IELTS LISTENING TEST 36

SECTION 1 Section 1. You will hear a conversation between an optometrist and a patient who has come for an eye test. First, you have some time to look at questions 1 to 6. 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? Yes, I'm here for an appointment at 10 o'clock with the optometrist. I'm a little early, I know it's only 10 to 10. Are you Simon Lee? Yes, I am. The time of the appointment is 10 o'clock, so 10am 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? Yes, I'm here for an appointment at 10 o'clock with the optometrist. I'm a little early, I know it's only 10 to 10. Are you Simon Lee? Yes, I am. I'm Rachel White, the optometrist here today. Come in and take a seat. Thanks. Before we test your eyes, I just need to get a few details from you. So Simon, what's your full name? Simon Anthony, that's A-N-T-H-O-N-Y. My family name is Lee, L-E-E. And your date of birth, Simon? The 1st of June, 1989. The 21st of June? No, the 1st of June. Oh, whoops, sorry. 1989. Ah, the same year my son was born. What's your current address? I'm living at a hall of residence. Which one? At University Hall, not far from here, in Adams Terrace. University Hall. And do you have any medical insurance? Yes, I'm fully covered. And who are you insured with? I'm with Health for Life. Healthy Life. No, people always get that wrong. It's Health for Life. They're part of some big insurance company. Good. Now, Simon, have you ever had your eyes tested before? Yes, once, but not recently. It was when I was still at school. So, roughly when would that have been? Probably around September 2007. No, on second thoughts, it must have been the year before. September 2006. And my eyesight was fine then. But you're having a little difficulty now, are you? Yes. Since I started at university, I've been having difficulty with distance vision. I can't always see things in the distance. Well, let's have a look. Now, I'm just going to cover your left eye. Can you read the top line? Yes. R, B, Q, S. Before you hear the rest of the conversation, you have some time to look at questions 7 to 10. Now listen and answer questions 7 to 10. Well, Simon, your eyes have obviously got a little worse since your last test, and I think you're going to need to wear glasses. Not all the time, and not so much for reading or close work, but definitely for driving. Right, yes, I thought that was probably the case. So, now you need to choose some frames. There's a wide range to choose from, as you can see. Can you give me some idea of the difference in cost? I quite liked the idea of some frameless glasses. Hmm, did you? Well, the prices vary enormously, like everything, but the frameless ones are the most expensive. The cheapest are the ones with the full frame. Hmm, perhaps I'd better go for those. Or why not try these ones with the half frame? Hmm, they're not too bad. Yes, they look quite nice, and they're strong. Far less likely to break than the frameless ones. That's a good point. OK, I think I'll take those ones. If you pop back next Monday, I should have them ready for you, and you can pay for them when you pick them up. Thanks very much. Can I pay by credit card? You can, but there'll be a slight charge if you do that. Right. I'll pay by cash then, if you don't mind. No problem. Cash, credit card, debit card, all the same to us. See you on Monday. That is the end of section 1. You now have half a minute to check your answers. Now turn to section 2.

SECTION 2 Section 2. You will hear a guidance counsellor talking to a group of students. First, you have some time to look at questions 11 to 14. Listen carefully and answer questions 11 to 14. Hello, everyone. I'm the counselling administrator here at St Ives College, and I've been asked to come and talk to you about our counselling team and the services that we offer. We have three professional counsellors here at St Ives, Louise Bagshaw, Tony Denby and Naomi Flynn. They each hold daily one-on-one sessions with students, but which counsellor you see will depend on a number of factors. If you've never used a counsellor before, then you should make an appointment with Naomi Flynn. Naomi specialises in seeing new students and offers a preliminary session where she will talk to you about what you can expect from counselling, followed by some simple questions about what you would like to discuss. This can be really helpful for students who are feeling a bit worried about the counselling process. Naomi is also the best option for students who can only see a counsellor outside office hours. She is not in on Mondays, but starts early on Wednesday mornings and works late on Thursday evenings, so you can see her before your first class or after your last class on those days. Louise staffs our drop-in centre throughout the day. If you need to see someone without a prior appointment, then she is the one to visit. Please note that if you use this service, then Louise will either see you herself or place you with the next available counsellor. If you want to be sure to see the same counsellor on each visit, then we strongly recommend you make an appointment ahead of time. You can do this at reception during office hours or by using our online booking form. Tony is our newest addition to the counselling team. He is our only male counsellor and he has an extensive background in stress management and relaxation techniques. We encourage anyone who is trying to deal with anxiety to see him. Tony will introduce you to a full range of techniques to help you cope with this problem, such as body awareness, time management and positive reinforcement. 