What chickens can teach us about hierarchies

6 Minute English

语言学习

2018-11-15

6 分钟
PDF

单集文稿 ...

  • This is a download from BBC Learning English.

  • To find out more, visit our website.

  • Hello and welcome to Six Minute English, I'm Neil.

  • And I'm Catherine.

  • Catherine, what's the connection between hierarchies, managers, and chickens?

  • Well, I don't know Neil, but I'm sure you're going to tell me.

  • First of all, could you explain for our listeners what a hierarchy is?

  • Of course, a hierarchy is a way of organizing people.

  • For example, in a company where there are people working at different levels,

  • you've got bosses, managers, and workers.

  • The workers do the work, and the managers have meetings that stop the workers doing the work.

  • But where do the chickens come in?

  • We'll find out shortly, but first here is today's question.

  • And it is, surprise surprise, about chickens.

  • What is the record number of eggs laid by one chicken in a year?

  • Is it A, 253, B, 371, or C, 426?

  • What do you think, Catherine?

  • Well, I think most chickens lay an egg once a day, so I think it's 371.

  • Well, we will have an answer later in the program.

  • Now, for hierarchies and chickens, in the radio program, the joy of nine to five produced by something else for the BBC, entrepreneur Margaret Heffanon described an experiment.