Practice CAE (C1) Listening Test 04 with Answers and Audioscripts

1 C   2 B   3 C   4 A   5 B   6 C

Audioscript

Extract One

Nina: My view on giving praise to children is simple: approach it in the same way you’d approach rock climbing – with great caution! One false move or word can be disastrous. A child may get the wrong message if you say, for example, that poor homework is wonderful, and as for a rock climber, well, if they are led to believe that they are accomplished sportspeople when they aren’t, they may find themselves in difficulty and their confidence in themselves and their instructor could be severely damaged. However, unlike rock climbing, how to praise a child in an effective way takes only moments to grasp.

Dan: I agree. And you hear so much what I call ‘empty praise’, when parents look absent-mindedly at their child’s painting and just say ‘wonderful’. It should always be followed up with ‘because’, for example, ‘it’s full of detail’. Children have very different personalities, but I’ve found this sort of praise is always effective, no matter whether the child is naturally self-assured or not. And when children have really worked hard at something, it’s up to adults to make the praise meaningful.

Nina: That’s very true.

Extract Two

Martha: Hi, Robert, are you still thinking about taking up golf?

Robert: Hi, Martha, yes, and the more I think about it, the keener I am on the idea. I know it gives you a good workout and I really need that ’cos in my job I sit in front of a screen all day long, but I’d always thought of golf as kind of dated, you know, not cool! My uncle used to play at a very exclusive golf club and had to wear what I thought were ridiculous clothes to play in. Perhaps that’s where I got my prejudiced ideas from.

Martha: Probably! Well, I’m up for it if you are. I don’t have a lot of extra cash to splash out, though.

Robert: You wouldn’t need to if we joined the city golf club. I know what you mean, though, some private golf clubs can be pricey. I’ll ask a guy I know at work about the city club – he’s a golfer.

Martha: Actually, they’re having an Open Day when potential members can go along. I saw a poster somewhere. We could check it out then. Interested?

Robert: You bet!

Extract Three

Man: That was the best festival ever. I mean the line-up of bands was awesome, sure, but it was the organisation as well that was first class.

Woman: I’ve never been to a festival where the sound was so good. Do you think it was because they’d invested in the best sound system?

Man: I think that’s a given at a music festival – well, the best they can afford. What I noticed was the layout of the whole area. That had been landscaped to get the best acoustics. The importance of that often seems to be ignored or perhaps forgotten. I also liked the way the sound engineers checked everything and wouldn’t let the band start until they were happy that everything was OK.

Woman: That local band held their own against some big international names.

Man: Yeah, I didn’t know anything about them until I heard someone chatting about them while I was getting coffee.

Woman: And I only realised they were worth seeing when I went to the stage where they were playing and a huge crowd was gathering. I was so pleased for them, especially when one of the big names later said how great they were.

7 physics   8 technician   9 internship

10 memorisation / memorization

11 flexibility   12 marketing

13 records   14 population

Audioscript

Good morning, everyone. My name’s Estelle Tinios and, as part of your series of careers talks, I’m here today to tell you about my job as a pharmacist. Pharmacists play a key role in all communities, dispensing the medication people need in order to recover from illnesses.

Let’s take a look at the study path you’d need to follow to become a pharmacist. At university, you’ll need to do a relevant undergraduate course, for instance, biology, chemistry … and like many other students I opted for physics. Biomedical science can also be an excellent choice.

It’s a good idea to get as much experience as possible while you’re studying. That way you’ll be able to get to know a range of people in the industry. I suggest doing a few hours per week as a technician, rather than as a junior in a pharmacist’s, because you’ll come into contact with more people.

In order to become a licenced pharmacist, you’ll also need to do postgraduate studies to become a Doctor of Pharmacy. During this period, you’ll be required to do an internship. I found this invaluable for finding out exactly what a pharmacist does on a daily basis. And, once you’ve got your doctorate, you can take a specialty, for example, to become what’s known as a compounding pharmacist, where you mix individual ingredients to make up a patient’s prescription.

Being a pharmacist requires many and varied abilities, such as communication skills. What I hadn’t anticipated, however, was the importance of memorisation skills because you’ll be dealing with the names of hundreds of medications.

Towards the end of your studies, you’ll start looking for a full-time job. A pharmacist may work in a retail outlet or a hospital, among other places. Medications need to be given out 24/7, so in order to have the best chance of getting a job, if you have some flexibility and you don’t mind giving up your free time at weekends or evenings, you’ll widen your chances of getting a job.

One of my first jobs was in research and development for an international company. The company was looking into using existing medications for different illnesses and I was working on the marketing of the medications for new uses. And a good friend of mine was working on the packaging.

I’ve worked in several roles as a pharmacist, and in every role there’s one task that’s absolutely vital to get right every time, and that’s keeping records that are correct and complete. Other tasks, which you may find you have to do, could be filling out insurance claims.

I’d also like to point out that becoming a pharmacist is a great career choice. It’s very interesting work, as the range of treatments is widening all the time. You will undoubtedly find work, since the population of our country is rising all the time, and, as a result, the need for pharmacists is going up proportionally.

Now, if anyone has any questions …

15 B   16 C   17 B   18 A   19 D   20 D

Audioscript

Interviewer: Today in Business Weekly, I’m talking to two entrepreneurs, Charles and Betty, who both first set up companies when they were just in their teens. Charles, I read that your first company, which you started when you were 18, wasn’t a success, right?

