IELTS LISTENING TEST 2

Section 1. You will hear a woman talking to a man who works in a tourist information office. First, you have some time to look at questions 1 to 6. Pause the recording for 30 seconds. 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. Good morning. Can I help you? I hope so. I have a friend in Spain and her two daughters are coming to the city to study for a month. So, I thought the tourist information center was the best place to ask about hostels. Can you recommend any? Of course. I usually suggest one of the Hosteling International places. HI West End is a big hostel in a residential area, but is only 10 minutes from downtown if you take a bus. It's really popular. The journey time is by bus, so bus 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 6. Good morning. Can I help you? I hope so. I have a friend in Spain and her two daughters are coming to the city to study for a month. So, I thought the tourist information center was the best place to ask about hostels. Can you recommend any? Of course. I usually suggest one of the Hosteling International places. HI West End is a big hostel in a residential area, but is only 10 minutes from downtown if you take a bus. It's really popular. Okay. Sounds good. I need to know how much it costs. The girls want a double room to themselves. They don't want to share with other people. Well, that makes it more expensive. The price is under $30 for a bed in a dormitory, but they'll be paying $50 a night. But if they become members of Hosteling International, the price comes down to $41 a night. Membership costs $35. Right. And membership offers them benefits too on all kinds of activities. What kind of things? Oh, uh, skydiving and whitewater rafting. Things like that. Hmm. I don't think they're interested in that kind of thing. If they become members, will they get cheaper entrance tickets to museums? Oh, yes. And also discounts on bicycle and car hire. Okay. It's probably worth it. Is the hostel very noisy? They're coming here to do some studying. I think it is quite noisy, as it's a really big hostel. And if they want to use the Internet, this hostel still makes a charge, unfortunately. Oh. It's $1 for 15 minutes and $3 for an hour. Hmm. It might not be ideal for them. Mm-hmm. What else can you recommend? Is there anything in a quiet area? There's Ellis Goat Hostel. Hmm. How do you spell that? E-L-L-I-S-C-O-A-T. I've never heard that name before. And where is that? It's on the beach looking over the bay. Here, look on the map. Oh. It's quiet, but not far from Dragon Island. There's plenty going on there in the evening. Oh, that's a nice area. And if they want to go to Dragon Island, it only takes a couple of minutes to walk down to the ferry. So, how much is a room there? It's in such a nice spot that the rooms are a bit more expensive. Mm-hmm. They're $62. Does that include any meals? Unfortunately not. Oh. It is possible to buy meals in the hostel at a reasonable price, but because it isn't very busy in the winter, they only cook in summer. Before you hear the rest of the conversation, you have some time to look at questions 7 to 10. Pause the recording for 30 seconds. Now listen and answer questions 7 to 10. Oh, I think I know the place you mean. It's an old building, isn't it? Yes, it's well known as it's one of the oldest in the city. There's been a hotel there since 1887 when it was first built. It was turned into a hostel in 1985, and they'veinvested a lot of money restoring it inside. Hmm. They'd like that. But I'm just looking on the map at where their college is. It's right in the center. It is a bit far for them from there. The hostel actually has scooters for hire at a very good price, so they could do that. It would be quicker than cycling or walking to the center. Hmm. It is a bit expensive, but it sounds like the best one so far, unless there's something a bit cheaper. Okay. Well, what about the Backpackers Hostel? That's not so expensive. It's in a side street in the Entertainment District. They wouldn't need to go far to find everything they want. They could walk everywhere, and it's very reasonable, only $45 and another $5 if they want to have breakfast. Hmm. But what about other meals? There's no café, but on each floor in this hostel, there's a kitchen for residents to cook in. Oh. I'm not sure how well equipped they are, but it should be fine for basic meals. Well, that's really very helpful. I'll pass all this information on now. Do ask your friends to ring me if they need to know anything else. I will. Thank you. That is the end of Section 1. You now have half a minute to check your answers.

