TEST 1

Section 1

You will hear a conversation between a bank clerk called Jeanette and a man who is
asking for information on investing money. First you have some time to look at questions
1 to 4.

You will see that there is an example that has been done for you. On this occasion
only the conversation relating to this example will be played first.

WOMAN: This is City Bank. You’re speaking with Jeanette. How may I help you today?

MAN: Hi, er – I’d like to ask a few questions about a term deposit.

WOMAN: Certainly. Do you currently have any investments with us?

The man is asking about term deposits, so term deposits has been written in the space. Now
we shall begin. You should answer the questions as you listen because you will not hear the
recording a second time. Listen carefully and answer questions 1 to 4.

WOMAN: This is City Bank. You’re speaking with Jeanette. How may I help you today?

MAN: Hi, er – I’d like to ask a few questions about a term deposit.

WOMAN: Certainly. Do you currently have any investments with us?

MAN: Yes, I do, but my term deposit is due to mature soon, and I’ve come to find out
myoptions for renewing and extending it. I’m considering a range of different investments, to
be honest, but I wanted to begin with the simplest option.

WOMAN: OK, sir. Well, before we begin, I just need to verify your ID. Can I have your name
please?

MAN: David Marshall. That’s M for mother A… R… S…H… A… double L.

WOMAN: Thank you, David. Now, I just need to ask you a couple of security questions.
What’s your mobile phone number?

MAN: 0-2-3 5-6-1-0 double 5.

WOMAN: And your date of birth please?

MAN: 18th of February 1968.

WOMAN: Right, so I’ve got your account information in front of me. You’ve currently got
eighteen thousand dollars on a term of a hundred and eighty days. That’s at a rate of 3.45% per
year, or per annum.

MAN: OK, so what are my options? Can we start by looking at 1 and 2 year terms?

WOMAN: We can do that. Let’s see ... Right … if we put it on a 1-year term, we can offer
you a yearly return of 3.65 per cent, and for 2 years it’s 3.7 per cent. Oh no ... hang on … sorry,
we have a special deal on that term right now, at 3.85 per cent.

MAN: OK, so what does that mean in dollars?

WOMAN: Just one moment and I’ll bring it up. OK, so the total interest earned would be six
hundred and fifty seven dollars over 1 year, and … I’m just bringing up the 2-year figure for
you … that’s a total of one thousand four hundred and twelve dollars interest on maturity.

MAN: Right. That’s about a seven hundred dollar difference.

WOMAN: Yes, a bit more actually.

MAN: OK. Oh … a friend of mine told me he gets his term deposit interest paid into his
account every month. Do you have a monthly interest option?

WOMAN: Yes, actually. We do offer that on term deposits, but only on investments of
twenty thousand dollars or more.

……………………………………………………………………………………….

Before you hear the rest of the conversation, you have some time to look at questions 5 to 10.

Now listen and answer questions 5 to 10.

WOMAN: Can I ask if you’ve considered a P.I.E. as an alternative investment option?

MAN: A pie?

WOMAN: Yes, it stands for Personal Investment Entity – it’s an investment trust – your
earnings tend to be higher than they are for a term deposit, because 28 per cent is the
maximum tax on those earnings.

MAN: OK, that sounds interesting. I’ve heard of those, but I’ve never really understood them. I
thought they were called ‘pies’, and they always sounded like something you eat! But I’d sure
like to get a bigger slice of my investment pie!

WOMAN: Well, with a P.I.E., your investment return changes, depending on how much tax
you normally pay.

MAN: Oh, I see, according to my income bracket.

WOMAN: Yes, that’s right. For example, on a 2-year plan, if you’re earning in the range
between forty-eight thousand and one dollars to seventy thousand dollars, at 30 per cent tax,
there’s a 3.75 per cent effective rate on P.I.E. earnings.

MAN: OK. I’m actually on a 33 per cent tax rate.

WOMAN: Well, that’s an even better return. If you’re earning between seventy thousand
and one dollars and a hundred and twenty thousand dollars, the effective interest rate is higher
too. So let’s have a look … for a 2-year investment ….um … the rate actually goes up to 3.92 per
cent.

MAN: Wow. OK, so a P.I.E. may be the better option, better than a term deposit I mean.
And can I do that with an eighteen thousand dollar investment?

WOMAN: Yes. The minimum deposit for a P.I.E. investment is ten thousand dollars.

MAN: OK. And are there any hidden charges?

WOMAN: No, no fees at all for investing in a P.I.E.

MAN: Well, that’s good news! Oh, wait a minute ... what about interest payment
options? Is it the same as the term deposits – you have to have a minimum deposit to be eligible
for monthly payments?
WOMAN: Let me check the options here ... well, you’ll be pleased to hear that there’s
actually more flexibility with P.I.E.s than with term deposits – you can opt to have your interest
paid every month, quarterly, 6-monthly or yearly.

MAN: OK, well that’s given me something to think about.

WOMAN: Would you like to apply today?

MAN: Er – no, I’ll have to think about it thanks.

WOMAN: Certainly. If you do decide to go ahead with it, applications are processed in 2
days as long as you have a bank account with us, which you do. You can apply on our website,
by phone or pop into one of our branches.

MAN: Great. Thanks for your help.

Narrator:

That is the end of section 1. You now have half a minute to check your answers.

Now turn to section 2

Section 2

You will hear a woman introducing the Lunar Realm Amusement Park. First you have some time
to look at questions 11 to 15.

Listen carefully and answer questions 11 to 15.

SPEAKER:

Good morning everyone ...We’re very pleased to have you here at Lunar Realm for our

September Celebration Day. We have many smaller celebrations throughout the year for
different events … I think it was 5 at last count ... but the September celebration is a special day
to honour the park’s development from tiny beginnings to the huge enterprise it is today. It’s
our most significant annual event.

Come into the visitor center now. Over here you can see a picture of the original park when it
was under construction. The land was donated to the city in 1955, by the then mayor, Matthew
Hardacre, but the park itself wasn’t developed until 1979, and … you’ll notice ... it wasn’t very
big at that time. Then there was a huge growth in the 1990s and we’re still growing today.

In the beginning, there were only a few small rides in the park. There were lots of other
attractions in those days, including an adventure playground for younger kids. The kids loved
the petting zoo with its farm animals, and in fact, that’s the only attraction to have survived
until now. We’ve still kept two of the original rides as an exhibit, but they’re not in working
order any more.

We’re now one of the biggest amusement parks in the country. We’ve got an amazing range of
amusement rides here, 43 in total this year. I think we’re most famous for our roller-coasters,
aren’t we? I guess you’ll all have heard about The Hurricane, that’s our oldest and most famous
one. Some of our visitors think it’s not fast enough to be truly exciting, but we love it because
it’s the highest wooden roller-coaster in the country. Then we have the Bobcat – that one’s a bit
gentler for our younger visitors. And for the truly adventurous, the Scream Machine hurls you
upside down and backwards at huge speeds. It’s too much for me!

It’s important to remember that all of our rides have age guidelines, and to help you, there’s a
color system. If the sign for a ride is yellow, it means it’s suitable for all ages, although we do
recommend that parents or older siblings go with very young children. Blue means that children
younger than 14 can ride only if an adult accompanies them. And black, well, this means that
you must be at least 110 cm tall to ride, regardless of age. We should say that no rides are really
suitable for children younger than 18 months, but we do have a special section for parents with
babies.

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Before you hear the rest of the talk, you have some time to look at questions 16 to 20.

Now listen and answer questions 16 to 20.

Now, I’ll tell you about the many options for food around the park. You can get a range of
different cuisines, Italian, Chinese and so on ... All of that’s in the Food Court, in the center of
the park. But there are lots of other places as well; if you want hamburgers, sandwiches, that
sort of thing, you can find food stands everywhere. We pride ourselves on the quality of our
food, and all of our vendors use fresh, healthy ingredients from local farms.

