Practice English Listening Test for B2 with answer and audioscript – Test #45

1 B   2 B   3 C   4 B   5 C   6 A   7 B   8 B

Audioscript

1

I see, it wasn’t in the van. But never mind, I’ll call the removals company. It’s OK, I’m sure it’ll be fine, I just wonder what they’ve done with it. I mean it isn’t something you can easily lose, is it? You’d think someone would’ve noticed almost straightaway. I’m sure it’ll turn up very soon. So don’t get too upset about it – it’s just rather odd. And considering all the things that could have gone wrong, I think we’ve been fairly lucky really, don’t you?

2

Woman:   I think the lectures are really fascinating, don’t you?

Man:   Only if you’re interested in that period of history. You’d think the lecture would have moved on to the next period by now. It’s much more interesting.

Woman:   But we needed extra time on it because it’s such a complex area.

Man:   Yeah, I can’t make head nor tail of it!

Woman:   We need to get to grips with it though or we won’t be able to manage what’s coming next.

Man:   But is it really useful anyway?

Woman:   Oh, come on. Let’s get a coffee.

3

Man:   Have you heard that the contract’s been cancelled?

Woman:   No, I had no idea! You must be really annoyed after all the work you put into it.

Man:   Initially, I was, yes. I spent three weeks putting it all together and the company were really positive about it. But then I found out that they’re in some financial difficulty so it’s really unfortunate for them. We’ve worked with them for years.

Woman:   It was a huge contract, wasn’t it. What are you going to do now?

Man:   Well, we’ve just had a very big order from one of our trusted clients so that’s taken any pressure off.

4

Woman:   You must be thrilled after the announcement that you’ve won such a famous art prize!

Man:   Well, to be honest, I’m not quite sure how I feel yet! I’d always wondered about the idea of an art prize – I mean, it’s not exactly a competition, so it seems strange. And you never quite know what the judges are looking for when they pick a winner.

Woman:   Really?

Man:   Well, yes. But actually, when I was on my own in the studio, I felt much more positive about it and even started dreaming about how my career would change now – not to mention what I’ll do with the money!

Woman:   Well, good luck!

5

I don’t mind when you come over, as long as it isn’t too late – six thirty would be fine and give us time to have a really good chat. Is that OK? I have to get up early on Thursday morning, because I have to get the earlier flight. I’d booked myself on a ten o’clock one, but that’s been cancelled. There’s another one in the afternoon, but I’d miss the meeting if I took that one. It’s a big of a nuisance, but there you go. Anyway, it’ll be great to see you!

6

People ask me how to set up a band, but that’s a matter of luck, there’s no simple answer. Find people who want it as badly as you do, who can also be your best friends. I want to say something about the difficulty of learning to be a musician. It takes thousands of hours of practice, you have to be blessed with talent, you have to have day jobs until you finally make it, but if you have a passion for something, and you work and enough, you’ll get there. You’ll soon find out which are the venues with the most enthusiastic fans.

7

Assistant:   Hello, can I help you?

Woman:   Yes, I bought these trainers from your company online, and I really like them and everything, but they’re a bit tight. I was wondering if you could give me a refund.

Assistant:   Sorry, I’m afraid we can’t do that.

Woman:   Why not? It’s obvious I haven’t worn them and I’ve still got the receipt. Is it because I bought them online? Aren’t you legally required to give a refund?

Assistant:   No, it’s not that. These trainers don’t come from here. Look at the receipt. It’s got the wrong name on. Try next door.

8

I love listening to The Clare Nolan show on Friday at eight o’clock. She has great guests and they often have a good time together on the show. Clare has a way of getting people to say things which come across as very funny. She doesn’t come across as a celebrity, but more a normal person who is clever and tells us things we don’t know in an enthusiastic and useful manner. She’s good at doing that at the same time as making her guests feel involved. So many presenters nowadays seem to use their shows just to show off their own talents, but not Clare Nolan.

