Practice English Listening Test for B2 with answer and audioscript – Test #44

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

Audioscript

1

F:   So Ryan, what did you make of the new album by Stoneheart?

M:   This is an extremely glossy, well-produced, great-sounding, pop-metal record. The powerful vocals and great melodies combine with deeply personal introspective lyrics that stay with you long after the songs are over. The more you listen, the more they get you thinking. I think this is what really sets it apart from anything they’ve done before, and from a lot of the similar stuff out there at the moment. It makes for the perfect record to play in your car on a hot summer’s night with the windows rolled down.

2

F:   Look, I’m phoning about the mistake in the booking for the bus to take the volleyball team to the away game. I know nobody’s accusing me of anything, but this really wasn’t my fault. I’ve gone through the exchange of emails, and it all seems quite clear to me. I can’t understand how the driver managed to end up in the wrong place at the wrong time. I know you said I should apologise to the other team, but isn’t that just going to be like an admission of guilt? Can’t we just invite them to come and play the match here next week instead? Sorry, but can we talk about this, please?

3

M:   There’s lots to choose from, many more than when I first started collecting them. It’s interesting that they’ve become so popular. I guess digital reproduction has made a difference. Well, I think this one’s definitely my favourite. I love it … I think it’s really great. The graphics are just so clear, realistic. The colours are fantastic. Each picture is cleverly framed, so the sequence of actions pulls you along, and your eyes move between the speech bubbles and the facial expressions. I actually have to ration myself, to say I’m only allowed a certain number of pages at one go. I’m saving up for the next one already.

4

F:   I’m really glad we’ve taken up tennis.

M:   Yes, though I don’t want to overdo it, pull muscles through trying too hard.

F:   That sounds like a great excuse for laziness! We need to practise a lot if we’re going to stand a chance of winning the tournament. Cos that is our aim after all.

M:   I’m not denying that. But we’re meeting people too, which is nice. Anyway, to increase our chances, I suggest we get some new rackets and shoes.

F:   Let’s consider that when we’ve won the first round, shall we? If we can’t win with what we have at the moment, I don’t think we’ll win with anything.

5

F:   So, why did you go into business in the first place?

M:   Well, my parents are businesspeople, so I grew up assuming it was something you could do. I mean, I never doubted that I was capable of it. But there was no pressure from them. As a teenager, I was always playing around with various different ideas of what I might end up doing. But I didn’t concentrate at school quite as much as I should’ve done, and my teachers weren’t too impressed. One in particular told me he didn’t think I’d ever make much of myself, and I thought, oh, OK, I’ll show you that I can.

6

M:   Look there’s a piece here about Bryanboy – that guy who writes a blog about fashion.

F:   Oh right. He’s the one who gets invited to all the catwalk shows because he’s so influential. They reckon he’s really an inspiration for advertising campaigns and even the designers themselves. And when he gets there, he’s like a bigger celebrity than some of the models.

M:   Yeah. I mean it’s incredible. He gets like 100,000 hits a day on his site.

F:   Really? That’s interesting. Can I have that page to photocopy? He’d make a really good topic for the project I’ve got to do on the mass media.

M:   Sure – take the whole thing. I’ve finished reading it.

7

F:   So what do you think of what’s called ‘reverse grafitti’ – you know where instead of spray-painting stuff on walls, they clean off the dirt that collects on old concrete walls and make patterns that way instead.

M:   Yeah I’ve seen some. It’s not as colourful as traditional grafitti of course, but I guess it is more environmentally friendly. I think it’s a shame that people still get into trouble for doing it.

F:   Yeah, it should be allowed because it can be quite attractive, and it’s much more artistic than the usual spray paint stuff.

M:   Yeah, but I guess the authorities think grafitti’s just wrong full stop. But in this case I think they’re wrong.

8

F:   Young people often ask how they could get into this sort of work. Basically, it’s quite a special kind of writing, and you need to know quite a bit about television to do it. So getting a part in a soap opera or a job at the studio’s a really good way in. Directors generally know what they want, so you’re usually working with quite a specific brief. Seeing how the script on the page is turned into a successful drama will help you see what the scriptwriter has to do. If you watch lots of soaps, you’ll get a feel for what works, but on its own that’s not enough.

