VSTEP LISTENING TEST 5 1-6

ONE
Speaker 0: Listen I've got some tickets for a great rock concert on Sunday night are you free Mary?
Speaker 1: Sunday night yeah I'm free what kind of Carter did you say it is?
Speaker 0: A rock concert.
Speaker 1: oh. that's what I thought you said actually I don't really like rock music thanks anyway
some other time maybe.
Speaker 0: Sure.
TWO
Speaker 1: There's a great new Mexican restaurant downtown would you like to try it Jim we could
go there for dinner on Friday night.
Speaker 0: That sounds great I love Mexican food.
Speaker 1: Maybe after dinner we could go dancing.
Speaker 0: Yeah I haven't gone dancing in a long time.
THREE
Speaker 0: Are you doing anything tonight Susie how about seeing a movie.
Speaker 1: A movie I'd like to but I am really tired.
Speaker 0: Are you sure there's a new French movie I'm dying to see.
Speaker 1: I really think I'd better stay home tonight I've been out nearly every night this week
maybe some other time.
Speaker 0: Oh, Sure.
FOUR
Speaker 1: I'm going to the park with some friends for a barbecue this weekend.
Speaker 0: That sounds fun.
Speaker 1: Would you like to come with this band we're going on Sunday afternoon.
Speaker 0: Sunday afternoon I'd love to, Oh wait, I just remembered I'm going to a baseball game
with my dad he got the tickets a month ago.
Speaker 1: That sounds cool to enjoy the game.
FIVE
Speaker 0: Do you like ice skating Jenny.
Speaker 1: I've never tried it.
Speaker 0: Then you have to try it how about Thursday or Friday night.
Speaker 1: Thursday night is no good for me I have a Spanish class.
Speaker 0: Is Friday night okay.
Speaker 1: Yes it's fine.
Speaker 0: Terrific you'll love it then after we finish we can get something to eat downtown.
Speaker 1: Okay thanks.
SIX
Speaker 1: Would you like to see a tennis match with me on Sunday afternoon Steven.
Speaker 0: Sunday? What am I doing on Sunday afternoon? that should be okay I don't think I
have any plans.
Speaker 1: Great maybe after the match we could see a movie.
Speaker 0: Sounds good.
VSTEP LISTENING TEST 5 7-15
ONE
Speaker 1: Being a kid can be lots of fun.You play a lot.
Speaker 1: You have a lot of games that mom and dad don't know how to play.
Speaker 1: I love playing soccer. I get a lot of time to play soccer as a kid.
Speaker 1: Adults don't have as much time to play.
Speaker 1: My dad works so he doesn't get to play soccer very much.
Speaker 1: And one bad thing about being a kid at school. I don't really like going to school.
Speaker 1: I can't stand doing chores either. Especially cleaning my room.
Speaker 1: Oh and my brother has a new trumpet that’s really annoying because he's a very good
at playing it.

TWO
Speaker 1: Some good things about being a kid are summer vacation, playing sports and getting
lots of presents on my birthday, adults don’t get as many present.
Speaker 1: I like playing with my friends every weekend too.
Speaker 1: Bad things about being a kid are some of the chores I have to do I don't mind doing
some of them.
Speaker 1: But there are some I can't stand like doing dishes.
Speaker 1: Sometimes I can't watch TV when my dad wants to watch a program that I can't watch
I don't like that.
Speaker 1: And I don't like doing homework.
Speaker 1: But I'm happy I don't have to pay taxes.
Speaker 1: That's one bad thing about being an adult.
THREE
Speaker 1: I don't like having to go to bed so early it’s 7:30.
Speaker 1: I Always finish all the food on my plate even if I don't like it.Yuck!!
Speaker 1: One thing I really don't like I don't like older people telling me what to do that's probably
the worst thing about being a kid.
Speaker 1: There are a lot of good things though I don't have to work and my parents give me
money for allowance.
