Listening 2026-02 Test 1

==================== IELTS Listening Transcript ==================== PART 1 Speaker 0: IELTS listening version 54165. 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 sections. 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 section one on page two of your question booklet. Section one. You will hear a woman talking on the phone to a car salesman about some secondhand cars he has for sale. First, you have some time to look at questions one to five on page two. You will see that there is an example that has been done for you. On this occasion only, the conversation relating to this will be played first. Speaker 1: Hello. Speaker 1: I heard your advert on the radio about the sale you're having, and I wanted to find out about your cars. Speaker 2: Well, you've called the right place. So how much do you want to spend? Speaker 1: I'd like to spend about $4,000, but definitely no more than 4,300. Speaker 0: The maximum the woman would like to spend is $4,300, so 4,300 has been written in the space. Now we shall begin. You should answer the questions as you listen because you will not hear the recording a second time. Listen carefully and answer questions one to five. Speaker 1: Hello. Speaker 1: I heard your advert on the radio about the sale you're having, and I wanted to find out about your cars. Speaker 2: Well, you've called the right place. Speaker 2: So how much do you want to spend? Speaker 1: I'd like to spend about $4,000, but definitely no more than 4,300. Speaker 2: Okay. For that price, we've got some nice cars. I've got a lovely Noda. Do you know that model? Speaker 1: Yes. Speaker 1: What color is it? I know it sounds unimportant, but there are certain colors I don't want. Speaker 2: Well, this one is silver. Speaker 1: That's good because I don't want a dark color like black as they get too hot in summer. Speaker 2: So is it in good condition? Speaker 2: It's just had a state of the art stereo put in. And although one light is damaged, we'd repair that for you if you decided to buy it. Speaker 1: Oh, that's good of you. Speaker 2: I've also got a Camina. It's a white one. It's slightly more expensive than the Noda, but it's a good car. Speaker 2: I know it quite well because it was owned by our manager here, so I used to get to drive it quite a bit. Speaker 1: The Camina is okay, but it's a little on the big side. Speaker 2: Well, how about a Telstra? Speaker 2: They're smaller, but not too small. We've got an orange one of those. Actually, what kind of model were you after? This one's an automatic. Speaker 1: Great. Speaker 1: They are so much easier to drive than the manual model, although I'm fine with either. Speaker 2: And another good feature is that the previous owner only replaced its tyres last month. Speaker 1: That will save some money, and anything to do with the wheels is so important for safety. Speaker 1: It might be worth a look. Speaker 2: Okay. Speaker 2: Now let's look at what else we've got in your price range. Speaker 2: How about an Abrada? It's a red one. It's the newest of the cars for sale in your bracket. Speaker 1: How old is it? I doubt I could afford anything less than ten years old. Speaker 2: Well, you might be surprised. There was only one previous owner, and they had it eight years. All the others are at least nine years old. Speaker 1: Now that's a possibility. Speaker 0: Before you hear the rest of the conversation, you have some time to look at questions six to 10 on page two. Now listen and answer questions six to 10. Speaker 2: Okay. Well, I'm interested in a couple of those. Could I come and take a look at them? Speaker 2: Sure. We're open seven days a week. Do you know where we are? Speaker 1: I think so. You're on Station Road in Mitchell. Right? I usually go past your place when I'm on the bus. Speaker 2: That's right. You can't miss us. What day would suit you? Don't leave it too long as these cars are likely to go quickly at these prices. Speaker 1: Well, I couldn't get there before Wednesday, and even that might be pushing it. Speaker 2: How does Thursday sound? Speaker 1: Sounds good. I usually don't work then or Fridays, but I am this week. Speaker 2: That's good. I'd prefer to deal with you. Speaker 2: Okay. So would 09:30 in the morning be okay? Speaker 1: No worries. Speaker 2: When you arrive, ask for Gerald Smith. That's G E R A L D. Speaker 2: Okay. Now will you be coming by car or public transport? Speaker 1: I'll probably come with my dad in his car. He knows all about this sort of thing. Speaker 2: Well, you should be able to park at the supermarket. Parking can be a bit hard with all the businesses around here and all our cars out the front. Speaker 1: Great. Speaker 1: Now is there anything I need to bring with me? Speaker 2: Let me think. If you want to take the car for a test drive, you'll need to have identification with you. I mean, otherwise, you could just drive off and it never come back. Speaker 1: Okay. That's easy. Speaker 1: Perfect. See you later this week. Speaker 0: That is the end of section one. You now have half a minute to check your answers. Now turn to section two on page three. PART 2 Speaker 3: Section two. You will hear a man introducing a charity to a group of listeners. First, you have some time to look at questions 11 to 16. Now listen carefully and answer questions 11 to 16. Speaker 3: Hello, everyone. Thanks for attending tonight's event. Let me start with the early history of our charity, Eye Saver. Eye Saver was founded by retired optometrist Timothy Gaines. I have spent much of my working life at EyeSaver. I am 60 years old now, and I started working for this organization fifteen years ago when I left a corporate position to help people with eye problems. Now our charity has been helping people for three decades. You may know that we are now doing various other things to help people with eye problems. That includes medications for children with eye diseases and operational help to those in the public who have eye problems. But when Mr. Gaines just founded Eye Saver, he wanted the program to be able to offer common eye equipment to those who needed it. We receive occasional donations from corporations and charity groups. Now we have