Practice English Listening Test for B2 with answer and audioscript – Test #19

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

Audioscript

1

Man:   I think science programmes have got so much better recently.

Woman:   In terms of content, definitely. And also in the way that complex scientific information is communicated by the scientists to TV audiences.

Man:   Well, that’s down to the individuals who are presenters, some of whom are celebrities.

Woman:   It’s one thing to be a scientist in a research lab, and another to be able to present your subject to non-experts. That’s why this generation of presenters deserves such praise. It’s rare nowadays to watch a science programme on TV that’s so abstract you can’t understand a word.

2

Friendship plays a crucial role in our lives, so it’s not surprising that there are so many songs about friends. Like many people, my closest friends have been an important part of my life over decades. The people whose company I enjoy most are those that I have a shared past with, going back to childhood. Together we remember the trouble we got into in class, games we played and things we celebrated together. That connection remains strong today, even if we don’t share the same hobbies now. In my mind, I always make a clear separation between work colleagues and close friends.

3

Man:   Where are you going on holiday this year, Samantha?

Woman:   To Melville Island in the Northern Territories. It’s about 80 kilometres north of Darwin.

Man:   Do you always visit islands on holiday? Or does it just seem that way?

Woman:   No, you’re right. There’s something I find absolutely fascinating about visiting small islands. It’s true to say island life is calmer and quieter than life in the city, but for me, no two islands are alike – they all have their own customs and traditions developed over time, and that’s their appeal. Anyway, I can’t wait for my holiday to come around.

4

Woman:   Have you found any online reviews for the phone you want to get?

Man:   I’m looking at one now that says don’t buy it ‘cos it’s the worst phone on the market.

Woman:   That’s got to be someone playing some kind of a joke, surely? Maybe a dissatisfied customer, or someone who hasn’t even bought one of these phones. I mean, this phone is just an upgraded version of your current model, so it doesn’t make sense to say the new one’s inferior. Maybe check out a few other reviews before making your mind up.

Man:   Exactly.

5

Hello. This is Lauren Ray. I have an appointment at 2.30 today. I’m calling to let you know I may be a few minutes late. I’m on my way from work now and the freeway’s pretty clear, so hopefully I won’t be too late. I don’t know what happened, I left my office really early, but on the way to the parking lot, I ran into a former co-worker, and before I knew it, half an hour had passed. I’m so sorry for any inconvenience. See you soon.

6

Man:   Sally-Ann, could I ask you about the project on public parks? I was going to choose my favourite park, and analyse how important the artworks in it are to people who go there. I’m wondering if that’s a good choice.

Woman:   Interesting topic, but I’d say go for something broader, like the historical development of parks, and pick at least one other part to compare it with.

Man:   Yes, good idea. I can still use my local park as one example. Is my topic different enough from yours?

Woman:   Yeah, I’m looking into the social function of public parks, you know, what role they play and how useful they are as community spaces.

7

My parents both had brothers and sisters, and my aunts and uncles all have children. So when we were growing up, family gatherings were huge. You can imagine how long it took to get everyone organised for family photographs. Sometimes there were disagreements – no, that’s too strong a word – but there were little jealousies over who had the best toys. Overall though, I have happy memories of growing up with my cousins and I sometimes wish we didn’t all live so far apart. It’d be great to catch up with them all and find out what they’ve all achieved as adults.

8

I’m in the second year of my four-year degree course. Next year, I’ll be working in industry or in a research laboratory, which is something all science undergraduates here are offered the chance to do. I’m really looking forward to it, as it might lead to a great job once in graduate. This placement is unlikely to be in my university town, so I’ll need to relocate. I originally got accepted to do a general science degree, but as soon as I got here and started a module on biochemistry, I knew that was what I really wanted to specialise in. Luckily, the university let me switch courses. That’s not always guaranteed.

