Listening Exercises

Listen to the conversation again by pressing the Play Audio button and read along with the conversation. Review the Key Vocabulary and the sample sentences.

Susan: Hi. Welcome back to Susan's Gardening Show. I'm Susan, and we're ready to take our next caller. We have Mark from Seattle. Are you still there, Mark? Mark: Uh. Yeah, but maybe not for long. Susan: So, how can we help you today? Mark: Okay. Uh, my wife is really into gardening, and about five years ago, she received a beautiful climbing rose bush . . . I think an Agatha Christie [That's a nice one.] from her mother who has passed away. Anyway, the rose plant seems to be on its last leg. Susan: Really? Nomally, that rose is really quite hardy [I know.], and it's very disease-resistant, too. [I know.] Mark: Yeah. Well, this situation ISN'T normal. You see about a week ago, I was doing some yard work, and I was using some weed killer [UH-oh.], yeah, to try to get rid of some terrible weeds and . . . Susan: Did you spray the roses? Mark: Uh, well, not exactly. I set the spray container down near the roses while I was trimming a bush, and the container must have gotten knocked over, and the weed killer soaked into the ground near the roses. Susan: How much weed killer are you talking about? Mark: Uh, about six or seven quarts (about six liters or 1.6 gallons), I think. [Oh, that's a lot.] You know, I mean when you put . . . Susan: And the roses? What do they look like now? Mark: Oh, Dead, real dead. Dead as a doornail dead, but my wife hasn't seen them yet. Susan: Really? What have you done? Blindfolded her? Mark: Well, I've kept her away from that side of the house where the roses are, but she is bound to see them at some point. Susan: Yeah, yeah. You've got a problem. Mark: I mean, is there anything I can do to revive them? Susan: Not unless you're a magician. Mark: Well, can you recommend a quick-growing variety that can take its place? Susan: Marc. I'm sorry. You've made a mistake . . . A big mistake. Mark: . . . except that my wife warned me this could happen . . . Oh, man. Susan: Oh, shoot. Listen. You made a blunder. A big mistake. A really big mistake. But unless you wife goes on vacation for a couple of years, you're not going to be able to replace the roses that fast. Mark: So, any recommendation? I mean, what do I do? Susan: You need to talk to her. Mark: Are you kidding? You don't know my wife. Susan: I'm sorry. Look. You've waited long enough. Don't let the grass grow around your feet. Say something, but be sure to hide the garden shears before you do. Knell down; ask for forgiveness now. Mark: But that's what I did when I killed her prized apple tree last year. Susan: No way. Really? Mark: Oh, man. Oh! She's coming in from outside [Oh, no, oh no.]. Susan: One final word: Hide the weed killer. [But . . .] Thanks, Mark. That's all the time we have for now. Let's move on to the next caller.

Key Vocabulary [Top]

• be into something (idiom): be interested in something
  - I was really into running for awhile until I injured my knee.

• be on one's last leg (idiom): be ready to die or give out because of lack of energy
  - My truck is on its last leg, so I need to start looking for a new one.

• hardy (adjective): strong or sturdy
  - You need to plant hardy varieties of bushes in this area because of the harsh winter weather.

• get rid of (idiom): throw away or discard
  - You should get rid of these plants; they are growing out of control.

• be/looks dead as a doornail (idiom): undoubtably dead
  - Unfortunately, our pet chicken in the garden looks as dead as a doornail. It must have died during the snow storm last night.

• be bound to (verb): be likely to happen
  - Seeing that you have taken so good care of your garden, you are bound to have a great harvest this summer and fall.

• revive (verb): bring back to life or make something more alive
  - I think it is too late. No matter how much you water that plant, you won't be able to revive it.

• blunder (noun; also a verb): a careless or embarrassing mistake
  - It was a real blunder not to have watered the garden more frequently. Now, none of the plants will survive.

• let the grass grow around your feet (idiom): wait, waste time, or delay doing something
  - When it comes do doing well in school, you should never let the grass grow around your feet. Get busy and study every day.

• shears (noun): a gardening tool that looks like a large pair of sissors for cutting and trimming bushes and plants
  - Does anyone know where the shears are? I need them to trim the bushes in the front yard.

Vocabulary Activities [Top]

Now, do these exercises to review the vocabulary. Then, return back to the Post-Listening Exercise to use the vocabulary in real conversations. [Why do these?]

• Mixed-Up Sentence
• Sentence and Vocabulary Matching