5-minute listening: Punxsutawney Phil predicts early spring during annual Groundhog Day celebrations
- Tradition in the US state of Pennsylvania goes back to 1887: if the large rodent sees its shadow, winter will last longer
- Practise your English with our short listening exercises: play the audio linked below; answer the questions; and check the answers at the bottom of the page
Punxsutawney Phil has not seen his shadow, so he predicts spring will come soon. Photo: ReutersQuestions
1. What did Punxsutawney Phil fail to see during this year’s Groundhog Day celebrations?
A. his burrow
B. his tail
C. his food
D. none of the above
2. What does tradition say will happen if a groundhog doesn’t see its shadow on Groundhog Day?
A. Winter will start late.
B. There will be an early spring.
C. Summer will end earlier than usual.
D. There will be no rain that spring.
3. If you “predict” something, you ...
A. say what you think will happen in the future.
B. think that something is likely to be true even if you have no proof.
C. prepare for it before it happens.
D. guess how much it costs.
4. How often is Groundhog Day held?
A. every other month
B. every year
C. every five years
D. every decade
5. What was the name of the previous groundhog that did Phil’s job?
A. Gobbler
B. Knob
C. Phil
D. Punxsutawney
6. According to the podcast, when did people in Pennsylvania start using groundhogs to predict the weather?
A. 1807
B. 1817
C. 1887
D. information not given
7. Which word can replace “emergence” in the podcast?
A. appearance
B. origin
C. birth
D. escape
8. How often have Phil’s predictions been accurate in the last 10 years, according to the NOAA?
A. about 10 per cent of the time
B. less than 40 per cent of the time
C. more than 70 per cent of the time
D. almost 100 per cent of the time
9. What other animals have been used to predict the weather?
A. prairie
B. duck
C. woodchuck
D. all of the above
10. According to the podcast, what effect does Punxsutawney Phil’s prediction have on the protagonist in the film Groundhog Day?
A. He was stuck in a 24-hour loop.
B. He was unable to sleep for 24 days.
C. He was caught in a snowstorm.
D. He was trapped in a magical forest.
11. Complete the following summary about Groundhog Day using information from the podcast.
Pennsylvania has a (i) ______ of predicting the seasons using a (ii) ______. It is based on the belief that (iii) ______ will be extended if the animal sees its own (iv) ______. According to this year’s predictions, (v) ______ will arrive early.
Answers
1. D
2. B
3. A
4. B
5. C
6. C
7. A
8. B
9. D
10. A
11. (i) tradition; (ii) groundhog; (iii) winter; (iv) shadow; (v) spring
Script
Adapted from Agence France-Presse
Voice 1: Residents in the US state of Pennsylvania could be seeing an early spring this year. During the annual Groundhog Day celebrations earlier this month, Punxsutawney Phil, the state’s renowned groundhog forecaster, did not see his shadow.
Voice 2: The state’s tradition of using a large rodent to predict the seasons dates back to the Pennsylvania Dutch belief that if a groundhog left its burrow and saw its shadow, it would scurry back inside and winter would go on for six more weeks. But if the day was cloudy, it was a sign that the weather during the following weeks would be mild, leading to an early spring.
Voice 1: Groundhog Day is now a major yearly event in Gobbler’s Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. Phil and his predecessors, also called Phil, have been forecasting since 1887, and this year more than 40,000 people camped out to wait for sunrise and the groundhog’s emergence.
Voice 2: Dan McGinley, vice-president of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, read from a scroll “selected” by the groundhog, which said: “Another winter slumber paused so I could meet the crowd, it’s hard to sleep anyway when the party is this loud.”
Voice 1: In the past 10 years, Phil has been accurate only 30 per cent of the time, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, known as the NOAA. In 2023, Phil saw his shadow, but temperatures that February were above average and in March only slightly below. This led the NOAA to declare that the furry forecaster was wrong.
Voice 2: Eager to cash in on this craze, other states have adopted their own animal forecasters, including Sun Prairie Jimmy in Wisconsin, Woody the Woodchuck in Michigan, and Scramble the Duck in Connecticut.
Voice 1: Even snack food maker Frito Lay made ads showing actor Stephen Tobolowsky enduring a scenario similar to the plot of the popular film Groundhog Day. The 1993 movie, in which Tobolowsky played an upbeat salesman, saw leading man Bill Murray stuck in a 24-hour loop after Punxsutawney Phil predicted six more weeks of winter.