Practice PET (B1) Listening Test 01 with Answers and Audioscripts

1 A   2 C   3 C   4 B   5 C   6 A   7 B

Audioscript

1

Boy:   What are you bringing for the picnic?

Girl:   My mum bought some soft drinks for us to take, but apparently Ellie had already said that she’d bring some, so I thought about making some sandwiches instead. Or we’ve got loads of fruit at home – I’m sure my parents wouldn’t mind if I took a few apples and bananas and so on.

Boy:   I think Harry’s bringing fruit.

Girl:   In that case, I’ll go with my other idea. We’ve got plenty of bread and cheese and things.

Boy:   Great! Let’s hope the weather’s good tomorrow.

2

Girl:   So how was your holiday?

Boy:   Good, thanks. I didn’t think I’d enjoy the mountains as much as the sea, but I did.

Girl:   I bet you missed windsurfing, didn’t you? You do that every year.

Boy:   I got to do some, actually – on a lake near the hotel. It’s still my favourite, but cycling on the paths through the mountains was nearly as exciting.

Girl:   Didn’t you say you wanted to go horse-riding, too?

Boy:   I was going to, and I’d still love to try it, but we just ran out of time.

3

Man:   Have you got much homework?

Girl:   I’ve got some art. I have to draw a vase or something like that, I think. It doesn’t have to be handed in till Friday, so I can do it on Wednesday night. My history essay has to be in tomorrow, though, so I’d better finish that this evening. Oh, and Mr Havelock set us some maths homework today and gave us a week to do it, so no need to do that until the weekend.

Man:   Well, good luck with it.

Girl:   Thanks.

4

Boy:   That was a great school trip. There were so many different animals.

Girl:   Yes. I love dinosaurs, but even I got a bit tired of looking at bones after an hour on the trip last year.

Boy:   I agree. At least this time they were alive!

Girl:   Yes, and it’s so nice to see creatures from all over the world. I’m glad the teacher didn’t decide to do what she’d originally planned and go to the farm. You see sheep and cows all the time around here.

Boy:   You do.

5

Boy:   Hi Sarah, it’s Max. I need to talk to you about Dad’s birthday present. I know you said you wanted to get him some chocolates. I hope you don’t mind, but I saw some boxes of the ones he really likes on special offer in that shop near the school, so I just got one. Why don’t you buy him the cookery book that I was going to get him instead? It probably costs about the same, and he’ll like that more than socks or whatever we usually get him.

6

Girl:   How was your weekend?

Boy:   It was good, thanks. There’s a funfair on in town at the moment that my sister wanted to go to. I said I’d prefer to go to the big football match that was on at the stadium. My parents said they’d rather go to the river for a picnic instead, though, so everyone wanted to do different things. Then it started raining, so I got what I wanted in the end because the roof closes when it rains, so we could avoid getting wet.

7

Girl:   Hi, I’m just phoning to say that I’m going to arrive at your house a bit later than I’d planned. I’d got part of the way there when I had a problem with the tire on my bike and couldn’t fix it. I had to walk home with it because it’s too big to take on the bus. Anyway, my dad’s just got home from work and said he can give me a ride but he has to make a phone call first. I’ll be there in half an hour.

8 C   9 A   10 A   11 B   12 C   13 B

Audioscript

8

Girl:   That was a great film.

Boy:   If you’re into that kind of thing. I haven’t seen anything as bad as that for a long time.

Girl:   Oh, I didn’t know that you don’t like horror movies.

Boy:   I usually do, but I’m not sure that’s how I’d describe that film – there was only one bit I found at all scary. It’s strange because the main characters were played by two quite big stars, but I don’t know how they got to be so famous if that’s the best they can do. It was all very disappointing …

Girl:   Oh, dear!

9

Girl:   How’s your biology homework going?

Boy:   Not very well. I can’t work out what I have to do.

Girl:   In that case, it probably won’t be much use looking online. You can find all the information you need there, but if you don’t know what to do with it, it’s not really going to help you. Have you seen Mr Benson about it?

Boy:   No, not yet.

Girl:   It might be best, as he set the homework in the first place. Take your coursebook with you when you go so he can explain everything to you using that.

Boy:   Good idea!

10

Girl:   Did you see that interview with Denny Starr?

Boy:   I did. He seemed so nervous at the beginning. And it wasn’t that the guy asking the questions was especially rude or asked him anything difficult.

Girl:   I know. But once he relaxed a bit, he really spoke about lots of things I didn’t know anything about.

Boy:   I don’t think I’ve ever heard him talk in so much detail about his life before. In other interviews I’ve heard, he’s generally given answers that had very little to do with what he’s been asked.

Girl:   Yes, like he didn’t really understand the question.

Boy:   Exactly.

11

Boy:   How was the diving trip?

