#heed_and_hear Hello, everyone! This time, I want to cover another episode of 'A Point of View' coming from Tom Shakespeare ‒ an English sociologist and bioethicist. Mr. Shakespeare shares his view on the so-called ratings game ‒ the ratings that service providers so frequently ask of their customers. While these rating requests were neutrally viewed back in the day when they were not so ubiquitous, they have become quite annoying and oppressive nowadays. All these ratings are declared to help raise the quality of services and products because customers can point to some flaws in them in their reviews that often accompany their ratings. However, the author of this episode of 'A Point of View' is asking if these reviews and ratings are quite as strongly needed on some occasions and if they are more misleading than truthful in some cases. Tom Shakespeare has his own unorthodox vision of this problem. If you are keen to know what he thinks about it, certainly listen to this programme. I will say that he doesn't pronounce words very clearly, and it can occasionally get difficult to make out what he says. For instance, in this episode there are two such instances at 6:08 and at 8:20, but either of them does not obscure the main ideas; so it should not be a big problem. You can find the episode here. Glossary for the episode: 🔸enticing – манящий, завлекающий 🔸ubiquitous – вездесущий 🔸commonplace – будничный 🔸to peer – разглядывать 🔸cross – сердитый 🔸online outlet – онлайн-магазин 🔸flurry – поток 🔸the butcher, the baker and the cndlestick maker – люди всех профессий, самый разный люд 🔸bubbly – шампанское 🔸parcel – посылка 🔸vociferously – громогласно 🔸to shrivel – морщиться 🔸denunciation – порицание, осуждение, обличение 🔸impressionable – впечатлительный 🔸banal – банальный 🔸tarmac – дёгтебетон 🔸clientelle – клиентура 🔸resort – курорт 🔸raucous – шумный 🔸as-much-as-you-are-gonna-eat deal – что-то наподобие шведского стола