Rob. Welcome to 6 Minute English. I'm joined today, at the start of a brand new year, by Neil.
Neil
Hello, Rob! I'm really looking forward to 2015, but I have to say that last year was great. So great I'm thinking about creating my own time capsule.
Rob
Really? A time capsule? You mean a kind of box or container where you can store objects and information so that people in the future - yourself included - will know how we lived at this particular time?
Neil
That's it! And I'm already collecting items. My old mobile phone which I don't use anymore. And a woolly jumper with a snowman on it my granny gave me that I never wear...
Rob
You never wear?
Neil
It's a pretty silly jumper, Rob. She said it's to remind me of how much she loves me. Remind, which means, makes me remember - but all it makes me think of is that she still treats me like a child! I'll include the Christmas card which came with it!
Rob
Well, you've got to choose the items you wish to keep as a memory of our time very carefully. It's a historical record - that usually means a piece of writing or a narrative of events at a particular time. Well, let's discuss time capsules and vocabulary related to memory. But first, a question to test your knowledge of time capsules. The International Time Capsule Society is based at Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, in the US, and it studies these artefacts. According to this organisation, how many time capsules are estimated to exist in the world today? Is it: