Listening mock test FEB KEYS

Listening practice test Answer Key Section 1, Questions 1–10 Trickett 2PQ manager / office manager 28202830 5-7 C, E, F (in any order) speed cameras / cameras morning 10 phone shops Section 2, Questions 11–20 11 1857 12 lecture theatres 13 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 Listening practice test 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 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 Section 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 to 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 © British Council All rights reserved 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 to 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: Man: That’s fine, fire away 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-TT 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 © British Council All rights reserved Man: Sorry, did you say L11 2PU? Woman: No, 2PQ Man: Ah And what 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 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 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 to 10 Now listen and answer questions 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 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 © British Council All rights reserved 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 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 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… © British Council All rights reserved 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 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 You now have half a minute to check your answers Now turn to Section © British Council All rights reserved SECTION 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, lecture theatres and wards for nursing practice Most of the other rooms were used as offices and for storage space The construction of the building cost 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 © British Council All rights reserved 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 © British Council All rights reserved 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 You now have half a minute to check your answers Now turn to section © British Council All rights reserved SECTION 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 © British Council All rights reserved 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? © British Council All rights reserved 10 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 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 You now have half a minute to check your answers Now turn to section © British Council All rights reserved 11 SECTION 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 © British Council All rights reserved 12 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 © British Council All rights reserved 13 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 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 © British Council All rights reserved 14 .. .Listening practice test Answer Key Section 1, Questions 1–10 Trickett 2PQ manager / office manager 28202830... recognition 35 advancement 36 supervisor 37 complaints 38 inadequate 39 security 40 rewarding Listening practice test tapescripts NARRATOR: You will hear a number of different recordings and you will... a chance to check your work All the recordings will be played once only The test is in sections At the end of the test you will be given 10 minutes to transfer your answers to an answer sheet