Listening 2026-05 Test 6

==================== IELTS Listening Transcript ==================== PART 1 Speaker 0: You will hear a number of different recordings, and you will have to answer questions on what you hear. There will be time for you to read the instructions and questions, and you will have a chance to check your work. All the recordings will be played once only. The test is in four parts. Write all your answers in the listening question booklet. At the end of the test, you will be given ten minutes to transfer your answers to an answer sheet. Now turn to part one on page two of your question booklet. Part one. You will hear a teenager asking about joining a film club. First, you have some time to look at questions one to four. Now listen carefully and answer questions one to four. Speaker 1: Hi. Can I help you? Speaker 2: Yeah. I saw on the Internet that you have a film club here at the cinema, but there wasn't a lot about it. Can you tell me a bit more? Speaker 1: Yes. We're still setting up the web page. Sorry about that. We only started the club a few months ago. It's been very popular right from the beginning. We have regular film showings, and there are lots of other benefits. Speaker 2: How often does the club meet? Speaker 1: Every two weeks on Thursday nights. Speaker 2: Okay. And I'm 16. So could I join? Speaker 1: Sure. People of any age can join. Speaker 2: Right. So how much does it cost to join? Speaker 1: Well, it depends. The basic charge is £24 a season. But for people eligible for concessions, it's £21.50. Speaker 2: I'm a student. Speaker 1: You'd get the concession rate then. Speaker 2: That's good. Speaker 1: That entitles you to free entry to the club films and also to £2 off tickets for all other films on at the cinema. So you'd pay £4.50 instead of £6.50. Speaker 2: Great. Speaker 1: Okay. Now I don't know if this applies to you, but club members are also eligible for three hours complimentary parking when there's a film on. Speaker 2: Well, I don't drive, but my girlfriend does. So it might be useful. Speaker 1: Yes. Speaker 2: Okay. Well, I'd definitely like to join. Speaker 0: Before you hear the rest of the conversation, you have some time to look at questions five to 10. Now listen and answer questions five to 10. Speaker 2: Can you give me any information about the next few films you're showing? Speaker 1: I'm afraid we've run out of leaflets for this season. So I'll tell you about the next few films, and hopefully, we'll have all details on the Internet soon. So the next meeting's this Thursday, October 14, and that's a film called Pablo. Speaker 2: Ah, read the reviews of that. It's set in Argentina, isn't it? Speaker 1: Mhmm. Speaker 2: About a child who's run away from home? Speaker 1: That's right. It just came out recently. And the kid somehow gets on TV and he wins a dance competition or something. Speaker 2: A singing competition. Speaker 1: Yeah. I haven't seen it either, but it tells you on the posters. Speaker 2: Yes. It sounds really good. Well, I definitely want to see that. What's on after that? Speaker 1: On October 28, there's an American film called The Soldier. That's an old silent movie. But in this showing, we have someone who'll accompany it on the piano, just like they used to in the old cinemas, though it was sometimes an organ accompaniment in those days. Speaker 2: Must be a pretty old film then. When did they release the first talkies? 1926 or '27? Speaker 1: Yes. This was made in 1922, so well before. Though I think they had short feature films with sound by 1923, actually. So what sort of film is it? Speaker 1: Well, it's billed as a comedy. Though you'd think it was a war film from the title. I don't know much about the plot. We don't have much information, though you could always look it up on the Internet. Speaker 2: Yeah. I'll do that. Speaker 1: Then the next film after that – so that'll be, let's see – November 11 is a film about animals, and it's just called Tiger. And that's a cartoon film, which makes it sound as if it's for children, but actually, it's aimed at adults, and it's really quite frightening in places. I saw it when it first came out. Speaker 2: What's it about? Speaker 1: It's got no humans in it at all. It's just about the effect of environmental changes millions of years ago on the animals who lived then. It's a really strange film. There's a talk afterwards given by the director, so that should be very popular. You'll need to book early for that, I should think. Speaker 2: Right. Well, thanks for all that. Now if you can give me the application form... Speaker 1: Sure. Speaker 0: That is the end of part one. You now have one minute to check your answers to part one. PART 2 Speaker 4: Part two. Speaker 3: You are going to hear an introduction to some London parks. First look at questions 11 to 15. Speaker 4: Good morning, everybody, and welcome to the London Parks Society. It's a lovely day. So in half an