Listening 41 – Listen for specific words

Mistake #1

One of the most important discoveries in medical history actually resulted from sloppy laboratory . A century ago, the average life expectancy was only around 50 years. Bacterial infections in cuts or burns were 80% of the time, and staggering numbers of people used to die from tuberculosis and pneumonia.

In the year 1928, Sir Alexander Fleming, a Scottish researcher, was searching for a “wonder drug” that would be able to all diseases. No one had managed to discover or a chemical that would kill bacteria without harming the human body.

One morning in September, Fleming, who was often described as in the laboratory, returned from a family vacation. Before leaving, he had pushed a number of unwashed Petri dishes to the side of the bench so that a could use the workspace while he was away.

When Fleming got back, he was about to the contaminated dishes when he noticed that a blue-green mold in one of them had killed the bacteria around it. Fleming was then able to the anti-bacterial substance from the mold and develop it for medicinal use – and that substance is known today as penicillin, the world’s most widely-used antibiotic.

During World War II, penicillin saved countless lives and the amputation of many limbs. By the time the war ended, U.S. companies were 650 billion units of penicillin a month. In the decades following this lucky discovery, life expectancy in countries has shot up to around 80 years.

Mistake #2

By the end of the year 1776, the American Revolutionary War was in full swing – but things were not going well for the nascent United States. The British had New York City and pushed the revolutionaries southwest into New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Morale among the revolutionaries was low, were limited, and the harsh winter weather didn’t help.

George Washington, the commander-in-chief of the American army, planned a Christmas on the British troops encamped in Trenton, New Jersey. Between December 25th and 26th, while the British soldiers were , Washington and his men crossed the Delaware River and marched towards Trenton. With the element of on their side, Washington’s army won a decisive victory, capturing weapons, supplies, and about a thousand .

However, this triumph was almost thwarted by a spy who actually observed Washington and his near the river. He then sent a note to warn Colonel Johann Rall, of the British troops at Trenton, of the impending attack.

But the British soldiers were in a festive due to the Christmas holiday, and Colonel Rall was playing poker (or, according to some versions of the story, ) when he received the message. Engrossed in the game, he stuffed the note into his pocket without reading it. Rall was later killed during the battle, with the unopened note still in his pocket.

If the British had been for the attack, Washington (who would later become the United States’ first president) as well as other key could have been killed. The victory at Trenton, though relatively small in scale, was seen as a point in the war because it boosted morale and increased enlistments in the revolutionary army.

The United States eventually won the war and independence from British control. If not for Colonel Rall’s poker (or chess) game, it’s possible that the United States would not exist as an independent today.