Asides

Proficiency Test 2

Time limit: 0 Quiz-summary 0 of 4 questions completed Questions: 1 2 3 4 Information This is a Listening practice test fot the Cambridge Proficiency Test CPE. There are 3 parts and it takes around 40 minutes. read the instructions for each part carefully before you start.   You have already completed the quiz before. Hence you can not start it again. Quiz is loading... You must sign in or sign up to start the quiz. You have to finish following quiz, to start this quiz: Results Your time: Time has elapsed You have reached 0 of 0 points, (0) Average score     Your score     Categories Not categorized 0% If you liked the test, please click on one of the ads. It will help us to continue. Your result has been entered into leaderboard Loading Name: E-Mail: Captcha: 1 2 3 4 Answered Review Question 1 of 4 1. Question PART 1 You will hear three different extracts. For questions 1-6, choose the answer (A, B or C) which fits best according to what you hear. There are two questions for each extract. In the exam you will hear each extract twice.   Extract One - You hear part of a talk about negotiating with others. 1. The speaker says that both soft and hard ways of negotiating (B)  are more suitable in some situations than in others. tend to result in outcomes that were not anticipated. indicate a lack of confidence on the part of those using them. 2. The speaker says that principled negotiation involves  (C) accepting that life can be unfair. greater effort from both sides. the use of objective criteria. Extract Two - You hear part of a radio programme about a pottery. 3. What does the reporter emphasise about the pottery?  (C) how seldom anyone visits it these days how deceptive its appearance is how much it seems to belong to a previous era 4. When describing the history of the pottery, Roly Curtis  (A) mentions a problem common to many potteries. refers to a mistake he believes was made. expresses support for what his father did. Extract Three - You hear part of a radio programme about the stars of silent films.   5. The speaker says that Harold Lloyd became very successful because he (B) acted on a suggestion made by a colleague. changed the character he portrayed in films. became more ambitious than he had previously been. 6. The speaker says that Lloyd's career suffered because  (A) his character's attitude ceased to be appealing. he was reluctant to make films with sound. he lost confidence in his abilities as a performer. Stop the recording when you hear 'That's the end of Part 1: Question 2 of 4 2. Question PART 2 You will hear part of a radio programme, in which the history of Ty-Phoo Tipps – a brand of tea that is well-known in Britain – is described. For questions 7-15, complete the sentences with a word or short phrase. In the exam you will hear the piece twice. In 1835, William Sumner appeared in a publication called the (7) (National Commercial Directory)   At the beginning of the 20th century, the Sumners' business sold (8) (wines and spirits) in addition to groceries.   Mary found that a certain type of tea was good for (9) (indigestion)   John was told that people would not wish to buy tea that resembled (10) (dust)   John thought that the name he chose for the tea sounded like a word that was(11) (oriental)   The name of the tea has a double 'p' because of a (12) (printer's error)   To promote the tea, customers were offered a big (13) (jar of cream)   John wanted people to know his tea came from the (14) (edge of the leaf)   John was given an honour for his (15) (charitable work)   Stop the recording when you hear 'That's the end of Part 2: Question 3 of 4 3. Question PART 3 You will hear an interview with someone whose family spent a year living without television. For questions 16-20 choose the answer (A, B, C or D) which fits best according to what you hear. In the exam you will hear the piece twice. 16 One reason why the family decided not to have a television was that (A)  A the reception from the communal aerial was often poor. B they did not think the satellite technician would do the job properly. C linking up with the communal aerial was complicated. D they preferred to enjoy the beauty of their new surroundings.   17 One thing that Miranda enjoyed about not having a television was (C) A telling other people about what they did instead. B returning to hobbies they had previously given up. C observing the reaction of others when they found out. D feeling more energetic during the evening.   18 Miranda says that one disadvantage of not having a television was (D) A the fact that they could not follow their favourite series. B a constant desire to be more up-to-date with the news. C being unable to discuss topics they had previously discussed. D feeling out of touch with what other people talked about.   19 What does Miranda say about getting connected again? (A) A She felt it would be of some benefit to the whole family. B She agreed because her attitude towards television had changed. C She initially disagreed with her husband about doing so. D She felt that they were doing so because they were lazy people.   20 Miranda says that since they got a television again, her children (B) A are more able to distinguish good programmes from rubbish. B sometimes refuse to watch it when she suggests they do so. C have decided not to return to the habit of watching it. D never watch it simply because they are feeling lazy.   Stop the recording when you hear 'That's the end of Part 3: Question 4 of 4 4. Question PART 4 You will hear five short extracts in which people are talking about hearing some unexpected news. You will hear the recording twice. While you listen, you must complete both tasks. TASK ONE For questions 21-25, choose from the list (A-H) what the news involved. A a chance to travel B a job application c a request for a favour D the cancellation of an arrangement E a financial matter F an offer of accommodation G someone's anger H an invitation to an event TASK TWO For questions 26-30, from the list (A-H) how each speaker feels with regard to the news. A embarrassed B uninterested c curious D disappointed E relieved F envious G annoyed H amused 21. Speaker 1 (G) 22. Speaker 2 (D) 23. Speaker 3 (B) 24. Speaker 4 (F) 25. Speaker 5 (H) 26. Speaker 1 (B) 27. Speaker 2 (D) 28. Speaker 3 (E) 29. Speaker 4 (C) 30. Speaker 5 (F)

