But actually, it’s not always music I’m listening to.. I know some people can’t do this because they end up listening to the music and not working, but for me it’s the opposite.. For me,
Trang 2The memory is still so clear in my mind – as if it was
yesterday I was in town with my friends We were
just hanging around doing nothing in particular It
was warm and sunny, and we were enjoying a day
off school before our exams My mate Jake and I
were talking about the next day’s maths exam when
another classmate, Julie, came running across the
road towards us ‘Did you hear that explosion about
twenty minutes ago?’ We said we hadn’t and asked
Julie what it was ‘It was a gas leak at the school: the
main hall has been destroyed!’
1.02
Teacher Can I have a word, Mike?
Student Yes, of course
Teacher I need to check how you’re getting on with
the project
Student Which project is that?
Teacher The biology project that’s due in at the end
of next week
Student I’ll be starting it at the weekend
Teacher What? You mean you haven’t started it yet?
Student Not the actual writing, but I’ve been
thinking about it
Teacher That’s not good enough, Mike
Student Don’t worry – it won’t be late
Teacher I hope you’re right It’s a very important
piece of coursework
Part 1 Practice
1.03
1 You hear two friends talking about a tennis
match they saw on TV.
Boy Did you watch the tennis on TV yesterday?
Girl Yes, I thought it was really exciting, but the
French player shouldn’t have lost
Boy I don’t agree He may have been the more
skilful, but I thought the American was faster and
more powerful
Girl That’s true, but didn’t you think the French
player was unlucky when he slipped on the final
point? I was sure he was going to win it
Boy Well, I can see why you think that, but it was
still a mistake You have to stay on your feet, and
the American didn’t slip once in the whole match
He deserved to win
2 You hear a girl telling her friend about a concert she attended.
Girl It’s a real shame you couldn’t come to the
concert last week It was fantastic I’d never seen the band on stage before, and they were terrific Recordings are great, but they’re nothing like hearing music live You wouldn’t believe how loud
it was, and it seemed to get louder as it went on I thought my eardrums would burst Of course, you can turn the volume up at home, but it still isn’t the same It can be exciting, but it can’t match the thrill
of the real thing I love my MP3 player, but I love live music even more
3 You hear a news report about the dangers facing tigers today.
Reporter Only around three thousand tigers
remain in the world today They have just one enemy, but that one enemy has almost wiped them out And, of course, it’s us – human beings One of the problems is that we have destroyed much of their habitat, but hunting threatens the tiger still more In some places, parts of the tiger are used
to make medicines, and a single carcass can fetch
up to 50,000 US dollars Many poor people live
in areas where there are tigers and, although it’s dangerous, tiger hunting gives them the chance to earn far more money than they could otherwise
4 You hear a teacher talking about essay writing.
Teacher Writing an essay isn’t hard The tricky part
is to make it interesting And the best way to do that is to note down your ideas before you put pen
to paper For example, if you have to write about
a visit to a museum, the easiest thing would be to start at the beginning of your visit and go through
it in order But if you have notes to guide you, then you might think of more interesting possibilities – for example, you might begin by describing some exhibit which especially impressed you, or by saying how you felt at the end of the day
5 You hear a brother and sister talking about how much sleep they need.
Sister I wish we didn’t always have to go to bed so
early
Brother Do you? I really need eight hours’ sleep if
I’m to feel good the next day
Sister Maybe you just need more than I do I could
stay up another hour easily
Brother You might think so, but you haven’t tried
it, have you? I bet you wouldn’t like it much if you did
Sister I’d be fine Maybe girls just don’t need as
much sleep as boys
Brother That’s stupid We all need the same
amount
Sister Not true Some people get by on five hours
a night
Brother Ha! What you mean is, they say they only
need five hours a night
Trang 3Boy It rained almost every day, so we hardly went
to the beach at all If you’d asked me before how
I’d feel about that, I’d have said I would hate it
But, you know, it was all right I spent a lot of time
just walking round the town and ducking inside a
coffee shop if it rained I was a bit nervous about
speaking French, but just ordering a coffee helped
me feel more confident I even visited a couple of
museums, and they were good I’m not turning into
an intellectual, but now I think I’d find it boring to
lie around on the beach every day
7 You hear a news item about a lost cat.
Newsreader The trouble was that, on the day of
the move, Pixie was nowhere to be seen The family
had no option but to leave without her They could
only ask their neighbours to look out for her and
tell them if she turned up As they settled into their
new home, however, no word came and they had
to accept that she was gone But then, a month
later, the little cat turned up at their front door, a
bit thinner than before, but otherwise perfectly
well How she was able to find them 200 miles
away, no one will ever know
8 You hear a radio interview with a young pianist.
Interviewer You’ve said you had no interest in
music until your final year in school Why was that?
Pianist Well, the teacher was good, but he tried
too hard Most music teachers do Better to let the
music speak for itself
Interviewer So how did you become interested?
Pianist In my final year, I had to choose between
music and art, and art interested me even less As
I was no longer being forced to do it, I began to
enjoy music much more
Interviewer But did you ever think that you might
make a living from it?
