Dictation 1

Rose had always wanted a parrot, so a year ago she acquired William from an advertisement in a newspaper. ‘I needed
a bit of company as I’m a pensioner living on my own, so at first I was delighted to get William. Well, three weeks after
I got him, he suddenly started barking like a dog. The flats where I live don’t allow dogs and William made such a loud
barking noise that my neighbours reported me. Then William started repeating the arguments he must have heard at
his previous owners. They were a young couple getting divorced. William shouted ‘’Steve you’re a liar. Don’t go Steve, I
love you Steve’’ (Steve was the husband’s name). I took William to see an animal specialist who said he was in good
condition, but couldn’t do anything for him and she thought that in time he’d forget his past owners and start copying
the noises I make. In fact, I like opera and William has now started to sing along, although he can only manage the high
notes at present. ‘

(179 words)

DICTATION 2

Having run short of money, I had been miserable enough to accept a loan from the keeper of a small restaurant in
Paris. A time was settled for paying the money back, but when it reached my consciousness that I should repay the
debt, I found it impossible to keep my promise.

Unfortunately, the man’s affairs had fallen into disorder, and he was anxious to be paid. He sent a relative, a French
lawyer, over to England, to insist on my paying. He was a man of violent temper, and he took the wrong way with me,
so we argued. My aunt, cousin, and niece were in the next room and overheard us. My aunt came in and inquired
what the matter was. She paid the money and sent the man off. She was aware that there was no intention of
dishonesty on my part, but she was shocked at my carelessness, and angry that I should have placed myself in such a
disgraceful position. My niece was embarrassed as well as angry. She called me heartless, said that I was a source of
trouble and there was no knowing what I might do next. I was grateful for their interference but at the same time
regretted it. The next day the argument was bitter and long.

DICTATION 3

At first there seemed to be only the dreams and nothing else in his memory. Broken pencils, discarded toys and the
telephone directory all had roles to play in these dreams but there were never any people. All the weather was bleak
and all the landscapes were empty. Houses, cars and office buildings never made an appearance. Sounds and smells
had some importance; the wind would blow, the scent of unseen fires was often described. Stairs were plentiful,
leading nowhere, all of them rising from the underworld that he did not dare to visit or would not describe.

The dreams had little variation, one from another. The themes had mostly to do with loss and being lost. The broken
pencils were all given names and discarded toys were given to one another as companions. The telephone books were
the sources of recitations – hours and hours of repeated names and numbers, some of which, the doctor had noted
with surprise, were absolutely accurate.

All of this held fast until an incident occurred one morning that changed the face of the patient’s disease forever, an
incident that stemmed – so it seemed – from something he had dreamed the night before.

Dreams by Timothy Findly (adapted) 198 words

Dictation 4

When she received a summons for jury service some months earlier, reported to the United States District Court with
five hundred other potential jurors and learned that the trial for which they had been assembled concerned a lawyer
accused of aiding the cause of terrorism, she filled out the forty-five page questionnaire with truths, half-truths and
several lies.

For some time before that day she had been offered books to edit on terrorism and related subjects. She wasn't sure
why she had been so desperate to work on such books during the weeks and months when she could not sleep.

The trial was now under way, but she didn't follow in the newspaper. She had been excused from serving on the basis
of her written responses. She didn't know whether it was the true answers or the lies that had made this happen.

She was aware that the lawyer, an American woman, was associated with a notorious terrorist who was serving a life
sentence. However, she didn't know the details of the charges made against the lawyer because she wasn't reading
the stories in the newspaper.

(186 words) Adapted from Don DeLillo, Falling Man

DICTATION 5

My mother and I encountered a friend from home who introduced us to several Canadian families. Now my mind
struggles to produce a description of them, but nothing fits. They are a different species from anyone I saw at home,
and the words of my native tongue are powerless. Moreover, it seems that, after the passage across the ocean, I
emerged as less attractive, less graceful, less desirable. Actually, I see in these women’s eyes that my appearance is
somewhat pitiful – pale, with thick eyebrows, wearing ridiculous clothes that have nothing in common with the
current fashion. And so they energetically set out to correct these flaws. My behaviour in the new borrowed dress is
stiff and awkward; my gestures show that I am here temporarily, that I don’t rightfully belong. My shoulders are bent
under the pressure of resentment and self-consciousness. I feel like a quiet shadow, a liar in the vast unpopulated
wilderness. (155 words)

DICTATION 6

Monday morning found Tom miserable. Monday mornings always found him so, because it began another week's slow
suffering at school.

Tom lay in bed thinking. He wished that he was ill as then he could stay away from school. He thought he could detect
signs of stomach-ache, and began to encourage them with considerable hope, but they soon grew faint, and died
away. He considered further. Suddenly he discovered something. One of his upper teeth was loose. This was lucky. He
was about to groan when it occurred to him that if he said so his aunt would pull it out, and that would hurt. Then he
remembered hearing the doctor speak about a patient who had spent two or three weeks in bed and who almost
nearly lost his finger through blood-poisoning. So the boy drew his sore toe from under the sheet and held it up for
inspection. Then he began groaning loudly.

But his cousin slept on, unconscious.

Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (adapted)

DICTATION 7

When the doctor and the sick man reached the patient’s bedroom, the doctor had already started wondering. Why
was there so much tension and anxiety in the man’s voice and his gestures? His disease was neither uncommon nor
difficult to treat. Why was he living all by himself in such a place, far from houses and office buildings? He hadn’t even
bothered to have the house cleaned, not to mention getting the necessary furniture. The peacefulness which
surrounded the cottage suddenly lost its charm. It was all very mysterious, and the doctor did not like it one little bit.
In fact, he was going to call the police the minute he got back.

All of this occurred to him in a couple of minutes, while the man was settling on the bed. The patient complained that
he was cold, and the doctor rose to close the window. The weather was bleak, and the landscapes were empty. Before
he had the time to turn around, someone seized him from behind and hit him in the head with something heavy.

178 words