Don’t forget the special events we’ve planned for the Anniversary Celebration. There are two
main events today and they’re both free. The first is the afternoon parade. It kicks off at noon,
so arrive a bit early if you want a good view. The best place to see it is along the main street. It’s
all organized by final year school students. You’ll see some gymnastics and acrobatics, hear
music from a marching band, and see some fantastic floats. The parade has become one of our
feature events of the year.

The second big event today is an evening concert, which takes place at our main amphitheater.
The concert features singing and dancing, costumes and lights, and there’s a different theme
each year.

This year the theme is Hollywood, and it’s all about classic style and old films. The concert starts
at 7 p.m., but try to arrive by 6:45.

Now I know you’re all eager to get out there and have fun, but before you go I’m just going to
tell you some information about safety and security. If anyone needs medical attention, we
have help available. You can see on this map that next to the Visitor Center ... which is where
we are now, of course ... ah … can you see this red dot? Yes, so that is one of our ten first-aid
centers. If you get hurt, all you need to do is ask a member of staff to direct you towards the
nearest one.

And kids, remember, if something happens, you get lost ... and you can’t find your parents,
please tell someone who works at the park, just look for someone dressed in the Lunar Realm
colors, and they will assist you. And for anyone who has a problem of any sort, you can come
and talk to a member of our security team at any one of the many guard stations ... those are
the blue dots here on the map ...

Don’t forget to take a copy of the map …

NARRATOR:

That is the end of section 2. You now have half a minute to check your answers.

Now turn to section 3.

Section 3

You will hear a conversation between a peer tutor and an engineering student who needs help
with a project. First you have some time to look at questions 21 to 24.

Now listen carefully and answer questions 21 to 24.

LAUREN: Hi Jon. Thanks for seeing me today. I’m really struggling with my project. I have to
comeup with a design for a water treatment system … and I’m really not sure what I’m expected
to do.

TUTOR: Well, as peer tutors we’ve been taught to follow a process in these tutorials, OK?
The first step is to look closely at the task instructions.

LAUREN: That sounds good … I’m also … well …we’ve been told to do some research, but I
don’t know where to start.

TUTOR: It’s always hard to start with. We’ve got about 45 minutes today … that should
give us some time to go over it … have you done much research before?
LAUREN: No, this is my first project like this, and I’m really stressing out about it. I went to
a seminar about research at the start of the year, but I’ve forgotten most of it.

TUTOR: Well, that’s fine, because the next step in our tutorial will be to consider some
common research strategies that you can use to get started. With engineering, a lot of the
projects you do are practical, so you can think about how you can access other people’s
write-ups of similar projects.

LAUREN: Yes, that sounds useful. How do I find those?

TUTOR: Well, there’s always the online databases, but you need to know what search
terms to use. So, can you think of any useful terms?

LAUREN: Umm ... Cameroon, I guess, and maybe grey-water?

TUTOR: Yes, good ... but those might not give you many hits. What about the type of
research? I’ve always found it helpful to search for case studies, you know? There’s probably a
whole lot of those on systems set up for other villages in developing countries that you could
look at. I’ve got a couple here actually – they’re on different topics, but we can look at the
structure, and develop some useful ways to focus your research. Is there anything else you’d
like to look at today?

LAUREN: Um … hmm … I can’t think of anything right now. That all sounds good.

TUTOR: Great – then the next step is to come up with an action plan – how long have you
got?

LAUREN: To finish the project? 4 weeks I think. It’s due on the sixth.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Before you hear the rest of the conversation, you have some time to look at questions 25 to 30.

Now listen and answer questions 25 to 30.

TUTOR: Right, let’s start with the project requirements then. You’ve got them there? –
Great. Let’s see … tell me what you understand about the task.

LAUREN: Um … so we need to create a system for grey water treatment, so that we can
minimize the strain on the overloaded water supply in um ... a village in Cameroon.
TUTOR: That’s right.

LAUREN: But I don’t get the details, about the type of system and what it needs to be used
for.

TUTOR: OK … we’ll come back to the type of system in a minute. It says here grey water –
have you learned about grey water?

LAUREN: No, I missed the lecture.

TUTOR: OK, so it’s the water we use in our houses, but not in the toilet … the water that
goes down the drains, not into sewage – it can be recycled because it’s relatively clean. So what
might the water treatment system try to do?

LAUREN: Treat it and direct it somewhere else?

TUTOR: Exactly … why treat it?

LAUREN: ‘Cause … oh right – I get it, ‘cause it’s still going to have bacteria in it, that’s why it

needs to be treated.

TUTOR: That’s right … and then, when it’s treated, what could it be used for?

LAUREN: Something else … like … irrigation in gardens?

TUTOR: Yes. There are other practical uses too, inside the house.

LAUREN: For toilet cisterns? Oh …what about for laundry?

TUTOR: Yes, exactly. That’s a good example.

LAUREN: OK, that’s pretty clear now – thanks.

TUTOR: Great. Now … let’s think about the type of research you might need to do.

LAUREN: I’ll need to look at different types of water treatment systems – so I know the
pros and cons of each one.

TUTOR: Good. Where would you look first?

LAUREN: The internet?

TUTOR: Yes, but be careful. Remember you’re likely to find a lot of biased websites – you
know, manufacturers wanting to advertise their brands. It might be better to use the
Engineering library.

LAUREN: I’m not too confident about using the library, to be honest – it’s so hard finding
the right resources.

TUTOR: Hmm – it’s often about choosing the best search terms to put into the catalog
search field.

LAUREN: Yeah, I try to do that. Like water treatment?

TUTOR: That might be too broad.

LAUREN: Grey water treatment systems?

TUTOR: That’s more like it. And you’ll need to search for systems designed for residential,
not commercial, use. There’s a big difference.

LAUREN: I usually end up borrowing a massive pile of books, then get home and find
they’re useless.

TUTOR: Er … try reading through the contents before you take them out, flick through to
relevant sections – often it helps to read parts – not all the way through – but …

LAUREN: Just to get the main idea?

TUTOR: That’s right. Oh – and I see this is an EWB project – have you seen the website? It

might have some exemplars of the winning designs from last year’s competition.

LAUREN: No. I saw that and didn’t know what EWB meant.

TUTOR: Engineering Without Borders is what it stands for.

NARRATOR:

That is the end of section 3. You now have half a minute to check your answers.

Now turn to section 4.

Section 4

You will hear a talk on the topic of the Caveman diet. First you have some time to look at
questions 31 to 40.

Listen carefully and answer questions 31 to 40.

Hello everyone. Do you use the internet? If I asked you, what is the single most common topic
for advertisements on the net, I suspect ads for weight loss would win hands down. After all,
dieting is one of our current obsessions. We’ve all heard of the Atkins diet, the macrobiotic plan,
the South Beach diet, the raw food eating plan; all of these fad diets and many more promise
that you will lose kilos and live a healthy life if you just follow their plan.

Today, we’re going to discuss one of the most well-known Western diet trends, the Paleo or
Caveman diet. Firstly, what is this diet, and where did it come from? Proponents of this diet
argue that we need to return to basics; that is, to what our forebears ate many years ago. They
say that our bodies are not well suited to digest complex carbohydrates such as grains and
legumes. We should be eating a hunter-gatherer diet, rich in lean meat, fish, nuts and berries
and without wheat, oats or other grains that came into our diet after the invention of
agriculture.