Section 2. You'll hear an introduction about how to make a resume and apply for a job. First, you have some time to look at questions 11 to 17. Now, listen carefully and answer questions 11 to 17. Welcome, everyone, to today's seminar on CV and interview skills. Remember, your CV is probably the most important document you will ever write. It opens the door to your career, and that job interview is probably the most important meeting you will ever attend. It's like stepping through that open door. So let's roll up our sleeves and get down to work, shall we? First of all, I cannot possibly tell you everything you need to know about writing a resume in the time we have. But let me tell you that there are dozens of great websites on the Internet. These will give you all the suggestions you need. If you look at the paper I gave you, you will see a list of the dozen most popular sites. I can mention a couple of important points, however. One is that your CV or resume should not be too long. A page is about right. Why? HR departments do not have the time to read long documents. Too many people are sending too many CVs. After all, the economic crisis of 2008 is still very much alive. Everyone needs a job now. No matter how short you make that resume, though, you do not want to forget to tell HR how to contact your references. References are people who will give you a recommendation for a job. That's usually an ex-boss or a professor who knows you well. Do not use relatives. I don't care how much your mum loves you. Also, when you send that CV, be sure to include a typed cover letter. A cover letter is a letter where you basically are asking for a job. It's like introducing yourself. Make it brief. The real information about you is on that CV of yours. And please, make sure the letter is typed. It doesn't matter if your handwriting is beautiful or not. Companies only read typed letters. Another point about CVs is you should try to have an attractive layout. Maybe use different type fonts or colours to highlight the information. Some people include a photo. You can find dozens of examples on the internet. Whatever layout you decide to use, however, avoid all spelling and grammar errors. I used to be an HR manager. If I saw a mistake, that CV went into the garbage. Something you write in a CV is a description of your skills and experiences in an interesting way. Mention training, too. I mean, these are what get you hired. Do not just say, I have lots of experience or I have many skills. Tell that boss what you did for what company and when. Better, tell him how well you did it. Don't just say, I sold houses. Say, I sold two million pounds worth of houses in my first year. That is, say something to make the person reading excited and curious. Finally, speaking of CVs, it's sad, but some people actually forget to provide a contact number. That's pretty silly. You wrote a great CV. You have HR dying to meet you, and they don't know how. You forgot your phone number. Oh, sure, if you apply online, they have your email address, but you just showed them you're forgetful. Why are they going to want to talk to you after that? Before you hear the rest of the talk, you have some time to look at questions 18 to 20. Now listen and answer questions 18 to 20. All right, moving on to the actual interview. I'll go over what you need to know by the end of it, and what you can discuss and negotiate on later once it looks like you'll be offered the job. First, there's working hours. It's not that necessary to hammer out the hours off the bat, especially since it's easy to come off as lazy when the first thing you bring up is how much you're going to have to work. You can also find out more about possible promotions later on. It is important, however, to get a feel for how much you'll be paid. You should make sure the salary range is commensurate with what you're worth, and if you're not, you can move on to better opportunities. Being sure you're going to make what you want to live on is much more important than issues like your pension. You're all so young that your pension is not going to matter for quite a long time. You should find out about what skills you must know for the job, and what they'll teach you. In addition, if the company will provide training, you should find out how long the training period is, and whether it is paid. Beware of any jobs that want you to train for a long time without appropriate compensation. Speaking of compensation, find out about holidays as well. Do you get paid vacation time? Are you allowed to take personal days? Do you have to work on national holidays? Once you work out these main issues, you can move on later to details like the location and expected attire and whatnot. Wow, that's a lot of information. Let's take a break so you can think everything over and ask any questions you may have. Don't hesitate to come and see me if you need any clarification on all this stuff. That is the end of section two. You now have half a minute to check your answers. Now turn to section three.

