Listening exercise
NPR: Yushchenko Was Poisoned, Austrian Doctors Say
Link to audio report from this page:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4223993

Vocabulary:
Austrian
Ukraine
presidential candidate
Viktor Yushchenko (see his name written in the Russian alphabet here)
to be poisoned with
dioxin (À¹¶ø¨¯;¤Gäú­^[ÌÒ])
mysteriously
to fall ill
bloated
pockmarked
opposition leader
to accuse
authorities
Dr. Arnold Schecter
environmental sciences
University of Texas
School of Public Health
Dallas
medical records
effect
chemicals
unwanted
byproducts
industrial
amounts
industrial age
to descend upon us
to contaminate
Agent Orange
 herbicide
incineration
persistent
toxic
illness
high concentrations
to be administered
orally
accidentally
to get into us
food chain
fat-soluble
deliberate
Vienna
portion
to be consumed
in a fashion similar to
to assume
chemical
drop
animal fats
to detect
president
symptoms
severe
ulcers
digestive tract
incredible
acne
 severe pain
on the campaign trail
morphine drip
characteristic
prognosis
recovery
the least bit
high could just be a drop
pure dioxin
to consult with
decades
to remove
once it gets
to expect
diseases
to be ready to
to treat
to manufacture
this quantity of
chemical
animal testing research
weapons
chemical warfare
terrorism
Soviet Union
to be aware of
individual
chemist
to know what one is doing

Listening comprehension and Web search questions:
1. Who is Viktor Yushchenko?
2. What symptoms has Yushchenko been experiencing that seem to indicate that he was poisoned?
3. What connection does the interviewee, Dr. Arnold Schecter, have with Yushchenko?
4. What is dioxin, and where does it come from?
5. What is Agent Orange, and what is its connection with dioxin?
6. What are some of the ways dioxin can end up in a human body?
7. How much dioxin can be considered "a high concentration"?
8. How can one remove dioxin from the body, and how long might one continue to suffer from dioxin poisoning?
9. Who has been known to produce dioxins, and for what purpose?
10. What motives can you think there might be for someone to poison Yushchenko? Who is the most likely suspect in this case?

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