Q2e Listening & Speaking 2: Audio Script

UNIT 2
Unit 2, Psychology, The Q Classroom
Page 25

Teacher: Today we’ll discuss the Unit 2 question: How can colors be useful? Let’s think
about the question and clothing for a minute. Sophy, how can colors be useful in
clothing?
Sophy: You can use colors for symbolic reasons. Like in some countries brides wear white
dresses. Or like the school colors we wear on our sweatshirts.
Teacher: That’s true. How else can we use color? Yuna, I see that you have different-
colored notebooks. How are you using color?
Yuna: To organize. Different colors for different subjects.
Teacher: So we can use colors for symbolic reasons, and we can use colors to organize.
How else can colors be useful? Felix?
Felix: Colors can affect people’s moods. For example, hospitals are painted colors that
help patients relax. And a restaurant can use colors to make people feel
comfortable, so they’ll want to stay and eat.
Teacher: What do you think, Marcus? How else can colors be useful?
Marcus: You can use color to attract attention. You know, like big red letters on a sign, or
something noticeable like black on yellow.

Unit 2, Note-taking Skill, Activity B

Page 27

Professor: As with leaves, every part of the tree has an important use. The roots take
water out of the soil and carry it up into the tree. The trunk is the main support of
the tree. It is covered in bark. The bark protects the tree from insects and helps keep
the tree from drying out or losing water. If you take the bark off a tree, it will die.
Branches grow out from the trunk and form the crown of the tree. The leaves in the
crown take energy from the sun and make food for the tree. Trees grow and get
taller and wider every year. When you cut down a tree you can see the rings in the
wood inside the trunk. Each ring represents one year of growth for the tree. You can
count the rings to find out the age of the tree.

Unit 2, Listening 1, Activity B, C, D

Page 29, 30

Speaker: The colors of nature. Aren’t they wonderful? Birds, flowers, insects—so many
different colors. And it’s not only that they’re beautiful. Colors in nature have many
different uses. Many animals use color to help them survive. Today we’re going to
look at two ways that animals do this.

The first way animals use color is to protect them from danger. Color helps animals
hide from predators. Scientists refer to this as camouflage. For instance, look at this

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Q2e Listening & Speaking 2: Audio Script

first photo. What do you see? Some green leaves, right? But wait! One of those leaves
is actually an insect. There’s a false-leaf katydid sitting on a leaf. Look carefully and
you can see its legs and its head. Its wings look just like leaves. Katydids are
common insects all over the world. Here’s a little extra information about katydids.
They got their English name—“katydid”—from the sound they make. People
thought it sounded like the two words “Katy” (a girl’s name) and “did.” Listen. It
sounds like they’re saying “katydidkatydidkatydid.” You know, I wonder who Katy is
and what she did!

Anyway, back to colors. Now look at the next photo of a cryptic frog. Can you find
the frog? Look closely and you can see it on the left. It is sitting on the leaf. It takes
its colors from the brown leaves and rocks on the forest floor. This is another
example of camouflage. It’s almost impossible to see this little guy unless he moves.
Even then it looks like the wind is blowing a brown leaf across the forest floor.

A second use for color is to give a warning. This is the opposite of camouflage.
These animals want you to see them. Their bright colors say, “Watch out! I’m
dangerous. If you touch me, I’ll hurt you.” Many predators also know from
experience that a bright color means danger. Let me give you an example. This is a
photo of a blue poison dart frog. These frogs live in the rain forests of Suriname in
South America. Their skin contains a very strong poison. The poison in just one frog
is enough to kill ten men. Its bright blue color says to predators, “If you eat me, you
will die.” Believe me, if I see one of these in the forest, I will give it plenty of space!

Now on next week’s show, we’re going to meet a very unusual bird called the
bowerbird. This little bird loves the color blue. Tune in next week to find out what
he does with it.

