Listening exercise
ABC Radio Western Plains (NSW) New South Wales
Cockroaches - Friend or Foe? And how do you get rid of them?
Presenter: Chris Coleman   Researcher: Georgie Klug
Wednesday, 9 April 2003

    This assignment is based on an audio interview with a researcher who studies cockroaches. The broadcast is from ABC, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (not the US ABC 'American Broadcasting Corporation!), so you will have the chance to hear and get used to Australian accents of English. You will notice in Australian-accented English some similarities to standard British English, but some of the vowels especially are really quite different. The most noticeable is /e/ (or /eɪ/), which sounds more like /aɪ/ And /ɛ/ sounds more like /ɪ/. (If the IPA/KK symbols are not displaying correctly on your computer, please download the Lucida Sans Unicode font here.) What other differences do you notice? Do you find Australian English fairly easy to understand once you have gotten used to it?

     Here is a map of Australia to give you an idea of the area where this broadcast originates; look for 'New South Wales': http://www.worldtravelguide.net/data/aus/ausmap.asp
     Here is the source page for this listening exercise: http://www.abc.net.au/westernplains/stories/s828458.htm
     Here is the link to the audio file of the interview: http://www.abc.net.au/westernplains/stories/m577470.ram

Vocabulary:

common
domestic
pest
tropical
cockroach
Asian
African
a key to why
better/worse
kitchen
restaurant
outdoors
to be carried around
personality
in as far as they have...
to be dedicated to
feeding
breeding
insect
to thrive
to adapt to
to hide in
crevices
to be fussy about
residue
leftover bits
drains
moisture
warmth
temperature
humidity
rabbits
capacity
to tend to
hate
visible
greasy
to consider
fridge or stove
dust
grease
to accumulate
to associate with
precisely
dirty
gross
germs
disease carriers
parasites of man
to frequent
unwashed areas
to pick up
contaminated
to leave droppings
to spread germs
severe acute respiratory syndrome
epidemic
droplets
 breath
animal agent
to play a major role
to be the target of
unjust behaviour
any action aimed at
justified
to crop up
culprit
to have a role here somewhere
player
scapegoat
entomologist
to regard
spiders
to get rid of
advantage
innocuous
to wander in
to call in
pest control company
just a one-off
to end up under your shoe
to be obsessed with
to be cleaned up by
edible
adaptable
mindless
cannibals


Listening comprehension questions:
1. Where do most domestic cockroaches originate?
2. How long does the researcher think cockroaches have been in Australia?
3. What advantages for survival does the cockroach have?
4. Why does the interviewer say, 'They sound like rabbits.'?
5. Why do we dislike cockroaches so much?
6. Does the interviewer think cockroaches are likely carriers of SARS?
7. How does the researcher feel about killing cockroaches?
8. What do you think the expression 'just a one-off' means?
9. Do cockroaches eat each other?
10. What is the most effective practical way you use to get rid of cockroaches?


     If you are interested in getting rid of cockroaches in your environment, you could try some of the suggestions in this audio file: http://www.abc.net.au/westernplains/stories/m577475.ram

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