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. Each semester, the counselling team runs a number of small group workshops. These last for two hours and are free to all enrolled students. Our first workshop is called Adjusting. We've found that tertiary education can come as a big shock for some people. After the structured learning environment of school, it is easy to feel lost. In this workshop, we will introduce you to what is necessary for academic success. As you might expect, we're targeting first year students with this offering. Getting organised follows on from the first workshop. Here, we're going to help you break the habit of putting things off, get the most out of your time and discover the right balance between academic and recreational activities. With getting organised, we're catering to a broader crowd, which includes all undergraduates and postgraduates. Next up is a workshop called Communicating. The way people interact here may be quite different to what you're used to, especially if you've come from abroad. We'll cover an area that many foreign students struggle with, how to talk with teachers and other staff. We'll cover all aspects of multicultural communication. International students tend to get a lot out of this class, so we particularly encourage you to come along. But I must say that sometimes students from a local background find it helpful too, so everyone is welcome. The Anxiety Workshop is held later on in the year and deals with something you will all be familiar with, the nerves and anxiety that come when exams are approaching. Many students go through their entire academic careers suffering like this, but you don't have to. Come to this workshop and we'll teach you all about relaxation and how to breathe properly, as well as meditation and other strategies to remain calm. We've tailored this workshop to anyone who is going to sit exams. Finally, we have the Motivation Workshop. The big topic here is how to stay on target and motivated during long-term research projects. This workshop is strictly for research students, as less advanced students already have several workshops catering to their needs. Well, that's it. Thanks for your time. If you have any questions or want more information about our services, do come and see us at the Counselling Service. That is the end of Section 2. You now have half a minute to check your answers.

SECTION 3 Now turn to Section 3. You will hear Tim and Jenny, two students, talking about their geography assessment. First, you'll have some time to look at questions 21 to 25. Now listen carefully and answer questions 21 to 25. Hi Jenny. Hi Tim. How are you doing? I'm OK, but I'm really stressed out about our geography assessment next week. Have you done any work on it yet? I've looked at it a little bit, but it would be helpful to discuss it with someone else. Do you want to chat about it with me? That would be great. Do you know what the rules are for the test? For our assessment last term, we were all required to collect raw data in order to achieve a pass. However, this term the tutor has said that it won't be necessary for us to do this. I read through the notes and they said that we are all going to be given a set of instructions that we can choose to follow if we wish, but it's not mandatory, and we can complete the exam as we wish. I don't think that the rules will be too strict. As long as we don't copy the answers from anyone else's exam paper, I think we'll be sure to pass. Yes, I agree. Shall we put together a slideshow presentation with information on all of the volcanoes? I think it will really help us to revise the facts. OK, great. Let's start with Pompeii. It's the most well-known of all the volcanoes, so it should be easy to find lots of information about it online. I'll avoid including some of the images in the presentation, as many people were killed and some of them can be quite disturbing. We're lucky to have a double free period today, so we will have plenty of time to revise this together. OK, next up is Mount Fago. This is an ancient mythical volcano, the location of which is unclear. There are mountainous regions in both Mexico and the USA, both of which are rumoured to be the site of this volcano. It's not very scientific to list two separate locations for one volcano, but since no one has been able to prove which is the correct one, we're left with no choice. It's interesting that there is no other example of a volcano in existence today that is surrounded by so much mystery. Absolutely. I think we should include some information about Mount Etna in Sicily, which is famous for the stunning panoramas that one can appreciate from its peak. According to Google, it's a relatively new volcano compared to others in the surrounding region, which may be why it has very few of the features found in older volcanoes. Oh, how interesting! Shall we include information on Mount Hurton? I don't think that any of the other students have carried out much research into it, even though it has a lot of unique features. I think we should leave it out. Since it's a man-made volcano, it's not that relevant to our syllabus and probably won't be included in any of the exam questions. 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. Have you gotten feedback from your tutor on your presentation last week? Yes, I have, but I don't think he was very impressed. He was satisfied by the amount of research that I had prepared before I started, but he criticized the fact that I was mostly summarizing the facts instead of giving my own opinion. Oh, that's a shame. It was frustrating that he criticized my work, but in the end I learned a lot from my tutor's feedback. He advised me that next time I should present my work as a short documentary film, which he thinks will help me to strengthen my arguments. What topic was your presentation based on? I chose to write about the lack of knowledge that most people have about volcanoes and the fact that they see them in such a negative way. During documentaries and lectures, the scientific experts often neglect to mention the many positive features that volcanoes possess. That sounds really interesting. Well done! I think everyone enjoyed watching, but I was really nervous about talking in front of an audience. I also felt very underprepared, since I didn't finish writing the presentation until the night before and therefore had no time to rehearse it. I'm sure it was great. Is there any other information that you think we should include in our slideshow for revision? Yes, I think it's important that we list all of the differences between active and extinct volcanoes, as there will definitely be a question on this topic. There are no documentaries on the subject, but there's a very informative website that discusses the geological structure of each volcano type. OK. Well, I'll continue collecting images and you can carry on with the online research. That is the end of Section 3. You now have half a minute to check your answers.