Unit 2, Listening Skill, Activity A

Page 32

1. Katydids are hard to see because of their green color.

2. Predators can’t see the katydids, so the katydids stay safe.
3. It’s hard to see the cryptic frog because it uses camouflage.
4. The cryptic frog is the same color as the leaves, so you can’t see it very well.
5. The blue poison dart frog is bright blue so you can see it easily.
6. Dart frogs are dangerous because their skins contain a strong poison.

Unit 2, Listening Skill, Activity B

Page 32

Speaker: Hello again, nature lovers! Today we’re going to talk about the Australian
bowerbird—a very unusual bird! Male bowerbirds build something called a bower.
As you can see in the picture, a bower looks almost like a little house.

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Q2e Listening & Speaking 2: Audio Script

Now here’s the part that is so surprising. The male bird builds the bower, and then
he decorates the area around it. He gets flowers, little stones, pieces of glass or
plastic, and many other little things and puts them around the bower. He is trying to
make the bower look nice.

One kind of bowerbird, called the satin bowerbird, loves the color blue. You can see
in this picture how this satin bowerbird decorated his bower with a lot of blue
things. This bird doesn’t like red. If you put something red in his bower, he takes it
away. Bowerbirds often steal things for their bowers from other birds or even from
people.

The bower is not a nest. This means that it is not the place where the female bird
lays her eggs. The female bowerbird builds a nest in a tree where predators can’t
find it easily.

Unit 2, Listening 2, Activity A

Page 34

Part 1
Moderator: Today we’re doing a panel presentation on the uses of color in architecture.
First, panel members are going to speak about the work of different architects and
how they use color in their work. Our first speaker is Michio Osawa, and he’s going
to talk about the work of the Japanese architect Kengo Kuma.
Michio Osawa: When Kuma first started working as an architect, he thought that
concrete was the only building material. At that time, he worked mostly in Tokyo.
His buildings were the usual gray of a lot of urban architecture today.

Now, he often works in the country. He wants his buildings to blend in with the
environment, not stand out. He prefers natural materials, for example, wood,
bamboo, earth, and even paper. The colors of these materials match the colors of
the surroundings. You can see this in this photo of Kuma’s Great Bamboo Wall
House near Beijing in China. The colors of the house are brown, green, and gray.
With these colors, the house looks like it is part of the mountain. Kuma advises
architects to go to the site of the building when they are making the plans. For him,
it’s all about fitting the building into the place.

Unit 2, Listening 2, Activity B

Page 32

Part 2
Moderator: Now, Olga Perez is going to tell us about the work of the Austrian architect
Friedensreich Hundertwasser.
Olga Perez: Thanks. Well, Kuma and Hundertwasser are very different. Kuma’s buildings
blend in with what’s around them, but Hundertwasser’s stand out—they almost
shout, “Look at me!” His buildings are full of bright colors. But Hundertwasser also
believed that architecture should relate to nature. He said, “Everything under the
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Q2e Listening & Speaking 2: Audio Script

sky belongs to nature.” Hundertwasser used natural shapes in his buildings. In fact,
he used very few straight lines. He said, “There are no straight lines in nature.” For
example, look at the picture of Hundertwasserhaus in Vienna, Austria. You can see
the many bright colors. Notice also that lines are not straight. The building also has
grass and trees growing on the roof. For Hundertwasser, the usual city apartment
buildings, all made with straight lines and all the same color, looked like prisons. He
described the people who lived in the buildings as “gray people”—all the same
boring color. Hundertwasser believed that everyone who lived in a building should
be able to say, “I live here, and I am different from everyone else.”
Moderator: Can you give us an example?
Olga P.: Of course. Here’s an example. He thought that each person should be able to reach
out a window and paint their part of the wall a different color. Now that’s a pretty
unusual idea!
Moderator: Very interesting, Olga. Now let’s hear from . . .