9 (an) apple pie   10 childcare   11 (children’s) nanny

12 six months   13 golf course   14 Indian   15 fashion model

16 Green Leaves   17 service   18 website

Audioscript

Hi, my name’s Angela Newell, and I’m a vegetarian chef. I’m a vegetarian myself, and I also only cook vegetarian food. This evening, I’m going to tell you about my career.

I always loved cooking for my family as a little girl. I did all the usual things like chocolate brownies, my favourite, and pasta with tomatoes − my first main dish. I realised I had talent when I made an apple pie one day that the whole family raved over. From then on, I knew which direction I was heading in.

When I was fifteen, my family moved from the country up to the city. I was surprised how little cooking teenagers did there. Friends were amazed when I said I wanted to do cookery school. In fact the course I ended up doing was about more than cookery. It didn’t combine cookery with hotel management or any of the usual things, but instead also had classes in childcare. It wouldn’t have been everybody’s choice, but it suited me down to the ground as I’ve always liked kids.

And it turned out to be really useful. It meant that when I was eighteen, I was able to take a one-way ticket to Paris and get a job as a children’s nanny. I wasn’t an English teacher, but the fact that I could talk to the kids in English meant I was never short of work.

And of course in Paris I was able to study cookery in a serious way. I was only intending to stay two months, but it turned into six. I learnt so much. It was worth more than my whole three-year course back home. Although, I wasn’t a vegetarian in those days – that came later. But like all good things, my time in Paris came to an end.

When I got home I applied for lots of jobs, mostly in fancy French restaurants, without success. The job I finally got was on a golf course, not in a smart city-centre hotel as I’d imagined. But it was a busy restaurant and so good training for the job on a cruise ship that came next. That took me all round the world and allowed me to develop my international cookery skills. Indian food was always my personal favourite, even more than French food, but I learnt how to make Chinese and Caribbean dishes too.

It was when I got home that I got a job as a private chef at the home of a well-known fashion model, and her husband who’s a journalist. She liked the range of dishes I could cook, but she was a vegetarian. It was from her that my love of vegetarian cookery came, and after two years of working for her I became a vegetarian myself.

We’re still friends, and when I left the job she helped me to set up my own vegetarian restaurant. We spent a long time trying to think of a good name for it. We didn’t want it to sound too organic, you know a name like Whole Earth or Grass Roots might have kept people away. In the end it was my friend who came up with Green Leaves, which was perfect.

The restaurant’s done very well and attracts not only vegetarians, but also lots of other people who like good international food. I was really thrilled when we won an award last year, actually not for the food – though that would’ve been nice too – but for the quality of the service. I’ve got some excellent people working for me.

So what’s next? The restaurant’s going really well, and I’ve recently published a cookbook including some of my best dishes, and it’s selling well. Everyone should be able to cook. That’s why I’m also setting up a website soon, so that I can answer questions that people might have about the recipes. I’ve even been asked to host my own cookery programme on TV, but I’m a bit nervous about that. I’ve said I’ll have to think about it. It’d be exciting though.

Anyway, that’s me. Before I go on to …

19 F   20 H   21 D   22 B   23 C

Audioscript

Speaker one

I had an OK time at the hotel, though I’m not sure that I’d book it again. I think I’d rather go for something a little nearer the centre. I got the impression that maybe it was under new management. Someone told me that it’d been run by the same family for years, but now a new team had taken over. Anyway, some of the people they had working there seemed a bit out of their depth to be honest. It should all be part of the training, like, they didn’t always know the answers to questions, even quite basic things about the facilities, meal times and so on.

Speaker two

It seemed quite expensive for what it was. We didn’t eat in the restaurant, for example, because although it was pricey, the menu was quite ordinary. The website talked about the amazing gardens, but they weren’t anything special, just somewhere for the kids to play football. It was handy to be near the centre, it’s true, not having to catch a bus or taxi, but just wander down. On the other hand, we were on the fourth floor and I do think you could reasonably expect there to be a lift – such a basic facility. Still, the staff were friendly enough, and did their best to make us feel at home.

