Practice English Listening Test for B2 with answer and audioscript – Test #58

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

Audioscript

1

Girl:   Did you hear about that boy who’s just trekked to the South Pole?

Boy:   Yeah, I’d really be up for having a challenge like that myself one day.

Girl:   He must be incredibly fit.

Boy:   Well, mentally determined anyway. I mean, he reached the South Pole – and the next week he was back at his desk in school. You’d have thought he’d have taken a few days off.

Girl:   Well, he probably missed all his mates after spending so long on his own.

Boy:   He’d have kept in touch with them by phone. So it wouldn’t have been too bad.

Girl:   It’s a wonderful achievement – I’d be keen to try it!

2

Reporter:   It’s over one hundred years since penguins were first seen in the Northern Hemisphere. On the twenty-fifth of January nineteen fourteen, Edinburgh Zoo in Scotland accepted a donation of six penguins from the Salvesen shipping company. The four King penguins, one Gentoo and one Macaroni penguin made the long journey from South Georgia to Scotland aboard a ship called the Coronda.

Only five years later, Edinburgh Zoo successfully hatched a King penguin chick, the first to be bred in the Northern Hemisphere, and therefore very popular with visitors.

The anniversary of this penguin’s birth ties in with Penguin Awareness Week in which Edinburgh Zoo is organising online webinars and other events dedicated to these fascinating birds.

3

Boy:   It was Chinese New Year yesterday.

Girl:   I know. I spent the day with a Chinese family and we went to a parade in the morning. A friend of mine was in it – it was really spectacular!

Boy:   Did you eat special Chinese food?

Girl:   Yes, we went to her home afterwards and in the evening her mum made a fabulous Chinese meal. I was hungry because we’d spent all afternoon cleaning their flat and decorating it. Apparently that’s traditional at New Year.

Boy:   Sounds like hard work!

Girl:   Well, actually we chatted and had a good laugh while we were doing it, and that part of the day is what’s really stuck in my mind.

4

Reporter:   Miriam Blackie has just won first prize in a national schools’ science competition. Miriam had always known she wanted to do something to benefit other people. When she was younger, she dreamt of becoming a famous singer. But over time, that dream changed. At high school she became fascinated by psychology. She was especially keen to study how technology influences the was people act. Miriam, who’s blind, relies on technology in her own life, but her research was driven by a curiosity about how technology influences the was people act around each other. In particular she wanted to do research into why people are so attached to their mobile phones.

5

Woman:   I grew up in a very special atmosphere. Everything was about chess. My parents thought that nobody’s born a chess genius, you just have to keep working at it. They were both brilliant teachers and could motivate me to keep improving. I was focused on chess, but it didn’t feel like an obligation or anything. I wasn’t the going out type, so it wasn’t as if I was missing out on seeing friends. I went around the world playing chess. The long flights were really tiring and I could never relax properly in hotels. So, even though I was with my parents, all that got me down really.

6

Girl:   Did you see that detective series last night? I can’t see why everyone’s raving about it, and I didn’t think the humour worked well in a drama.

Boy:   You needed some more light-hearted bits, I thought, because it was tense in places, wasn’t it?

Girl:   Yeah, and it went so fast. There was so much happening, I couldn’t take it all in.

Boy:   It’s like they were trying to cram in all those high-speed chases and stuff, and they didn’t give you time to get your head round what was going on.

Girl:   At the end there seemed to be lots of unanswered questions. I’m not sure I’d figure it out even if I watched it again.

7

Boy:   I’ve always loved reading manga comic books. The characters can be a bit over the top and extreme sometimes, but I think that’s what people find so appealing about them. The stories are well written, even if they are a bit unrealistic and over the top. And you can’t help but notice how different the artwork is from your normal comics; it really stands out from the others in the way it’s drawn, though I guess if you’re not into huge eyes and hair that’s every colour of the rainbow, then manga comic books might not be for you. It all comes down to personal taste in the end.

8

Boy:   What did you think about the gym then? There were some fit people there and it was embarrassing when we couldn’t keep up with them.

Girl:   You should just ignore them. They’re only showing off. I wouldn’t want to join that gym, though. The stuff they’ve got there is quite advanced.

Boy:   I must admit I was looking at it and thinking: ‘What are you supposed to do on that?’ It was probably for people with more experience.

