Listening Practice- Part 1- Multiple Choice

Part 1

 You will hear people talking in eight different situations. For questions 1-8, choose the best answer (A, B or C).

1 You hear part of a programme about music in schools.

Why are fewer children joining school choirs?

A They are unwilling to sing in public.

B Their parents don’t encourage them to sing.

C Their teachers lack the necessary musical skills.

2 You overhear a conversation about evening classes.

Why did the girl decide to register for a photography course?

A She wanted to take better holiday snaps.

B She thought it would help her in her career.

C She needed a relaxing change from her studies.

3 You overhear two people talking about a new cafe.

What did they both approve of?

A the size of the portions

B the originality of the food

C the efficiency of the service

4 You hear a man talking about exploring underground caves.

What is he?

A an experienced caver

B a journalist

C a student

5 You overhear a woman talking about a job interview she had.

What does she say about it?

A Some of the questions were unfair.

B She felt she was insufficiently prepared.

C The interviewers put her under pressure.

6 You overhear a woman talking about a language course.

What does she criticise about it?

A There are too many students.

B Grammar isn’t focused on.

C It isn’t challenging enough.

7 On the radio, you hear a man talking about food.

What does he do?

A He’s a shop owner.

B He’s a cookery writer.

C He’s a chef in a restaurant.

8 You hear a man talking about moving house.

How did he feel after moving to a new area?

A worried that he wouldn’t see his old friends

B concerned about how his children would adapt

C surprised by how welcoming his new neighbours were

Check your answers⇓.

Answer Key

1. C 
2. C 
3. B
4. C 
5. B
6. C
7. A  
8. A

Script

1
Schools no longer have queues of kids saying they want to join the choir. It never used to be difficult to get children involved as all primary school children used to learn to sing in class. Unfortunately this practice has declined in recent years, and I’m sure most parents would agree with me about the reason for this. Fewer of today’s teachers feel confident to lead the singing, let alone accompany it on a keyboard. If children reach adolescence without having learnt to sing with others with enjoyment and without embarrassment, there’s little chance of them ever taking it up.
2
M: So, you’ve taken to going to evening classes!
F: Yes, I thought January was the perfect time to try something new; change things I wasn’t happy with. The course in digital photography sounded ideal because it’s so different from my coursework at college, which was overloading me and making me feel anxious.
M: Right.
F:  I didn’t know then that it would actually look good on my CV and give me an extra thirty credits on top of my degree, which isn’t bad for a few hours’ work a week. I might even find that when I go on holiday with my friends, I’ll be entrusted with taking the photos!

3
F: Well, I reckon Cafe Promo’s doing well. It’s the perfect place to stop for a coffee and a bite to eat when you’re out in town.
M: Yes, they’re really making an effort to offer something a little bit different. They obviously want to stand out from the more predictable coffee chains. And they do great baguettes and sandwiches with really generous fillings.
F: Rather too generous for my liking, but good value I guess. People want something a bit out of the ordinary, and they’ve certainly succeeded in doing that. Now they need to pay more attention to training their staff, but I think that’ll come.
M: It may do.
4
He made it sound so adventurous and … liberating when he said: ‘It’s the total freedom of it, escaping the world, leaving civilization behind. It’s like exploring outer space.’ After that I changed my mind about caving. What had previously seemed a rather puzzling, even unappealing, pastime became a passion thanks to the enthusiasm of this instructor. I was joining a group of other college students, and together with a TV journalist and camera crew we were off to discover the realities of life underground. I hoped that I wouldn’t make a fool of myself on television; I was more frightened of that than I was of the actual physical and mental challenges ahead of me.

5
I think on the whole the interview went rather well. They put me at ease straight away. Mr Grant started off by talking about the company, and I found those five minutes really useful to collect myself. Then he asked me a number of questions and I was glad for the opportunity to talk about the various experiences I’ve had. However, another time I’d go along with specific examples of my achievements to hand. When one of them asked the first question I thought: ‘Gosh, I can’t think of a time I’ve done that.’ I think the interview was about my qualifications, but also about being the right fit for the company.
6
I’ve just finished my first year and I have some good things to say about the course. I thought it would be all girls on it, but I was surprised to see how many guys there are. I’ve gained a basic knowledge of the language – Spanish grammar isn’t easy, I can tell you. I’ve been told it all gets more intense from September. I was hoping I’d be thrown in at the deep end, that I’d be fluent by the end of the year. It’s disappointing. That won’t happen now. Most of my classmates are doing other languages as well, and they’re happy with this pace.

7

My whole life has been talking about food really, though I’ve never been tempted to write about it. Me and my wife, at dinner we’ll sit, eat and talk about where we’re going to source a new product from. I get excited about how we present food on the shelves. Sometimes I even get excited about the boxes food comes in or the way the grower has presented it.
I like to provide the local restaurants with food that is fresh, and to support local farmers and small growers. I’ve been interviewed for radio and television twice, so I’m really concerned I might become a celebrity one of these days!
8
I moved here with my wife and children three months ago, from the city, we wanted a quieter life. But a week after the move I found myself wanting to go back to the place we’d left, thinking, that’s it. I’m too old for this, the friends I’ve got won’t bother to come this far to see me. It lasted a few days, and I’m afraid it worried my wife a lot – she’d keep telling me how nice the people next door were, how they’d given us this lovely bunch of flowers, how the kids had already made some friends. She didn’t understand it wasn’t about that at all.