Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 953, Living with Insects and Spiders.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 953.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
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This episode is a dialogue about insects and spiders.
Sounds kind of scary.
Let's get started.
Ah, get it off me.
It's just a tiny spider.
Don't freak out.
I hate spiders.
What is this place you've brought me to?
It's one of the most beautiful spots in the world.
And we'll be staying here tonight.
You mean we'll be roughing it in this cabin?
Is that a cockroach that just ran across the floor?
Maybe.
In this place, you'll see some of the most amazing things.
It's the next best thing to sleeping in the open.
Great.
Can you close that window?
There are flies and moths everywhere.
And I think those were bees and wasps just outside the door.
They won't bother you if you don't bother them.
Listen to that.
We can fall asleep to the sound of crickets.
Ouch!
I think I've just been bitten by a giant mosquito.
You're imagining things.
Look at those butterflies just outside the window.
Don't you think they're beautiful?
Do you know what would look beautiful to me right now?
A really big mosquito net.
Our dialogue begins with Judith saying, or rather screaming, Ah!
Get it off me!
She is telling Murad to remove something from her, probably something that has started to crawl on her, that has started to move across her body or her clothing.
Murad says it's just a tiny spider.
A spider, S-P-I-D-E-R, is a kind of animal called an arachnid, A-R-A-C-H-N-I-D.
It's a small animal that has eight legs.
It's a little difficult to describe it.
A spider.
If you've seen the movie Spider-Man, then you know what a spider is.
Murad says this animal is just a tiny or small spider.
He tells Judith, don't freak out.
The verb to freak F-R-E-A-K out is a phrasal verb meaning to lose control of your words and actions, usually because you're very frightened or possibly angry.
Judith says, I hate spiders.
What is this place you've brought me to?
She's asking Murad, where are they that they would have these spiders?
Murad says it's one of the most beautiful spots or places in the world and we'll be staying here tonight.
Judith says, you mean we'll be roughing it in this cabin tonight?
To rough R-O-U-G-H.
It means to live, usually for a short amount of time, under more difficult circumstances, often away from a house or a building.
To live outside, often without electricity, for example, or Wi-Fi.
That would be to rough it.
To rough.
It is often used when describing people who go camping, who go out into the forest or out into the desert or out into a park and they sleep on the ground outside and they make their food outside and so forth.
That's what I've been told.
I'm not really much of a camper.
Judith and Murad are not camping exactly.
They're staying in a cabin, C-A-B-I-N.
A cabin is a small building, usually just one room.
It's like a very small house in the forest or in a park or by a lake.
Usually, cabins are found out away from the city, away from the large towns, and are often used for vacation purposes.
Some cabins are as nice as some small houses.
Judith doesn't think this cabin is very nice.
That's why she uses the expression roughing it.
She then asked Murad, is that a cockroach that just ran across the floor?
A cockroach C-O-C-K-R-O-A-C-H is a large brown insect, a small little animal that is often associated with places that are dirty, that aren't clean.
Murad says maybe, meaning maybe that was a cockroach.
He says, in this place, you'll see some of the most amazing things.
It's the next best thing to sleeping in the open.
The expression next best thing to means almost as good as, nearly as good as.
Murad says it's nearly as good as sleeping in the open.
In the open here means outdoors, outside of a house or building.
Judith says great, but she of course is not really happy.
Normally when someone says great, they're happy.
But when you say it the way Judith says it...
You're being sarcastic.
You're making a joke.
You mean the opposite.
It's not great.
Judith says, can you close that window?
There are flies and moths everywhere.
A fly, F-L-Y, is a small, typically black insect that flies.
It is often attracted to insects.
Garbage, at least in a city.
A moth, M-O-T-H, is also a flying insect.
It's usually white, gray or brown and has very large wings.
It is known to be attracted to light.
At nighttime.
For example, if you live in an area that has moths, you may see them flying close to a light bulb.
They're attracted to the light at night.
At least the ones are near my house.
Judith says, I think those were bees and wasps just outside the door.
A bee, B-E-E, is also a flying insect.
It has yellow and black stripes, typically, and is somewhat dangerous or can be dangerous.
A bee can...
Actually, not exactly bite you, but the verb we would use is sting, S-T-I-N-G-U.
Not sting the British singer.
Sting here as a verb means to put a small part of the bee's body into your skin.
A wasp, W-A-S-P, is a long, thin, flying insect that also has yellow and black stripes.
It tends to build large, what we would call nests, N-E-S-T-S.
We sometimes get wasp nests in our house, where I live.
You have to buy something at the store in order to get rid of them, to spray the wasp nest, to kill and get rid of the wasps.
Murad says they meaning the flies moths, bees and wasps won't bother you if you don't bother them.
Then he says, listen to that.
A cricket, C-R-I-C-K-E-T, is an insect that is similar to a grasshopper.
It makes a very distinctive sound, usually around the time the sun is setting.
I remember a Growing up in Minnesota when we would go up away from the city.
You could always hear, in the summertime, crickets at night or at the time that the sun was setting.
Cricket is also the word we use to describe a game that is popular in Great Britain and in other countries that at one time were associated with Great Britain.
Judith says, ouch.
Ouch is the word we use when something hurts us suddenly.
She says, I think I've just been bitten by a giant mosquito.
To be bitten means the mosquito has done something to puncture or to make a hole in your skin.
A mosquito M-O-S-Q-U-I-T-O is another small flying insect that is associated usually with wet areas and is often very active when the sun is rising, when the sun is coming up and when the sun is going down.
The mosquito bites you and apparently feeds on your blood, kind of like a vampire, except vampires aren't real, even though they're very popular on television and in the movies.
Some people say my neighbor is a vampire, but I don't think so.
Judith is worried about a mosquito biting her, but Murad says, you're imagining things.
You're thinking things are true that aren't really true.
He says, look at those butterflies just outside the window.
Don't you think they're beautiful?
A butterfly, B-U-T-T-E-R-F-L-Y, is a flying insect that usually has very colorful wings.
Butterflies feed off of flowers, as do other insects.
Judith says, do you know what would look beautiful to me right now?
A real big mosquito net.
A mosquito net N-E-T is something that you put over a door or a window or a bed that keeps the insects away from people, especially when they're sleeping.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Ah, get it off me.
It's just a tiny spider.
Don't freak out.
I hate spiders.
What is this place you've brought me to?
It's one of the most beautiful spots in the world, and we'll be staying here tonight.
You mean we'll be roughing it in this cabin?
Is that a cockroach that just ran across the floor?
Maybe.
In this place, you'll see some of the most amazing things.
It's the next best thing to sleeping in the open.
Great.
Can you close that window?
There are flies and moths everywhere, and I think those were bees and wasps just outside the door.
They won't bother you if you don't bother them.
Listen to that.
We can fall asleep to the sound of crickets.
Ouch!
I think I've just been bitten by a giant mosquito.
You're imagining things.
Look at those butterflies just outside the window.
Don't you think they're beautiful?
Do you know what would look beautiful to me right now?
A really big mosquito net.
The next best thing to having your own personal English teacher is to listen to ESL Podcast and to the scripts written by our wonderful script writer, Dr Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again right here on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2013 by the Center for Educational Development.