Pianist No, I just thought of it as a hobby, and
I’m sure my teacher never saw me becoming a
professional musician
Part 2 Preparation
1.04
Slow Food is an international organization with
members in many countries As well as members
of the public, the organization involves farmers
and other food producers, chefs, and business
organizations It started in Italy in 1989, and its main
purpose is to help people link the enjoyment of eating
with the need for a responsible attitude towards the
environment and the communities they live in It is
a non-profit organization, which encourages people
to eat healthily and to consume, where they can, the
traditional food associated with their country or their
region Slow Food tries to persuade people to change
their eating habits by replacing fast food and other
processed food with fresh produce
1.05
It’s amazing how mobile phones have changed in the last few years I remember getting my first phone when I was thirteen All my friends were getting them around that age – in fact, I think I was the last person
in my class to have one It was quite a large heavy thing which would just about fit in my jacket pocket
We all thought we were cool as we tried to phone our friends during lessons – even those just on the other side of the classroom It wasn’t long before the school banned mobile phones in school, and several of us had them taken away by our teachers
Gradually, phones got smaller Every time a different model came out, my friends with rich parents got new phones You could text as well as talk on these new phones In no time at all, texting was the latest craze, and everyone walked around with their heads looking down and their thumbs moving around as they wrote their messages Then, when it became possible to watch films and videos on phones, screens got much bigger again
of bread But I decided that was just too boring
It was an accident that made me choose coffee instead I’m always in a rush in the morning, you see, and one day, in my hurry, I knocked over my mug and had to go without my regular shot of caffeine On
my way to school, I wouldn’t say I didn’t feel cheerful, but somehow I wasn’t as alert as usual I found that interesting, and that’s what made me decide on coffee for my project
It’s always surprised me that coffee has a bad effect on some people My mum, for example, says it makes her mind race, and my dad doesn’t sleep well
if he drinks it late at night But my brother and I both drink coffee before we go to bed, and we both sleep fine Maybe it’s something to do with age or maybe it’s just that we’ve got used to it
Of course, there are many different ways to drink coffee The most basic choice we make is between white and black Nobody knows who first thought
of adding milk to coffee, but the idea caught on I usually prefer white coffee, but my first cup of the day is always black That’s what gives me the energy
to get going in the morning
There’s an endless argument about whether or not coffee is good for you Different studies show different things As someone who enjoys coffee, I was glad to learn that some recent studies say that if you drink coffee, you might be less likely to suffer from
Trang 4depression But how does it affect the risk of cancer,
for example? It depends on who you ask
I’m not sure if coffee increases my physical energy,
but it certainly does something for my mental
energy This is what the mathematician Paul Erdo´´s
had in mind when he said that a mathematician is a
device for turning coffee into theorems I wonder if
Pythagoras would have done even better if he’d been
a coffee drinker?
We know he wasn’t, because he lived a thousand
years before coffee was first drunk The coffee plant
probably first grew in East Africa, perhaps Ethiopia,
but it seems to have been in Yemen in the fifteenth
century that people began to roast and brew coffee
beans in the way we do today
There is a legend that an Ethiopian farmer by the
name of Kaldi discovered the properties of the coffee
plant six hundred years before that The story goes
that he saw his goats dancing excitedly after eating
the red berries of an unfamiliar tree He tried them
himself, and they had the same effect on him A
monk to whom he passed on the news was excited,
because he thought this might help him with an
embarrassing problem: he used to fall asleep during
prayers And it was he who first boiled the dried
berries to make a drink from them Well, it’s a great
story, but it’s almost certainly not true It was first
recorded in writing eight hundred years after the
supposed event
Coffee was known in Europe before 1600, though
hardly any European had ever had the chance to try
it But, once people did get to know it, its popularity
increased rapidly England’s first coffee house opened
in 1652, and by 1675 the country had more than
3,000 Sounds great, but England’s King Charles II
was not pleased, and he tried to have them all closed
down He argued that they were places where people
went to relax and have fun rather than work, but his
real concern was that they were centres of debate
The topic was often politics, and Charles did not want
his people to talk politics He thought it dangerous
But to move on, …
Part 3 Preparation
1.07
That’s because whenever they see me, I’m wearing
headphones – whether I’m on my way to school,
hanging round with my mates in town, or when
I’m working in the café – that’s my part-time job
But actually, it’s not always music I’m listening to
Sometimes I’m listening to notes I made to help me
revise for my exams – which I recorded myself And to
be honest, sometimes I’m not listening to anything at
all I keep my headphones on so I don’t have to talk
to other people If they ask me what I’m listening to, I
make something up Does that sound odd?
