Practice FCE (B2) Listening Test 13 with Answers and Audioscripts

1 C   2 C   3 A   4 B

5 A   6 A   7 C   8 B

Audioscripts

1   You are in a large electrical shop when you overhear this man describing a washing machine.

… which, of course, comes with a three-year guarantee. And finally, there’s the ‘Amitron Eco’. You’ll notice right away that it’s a more expensive model but, in the long run, it’ll cut a substantial slice off your family’s electricity and water bills. This particular model has been specially designed to be economical with both water and energy making running costs a third less, although it has the same features as all our other models and does the job just as well. Would you care to have a look at the technical profile … ? FADE

2   You hear a man on TV talking about a programme on Tuesday night.

… and Alvin Major’s guests tonight include the singer ‘Lolita’, the ghost writer Peter Miller and Bobby Antonio, then after the 9 o’clock news, Penelope Parchment has a particularly difficult case to solve when one of her house guests goes missing … and can Penelope take time out to patch up her shaky marriage? That’s ‘Just Penelope’ at 9:45 … and then to round off the evening on Channel 9, Robert Mulholland presents another another … FADE

3   You are in a supermarket when you hear this couple arguing.

M = Man     W = Woman

M:   No, don’t get that one. That’s the one that had a bitter taste.

W:   But that one’s the best value. It says here that it makes more than fifty cups.

M:   And have you ever counted them? … Look, every jar’s got the same amount … see! It says on the label 450 grams.

W:   Well, what’s wrong with this one then?

M:   It’s the flavour. You didn’t like it either. Look, this one’s only 9 pence extra. Couldn’t we just try it once and see … ? FADE

4   You dial a number to find out about night classes.

You have reached the Piddleton Technical College freephone information service. Courses starting next month include Norwegian clog dancing and traditional English floral dancing – both classes taking place on Mondays and Wednesdays. Cookery courses for the new year are in Chinese, South American and Indian cuisine and will take place at the centre on weekday evenings apart from the Indian cookery course on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, which will consequently last an extra 2 weeks beyond the usual 5-week duration.

5   You overhear this man talking about a book.

Well, when I first started, I bought a copy of ‘How to Get the Most Out of your Trumpet’; but I think it made a lot of things unnecessarily difficult. I mean, it helps anyway having a teacher to show you what to do because no book can really explain what you have to do with your mouth when you’re blowing. Mind you, it does have some useful diagrams that helped me pick up the fingering … but if I were you, I’d spend my money on having some actual lessons with a proper instructor.

6   You overhear a woman on the telephone inviting a friend to dinner.

Hello, is that George? … Yes, very well thank you … and you? … Yes, I was wondering if you’d like to come to dinner on Thursday night … it’ll just be a small gathering … Oh, what a pity. Still, you deserve a break with all that work you do. You’ve been quite run down recently – and we don’t want you getting ill. Will you be going abroad? FADE

7   You ask a policeman for directions to the bus station.

Well, the bus station is not too far. You’ll be able to get there on foot quite easily. You keep going along this road until there’s a bend and you follow it all the way round and then there’s a big hill in front of you. That’s called St Mark’s Hill. So, you go all the way up St Mark’s Hill, over the top and right down to the traffic lights … and the bus station is just after the lights … on your left … and if you get to the river, you know that you’ve gone too far.

8   You are watching a repeat of a British TV sitcom called Teacher’s Always Right.

T = Teacher     L = Lucy

T:   Er … Lucy can I have a word?

L:   ‘Imbecile’ … that’s a word, sir.

T:   No, no, I want to talk to you.

L:   Look, sir, I promise I’ll try to pay more attention and bring the right books next time, I just thought that everyone would find it interesting – my Dad does.

T:   Look, that’s not the problem … haven’t you been missing your classes quite a lot recently?

L:   Oh, no sir. I didn’t miss them at all. We had a great time.

T:   Lucy, this has got to stop. It’s high time you changed your attitude, young lady.

9 broken bones   10 support

11 hardened   12 (new) blood

13 bend   14 move

15 multiple   16 position

17 previous programmes

18 change in shape

Audioscripts

Presenter:   In this programme, we will deal with another common result of violent injuries, that of fractures – or to put it more simply – broken bones. It is worth first mentioning a few facts about the bones themselves. Bones form an essential framework around which our bodies are shaped, performing the two vital functions of support for the body and protection for the internal parts of the body (such as the heart and the brain), which could easily be damaged otherwise. Bones are not dead tissue as many people think but are made up of a hard ened outer layer of cells around a soft material in the centre, known as the bone marrow. The bone marrow, incidentally, performs the equally vital function of producing new blood cells. Bones do not break easily. When a small amount of force is applied, the bones – particularly of young people – can actually bend to a surprising degree, but, of course, there is a limit to this and beyond that limit the bones break. Because of the large forces and sudden movement involved, it is unlikely that somebody would break a bone and not be aware of it.

There is also usually an unmistakable audible crack that can be heard by other people as well. So, what can we do in terms of first aid for people with fractures – beyond making the victim as comfortable as possible and calling an ambulance? In general, the answer is not much – but this is important to note; because the vital function of support has been lost in the damaged part of the body, any attempt to move the victim could result in further damage to that area. In any instance, where it is necessary to move such a victim, it is vital to provide another means of support for a damaged limb. For this reason, you should locate any fractures before attempting to move the victim. If this is not done, further movement of the damaged area will result in ‘multiple fractures’; in other words, many small breaks, which are much harder to repair. If the victim is conscious, it is likely that he or she will be able to tell you the position of any fractures that may have occurred.

