Technical Terms in Context

تانية بكالوريا English

الدرس ده عن إيه؟

A technical term is a special word used by experts in one subject, for example *self-esteem* in psychology or *intermittency* in energy. In a recording, the speaker often helps you understand the term: they define it, explain it, give an example or contrast it with something else.

الدرس ده عن المصطلحات العلمية اللي بتسمعها في التسجيلات: كلمات صعبة شوية بيستخدمها الخبراء. الخبر الحلو إن المتكلم غالبًا بيشرحها بنفسه في نفس الجملة أو الجملة اللي بعدها. شغلتك إنك تعرف تلقط الشرح ده.

في الكتاب ده في Unit 1: الكتاب بيقول «listen to a research-based article… and explain the meaning of technical terms in context»، وبيسألك مثلًا: «What term do psychologists use to describe the selective posting of perfect moments?» و«What does 'controlling for academic performance variables' mean?». وفي Unit 5: البودكاست عن الطاقة فيه كلمات زي intermittency, renewable, battery storage, fossil fuels, emissions.

يعني إيه «in context»؟

In context means: use the words around the term to understand it. You do not need a dictionary if you listen to the sentence before and after.

«في السياق» يعني من الكلام اللي حوالين الكلمة. زي لما تسمع حد بيقول «اتزنقت في الكوبري، العربيات واقفة ورا بعض ساعة». حتى لو مش عارف كلمة «اتزنقت»، تفهم منها الزحمة من الكلام اللي بعدها. نفس الفكرة بالإنجليزي.

5 طرق المتكلم بيشرح بيها المصطلح

أجزاء الكلمة بتساعدك (Word parts)

Many technical terms are built from small parts. If you know the parts, you can guess the meaning.

مصطلحات مهمة من Unit 1 و Unit 5

أمثلة: المصطلح وشرحه في نفس الكلام

• Psychologists call this social comparison: judging ourselves by looking at other people.Naming + colon للشرح ← المعنى: إنك تحكم على نفسك بالمقارنة بغيرك.
• The study used a sample of 500 students, that is, the group of people who answered the questions.Rephrasing بـ that is ← sample = الناس اللي شاركوا.
• We controlled for age, which means age could not explain the results.Definition بـ which means ← شلنا تأثير السن.
• Fossil fuels, such as coal, oil and gas, will run out one day.Example بـ such as ← أنواع الوقود الأحفوري.
• Unlike a normal photo, a filtered image has been changed to look better.Contrast بـ unlike ← filtered = متعدّل.
• Some countries are leapfrogging fossil fuels, in other words, they are going straight to solar and wind.Rephrasing بـ in other words.
• Solar power is intermittent. It stops at night and drops on cloudy days.الجملة اللي بعدها بتشرح ← مش مستمر.
• Trees can help mitigate heat in cities by reducing temperatures in the streets.الشرح بـ by reducing ← mitigate = يقلل.

تطبيق 1: Research report – Unit 1

نص التسجيل 1: Scrolling and Self-Worth: What the Research Says

Good afternoon. Today's report looks at the link between social media and self-esteem, which psychologists define as the way we judge our own value as a person.

Researchers asked a sample of 520 students aged fourteen to seventeen, in other words the group chosen to represent teenagers in five Egyptian cities, to keep a diary of their phone use for one month.

The first finding concerns upward comparison. This is when we compare ourselves with people we think are better than us: richer, fitter or more popular. Students who scrolled for more than three hours a day made upward comparisons almost twice as often as those who scrolled for less than one hour.

Now, you may say: 'Maybe these students were already unhappy.' That's a fair point. So the researchers controlled for previous mood. Simply put, they compared students who started the month feeling the same, so that their earlier mood could not explain the results. Even then, heavy users reported lower self-esteem at the end of the month.

However, the report found an important protective factor, that is, something that reduces the risk. Students who had taken a short media literacy course, a course that teaches you to question what you see online, were much less affected.

The researchers conclude that the problem is not the phone itself, but passive scrolling: watching other people's lives without posting, chatting or creating anything. Unlike active use, passive scrolling gives the brain a long list of comparisons and very little connection.

