IELTS preparation and practice

Listening
Answer sheet 9

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Listening practice test 9 tapescripts

NARRATOR:
You will hear a number of different recordings and you will have to answer questions on
what you hear. There will be time for you to read the instructions and questions and you will
have a chance to check your work. All the recordings will be played once only. The test is in
4 sections. At the end of the test you will be given 10 minutes to transfer your answers to an
answer sheet. Now turn to section 1.

Section 1

You will hear a conversation between a person carrying out a survey in a large U.K.
city and a passer-by. 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 will be played first.

Man: Excuse me, are you in a hurry? I wonder if I could have a few minutes of your
time?

Woman: No problem, I’m not in a rush.

Man: OK, good. Just to introduce myself, I’m Jim and I work for a company called
Survey UK. As our name suggests, we carry out surveys all over the country
asking people about their habits and lifestyle choices.

Woman: Sounds interesting! So, what’s the topic for today?

Man: Well, we’ve been asked by Leeds city council to come here today and find
out more about what people think about the city centre, and in particular, to
collect different views on the current range of facilities. If you wouldn’t mind,
I’d like to ask you a few questions. It shouldn’t take up too much time.

Woman: That’s fine, fire away.

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NARRATOR:

The survey is about the city centre, so city centre 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.

Man: Excuse me, are you in a hurry? I wonder if I could have a few minutes of
your time?

Woman: No problem, I’m not in a rush.

Man: OK, good. Just to introduce myself, I’m Jim and I work for a company called
Survey UK. As our name suggests, we carry out surveys all over the country
asking people about their habits and lifestyle choices.

Woman: Sounds interesting! So, what’s the topic for today?

Man: Well, we’ve been asked by Leeds city council to come here today and find
out more about what people think about the city centre, and in particular, to
collect different views on the current range of facilities. So if you wouldn’t
mind, I’d like to ask you a few questions. It shouldn’t take up too much time.

Woman: That’s fine, fire away.

Man: Right, to start I’ll need to take a few of your personal details if you don’t
mind.

Woman: No, that’s fine.

Man: And also, I’m pleased to say you’ll be entered into our monthly prize draw
with a chance to win 100 pounds!

Woman: Well, I should be so lucky! The name’s Mary Trickett, that’s T-R-I-C-K-E-T-
T.

Man: Sorry Mary, was that one ‘T’ or two ‘T’s?

Woman: Two ‘T’s, three if you count the first one! I’ll say it again, T-R-I-C-K-E-T-T.

Man: Thanks. And your address?

Woman: That’s easier! It’s 14 Bay Road, Leeds, and the postcode is L11 2PQ.

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Man: Sorry, did you say L11 2PU?

Woman: No, 2PQ.

Man: Ah. And what do you? We just want to make sure we survey a wide range
of people, that’s all.

Woman: I’m an office manager actually.

Man: Oh, so you get to boss people around! Thanks, and do you have a contact
telephone number? Just in case of follow up.

Woman: Erm…well I’d rather not give it to you if you don’t mind, I get enough phone
calls as it is! Er, well actually I suppose I could give you my work number –
28202830.

Man: Oh, that’s easy to remember! 28202830. Thanks, and do you have an
email address? We’re going to be sending everyone the results of the
survey.

Woman: Yeah, it’s leedsmary1977@ukmail.com.

Man: Great, thanks.

NARRATOR:

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.

Man: Right, now that we’ve got that out of the way, just a few quick questions.

Woman: OK, sounds good.

Man: So, firstly, how often do you come into the city centre?

Woman: Well my company is just across from the main shopping mall so I’m there
every day, more or less. But I suppose in terms of actually doing some

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serious shopping, then generally only a couple of times a month. I like to
invite my gal pals, make a day of it, you know.

Man: So, thinking about the city centre, what changes have you noticed recently?

