Practice English Listening Test for B2 with answer and audioscript – Test #15

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

Audioscript

1

I got into crime fiction while I was doing voluntary work in Nepal. There wasn’t much to do in the evenings and I quickly ran out of paperbacks to read. Someone sent me an e-reader so I downloaded dozens of crime novels. But I barely read a tenth of them. Today I read all sorts of novels but I never buy crime stories. The thing is, I lost interest in them. I’d go so far as to say they’re repetitive. After I’ve finished one, I recall hardly any of what I’ve read because it was too similar to stories I’ve read before. I know other people find them immensely satisfying.

2

Woman:   Have you heard, Jacob Meyers has announced he’s retiring from tennis?

Man:   Yes. I’m a bit surprised.

Woman:   I suppose, with all his recent injuries, it’s only sensible to give up.

Man:   Well, when I interviewed him, he expressed the intention of continuing for another two years. Still, he’s so committed to tennis, I suspect he’s planning to come back and train the next generation of tennis stars.

Woman:   There’s certainly a shortage of trainers at the moment. he knows he’d be in demand.

Man:   Or he might be hoping to present the tennis on television. That pays very well.

Woman:   Oh, but he doesn’t need the money, and he’s always said he’s camera-shy.

3

I’m often asked to visit colleges and universities to talk about my work as an inventor. I’d be a liar if I said an inventor’s ideas come from moments of genius. It’s actually about putting in more effort than you thought possible, messing up, and then figuring out why you messed up, and then trying something different over and over again until it eventually works. People queue up hoping to hear a motivational speech from me, inspiring them to go away and dream up the next big idea. The reality can be disappointing for them to hear.

4

Woman:   What are you up to this weekend, Mark?

Man:   Picking up my new bike tomorrow, then taking it out on the road. I want to see how it performs on the hills.

Woman:   Fantastic! I need to get out on my bike more at weekends. Cycling a kilometre into town to go shopping isn’t proper exercise.

Man:   Well, you’re welcome to join me. I won’t be going all that fast.

Woman:   I still wouldn’t be able to keep up with you! But thanks anyway. Perhaps you could suggest some easy rides for me to start with.

Man:   OK, I’ll have a think and let you know.

5

I’ve been doing crosswords on and off since I was a teenager, but, in recent years, I’ve started to get real pleasure from making this a part of my daily routine. Having said that, I’m not one of those people who keep going for hours until they’ve completed the whole crossword. I see it more as a really good way to keep fit mentally, and it improves my word power. Some people do crosswords as a way to de-stress, to switch off from everything around them. That doesn’t really work for me.

6

Woman:   Everything OK, Harry?

Man:   Hmm, the train was late this morning and I nearly missed my first meeting of the day.

Woman:   It’s so frustrating, isn’t it? I mean, we pay all this money to get to work and the train service is terrible.

Man:   Quite. And it’s impossible to work on the train, so you just have to sit there staring out the window.

Woman:   Oh, I wouldn’t say that. I make the most of my journey by reading reports and catching up with emails.

Man:   I can’t do that. Still, I wouldn’t want to more to an apartment in the busy city centre.

Woman:   Me neither. I love my neighbourhood, it’s so peaceful.

7

Social media’s such a big part of many people’s lives nowadays, and there’s so much discussion about whether this is a good thing or a bad thing. It’s almost unimaginable that it didn’t even exist only a decade ago. When you explain to younger generations that, in the past, people actually waited to hear from each other because there was no instant messaging, some of them think you’re actually making it up. Anyway, what I’m currently investigating is the impact on friendships when communication is carried out mainly on social media rather than in person.

8

Man:   How are you, Karen? Still as busy as ever?

Woman:   I’m find thanks, Charlie. Actually I’ve just finished my last session with a life coach who’s been helping me find ways to achieve my goals.

Man:   Wow, sounds interesting! Whenever I give myself a new goal to achieve, I find the harder I try, the more likely I am to fail. Maybe my targets are too ambitious.

Woman:   Well, perhaps you need to analyse your goal, and then divide this into a series of mini-goals that are more manageable. That’s what my life coach has helped me to understand and what I’m going to do from now on.

Man:   Great advice!