Unit 2, Listening 2, Activity C, D

Page 34, 35

Part 1
Moderator: Today we’re doing a panel presentation on the uses of color in architecture.
First, panel members are going to speak about the work of different architects and
how they use color in their work. Our first speaker is Michio Osawa, and he’s going
to talk about the work of the Japanese architect Kengo Kuma.
Michio Osawa: When Kuma first started working as an architect, he thought that
concrete was the only building material. At that time, he worked mostly in Tokyo.
His buildings were the usual gray of a lot of urban architecture today.

Now he often works in the country. He wants his buildings to blend in with the
environment, not stand out. He prefers natural materials, for example, wood,
bamboo, earth, and even paper. The colors of these materials match the colors of the
surroundings. You can see this in this photo of Kuma’s Great Bamboo Wall House
near Beijing in China. The colors of the house are brown, green, and gray. With these
colors, the house looks like it is part of the mountain. Kuma advises architects to go
to the site of the building when they are making the plans. For him, it’s all about
fitting the building into the place.
Part 2
Moderator: Now Olga Perez is going to tell us about the work of the Austrian architect
Friedensreich Hundertwasser.
Olga Perez: Thanks. Well, Kuma and Hundertwasser are very different. Kuma’s
buildings blend in with what’s around them, but Hundertwasser’s stand out—they
almost shout, “Look at me!” His buildings are full of bright colors. But
Hundertwasser also believed that architecture should relate to nature. He said,
“Everything under the sky belongs to nature.” Hundertwasser used natural shapes
in his buildings. In fact, he used very few straight lines. He said, “There are no
straight lines in nature.” For example, look at the picture of Hundertwasserhaus in
Vienna, Austria. You can see the many bright colors. Notice also that lines are not
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Q2e Listening & Speaking 2: Audio Script

straight. The building also has grass and trees growing on the roof. For
Hundertwasser, the usual city apartment buildings, all made with straight lines and
all the same color, looked like prisons. He described the people who lived in the
buildings as “gray people”—all the same boring color. Hundertwasser believed that
everyone who lived in a building should be able to say, “I live here, and I am
different from everyone else.”
Moderator: Can you give us an example?
Olga P.: Of course. Here’s an example. He thought that each person should be able to reach
out a window and paint their part of the wall a different color. Now that’s a pretty
unusual idea!
Moderator: Very interesting, Olga. Now let’s hear from . . .

Unit 2, Pronunciation, Examples

Page 40

animal
poison
survive
predator
forest
hungry
money

Unit 2, Pronunciation, Activity A

Page 40

1. camouflage
2. famous
3. nature
4. around
5. advise
6. believe
7. ordinary
8. recent

Unit 2, Pronunciation, Activity B

Page 40

1. camouflage
2. famous
3. nature
4. around
5. advise
6. believe
7. ordinary
8. recent
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Q2e Listening & Speaking 2: Audio Script

Unit 2, Pronunciation, Activity C

Page 40

1. contain concrete
2. mention apartment
3. answer another
4. program protection
5. material many

Unit 2, Speaking Skill, Activity A

Page 41

1. Speaker: Color helps animals hide from predators. Scientists refer to this as camouflage.
For instance, look at this first photo. What do you see? Some green leaves, right? But
wait! One of those leaves is actually an insect.
2. Speaker: A second use for color is to give a warning. This is the opposite of camouflage.
These animals want you to see them. Their bright colors say, “Watch out! I’m
dangerous. If you touch me, I’ll hurt you.” Many predators also know from
experience that a bright color means danger. Let me give you an example. This is a
photo of a blue poison dart frog.
3. Olga P .: Hundertwasser used natural shapes in his buildings. In fact, he used very few
straight lines. He said, “There are no straight lines in nature.” For example, look at
the picture of Hundertwasserhaus in Vienna, Austria. You can see the many bright
colors. Notice also that lines are not straight.
4. Moderator: Can you give us an example?
Olga P.: Of course. Here’s an example. He thought that each person should be able to reach
out a window and paint their part of the wall a different color.

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