Speaker 2 Most of the music I listen to is from
the Internet I subscribe to one of the well-known streaming services It doesn’t cost that much, and there’s an incredible range of music you can listen
to But my favourite way is listening to music on the radio It’s probably the element of surprise I like You’re never quite sure what they’ll be playing next For me the best shows are ones which play a wide variety of music, rather than just one type Obviously,
I don’t like everything I hear, but I hardly ever hear things I actually dislike
because I listen to CDs – mainly because I like to actually have something I can pick up and look at rather than having virtual lists on my computer or
my phone Once, I tried putting all my CDs on to my computer It was very boring and time-consuming, and I kept making mistakes – probably because I’m not technically minded I always try to buy CDs second hand on the Internet You can find most things if you look hard enough
full of music – my parents were great music lovers, mainly of 1970s rock music I didn’t think about whether I liked it or not – it was just there, blaring out of the radio or the record player, especially at weekends When I was about twelve, I suddenly discovered other kinds of music I can remember hearing jazz for the first time – that was amazing – and I’ve been a fan of jazz ever since I listen in all the usual ways, but what I like best is going to jazz clubs, even though I know it sounds a bit middle-aged
Speaker 5 Oddly enough for someone of my age,
music is not that important to me, so I don’t spend much time listening to it The thing is, I’m very busy – my time’s taken up actually doing things I’m very keen on sport So I guess I don’t have too much opportunity to sit around listening Having said that,
I find having quiet background music on helps me
to concentrate when I’m doing my homework or revising for exams I know some people can’t do this because they end up listening to the music and not working, but for me it’s the opposite My parents can’t understand it
Part 3 Practice
1.08
You hear five teenagers talking about holidays abroad.
Speaker 1 I have a cousin who doesn’t like going
abroad on holiday His parents take him a couple of times a year, but he’d rather stay at home They’ve agreed that he doesn’t have to go with them next year, and he’s happy about that But me, I love visiting new places Bad weather is disappointing, but I always take a guidebook so that I’ve got something
to do if it rains If I want to visit a museum, for
Trang 5example, and nobody wants to come with me, that’s
fine I’m okay on my own I’m always happy enough to
be going back home, but I love being away
Speaker 2 I often hear people come home from
holiday complaining that it was cold or wet where
they went, and they’re just glad to be back But
sunbathing bores me, so as far as I’m concerned,
the weather can do what it likes I always take a
guidebook, you see, and since my parents aren’t
interested in the things that interest me, I sometimes
go off on my own for a few hours They’re cool with
that, and it’s the best way of getting to know a new
place Part of the fun of a holiday is learning things,
and I never feel I’ve wasted my time
Speaker 3 I really enjoyed my summer holiday last
year We were all set to go to Spain, where we’d never
been, but then Dad broke his leg and we couldn’t
go So we just stayed here and I went for long walks
on my own, hung out with friends and so on It was
great I know most people love going away, but I
always find more interesting things to do at home
The weather matters, of course, but not so much as
when you’re hoping to go to the beach every day
I don’t need a guidebook, and I don’t feel guilty if I
don’t learn a lot of new things
Speaker 4 Last year, Mum and Dad took me to Paris
– this was the first time I’d been It was disappointing
that the weather was bad, but that isn’t so important
if you’re in a city Trouble was, it felt a bit like being in
school My dad is a great one for guidebooks, and he
turned the whole trip into one huge guided tour of
Paris I learned a lot, of course, but it was still a bit of
a relief when it was over In fact, the best part of the
holiday was the return journey Perhaps I’ll go to Paris
on my own sometime and just chill out there
Speaker 5 When we go off on holiday, I feel like an
explorer There’s always the chance to learn things
There’s more to it than learning, of course, but that
has to be part of it For me, doing only the obvious
tourist things – like my parents do – would be a
waste of time I’d get so bored that it would be a
relief to go home, even if it was from sunshine to
pouring rain So I go looking for the places that
tourists don’t visit Of course, I also want to see the
sights, but I like to see them through my own eyes,
without having a guidebook to tell me what to do
Part 4 Preparation
1.09
Interviewer Hello, and welcome to today’s Youth
World My guest this afternoon is Matt, a seventeen
year old from a school in London We’re going to
be discussing how Matt sees his future Hi, Matt –
how’re you doing?
Matt Yeah, great thanks.
Interviewer I’d like to start by asking you to tell
us your current situation Are you still in full-time
education or have you left school?
Matt No, I’m still in full-time education I’m actually
enjoying my final year and wondering what to do next It’s quite a worrying time, actually – you know, thinking about the future
Interviewer What are you studying at school?
Matt Music, physics and history are my main
subjects
Interviewer That’s an unusual combination.
Matt Yeah, I know – that’s what my parents said at
the time But they’re the subjects I do best at
Interviewer Fair enough So as far as next year’s
concerned, what are your main options?
Matt There seem to be three possibilities: simply
leaving school and looking for a job, applying for university or taking time out
Interviewer Time out? You mean doing nothing?
Matt No, certainly not I’m think about doing
voluntary work abroad – you know, somewhere where they need help To be honest, at the moment that would be my first choice
Interviewer And why is that?
Matt I’ve thought a lot about it My parents think
I shouldn’t waste my time going to university They would be a lot happier if I looked for what they call a proper job – for them that means something like working for a large company, like a bank or an insurance company; the thing is, I’m just not ready to start a serious career Also, I feel I need a break from education I’d like to see a bit of the world before I settle down, as they say I’ve contacted a few charity organizations who are looking for volunteers in parts
of Africa and the Far East
Interviewer Okay, I can understand that Do you
think you’ll go back into education eventually?