But, in the case of an unconscious victim, a different procedure should be followed. After checking the victim’s breathing, circulation, eyes and face as described in previous programmes, the next step in checking the victim’s condition is to methodically feel each major bone in the body noting any change in shape that would indicate the presence of a break. For this reason, it is important to be aware of the correct healthy shape of all the major bone structures in the human body. For example, the shape of the shoulders, backbone, arms and legs. You should practise feeling other members of your family or members of your FIRST AID training group. Otherwise, you may end up treating a person who has no fracture at all.

19 F   20 B   21 A   22 C   23 E

Audioscripts

Speaker 1

These days it isn’t a problem. I just set everything up, switch on the radio and get into the rhythm and it’s all finished in no time. But I remember the first time I tried it. I hadn’t got a clue. The fabric was too wet and I just couldn’t get things to come out without creases … and then the telephone rang … I suppose it’s a good thing it was only a wrong number because when I came back it was already starting to smoke and there was a big black mark on the back of my favourite shirt. So, I poured water all over it and then, of course, I had to start all over again.

Speaker 2

Well, you see my wife just can’t do it because of her skin condition. So, in the end, we decided that rather than send everything to the laundry … I would do the whole lot myself. It doesn’t bother me. Joanne does the shopping and cuts the grass. The only thing that I don’t like is hanging everything out afterwards. You know … you get all the looks from the neighbours and one of the kids next door even has the cheek to call me ‘Mrs’ Simpson. I’ll tell you one thing though; if I ever get hold of that boy, I’ll show him a thing or two.

Speaker 3

I’d read a DIY manual that gave full instructions with pictures. It made it look so easy that I thought I’d save us a hefty bill and do it myself. What the manual didn’t say was anything about turning off the stop cock before you start … Well, I’m sure you can imagine what happened. Suddenly, there was a huge fountain coming out of the top of the thing and I just couldn’t get the top back on. In the end, we did end up having to call a professional plumber out and paid a fortune because it was a Sunday morning. And then, I had to clean up the kitchen floor. It was like a swimming pool.

Speaker 4

Well, in the old days you used to use vinegar and paper towels. But nowadays there are so many different cleaning products on the market that you can hardly remember which one is which. Luckily, there’s usually a picture on the front of the bottle that shows you just exactly which part of the house you’re supposed to clean with it. The containers even have little levers on so you can point the bottle and spray the liquid wherever you want it. But then the difficult part is taking it off again. You rub and rub until you think you’ve finished and then ten minutes later, when you go outside, you see a bit you’ve missed.

Speaker 5

There’s loads of things I wouldn’t touch around the house but this is one thing that doesn’t take any special talent or know-how at all. Even wallpapering is so much easier than it looks; you just put plenty of paste on the wall and then you just slide the paper into place. And, if you do get any wrinkles, you can iron them out with a brush. Plus, it’s easy to do a straight line if you steady your hand on something and there’s nobody there to distract you. You just have to watch out for the mess, that’s all. Put plenty of newspaper on the floor or a couple of old sheets.

24 B   25 A   26 C   27 A

28 A   29 B   30 A

Audioscripts

A = Andrea     B = Bob     C = Carl

A:   Look Bob! That’s a new stall we haven’t seen before.

B:   You mean the one with all those CD’s and cassettes … hang on … hey! That’s Carl.

A:   You mean Carl who used to work with you at ‘Acres’? What’s he doing here?

B:   Must have started up a new business – though he’s the last person I’d have expected to …

C:   Hey, Bob!

B:   Quick, pretend we haven’t seen him.

A:   Oh, come on! He’s your friend, you can’t ignore him like that.

C:   Bob, what a great surprise … haven’t seen you for … must be years.

B:   Carl. Good to see you mate. Er … This is my fiancee, Andrea.

C:   Oh, pleased to meet you. Are you interested in country music? I know Bob’s not too keen.

A:   Is that what all this is? All country music? Have you got any Irish Folk music?

B:   Oh, God.

C:   I did have, but it didn’t seem to sell too well.

B:   I’m not surprised.

C:   So I got rid of it all – pity really.

B:   Good thing if you ask me … And, how long have you been doing this?

C:   You mean the stall? Oh, about two months. After ‘Acres’ closed down, I was out of work for about a year and then one day, I got talking to my claims officer … er … about my collection … and he suggested that I did this … and so far it’s been quite profitable.

A:   Do you make a profit?

C:   Last week I took a bit over 3,000 pounds.

B:   Three thousand quid!

C:   Well, some of it has to pay for overheads and VAT but I should get to keep at least half of it.

A:   Was it difficult to get started? What did you have to do?

C:   No, no, it was quite easy really. I just talked to a ‘small business adviser’ at the bank and luckily, I still had some redundancy money left so there was no need for a loan or anything … anyway what about you?

B:   Oh, I spent my redundancy money on a holiday.

A:   And the car!

B:   Well, yeah, yeah, it didn’t quite cover the car so I had to take out a loan, which I’m still paying off – you see the new job pays even less than ‘Acres’ did. I guess I should have done something like you have.

A:   You still could. I’m sure the bank could extend you a loan if you asked. Have you seen Bob’s silverware? … It’s really quite unique.

C:   Er yeah, yes, he did show me some pictures once. Come to think of it, there’s a man who sells similar stuff at a car boot sale in Black pool, where I do a stall on Sundays.

A:   There, you see. You could do a stall on Sundays and keep on your job at the bakery.

B:   Oh, er … I don’t know about that. I’m not sure all that standing around in the cold would be good for my circulation. The doctor said I need to stay in a warm environment and keep moving.

A:   You’re just making excuses now. This is a fantastic chance to make some money … FADE