W: Hi, my name is Katherine.

M: I’m John. It’s nice to meet you.

W: Do you know what this professor is like?

M: I have no idea. This is my first year.

W: You are a freshman? Me, too. Where are you from?

M: I’m from San Francisco.

W: I’ve been there a few times. It’s a great city.

M: Where are you from?

W: I grew up in this area.

M: So you know all the fun places to hang out, right?

W: Yeah. The best places are in the heart of downtown. There are a lot of clubs and bars.

M: Oh, I see. Do you know what you are majoring in yet?

W: Not yet. I’m learning towards business, but that’s only if I can’t get into computer science. How about you?

M: I want to go to medical school, so I’ll probably end up majoring in biology.

W: That’s cool.

M: Is the weather this bad all the time in the fall?

W: No. This is a typical autumn. It gets worse though. At least it’s not raining that much. You’ll get used to it. In the meantime, you’ll have to watch a lot of movies. Seems like the only thing to do with the bad weather…

M: Oh, the professor is coming.

Text 10

Doctors at the famous Cambridge University think that hip hop can help depressed and mentally ill people. They say with “hip hop therapy”, many of the words to the hip hop songs can reach out to people with emotional problems. A team of doctors wrote a report about this in a special medical magazine. The doctors said a lot of hip hop music speaks of getting over hardships and big difficulties in life. In particular, hip hop talks about being poor, being unpopular, and about crime and drugs. These are all problems that can lead to depression and mental illnesses. The report on hip hop and mental health says hip hop artists use their talents to describe their world and be free. There’s often a message of hope in the lyrics. They describe how they want to be---the cars they want, the people they want to date. The doctors chose five hip hop songs for the therapy. One is a classic 1982 tune by Grandmaster Flash. Another is a track called “Juicy” by the Notorious BIG. This tells people they can be successful even if others say they can’t. BIG explains how teachers said he would be nothing, but then he became a superstar.

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