SECTION 1
Section 1. You will hear a man phoning to inquire about hotel information. 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.
Good afternoon. You're through to reception at the Island Hotel in Crete. How may I help you today? Yes, hello there.
I'm hoping to book a double room for my wife and myself for about two weeks, from the 25th of April of this year. Firstly, could you tell me whether it's particularly hot during this time? The type of room the man requires is a double one. So, double 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. Good afternoon.
You're through to reception at the Island Hotel in Crete. How may I help you today? Yes, hello there. I'm hoping to book a double room for my wife and myself for about two weeks, from the 25th of April of this year.
Firstly, could you tell me whether it's particularly hot during this time? Yes, of course, sir. During late April and early May, the daytime temperature shouldn't exceed 19 degrees Celsius, but the weather has been rather erratic and difficult to predict in recent years, so I am unable to say for certain. Okay, that sounds good.
My wife doesn't like going outside when it's very hot. I haven't booked flights yet, but I must say that I'm unfamiliar with Crete and its transport system. Does the hotel provide an airport shuttle service? Yes, sir.
We provide a complimentary airport pick-up service for all our guests. It takes about 40 minutes to get here from the airport, but it's at least 60 minutes at rush hours, and you will be provided with a fully air-conditioned shuttle bus. Okay, excellent.
In that case, do you have any rooms available for the dates I gave you? I shall have a look on the system now for you, sir. Bear with me just a moment. Yes, sir.
I can see now that we have several rooms available. Would you prefer a garden view or a sea view? Well, ideally I would like a sea view room with a balcony, but of course that depends on the difference in price. Not to worry, sir.
All of our standard double rooms have en-suite facilities and a balcony. If you would like one of our sea view rooms, there is a premium of €60 per night. Okay.
So could you tell me the total nightly rate for a standard double room with a sea view? Yes, of course, sir. For the spring months, our rate is €216 per night. For 14 nights altogether, this will come to €3,024.
Perfect. I also read on your website that the hotel has gym and spa facilities. Are there any other facilities on offer? Yes.
We have a large outdoor infinity pool overlooking the ocean, with luxury sunbeds and a poolside bar. We also have three full-size tennis courts, where we run a popular doubles tournament, with the winner receiving two all-inclusive spa day vouchers. Goodness.
I shall have to brush up on my tennis skills. 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.
Are there any other activities organised by the hotel that we can partake in? It's just that it's our wedding anniversary on the 30th of June, and I would like to provide my wife with the perfect romantic getaway. I can assure you, sir, that your wife won't be disappointed. Ours is a five-star resort, which is renowned for its luxury and beauty.
In terms of activities, the hotel provides thrice-weekly entertainment. On Tuesdays, guests will take a minibus and partake in learning to cook succulent fish dishes with our Michelin-starred chef Enrique. The class will take place in a beautiful valley deep in the Cretan hills, where guests will be treated to an intimate piano performance by our in-house concert pianist Pedro.
On Wednesdays, a select number of guests will be fortunate enough to explore the mountains by helicopter, before being transported to a tropical Cretan garden by shuttle bus. Finally, on Thursdays, after a fancy dinner, we provide a spectacular fireworks display, which guests can view from the comfort of a cable car. Oh, wow! That all sounds absolutely wonderful.
I shall book the room now, and then I need to look at flights, so as not to become extortionate. Would you like to take my details now, or later? That is the end of Section 1. You now have half a minute to check your answers.
SECTION 2
Section 2. You will hear part of a talk about Mount Rushmore given by a tour guide.
First, you have some time to look at questions 11 to 15. Now listen carefully and answer questions 11 to 15. Good morning everybody, and welcome to Mount Rushmore.
To start your visit, I'm just going to give you a brief account of the history of the memorial, before letting you roam about on your own. I won't keep you long, okay? Mount Rushmore is South Dakota's top tourist attraction, and features the heads of four United States Presidents, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. Each head is 18 metres tall, which is taller than the heights of 11 people combined.
The sculptor initially wanted to depict the Presidents from head to waist, but due to a lack of funding, the construction had to stop before this vision could be realised. In total, it cost the government $1 million to sculpt the heads at Mount Rushmore. Before the construction of the Presidents' heads, the mountain was just bare rock and forest, attracting only a few hikers a year.
The new carving at Mount Rushmore has become an iconic symbol of Presidential greatness, and has appeared in works of fiction and other popular works. The sculpture has also worked perfectly as a way to develop tourism, which was its intended purpose, and now attracts over 2 million people a year. The original plan was to carve the Presidents' faces into the granite pillars, known as the needles.