Sounds logical, doesn’t it? But, let’s look a little closer. The first question to ask about the
caveman diet is; what did our ancestors actually eat? One way to discover this is to study the
diets of existing hunter-gatherer tribes. Although these groups do tend to regard meat as the
best source of food, they often have difficulty in finding it. In Africa, for example, over 50% of
the time the Bushmen tribes come home empty handed from their hunting expeditions, despite
being very skilful with equipment such as bows and arrows. So, what do they eat when they
can’t get meat? Well, the wives come to the fore then, foraging for and cooking local plants.
Most of the groups eat a lot of plants. These range

through a huge variety of local species including nuts, plantains and yams, and evidence
suggests that this was true of our ancient ancestors as well. Researchers suggest that these
people would eat more meat if they could get it, but in fact only approximately a third of their
calories comes from this protein and fat rich source.
Research shows that, when these groups first come into contact with a Western diet, their
health suffers. Once they’re exposed to our diet of refined carbohydrates and sugars, they
quickly develop our lifestyle-related diseases. However, that does not mean that the human
digestive system is suited to digesting only a few sources of food, nor that it cannot change to
accommodate different food sources. In fact, the evidence would suggest exactly the opposite;
as a species we are able to make significant modifications to our digestive systems according to
what foods are available in our local environment.

Examples abound, and our ability to digest lactose is a good one. Lactose is a sugar that is found
in milk, and it is digested in the human gut by the enzyme lactase. In communities in Europe,
the Middle East and Africa that traditionally herd cattle and drink cows’ milk, this enzyme is
present and people can digest milk products. However, in places such as China and Thailand,
which do not have this style of farming, the enzyme is lacking, and most people have lactose
intolerance. Another example is the ability to digest the sugars from starchy foods.
Communities that eat a lot of these foods have saliva that breaks down starchy foods before
they reach the gut, whereas other groups have more difficulty in getting nutrition from high
starch sources.

In fact, if you look at indigenous cultures around the world, there is a huge variety of successful
diets.

The Inuit get nearly all of their energy from high fat sources such as seal meat. The Jains in India
have religious beliefs which prohibit eating any living thing, including eggs, but which do,
however, allow for the consumption of milk products. Other groups eat mostly fish, or have an
insect-based diet, depending on locally available sources of protein. So, the idea that our
caveman ancestors ate one homogenous diet and that if we follow this we can all be healthy,
would seem to be an oversimplification. Diets are the result of complex cultural dietary
practices. People can, and will, eat just about anything!

So, if we can eat a variety of diets, is there anything actually wrong with following the Caveman
diet?

Well, firstly, on a practical level, it’s an expensive way to get your daily calories. Few of us can
afford to satisfy all of our energy requirements on a diet which depends on lean wild meat and
nut oils. A few carbohydrates provide a cheap, filling and substantial energy boost for most of
us.

Secondly, a diet which includes a large proportion of red meat may not be good for our long
term health, if our bodies are adapted to a sedentary lifestyle and a plant-based diet. We simply
get less exercise than our ancestors did, and so we are more prone to some illnesses than they
were. Finally, if we all start to eat a wild meat based diet, this will have negative implications for
the environment, because it’s not a sustainable way to feed a lot of people.

NARRATOR:

That is the end of section 4. You now have half a minute to check your answers.

That is the end of the listening test. You now have 10 minutes to transfer your answers to the
listening answer sheet.

TEST 2

Section 1:
MAN: Good morning, Synmouth Museum. Can I help you?
WOMAN: Oh yes. Good morning. I'm interested in the children's workshops and I'd like a little
more information, please.
MAN: Do you mean the Art and Craft workshops?
WOMAN: Yes. A friend of a friend mentioned them - the children do painting and make
models and so forth.
MAN: Yes, of course. Um, where to begin? First of all, as you probably know, they run every
Saturday.
WOMAN: Fine. And what about ages?
MAN: Well, all ages from five upwards are welcome, though we do ask that children below
eight years of age are accompanied by an adult.
WOMAN: Fine. That wouldn't be a problem. What about cost?
MAN: Well, I think you'll find them very reasonable. It's £2.50 a child, with 80 pence off for
two or more children from the same family.
WOMAN: Oh yes, very reasonable. And are they held in the main museum?
MAN: Not exactly. They're nearby.
WOMAN: Could you give me the full address? I don't know the area very well.
MAN: Yes, it's Winter House.
WOMAN: Right.
MAN: And that's in Tamer Street.
WOMAN: Could you spell that, please?
MAN: Yes, T-A-M-E-R Street.
WOMAN: Lovely.
MAN: And I do need to tell you that there's a security entrance, so you need to press the
green button for someone to let you in. Don't press the red button please, but don't worry, it's
all clearly labelled.
WOMAN: OK. And one more question - is parking available nearby? We're driving in from out
of town.
MAN: Your best bet is to leave your car at the back of the library - on a Saturday morning
there are plenty of spaces there. It's right next door to the museum.
WOMAN: And can I ask about booking places?
MAN: Yes, and I must tell you, you really should book by calling the education department
here.
WOMAN: Oh, I'm sorry, should I have rung them instead of the main museum number?
MAN: No, that's fine this time, please don't worry. But for future reference, I'll give you the
direct number. It's two hundred-seven-six-five.
WOMAN: Great, I've got that.
MAN: But I'm very happy to give you information about the next two workshops. On Saturday
the 16th there's Building Castles.
WOMAN: Oh, sounds great!
MAN: This involves quite a bit of glue, so just make sure the kids are in old clothes.
WOMAN: I know, ones I don't mind getting mucky.
MAN: Exactly. And if possible, could you bring along bottle tops which the children might be
able to use in the models, you know, as decoration?
WOMAN: We'll certainly try to find some for you.
MAN: Then the following week ...
WOMAN: That'll be the 23rd, won't it?
MAN: Yes, that's right. On that day, it's what we call Undersea Worlds. This is where they
make scenes with fishes, underground caverns and so on.
WOMAN: Is that likely to get very dirty? Lots of paint splashes?
MAN: Not really, so we don't recommend any special clothes for that one. But if you could
search out some silver paper to bring along to use in the sessions, you know, it's shiny - it looks
like water, that'd be great.
WOMAN: Yes, of course. We'll see what we can come up with. Well, thank you ever so much
for all your help. The sessions sound really good and I'll certainly book up for the next two.
MAN: Lovely. Thanks very much for ringing.
WOMAN: Bye.
MAN: Bye-bye.