9 Dairy Month   10 museum   11 song   12 sculptures

13 tasting   14 magic show   15 advance tickets

16 farm tours / (a) farm tour   17 volunteers   18 skateboard park

Audioscript

Hi, I’m Bradley and I’d like to tell you all about a food festival that’s really important to us in my home town of Little Chute in Wisconsin. It’s called The Great Cheese Festival, and I hope you all like the sound of it enough to want to come and see it for yourselves. The festival takes place during the first weekend in June, and it’s a huge event for celebrating what we refer to as ‘Dairy Month’. That’s because our state is famous for cheese-making.

The festival’s been going since 1988 and it’s gotten bigger and bigger every year. The mayor at the time set up this event after reading that a museum all about cheese had been set up nearly a thousand miles away in New York. He thought that was totally unfair, as they have nothing to do with cheese making there, whereas we have a cheese factory in practically every town here.

So, for three days a year we celebrate our local cheese-making industry, and our festival’s so well-known people come from miles around to join in. It’s basically a three-day carnival, with a live music programme, and lots of eating, of course, and it all kicks off with our very own song, which was written just for this event.

The three days are packed with events, for example a fun-run, pony rides, a cheese market, and an exhibition of sculptures which are all carved out of cheese. That’s the one event that I never miss because they are amazing, and they seem to get more and more sophisticated as every year goes by.

There are various competitions taking place over the weekend: every year there’s a painting competition just for teenagers. Anyone who attends the festival this June is welcome to join in our cheese tasting contest, and there’s a cheese eating competition for adults only. There’s also a fancy-dress competition, but that’s just for locals.

The festival really is an event designed for all the family. I always remember going to the magic show every year when I was a little kid – it’s the best fun ever. But there are other things for young kids to do, such as spending a few hours at the funfair, or there’s also the woodland walk.

As I said before, the festival’s become so well known that people come from far and wide to visit it. The hotels in town are usually full, and the town authorities have had to limit the number of visitors. It used to be possible to buy day tickets when you arrived but now you won’t be allowed in unless you buy advance tickets. There are never any left once the festival starts.

So, what else can I tell you about? Most of the events are held around the centre of town. They start early in the morning and go on till close to midnight. There’s a barbecue all day, and farm tours, but they’re only up until midday, and the shops are open all afternoon and evening.

There are hundreds of people involved in the organisation of the festival, from local store owners, to high-school students, to cheese producers, and of course the mayor and his staff too. The people who help before, during and after the event are all volunteers, which I think is great, seeing as how it’s an important event in our town.

You might wonder what happens to the profits from the festival. In the past, the money’s been spent on improving public facilities, and the next thing for the town to benefit from is the construction of a skateboard park. Hopefully, that should be open well in time for next year’s festival. A playground was built in only a few months last year, and a new public garden in the town opened the year before that.

19 A   20 F   21 B   22 H   23 D

Audioscript

Speaker 1

I’ve never been really interested in fashion. Don’t get me wrong though, I do regularly buy quite a lot of new clothes. I try to ensure my purchases are suitable for various situations, so for example, at weekends I tend to wear smart causal trousers that are equally appropriate for an average day in the office when I don’t have any important meetings. Admittedly shopping for clothes isn’t one of my favourite activities. That’s why it’s great when you come across an online store that has all the styles you like and that doesn’t cost a fortune.

Speaker 2

I think of myself as quite an organised, efficient person, but you probably wouldn’t guess that from my appearance. I never read clothes magazines, and I couldn’t care less about what the latest styles are. I choose fabrics that are warm and feel good next to the skin. I have a lot of baggy jumpers and I always wear soft shoes wherever possible. I suppose when I finish studying and get a job, I might have to invest in some smart things for work, but for the time being, I’m more than happy with my wardrobe.

Speaker 3

If you asked me to define my favourite style of clothes, I’m not really sure what I’d say. I do have a few designer label items, and my friends sometimes comment on that, because they get most of their things in the sales. My response is that buying cheap clothes is actually a false economy – sometimes they can get worn out surprisingly quickly. My ten-year old winter coat looks as good as the day I bought it. OK, it’s not this season’s colour, but so what. It’s not like I’m particularly interested in clothes.