Section three. You will hear a university tutor talking to two students about a presentation they have made in a recent botany seminar. First, you have some time to look at questions twenty-one to twenty-five. Pause the recording for thirty seconds. Now listen carefully and answer questions twenty-one to twenty-five. Well, Anita and Lee, that was an interesting presentation you made about John Chapman. Thanks. There are a few points I'd like to run through before you write it up. One thing which you didn't explain was why you decided to do a presentation on this man who spread apple varieties across the US. Well, ages ago, we were chatting about stuff we'd read as children and I told Lee the Johnny Appleseed story. I had these American storybooks when I was small. Then when we were looking into the area of domesticated species of plants for our presentation, we realised that the introduction of the apple with the settlers in the US would be a good case study. And I remembered Chapman, so we looked up the real guy behind the legend. Right. I think that would have made a good intro. I thought it was too personal. Just a couple of minutes would have drawn your listeners in. Anyway, now a more serious point. You didn't mention the sources of some of your information. We used some books and journal articles and did an internet search and found some good sites. We've put them on the back of the handout we gave everyone at the end. Oh, I see. Oh, here it is. Johnny Appleseed, Man and Myth, 1967. Well, the thing is, you really have to make this explicit when you talk. And anything you show, data you project from your laptop, etc., you must have the source on it. Right, OK. At least you have got it all documented. I was a bit concerned about that. Sorry. Anyway, now the content of your talk. What your listeners wanted to understand was whether there were apples in the US before the Europeans started to live there. You told us the early settlers had brought young apple trees, but that few of them had thrived because the climate was harsh. But what about native species? I don't think you were very clear about species already there. According to what I've read, there were some crab apples, but that was all. Everything that people now think of as traditional American apples was species that the Europeans either introduced or bred by chance. Because they tended to sow seeds rather than use grafting. Yes, quite. But what to me was fascinating, and I saw most members of your audience start to take notes, was when you discussed how the apple genes spread via the Silk Route into Europe from the wild apple woods of Kazakhstan. Yes, well, I'd like to have said more about the development of grafting in ancient China as a way of producing predictable varieties. It was so early in history. But it's the natural development of the original wild apple into new species that people wanted more about, which says a lot for your presentation. You enthused your audience. So now we need to discuss the form your follow-up work will take. Are you going to produce a paper? Or are you thinking of putting it all up on the department website? I felt we could do both, and we could do a poster of some of the data, but Lee wasn't sure. No, I think it would be enough to use the website. We can offer a link to our email for queries. That would save time and trees. I think Lee's right. A poster would be nice, but it'd take too much time. OK. Before you hear the rest of the conversation, you have some time to look at questions 26 to 30. Pause the recording for 30 seconds. Now listen and answer questions 26 to 30. Now, I just want to give you a few pointers about the techniques of your presentation. Mostly, it was good. But there are a few things you need to bear in mind next time you do one. You both managed the hardware, I mean the projector and things, very well indeed, which is always a great help. Good. Thanks. You'd obviously checked it out carefully. Yes. But unfortunately, we hadn't finished our maps when we did the practice on my computer at home. That's why there were some the wrong way up. We didn't realise the software on the laptop was a bit different from the one I have. But you sorted out the problem very quickly and didn't let it fluster you, so it wasn't a big problem. We could all read the map when we needed to. So, it was OK, but we could have done better, we realise. There was a bit at the end where I felt something didn't go as you'd planned. Am I right? We had a few maps which we ended up leaving out because we needed to get on to our conclusions. Yes, it took longer to explain the technical aspects of grafting than we'd expected. So, sticking to the time limit for each part of our presentation is something we didn't manage at all. Which means we've definitely got to improve before we do another one. Yes. Apart from that, well, the handout was perfectly adequate for a seminar like this. It gave all the key information and, of course, now I realise the sources are listed at the back. But you need to do those references in the correct format, as footnotes, in future. OK. Yes, sorry, we will. And finally, other students will be presenting projects later in the course. I shall be reminding them how well you both spoke and that no one had any problem hearing or understanding either of you. In that respect, your talk was a model that the others can follow. Thank you. Yes, thanks very much. This feedback has been very helpful. Well done, both of you. See you in a fortnight. Bye. Yes, thanks. That is the end of section 3. You now have half a minute to check your answers.

