TESTS Oral Comprehension Scripts

UNIT 5

PART 1 1
12

Sophie: Hi, Ross, haven’t seen you for ages. What’s up?
Ross: I’m great, thanks. I’ve just come from meeting my little brother, Michael.
Sophie: I didn’t know you had a little brother!
Ross: I don’t really. I volunteer at an organisation called Big Brothers Big Sisters.
Sophie: I’ve heard of the organisation, but I’m not sure what they do.
Ross: Big Brothers Big Sisters reaches out to youth who’ve got difficult lives, mostly kids who come from tough
neighbourhoods. When you volunteer, you become a mentor to a young person. You meet at least twice
a month and do things together.
Sophie: So what do you do?
Ross: I’ve known Michael for more than a year – he’s 12 years old, by the way – and I’ve taken him to a lot of places that
he never had the chance to go to, like the zoo, the circus, the bowling alley … or sometimes we just go to the park,
sit on a bench and talk.
Sophie: Wow! How do you think of things to do?
Ross: At first, I needed a lot of help from the advisers at Big Brothers Big Sisters. But since I’ve got to know Michael well,
I know what he’ll enjoy!
Sophie: And why does Michael need a mentor?
Ross: He’s had a really hard life. His family doesn’t have much money, and there’s nobody home most of the time.
When we met, he was skipping classes and failing most of his subjects, and he was waiting to join one of the
street gangs in his neighbourhood as soon as he was old enough.

PART 2 1
13

Sophie: Wow, those are serious issues. You’ve got no experience with gangs or poverty. How do you relate to him?
Ross: It wasn’t easy at first. He didn’t talk much, and he seemed angry at the world. I felt like I would never be able to
really understand his problems. But slowly, he learned to count on me, because I always came when I said I would,
and after a while, he began to open up. Now he jokes around with me and tells me a lot.
Sophie: OK, you’re good friends, but can you really help him?
Ross: Well, it turns out that just having someone around that cares is enough to make a real difference. Now he hardly
ever skips classes, his marks have gone up – and he doesn’t talk about joining a gang any more!
Sophie: That’s great! But don’t most of these kids need professional help?
Ross: I’ll show you some research that Big Brothers Big Sisters has done on mentoring – here, look at this.
Sophie: Let’s see. “Our study showed that kids with mentors were 46% less likely to begin using drugs than kids not in the
programme, 27% less likely to begin drinking alcohol, 52% less likely to skip classes and 33% less likely to hit
someone.” OK, you convinced me!
Ross: Good! And you know what? It helps the mentors, too. I think I’ve learned a lot from Michael.
Sophie: Like what?
Ross: Well, he’s a great example for me. If he can deal with the huge challenges life has given him, then I can tackle any
problems I have.
Sophie: So, what got you into it?
Ross: Well … remember Patricia?
Sophie: That girl in our computer class last year?
Ross: Yes. She’s a Big Sister, and she convinced me to try it.
Sophie: Aha, now I get it! You wanted to make an impression on her.
Ross: OK, maybe that’s what it was at first. But now it’s more than that, really!
Sophie: OK, OK!