However, the sculptor soon realised that these rocks were too eroded and delicate to support such a large sculpture. Instead, he chose to locate the carving at Mount Rushmore, due to its grand appearance and brightly lit rock faces that experience maximum exposure to sunlight throughout the day as a result of the southeast orientation. Upon seeing Mount Rushmore, the sculptor declared, America will march along that skyline! The name of Mount Rushmore also has an interesting history.
The location was originally known as the Six Grandfathers. However, during an expedition in 1885, the mountain was renamed after Charles E. Rushmore, a prominent New York lawyer who joked that his annual treks to the mountain had earned him the right to have it named after him. Forty years after the mountain was renamed, Charles E. Rushmore donated $5,000 towards the sculpting of the Presidents' heads, the largest single contribution.
In 1927, the construction work started, and seven years later was complete with no fatalities. So that's the history for you. If you'd like any more information, please feel free to ask me questions, or you can soak up the information from our fantastic guidebook.
Before you hear the rest of the talk, you have some time to look at questions 16 to 20. Now listen and answer questions 16 to 20. Now I'm going to give you a plan of the site, and I'd just like to point out where everything is, so that you can explore everything for yourself.
We're currently standing at the entrance, which is marked with the arrow on the map. If you follow the trail up to our left, you will find the information centre. There's a great photo booth there, where you can have your photograph taken with Mount Rushmore in the background, for a fee of only $10.
What a great souvenir! In front of us is the refreshment centre, where you can help yourselves to coffee, locally grown tea, and a delicious selection of cold drinks and biscuits. Be sure to stay hydrated, as it can get really hot up here. To our right, not far up the trail, is the gift shop.
Here we sell copies of the guidebook, and it's also the perfect place to pick up some small souvenirs for yourself, your family and friends. Now, further up the trail, behind the gift shop, is a big stone building with a workshop. This is where all of our souvenirs are made by hand, which you can purchase in the gift shop, like I said before.
Some are even carved from pieces of rock, taken from Mount Rushmore itself. If you carry on walking up the trail, past the workshop, you'll find our state-of-the-art visitor centre, where you can find maps of the walking trails here at Mount Rushmore. Now for the real treat.
After you have walked past the visitor centre, you can follow the trail up to the left, which will take you to our wooden shelter. From here, you will have the best view of Mount Rushmore that there is. An experience not be forgotten.
Right, if anyone wants a guided tour, then I'm starting at the information centre. If you'd like to follow me, this way please. That is the end of section two.
You now have half a minute to check your answers.
SECTION 3
Section 3. You will hear two students talking about the Moor with the lecturer.
First, you have some time to look at questions 21 to 26. Now, listen carefully and answer questions 21 to 26. Thank you all for coming here today to hear about the Moor, a kind of animal which has been extinct for a long time.
Well, first of all, thank you. First of all, we look at what the Moor are. The Moor are nine species of flightless birds endemic to New Zealand.
They were the dominant herbivores in New Zealand's forest, shrubland and subalpine ecosystems for thousands of years. But around 500 years ago, they all went extinct. When I mention extinct animals during ancient times, you may immediately think of dinosaurs, which disappeared around 66 million years ago.
Fossils of dinosaurs, which we use to study, are large in number. But not many of those of Moor remain, though both animals appeal to people today. So, the Moor sound more mysterious now.
But, sir, I've got a question about these flightless birds. How can we distinguish them from other birds? That's a good question. Birds are commonly characterized by being warm-blooded, having feathers and wings, usually capable of flight, and laying eggs, while the flightless Moor, until their extinction, were the largest birds in the world.
Their heads are relatively small in relation to their bodies, and they are the only wingless birds lacking even the vestigial wings and substantial tailbones in their family. That's impressive, but were they born to be like that? I mean, when they were chicks? Yes, absolutely. So let's move on to the chicks.
The eggs of Moor were laid in nests and incubated for about two months. The chicks would be well developed upon hatching, and probably would be able to leave the nests to feed on their own almost immediately. I've heard that the male Moor are thought to have incubated the eggs.
Is that true? I think there is a possibility for that. I've read somewhere that the sex-specific DNA recovered from the outer surfaces of eggshells suggested that these eggs were likely to have been hatched by the male, but we still need to consult more. But I have a question.
There has been some occasional speculation that the Moor were still alive, because someone said they had caught sight of them in New Zealand in the late 19th century, or even the 20th. Do you think it's possible? I'm not amazed by that, since that kind of thing has been claimed several times. But I find it funny, because no reliable evidence of Moor tracks has ever been found, and experts still contend that Moor survival is extremely unlikely.
So what was the reason for the Moor's extinction? I wonder if it was global warming, or some other factors related to their living environment. Well, before the arrival of human settlers in New Zealand, the Moor's only predator was the massive Haas eagle. Then the Maori arrived sometime before CE 1300, and all Moor genera were soon driven to extinction by hunting.