Section 2:
Hello. Um, my family and I are staying here in Trebirch for a week or two and we wanted to
know about the train services. We're hoping to do a few local trips.
TUTOR: OK. Well, I can give you lots of details about all the trains going from Trebirch in the
South West. This leaflet will be very helpful but I can tell you some of the main things. We've got
two main train stations in the town. King Street is for local commuter lines and regional services.
CUSTOMER: What about trains to London? I'll need to go there on business for one day.
TUTOR: Then you need to go to Central Station - that's for all the national services. There are
regular trains to London. They leave Trebirch every half-hour on weekdays and every hour at
weekends. It takes about two hours, a bit longer on Sundays. You've got a choice of first and
second class and there's a buffet car - though refreshments are included in the cost of a first
class ticket.
CUSTOMER: Ah right. Um, and have you got any information on different ticket types?
TUTOR: Yes. There's a range of ticket prices depending on when you travel and when you buy
your ticket. There's a standard open ticket which doesn't have any restrictions. This can be
bought in advance or on the day.
You can also get various discounted tickets. A popular one is called the Supersave and, er, this is
OK for travel after 8.45. Then there is the Special ticket, which is valid for travel after 10.15. The
Special tickets are also valid for travel at weekends. The cheapest tickets are called Advance and
you have to buy them at least six days ahead. Only a certain number are available and you have
to make seat reservations for these.
CUSTOMER: Thanks. And are there lots of places to go to around here?
TUTOR: Oh yes. You can enjoy many days out. Um, there's the Merthyr Mining Museum,
which is only half an hour from Trebirch by train. Your children will find it just as fascinating as
any theme park and they can ride in the original miners' lifts and on the coal trains. There are
special excursion tickets which include entrance fees. Mainline trains also offer direct services to
Bristol, where you can visit the docks or spend a great day out with the children in the zoo,
which is set in the parkland that used to surround the old castle.
Er, special family awayday fares are available for this service now during the school holidays. Er,
alternatively, you can be in Birmingham in only an hour and a half, where there's lots to see and
do including the new and internationally acclaimed climbing wall built on the site of the old
aquarium. We will also be running a special service to Newport when the new science museum
opens next year, as we anticipate a lot of visitors in the opening weeks. I'd advise you to call
early to book your tickets. Is that OK?
CUSTOMER: Yes, thanks.
Section 3:
TUTOR: Hello, Sandy. How have you been getting on with your dissertation?
SANDY: Fine, and I've been working hard on the various action points we agreed on our last
tutorial.
TUTOR: Do you want to talk me through what you've done?
SANDY: Yeah, sure. Well, we agreed on three main targets for me to aim for. The first one
was to find out about suitable data analysis software.
TUTOR: Yes.
SANDY: And what I decided to do was to look through catalogues specialising in IT.
TUTOR: That's a good idea. What did you come up with?
SANDY: I found the names of two promising ones.
TUTOR: Right.
SANDY: But I also thought it'd be worthwhile talking to a lecturer.
TUTOR: Oh right. Who did you see?
SANDY: Jane Prince. Do you know her? She's in the Computer Centre.
TUTOR: Yes, of course, she's the new Head.
SANDY: Yes. Well, she was very helpful.
TUTOR: Oh, that's good. Did she suggest anything in particular?
SANDY: Yeah. She recommended software called Vivat and said I should book up for a couple
of practice sessions using Vivat.
TUTOR: Great. I'm sure you'll find them useful.
SANDY: And, of course, the second target was to draw up a survey checklist which I ...
TUTOR: Yes, you emailed me it last week.
SANDY: Have you had a chance to look ...?
TUTOR: Of course, um I think it's good. Very much on the right lines. I'd say your first two
sections are spot on. I wouldn't suggest that you change anything there, but in section three you
really do need to have questions on teaching experience.
SANDY: Yeah. I was thinking that section looked a bit short.
TUTOR: Right.
SANDY: And my third target was, do further reading on discipline.
TUTOR: Oh yes. I mentioned a couple of writers, didn't I?
SANDY: Yes, well I got hold of the Banerjee and I thought that was excellent.
But I'm afraid I didn't manage to get hold of the essays about classroom management - you
know, the ones by Simon Ericsson. The bookshop said it was out of print and the library doesn't
have a copy.
TUTOR: Oh right, and I'm afraid I've lent my copy to another student. What I suggest you do is
try the library again - this time apply for it through the service called special loans.
Have you done that before? You're entitled to six books a year.
SANDY: Yes. No problem. That's what I'll do.
TUTOR: So, lots of useful work done.
TUTOR: So, let's look at some new targets. We'll start by having a chat about your Chapter
One. I very much enjoyed reading it. Your written style is very clear and you've included lots of
interesting descriptions of education in your target area. I've just got a couple of suggestions for
some additional work.
SANDY: Of course. Could I just ask - what do you think I should call it?
TUTOR: Well, I'd go for something like Context Review. What do you think?
SANDY: Well, short and to the point.
TUTOR: Exactly. Now, as regards specific areas to work on, I'd be quite interested to have a
few more statistics about the schools in the different zones.
SANDY: Oh, that wouldn't be a problem. I can get them from the Internet.
TUTOR: Great, and although you did make a reference to quite a few different writers, I think
you should aim to cite more works written later than 2000.
SANDY: OK. That's more difficult, but I can try When do you want that done by?
TUTOR: Oh, it's not urgent. Um, I should aim for the end of term. But in the meantime, I think
you should also be thinking about Chapter Two.
SANDY: Should I be drafting it already?
TUTOR: No, but I think you should note down its main sections.
SANDY: Yes. You know, I always find that the hardest part.
TUTOR: I always find it helpful to put some ideas on index cards.
SANDY: Yeah.
TUTOR: Um ... and then you can sort them, and even lay them out on the floor. It's a real help.
SANDY: Well, I'll certainly try it! When would the deadline be for that?
TUTOR: My advice would be to get it done before you embark upon the research. You can
always change it later if you need to.
SANDY: OK. I'll get going on that then.
Section 4:
Many believe that the story first began in America in 1877, when two friends were arguing over
whether a horse ever had all four feet or hooves off the ground when it galloped. To settle the
bet, a photographer was asked to photograph a horse galloping and the bet was settled because
you could see that all the hooves were off the ground in some of the photos. What was even
more interesting was that if the photos were shown in quick succession the horse looked like it
was running - in other words 'moving pictures'.
The person who became interested in taking the moving pictures to its next step was the
famous American inventor Thomas Edison. Actually, he didn't do the work himself but rather
asked a young Scotsman in his employ to design a system, which he did. Now this young fellow
was clever because the first thing he did was study other systems - primitive as they were - of
moving pictures and then put all the existing technologies together to make the first entire
motion picture system. He designed a camera, a projection device and the film. The system was
first shown in New York in 1894 and was really very popular. Apparently, people lined up around
the block to see the wonderful new invention. There were, however, a couple of problems with
the system. The camera weighed over 200 kilograms and only one person at a time could see
the film.
Well now, news of the new system in America travelled fast and a number of rival European
systems started to appear once people had heard about it. The single problem with all the
systems was they couldn't really project the film onto a Screen - you know, so more than one
person could see it. Then in 1895, three systems were all developed, more or less at the same
time and independently of each other. I guess the most famous of these was by the Lum ere
Brothers from France, and they called their system the cinematographe which of course is
where the word cinema comes from. There were also two brothers in Germany who developed
a successful system and they called it a bioskop.
Well now, once the problem of projection had been solved, the next challenge for the inventors
was to make the films longer and more interesting. A continuing problem at the time was that
the films had a tendency to break when they were being played - a problem which was caused
by the tension between the two wheels, or 'reels' as they are called, which hold the film. Now
this problem was solved by two American brothers. They developed the 'Lantham Loop', which
was the simple addition of a third reel between the two main reels, and this took all the tension
away with the result that the film stopped snapping.
So now there was a real possibility of having films of more than two or three minutes, and this
led to the making of The Great Train Robbery - the very first movie made. It only lasted 11
minutes but was an absolute sensation, and there were cases of people watching the movie and
actually fainting when the character fired a gun at the camera! Almost overnight movies became
a craze, and by 1905 people in America were lining up to see movies in `store theatres', as they
were called then.
I guess the next big step in terms of development of technology was to have people actually
talking on the film, and the first step towards this was in 1926 when sound effects were first
used on a film. It wasn't until the following year however that the first 'talkie', as they were
called then, was made. This film featured actors speaking only during parts of the film and was
called The Jazz Singer, and it wasn't until 1928 that the first all-talking film was produced, and
this was called The Lights of New York. Unfortunately, the sound on this early film was not very
good and I believe they put subtitles on the film - that is, they printed the dialogue along the
bottom of the film to compensate for this poor sound quality. Now, with the addition of sound,
moving pictures became far more difficult to make ...
 TEST 3

Section 1

Assistant 1: Rawlings Insurance. Good morning. Can I help you?

