means more 
than two breaks. 
So, let’s start with the treatment of a simple fracture. The treatment for it 
depends on how much the bone has been displaced from its normal 
position. If the bone hasn’t moved much, then it will just have to be 
immobilized to make sure it doesn’t move around while it’s healing. If the 
bone has moved enough that it will interfere with proper healing and 
function, then, well…it’ll have to be moved back into its original position 
before immobilizing it. In everyday speech, people say that we “set the 

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bone,” but doctors talk of reducing the fracture. Um, that is, we reduce 
the amount by which the bone is out of place. Sometimes these kinds of 
breaks are not so serious…a break in a small bone, for example. But of 
course, if the patient is elderly and if it’s a long bone in the leg…well, a 
simple fracture can be anything but. 
OK, let’s imagine a really common kind of fracture. I want you to envision 
what happens when someone falls. A person, perhaps your father, might 
be walking on an uneven sidewalk and stumble, or be crossing an icy 
parking lot…maybe trip over something in his house. But think about 
what happens as he goes down. That’s right—he throws out his hands to 
catch himself and keep his head from hitting the ground. When he puts 
out his hands, all of his weight goes onto his arms, and the radius…this 
is the long bone in the forearm next to the thumb…this bone is a weak 
point. So, it can break and slide up over or under the wrist bone. This is 
called the “Colles’ fracture.”
Now, the treatment depends on how much the bone is displaced, or 
moved from where it should be. In some cases, it’s relatively minor, so 
the doctor may not have to reduce the fracture at all and just put a hard 
cast on it so it doesn’t move,
Now, the worst kind of fracture is what is sometimes called a “compound 
fracture.” The terminology is very confusing because this sounds like the 
number of breaks in the bone, doesn’t it? But actually, the term does not 
technically refer to the number of breaks at all, but refers to whether the 
bone has come through the skin and how much damage has been done.
So, I’m going to use the term “open fracture.” I think that’s a much 
clearer way to refer to it. Um, my point is, if you hear the name 
“compound fracture,” it refers to the severity of the injury and often not 
directly to the number of breaks in the bone. OK, so an open fracture is 
one where the fractured bone does significant tissue damage, and worst 
of all, as I said, it penetrates the skin. There are all kinds of potentially 
harmful bacteria on the skin, and whether the bone goes into the skin or 
not, this kind of fracture requires significant intervention, usually surgery, 
to clean out all of the bacteria and remove dead tissue …basically, 
extensive procedures to prevent bone infection, which is very difficult to 
treat. So as far as seriousness, an open fracture is much more life- 
threatening than other types of fractures. 
Alright, then, there’s one other type of fracture that I want to talk about 
today, and that’s the greenstick fracture. A greenstick fracture means 
that the bone bends and maybe it breaks part of the way, but it doesn’t 
break all the way through. These fractures are mostly found in children 
because their bones are much more flexible than adults. Oh, and the 
name “greenstick” refers to a young green plant that might bend instead 
of breaking.
Now, I see some of you looking concerned about this fracture happening 
to children, but actually, a greenstick fracture’s usually the least serious 
type of fracture. This is because the bone isn’t broken all the way 
through. And the ability of children’s bones to heal is absolutely 
astonishing. The bone doesn’t have to be moved at all, and it heals 
quickly and completely if treated. OK, there’s your selection of fractures. 
Now, let’s talk about what happens after the patient comes in… 

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