Unit 2 CoincidencePart BListening TasksPassage 1What a Coincidence! (Part One)Word Banktuition n. payment for schooling 学费somehow ad. for some reason that is not clear 由于某种未知的原因click v. to become suddenly clear or understandable 突然变得明白real estate agent a person whose business is to buy, sell or look after houses or land for people 房地产经纪人note down to write down 记下Andrew （男子名）Stewart （姓）Script:Andrew had always wanted to be a doctor. But the tuition for a medical school in 1984 was 15,000 dollars a year, which was more than his family could afford. To help him realize his dream, his father, Mr. Stewart, a real estate agent, began searching the house-for-sale ads in newspapers in order to find extra business. One advertisement that he noted down was for the sale of a house in a nearby town. Mr. Stewart called the owner, trying to persuade him to let him be his agent. Somehow he succeeded and the owner promised that he would come to him if he failed to get a good deal with his present agent. Then they made an appointment to meet and discuss the thing.As good things are never easy to acquire, the time for the appointment had to be changed almost ten times. On the day when they were supposed to meet at 3 oclock in the afternoon, Mr. Stewart received another call from the owner. His heart sank as he feared there would be another change of time. And so it was. The owner told him that he couldnt make it at three but if he would come right then, they could talk it over. Mr. Stewart was overjoyed. Leaving everything aside, he immediately set out to drive to the house.As he approached the area, he had a strange feeling of having been there before. The streets, the trees, the neighborhood, all looked familiar to him. And when he finally reached the house, something clicked in his mind. It used to be the house of his father-in-law! The old man had died fifteen years ago but when he was alive, he had often visited him with his wife and children. He remembered that, like his son Andrew, his father-in-law had also wanted to study medicine and, failing to do so, had always hoped that one of his two daughters or his grandchildren could someday become a doctor.Language and Culture Notes1. Background informationCoincidences occur in everyones life, but probably not so dramatic as those mentioned in the texts. Coincidences make great stories, as the old Chinese saying rightly points out, “No coincidences, no stories.” The performing world is very good at making use of their dramatic effects and many plays and movies are based on such happenings.In many cultures, people have tried to explain this phenomenon. Most regard coincidences as pure chance but some people believe they are beyond chance, and are somehow connected to certain supernatural forces that they believe exist. Another explanation is that coincidences are the result of our own memories. The human mind tends to remember every single case of coincidence but forget hundreds of, even thousands of, cases where no coincidence occurs. In the Lincoln and Kennedy case (see Part C), for example, people list only what the two incidents have in common but ignore what they dont have in common, and, as a result, an amusing set of random connections are transformed into a mysterious, seemingly inexplicable pattern. And to understand the coincidences that happened to twins (also see Part C), we can probably turn to genetics for help. The same genes inherited from their parents, in a way, account for the similarities in certain behavior patterns of twins. Hopefully, with the further development of science, there will be more convincing answers to certain cases of coincidence.2. the tuition for a medical schoolThe tuition for a medical school is usually very high, higher than that for other kinds of colleges. The annual fee is now even higher, about $25,000 to $30,000 for a good medical college, such as the Harvard Medical School.3. searching the house-for-sale ads to find extra businessMr. Stewart hoped to make some extra money by finding more customers for his business as an agent for people who want to sell their houses. A real estate agent can get a commission of about 5-6% of the actual price of the house sold.4.he would come to himhe would ask Mr. Stewart to find him a buyer for his house5. And so it was.The appointment time was changed again as Mr. Stewart expected.6. if he would come right thenif he would come immediately, right after he hung up the telephoneExercise 1Listen to the story and choose the right answers to the questions you hear.1.Who are the two main characters in the story you have just heard?a. Mr. Stewart and his son.b. Mr. Stewart and his client.c. Mr. Stewart and his father-in-law.d. Mr. Stewarts father-in-law and the owner of the house.2.How did Mr. Stewart get to know the owner of the house?