Elisabeth: Oh, hello. I’m ringing to report an accident.
Assistant 1: A car accident?
Elisabeth: Yes.
Assistant 1: Just hold the line a moment please. I’m putting you through to our motor insurance
department.
Assistant 2: Hello?
Elisabeth: Hello.
Assistant 2: I understand you want to report an accident?
Elisabeth: Yes. My car’s been damaged – someone came out in front of me …
Assistant 2: Could I just check a few personal details before we go any further?
Assistant: Oh yes, sorry.
Assistant 2: Your name, first of all.
Elisabeth: It’s ELISABETH Ricard.
Assistant 2: Is that R–I–K–A–R–D?
Elisabeth: It’s spelt with a C not a K.
Assistant 2: Oh, OK … And your date of birth please?
Elisabeth: It’s the eighth of October, 1975.
Assistant 2: … And lastly, I just need to check your address.
Elisabeth: Oh, actually I moved house last month so the street name’s different. It’s 60 Forest
Road. I think you’ve got 22 Ash Avenue on your records?
Assistant 2: I have. So, I’ll just make a note of that … That’s fine … And is that in the same town
still? Callington?
Elisabeth: That’s right.
Assistant 2: Right, now … do you have your insurance policy in front of you?
Elisabeth: Yes, I do.
Assistant 2: Can you give me the policy number please? It’s at the top.
Elisabeth: Oh yes. Five–oh–nine–two–four?
Assistant 2: It’s in a box – it should start with letters …
Elisabeth: Oh, C-Z- double eight–oh–nine?
Assistant 2: That’s the one. And now I want to ask you about the accident itself. Is that OK?
Elisabeth: Yes, that’s fine.
Assistant 2: First of all, did it happen today?
Elisabeth: No, it happened yesterday evening, but by the time I got home it was late, so I didn’t
call.
Assistant 2: That’s not a problem. So … let’s see … today’s the thirteenth of September, so it
happened on the twelfth. Is that right?
Elisabeth: It is.
Assistant 2: Do you know approximately what time the accident occurred?
Elisabeth: Er … oh dear … I wasn’t wearing a watch, and I was a bit shocked. But I’d say it was
between 8.15 and 8.45.
Assistant 2: That’s OK. I’ll just record that it happened at about 8.30. It doesn’t matter exactly …
And I don’t suppose you’ve got any supporting evidence have you? I mean witness statements,
that kind of thing?
Elisabeth: I don’t have witness statements I’m afraid, but I’ve got a police report. They came
and measured up and checked the marks on the road. But unfortunately nobody else was
around at the time of the accident.
Assistant 2: Any hospital report?
Elisabeth: No.
Assistant 2: So I take it you don’t have any medical problems then? Any injuries?
Elisabeth: Only minor ones. It was mainly the car that got damaged luckily.
Assistant 2: Absolutely. But we do recommend that you have a check up anyway. Within
twenty-four hours if possible.
Elisabeth: Yes, OK. I’ll make an appointment today.
Assistant 2: Fine. And now, can you tell me what happened exactly? I’m going to make a few
notes.
Elisabeth: I was driving home from the swimming pool and …
Assistant 2: I don’t know Callington at all, so could you describe it for me? Where did the
accident happen?
Elisabeth: On the road between New Town and Callington. I was driving from New Town,
heading towards Callington, and …
Assistant 2: OK, just let me draw the road layout … Right. OK?
Elisabeth: When you leave New Town there’s a sharp bend in the road and then there’s a
railway bridge.
Assistant 2: OK.
Elisabeth: And then about half a kilometre further on there’s a crossroads with traffic lights. And
I was just in between the two when it happened. I wasn’t going very fast, in fact I definitely …
Assistant 2: So you’d already gone over the bridge?
Elisabeth: Yes. And I’d passed the park – that’s on the right hand side. And I was just
approaching the petrol station …
Assistant 2: Where’s that then?
Elisabeth: It’s a bit further along, on the opposite side.
Assistant 2: So, on your near side then?
Elisabeth: Yes. As I was approaching it I saw a blue van coming towards me. The driver had
stopped in the middle of the road.
Assistant 2: Was he indicating?
Elisabeth: Yes. He was waiting to turn into the petrol station. But then at the last minute he
decided to turn right in front of me. He must have thought he had enough time, but I had to
swerve to avoid him. And I came off the road and landed in a ditch on the opposite side.
Assistant 2: Mmm. I don’t suppose he stopped did he?
Elisabeth: Oh yes. He came over to see if I was OK, but he tried to say it was my fault. And there
wasn’t …

Section 2

Presenter: Good morning, and welcome to our weekly programme about countryside matters.
With me today I have Jacky Lamerton. Jacky works for the nature organization Action for
Wildlife, and she’s appealing for volunteers for a project she’s organizing, so if you think you
might be willing to help please listen carefully. Jacky …
Lecturer: Thank you. Yes … as you’ve just heard, I represent a charity called Action for Wildlife,
which works to protect plants and animals. And I’m here today to talk about a project to save a
type of mouse known as a dormouse. We can still find the dormouse in this area, but in the last
few decades the number of dormice has seriously declined, not just in this country but across
the world. There are several reasons for this – loss of habitat, climate change, competition for
food – and this area of the UK is now regarded as one of the last strongholds. So naturally, we
want to help the creature to survive here as much as we can.
The aim of the first stage of our project is simply to identify specific locations where dormice are
still to be found, and estimate the number we have here. So I’ll just tell you a little bit about the
creature, in case you don’t already know. The dormouse is a very attractive, very small mammal
– it only weighs about the same as a couple of pound coins. It’s bright golden in colour, and it
has a thick furry tail and big black eyes. Now, you’ve probably all seen a picture of a dormouse,
but you’re very unlikely to have seen a real one because they’re strictly nocturnal. Also, they
hibernate from October to April, so it’s not around at all for about half the year.
So where is the dormouse to be found? Well, dormice need to be near a variety of trees and
plants, so they can be sure of a continuous supply of food throughout the spring and summer.
They feed on flowers, pollen, fruit, insects, ripe nuts – things that are available in turn as the
summer progresses. Here in the UK the dormouse is most likely to live in places like hedgerows,
or woods, or at the edges of farmland.
So how do we find out exactly where dormice are? Well, as they’re hard to spot, as I said, we
have to use indirect methods. Instead of trying to see dormice themselves, we look for evidence
of dormouse activity. Dormice eat hazelnuts, so we’ll be looking for the shells that dormice have
opened to get at the nut inside.
A lot of wildlife species eat hazelnuts – it’s not just dormice. But it’s usually possible to tell
which particular animal has opened a nut by looking at the marks on the shells. So now, for
those of you who would like to help us carry out this survey, let me tell you exactly what to do.
You’ll need to get an identification sheet like this from us, then you should spend time looking
for hazelnut shells in the bottom of hedgerows, or on the ground in woodlands.
If you find one, use the identification sheet to try and establish what kind of creature has
opened it. You’ll see from the pictures on the sheet that different creatures do it in different
ways. For example, you’ll see that insects make a small hole in the shell, less than 2 millimetres
across. Then there’s another type of mouse called a woodmouse. Woodmice make a hole in the
shell too, but they leave parallel tooth marks on the inner rim of the shell, as well as rough
scratches on the surface. Thirdly there are little mammals called voles. These creatures don’t
leave any marks on the surface, but they leave tooth marks on the inner rim of the hole. And
these marks are neat and parallel. So they’re fairly easy to identify. Then there are squirrels and
birds. They both open the nuts, leaving half shells that have got jagged edges. And finally we
have our dormice. They make a hole in the shell that has a smooth inner edge. And the tooth
marks it leaves are on the surface, at an angle to the hole. And these are the ones we’re looking
for of course.
Firstly, if you do find any nuts which you think have been opened by dormice you need to
record their location as precisely as possible. You can use the grid references on a map, or you
can sketch your own map, but if you do, be sure to include landmarks or road names. It’s very
important that we know exactly where the shells came from. Then put the nut shells in a small
container. Any kind will do – a film box or a match box – anything that prevents them from
being crushed in the post. And then finally, give them a label – just your name and contact
details – and send them to Action for Wildlife. When we receive them an expert will look at the
shells to confirm your identification. The address to send them to is …