Speaker 1: When I'm an adult I'll have to pay for everything and I get to see my friends all the time
at school we have recess so we can play you don't have recess when you're an adult.
VSTEP LISTENING TEST 5 16-25
Speaker 0: Well most of my friends are from work.
Speaker 0: I didn't live here before I got this job so I met most of the friends I have now through
work. Audrey is the first person I met here so I've known her for two years.
Speaker 0: We socialize a lot outside work but I also have a lot of friends in other departments I
play basketball with some guys from accounting and then we have an office soccer team too.
Speaker 0: We get together almost every weekend to play.
Speaker 0: I have one old friend Gary who I kind of keep in touch with but he lives in a different
city and we don't see each other that often I haven't seen him since his wedding so that's about two
years.
Speaker 0: he is one of my oldest and best friends but it's hard to stay in touch sometimes.
Speaker 0: So my friends these days are mainly from work and that's fine it's more practical since
we spend so much time together anyway.

Speaker 1: My social life is definitely separate from work. Russell is really the only friend I have
from my job. He and I get along really well so we see each other outside work but otherwise I don't
socialize with people from working less I have to I've lived in the city all my life so I've had most
of my friends for a long time I've known my best friend Lisa since I was sixteen years old we lived
in the same apartment building as children so. That's about twenty years now.
Speaker 1: I'm also a musician I play the guitar in a band and a lot of my friends are musicians I've
been in the same band for three years now and the other band members are my really good friends
I think it's good to know different kinds of people and I don't want my whole life to be about work
so I guess that's why I try to have a lot of different friends.
VSTEP LISTENING TEST 5 26-35
Speaker 2: Now here's an interesting story about the mystery of how memory works or doesn't
work give Tatiana Cooley a hundred faces and names to memorize and she can remember seventy
of them fifteen minutes later.
Speaker 2: Give her four thousand numbers or five hundred words and she'll repeat them better
than most people it's the same with a fifty four line poem so why does Tatiana Cooley need sticky
notes.
Speaker 2: She says she's incredibly absent minded she recently defeated sixteen challengers to
keep her memory champion title but when asked how many brothers and sisters she has she replied
“six oh seven oh six”.
Speaker 2: She keeps it daily to do list and say she lives by reminder notes.
Speaker 2: Accordinh to Tatiana the ability to memorize things is different from remembering
things on a daily basis she says her memorizing is not on the same level as remembering to call
people.
Speaker 2: Tatiana insists that she is not unique she believes that anybody can train their mind to
memorize she uses two techniques visualization and association.
Speaker 2: For Visualization she looks at material and mentally photographs it for Association she
makes up a story to link random numbers and words.
Speaker 2: Tatiana noticed that her ability to memorize was better than average when she was
studying in college she found that taking lecture notes was enough to prepare for tests she didn't
have to do anything else.
Speaker 2: Tatiana gives credit for her abilities to her mother and father they only allowed her to
watch news and educational programs on TV when she was growing up they played games to help
her memory and encouraged her to read and learn languages she reads in Portuguese, Spanish and
French.
Speaker 2: She thinks memorization is fun she says “I've always love to learn I've been like a
sponge my whole life”.
Speaker 2: So there you go folks it's reassuring to know that even the memory champion needs a
little help remembering everyday things sometimes and our next story is.
VSTEP LISTENING TEST 6 1-8
QUESTION 1.
Speaker 1: Hello you've reached Hanoi international language school if you want to know more
information about our English courses press 1 German courses press 2 Japanese courses press 3.
Speaker 1: Please hold if you want to talk to one of our receptionist.
QUESTION 2.
Speaker 0: Attention please the departure gate for flights VN178 to Bangkok has been changed
from 30A to 30B. Also there will be a departure delay due to the bad weather we should be
boarding it's about quarter to four thank you for your patience.
QUESTION 3.
