Listening audioscript

9.LISTEN AGAIN TO PART OF THE CONVERSATION. THEN ANSWER THE 
QUESTION. 
 (Advisor)
And it wouldn’t hurt to explain that you need the transcript right away. 
But, and I hate to put it this way, don’t hold your breath. I know that the 
transcripts are usually not processed that quickly. 
(Student) 
I’ll get over there right now and see what happens. 
(Advisor) 
Well then, good luck. Oh, and uh … with the desperate position you’re in 
… you might want to skip complaining about the price. 
WHAT DOES THE ADVISOR MEAN WHEN HE SAYS THIS? 
(Advisor)
Oh, and uh … with the desperate position you’re in … you might want to 
skip complaining about the price. 
 
 
PASSAGE THREE 
Page 172
[ mp3 039-040] 
Questions 10 through 13. 
Listen to part of a lecture in a zoology class. 
(Professor) 
OK, so we’ve discussed a few defense mechanisms that different 
animals employ to protect themselves … uh, speed, size, venom, and 
sharp claws and teeth all give specific defensive abilities to animals. But 
there are many other subtle ways animals can behave to defend 
themselves, that is, apart from “fight or flight.” One of the more peculiar 
ways that some animals avoid harm from attackers is to simply pretend 
to be dead. And this is exactly the defense strategy that the opossum 
uses. So what on earth is an opossum? 
(Student) 
Is that the same possum as the one that gets into your garbage cans 
here in the U.S.? 
(Professor) 
Aha! Take a look at this picture. The answer is that yes, an opossum, 
spelled with an “O”, is commonly known here as just “possum”. Now, 
there’s a different animal in Australia whose name actually is possum … 
spelled without the “O.” They really don’t look all that much alike, as you 
can see. OK, so I grew up calling them possums, and as far as I’m 
concerned, you can call them what you always have, or you can go 
around and try correcting everyone else. You make that choice for 
yourself. But, as a representative of the academic establishment, I guess 
I should call things by their agreed upon names, so opossum it is.
 
So the opossum is a marsupial, as, actually, is the Australian possum. A 
marsupial’s an animal that carries its young in a pouch on the front of its 

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LPREP IBT 3 E AudioScript 
27
body through most of the offspring’s development, instead of having the 
baby develop completely inside the mother’s body. Kangaroos are 
probably the best known marsupials, and you’ve probably seen pictures 
of their tiny, hairless babies when they’re born. Opossums also give birth 
to extremely tiny babies—less than a half an inch or um, 13 millimeters 
long—that crawl into their mother’s pouch for the first few months. After 
that, they cling to their mother’s backs for another two months.
 
 
OK, so that’s enough of the background on these animals. Let’s get on to 
their odd defensive behavior. Now, as anyone who has come across an 
opossum can attest, the first thing they do is hiss and make a big, noisy 
racket to try to intimidate any would-be attacker. Remember, intimidation 
of enemies is usually a tactic of animals that are capable of fighting well 
… but it’s also useful to those who are essentially bluffing or just 
pretending to be tough. Opossums are a case of the latter, and if really 
pressed, they’ll drop to the ground, stiffen up completely, and emit a foul 
stench that smells like a dead animal.  
 
 
I see a few hands raised, and I’m going to ask for your patience for just a 
second. I want to finish this description, and then I’ll take any questions 
that I haven’t already answered. 
 
 
One question that is always asked is this: How could animals be fooled 
into thinking that something they just saw showing its teeth … snarling 
and hissing could suddenly be dead long enough to smell so badly? Two 
immediate responses I have are these: First of all, we can’t project the 
same logical reasoning abilities onto animals that we use as humans. We 
can’t assume that we understand how animals think. Let me just reiterate 
the importance of that for future reference, because one of the biggest 
mistakes students make when studying animals, even in upper-division 
courses, is attributing human motivations to animal behavior. We 
absolutely cannot assume that the motivation behind the action of an 
animal is the same as that of a human.
But back to opossums in particular. The other reason why an opossum 
playing dead might work to help it successfully defend itself is this simple 
fact: If something smells like a dead animal, it might be better not to eat 
it. 
 
 
So, it’s from this defense mechanism of pretending to be dead by not 
moving that the phrase “playing possum” comes. Now, to finish up this 
point, imagine another creature that can’t run particularly fast, isn’t all 
that big, doesn’t have sharp teeth or claws or poison, and has been 
known to play possum. 
Humans as well … um, that is, when we are cornered by something we 
can’t outrun or fight, we humans will sometimes pretend to be dead in 
order to survive. People have survived bear attacks for example by 
pretending to be dead until the bears gave up and went away. OK, are 
there any questions that I haven’t just answered?