hour or so, we'll go outside and start our tour of some of London's famous royal parks. But for the next half an hour or so, while we enjoy our coffee and biscuits, I'll tell you something about some of these wonderful parks, a brief history, and some of their special attractions. I also have a few slides to show you. First, what do we mean by "royal Park"? In short, they once belonged to or were established by order of a king or queen of England, or at least a member of the royal family. And it's a good job they did. They provide quiet and natural scenery, places that we might not be able to enjoy today if our former rulers had just put buildings everywhere. Let's start with the most famous, Hyde Park. This park offers some of London's finest scenery and covers 630 acres and a perimeter of four miles. I know we have friends from France here, so I'd better give it in metric. That's about 260 hectares and 6.5 kilometers. Hyde Park dates back to 1536 when King Henry the Eighth got the land from the monks of Westminster Abbey. Much of the later design, its layout, was done by the architect Decimus Burton in the eighteen twenties, who took full advantage of the area's high and low land. It was the original site of the Crystal Palace, built for the Great Exhibition of eighteen fifty one, the original ancestor of today's world expos, like the one that will be held in Shanghai in 2010, I think. So it's been popular for a long time, and not only the people who live and work near the park like it. Many famous rock bands like Pink Floyd and the Rolling Stones have put on big rock concerts here. I still remember the Rolling Stones concert there in, I forget the exact year. It was around 1968 when I was a university student. Speaker 3: Now look at questions 16 to 20. As the talk continues, answer questions 16 to 20. Speaker 4: I mentioned the architect Decimus Burton. He designed the very impressive grand entrance to the park. The whole front is about a 107 feet long. Look at the four magnificent pillars that support the central entrance and that carving on the wall. Here's a close-up of a naval and military procession, and the gates made of iron and bronze with a beautiful Greek style flower design. One of the most popular sites in the park is Speaker's Corner, in the Northeast Corner, where you can hear British people exercise their right to free speech. There may be a dozen or more at any one time, each standing on a soapbox and spouting – usually controversial – views on any topic you can think of, religion, politics, fox hunting, trade unions, Europe, tourists, etcetera. Lots of arguing. It's great fun. And south of the Serpentine Lake is the memorial to Diana, Princess of Wales. It's an oval stone fountain that opened on 07/06/2004. Another memorial in the southeast corner of the park is the Albert Memorial, Queen Victoria's monument to her husband of that name. I see that time is getting short, so I'll be a bit briefer with the other parks that we'll see today and tomorrow. Regent's Park. It has a fantastic landscape and is known as the jewel in the crown. Regent's Park covers 487 acres. That's 197 hectares, including Primrose Hill and has the largest outdoor sports area in London. Rugby, basketball, soccer, netball, cricket – it's all here. Saint James's Park, with its royal, political, and literary associations, is at the very heart of London. It's overlooked by not one but three royal palaces. The most ancient palace is Westminster, now known as the Houses of Parliament. Then there's Saint James's Palace, which used to be the king or queen's residence, despite the fact that the monarch has lived in the third palace, Buckingham Palace, since 1837. There's so much to see in or by Saint James's Park. Bands give concerts twice a day in the park at weekends during the summer. And tomorrow is Saturday, so we're in luck. Then there's the changing of the guards. The queen's lifeguard changes daily at Whitehall, just nearby, Monday to Saturday at 11AM, an hour earlier on Sundays, and at Buckingham Palace every day at 11:30 in April, May, and June, and on alternate days in July and March if the weather is okay. Finally, we'll visit Greenwich Park, which is the oldest enclosed royal Park. It's situated on a hilltop with impressive views over the River Thames to the Docklands and the city of London. It contains several historic buildings, including the Old Royal Observatory, the Royal Naval College, the National Maritime Museum, and the Queen's House. Well, it's time to go. A ten minute walk, and we'll be at Hyde Park. Speaker 4: That is the end of part two. You now have thirty seconds to check your answers to part two. PART 3 Speaker 5: Now turn to Section three. Section three. You will hear two business students talking about the research they have done into one area of business. First, you have some time to look at questions 21 to 26. Now listen carefully and answer questions 21 to 26. Speaker 6: Okay. So