Matt I’m not sure The only subject that would more
or less guarantee me a job at the end of a university course would be physics and that’s the least enjoyable subject I’d love to do music, but I’ve no idea what I’d do afterwards The career choices are pretty limited, aren’t they? And by the time I finished
my course, I’d be thousands of pounds in debt and have no secure employment
Interviewer Hmm, that’s a tricky one What about
teaching? You could be a music teacher?
Matt I’m not sure Don’t get me wrong, I love
children, but I think teaching music in a school would
be an uphill struggle Most kids are quite happy to listen to their favourite bands, but they aren’t that keen on studying music
Interviewer When do you have to make your final
decision?
Matt Good question – after all, it is my decision
Actually, I’m probably already too late to apply for a university course for next year – which reduces my options down to a serious job or working for one of the charities I’ll have to talk to my parents about it again, but I know what they think The problem is, the charity will only provide food and accommodation,
so I’ll be dependent on my parents financially unless
Trang 6I go for a job That’s one of the reasons they’ll put
pressure on me to start working
Interviewer I’ve no doubt, Matt, that you’re not
the only person of your age who’s in this awkward
position
Matt I’m sure you’re right Not many of my school
friends are sure about what they want to do next
year It’s such a huge decision to make One of the
benefits of doing voluntary work for a year or two is
that you can put off the final decision until later
Part 4 Practice
1.10
You hear an interview with a chess player.
Interviewer With me in the studio today is Sophie
Harris, whose ability on the chessboard is attracting
a lot of interest So tell me, Sophie, how did you first
get interested in chess?
Sophie Well, my parents both play, but I didn’t learn
the game from them And although I started a chess
club in school, that wasn’t where I started, either
What got me into it was seeing chess problems in
the newspaper I was ten at the time They didn’t
mean anything to me at first, but I thought it would
be a challenge to try them So I learned the rules
online, and then found that I could solve most of the
problems quite easily Then I started playing on my
computer There are plenty of websites where you
can play against other people
Interviewer Did you win most of the time?
Sophie Yes, I did, but I came across some really good
players – too good for me A few times, I’d be well on
top, but then things would go wrong My suspicion
is that some people, when they’re losing, look for
help on the computer There are websites which
recommend moves for you It’s possible, of course,
that I’d become overconfident, or that my opponent
hadn’t been concentrating at the start, but I don’t
really think so Maybe I’m just the suspicious type
Interviewer How long was it before you first played
someone face to face? And did it feel very different?
Sophie I’d been playing for a year or so before I
actually faced another player across the board Being
able to see your opponent’s face makes it a very
different experience, and so does the presence of
the clock It may not actually tick, but still you feel
the time pressure I lost some of my early games –
against people I really should have beaten – because
I just wasn’t used to it Sometimes I made blunders I
wouldn’t have thought possible
Interviewer So let me ask, what’s the worst mistake
you’ve ever made on a chessboard?
Sophie What an embarrassing question! But okay,
I’ll tell you One of my early face-to-face games was
against a university student who thought he’d beat
me easily, and was obviously shocked to find that I
was better than him But just as I was on the verge of
victory, I made a stupid move, which left him without
a legal reply That’s called stalemate, and means the game is drawn It felt like I’d lost He couldn’t believe his luck! I’d never have made such a blunder if I’d been playing online, and hadn’t been so emotionally involved
Interviewer Oh well, you seem to have got over it
well enough But let me take you back a little You mentioned starting a chess club in school Tell me a bit more about that
Sophie When I started secondary school, I expected
to find plenty of people to play against But not many
of the students even knew the rules and, at first, there was very little interest But I started a club anyway, and gradually other people began playing It took time, but our numbers have increased a lot and now everyone wants to take up chess We’ve been very successful in matches against other schools
Interviewer I’m guessing that you’re probably much
better than the other club members, though Don’t you get bored of winning easily all the time?
Sophie Well, what you can do if you’re a lot
stronger than your opponent is to give him or her an advantage So I often start the game without one of
my pieces, sometimes even a rook, which is a very powerful piece I don’t do it to show off, but I do enjoy the challenge It’s easy to weaken one player slightly in order to make the game more competitive Not many in school would want to play me on equal terms
Interviewer Do you expect to keep up your interest
in the game as you grow older or will you begin to give more time to other things?
Sophie Well, I do have other interests, but I can’t
help thinking how cool it would be to become a grandmaster Of course, that would be very difficult, but I think it could happen I’m still way short of the ability of the best in the world, but I’m improving all the time Whether that’s happening fast enough,
I don’t know yet When I leave school and go to university, I’ll decide how much further I want to take it
Interviewer Well, Sophie, I’d say you’re going places
I hope to speak to you again when you’re world champion!
