UNIT 6: Skills Test A Listening

Dictation Task 1
You are going to listen to a recording
You are going to listen to an interview with
about pollution. Listen to the whole
Travis White, a teenager who has created
recording once. Then you will hear the
an app to help reduce rubbish on the
recording again with pauses for you to
street. For questions 1–6, choose the
write down what you hear. Make sure you
answer (A, B or C) which fits best
spell the words correctly.
according to what you hear.

                                         
1 How did Travis become able to create
                                      .. apps?
........................................
A He attended classes.
........................................
B He checked in several books.
........................................
C He watched short films on websites.
........................................

.......................................

........................................  2 Who helped Travis get the idea for his app?

                                        A his parents

B the teachers at his school

                                        
C people in cities who drop rubbish
                                        

                                         3 According to Travis, why do people leave

rubbish in the street?
                                        
A They don’t really notice it.
___/10 B They don’t think it’s their problem.

C They don’t want cleaners to lose their

jobs.

4 Travis says his app is well-liked because

A both younger and older people find it

interesting.

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 B people in any city can use it.

C it’s both enjoyable and benefits the

environment.

5 Travis’s next app will help people to waste

less

A electricity.

B water.

C money on shopping.

6 What does Travis recommend doing to help

people create good apps?

A watch the news

B travel to different parts of the world

C talking other people

___/18

Task 2

Explain in your own words why some

people find Travis White’s app enjoyable
to use.

                                        

                                        

___/2

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Reading
Task 1

Read the article. Choose from the sentences (A–H) the one which fi ts each gap (7–11).
There are three extra sentence which you do not need to use.

A But the birds didn’t always reappear where the scientists who were studying them expected!

B Fortunately, they are no longer a species which is in danger.

C It also keeps their eggs safe from other animals that might eat them.

D However, there are also reasons to be hopeful for the future of our planet.

E More peregrines actually made their homes there than in their old nesting sites.

F This meant that peregrines also swallowed this dangerous chemical.

G This shows that their amazing speed isn’t always an advantage!

H An adult bird can reach speeds of over 320 kph whilst doing this.

___/15

Task 2

Are the sentences true (T) or false (F)?

12 Peregrines live only in the USA.      

13 Peregrines are faster than all other birds.      

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14 Farmers discovered the problems caused by DDT.      

15 Peregrines ate DDT when they caught insects for food.      

16 Peregrines live in cities and in the countryside these days.      

___/5

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 Total: ___/50

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Saving peregrine falcons: a success story

Stories about the environment are rarely good
news these days: climate change, species in
danger, and so on. (7)            One of
these is the return of the peregrine falcon, a
bird that almost died out completely.
The peregrine falcon is the fastest-moving
animal on the planet. To catch another
animal, a peregrine climbs high into the sky
and dives down on the unfortunate animal it
want to eat. (8)           
Numbers of peregrines fell greatly during the
second half of the 20th century, so by the
1970s in the USA for example, only around
ten percent remained. They were in real
danger of disappearing completely and no
one could work out why.
DDT was banned soon after this problem was
discovered and slowly the numbers of
peregrines started to grow. (10)           
Peregrines usually build their homes (or
nests) on high cliffs. The birds that peregrines
eat fly much lower down, so a nest that’s high
up allows peregrines to see their prey from
above. (11)           
Some peregrines discovered that high-rise
buildings in cities also gave them these
benefits, so they made their homes there.
There are now healthy populations of
peregrines in cities such as New York, Paris
and London as well as in their traditional
homes in the countryside.

Then scientists discovered that a product

called DDT, which was used by farmers to kill
insects, was responsible. Small birds ate
insects which were covered in DDT.
Peregrines then caught and ate these smaller
birds. (9)            The DDT caused the
peregrines’ eggs to have very thin, weak
shells so most of the eggs broke, killing the
baby peregrine inside.

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