CPE Listening Test 1

Time limit: 0 Quiz-summary 0 of 4 questions completed Questions: 1 2 3 4 Information This is a Listening practice test fot the Cambridge Proficiency Test CPE. There are 3 parts and it takes around 40 minutes. read the instructions for each part carefully before you start.   You have already completed the quiz before. Hence you can not start it again. Quiz is loading... You must sign in or sign up to start the quiz. You have to finish following quiz, to start this quiz: Results 0 of 4 questions answered correctly Your time: Time has elapsed You have reached 0 of 0 points, (0) Average score     Your score     Categories Not categorized 0% If you liked the test, please click on one of the ads. It will help us to continue. Your result has been entered into leaderboard Loading Name: E-Mail: Captcha: 1 2 3 4 Answered Review Question 1 of 4 1. Question You will hear three different extracts. For questions 1-6, choose the answer (A, B or C) which fits best according to what you hear. There are two questions for each extract. In the exam you will hear each extract twice. Extract One You hear a reviewer on a radio programme talking about a book. 1 The speaker says that the book's title refers to the point at which   (B) A social epidemics are at their height. B something becomes a social epidemic. C people become concerned about social epidemics. 2 The speaker says, that in her opinion, the book   (A)  A presents some challenging conclusions.  B is less complex than it may appear.  C uses terminology that may confuse readers .   Extract Two You hear a reporter on a radio programme talking as he climbs a big rock. 3 One question the speaker asks himself is   (C) A why he feels the way he does. B where his climbing partner has gone. C what has motivated him to climb the rock. 4 The speaker says that at this exact moment   (B) A he doesn't care about the risk he is taking. B he is relishing the experience. C he feels that age is irrelevant.     Extract Three You hear part of a radio programme about literary festivals. 5 The interviewer says that when writers appear at events at literary festivals,   (B) A they dislike being asked difficult questions. B they find the experience easier if they read their own work. C they seldom prepare as thoroughly as they should. 6 Why, according to William, do writers like meeting readers?   (A) A Writers are made to feel they have succeeded in their aim. B Writers want readers to know what they are really like. C Readers give writers ideas for future work. Stop the recording when you hear 'That's the end of Part 1: Correct Incorrect Question 2 of 4 2. Question You will hear someone called Karen Williams talking about her career. For questions 7-1 5, complete the sentences with a word or short phrase. In the exam you will hear the piece twice. At the end of her first work experience, Karen spent two days (7) (planning rotas) and checking rooms with the floor housekeeper. Her last work experience was spent in the hotel's (8) (front office). The subject of Karen's next course was (9) (Hospitality Management). During her HND course, the subjects she had to study were business studies, hotel management, human resource management and (10) (operational techniques). The topic of her report was (11) (green issues) in hotels. In her report, she wrote reviews of various (12) (give-aways). She joined an organisation with the initials (13) (HCIMA). She got information from a magazine called (14) (Caterer and Hotelkeeper). In her present job, she has to deal with problems caused by the hotel being (15) (overbooked). Stop the recording when you hear 'That's the end of Part 2: Correct Incorrect Question 3 of 4 3. Question You will hear an interview with someone who consulted a ‘life coach’ to improve her life. For questions 16-20 choose the answer (A, B, C or D) which fits best according to what you hear. In the exam you will hear the piece twice. 16 Brigid says that she consulted a life coach because (D) A she had read a great deal about them. B both her work and home life were getting worse. C other efforts to improve her life had failed. D the changes she wanted to make were only small ones.   17 What did Brigid's coach tell her about money?  (A) A It would be very easy for Brigid to get a lot of it. B Brigid's attitude towards it was uncharacteristic of her. C Brigid placed too much emphasis on it in her life. D Few people have the right attitude towards it.   18 What does Brigid say about her reaction to her coach's advice on money?  (C) A She felt silly repeating the words her coach gave her. B She tried to hide the fact that she found it ridiculous . C She felt a lot better as a result of following it. D She found it difficult to understand at first.   19 What does Brigid say happened during the other sessions?  (A) A She was told that most people's problems had the same cause. B Her powers of concentration improved. C Some things she was told to do proved harder than others . D She began to wonder why her problems had arisen in the first place.   20 What has Brigid concluded?  (B) A The benefits of coaching do not compensate for the effort required. B She was too unselfish before she had coaching. C She came to expect too much of her coach. D It is best to limit the number of coaching sessions you have.   Stop the recording when you hear 'That's the end of Part 3: Correct Incorrect Question 4 of 4 4. Question You will hear five short extracts in which people are talking about cities they have visited. You will hear the recording twice. While you listen, you must complete both tasks. TASK ONE For questions 21-25, choose from the list (A-H) why each speaker visited the city. A for an interview B as part of a holiday C to see friends D for a conference E to show it to others F to see it again G to see a particular building H for research purposes TASK TWO For questions 26-30, choose each speaker's opinion of the city from the list (A-H). A friendly B ugly C exciting D overcrowded E too big F well-organised G frightening H overrated Speaker 1 (F) Speaker 2 (D) Speaker 3 (H) Speaker 4 (E) Speaker 5 (A) Speaker 1 (B) Speaker 2 (C) Speaker 3 (A) Speaker 4 (D) Speaker 5 (G) Correct Incorrect

