Listening exercise
A Moment of Science VI
(1) The First Broccoli and (2) Pareidolia

(1) The First Broccoli (RealPlayer audio file)

Vocabulary:
broccoli
natural
humans
to get involved
to explain
to tend to
the garden (of Eden)
to watering
to hold on
joke
to suggest
wild
Oh yeah?		 invention
to breed
kale plant
to select for
trait
to discard
buds
to flower
every other year
controlled
environment
to reproduce oneself
by chance
 tasty
to throw away
batch
to save
to keep going
to reinforce
cauliflower
kohlrabi
Brussels sprouts
yummy
cabbage
store
to occur in nature

Listening comprehension questions:
1. What two possible objections are there in using this sentence to open a science program: "So Adam and Eve are tending to the garden, and Adam is watering the broccoli..."
2. Don was originally planning to use this sentence to lead into what?
3. How did humans come up with broccoli?
4. What other plants were produced by the same method? Give both the English and the Chinese for each plant name.
5. What kind of cabbage is meant in English when we just say "cabbage"? How are other kinds of cabbage referred to in English? Compare with the words for 'cabbage' in Chinese.
6. How do you like broccoli? What is your impression of how the average American feels about broccoli and other vegetables? Where did you get this impression? Compare it to how you think the average Chinese feels about vegetables.

(2) Pareidolia (RealPlayer audio file)

Vocabulary:
pareidolia
term
psychology
to refer to the
tendency in
to perceive
meaningful
pattern
vague
stimulus
to picture 		goofy
funny = strange
kid
to note that
brain
to assign
interpretation
East Indian
rabbit
Samoan
 to weave
to pound rice
previous
assignment
No kiddin'!
to bet
wallpaper
stain
Mars
to experience


Listening comprehension questions:
1. What is a "vague stimulus"?
2. What is a "meaningful pattern" and what is it contrasted to?
3. How did Don come to see "the man in the moon"?
4. What usually happens once you see a meaningful pattern in something?
5. Why do you think humans developed to be this way (as described in question 4.)?
6. What implications are there in this passage for how easy or how difficult it is for people from different backgrounds to understand each other and get along?


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