Woman: Well, quite a few actually. The council have obviously spent quite a bit in
recent years to make it more modern, and I like how they’ve added some
new areas. I especially like that food street with lots of trendy places to eat
and coffee bars, that’s always full of people. Of course, there’s still that link
to the old days with the cinema and the big department store. Oh, and I’m
also pleased they’ve got rid of that old amusement arcade as well.

Man: Anything else?

Woman: Yes, well obviously I’m a mother, so I’m really happy that there’s more
places for my little one nowadays. The main one that comes into my mind is
that new day centre for kids that has just opened up. It’s great, you can drop
your kid off while you go shopping and there’s so much for them to do. Oh,
and I love that little garden behind the library as well, I think it’s something
the council have been working on for a while now and now it’s finished we
finally have the chance to use it. I think it’s a lovely place to escape from the
hustle and bustle of a busy city.

Man: Great… um I don’t want to take up much more of your time, so just quickly,
what problems do you see in the city centre and what should be done about
them?

Woman: Ha, that’s a good question! Let me see…well, there are quite a few boy
racers who drive really quickly. There are lots of traffic lights but they don’t
seem to slow them down so I think more speed cameras would be more
effective.

Man: Good suggestion. Anything else?

Woman: Erm, oh yes, and I usually get the bus to work in the morning, but recently
there seems to be fewer of them, so more would be good, especially at
around 7am. They seem to have enough running in the evening. Maybe the
council could hire more drivers?

Man: Well that’s a nice idea…

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Woman: Oh, and one more thing, it would be nice to have a bigger variety of different
shops like there were in the old days. As an example, look around, how
many phone shops do you see? Why not have more music shops or
something else more interesting?

Man: OK, I’ve made a note of that… well, thanks very much for your time and for
your feedback today Mary, that’s great stuff. Erm, have a good day… and
good luck in the prize draw!

Woman: Thanks!

That is the end of section 1. You now have half a minute to check your answers.
Now turn to Section 2.

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SECTION 2
NARRATOR:

You will hear a tutor greeting a group of students taking a bread-making course. First, you
have some time to look at questions 11 to 14.
Now listen carefully and answer questions 11 to 14.

You will hear a museum director talking about his museum. First you have some time to
look at questions 11 to 14.

Listen carefully and answer questions 11 to 14.

Hello everyone, and thanks for coming on this very exciting day as we launch the
U.K.’s first National Museum of Nursing here in London. My name’s Mark Fisher and I’m
the Director of the museum.

As most of you will know, this building began life as the Royal Victoria Nursing
College. As you might have guessed from the name, it was officially opened during
the reign of Queen Victoria in the 19 th century. At that time, there was a strong
movement calling for increased professionalism in the field of nursing, so in 1855
the relevant government department granted permission for this institute of
education and research to be established, here in London on the bank of the River
Thames. It was officially opened two years later.

At seven stories high, it was one of the tallest buildings in London at the time of
construction. It contained 85 individual rooms, including 25 classrooms, 4 lecture
theatres and 8 wards for nursing practice. Most of the other rooms were used as offices
and for storage space. The construction of the building cost 2 million pounds, around
800 million pounds in today’s money, which shows that the development of the nursing
profession was a top priority at the time.

The golden age for this institute was between the two World Wars. In the 1920s
it was considered the leading nursing college in the world. Nurses from all over the
world came here to study, especially from India, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
The U.S.A. and some of our European neighbors like France also sent trainees, but not
in the same numbers.

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However, in the late 1990s it was felt that upgrading the building to meet the
demands of 21st century nursing would cost too much. It was decided instead to build a
new state-of-the-art college in the Midlands, in Derby. For a time, the survival of this
place was in doubt, but in 2012 permission was granted to convert it into a National
Museum of Nursing, and that is why we are all here today!

NARRATOR:

Before you hear the rest of the talk, you have some time to look at questions 15 to 20.

Now listen and answer questions 15 to 20.

So, that’s some information about the history of the building and why it was so
important to continue its legacy. Now I’d like to move on to introduce some of our new
department managers who will be in charge of the day-to-day running of this museum,
and explain what their roles will be.