Speaking
Part 1 Preparation
1.11
1 Examiner Do you enjoy going on holiday?
Candidate 1 Yes, I do, but we don’t go on holiday
every year Last year we went to Portugal It was great
Candidate 2 Yes, I really enjoy holidays –
especially if everyone in the family goes
Candidate 3 Yes, I do.
Trang 72 Examiner Where did you go for your last holiday?
Candidate 1 We went to Portugal We go to the
same place every year
Candidate 2 Sorry, I can’t remember.
Candidate 3 We went to Morgat It’s a small
fishing village in France
3 Examiner What kinds of things do you like to do
when you’re on holiday?
Candidate 1 I just like relaxing, but I don’t mind
doing a little sport
Candidate 2 Swimming, walking, horse riding.
Candidate 3 The things everyone does – nothing
Candidate 2 Going to New York It was just great.
Candidate 3 My best holiday was definitely going
skiing in the Alps I made some new friends
5 Examiner Is there somewhere you’d like to go on
holiday in the future?
Candidate 1 There are lots of places I’d like to go,
but I’d particularly like to go to Austria I don’t know
why I think it’s because I like the name
Candidate 2 I’d really like to go to Australia
because it’s such a large country
Candidate 3 Let me think Er sorry, I can’t think
of anywhere in particular
Part 2 Preparation
1.12
Examiner In this part of the test, I’m going to give
each of you two photographs I’d like you to talk
about your photographs on your own for about a
minute, and also to answer a question about your
partner’s photographs Ben, it’s your turn first Here
are your photographs They show people enjoying
themselves on the beach I’d like you to compare the
photographs and say what you think they tell you
about the people’s lives
Ben This picture was obviously taken a long time
ago – probably about a hundred years You know this
because of the clothes the people are wearing Most
of the people are wearing their ordinary clothes
They are quite formal Some of the men are wearing
suits and ties, and the women are wearing long
dresses and hats In the other picture, people are
wearing more casual clothes The beach is a lot more
crowded in the first picture In the second picture,
some people are sitting on the sand and some people
are just walking in the water The children are playing
on the beach In the first picture, almost everyone is
standing and only a few people are sitting down It’s
difficult to tell what the weather is like in this picture,
but it looks quite dull I imagine a hundred years ago
people did not have as much free time as today They
were probably not so used to relaxing on the beach
And maybe they didn’t have much choice about what clothes to wear I think in those days everything was more formal
Examiner Thank you, Ben Julia, how do you think
people felt about beach holidays a hundred years ago?
Julia Well, of course, I don’t know for sure how they
felt, but I imagine they only had one holiday a year, and really looked forward to it And if they lived in cities, they would enjoy the fresh air at the seaside
In those days probably not everyone could swim, so that’s maybe why they weren’t wearing swimming costumes
Part 3 Preparation
1.13
Now, I’d like you to talk about something together for about two minutes Here are some ways in which teenagers can keep fit, and a question for you to discuss How practical are these ways for teenagers
to keep fit?
1.14
Interlocutor Now, I’d like you to talk about
something together for about two minutes Here are some ways in which teenagers can keep fit and a question for you to discuss How practical are these ways for teenagers to keep fit?
Gemma Let’s start with going to the gym regularly
Sam Okay Do you go to a gym?
Gemma Yes, but not regularly – only when I have
enough time The problem is I’m too busy to go regularly – there are so many other things to do
Some of my friends go to the gym every day and spend at least an hour there, usually after school I couldn’t do that When I go, I run for about twenty minutes and do a bit of weight-lifting What about you?
Sam I must admit, I never go to the gym I find the
exercises really boring, and I’ve never tried lifting weights I suppose if I went, it might help me to keep fit, but I can’t stand the machines – and worst of all, I hate the awful music that they always play at gyms
Gemma You don’t have to go to a gym to keep
fit You can do simple things like walking to school instead of taking the bus Do you do that?
Sam No, I’m afraid not It would take me half an hour
to walk to school How about you?
Gemma I don’t walk to school, but I cycle there every
day It’s quite tiring, but I think it keeps me fairly fit So
do you do any of these things to keep fit?
Sam Yes, I do I’m in the school football team We
practise two or three times a week, and we play matches every fortnight I think running around for ninety minutes keeps me pretty fit – don’t you agree?
Gemma Yes, of course I’m not really very sporty
myself, but I go dancing regularly – that’s good exercise, too Dancing is a kind of sport, isn’t it?
Trang 8Gemma Yes, usually I try to eat lots of fruit and
vegetables, and avoid too much junk food What
about you?
Sam I try, but the problem is I love burgers and
pizzas I’d find it difficult to give up eating those
1.15
Interlocutor Now, you have about one minute
to decide which two ways of keeping fit you’d
recommend to teenagers
Gemma I think eating healthily is the most
important thing teenagers can do to keep fit
Sam Really? I don’t agree I’d say walking or cycling
everywhere would be more important But, of course,
I agree that eating healthily is a good idea
Gemma Hmm, maybe you’re right Okay, so let’s
agree that walking and cycling is important and a
practical possibility for most people of our age
Sam Mm My other choice would be joining a sports
team because doing sport is a way of keeping fit and
at the same time doing something you enjoy When
you play a sport, you’re trying to win You’re not
thinking about keeping fit
Gemma I’m afraid I don’t agree There are a lot of
people who don’t enjoy team sports My second
choice would be going to a gym regularly because it’s
possible for most people to do this
Sam I can see what you mean And it’s not always
that easy to find a sports team you can join So, have
we chosen our two ways?