Charles: Yeah, in fact, after two years, I cut my losses and gave up! After the first year, I could already see that despite having talked to several people – for example, the local bank that had a business advisory service – the basic idea just wasn’t sound. The only positive was that at 20, I had enough energy and motivation to pick myself up straight away and start on my second idea. I found it easy to put it all behind me and move on.

Interviewer: And your second company, a photo blogging platform, was a fantastic success. Betty, what is that magic something that makes a young entrepreneur successful?

Betty: Well, that’s tricky. I used to think it might be as simple as putting in the hours, you know, working until all the day’s tasks were done.

Charles: But that just makes you so tired it’s hard to tap into your imagination. In my view, there’s no doubt you have to be prepared not only to take chances, but also to seek them out sometimes.

Betty: And to realise that playing it safe is not the right approach. Occasionally, you have to completely rethink not only small things, details, but also your overall objectives.

Interviewer: And as a young entrepreneur, how did you find your first year of business? Betty?

Betty: I was selling T-shirts, and within six months I had to take on a couple of extra people, one to do the office work and the other to work on marketing. And I’d had no experience of interviewing candidates and was terrified in case I ended up with the wrong people. But it all worked out and the bank was happy to give me a loan when they saw how much the business was making and they’d been through my five-year business plan.

Charles: Did you have many competitors? There are lots of businesses selling T-shirts.

Betty: Yes, but that was a good thing, because a lot of market research had already been done and quite a lot of it was available for anyone to access.

Charles: I actually got in touch with some of my competitors to try to find out how they organised their business and they were very helpful, but what really amazed me was that they even went as far as to suggest which accountants to use and IT consultants! And now, when I think someone would be better off going to one of my competitors, I pass on their details, and my competitors do the same for me.

Interviewer: Brilliant! And Betty, you won the Young Businessperson of the Year award when you were just 20. Tell us about that.

Betty: Yes! At first, I was amazed that I’d won it. There seemed to me to be plenty of other excellent start-ups. And I felt as though I’d just been trying to live up to the benchmark they were setting for good business! Anyway, once I’d got over the shock, I felt great about it and it motivated me to grow my company much further and to try to cash in on the publicity.

Charles: That was a great time for you. I don’t know how people managed to set up businesses years ago when technology wasn’t so developed. I mean, it’s so simple now to do some first-class courses on the internet to find out about whatever you need to set up a business. There’s a lot of discussion about making contacts online, but I believe there’s still an argument for doing it face-to-face. It’s the same with some meetings, like with new clients.

Betty: And what about companies having websites? That’s made a huge difference.

Charles: But you have to keep them up to date.

Interviewer: That’s very true. Well, thank you both for sharing your thoughts with us today.

Task One

21 F   22 G   23 A   24 D   25 H

Task Two

26 G   27 A   28 F   29 D   30 B

Audioscript

Speaker 1

I finished high school and made enough money to travel before going to unit by working part time in a restaurant. My thinking behind travelling on my own was to learn to sort out any difficulties for myself – I’d always lived with my parents, but I was going to live in another city to study, so they wouldn’t always be around to fall back on. My trip was amazing. I couldn’t believe how many different places were so interesting. And the astonishing thing was the wide range of cuisines that I found out I loved, from spicy to delicately aromatic! Sometimes it was difficult for the waiters to explain things to me, but with a little patience we managed between us!

Speaker 2

It was great visiting Europe, but everything was so different, and at times a bit scary, from my life in a small town in the US. Going from country to country, I had to work out how to get from A to B using local and international rail routes. But the upside of that, which I hadn’t thought about beforehand, was I became expert at dealing with any issue that came up, even though it was often frustrating. I’d decided to do my trip solo because a friend had been on an organised tour and said it was annoying not being able to change plans at the drop of a hat. And I knew I’d find not being able to decide things for myself aggravating too.

Speaker 3

I was really keen to go on a long trip to South America and looked at doing it in an organised group or by myself. In the end, the decision was made for me in a way when I looked at the total outlay if I went with a group. Anyway, it turned out to be the best thing because, of course, being on a budget, I had to sort out a lot of things for myself in Spanish and Portuguese and I was amazed at how fluent I became in just a couple of months. I was fortunate because people were always so accepting of my poor pronunciation.

Speaker 4

What stood out for me about my trip was that because I was on my own, I briefly spent time with loads of other travellers and locals. I hadn’t considered that benefit before setting off – I’d just thought I’d have a great time trying the local dishes wherever I was – I’m a real foodie. In my free time at home I do photography and I’d chosen to travel by myself so that I could get some new ideas for an exhibition I was going to put on. The best place for that turned out to be a national park in Spain where you’re not allowed to take vehicles because they want to keep damage to the environment to a minimum.

Speaker 5

My sister had been on a great tour of Japan when she was a student, but said being in a group had lots of disadvantages. She knew it wouldn’t suit me, as my main purpose was to prepare for a marathon – I wanted to be able to watch my diet and make sure I could train every day. This was the best time for me to do this – the trip and the run – because after my trip, I was starting a new job in the automotive industry. I’d been feeling a bit daunted by the prospect of this new job and I hadn’t anticipated how much the trip would help me think about my future without panicking, so that was fantastic!