IELTS 1 Listening test 2

After the listening test you can check your answers by reading the script

According to writer Mark Harris, Hollywood is in deep crisis. He says that the atmosphere in the movie-making capital of the world is so cautious that most executives are afraid to try new formulas. So moviegoers are left with a continuous repetition of the same titles. This year alone, Hollywood has produced “Spy Kids 4,” “Final Destination 5,” more “Harry Potter,” more “Pirates of the Caribbean,” more and more of what we’ve seen before. There are common themes that both filmmakers and brands return to, time and time again.

In his book, Mark Harris asks: How did we get here? Today he has been invited to talk to reporter Barbara Walker about his recent article “The Day the Movies Died” and maybe he will be able to answer that question for us.

BARBARA WALKER: Mark, welcome to our show and thank you very much for accepting our invitation to talk about the situation in Hollywood.

MARK HARRIS: Thanks so much for inviting me. It’s a pleasure being here to talk to you and your listeners.

BARBARA WALKER: So how did we get here? In your book you say that Hollywood has almost completely lost interest in making any kind of movies for adult audiences.

Mr. HARRIS: Well, I think one of the reasons is that it now costs, in many cases, more to market a movie than it does to make the movie: up to $40 to $50 million for a regular studio movie, sometimes more for a big adventure movie. And because marketing is so expensive, the people who pay for it, that is, the advertisers, can decide what movies get made in the first place. And what they want are movies that are brands , and there’s not a lot of room for adult dramas based on just the quality of the story.

BARBARA WALKER: I’m interested in the examples that you offer in your book, and I want you to explain something. You said the problem, that is, the fact that there are very few movies made for adult audiences can in part be found in one specific film, “Top Gun”, perhaps the biggest success by Tom Cruise.

Mr. HARRIS: Exactly. A movie made in 1986. I think that that moment, the “Top Gun” moment, in the mid-’80s, was a moment when movies changed from being about the content to being about the image. In other words, if you put all the right elements together – the star, the noisy soundtrack, the special effects, the poster, and the slogan – you can actually make a movie that will appeal to the largest possible audience, a movie that isn’t necessarily very good quality, but that a lot of people can identify with.

BARBARA WALKER: So after “Top Gun”, what kind of movies stopped getting made? What kind of movies for adults are we missing? Could a movie like “Marathon Man” or “Taxi Driver” or “The Godfather” be made and be successful now?

Mr. HARRIS: Well, it actually can be very good business to make adult dramas, like ‘The Godfather” if you make them for, say, $40 million or less. You know, if you keep the cost under control, you can do very, very well. So, you know, even a movie like “The Social Network,” still needs a movie studio to say yes to it and pay for it, and that’s what’s really hard right now.

BARBARA WALKER: There’s another thing that I want to talk to you about before I let you go. You say that in these days, when marketing is everything, the audience is divided into groups that are based on age and gender. And as I read that sentence, my goodness, it is so depressing to find out that women in Hollywood are basically treated like garbage.

Charlie LeDuff, 34, is a reporter for the New York Times. He started his journalism career at age 29, after earning a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan and a master’s degree in journalism from the University of California. Part Native American, LeDuff was one of several reporters who worked at the New York Times series that was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in April 2001. He spent one month working at a pork slaughterhouse in North Carolina.

JournalismJobs.com: Mr LeDuff, where did you get your start as a journalist?

Charlie LeDuff: TheNew York Times was my first newspaper job. I was an intern for three months at the Alaska Fisherman’s Journal. That was my first publication-type job. But the first thing I ever wrote that got published? Well, my Russian friend in the Northeast got killed with alcohol. I just sort of wrote an obituary for the high school paper. And I wrote that and I think I wrote it pretty well. I felt good and I felt like, hey I’m smart enough. I can do this. That’s how I got started.