over 1,500 volunteers who work on the streets with the little red donation boxes, which many of you are familiar with, and this is the main source of funding for us. Besides, we are planning to work to secure donations from wealthy benefactors. Many people are passionate about charity cause and have been inquiring how to donate money to us. I really appreciate that. But our main need is to collect glasses for our patients. Many of you have multiple pairs of old glasses in your possession, and we encourage you to gather these pairs which you no longer need and donate them to our cause. In doing this, you'll be able to make sure that someone else can see better. Most of us cannot imagine a life in which we are unable to see well. This is why your eyeglass donations are so critical to our mission. And as a side note, we offer full time positions. Let me know if you are interested. Our goal is to make people aware that even the smallest of donations can help change a person's life. So your donation can be a turning point for them. The other day, when I was talking to some people on the street, they were surprised to find out how easily some eye problems can be cured. And I am proud to say that our next program will aim at educating people about common eye diseases. We are able to prevent many fatal eye problems. In order to publicize our charity program, we surely need to do some advertising. When we first started our program, we used computers to create awareness for our cause. For instance, promoting seminars in which we informed people as to how they could help us to solve eye problems. But in recent years, the main means of advertising our program is through audio recordings. We have found it cost efficient and effective. It's good to know that many of our staff are recommending our program to their friends and colleagues, but I am afraid that our training cannot show people the whole picture of our program. Speaker 3: Before you hear the rest of the talk, you have some time to look at questions 17 to 20. Now listen and answer questions 17 to 20. Speaker 3: Finally, I would like to tell you about some organizations which have played important roles in the development and success of Eye Saver. Our affiliation with the National Vision Funding Group has allowed us to gain fame and to become even more significant. So many people around the country are coming for our services. Our association with the Eye for the Future organization has allowed us to run cooperative ads by which we seek producers of equipment to work with us. Meanwhile, some of our staff has been sent to this organization for some special training. Their skills should be improved very soon. Also, we have had a long time cooperation with Sam's Eye Care institution. Our relationship with it has given us the opportunity to link with many different academic institutions, including colleges and universities with good reputation. And we have a similar friendship with a group called Youth Health. Our connection with that group allows us to link directly with young kids since this is a crucial stage in their growth. We plan to contact with some colleges and hope that with their help, more college students could get to know our program. So as you can see, we have all bases covered in linking with students as we have affiliations directly with both administrators and the students themselves. Thank you so much for your attention today. As we try to stamp out eye problems, we will appreciate your donations no matter how large or how small. We believe with our efforts, the world will be a brighter and more beautiful place. Speaker 3: That's the end of section two. You now have half a minute to check your answers. Now turn to section three. PART 3 Speaker 4: Now listen carefully and answer questions 21 to 26. Speaker 5: Right. Now you wanted to organize a formal discussion of some sort in the class. Is that right, Daniel? Speaker 6: Yes. We thought it would be really good to end our psychology course with a formal debate, you know, where there's a statement and people argue for or against it. Speaker 5: Good idea. Speaker 5: Where did the enthusiasm come from? Have either of you organized debates before, Fiona? Speaker 7: No. But one of my friends did in his last year at secondary school, and he says he got a lot out of doing it. And I know they have debates in lots of other departments here at the university. Speaker 5: I see. Speaker 5: So what do you think the students, you and the others, would get out of this? Speaker 7: Well, a debate will encourage people to study all sides of the subject matter. And I also think listening to other people's ideas can have a focusing effect on your own. Sometimes you kind of don't know what you truly believe until you hear something you disagree with. Speaker 5: Okay. What about the topic for the debate? Speaker 6: We've got three to choose from. We'll show you in a minute to check they're okay. At first, we thought we'd ask the other students to suggest something, but we were afraid we'd get 30 different topics. So instead, we brainstormed some, just the two of us, then made a shortlist, and we'll get them to vote for the one they like best. Speaker 5: Right. Speaker 6: But the thing is, if people don't know how debates work, they could feel at a disadvantage. I mean, it wouldn't affect their grades or anything, but it could put them off. So we thought we should have a meeting beforehand to make sure everyone's clear about what's involved in a debate and how to prepare for it. Speaker 5: I think that's a good idea. Speaker 7: And we thought we could establish some key points of a successful debate there, like that debates are effective methods for considering an issue, and that you need to understand both sides of an argument in order to support one side effectively. We think it'll be best if we can use an issue that the students already have strong opinions about. Then some people will be happy to speak in support of it and others to oppose it. Speaker 5: Right. Speaker 6: What else do you want to do at the meeting? Speaker 6: Well, we've got to think about how people will do the background research for the debate. We could organize everyone into two teams. That should save