First, please welcome Susan Jones, who will be responsible for media relations.
Her degree was in Marketing but she has spent most of her career working for some of
our most prestigious national newspapers as an Arts correspondent. Susan has a deep
knowledge of the museum world and will be making sure that our institution maintains a
high profile and hopefully draws in the crowds.

Next up, where’s Vanessa? Oh, there she is. Well, Vanessa Redmond has had
a long and colourful career in a number of fields, starting off in Sales and eventually
going back to university to get a postgraduate degree. As our Director of H.R., she will
be ensuring that we attract the most dynamic people to work in our museum and
contribute to our success.

Last but by no means least, I’d like to introduce Gordon Timms…well, as such a
well-known figure in the U.K. arts world, Gordon really needs no introduction. Having
worked in museum maintenance for most of his career, I am very glad that he has now
decided to join us as our exhibitions manager. This will be an important focus for our
museum, especially during the initial period as we try to get as many people through
the door as possible and spread the word. We already have a number of exciting
projects in the pipeline and Gordon will be telling you more about those in due course.

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Before I finish today, I’d just like to point you in the direction of our new monthly
lecture event. Starting from next month we will be inviting prominent speakers to give
talks on a nursing-related topic, always beginning at 7pm. To kick things off, I will be
giving a talk on the college’s achievements in nursing research, dating back to the 19th
century. That will be held next month, September the 15th. The following month on the
10th Mrs. Margaret Hall, who has spent most of her career in Singapore, will be
reporting to us on a fascinating year she recently spent in the Indian countryside. And
on November the 12th, Mrs. Nigella Smith, who has written a number of well-known
books on nursing, will be giving us her views on nursing’s future, which is also the topic
of her new publication. Do come along, tickets are free on a first come first served
basis.

Well, that’s all I’d like to say today. As I said, thanks very much for coming today
and I hope you will continue to support the museum in the future. Now, before we
finish, does anyone have any questions?

That is the end of section 2. You now have half a minute to check your answers.
Now turn to section 3.

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SECTION 3
NARRATOR:

You will hear a conversation between a tutor and two students who are discussing an
exchange year spent at an overseas university. First you have some time to look at
questions 21 to 25.

Listen carefully and answer questions 21 to 25

Tutor: Hi Freya, Tom, thanks for coming today. You both spent the last academic
year on exchange programs at overseas universities. Now, at the start of this
new semester I’d like to get some feedback from you to help us to provide
more support to our exchange students in the future. Does that sound OK?

Tom: Sounds fine to me.

Freya: Me too. By the way, where were you Tom? I was in Germany.

Tom: Oh, are you a languages student too? I was in Beijing studying Chinese.

Freya: Wow, cool! Actually, I was studying management. All my lectures were in
English, and my father’s German, so I felt very much at home.

Tutor: I actually wanted to get started by talking about day-to-day challenges Seems
like you were able to adapt quite smoothly, Freya. How about you Tom, did you
feel that the university provided enough support?

Tom: Well, yes and no really. I mean, I did have a meeting with my course tutor
which was quite useful, and I also remember reading some travel guides and
the university’s own preparation booklet. However, it was my first time to travel
independently to another country, and I don’t really think there is any program
that can completely prepare someone for having to deal with living in a new
country.

Tutor: That’s true, and in our booklet, it does mention the stages of culture shock,
especially coping with the most difficult stage, stage 2, which sets in after two
or three months.

Tom: Yes, the negotiation stage isn’t it? Well, I’d been studying Chinese for a year
before I went over to China and was considered one of the best students in the
class, but suddenly I was in China and still using English all the time except in the
classroom, It just made me feel really frustrated that my Chinese skills were still
pretty limited and that I was too lazy to improve. Like you say, that period around
three months was really hard. It just seemed like even the simplest things like going
to the shops were incredibly difficult.