Section 3

Tutor: Hello you two, have a seat … OK? So, you’re going to tell me about the presentation
you’re preparing for next week’s marketing seminar, right?
Jack: That’s right. We’ve drafted this plan for you to look at …
Tutor: OK, thanks. Perhaps you could just talk me through it, could you? Sarah, do you want to
begin?
Sarah: Yes. Well, we’re going to compare the websites of two bicycle companies …
Tutor: Right … And they’re called Hills Cycles and Wheels Unlimited?
Sarah: Yes. And first of all, we’ve compared the content of each site, and the presentation. Then
we’ve done an evaluation of each one.
Tutor: OK… And did you find much difference between the two websites? Jack?
Jack: Quite a bit, yes. Wheels Unlimited has a lot more pages, for a start … Both companies
show their catalogue – I mean pictures of different models of bike, with specifications.
Tutor: And prices?
Jack: Yes, they’re there too, although they list them in different ways – Hills Cycles have got
them next to the pictures and Wheels Unlimited show them on a separate page.
Sarah: But Wheels Unlimited advertises lots of other products connected with bikes – like
helmets, and clothing, and tools.
Jack: Yes, all kinds of things.
Tutor: And Hills Cycles?
Sarah: No. They only show the bikes themselves.
Tutor: OK. Well … is there anything on the Hills Cycles website that Wheels Unlimited doesn’t
have?
Jack: Not really.
Sarah: Yes there is – it’s got a little photo of the original shop, and a paragraph about the
history of the company – it’s family owned.
Jack: Oh yes, I forgot about that.
Tutor: Right … That’s the content then. And you compared the functions of the two websites,
did you?
Jack: Yes. Hills Cycles doesn’t have any facility for online ordering. You have to ring up to order
something, that’s the only way you can do it.
Sarah: Well no, you can send off for a paper catalogue with an order form.
Jack: Oh yes, I suppose so. But with Wheels Unlimited you can order online or in the
conventional ways.
Sarah: That’s right.
Tutor: Fine. OK. And what about the presentation? Did you find any particular differences there?
Or similarities? What about visuals?
Jack: As I said, both the sites have got pictures, and they’re both quite attractive, but
Wheels Unlimited hasn’t got any moving graphics.
Sarah: Yes. Hills Cycles has got an animated cartoon at the top of the Home Page.
Tutor: Right. Well, it looks as if you’ve got plenty to talk about.
Sarah: There are other things too, but those are the main things we noticed.
Tutor: OK, well you’d better stick to the most obvious differences, because you’ve only got ten
minutes for the whole presentation, haven’t you? And you said you’re going to evaluate each
site as well, didn’t you? How are you going to do that? I mean what criteria will you use?
Sarah: We thought we’d use three criteria: how attractive each website is, how userfriendly it is,
and how closely it targets its potential customers. Do you think that’s OK?
Tutor: Sounds fine. But I’d look at the criteria in a different order if I were you. Because really
you’ve got to look at attractiveness and user-friendliness in relation to the people the website is
aiming at. So, I’d deal with that criterion first if I were you.
Sarah: Right.
Tutor: What about the timing? Have you thought of that? Ten minutes is very short you know.
Jack: Yes. We tried it out.
Sarah: Several times!
Jack: And we’ve decided to spend four minutes comparing the two sites, then three minutes
evaluating them, and leave three minutes for questions. That’s not really enough, but …
Tutor: Well it sounds about right to me. You’ve got ten minutes altogether and you have got to
stick to that limit. It’s good practice, and at least the audience won’t have time to get bored!
What visuals are you going to use?
Jack: We’re going to use Powerpoint and a flip chart as well.
Sarah: So we can show two things at once. For example, we’re going to start by showing the
Home Pages of each website, and we’re going to put up a list of key features on the flip chart at
the same time.
Tutor: OK. And it’s a joint presentation, so have you decided how you’re going to share the
work?
Jack: Yes. First we thought we’d keep taking it in turns to speak – Sarah would say a bit, then I’d
take over, and so on. Then we thought we’d just divide it into two equal parts and do one part
each. But it was all too complicated. So Sarah’s going to do all the talking, and I’m going to
manage the visuals. And hope we can coordinate properly!
Sarah: It’s the only way we can fit everything in.
Tutor: Well, good. You’ve obviously worked hard and you’ve been very careful with the details.
Only one thing I would say: make sure that you keep your visuals simple. I mean, if you’re
showing a list of key features, for example, you should make it as brief as possible. Just use
bullet points and simple phrases, even single words. Your audience won’t have much reading
time. It’s a classic mistake with seminar presentations to present so much information that the
audience can’t process it quickly enough, and they stop listening to what you’re saying. OK?
Jack: Yes. Right. OK.
Tutor: And now let’s talk about …

Section 4

Lecturer: In today’s lecture I’m going to continue the theme of animal communication, and I’m
going to describe some of the latest research into the largest of all land animals. And that is the
elephant, of course.
Let me begin by briefly outlining the structure of elephant society. Elephants live in layered
societies. The basic family unit is formed of small groups of adult females, who are related to
each other, and their young of both sexes. Now the females remain in their families for life,
they’re highly social, but male elephants leave their families at about fourteen years of age.
They travel alone or congregate in small, loose groups with other males, occasionally joining a
family on a temporary basis. When males are ready to mate they wander widely, searching for
receptive females.
The family unit, on the other hand, often contains three generations, and it can remain stable
for decades, or even centuries. Then … each family associates with between one and five other
families, probably consisting of their more distant relatives. Scientists call these groups of
families ‘bond groups’, and bond groups belong, in turn, to even larger groups, called clans.
So elephants have a complex social structure. And like other social animals they have to be able
to communicate. But what baffled early naturalists was their ability to communicate over long
distances. So they set about researching this question.
In one experiment, scientists fitted groups of elephants with radio-tracking collars. And what
they observed about their behaviour really intrigued them. Because they found that there was
some sort of co-ordination between families. For example, two separate family groups might
move in parallel to each other, miles apart, and then change direction simultaneously, either
turning or moving towards each other. Now elephants have a keen sense of smell which they
use whenever they can. But smell alone couldn’t account for these synchronized movements,
because the wind often carries odours in the wrong direction. So, the scientists concluded that
the elephants were using their hearing instead, and attention then turned to the nature of
elephant calls.
In another experiment, scientists from Cornell University in America went to Etosha National
Park in Namibia, and they produced a recording of calls made by a female elephant to potential
mates. Then they broadcast it. And they did this from a van which was parked more than half a
mile from a water hole where several bull elephants were drinking. And two of these looked up,
spread their ears wide, and then crunched through the bush towards the loudspeakers. As you
can imagine, the scientists may have been alarmed at this point, but the elephants marched
straight on, past them and their van, in search of a female elephant. But the striking aspect of
this experiment was that, when they replayed their recording, neither the two scientists nor the
rest of their team, who were filming from a nearby tower, could hear it. And that’s because the
sounds that they had replayed were below the lower threshold of human hearing. In scientific
terminology, the sounds are infrasonic.
Elephants can make these extremely low-pitched sounds because although they have a larynx,
or voice box, that is similar to those of all other mammals, it’s much larger. But what do the
sounds ‘mean’? Scientists from Pittsburgh Zoo in the USA have classified certain infrasonic calls,
based on when these occur and how other elephants react to them. They found, for example,
that when individual family members re-unite after separation, they greet each other very
enthusiastically, and the excitement increases with the length of time that they’ve been
separated. They trumpet and scream and touch each other. They also use a greeting rumble.
This starts at a low 18 Hertz – Hertz is a measurement of sound pitch – crests at 25 Hertz, which
is a level just high enough to be audible to humans, and then falls back to 18 Hertz again. In
another example, an elephant attempting to locate its family uses the contact call. This call has
a relatively quiet, low tone, with a strong overtone which is clearly audible to humans.
Immediately after contact calling, the elephant will lift and spread its ears, and rotate its head,
as if listening for the response. The contact answer is louder and more abrupt than the greeting
call, and it trails off at the end. Contact calls and answers can last for hours, until the elephant
successfully rejoins her family. A third type of call seems to represent a summons to move on.
At the end of a meal, one member of a family moves to the edge of the group, typically lifts one
leg and flaps her ears. At the same time she emits a ‘let’s go’ rumble, which arouses the family,
and they start to move on. Finally, mating activity is associated with yet another group of calls.
So, our understanding of elephant communication has increased considerably in recent years.
However, even with the use of radio tracking collars it’s technically difficult to document the
functions of long-range communication. So although scientists are aware that elephants may
know the whereabouts, and possibly the activities of other elephants that are several miles
away, there may be a lot of subtle, long-range interactions which are still not evident.