let's look at what topic we've got for the next tutorial. Ah, intellectual property. That's anything that you produce from your own ideas or creative activity. It's like the property of your mind. Speaker 5: And we have to look at the different ways of legally protecting these ideas and inventions. Speaker 6: Right. We need to know what they are and be able to talk about them. You wanna start with copyright? Speaker 5: Yeah. It's the one I knew a bit about already. It's your right as the author or inventor lasting for seventy years after your death. It's free, and you don't even have to apply for it. But it doesn't fit every situation, does it? Speaker 6: Okay. What about some other kinds of registration? I did some research on patents. Speaker 5: Right. A patent means no one else can financially benefit from your invention. Speaker 6: Right. It seems to be very costly to apply for. So you really need to know what you've invented is worth going through all the rigmarole for. Speaker 5: Well, I don't think it's something you can do without professional help. It's a very complicated process. Speaker 6: Let's have a look at trademarks next. We are both quite familiar with these. I mean, just think how well known the logos of some companies are. They seem to really instill trust in a brand, and so they add millions of dollars to how much a company's worth. Speaker 5: And from what I've discovered, it doesn't seem to cost much to register trademarks either. Speaker 5: Okay. So what's next? Ah, design. This has quite a specific meaning as it relates to how something looks and not how it works. I read it's standard for the big corporations that make mobile phones to register the design of their handsets so they remain quite distinctive. Speaker 6: That's interesting. I wasn't aware of that. So how does design differ from the next category of protection? Speaker 5: You mean circuit? Well, circuits are a type of protection that safeguards original layout design for things like computer chips. So it's fairly narrow in its meaning, and it is quite limited as it can only be enforced in this country. Speaker 6: Yeah. The blueprint could be copied and reproduced in other countries, and the owner has no legal protection. Speaker 5: So my view is, what's the point? Maybe in time, it will be recognized elsewhere. Speaker 6: I find the next category quite interesting. When I think of trade secrets, I immediately think of Granny Mae's cookies. They've deliberately not patented their special recipe so that the other manufacturers don't know what the ingredients are. Hard for them to discover. Speaker 5: Yeah. But it must be difficult to maintain a trade secret because you have to make sure that all staff sign an agreement and stick to it if they leave. Speaker 6: That's true. Speaker 6: Okay. So we're happy with what we've discussed with different types of intellectual property. Speaker 5: Before you hear the rest of the discussion, you have some time to look at questions 27 to 30. Now listen and answer questions 27 to 30. Speaker 6: Next, we have to write up the process that one company uses to manage its intellectual property. Speaker 5: Yeah. In the company we looked at, there were certainly a lot of people involved in this process, from the research leader through to the commercialization committee. Speaker 6: Right. Well, it all gets initiated by the quarterly research report. This is produced by the – let me look at my notes – the project leader. They have to write up the report with details of how they are meeting their research deadlines. Speaker 5: And they put details in it about changes in intellectual property, don't they? Things like they now realize that they are researching something that may be patentable after all, and they have to identify this as early as possible. Speaker 6: And do they send the report to an external expert at this stage? Speaker 5: No. They send it on to the Commercialization Committee, which consists of the program leader and an industry representative. They review the report bearing amendments to the intellectual property. Speaker 6: Right. Then from that review meeting, all the amendments are brought together and gone through by the delivery officer who works out the most beneficial way to register the intellectual property. Speaker 5: Yes. This stage can take quite a long time. The project leader must get really frustrated by all this. If I've got this right, they then let the business manager know what has been decided, and it's at this point that the intellectual property gets taken out of the control of the research area and it becomes more to do with the financial or commercial issues of registration. Speaker 6: Exactly. So if they feel that their proposal fits within the allocated budget for intellectual property and a likely return on the investment is worth it, they will then need to engage the help of a specialist in the field. It's extremely likely that they will