 Test your English. Honey Badgers Step 1. Listen. You will hear a passage about an academic topic. Listen carefully and be prepared to take a short quiz afterward. Honey Badgers Honey Badgers, also known as radles or rottles, are small yet fierce animals that can be found in parts of Africa and Asia. They have a thick, tough skin and sharp claws which enable them to fend off predators such as lions and hyenas. Honey Badgers are omnivores, feeding on a variety of small animals, fruits, and honey. They are also known for their ability to break open beehives to get to the sweet honey inside. Hence the name. Despite their small size, honey badgers are fearless and can take on animals much larger than themselves. They also have a reputation for being very tough as they are resistant to snake venom and can withstand bites from poisonous snakes. Honey Badgers play an important role in their ecosystems by controlling populations of rodents and other small animals. However, their numbers are threatened by habitat loss and poaching for their skins and body parts. Step 2. Answer these questions about the passage. 1. Honey Badgers only eat honey from beehives. True or false? Feel free to pause the video if you need more time. 2. Honey Badgers Predators like lions and hyenas are fearful of, aren't afraid of, are friendly with, are larger than. 3. Honey Badgers snake venom, can't resist, can't stand, are harmed by, aren't harmed by. 4. Which pose the greatest threats to honey badgers? Rodents and small animals, their skins and body parts, loss of living spaces, their ecosystems. 5. Which statement best summarizes the passage? Honey Badgers' toughness enables them to survive. Honey Badgers are best known for the food they eat. Honey Badgers' skin and claws are their main features. Honey Badgers can resist any type of danger. Here are the answers. 1. Honey Badgers only eat honey from beehives. This is false. The word only means that they don't eat anything else, but of course they eat other animals and plants. 2. Honey Badgers aren't afraid of predators like lions and hyenas. The animal in the picture is a hyena. 3. Honey Badgers aren't harmed by snake venom. In the passage they said the words are resistant to and withstand, which are similar in meaning to that. 4. Which pose the greatest threats to honey badgers? Loss of living spaces. In the passage they use the word habitat. 5. Which statement best summarizes the passage? Honey Badgers' toughness enables them to survive. Step 3. Secure Vocabulary 6. Rodents are small animals. Always true? Sometimes true? Not true at all. Sometimes true. Rodents are mostly small mammals known for their gnawing front teeth. They use their front teeth to chew on things. An example would be a squirrel. A beaver is another example. Actually, that's quite a large rodent. A mouse would be another example. 7. A word similar in meaning to fierce would be ferocious, fearful, timid, vivacious, ferocious. Fearful actually means afraid. Fearless means not afraid. And fearsome means others are afraid of you. An antonym for this would be timid. Vivacious actually means lively. 8. A or an is an animal that preys on other animals for food. Predator, omnivore, both A and B. The best answer is both A and B. Predators mainly prey on other animals for food. Omnivores eat anything. Predators and other animals. So they sometimes prey on other animals. 9. What are the similarities and differences among the following words? Resist, withstand, and fend off. Think about it for a minute. The common meaning among these words is avoid negative effects. Resist means repel or stand up against bad things. Fend means endure. Remain strong under pressure. Fend off means fight. Defend oneself against attackers. 10. What does poaching mean in this passage? Illegally hunting wild animals. Taking something for fun. Using animals for research. Illegally hunting wild animals. How did you do? Did you get them all right? Good for you. Step 4. Read the script. I will read the passage and you can follow it along. Honey badgers, also known as radals or rottles, are small yet fierce animals that can be found in parts of Africa and Asia. They have a thick tough skin and sharp claws which enable them to fend off predators such as lions and hyenas. Honey badgers are omnivores, feeding on a variety of small animals, fruits, and honey. They are also known for their ability to break open beehives to get to the sweet honey inside, hence the name. Despite their small size, honey badgers are fearless and can take on animals much larger than themselves. They also have a reputation for being very tough as they are resistant to snake venom and can withstand bites from poisonous snakes. Honey badgers play an important role in their ecosystems by controlling populations of rodents and other small animals. However, their numbers are threatened by habitat loss and poaching for their skins and body parts. Step 5. Summarize. Write about the topic in your own words, or summarize it by speaking with your friends or classmates. Use the knowledge and vocabulary that you learned from the passage. Go ahead, try this. It will help you remember and practice your English. To see more videos like these, click on the link above, or check out our websites for more free English learning resources. ESL Gold.com and FreeEnglishStudy.com