What a horrible thing. Before you hear the rest of the talk, you have some time to look at questions 27 to 30. Now listen and answer questions 27 to 30.
All right. Now let's look at the features of some species of Moor. The South Island Giant Moor may have been the tallest birds ever known, and the second tallest of the nine Moor species is the North Island Giant Moor, with the females being markedly larger than males, both in weight and height.
And I've heard that the smallest of the Moor birds are the Coastal Moor. Is that right? Yes, you are right. And have you heard about any other kind of Moor before? I know the Crested Moor.
The eggs they laid may be larger than others. As they mainly lived in the remote interior of the Southern Island, their fossils are rare or absent in archaeological sites, and no egg remains have yet been identified. Are there any species of Moor that have got more fossils? Of course.
A considerable amount of remains of the Stout-legged Moor exist, due to the well-preserved properties of their habitat. Their skulls reveal relatively bad vision, a good sense of smell, and a very short bill. Then there is the Eastern Moor.
They were remarkable in having very long and narrow windpipes, which probably enabled them to make louder, more resonant calls than those of other Moor, and had the greatest vocal abilities, so they could communicate when they could not see each other in the forest or at night. They used a range of senses, apart from sound, in their search for food, such as their sense of smell and vision. That is the end of Section 3. You now have half a minute to check your answers.
SECTION 4
Section 4. You will hear a talk on the research of the behaviour of chimpanzees.
First, you have some time to look at questions 31 to 40. Now listen carefully and answer questions 31 to 40. Welcome back to my series of short lectures on apes. Today we will examine recent and historical breakthroughs on the behaviour of chimpanzees, otherwise known as chimps. The word chimpanzee is an umbrella term for two different species of apes.
In the genus Pan, which are the common chimpanzee, or Pan troglodytes, found in western Central Africa, and the Bonobo, or Pan paniscus, which are found in the forests of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Chimpanzees belong to the Hominidae family, together with gorillas, orangutans, and indeed humans. Current research tells us that the chimps broke away from the human branch of the Hominidae family approximately 6 million years ago, and remain the closest living relative to humans to this day.
More modern researches into chimpanzees have centred on their behavioural characteristics, once all biological and genetic factors have been ruled out. In this way, scientists have unearthed an unfathomable amount of similarities between human and chimpanzee behaviour. Although much of this research has taken place through observation of captive chimps, the results are widely seen as an authoritative reflection of chimps living in the wild.
Chimps live in large so-called communities, comprised of many male and female members, with the social hierarchy determined by an individual chimp's position and influence. Through such research, scientists have found that chimps learn and adapt through observation of others' behaviour. Once in power, the alpha male is often seen to alter its body language in order to retain power.
For example, he might puff himself up in order to intimidate others, while lower-ranking chimps are noted to behave more submissively, and holding out their hands while grunting. Female chimpanzees also have a distinct social hierarchy, with high social standing inherited by children. It is not unheard of for dominant females within a community to unite and overthrow the alpha male, backing another in his place.
James Diamond, in his book The Third Chimpanzee, suggests that chimps should now be reclassified in the genus Homo, instead of Pan, and there are many arguments still in favour of this. Male common chimpanzees are on average 1.7 metres in height, weighing 70 kilograms, with their female counterparts being somewhat smaller. By comparison, the bonobo is slightly shorter and lighter, but with longer arms and legs.
However, both species walk on all fours and climb trees with great ease. Jane Goodall made a groundbreaking discovery in 1960, when she observed the use of tools among chimpanzees, including digging for termites with large sticks. A recent study claimed to reveal that common chimpanzees in Senegal have been using spears sharpened with their teeth to hunt.
However, these reports remain unsubstantiated. Researchers have witnessed such tools, namely rocks, being used by chimps to open coconut shells, and indeed crushing nuts with stone hammers. As scientific technology has developed, so too has our knowledge of the sheer extent of the chimps' intelligence.
Research has now shown that chimps have the capability to learn and use symbols, and understand aspects of the human language, including syntax, as well as numerical sequences. As I mentioned earlier, the umbrella term chimpanzee is comprised of the common chimpanzee and the bonobo. These two subspecies are divided along the Congo River, with the common chimps living on one side and the bonobos living on the opposite side of the river.
Over the past few decades, both of these subspecies have witnessed an alarming decrease in population density, with animal activists now working harder than ever to protect those remaining and encourage procreation. In addition, next week's episode will focus more closely on how chimpanzees in captivity are able to learn things through imitating the behaviour of humans, as well as how chimpanzees' behaviours have developed over many generations. Thank you very much for attending this evening's lecture.
I hope you found it intellectually stimulating, and I look forward to seeing you again next week. Good night. That is the end of section 4. You now have half a minute to check your answers.