ملحوظة: نصوص التسجيل في الدرس ده مكتوبة مخصوص للتدريب، والأسماء والأرقام اللي فيها للتمرين بس. اقرا النص بصوت عالي أو خلي حد يقراه لك وانت مقفّل الكتاب.

إزاي بييجي في الأسئلة؟ (أمثلة محلولة)

نوع 1: What term does the speaker use to describe…?

What term does the speaker use for comparing ourselves with people we think are better than us?

الإجابة: upward comparison. ليه؟ المتكلم قال المصطلح الأول وبعدين شرحه بـ «This is when…». السؤال بيديك الشرح وعايز المصطلح.

نوع 2: What does '…' mean? (Explain in your own words)

What does 'controlled for previous mood' mean?

الإجابة: It means the researchers made sure that students' mood before the study could not explain the results. They compared students who started with the same mood. — المتكلم ادّى الشرح بعد Simply put، وإحنا قلناه بكلامنا.

نوع 3: Choose the correct meaning (MCQ)

In the recording, a 'protective factor' is

a. a type of phone case. b. something that reduces the risk. c. a rule made by parents. d. a kind of app.

الإجابة: b. المتكلم قال «a protective factor, that is, something that reduces the risk». خلي بالك: a فخ لأن protective بتفكّرك بجراب الموبايل، بس السياق نفسي مش تكنولوجي.

تطبيق 2: Expert podcast – Unit 5

نص التسجيل 2: Keeping the Lights On – Green Futures Podcast

HOST: Welcome to Green Futures. My guest today is Dr. Hoda Saleh, an electrical engineer who works on Egypt's power network. Dr. Saleh, everyone talks about renewable energy. What does that actually mean?

DR. SALEH: Renewable energy comes from sources that nature replaces all the time, such as sunlight, wind and moving water. Unlike fossil fuels, like oil and gas, they won't run out, and they produce very low carbon emissions, meaning the gases that trap heat in the atmosphere.

HOST: So why don't we use only renewables?

DR. SALEH: The biggest challenge is intermittency. Simply put, the sun sets every evening and the wind doesn't always blow. But people still turn on their lights at night. So we need battery storage: large batteries that save extra electricity during the day and release it later.

HOST: And what about the grid? I hear that word a lot.

DR. SALEH: The grid is the network of power stations, cables and substations that carries electricity to homes and factories. Our grid was built for big power stations in a few places. Now electricity is coming from many solar farms in the desert, so the grid has to become what we call a smart grid, in other words, a network that uses sensors and computers to balance supply and demand every second.

HOST: Last question. What's green hydrogen?

DR. SALEH: It's a fuel made by using renewable electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. It could help heavy industries, like steel and fertiliser factories, which are very hard to run on electricity alone. It's still expensive, but it may help us mitigate emissions from those industries in the future.

تدريب

A. What term does the speaker use? (Write the technical term.)

1. 1. The way we judge our own value as a person (Transcript 1)

   Show answer

   self-esteem — «which psychologists define as…».

2. 2. The group of people chosen to represent teenagers in a study

   Show answer

   sample — اتشرحت بـ «in other words».

3. 3. Watching other people's lives without posting, chatting or creating anything

   Show answer

   passive scrolling — الشرح بعد الـ colon.

4. 4. The problem that the sun and wind are not always available (Transcript 2)

   Show answer

   intermittency — «Simply put, the sun sets every evening…».

5. 5. The network that carries electricity to homes and factories

   Show answer

   the grid — «The grid is the network of…».

6. 6. A fuel made by splitting water using renewable electricity

   Show answer

   green hydrogen

B. Choose the correct meaning from a, b, c or d.

1. 7. 'Upward comparison' means comparing yourself with people a. who are younger than you. b. you think are better than you. c. in your family. d. you have never met.

   Show answer

   b — «compare ourselves with people we think are better than us: richer, fitter or more popular».

2. 8. 'Carbon emissions' are a. types of batteries. b. gases that trap heat in the atmosphere. c. clean sources of energy. d. electricity cables.

   Show answer

   b — Dr. Saleh شرحتها بـ «meaning the gases that trap heat…».