9 geography   10 (street) markets   11 magazine

12 horses   13 winter   14 motor(-)bike   15 fishing

16 March   17 Images   18 farming

Audioscript

Good evening, everyone. My name’s Ian Gerrard and I’m a photographer. I’m here to tell you a bit about my career so far, and also about my new book.

I often get asked if I studied photography at university and people are sometimes surprised that I didn’t. I wanted to, but my parents wouldn’t let me, so I had to choose something else. I loved history but my marks weren’t very good, but I was keen on geography too, so that is what I did in the end. I actually think it’s made me a better photographer, and has given my work a broarder context.

On my degree course, in my final year, we studied all aspects of the development of cities and we had to do a presentation. We could do what we wanted and it was really interesting the topics people chose. I chose street markets for mine but a friend did his on the growth of urban transport networks.

On graduation, I went to the USA. I knew I wanted to work as a photographer, so I’d sent pictures to news organisations and advertising agencies, hoping I might get something in a brochure, or even a newspaper! In fact, it was a magazine that noticed my pictures, and I worked for it for a year.

I learnt a huge amount, but what I really wanted to do was see the USA for myself. I needed a theme, something really American – maybe photographing diners or shopping malls around the country. Then I remembered all those western I’d seen and I just knew it had to be horses – I’d found what I wanted to focus on!

It was an amazing six months – I started off in the baking heat of summer on the east coast, and finished my journey up in the mountains. I get the most striking shots in the winter light, although I do love the warmth in summer photos.

Anyway, I cam back to Britain at the beginning of spring and published my US photos in a small book. I earned just enough to finance my next trip – round the UK. I felt it was time I explored my own country. I’d done a lot of driving in the USA and I wanted a change from the car, so went by motorbike instead. I love train travel, but I wanted to get to more remote areas.

I wanted to explore the relationship between people and place. Interestingly, in the last few decades, many photographers from the UK haven’t done much on fishing communities here, so that’s what I did. They’ve tended to focus on family life in inner city communities instead.

The resulting photos I’m putting together for my new book. One thing I’ve learnt is that it takes ages to produce a book – almost as long, in fact, as it took me to travel around Britain and then develop all the photos I’d taken. I started my journey in August, and finished last month, in November. My book won’t be in the shops until March, though there’s an exhibition of my pictures touring the UK from January.

It’s funny, I really wanted to call my book Visions, but apparently there’s already one called that, so my publishers suggested the title In Focus, which I thought was horrible. In the end we settled for Images, which is OK.

Now I’m planning my next tour. I wasn’t sure which theme to choose this time. I initially thought I’d look at lakes and mountains but then I saw a tractor in a field and I knew I’d do farming. I’ve decided to use a special camera to create very large photos, which I’m hoping to exhibit next year.

Well, if you have any questions …

19 E   20 H   21 B   22 G   23 D

Audioscript

Speaker 1

I know people from all around the world, because my job involves looking for global solutions to environmental problems. I get to go abroad a lot and I do think speaking or reading the language of a country has been a huge help when I’ve visited. Of course, I’ve friends who’ve been all over without speaking another language, and they’ve been able to make themselves understood. But I’ve usually found that when I’m somewhere I can speak the language, I worry less about the practical aspects of a journey and focus on enjoying what’s going on around me. And that’s what it’s all about really.

Speaker 2

Basically, it’s pretty obvious: the better you can speak a language – or the more languages you know – the greater the number of people you can communicate with. In my case, I’ve formed close ties with a number of people from other countries. That’s usually because we all appreciate the time and effort we’ve spent getting to know a different language and culture. I’m lucky because languages were well taught at my school. I wasn’t actually considered to be particularly clever, but I was given a good start as far as other languages are concerned. I’m very grateful for that.

Speaker 3

People often think I must be super-intelligent to be doing the course I’m doing but I don’t think that’s the case. I’m hoping to have a career in global finance, and the big advantage when I was applying for this college was the fact that I could speak several languages. That really helped me get in and I’ve met people from all over the world here. When I was a child, my parents travelled around a great deal. Luckily, I was a sociable child, so in every new country we lived in, I learnt the language quite quickly.