Girl:   The atmosphere was fun, wasn’t it? The music they were playing made you work harder.

Boy:   Background music’s a great idea – I’m not sure about their choice, though.

9 diving   10 imagination   11 (heave) rain

12 personality/personalities   13 fans   14 (running) track

15 (the) humour/humor   16 light   17 travel/traveling/travelling

18 Parkhead / Park Head (Stadium) (in Scotland)

Audioscript

Luke:   My name’s Luke Harris and I’m going to talk about my work as a sports photographer. I’ve always been a sports fan – once I even took part in a national golf tournament. And I also used to go and watch big tennis matches. One day, a friend invited me to a diving event at my local pool and I noticed someone taking pictures of it. I thought how cool it’d be to do a job like that.

I got lucky because I was introduced to a professional photographer and asked him how he’d managed to do so well. He said that, of course, you need good equipment, though that’s not the key thing. There are so many similar photos out there and imagination is what’s required to make yours stand out. And he said I shouldn’t worry too much about my experience or lack of it. If your pictures are good enough, you can still achieve a lot.

I got a job with my local newspaper when I was only twenty-one and had to cover a local football team. My first day wasn’t easy. I’d heard that there wasn’t much shelter at the ground and that the wind could make photography difficult. The problem was more the rain, though, which was heavy and affected all my shots. Now, I’ve got used to working in any conditions, even snow. You can always get a good photo if you try.

Sometimes I have to cover sports I’m not interested in and don’t know much about, but you do need to know the rules of the game – you can’t turn up unprepared. And discovering something about the personalities in the sport is crucial. They’re often larger than life and can be key to understanding the appeal of a sport. And it can often help to look into the history of the sport too.

Of course, I have to concentrate on photographing the players, but there are plenty of other people that matter. My pictures of the fans have come in for a lot of attention. Getting a shot of their reactions to what’s happening is so rewarding. I have colleagues who choose to zoom in on the coaches and are only satisfied when they get good close-up shots.

I have to think carefully about where to take the photo from. In football matches, photographers often want to be behind the goal, but everyone’s getting the same pictures, so my best images aren’t always taken from there. Twelve months back, at a major athletics event, I tried standing alongside the running track, rather than behind the finishing line, which I usually do. I saw so much, and got a picture that I think is more impressive than anything else I took around that time.

Sport’s full of drama, so I don’t think most photographers have any problems getting that across. The emotion in people’s faces is incredible and it doesn’t take much to capture that. Sport’s often a serious business, though, and it’s good to find the humour in it where you can – that’s a challenge, though not impossible.

When you’re inexperienced, lots can go wrong. The focus might not be right and there can be all sorts of problems with the lens. That can ruin a shot. Generally, I don’t get too concerned about the light. You can produce great images, even when it’s dull and overcast.

People always ask if there’s anything I don’t like about the job. I think they imagine the pressure’s difficult to deal with: having to work fast or missing important moments. The travel I’m not so keen on because it gets quite tiring. Some people say the competition with other photographers must be tough, but I don’t think about that.

Photographers are lucky people. It’s hard not to be carried away by the atmosphere inside the stadiums I go to, places like The Valley in London. They all have their special character. I get a real buzz from going to one stadium in Scotland. It’s called Parkhead. It’s huge an they do everything there – even pop cencerts!

19 G   20 H   21 E   22 A   23 C

Audioscript

Speaker 1

Girl:   Geography’s my favourite subject. This year, we’ve started looking into how people’s lives are affected by the geographical features of the places where they live. I find that fascinating. I’d always enjoyed learning about the geography of different continents, but I’d never really thought about the human implications before. I’m thinking of going on a study camp next summer with some friends to find out more about this and do some geography fieldwork in the open air – I think that’ll be fun. My cousin went to one a few years ago where they collected all sorts of meteorological data in the mountains – he said he’d really recommend it.

Speaker 2

Boy:   We’ve had several different geography teachers at my school and they’ve all been good. That’s probably why I like it so much. We do all sorts of different things. Last year, we looked at the lifestyles of people living in extreme conditions, like in a desert or in the Arctic. Then we went on to look at different weather patterns. We’re doing mountains in class now and we even got to go and examine some different vegetation during a field trip, which was special. Me and my friends really got into that and it’d be great to do it again. My brother’s studying geography at university and I might do the same, I guess.