TEST 4

Section 1

LIBRARIAN: Good morning, North College Library. How can I help you?
MAN: I was wondering if it was possible to join the library.
LIBRARIAN: Are you a student at North College?
MAN: No, I'm not, but someone told me it was possible to join, even if I wasn't.
LIBRARIAN: That's right, it is. Are you over 18? That's our minimum joining age.
MAN: Yes, I am.
LIBRARIAN: That's no problem then.
MAN: Could you tell me what I have to do to join?
LIBRARIAN: Well, you'll need to come in to the library and fill out some forms. You'll also need
to bring two passport photos with you. We also need two documents for ID, so a driving licence
would be fine.
MAN: I've got that and what else? A credit card?
LIBRARIAN: No, it needs to have your address on it.
MAN: Shall I bring a bank statement,, would that do?
LIBRARIAN: That'll be fine.
MAN: Good. Does it cost anything to join?
LIBRARIAN: Well, it's free for students here but otherwise it's £125 per year or £25 if you've got
a current student card from another college.
MAN: I was at Westerly College until last year but now I've got a job at Jefferson's steel factory.
Er, it's more expensive than I thought. My local library is free.
LIBRARIAN: But you'll find they don't have the range of reference books or facilities which we
buy for our students. That's why you have to pay to be an external member.
MAN: I see. How many books can I borrow?
LIBRARIAN: We allow twelve items borrowed at any one time if you're a student, and that
includes CDs, DVDs and videos. However, it's only eight items for members of the public.
MAN: Fine. And how long can I have them for?
LIBRARIAN: Well, you can have both fiction and reference books for four weeks which isn't bad
really.
MAN: And what happens if I return them late?
LIBRARIAN: Like all libraries there's a fine system in place. The minimum fine is £1.50 but it can
be much higher for some items - up to £5 per week.
WWe'll give you a booklet with all the details when you join. You can always renew items if
they're not required by anyone else by telephoning or logging on to our website.
MAN: What about the computers? Can I use them free of charge?
LIBRARIAN: For college students it's free, but for external members like yourself, the first hour is
free and then we make a nominal charge of £ 1 per hour thereafter.
MAN: Do I have to book in advance for them?
LIBRARIAN: Oh, yes, it's advisable. Most people tend to book twenty-four hours in advance
although sometimes you can get one with only six hours' notice.
However, the earliest you can book a computer is forty-eight hours before you need it, and you
can only book one hour at a time.
If no-one else has booked the computer out, then you may be able to have another hour if you
want. We have a wide range of databases, so the computers are in great demand.
MAN: I'm thinking of doing some writing and I might need to access national newspapers. Do
you have them on these databases?
LIBRARIAN: We do indeed. We've got all the big nationals, The Guardian and The Observer, The
Independent and The Times and Sunday Times.
We've also got all the local papers and a wide selection of magazines.
MAN: Excellent. I assume you have photocopying facilities?
LIBRARIAN: Of course. 5p a sheet for both A4 and A3 black-and-white copies and 40p a sheet for
colour.
You can get a card from the counter here - it doesn't take coins.
MAN: OK. Oh by the way, another thing I was wondering about was if you ran any writing
classes through the library?
LIBRARIAN: We do, but you'll have to speak to John Grantingham about that. He's our resident
author. He runs the creative writing classes.
MAN: John ... Grant .... Could you spell that for me please?
LIBRARIAN: Certainly.G-R-A-N-T-I-N-G-H-A-M.
MAN: Are the classes here at the library?
LIBRARIAN: Yes - he's here on Thursday evenings, oh no sorry, Friday - he's just changed it. You
can contact him by emailing the library.
MAN: Okay. Right, well that's about all I need to know. Thank you. I'll be along later this week to
join. Thanks. Bye.

Section 2

My name's Dan Pearman and I'd like to talk about the work of Pedal Power, a small charity
based mainly in the UK. I'll be giving our contact details at the end, if anyone would like to find
out more about how to support us.
But first, how the charity began. I got the idea of exporting bicycles to developing countries
while I was in Ecuador. I went there in 1993 just after graduating from university. After three
years of studying, I wanted adventure. I loved travelling, so I decided to join a voluntary
organisation and was sent to Ecuador to carry out land surveys. The project came to an end
after five years and when I returned to the UK in 1998, I started planning Pedal Power.
Where I lived in Ecuador was a very rural area. My neighbour had the only bicycle in the village,
whereas everyone else walked everywhere. My neighbour's business was unusually successful,
and for years I couldn't understand why. Then I realised having a bike meant he could get where
he wanted to go without much trouble. Other local carpenters could only accept jobs in a
three-kilometre radius, so no matter how skilled they were, they could never do as many jobs as
my neighbour.
At Pedal Power, we collect second-hand bikes in the UK and send them to some of the poorest
regions in the world. When we distribute bikes overseas we don't give them away for free. We'd
like to, but long term that doesn't really help the local economy The demand for bikes is
enormous, which makes them very expensive locally So we sell them for 5% of the normal
price. But in order to continue operating we need to have a constant supply of bikes which we
send out every six months.
One example of a own that's received bicycles from Pedal Power is Rivas. It was the first place I
sent a full container of bicycles to. Most people there now own a bicycle. The local economy has
developed so much, you wouldn't recognise it as the same place. In fact, there are more bikes
than on the streets of Amsterdam, if you've ever been there.
But Pedal Power still needs your help. You may have read about some of our recent problems in
the British media. In August 2000, we simply ran out of money. We had containers of bikes
ready to send, but no money to pay the bills. It was a terrible situation. We managed to ensure
the bikes went out on time, but the other problems carried on for several months.