Speaker 4

If you’ve ever travelled to a country where people speak a different language from your own, then you’ll know that you can’t just learn a list of words if you want to make yourself understood. The same idea is often expressed differently in other languages. So it’s actually taught me a lot about my mother tongue. When you speak a foreign language, you have to actively think about what you want to say and how you want to say it. I find it helps if I think about the grammar in my native language first – something I’d never really thought about before. I certainly didn’t when I was at school.

Speaker 5

It’s other people who have helped me learn languages, by letting me struggle on in their native tongue even when they knew mine far better! So I have a lot of kind and patient people to thank. I could never concentrate in language classes at school, but then I realised how important languages are these days. After all, in our globalised world, knowing more than your own language is extremely useful. I wouldn’t already be at the level I am now professionally in my career if I didn’t speak a few languages reasonably well. It’s good to know all the travelling I did after leaving school wasn’t wasted!

24 B   25 A   26 C   27 A   28 B   29 B   30 C

Audioscript

Interviewer:   Patricia, this year marks the twentieth anniversary of the start of your elephant project in Africa. What are your feelings?

Patricia:   Well, it’s extraordinary to me to think that twenty years have passed, that I’m still working on the same projects and that hundreds of students who have volunteered with us have now got university teaching positions all over the world. That’s probably had an impact on thousands of people by now, not just the foreign visitors coming to Africa, but locals as well.

Interviewer:   How do you spend your time nowadays?

Patricia:   Well, to begin with, my work was just concerned with learning about the behaviour of elephants in Africa. But then I realised that survival of the species depends on the actions of governments, big multi-nationals and ordinary people. So now I tend to focus more on getting people to realise the effect their actions have on wildlife and natural habitats. I try to demonstrate that by making a small change in the choices they make, for example in the products they buy, people can have a big effect on the wider world.

Interviewer:   Do you think zoos have a part to play in conservation?

Patricia:   Well, there are some old-fashioned zoos where the animals are kept in small cages for the entertainment of the public. The animals aren’t able to express their natural behaviour and those zoos should definitely be shut down immediately. The best thing is for an animal to live in its natural environment, but we have this idealised view of freedom where their lives will be wonderful. The reality is that in so many places there are hunters. Sometimes we have to step in and offer a species protection, and that’s where the new type of zoos come in.

Interviewer:   In your new book entitled Animals and Their Habitats, what message are you hoping to convey?

Patricia:   The natural world is in real crisis, but there are extraordinary people all around the planet who are absolutely determined that endangered animal species or plants or ecosystems should be helped to restore themselves. I hope it’ll be inspiring for young biologists and botanists at the outset of their careers to read about these people who have taken on these huge challenges.

Interviewer:   Have children, do you think, lost that sense of connection to the natural world?

Patricia:   Yes. We should be encouraging them to get back in touch with nature either by taking them into a natural environment or by bringing nature to the child. You know, research has shown that contact with the natural world is actually crucial for psychological growth. So many children have such little opportunity to experience nature and only do so second-hand from a TV screen.

Interviewer:   What does your organisation called In Touch aim to do?

Patricia:   Well, it’s all youth driven, so it’s young people discussing the problems they see around them and then between them choosing three projects to work on that they feel would make things better. One project is about people, one is about animal, and one is about the environment. So, in any group of young people, you get those passionate about animals, you get some who want to do community service for people and you have some who want to help the local environment.

Interviewer:   Do you think you still have a role to play?

Patricia:   Judging from the number of girls who write and say they want to follow in my footsteps, I think I do! But what I’d really like to do is stop people blaming science for everything. Many people think that it’s scientists who are damaging the environment. I want people to see that they themselves are responsible too and that they can also be part of the solution by being conscious about the choices they make in their everyday lives. That’s what I want to achieve.

Interviewer:   Many thanks Patricia …