Section 4. You will hear a lecturer describing some investigations into the sense of taste. First, you have some time to look at questions 31 to 40. Pause the recording for one minute. Now listen carefully and answer questions 31 to 40. This morning, I'm going to describe for you a few of the kinds of experiments that have been used to investigate the sense of taste, which is now recognised as being a far more complex and important area of neurological science than was previously believed by most people. The results of some of these experiments can be quite fun, and I shall suggest that you may want to choose one or two to try out in groups before having a go at designing a new experimental procedure of your own and trying to pinpoint the cause of your findings. The first one concerns a marketing exercise by a soft drinks company. The green colour of some cans was altered by the addition of yellow, so they were a brighter green. Then, test subjects were asked what they thought about the flavour of the drink in the new style cans, and they stated that there was more lime in the drink if it was in the ones with the new colour. This was because the brain picks up cues from the way the product is presented, as well as the product itself, which trigger taste sensations. Before food was packaged, humans used colour to gauge the ripeness of fruit, for example. Next, there's the old problem with chewing gum. Everyone knows that after a few minutes chewing, it loses its minty flavour. However, if you ask people to chew up to the point where it becomes tasteless, and then ask them to eat a little sugar and continue chewing, to most people's surprise, what happens is that the original mintiness actually returns, because it is the sweetness which is needed to make the mintiness perceptible. So, combinations of flavours can be significant, as the brain needs one of them in order to recognise the other. Another experiment demonstrates something we've all done. Drink half a fizzy drink straight from the fridge, and then leave it at room temperature for a while. Take a sip, and you may well decide you don't like it. The warm drink is too sweet to be refreshing. So, put the rest back in the fridge until it's chilled again. Now try it. Much better. Of course, the sweetness doesn't change. It is our perception, because how sweet it tastes depends on the temperature. The extent to which the drink is sweetened is less evident if the drink has been cooled. Another interesting result has been derived from experiments with sound. One of these involved eating crisps. Subjects were put into soundproof rooms and given batches of crisps to eat. As they ate, the sound of crunching which they made as they ate the crisps was played back to them. This was adjusted so that they sometimes heard the crunching as louder, or at other times, more high frequency sounds were audible in the sound feedback that accompanied their eating. Fascinatingly, if the sound level was louder or higher frequency, they reported that the crisps were actually fresher. Of course, the crisps were in fact the same every time. So, it was clear that the level and quality of what they were hearing was influencing their taste perceptions. So, we've looked briefly at colour, at complementary flavours, at temperature and sound. It seems that all the senses are working together here. But what about the sense of touch? A number of experiments have been done in this area. If you take, for instance, cheese sauce and prepare different versions, some thicker and some thinner, but without any alteration in the strength of flavour, what do you think the subjects perceive? Yep, if the sauce is thicker, they'll say the cheesy flavour is less strong. It was clear that the thing that was influencing the subjects' judgement about the flavour of the sauces was the texture of each one. Now, this result is important for dieticians as well as marketing executives. Lastly, another variation on the two flavours theme. This concerns the capacity of the brain for bridging a sensory gap. The subjects in this experiment stuck out their tongues so that the testers could drip two liquids onto them simultaneously. One strawberry-flavoured and one sugar-flavoured. The testers then took away each flavour in turn. When the sweetness was taken away, the subjects reported they could hardly taste anything. But they continued to think they could taste strawberry even after it was taken away. So that taste gap was filled. Well, that's just a quick look at some of the examples in the current literature. The references will be in the handouts you'll get at the end of the session. Now, let's see about trying a few of them for ourselves.