time for the main speakers. They won't have to do it on their own. And we'll need to decide on some rules, like how long each person speaks for, and to select a chair for the debate, someone who's really confident. Speaker 5: Fine. Speaker 5: Now I think you should have some sort of follow-up to the debate. After it's over, I'd like you to get everyone to write a short essay focusing on what they gain from participating in it. And in turn, that can feed into the work we've been doing on learning and motivation. Speaker 7: But would you be willing to read them and report back? I mean, give some feedback on them. Speaker 5: I wouldn't have made the suggestion if I wasn't. Speaker 7: Thanks. Speaker 4: 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 5: Okay. Now let's think a bit more about the meeting. You need to decide exactly how you'll introduce the students to different features of a debate. Speaker 6: Well, first of all, we need to inform everyone about what actually happens at a debate, the procedures, and so on. Speaker 7: We could talk about that and write the main information on the board. Or instead of that, we could make a summary of the main stages and hand that out. Speaker 6: Then talk it through. Speaker 6: Yes. Okay. That's better. Speaker 7: But we do need to talk about body language as well. Speaker 6: Yes. That's a very important tool. Speaker 5: I've got an interesting article on that with some good diagrams of techniques for things like eye contact. Speaker 6: I'll make some copies for you to give out. Speaker 5: Great. Speaker 6: Then we need to think about where people will find the information on the debate topic. So they'll need to know where to look for the information. We could compile a list of sources, textbooks and articles and so on. Speaker 7: We could. But couldn't people offer their own suggestions and advice on that at the meeting instead? Speaker 6: Yes. Get everyone involved. Speaker 5: Right. Speaker 7: What about preparation for asking and answering questions? We could try to demonstrate that, but I'm not sure how. Speaker 6: Maybe we could put up a list of points on the board, then discuss them. Speaker 7: Yes. That sounds better. Speaker 6: Thanks. Speaker 5: Okay. Well, let's meet up again. Speaker 4: That is the end of part three. You now have thirty seconds to check your answers to part three. Now listen carefully and answer questions 31 to 40. PART 4 Speaker 8: Today, I'd like to talk about nostalgia, a fascinating emotional experience that connects our present with our past. It's something almost everyone experiences from time to time, that sudden rush of emotion when we're reminded of moments, people, or places from earlier in our lives. Nostalgia can arise when something small makes us recall people or experiences we once cherished. Even a photograph can awaken those memories, allowing us to relive a fragment of our earlier lives. Sometimes, a single image is enough to stir emotions we didn't even realise were still there. It might remind us of family gatherings, school days, or travels long gone. Researchers have found that smell can instantly activate memories we thought we'd forgotten. For many people, a familiar perfume can bring back events and feelings from years ago. That's because the part of our brain that processes smell is closely linked to the region responsible for emotion and memory, which is why certain scents feel so powerful. Now moving on, let's think about what tends to trigger nostalgia most often. The things we keep from the past can act as powerful emotional cues. For instance, leafing through a diary can bring back vivid recollections of people, places, and situations once experienced. These records of daily life allow us to see how we've changed, what we've valued, and how our priorities have shifted over time. Certain types of music can act as strong emotional triggers for people who have lived through intense periods of their lives. When former soldiers hear marching music, it often recalls their training days and the powerful sense of unity they once felt. The rhythm, repetition, and sound patterns of such music seem to carry emotional memories more effectively than words ever could. Sounds from public spaces often act as emotional reminders of shared traditions. The distant bells from a ceremony hall like a church can awaken memories of celebrations or community gatherings. For many, such sounds represent a connection to their culture or to moments that marked key transitions in life. Next, let's consider how nostalgia affects us emotionally. Nostalgia can work as a natural coping mechanism when people feel emotionally low. By revisiting happy experiences, individuals can temporarily relieve the weight of depression. It serves almost like a psychological reset, reminding us that joy and meaning have existed and still can. Certain flavours are strongly tied to early experiences and family traditions. The smell or taste of a cake made at home can awaken joyful memories from one's younger years. This connection between taste and memory is often what makes traditional foods so comforting. They take us back to childhood kitchens and the people who cared for us. Sound is one of the most direct pathways to emotional recall. Just a single song from the past can awaken vivid memories and recreate the mood of an earlier moment. Sometimes it's the lyrics, sometimes it's the melody, and sometimes it's simply the familiarity that makes it feel like travelling back in time. Finally, let's look at how nostalgia is used in modern life. Advertisers understand that people are more likely to donate when they feel emotionally moved. For this reason, many charity appeals are designed around nostalgic themes that create a sense of warmth and empathy. By showing images or playing music from the past, these campaigns encourage people to act out of compassion and shared values. Nostalgia is sometimes used as a gentle form of therapy in hospitals and care homes. A trained nurse might prompt patients to recall pleasant experiences as a way to reduce anxiety and loneliness. This kind of memory based therapy helps patients regain confidence, maintain cognitive activity, and strengthen their emotional well-being.