Gemma Yes, I think we have We’d recommend
walking and cycling, and going to the gym regularly
Interlocutor Thank you.
Part 4 Preparation
1.16
1 Thinking about someone who wants to keep fit, do
you think they should choose a team sport or an
individual sport?
2 Experts say that everyday jobs, like housework and
gardening, are good ways of keeping fit Do you
think these are practical ways of keeping fit for
teenagers? What everyday jobs could you do?
3 Some people believe that doing a lot of exercise
can be bad for you Do you agree?
4 How important do you think it is for people to do
keep-fit activities regularly?
5 Do you think a healthy diet is as important as
exercise for someone who wants to keep fit?
6 Some people say exercise has to be uncomfortable
or even painful to be effective What do you think?
1.17
Examiner Thinking about someone who wants to
keep fit, do you think they should choose a team
sport or an individual sport?
Jason Shall I start? Okay I’d suggest they should
choose a team sport, mainly because team sports are sociable Doing individual sports can be quite lonely How about you, Laura?
Laura I’m not so sure.
Jason Why?
Laura Let me explain Some people want to be
able to exercise at any time of the day or night The problem is that team sports are usually at fixed times
Jason That’s true.
Laura And I don’t agree with the idea that individual
sports are lonely activities You can go running with a friend, or you can join a running club My point is, you can run when you like
Jason Agreed, but there are a lot of people who
enjoy being part of a team and competing with other teams That’s because they like the idea of winning
Examiner Some people say exercise has to be
uncomfortable or even painful to be effective What
do you think?
Monica Personally, I think that’s a ridiculous idea
For one thing, exercise should be enjoyable I mean, nobody would enjoy doing exercise which hurt them
or made them feel uncomfortable
Jonathan I disagree Some people are so determined
to get fit that they don’t mind a little discomfort or pain Getting fit is more important to some people than how they feel at a particular time And in any case, the pain they feel doesn’t last long
Monica My point is that exercise without pain can
also be effective I mean, going to the gym can be painful if you exercise too hard or for too long, but I think you should stop before the pain starts
Jonathan I guess we’re not going to agree You see,
I think that it’s when the pain starts that the exercise becomes most effective
My younger sister Helena and I are different in lots
of ways For a start, I’m more sociable than she is, but she’s more sensible than me We’ve had our ups and downs, but basically we get on really well Our parents have always been harder on me than
on Helena I’m not sure why I used to get annoyed, because it seemed that Helena could get away with doing things that I’d never been allowed to
do – it didn’t seem fair to me Anyway, I’m going to university next September, so we’ll be separated for a lot of the time I’m sure I’ll miss her
Trang 92 You hear part of a radio interview with a singer.
Interviewer Hi, Emma Thanks for coming in.
Singer It’s great to be here – thanks for having
me
Interviewer Tell us what you’ve been up to since
we last chatted
Singer Okay Well, I’ve been on my spring tour
– forty shows in the last two months – mainly in
Europe, but I also flew over to the States and did a
couple of dates there
Interviewer That’s some schedule I hope you
were well looked after
Singer Oh, I was I’ve got a great team travelling
everywhere with me
Interviewer And I hear you’re about to bring out a
new album soon?
Singer We’re launching it here in London two
weeks today I’m really excited!
3 You hear two friends trying to arrange an
evening out together
Woman How are you fixed this week? I could
make Thursday or possibly Saturday
Man Are we thinking about afternoon or evening?
Woman I’d prefer evening, if that’s okay with you?
Man That’s fine It always feels more of an
occasion in the evening, doesn’t it?
Woman Yes We could go for a meal before or
after
Man Did we actually decide what we wanted to
see?
Woman Well, we did think about that new musical
with Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone
Man The one that won all the awards last year?
Woman Yes Where’s it on?
4 You hear a teenager telling a friend about a
situation he once found himself in
I’ll never forget that morning It was half past
five and I’d been asleep It was getting light when
we landed, but even then, the airport was busy
We got off the plane and on to the airport bus
Five minutes later we were queuing to have our
passports checked That’s when things went
wrong The officer opened my passport, then
looked at me, and tapped something into his
computer Then, in a serious voice, he said, ‘Come
this way.’ I followed him into a small office ‘I’m
afraid you will have to catch the next plane back to
where you came from Your passport ran out three
weeks ago.’
5 You hear a conversation between a student and
a teacher
Teacher I need to check something with you,
Shaun Have you got a minute?
Student Yes, that’s fine.
Teacher Okay Have you decided which subjects
you’re going to take next year?
Student Sort of I know I want to specialize in
science, but I haven’t decided on my optional subjects
Teacher I thought you were keen to do art or
music
Student I am, but my parents think they wouldn’t
be very useful to me in the future
Teacher And what do you think?