find themselves... Speaker 5: That is the end of section three. You now have half a minute to check your answers. PART 4 Speaker 0: Part four. You will hear part of a lecture about an early form of photography that developed in Britain and France called calotype photography. First, you have some time to look at questions 31 to 40. Speaker 7: Morning, everyone. Welcome back to this series of lectures on the development of photography. Last week we looked at a type of photography called daguerreotype, the first commercially successful photographic process. Today we're going to look at how this was gradually replaced by a technique called calotype. Daguerreotype was a major breakthrough, but there were problems with it. In particular, because the image was produced on a copper sheet, it was expensive to create each photograph. As a result, during the 1840s, a man named William Talbot began looking for an alternative approach. Talbot eventually became an influential figure, but he always said he was not a professional photographer. In fact, he trained as an artist. His greatest interest was painting, and he only became involved with photography as a secondary interest. Talbot spent many years trying to solve the problems associated with daguerreotype photography. He tried a number of different approaches, and it took some time to find a successful alternative. But in the end, what he did was, instead of producing each photograph on a sheet of copper, he produced them on paper, and at the time this was a great advance. Talbot's technique, which he called calotype photography, had other advantages as well. Maybe the most important was that the pictures themselves weren't as sharp as the ones produced before. The sharpness had been a problem because it distorted everything, but this new calotype process produced images that were realistic compared to all earlier photographs. Calotype photography was invented in Britain, but it was also popular with French photographers. The 1850s were a time of rapid development in France, and photography was used to record these changes. One example of how important photography had become occurred in 1851, when the French government established a society to promote the interests of photographers, something that hadn't happened before. To begin with, there were five members, and maybe the most important was a man called Gustave Legray. Legray became increasingly fascinated by the calotype process. Most of all, he wanted to produce different types of image, so began a series of experiments to see how this might be done. His greatest success was when he designed the first camera that was able to create enlargements, an important step forward. Another of Legray's innovations was his work on the size of the equipment necessary to take photographs. Originally it was very heavy and difficult to move about, but Legray made it lighter and smaller. This meant he could take photographs outdoors more easily, rather than being limited to the studio, which had sometimes been the case until then. Legray produced numerous photographs during this period, and was highly regarded among fellow photographers. But his work also became famous among the general public, because he wrote a very popular series of books describing the calotype process and giving examples of his work. The simple fact was that people liked photography. They thought it was reliable, especially compared to drawing, where the human hand might alter or exaggerate things. This had various consequences, one of which was that photography was now often used to record the huge programme of renovation work of historical buildings in France during the 1850s. The camera doesn't lie, so people said. As a result, the calotype process was admired not only by photographers, but increasingly by the government and by mainstream society. However, debate still remained about whether photography could truly be called an art form like sculpture or drawing. Certainly, although the public liked it, in the opinion of critics, photography could not be compared to other established forms of art. So, in summary, what can we say about calotype photography during this period? One thing to re-emphasise is that the 1850s were a period of great development in Britain and France. The culture in both countries admired all new technological advances, and photography represented these ideas because it was considered to be a science by most people. However, photographers didn't stop experimenting with new materials to improve the quality of their work. Most of all, they were searching for ways to make images more permanent, because calotype photographs tended to fade over time. And in the end, they found that if the image was produced on glass, it lasted much longer, so calotype photography was slowly replaced by other techniques which had greater long... Speaker 0: That is the end of part four. You now have one minute to check your answers to part four.