3. 9. A 'smart grid' is a network that a. is cheaper to build. b. uses sensors and computers to balance supply and demand. c. only uses fossil fuels. d. works without electricity.

   Show answer

   b — الشرح بعد «in other words».

4. 10. In Transcript 2, 'mitigate emissions' means a. increase emissions. b. measure emissions. c. reduce emissions. d. sell emissions.

   Show answer

   c — السياق: الهيدروجين الأخضر بيساعد الصناعات التقيلة تلوّث أقل، يعني يقلل.

5. 11. 'Renewable' contains the prefix re-. What does it tell us? a. the energy is expensive b. the energy can be replaced again and again c. the energy is dangerous d. the energy is new

   Show answer

   b — re- = تاني/من جديد، و-able = قابل. يعني قابل يتجدد.

C. Complete the sentences with the correct term from the box.

Box: sample – battery storage – fossil fuels – media literacy – controlled for – protective factor

1. 12. Coal, oil and gas are examples of ________.

   Show answer

   fossil fuels — اتذكروا كأمثلة: «like oil and gas».

2. 13. ________ saves extra solar electricity during the day so we can use it at night.

   Show answer

   Battery storage

3. 14. The researchers ________ age so that it could not explain the results.

   Show answer

   controlled for — نفس استخدام «controlled for previous mood».

4. 15. A course that teaches you to question what you see online develops your ________.

   Show answer

   media literacy

5. 16. The study's ________ included 520 students from five cities.

   Show answer

   sample

6. 17. Having supportive friends can be a ________ against stress.

   Show answer

   protective factor — حاجة بتقلل الخطر.

D. How does the speaker explain the term? Write: definition / naming / rephrasing / example / contrast.

1. 18. «Renewable energy comes from sources that nature replaces all the time, such as sunlight, wind and moving water.»

   Show answer

   definition + example — بدأ بتعريف وبعدين such as.

2. 19. «Unlike active use, passive scrolling gives the brain a long list of comparisons…»

   Show answer

   contrast — unlike.

3. 20. «…the grid has to become what we call a smart grid…»

   Show answer

   naming — what we call.

4. 21. «Simply put, the sun sets every evening and the wind doesn't always blow.»

   Show answer

   rephrasing — Simply put = بكلام أبسط.

E. Answer in full sentences (Explain / Analyse / JRE).

1. 22. Explain in your own words why intermittency is a problem for solar energy.

   Show answer

   مثال: Solar panels only produce electricity when the sun is shining, but people need electricity all the time, especially at night. So we need another way to supply power when it is dark. — بكلامك + السبب.

2. 23. Why do you think the speaker in Transcript 1 explains every technical term?

   Show answer

   مثال (any of these): because the audience are students and parents, not experts / to make the research clear and easy to follow / to avoid misunderstanding / to help listeners answer questions about the study / to make the findings easier to trust. — بنفكر في الجمهور (audience) والهدف.

3. 24. JRE: To what extent is 'passive scrolling', rather than phones themselves, the real problem? Use evidence from Transcript 1.

   Show answer

   مثال: Passive scrolling seems to be a bigger problem than phones themselves (J), because it gives us many comparisons and little real connection (R). The report found that heavy users had lower self-esteem even after the researchers controlled for previous mood, and it concludes that 'the problem is not the phone itself' (E).

إزاي تتدرّب في البيت؟

• BBC Learning English – 6 Minute English (audio): كل حلقة فيها كلمات جديدة المذيعين بيشرحوها. اكتب الكلمة + الجملة اللي شرحتها (which means… / in other words…).
• BBC Sounds – podcasts عن science وtechnology وclimate: كل ما تسمع مصطلح، اكتبه ووقّف التسجيل واتوقع معناه من السياق قبل ما تكمل.
• دفتر المصطلحات: اعمل جدول 3 أعمدة: المصطلح / الشرح اللي سمعته / المعنى بكلامي. زوّد 5 مصطلحات كل أسبوع من الوحدة اللي بتذاكرها.
• تمرين الشرح: اختار مصطلح (زي sustainability) واشرحه بصوت عالي في 20 ثانية بالإنجليزي بالطرق الخمسة: definition, naming, rephrasing, example, contrast.