JournalismJobs.com: You’ve had a number of occupations before you became a reporter, right?

Charlie LeDuff: Oh yes, I worked as a school teacher and carpenter in Michigan and at a cannery in Alaska. I also worked as a baker in Denmark and as a bartender in Michigan, New York and Australia.  you can see, quite varied and all over the world.

JournalismJobs.com: Why did you decide to go into journalism?

Charlie LeDuff: I was with some friends in New York and we were talking about what we were going to do and some guy mentioned he was going to journalism school and I thought that would be cool. And it turned out that my parents were proud of my decision, although they didn’t think I could earn a lot of money doing it.

JournalismJobs.com: Let’s turn to your article now. Why did you pick this slaughterhouse in North Carolina to write your story?

Charlie LeDuff: The editor wanted me to look somewhere in the southern United States. It’s the biggest slaughterhouse in the world. I got to this town and there were a lot of Natives there and that was good. A lot of Lumbee Indians.

Pres.:Science for Life, the radio programme which is always first with the big Science and Technology stories. Today’s big story is about “cell phones”. How many working cell phones are there today in Europe? How many mobile phones are there in the whole world? How many cell phone addicts are there who can’t stand being away from their mobiles? And how many cell phone users shout their conversations in trains, supermarkets, museums, stations or parks. Are you one of them? If so, how do you think other people feel when you are speaking on your mobile, for example, in your morning train to college? Dr Bret is with us today to help us understand how people react to cell phones.

Pres.: Good afternoon, Dr. Bret and welcome to our weekly programme “Science for Life” .

DB: It’s a pleasure.

Pres.: Dr Bret is a Psychologist at the University of York in the UK. Doctor, do cell phones get on your nerves?

DB: Yes, they do and I guess they also annoy you and the majority of your audience. Am I right?

Pres.: Well. Personally I love using my mobile, but I also find it very irritating when other people use them. But is it really the same for everybody? Is this a general feeling?

DB: This is precisely the question we asked ourselves when we observed that many people, including cell phone users, reacted in similar ways when exposed to cell phone conversations in a variety of situations.

Pres.: So …

DB: So we designed an experiment to try and answer the question.

Pres.: An experiment? What did it consist of?

DB: It was a simple experiment. We wrote a one-minute conversation about a holiday and a surprise party. Then we asked two female actors to memorize and rehearse the script. They rehearsed and rehearsed until they felt comfortable with it. During their rehearsals we made sure that they could control their voices…err basically they had to be capable of maintaining a consistent volume in their conversation.

Pres.: Then …

DB: Then, when their performance was regular we placed the actors in either the waiting room of a bus station or on a train travelling between the cities of York and Sheffield. In these places they acted out their conversation in two different ways.

Interviewer (Int.) – This evening, at “Pole Position”, our programme for the world of races, we have a very special guest. He has been World Champion three times. He’s starting his career as a GP racer next season: a new challenge to beat. Behind him, a story of self-discipline, courage, hard work and intelligence. This is our guest this evening, Dani Stoner, 20 years old and already an experienced winner.

Int. – Good evening, Mr. Stoner, and welcome to our programme.

D.S. – Good evening.

Int. – Should I call you Mr. Stoner, or do you prefer to be called Dani?

D. S. – Dani, please. I’m only 20 years old, and I don’t think any people my age would like to be called Mr, or Ms, either!

Int. – Dani, then. How do you feel being a world-known idol at your age?

D.S. – To tell you the truth, it is strange, and I am not used to this kind of fame yet. People ask you for an autograph… that’s all right with me; but the feeling of being watched all the time as you walk by, that’s not easy. But I’ll get used to it, I’m sure.

Int. – 240 kilometres an hour, that is really fast! Don’t you ever feel scared?

D.S. – You can’t think about that when you take a bend at full speed and the contact surface of your tyres against the track is just one centimetre wide. No, I can’t feel scared.

Int. – I see… . You ran the last races of the world championship with a broken arm. Can you also control pain?

D.S. – If the pain is very strong there’s nothing you can control. But the pain in the last races was not as strong as that. If you start to run and you concentrate on the race, the bike and your opponents, you don’t think of the pain at all.

Int. – Amazing! Let’s talk about your beginnings. What are your first memories on a bike?

D.S. – I’ve seen some pictures of myself on a battery-operated Vespa that my parents gave me when I was one and a half years old. But my first memories go back to an Italjet 50 that my father tuned up with side wheels when I was four years old.

Int. – Weren’t you scared?

D.S. – I can’t really remember. It was like a game to me, like children when they play football or learn to ski. Of course there were risks, but I guess my parents made sure everything was safe. If you learn a sport when you are very young, you learn to gain control very easily. That is probably the most positive aspect in taking up a sport discipline very early in your life.