Speaker 3

Girl:   I’ve always been keen on geography lessons at school and it used to be my absolute favourite subject – but now I’m beginning to find physics a lot more interesting. But I really did get involved in the work we did in geography on making maps and understanding them. My friends and I all love getting out on our bikes, and whenever we have the time, we go cycling in the countryside – and being good at reading maps has made a big difference to us. I don’t think our parents would let us head off on our own if they weren’t sure we could find our way round.

Speaker 4

Boy:   My dad’s a geography teacher at another school, so I often ask him to tell me more about stuff we’ve been doing in class – for example, we’ve just been finding out about how volcanoes work and he’s helped me loads with that. People imagine that’s why it’s my favourite subject, but he didn’t use to talk much about it when I was little cos he says he didn’t want to put me off. We have two lessons a week, which suits me better cos we only had classes once a week last year. Mind you, I was happy enough at the time, being as I wasn’t so keen on geography then.

Speaker 5

Girl:   Me and my friends all love geography – though not really for the same reasons. At one time, I was really into learning about how different countries developed, but now I’m more into stuff like how the ice age or volcanoes have totally changed the way the earth looks. It makes it really exciting when you start to understand why mountains and rivers look the way they are. Soon I’m going climbing with my dad and I’m hoping to find out more about this sort of thing. So geography lessons are definitely the best classes of the week for me – that’s not to say there aren’t other classes I like too, though.

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

Audioscript

Interviewer:   My guest today is the young singer and songwriter, Liz Stewart, who’s here to answer the questions you’ve sent in to her. First, a text from David asking how you got into music, Liz.

Liz:   I picked up a guitar when I was six and that was that. My father had links with the music business, and he even introduced me to a few artists. It was amazing to have that opportunity. Not that he pushed me to become a singer. He knew how tough being a musician is. I was really shy and so the thought of performing on stage put me off.

Interviewer:   Jackie wants to know about what sort of music you liked when you were younger.

Liz:   Well, my parents were big jazz fans, so I heard a lot of that when I was growing up – I didn’t take to it, though. As a kid, I loved pop music on TV, like all my friends, even though my parents didn’t approve! Then, in my teens, the music I got into was a reaction against what my classmates liked. I wasn’t very interested in fitting in, you see.

Interviewer:   Antonio asks where you get your ideas for songs.

Liz:   People say my songs are quite sad, which must mean I’ve had a terrible life, but that’s not the case. I’ve obviously gone through similar things to other people my age. I get inspiration from real life stories I’ve seen on the news or read in a magazine somewhere, but I change the details. I have a good imagination and like my songs to tell a story – they’re full of emotions too, which I hope my teenage audience recognises and shares with me.

Interviewer:   Sophie wants to know how you go about writing a song.

Liz:   Well, I usually write alone in my room and only ask friends what they think when the song’s finally released. I know it might help to discuss things when I’m writing – I find that hard though. So I can sit for days without getting anywhere. That’s just how it is – I don’t let it get to me. When a song’s ready to be written, it comes. You’d think that once it was done, I’d want to go back and edit it thoroughly, but I tend not to do that, and it’s never been a problem.

Interviewer:   Paul asks how you felt about winning an award at that big ceremony you attended recently.

Liz:   Well, I had to be persuaded to go actually, because ceremonies aren’t my thing. I didn’t expect to win because I was up against some big names and they’d obviously got tons more support than I had – some of them didn’t even know who I was. It was embarrassing that I hadn’t written a speech and was only able to mumble a few words. I think maybe I won partly because I write my own songs and I was being given some recognition for that.

Interviewer:   Carole asks if it’s true you’re working on a book about song writing.

Liz:   Yes, it is. Writing a book is more time consuming than composing a song, though – so I’m determined not to let it get in the way of my song writing. Of course, many books have been written on the subject, so it’s been a challenge to make it different from them. I’m doing it by sharing my personal experiences, although it’s true that a book based on my experience and emotions might say more about me than I’m comfortable with.

Interviewer:   Finally, my question is: Do you want to change anything in your life to make it easier to get on with your writing?

Liz:   I work hard and have a very regular routine. I sit around a lot in front of the computer, but go out running as often as I can – it puts me in the right frame of mind to work. I seem to work better in the peace and quiet of the countryside, so at some point I fancy settling there, though my friends probably wouldn’t let me. We go out a lot together in the evenings and I’d miss that!