Tutor: But you managed to get through it?

Tom: Well I didn’t have much choice! Yes, it was a pretty steep learning curve. It was
mostly making friends with locals, forcing myself to use Chinese all the time and

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getting more involved in campus activities… that did the trick. The second six
months just flew by, and I can’t wait to go back at some point in the future.

Tutor: Great! So overall sounds like a pretty successful year, yeah?

Tom: Yes, it was, on the whole.

Narrator:

Before you hear the rest of the conversation, you have some time to look at questions 26
to 30.

Now listen and answer questions 26 to 30.

Tutor: OK, let’s move on now to discuss in more detail some of the
differences in the educational environment. Freya, shall we start with
you? What were some of your main impressions?

Freya: Well, the number of people attending lectures was much greater than I
was used to, and the seminars were also quite large, so it was quite
difficult to get direct feedback from tutors.

Tutor: And what about the learning process, was it similar to what you were used
to?

Freya: Pretty much. Like I said, all the classes were in English. I did notice
something different when analyzing case studies though. For example, in
the U.K. it seems generally more a case of trying to find the most practical
solution, whereas in Germany there was much more focus on finding a
model or framework to deal with the problem more effectively. That was a
real eye-opener, and it’s definitely something to keep in mind in the future.

Tutor: So you mean that applying theory to practice is more common in German
management training than in the U.K.? Interesting. Anything else? How
about you, Tom? Thinking about the study side of things, um, was there
anything in your experience of studying in China that surprised you or took
a bit of getting used to?

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Tom: Well, I suppose the biggest challenge was that the teacher spoke in
Chinese the whole time, and all the study materials were in Chinese, so
there was no use of English to make things easier from time to time.

Tutor: Wow, sounds tough! And you were able to cope with that?

Tom: Yes, eventually. Getting to know new people helped a lot as well, and as
time went by we got together more often to do homework and practice
together. That really helped a lot, especially as I’m more of a group learner.

Freya: I can definitely relate to that, Tom, I learnt so much from other students,
sometimes even more than from the teachers, just because we were all in
the same boat and wanted to get the most out of being there.

Tutor: Great. Before we finish, any other tips for potential exchange students?

Freya: Well, yes, I’d certainly recommend going to take a look at the place before
you start the course, just as a tourist. Just to get familiar with the people
and the living environment.

Tom: Yes, I’d go along with that, though not easy when you have to go as far as
China!

Tutor: Well, Tom and Freya, thanks again for coming today, the feedback you’ve
given me has been really useful

That is the end of section 3. You now have half a minute to check your answers.
Now turn to section 4.

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SECTION 4
NARRATOR:
You will hear a talk on the topic of what factors make people happy or unhappy with their
job. First you have some time to look at questions 31 to 36

Listen carefully and answer questions 31 to 36.

Morning everyone. This semester, we are focusing on different approaches for

understanding how employees can be motivated to perform well at their jobs. Today,
we are going to be looking at a theory developed in the 1960s by a German
psychologist named Frederick Herzberg, which has been very influential on
management training courses. However, it is not without its drawbacks, as we shall see
later.

Now, the basic idea that Herzberg developed is that, in a given workplace, there are
two types of factors at play. On the one hand, there are those factors that create
increased job satisfaction, which Herzberg called the ‘motivators’. On the other hand,
there are those aspects of a job that lead to increased dissatisfaction, which are labeled
‘hygiene’ factors. Having identified these two factors, these motivators and hygiene
factors, Herzberg went on to state that a consequence of his theory was that the
underlying reasons for job satisfaction and job dissatisfaction must be understood as
independent of each other, hence the common name of this approach, the ‘two-factor
theory’.

Let’s firstly consider the former set of factors in more detail. What aspects of a job tend
to motivate employees and thus bring about greater job satisfaction? Well, Herzberg’s
own conclusions were not based on armchair speculation, but rather supported by
research carried out within a variety of corporations. Perhaps unsurprisingly, he found
that achievement was the number one factor leading to increased satisfaction.
Obviously, everyone likes to be a success! This was followed by recognition, that is to
say, having one’s contribution valued. The work itself, having more responsibility, and
personal advancement, such as getting a promotion, completed the list.