Speaker 0: And now there is a change to a timetable next week the art workshop on Monday is
canceled since Doctor Jim is ill instead there will be a talk about the history of arts in lecture hall
four at the same time and you are all expected to attend.
QUESTION 4
Speaker 1: It is quite easy to find my apartment, let’s see after watching the movie you just go
straight on from the cinema when you see the traffic lights turn left go along Cleverland street until
you see a clothes shop name Anna boutique on the right my apartment is on the third floor of the
C5 building just across from the shop.
QUESTION 5
Speaker 1: Hello everybody I am Jane welcome to our sports center I will show you around the
center and explain what we offer here and then you can ask me any questions.
Speaker 0: Well.
Speaker 1: As you can see this is quite a small center but we offer a lot of different activities at
different times of the day we promise to bring you all the best equipment and trainers.
QUESTION SIX.
Speaker 2: Good morning And welcome to Scotland I hope you had a good journey and not too
tired this morning, my name is Jack and I'm here to help you I want to tell you a few things which
you might find useful. First the banks here are open from nine AM until four PM every day except
Sunday oops I'm sorry in this winter season the bank starts up their work thirty minutes later than
usual that's nine thirty in the morning.
Speaker 0: The second thing you need to remember is the traffic.
QUESTION SEVEN.
Speaker 1: Hi everybody next Friday's the due date for you all to hand in your term paper some
students in our class asked me if they could change their chosen topic the answer is that you can
write your paper on any topics you like as long as you talk it over with me first.
QUESTION EIGHT.
Speaker 0: And now for the weather today it will remain cool in the early morning with a light
wind and as we go through the morning the temperature was slowly rise and by noon it will reach
thirty degrees tomorrow we can expect some rain but by the end of the week is likely to be sunny
weather again.
VSTEP LISTENING TEST 6 9-20
QUESTIONS 9-12.
Speaker 0: I'm sure that's effective so we've just talked about learning English do you learn any
other languages in the same way.
Speaker 1: Actually I thought about that question before I started studying Japanese a few years
ago but my Japanese learning is very different from my English learning.
Speaker 0: How is it different.
Speaker 1: Well a little bit of Japanese that I've learned I've learned through listening mostly and
having to speak all you know helping myself in daily situations.
Speaker 1: Been out to muster enough kanji and Japanese symbols to be able to read it well also
writing well that's all how about you.
Speaker 0: I think Spanish in a similar way to how I learned English that is I didn't study but I
didn't think of it as studying it was fun for me and then once I reached a certain level then I went
to Spain to practice but with Japanese I haven't reached that level yet.
Speaker 0: Work anymore so yeah I've been trying to learn Japanese for a few years but I think my
brain is just become lazy.
Speaker 1: It's interesting maybe our brains tackle every language in a different way I don't know.
Speaker 0: Maybe some.
Speaker 1: Do you think age matters for language learning.
Speaker 0: I would like to say now but I think there are different factors so surely when you're
young you learn faster and I think especially because there's nothing else that's occupying your
mind you're just setting maybe you go to high school even university so it's easy to take on another
subject.
Speaker 2: So.
Speaker 1: Age might have something to do with it.
Speaker 1: But I have this old friend who retired and then start to study in front successfully.
Speaker 1: So I think it has a lot to do with your motivation baby.
Speaker 1: No interest maybe.
Speaker 0: That's right I was just going to say maybe more so than aids.
Speaker 1: Yeah maybe when you're young you might be more eager to learn but if you have the
same kind of motivation when you're older then why not.
Speaker 0: It's.
Speaker 2: Questions thirteen to sixteen.
Speaker 2: Listen to the conversation between Emma the tourist and Philippe pay a local person
from Ecuador.
Speaker 2: First you have some time to look at questions thirteen to sixteen.
Speaker 2: Now listen carefully and answer questions thirteen to sixteen.
Speaker 0: Only pay you have been to the Galapagos islands.
Speaker 1: No.
Speaker 0: But he lived in Ecuador right.