Student I’d really enjoy them, whether they were
useful or not
Teacher They’d certainly be a change from
science The thing is, I need to know next week In the end, it’s up to you, Shaun
6 You hear a news report about an important sports event
Reporter If you haven’t heard the result and
you’re planning to watch the game later this evening, I suggest you turn the radio off now
Okay, let’s go over to Mike Gardener who was our reporter at the match Mike, tell us what happened
Mike Well, I have to say, it wasn’t the most thrilling
game I’ve ever seen In the first half, very little happened There were a couple of poor shots at goal, but both teams were playing defensively But, after half time, it all suddenly came to life United scored twice in ten minutes, and City equalized five minutes before the whistle So two all at the end of the match
7 You hear a teenager talking about a night he’ll never forget.
I went to bed just before midnight I must have just dropped off when the wind started blowing
Half an hour later my bedroom window broke with
a terrible crash I jumped out of bed and rushed
to check my younger sister was all right When I opened the door, I could see her staring out of the window looking very scared Fortunately, there was no actual damage to her room Together, we went to check that our parents were okay Their bedroom was at the back of the house – away from the wind and, amazingly, they were in bed and still fast asleep
8 You hear a teenager talking about something he’s always been afraid of
I’ve had this fear for as long as I can remember My father had been scared of dogs ever since he was bitten on the arm as a small boy So I guess that’s where my phobia came from My dad used to tell
me that all dogs were potentially dangerous, even
if they looked friendly and wagged their tails So, from quite a young age, I was convinced that any dog I saw might attack me, and I organized a lot of
my life around this fear Parks were complete no-go areas for me, and I always avoided visiting people who owned dogs
Trang 10There’s something frightening and at the same time
fascinating about lightning Maybe that’s because we
all have a basic understanding of most other types of
weather, like rain, snow or wind But lightning seems
to be different somehow Lots of us are frightened
of lightning and its almost strange power, perhaps
because we don’t understand it This is why there are
so many myths around the subject of lightning
Perhaps the most well known of these is that
lightning never strikes twice People think that
because lightning strikes are so rare, it is extremely
unlikely for the same place to be struck more than
once Unfortunately, there are lots of people who
know only too well that this is not true It is a proven
fact that some places are more likely than others
to be struck by lightning This is usually to do with
their physical location; mountainous areas, places
where there are tall trees or where the rocks have
a high metal content are likely to be hit more than
once And as for people, I read about a Canadian park
worker who spent a lot of his time working in the
open and was actually struck seven times Amazingly,
he survived
Anyone who has experienced a thunderstorm
knows that you see lightning before you hear
thunder We always expect the two to be quite close
together, but this is not always the case Lightning
can travel up to sixteen kilometres ahead of thunder
so that, when it strikes, it takes people by surprise,
because it appears to come out of nowhere
Another common belief is that lightning only
comes from the sky and in a downward direction,
but in reality, the lightning that comes from the sky
is met by lightning moving upwards to meet it from
the ground We don’t see this because the lightning
coming from the ground is much stronger and faster
moving than the lightning coming from the sky
I think we’d all agree that lightning is associated in
most of our minds with certain weather conditions
– particularly rainstorms or changes in temperature
But according to my research, particularly dramatic
lightning can be caused by an erupting volcano
There is plenty of photographic evidence that shows
lightning accompanying eruptions – but only certain
kinds of violent eruption where volcanoes explode
and throw rocks and ash into the air At the moment,
scientists are not quite sure why this happens, but
they believe it may be caused by the speed of the
upward movement of the rocks and ash
‘Ball lightning’ is another phenomenon that people
have always found very strange Glowing balls about
the size of a large orange and of many different
colours seem to float slowly in the air They can move
around rooms and even through walls There are cases where a lightning ball has entered an aircraft and frightened the passengers This form of lightning has been known for hundreds of years and has always mystified scientists One theory is that what
we are seeing is a ball of glowing gas
Finally, some advice about what to do to protect yourself from lightning during a thunderstorm Most
of you probably know this already The first thing to
do is to avoid outside activities, particularly air sports, like golf and fishing Next, stay inside
open-a building or open-a copen-ar with open-all the windows closed Water conducts electricity, so don’t swim or take a shower You should also unplug electrical devices like computers and televisions, because they can be damaged by the sudden increases in electrical power, which can be caused by lightning One last thing: if you can’t move indoors, find a low area away from trees and posts of any kind
Part 3
1.20
You hear five people talking about seasons they like or dislike.