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Now, some of you may have noticed something missing from the list that usually gets
included when people give their main reasons for working hard - salary. So, why isn’t it
there? Well, the answer is that, for Herzberg, salary is not a great motivator because
any pay rise will never completely satisfy. Instead, it will eventually give rise to a
demand for more money, while insufficient salary will contribute to the employee
dissatisfaction.

Apart from salary, what are some of the other factors leading to employee
dissatisfaction? Well, again, based on Herzberg’s research, the findings tell us that
company policy and administration, relationship with one’s supervisor, work conditions
and how well the employee gets on with colleagues are also key ‘hygiene’ factors.
However, it is perhaps not surprising that how well an individual interacts with the
people around them will affect their degree of satisfaction with their job.

Ok, so we have looked at the two different types of factors and discussed why,
according to the theory, some factors increase employee satisfaction and some
contribute to dissatisfaction. Before we move on, are there any questions?

Narrator:

Before you hear the rest of the conversation, you have some time to look at questions
37 to 40.

Now listen and answer questions 37 to 40.

Thus, according to the Two-Factor theory, we can find that there are four possible
combinations. The ideal situation is high hygiene and high motivation, which means that
employees are stimulated by their work and have few complaints. If only it were so
easy! The second scenario is high hygiene and low motivation. Employees have no
major issues with their work, but are not driven to improve themselves, and their focus
is on the level of salary they receive. The third is low hygiene and high motivation. The
job is stimulating and challenging, but the salary and working conditions are
inadequate, which means that the employees have a lot of complaints. The fourth and
worst set of circumstances is where the employees have both low hygiene and low

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motivation. This means both that the staff are not motivated and also that they have
many complaints.

Right, so having discussed the distinction between motivators and hygiene factors,
what are some of the consequences of the theory? Well, in terms of increasing
employee well-being, Herzberg thought that it was important to eliminate job
dissatisfaction first before going onto creating conditions for job satisfaction. This is
because otherwise they would work against each other. There are several ways to
decrease dissatisfaction, but some of the most important ways are those discussed
earlier, such as paying reasonable wages, ensuring employees job security, and
creating a positive culture in the workplace, for example by using team building
activities.

However, eliminating dissatisfaction is only one half of the task of the two factor theory;
the other half would be to increase satisfaction in the workplace. This can be done by
improving on motivating factors, which are needed to stimulate an employee to achieve
a higher level of performance. As previously mentioned, these often relate to
opportunities for increased recognition, responsibilities and respect within the
workplace, such as being assigned more challenging and rewarding tasks, or by
achieving a promotion to a higher level position.

Ok, so in summary we can see that, according to this theory, what makes the employee
happy in their job and what makes them unhappy exist as two separate sets of factors.
However, is it really the case that factors relating to employee satisfaction in a
workplace can be divided so neatly into two categories? Some critics have suggested
otherwise. Let’s now move on to look at some of these criticisms, starting with…

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.

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Listening practice test 9 Answer Key

Section 1, Questions 1–10
1. Trickett
2. 2PQ
3. manager / office manager
4. 28202830
5-7. C, E, F (in any order)
8. speed cameras / cameras
9. morning
10. phone shops

Section 2, Questions 11–20

11. 1857
12. lecture theatres
13. 2 million / 2m
14. Australia
15. B
16. F
17. E
18. research
19. India
20. future

Section 3, Questions 21–30

21. B
22. C
23. C
24. B
25. A
26. C
27. B
28. A
29. C
30. B

Section 4, Questions 31–40

31. motivators
32. hygiene
33. independent
34. recognition
35. advancement
36. supervisor
37. complaints
38. inadequate
39. security
40. rewarding

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