Speaker 1: Yes well you know the problem is that traveling to the come across seas really
expensive for us.
Speaker 0: What do you mean for us is it expensive for Ecuadorians.
Speaker 1: Yep for nationals the people who live in Ecuador it's quite expensive because you know
since the come across a truck so many tourists every day hotels and food and travel also do you
see now we cannot trouble there because we come to forty eight tourists international tourist town
of four to go.
Speaker 0: That's weird I had the idea that Galapagos is part of Ecuador so I thought a lot of
Ecuadorians would go there so who goes to the Galapagos islands.
Speaker 1: Well actually then as you know one out of ten Ecuadorians maybe might have trouble
to the Galapagos.
Speaker 0: But why do you think it's so expensive to travel there.
Speaker 1: Well because as I just mentioned thousands of tourists go that and the islands com
support so many tourists every day.
Speaker 0: Let's.
Speaker 1: Suppose that the prices were really low the more more people would go to them and
that might be environmental problems just pollution and you know those kinds of issues so people
in the Galapagos this strategy has been to raise prices so that your visitors can go that and the
environment isn't jeopardized.
Speaker 0: That is true I guess that makes sense but being from Ecuador and not being able to see
your own country it doesn't make so much sense I wonder how that can be solved.
Speaker 1: Well I don't really know but maybe we have all the options we can travel to the arms
and region which is may be the same as beautiful as the Galapagos well you can travel to the
highlands Ecuador is a quite beautiful country it's not only about the Galapagos it's also about the
different regions the people the food and the culture.
Speaker 1: Maybe the government should do something because people in Ecuador want to travel
to the Galapagos but it's really sad that we come.
Speaker 0: It is quite sound actually I believe Ecuadorian should have more rights than the tourists
to go to the Galapagos.
Speaker 1: Yeah we should have more rights something we don't so yeah something should be
done maybe.
Speaker 0: Hopefully something will change.
Speaker 1: Yeah I hope so too.
Speaker 2: Question seventeen to twenty.
Speaker 2: Listen to the conversation between Todd and cut your.
Speaker 2: First you have some time to look at questions seventeen to twenty.
Speaker 2: Now listen carefully and answer questions seventeen to twenty.
Speaker 2: So cut yeah you were talking about how you had an internship in how you actually
made the transition from university to the working world in an internship and now you've actually
gone back to the university world.
Speaker 2: What struck you as the biggest difference having to go to the real world the working
world from the university.
Speaker 0: Well the biggest difference in something that I felt right away was the responsibility
that you have when you're working for somebody else when you're a student you're only
responsible for yourself you know making the deadlines and doing the work and nobody else is
dependent on you when you're working there are people depending on you so the responsibility
part was the biggest difference.
Speaker 2: Was there anything you thought you maybe lacked that you wish you had prepared
yourself more for it university for example computer skills are writing skills or anything like that.
Speaker 0: I think presenting skills presenting skills and also technical words that I needed like I
wasn't prepared for that.
Speaker 2: Can you give an example of some technical words.
Speaker 0: Well I like this technical words in English for example like jurisdiction but I didn't
know how to say it in Spanish even though that's my native language.
Speaker 2: Yes so I guess another big change is it unique you might have mistakes when you're
right but you maybe don't worry about that so much in the professional world has to be perfect
right.
Speaker 0: You really don't want to make mistakes because that can lead to less confidence in you
but having mistakes is not a big problem it just reflects how much you can or cannot do.
Speaker 2: Sold for students that are just finishing school or will finish school soon they often have
a lot of anxiety and worry about how they will make it in the real world and will they survive in
the real world what advice or tips would you give them.
Speaker 0: I don't think they should worry that much and enjoy the experience of the transition
nothing bad will happen regardless so there's really no reason doesn't help to worry so the only
suggestion I would give is just to try your best and to try to find the things that you really want to
do.
VSTEP LISTENING TEST 6 21-35