Speaker 1 Spring is definitely the best season of the
year for me – it’s always been my favourite season Mornings are especially lovely, because they’re not too cold, but nothing like as hot as it gets later on in the day But more importantly for me, spring is the time of year when nature comes alive again: plants which have looked dead for months, as if by magic, produce leaves and flowers Birds start singing again – as if they’ve woken up after a long sleep And other animals emerge from their winter hiding places In
my experience, the arrival of spring affects people, too Everyone seems to walk around with a smile on their face
Speaker 2 For me, autumn is the best season for
several reasons It’s probably partly a childhood thing – maybe because my birthday is in the middle
of September, actually the day before my father’s birthday, so as a child autumn was a time of the year
to look forward to But that’s not the main reason I love autumn afternoons, when it’s still quite bright – before winter sets in As a family, it was a time for gardening My brothers and I used to help our parents pick the fruit I can remember the wonderful smell of the bonfire we made to burn the garden rubbish I suppose it’s quite a nostalgic time for me
Speaker 3 I know most of the world loves spring
and early summer, but for me, this is the time of year which is accompanied by a form of punishment ‘Why
is that?’, you may wonder The fact is, at some point during late spring or early summer, my eyes start to itch and I begin to sneeze I’m sensitive to various kinds of plants – mainly grass and certain kinds of trees I take various tablets which help a little, but
Trang 11nothing really works and I just have to wait until this
part of the year is over It hasn’t always been like
this; until I was about twelve, I loved spring as much
as anyone else, but then suddenly one year, it all
changed
Speaker 4 Without doubt, my favourite season is
summer, because in my mind it’s always associated
with long holidays As a young child, I couldn’t wait for
school to finish and the break to begin Those holidays
at the beach were such happy times, when you could
stop worrying about exams and homework and you
didn’t have to get up early As a family, we usually
spent three or four weeks camping on the coast,
spending most days swimming and playing beach
games For me, the only thing I didn’t like about the
summer was getting bitten by insects, which seemed
to be everywhere at certain times I particularly
remember that the end of July was the worst!
Speaker 5 I think I’m the odd one out, because
my favourite season is winter It’s quite hard to
explain why, but I think it has something to do with
staying indoors when it’s dark and cold outside It’s
the time of year when my mother cooked some of
my favourite meals and we’d all sit round the table
eating and chatting Of course, you can do that at
other times of the year, but for me, winter mealtimes
gave me the best memories I suppose the other
explanation for choosing winter is that I’m not really
an outdoor person I prefer watching sport on TV to
playing it, and I’ve never really been what you’d call a
nature lover All my family like winter best
Part 4
1.21
You hear an interview with a young musician.
Interviewer My guest today is Ruby Johnson, who
is making an international name for herself as a
solo violinist She’ll tell us how this all happened in
a minute, but can I ask you first, Ruby, to tell us a bit
about your everyday life?
Ruby I’m just an ordinary seventeen-year-old girl
who lives a normal life at home with my family I go to
the school nearest to where I live and, like most other
people my age, I watch TV, play computer games,
spend time on social media and hang out with my
friends And, occasionally, I’m lucky enough to play
the violin with a world-class orchestra
Interviewer How did this amazing musical career
begin?
Ruby I was only about three years old when my
parents started taking me to violin lessons To be
honest, I don’t remember much about those early
lessons I think I enjoyed them, and I certainly never
made a fuss about going Apparently, I showed early
promise and my teacher told my parents I had a rare
talent As you can imagine, they were delighted,
especially my dad, because he played the violin in a
local amateur orchestra None of this meant much
to me at the time I went to my regular lessons at a music school and didn’t think much more about it It was just one of those things that I did regularly as a child
Interviewer So when did you begin to think there
was more to playing the violin than going for regular lessons with a music teacher?
Ruby I’m not sure exactly when that was I don’t
think there was a particular moment when it suddenly hit me I gradually realized that here was something I enjoyed doing and was quite good at
I took all the exams and seemed to pass them long before any of the other children at the school But even then, playing the violin was just one of the things I did, you know, like going to school, playing with my friends, watching TV One day my music teacher came round to our house and spent an hour talking to my parents Afterwards, they told me that my teacher wanted to put me in for a national competition for under-ten-year-olds That really made me want to go on doing it
Interviewer How did your parents react to this?
Were they happy about the idea of their youngest daughter going in for a national competition?
Ruby Yes, as far as I know They were always really
proud of my musical ability They explained what going in for the competition would mean – you know, lots of hard work, practising the competition pieces
They stressed that I couldn’t have any time off school and that I’d have to keep up with all my schoolwork
But I didn’t mind that The last thing I wanted was for the other children in my class to see me as a freak who was different from them
Interviewer Okay, so you practised hard and went in
for the competition What happened?
Ruby I practised for four or five hours every day,
mostly in the evenings, because I was at school all day
I didn’t mind, but by the time the competition came,
I was exhausted It was actually a relief when the day came I went up to London to a big concert hall with
my parents It was a little scary, but there were nine other children about the same age as me We were all in the same situation and got along very well as we waited The organizers provided snacks and drinks, and we could watch television as we waited
Interviewer And the competition itself? How did
that go?
Ruby I came third I really enjoyed the day and it
was such an honour to take part in the competition
I didn’t mind not winning because, above all, it made
me realize that playing the violin was something I enjoyed so much that I wanted to go on doing it for the rest of my life My ambition even at that young age was to belong to an orchestra and to play the violin for a living
Interviewer That was seven years ago How about
now?