9 cousin   10 neighbour/neighbor   11 deserted   12 water (bottle)

13 (beautiful) mountains   14 canoe   15 parrots   16 (strong) wind(s)

17 (swollen) ankles   18 empty

Audioscript

Hi, I’m Kelly and I’m here to talk about a long-distance run I did in New Zealand. It’s called the Long Pathway and it starts at the tip of North Island and goes all the way to the bottom of the South Island, that’s 3,000 kilometres!

My love of running started when I was nine, when my brothers and I used to go running on my grandparents’ farm. I’ve done marathons close to my parents’ home for years, but I had to do some serious training before attempting the Long Pathway. I went to stay with a cousin who lives on the edge of a desert – an ideal place to prepare.

Before I left, my best friend set up a website for family and colleagues to follow my progress. My neighbour accompanied me on the trip. She helped with equipment, met me at various points to deliver more food, and was generally my helper. My husband loves running too, but he couldn’t get time off work for this trip.

The Long Pathway takes you through varied landscapes, starting in the tropical region of the North Island and ending in the somewhat rainy south. Part of the route involves running on beaches. These were deserted, which couldn’t have been more different to the beaches where I live – those are crowded with sunbathers, and noisy with people on jet-skis and those playing volleyball on the sand. It was a completely new experience for me.

It took two months to complete the run and there were a few issues along the way. One of my trainers came off in a stream. I managed to retrieve it, but my sock was very wet that day! I can’t tell you how many pairs of sunglasses I broke. The most challenging thing was when I dropped my water bottle – I could have got dehydrated and been really ill, but luckily I had enough fruit to keep me going.

Normally I’m not bothered by rain, but running in the New Zealand rainforests, which were incredibly humid, slowed my progress. Undoubtedly, the highlight for me was crossing the mountains – they were so beautiful. I also had to run through some pretty muddy farmland which isn’t something I’d care to repeat.

On the Long Pathway, there’s a section in the North Island that’s 128 kilometres long where the path disappears and the route goes down a river. At this point, some people take a canoe to cover the distance, which is what I did. Others head for the nearest road and catch a bus to pick up the route further south, but I decided against that.

People often ask me what animals I saw on my run. By far the commonest creatures I came across were sheep: they were everywhere. It was thrilling to witness parrots flying over my head and swooping from tree to tree, though the kiwi birds were nowhere to be seen, and I failed to spot any at all.

Now, you might wonder how a runner can cross from the North to South Island. Some people swim, despite the fact that the water’s sometimes chilly, and the waves can get quite high. When I got to the crossing point, there were strong winds, so I crossed what’s called the Cook Strait by ferry.

I’ve also been asked if I got injured during my run. Of course, running every day for weeks, you’re bound to get bruised legs, and scratches on your arms are common. I don’t really get that many blisters on my feet any more. What was an issue for me was my ankles, which became quite swollen. Thankfully that wasn’t until the run was nearly over.

Running every day might seem quite boring, but you develop a routine, until it becomes something completely normal. My only emotion as my final day came to an end was feeling empty. It’s funny, I’d imagined I’d feel so happy to reach the end that I might even cry. But once I’d rested, I felt delighted, and really proud.

19 F   20 B   21 G   22 A   23 C

Audioscript

Speaker 1

My parents and I went camping as a family for the first time this summer. I was home on vacation from college because I couldn’t afford to go travelling with my college friends and didn’t have anything else to do. My mom had done her research and picked a campsite near a lake and a forest with a huge network of trails and, while my parents chilled out by the lake every day, I spent the whole week mountain biking. It did wonders for my fitness levels. Still, it would have been nice to have had a hot bath in the evening.

Speaker 2

I went camping this summer as part of my holiday job accompanying a group of children from the city on a multi-activity sports holiday. I got paid for it, which was fortunate as it wasn’t actually a holiday for me. I loved all the fresh air though, and cooking on the barbecue was great fun. When I next have a break, I’ll be certain to go back. Only this time with my best friend, rather than a group of lively eight-year-olds. They couldn’t sleep at night because they hadn’t brought a proper camping mat to lie on and suitable clothes to keep them warm during the night.

Speaker 3

My children kept asking to go camping, but when I take a vacation, I just wanna do nothing. I certainly haven’t the energy to put up tents and cook outdoors. Anyway, I gave in to pressure and took forever researching the best place to camp and eventually found somewhere not too far from home with tents that were already set up. I can’t say it was my ideal vacation, though everyone else is asking to go again. What was great, was that it reminded me of when I used to put up a tent in the back yard with my sister, and eat candies and tell funny stories all night.

