In downtown New York, at a somewhat trashy apartment, there lived a man named Howard. He was a young man, in his mid-twenties, and had a terrible fear of cockroaches. Well if you've been to New York, and maybe live or stayed in a rundown hotel, you know how many cockroaches there are. Too many to count!

　　Howie had just come home from work and was looking for a bit of relaxation. All he wanted to do was get a bowl of ice cream, sit down and read the newspaper. He started raiding the messy cabinets and sink to look for a bowl and a spoon. He found the bowl, got out the ice cream and opened a drawer to get the spoon when, Surprise!! Out jumps a big juicy cockroach. After jumping twenty feet in the air and grabbing a spoon out of the drawer, he sat down to calm himself. "God forsaken roaches!" he yelled, while slowing his heartbeat, just as another cockroach crawled between his feet. " There's got to be something I can do to get rid of them." Just then, as he was getting his ice cream and reading ads in the paper, one specific ad caught his eye. "Got Roaches? We have a solution! Come down to Sam's Pet Club today and get yourself the natural predator of the roaches, a Gecko!"

　　有个人名叫霍华德，住在纽约市区一座卫生状况很糟糕的公寓里面。他很年轻，也就二十四五岁，但是怕蟑螂怕得要死。其实，只要你去过纽约并且在那种很差的小旅馆住过或者呆过一会儿，你就会知道那里到底有多少蟑螂了，简直不计其数！

　　有一天霍华德下班刚刚到家，想要放松一下，其实他想做的全部事情也就是吃碗冰淇淋、坐下歇会儿看看今天的报纸。他在又脏又乱的壁橱里面翻腾着，想找个碗和勺子。但是他只找到了碗，于是他把冰淇淋倒进去，然后打开抽屉拿勺子，噢天哪！跳出来一只浑身湿漉漉的大蟑螂，吓得他一蹦有二十尺高。胡乱地抓了一个勺子，他坐下来让自己平静一下。“上帝啊，求你遗弃了这些蟑螂吧！”他大叫着，心怦怦的跳。还没有平静下来，这时另外一只蟑螂又从他两腿之间爬过去。“总会有办法能够解决掉你们的！”他喃喃地说。吃着冰淇淋，他一边看着报上的广告，其中的一则引起了他的注意。“你家有蟑螂吗？我们有办法！快来萨姆宠物商店，我们出售蟑螂的天敌——壁虎!”