Girl:   It was great, but I learned to dive in a swimming pool where the water doesn’t move around much. Going underwater in the sea was a completely different experience. I seemed to become totally unable to do all those things that I got so good at in the pool.

Boy:   So is it something you’d like to have another go at?

Girl:   I’ll think about it, but if I do, I need to make sure I go with my cousin Martin again. It gave me a bit more confidence to be underwater with someone I knew.

12

Girl:   Hey, did you see the big basketball game last night?

Boy:   I did, yeah.

Girl:   That was awesome when their star player jumped so high he nearly landed on that cameraman! Wouldn’t you love to be able to do that? You’d be a great player – you’re real tall.

Boy:   I guess. I can’t say I understand much about the rules, though.

Girl:   Some of them are quite complicated, especially the ones about how long you can hold onto the ball for. But the best way to understand them is to play – that way you’d learn them as you were having fun.

Boy:   Maybe one day.

13

Girl:   How was London?

Boy:   Great, except we got lost.

Girl:   Oh no! How?

Boy:   My dad had this guide book which was at least 20 years old. We told him lots of things would be different now, so most of what was in it would be wrong. Even though it was old, it was probably more accurate than the information a guy on the street gave us for getting to Big Ben – we ended up somewhere completely different! We only used the book for getting around on the Underground in the end – the map’s almost the same as it was back then.

14 rainforest   15 insects   16 (the) monkey

17 characters   18 six/6   19 L-O-M-B-A-R-D-I-O

Audioscript

Hi everyone. I’m going to tell you about a new video game that I’ve played a lot recently, called Sky Jam. It’s produced by the same company that made Road Jam a few years ago, which was set in a city of course. Instead of streets and huge buildings, though, you’ll find yourself living in a rainforest in this game.

It’s an unusual game because you have to answer questions in order to make progress, as well as by moving through the environment. You’ll be asked all sorts of things regarding insects, which you have to learn on the way from the many helpful creatures you meet, such as butterflies and bats.

There are 30 levels in the whole game, which are supposed to become more and more challenging as you go on. I found the one called ‘the money’ almost impossible, even though it comes well before the last level, called ‘the frog’, which didn’t seem so difficult.

There are lots of things to love about this game. The story you learn about as you continue through the game is fantastic, second only to the characters you can play, who are lovely, and extremely interesting too. Learning to play the game is easy and fun, too.

Unfortunately, unlike the eight players who could play against each other in Road Jam, six people at the most can join in this game at any one time. I found this to be a few too many, though, and preferred playing in a group of four.

You can find out more about the game online. If you’re interested, visit the company’s website www.lombardio.com. I’ll spell that for you: it’s L-O-M-B-A-R-D-I-O.

20 C (because Ellie says she has played basketball since she was five or six)

21 B (because she knew she wanted to try it when there was a professional match on a sports programme she was watching)

22 A (because she say it really helps to develop her talents)

23 C (Ellie is confident because she says she’d been playing well for her club, and felt she could do just as well at a higher level)

24 C (because Ellie says it’s better to play in games which are close)

25 A (because Ellie suggests you should join a team so you can start playing straight away)

Audioscript

Man:   Welcome, Andrea. You’re an expert ice hockey player now, but when did you start playing?

Andrea:   Not until about three years ago actually, so quite recently. I’ve come a long way quite quickly. I’ve always loved sport, though, and have played basketball since I was five or six. I gave that up for a while when I got into football about five years ago, but started playing again once I’d lost interest in football.

Man:   How did you first become interested in playing ice hockey?

Andrea:   My brother’s into it, and I used to go to his games. His team wasn’t very good, though, so I didn’t think of it as something I actually wanted to do. That moment came when there was a professional match on a sports programme I was watching. I knew then I wanted to try it, and fortunately a couple of friends did too so we all started playing together.

Man:   You sometimes play against boys’ teams. How important is that?

Andrea:   Very. There are as many girls playing ice hockey now as there are boys, which is great. Attitudes towards us have always been positive, in my experience. I want to do better against boys somehow – I’m not sure why – which really helps to develop my talents.

Man:   How did you feel when you were chosen for the national under-16s team?

Andrea:   I’d been really happy with how I’d been playing for my club, and felt I could do just as well at a higher level. There’d been a lot of talk about me being picked, so I kind of knew it was coming. It was great for my parents too – they felt great having a daughter in the national team!

Man:   Are the national team matches your favourite games?

Andrea:   Not always, even though some of them are big games and appear on national television. If a game’s close because both teams are good, then it’s fantastic for the crowd to see, and better to play in because of that. It’s far more interesting than scoring loads of goals because we’re so much better than the other team.

Man:   Any advice for people wanting to start playing ice hockey?

Andrea:   You can spend hours reading books about what you can and can’t do, but there’s no better way of becoming good than playing. So borrow some skates and a stick if you need to – you can buy your own later – and join a team so you can start playing straightaway.

Man:   Thank you, Andrea!