Speaker 4

Apparently we used to go camping when I was really young because my parents couldn’t afford to take us to a hotel, but that was so long ago, I don’t remember it. Some friends recently suggested a camping and fishing trip and I couldn’t think of an excuse not to go. When we got to the campsite, it turned out my mate had chosen this amazing luxury place – with raised beds with mattresses and even heaters in the tent, which made it lovely and cosy. And to think, I’d been dreading having to sleep on bare rock by the river. It couldn’t have been further from my expectations.

Speaker 5

I’m a busy person with a demanding job, and during term-time I don’t spend much time with my children. Normally when we go away, we book a holiday apartment – nothing too expensive – but last summer we went camping. And do you know, all of us sharing a tent together was great. Far from getting on each other’s nerves cos we weren’t used to each other’s company, we all became great mates. We really appreciated the quality time we spent as a family. My sons want to go again, but to be honest, it was quite a lot of hard work, and I can’t say I slept brilliantly.

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

Audioscript

Interviewer:   Today I’m talking to Jamie Cole, who’s just had his first recipe book published. Jamie, thanks for coming along to talk about your experience of writing your book, My Kitchen Recipes.

Jamie:   You’re welcome, and thanks for mentioning the title!

Interviewer:   What made you want to write the book?

Jamie:   I was working for a food magazine, not as a writer, but as a tester of recipes – you know, trying out recipes to check they worked before printing them in the magazine. I’d always enjoyed creating my own recipes at home – not necessarily with great results! – but my job gave me an in-depth knowledge of how and why recipes work, and I felt sure I could write something people would want to buy. My co-worker Alison said, ‘Jamie, it’s not worth it,’ but I went ahead anyway.

Interviewer:   So, as a first-time writer, was it easy to get a book deal?

Jamie:   I couldn’t have been luckier, to be honest. The usual approach involves hiring an agent to try and get you a contract with a publisher of recipe books, but I talked to my editor at the food magazine about the concept for my book, and she was so impressed, she put me in touch with a publishing company straightaway. I was really grateful to her.

Interviewer:   That was lucky! Was it hard to sit down and write a whole book of recipes?

Jamie:   Well, I’d already done most of my research, which made the actual writing process shorter. It was hard sitting at a desk typing on my computer for hours. And because I had to try out each recipe several times, as a kind of quality check, I was forever making trips to the supermarket to re-stock my fridge and cupboard. That was the toughest thing, ‘cos I found it so monotonous, and I was always impatient to get back to my kitchen, where I’m happiest.

Interviewer:   And since the launch, you’ve been singing copies of your book in bookstores.

Jamie:   Correct. It’s been absolutely great meeting some of the people who’ve bought my book. They’re quite curious and want to know all kinds of things about the book. A frequent question is, ‘Have the photos seen altered to make the finished dishes look more attractive?’ The answer’s ‘no’, by the way. Nobody’s asked me yet how much of the book price I receive. And I’m still waiting for the day when someone asks whether I wrote all 175 recipes in my book myself.

Interviewer:   Your book’s out-selling many titles by famous chefs. Why do think that is?

Jamie:   Good question. When you walk into a bookstore or look online, there’s literally thousands of titles to choose from, ranging from beginner-level recipes to advanced techniques for semi-professionals. I guess I avoided using ingredients that are hard to find in food stores, and focused on tasty meals that busy individuals can put together in a hurry.

Interviewer:   Interesting. Jamie, do you have any advice for someone who’s considering writing a recipe book?

Jamie:   Erm … whether you’re a full-time chef or someone who loves to make cookies on the weekend, if you have enough recipes for a book, I’d say go for it. But I’d also say concentrate on what you do best – you might be a pastry chef, or an expert in Japanese cuisine, for example. You also have to know what you’re doing in the kitchen, like how to use a knife properly. But you can teach yourself these essential skills, which is much less bother than signing up for cookery classes.

Interviewer:   That’s great advice. So, what’s next for you?

Jamie:   I have so many ambitions and plans. My schedule for next year’s looking really busy – I’m filming a ten-part TV series in my own kitchen! I’d love to do a big trip, maybe around Asia, to get inspiration for my next publications, but that won’t be possible yet. One thing I’m about to launch is Jamie’s Blog, so that I can let people know what I’m doing, and get more feedback on my recipe book. That’s really important.

Interviewer:   Good luck …