Fortunately in October 2001 we won an Enterprise Award which helped us enormously. We

invested fifteen of the seventy-five-thousand-pound prize money to help secure our future.
Winning the award helped raise our profile, and the money enabled us to pay all our shipping
costs, which represent our greatest expense. Pedal Power changes lives - when someone gets a
bicycle from us, they see a 14% increase in their income.
We're currently looking to invest in computers so that our office staff can do an even better job.
Because of our work, people in a number of countries now have a better standard of living - so
far we've provided 46,000 people with bikes. But we'd like to send more, at least 50,000 by the
end of the year.
Now there are many ways in which you can support the work. of Pedal Power, not just by taking
a bike to a collection in your area. I should also like to say if you do have a bike to donate, it
doesn't matter what condition it's in - if we can't repair it, we'll strip it down for spare parts. Of
course, to do that we always need tools, which are expensive to buy, so we welcome any that
you can give. Also, you could help by contacting the voluntary staff at our offices, they'll be able
to suggest activities you could organise to bring in funds for us. People do all kinds of things -
including, of course, s d bike rides. Also, we're always interested to hear of other places that
would benefit from receiving a consignment of bikes, and welcome suggestions from people
who've been to developing regions on their travels. We hope that by talking on radio
programmes like this, we will be able to raise public awareness, which will lead to government
organisations also giving us regular financial support, something that we really need.
If you'd like some more information about where to donate an old bicycle or offer help in other
ways please contact us on …

Section 3

TUTOR: First of ail I'd just like to say, Cristina and Ibrahim, that I really enjoyed watching your
video about student life last week, and I could see that the rest of the group did too. You did
really well, and I hope that you got a lot out of it. I'd like to use this tutorial as a feedback
session, where you reflect on the experience of doing the project. So Cristina, I was wondering,
what did you enjoy most about making the video?
CRISTINA: I liked using the camera.
TUTOR: Is it the first time you've operated one like that?
CRISTINA: Yes, it is.
TUTOR: Well the results were very good! Anything else?
CRISTINA: I also enjoyed visiting one of the British students we filmed. I'd never been inside a
British home before.
TUTOR: OK Cristina, thanks. What about you, Ibrahim? What did you enjoy?
IBRAHIM: Well for me it was a very good chance to get to know students who are on other
courses, because everyone in our group is studying English, and we don't usually have much to
do with the rest of the college.
TUTOR: Yes, good. Do you think you'll maintain the contact now?
IBRAHIM: I hope so. I've invited three of them to have dinner with me next week.
TUTOR: Great! If you haven't decided what to make yet I can tell you they'll love trying Arab
dishes. And of course, it's good for your English too. Cristina, what did you find? What was the
most useful aspect of the project from the point of view of the English practice?
CRISTINA: I think, when we were being shown how to edit the film, we had to follow the
instructions. And that was very good practice for me. And I also learned some technical words
that I hadn't heard before.
TUTOR: What about you Ibrahim? What was the most useful for your English?
IBRAHIM: It was listening to the British students, because they don't speak as slowly as most of
the tutors on our course. I think they speak at natural speed, so it forces me to get used to it.
And they use a lot of slang.
TUTOR: So you learned some new words which will be useful?
IBRAHIM: Yes.
TUTOR: Good. I'm glad it helped. Well, we've talked a little bit about enjoyment, and about
language practice. Were there any other benefits? What else did you feel you'd learnt from the
project? Was it useful in other ways?
CRISTINA: Yes, well firstly, I learned how to use a video camera. And also, I think I really learned
a lot about working together with other people. I've never done anything with a group before,
and we had to find ways of cooperating, erm, and compromising, and
sometimes persuading people, when they don't agree with you.
TUTOR: Yes, that is a very useful experience, I know.
TUTOR: What about you, Ibrahim?
IBRAHIM: Well, I think I learnt a lot about how important editing is. When you're filming you
think that everything's going to be interesting, but in fact we cut around half of it in the end,
and then it was much better.
TUTOR: Good. Well, one last thing I'd like to ask. What mistakes do you think you, as a group
that is, made? I mean, to put it another way, if you had to do it all over again, is there anything
you'd do differently?
CRISTINA: We didn't plan very well. For example, we didn't decide on dates when
we'd complete each separate step of the project, and we should have agreed about that in the
beginning, because we were always late with everything!
TUTOR: Right. Anything else?
CRISTINA: I think we should have tried to experiment more with the camera. I mean with angles,
and the focus and that kind of thing.
TUTOR: So you should have been more ambitious? Do you agree, Ibrahim?
IBRAHIM: Not really. In fact, I think we were too ambitious. We were inexperienced, and we
didn't have a lot of time, and we tried to do too much, to make a lone film.
Next time I would make a shorter one and try to get quality better.
TUTOR: Well, that's very interesting. Next semester we will anther video project - with a
different content, of course - but you'll have an opportunity to put into practice what you've
learnt this time. Do you have any ideas about…

Section 4

Tonight I'm going to talk to you about that remarkable continent Antarctica - remote, hostile
and at present uninhabited on a permanent basis. For early explorers, it was the ultimate
survival contest; for researchers like me, it remains a place of great intellectual challenge; while
for the modern tourist, it's simply a wilderness of great beauty.
First, some facts and figures. Antarctica is a place of extremes - the highest, coldest and
windiest continent and over fifty-eight times the size of the UK. The ice-cap contains almost
70% of the world's fresh water and 90% of its ice, but with very low snowfall, most of the
continent technically falls unbelievably into the category of desert! Huge icebergs break off the
continent each year, while in winter half the surrounding ocean freezes over, which means its
size almost doubles.
Research and exploration has been going on in Antarctica for more than two hundred years, and
has involved scientists from many different countries, who work together on
research stations. Here science and technical support have been integrated in a very
cost-effective way - our Antarctic research programme has several summers-only stations and
two all-year-round ones; I was based on one of the all-year-round ones.
The research stations are really self-contained communities of about twenty people. There's
living and working space, a kitchen with a huge food store, a small hospital and a well-equipped
gym to ensure everyone keeps fit in their spare time. The station generates its own electricity
and communicates with the outside world using a satellite link.
Our station - Zero One - had some special features. It wasn't built on land but on an ice-shelf,
hundreds of metres thick. Supplies were brought to us on large sledges from
a ship fifteen kilometres away at the ice edge.
Living in the Antarctic hasn't always been so comfortable. Snow build-ups caused enormous
problems for four previous stations on the same site, which were buried and finally crushed by
the weight. Fortunately no-one was hurt, but these buildings became a huge challenge to
architects who finally came up with a remarkable solution - the buildings are placed
on platforms which can be raised above the changing snow level on legs which are extendable.
Food is one of the most important aspects of survival in a polar climate. People living there
need to obtain a lot more energy from their food, both to keep warm and to undertake heavy
physical work. Maybe you know that an adult in the UK will probably need about 1,700
kilocalories a day on average; someone in Antarctica will need about 3.500 - just over double!
This energy is provided by foods which are high in carbohydrate and fat.
Rations for fieldwork present an additional problem. They need. to provide maximum energy,
but they must also be compact and light for easy transport. Special boxes are prepared, each
containing enough food for one person for twenty days. You may be familiar with coffee
processed by freeze-drying, which preserves the quality of the food product while making a
large saving in weight - well, this type of presentation is ideal in our situation. It wasn't available
to earlier polar explorers, whose diet was commonly insufficient for their health.
I think that being at the cutting edge of science has a special appeal for everyone working in
Antarctica, in whatever capacity. As a marine biologist, my own research was fascinating; but
it's perhaps climate change research that is the most crucial field of study.
Within this general field, surveying changes in the volume and stability of the ice-cap is vital,
since these may have profound effects on world sea levels and on ocean currents. A second
important area is monitoring the size of the hole in the ozone layer above Antarctica, since this
is an indicator of global ultra-violet radiation levels. Thirdly, bubbles in the ice-sheet itself
provide an index of pollution because frozen inside them are samples of previous atmospheres
over the past 500,000 years, and these provide us with evidence for the effects of such human
activities as agriculture and industry.
There are an increasing number of opportunities for young people to work for a period in
Antarctica - not only as research assistants in projects like mine, but also in a wide range of
junior administrative and technical positions including vacancies for map-makers. I hope that
the insights I've provided will encourage you to take up these opportunities in this fascinating
continent.