Speaker three

We were recommended the hotel by some friends who’d once stayed there. They weren’t to know that the place was being completely rebuilt this year. The noise was dreadful during the day, so lunch in the

restaurant was out of the question. That was no loss really, but some other things were shut all week, like the gym and the swimming pool, which we might’ve used. Anyway, the kids were happy enough being so close to the beach, I don’t think they even noticed the building work and the staff did what they could for us. I think it’ll be a nice place once it’s all finished.

Speaker four

It was very smart, really well run and everything was just right, as far as I was concerned. I had a lovely big room with a balcony overlooking the gardens. The atmosphere was very quiet and restful, just what I wanted. I was certainly pleased that there didn’t seem to be any couples with young kids there. I don’t think that’s who it’s designed for actually. The staff were helpful and friendly, and I quite liked the food in the restaurant, although it wasn’t particularly adventurous. I took a taxi into the city one evening to try one of the restaurants there, and that was pretty good.

Speaker five

I spend so much time staying in hotels around the world on business that I hesitate to use them for my own holidays. I find it hard to relax properly in a place that reminds me of my job! But this place was so unlike the typical city-centre hotel that it was great. We spent hours wandering around in the gardens, which were so peaceful and shady. We didn’t use the restaurant, which looked very formal, but had the staff bring us meals in our room. There were several families with kids staying there too, and I think they made good use of the pool and play area – though we didn’t use those facilities ourselves.

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

Audioscript

Int:   My guest today is Joey Small, a rap singer who’s just got his first big break as a movie actor. Joey, tell us about the movie.

J:   Hi. I play a teenager who’s really into roller-skating. I wanted to do it because it’s something new and I like to give people the unexpected. It was a challenge for me, the acting, and trying to do that and the skating at the same time was awesome. But the toughest part was just getting used to the routine on set. The early starts, the retakes. You don’t get any of that in rap! But it went great.

Int:   You look like a very good roller-skater. Was it really you?

J:   Sure was. Actually, I’m from the Midwest. We do a lot of skating there, so I already had some skills. But because the movie’s set in the 1970s, the skates had to be old-fashioned ones. I mean, I learnt on inline skates, and there’s a different technique involved. But it was cool once you got the hang of it. We had coaches help us do things, though, but I was a little more advanced than the other guys, so could pull off some of the moves a bit sooner than them.

Int:   Was it fun doing a movie set in the 1970s?

J:   Well, we had to do a lot of homework. We were told to watch all these old seventies movies and TV shows and talk like people did in those days. Some of the actors couldn’t do it without laughing, but I was OK with it. And there were acting coaches who really prepared us – they made all the difference, and you had to do what they said. And we had to wear funny seventies clothes, though people said I looked quite cool in them actually.

Int:   And what about working with Laurel Bryton, who plays your mum in the film?

J:   Well, people say she’s not an easy person to work with; that she’s unfriendly. But I reckon that’s unfair. She was by my side through the whole thing and I know I couldn’t have pulled it off if it hadn’t been for her. I’m really not an advice person; I like to do everything my own way. That’s just how I am: I’m my own type of dude. But I listened to Laurel, cos she knows what she’s doing.

Int:   What advice do you have for kids wanting to get into acting?

J:   Well, basically you learn what you have to say, and you try to get it right. But you can always retake a scene if you mess up. More important, you’ve got to use your ears − listen to the words as you say them, otherwise they won’t sound natural. That’s what I picked up from Laurel and it worked. I don’t think the average person would really understand what she was talking about, cos I didn’t either. But after I did it, I definitely got what she was saying.

Int:   What’s it like for a kid your age dealing with fame?

J:   I just try to make the best of it. Sometimes I don’t feel like being bothered, when I’m not working and people come up to me. But you gotta be polite. Some people respect your privacy and some don’t. But hey, it’s our job. We always like the front end of it, when people go buy our records, our movies. And we like to buy the cars, the homes and jewellery and stuff like that. Loss of privacy’s the price you pay. I don’t have a problem with that.

Int:   And what of the future?

J:   Well, it’d be cool to think I’ll be offered more movies, but I’m not counting on it. If it comes, it comes – and in any case it needs to be the right thing. I guess I’m a rapper at heart and I wouldn’t like to give that up in favour of acting. But who knows, maybe there’s another avenue just about to open up for me – something I haven’t even considered yet. I’m only nineteen, so I’m not closing any doors yet!