Speaker 4

I’ve heard people suggest that your clothes can communicate what kind of person you are. For example, if you’re into high fashion, you might be a changeable character. Or if you go bargain hunting in the sales, this might mean you’re careful with money, or if you like bright colours, then you’re an extrovert. When I’m at the mall, I go for things that are made from organic, natural materials as that’s better for the planet. Not that my clothes look any different to anyone else’s. And actually, I don’t think my clothes would tell you anything about me as a person.

Speaker 5

My rule when it comes to buying clothes is never to get anything at the start of the season. By holding back a few months or sometimes only a matter of weeks, you can take advantage of special offers. The longer you wait, the better, in my experience. That’s what I always tell my friends to do. If I look in my wardrobe, I’d say the clothes I buy represent a whole range of styles. I love the outrageous prints from nature from the 1970s, but equally I have some very smart designer jackets and shoes.

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

Audioscript

Interviewer:   My guests today are Anna Peterson, a builder who makes houses out of blocks of straw, and Professor Martin Hart, who’s researched using straw as a building material. Professor Hart, could I ask you about your research first?

Martin:   Oh, please call me Martin. I’d been aware for some time that a few eco-friendly houses had been built using straw. Straw normally serves as animal bedding, but I discovered that not all of it is used for that purpose, and that there’s potentially sufficient straw for a million new homes every year. So I set up an engineering research project with the aim of discovering whether this building material could be brought to the wider housing market. It’s one thing building a single property, but bigger construction firms need millions of tonnes of material.

Interviewer:   I read you built a row of straw houses. But they don’t look like they’re made of straw, do they?

Martin:   No. The exterior walls are brick. The building method was to put up a wooden frame, then fill it in with blocks of straw. We could’ve added an outer layer of wood or plaster – whatever you use, the straw walls themselves are great at making sure the house stays warm. The interior walls are just as straight as a conventional house. The bricks are there in order to resemble the style of housing already in place on the street where they were built. From the outside you wouldn’t know they’re straw houses.

Interviewer:   Not everyone was happy with your team’s straw houses.

Martin:   Mmm. All the relevant fire safety tests had been done and had demonstrated beyond doubt the houses weren’t a fire risk, so you’d have thought no-one would’ve objected. We were open about the fact that the walls contained carbon dioxide, but people assumed that was a risk, whereas in fact, it’s an advantage. You see, the carbon produced during the growing process is locked away in the straw, so that’s actually good for the environment. Anyway, we’d tested the buildings’ ability to support the weight of the floors and knew they were strong enough, so there were no concerns raised about that.

Interviewer:   Thank you, Martin. Now Anna, you’ve used straw as a building material for some time. Why’s that?

Anna:   I turned to straw about eight years ago. My customers were all very happy with the wooden and stone houses I’d built for them, and I had no plans to change. Then one day I read about a woman in the USA who built her own house out of straw really cheaply. I thought the idea of straw houses could potentially go down really well with house buyers. And I’ve been proved right. At any one time I can have multiple projects on the go.

Interviewer:   And you do the building work yourself.

Anna:   Well, the first few I built, I was involved in everything, from start to finish. Now I’m building 15 to 20 at a time, I have a wider role. But I’m actually a qualified carpenter, and on almost every house I build now, I work alongside the roofers. It makes me feel I’ve made a personal contribution to every house, and, quite frankly, I’d rather do that than discuss how the project’s going with the site supervisors.

Interviewer:   Right. What’s the main consideration for you when you’re building houses?

Anna:   Well, if you’d asked me a decade ago, I’d have said to build people a home with eye-catching features that were different to anything else. But my current focus is on making sure I employ only architects who produce plans that are completely straightforward. For me personally, the fact that my houses use renewable materials is just a bonus, to be honest.

Interviewer:   So, what’s next for you, Anna?

Anna:   My intention is to pass on the skills I’ve learned to other house-builders, so that they adopt this style of house-building. The award I’ve won for my work has certainly created a lot of publicity for me nationwide. I’m confident people’ll be interested to learn, and then, who knows, maybe one of them will find a way to make straw houses even cheaper.

Interviewer:   Anna and Martin, …