SECTION 4 Now turn to Section 4. You will hear part of a lecture about exotic pests, given as the introduction to a course on ecology and environment. 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. Good afternoon. I want this afternoon, as an introduction to our ecology module, to offer examples of exotic pests, non-native animals or plants, which are, or may be, causing problems, which might prove a fruitful topic for seminar papers later in the term. People and products are crisscrossing the world as never before. And on these new global highways, plants and animals are travelling too. Exotic plants and animals are turning up in Antarctica and on the most remote islands on Earth. For example, the Australian red-backed spider. It's made its way to countries fairly near home, such as New Zealand and Japan, as some of you may know. Well, it's also been found on Tristan da Cunha, which is a remote island thousands of miles from anywhere, way out in the middle of the Atlantic. Now, another famous animal invader in the other direction, so to speak, from England to Australia in the Southern Hemisphere, is the rabbit. This was in 1830, and it might seem less of a threat, but it became an extraordinarily destructive pest. The fact that rabbits increased so rapidly is perhaps more understandable when we remind ourselves that they had originally been introduced to England from continental Europe eight centuries earlier. This was because they were regarded as a luxury food source, and in spite of having warm fur, they probably originated on the hot, dry plains of Spain, which, of course, explains why they thrive in the climate of Australia. A much less cuddly example of a pest introduced to Australia, this time from America, is fire ants. These are increasing and spreading very fast. Their huge nests can now be found in gardens in the city of Brisbane, and they are costing the Australian Government a great deal of money in control measures. These were an accidental introduction, rather than a deliberate one, brought to Australia probably in horticultural imports or in mud on second-hand machinery. As a biologist and conservationist, I have become increasingly concerned about these matters. Exotic invasions are irreversible and deserve to be taken more seriously, even when they aren't particularly damaging. For example, something that is not necessarily a major disaster compared to other ecological experiments. In 1975, an Australian species of earthworm was deliberately introduced to the Northern Hemisphere in Scotland because they were bigger than the natives. The aim was that they would be more effective than native species, but in fact they don't do more for the soil condition than the smaller locals which they displace. Although they don't do a lot of harm, as far as we know up to now, this will probably prove to have been a mistake. A much more serious case, also in Scotland, as well as other countries, along with the latest victim, Iceland, is the New Zealand flatworm. This is a most unwelcome newcomer in these regions of Northwest Europe. Basically, this flatworm came into these countries by accident. It's now been realised that it was actually carried in the plant pots containing exotic ornamental shrubs, and so on, and as it eats local earthworms and doesn't benefit the local ecology in any way, it is a real pest. Next, there's a further instance, this time in the water, and it's come from Japan. It's a delicious but very fast-spreading seaweed and is one of many exotic species, large and small, in the seas covering the rocks around Australia. Unfortunately, it is replacing indigenous seaweeds and permanently altering the ecosystem. However, to look at the situation from a business point of view, it is now being harvested and exported, dried, back to Japan, its original home, where it's particularly popular. So, sometimes we may find accidental benefits from apparently harmful arrivals. Well, you could say that world ecology is now going the same way as popular culture. Global music and fashions, food and drinks, are taking over from local ones in every land. And in ecosystems, we find vigorous exotic invaders overwhelming native species and natural habitats. But can we find any examples of invaders which appear to be a problem and then find that, in fact, they may not be such a big issue after all? We might take as an example a native of Australia, the budgerigar, the most common pet parrot in the world, of course. Because there have been many escapes over the years, it is now to be found flying about in feral flocks where the climate suits it. So, these flocks of budgerigars have been getting very numerous in the south-east of the United States, particularly in residential areas. People have been getting quite worried about this, but it has been observed that the size of the flocks has diminished somewhat recently. The fact that they are smaller is thought to be due to the fact that new competitors for their habitat have arrived from other places. That's the last example for now. What I'd like you to consider is this. Is the planet Earth moving towards a one-world ecosystem? How far would it be a wholly bad development? That is the end of Section 4. You now have half a minute to check your answers.