Listening 2026-08 Test 3

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. 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. Section 1. You will hear a conversation between a computer technician and a woman whose computer has crashed. First you have some time to look at questions 1 to 4. 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. Hello. Tom's Computer Maintenance. How may I help you? Hello. I seem to have a problem with my computer. It's really inconvenient too because I have a deadline tomorrow I'm rushing to meet and suddenly the screen went blank. Blue. A blank blue screen. I don't know if you can do something about it. The answer is computer problem. So the reason for the phone call has been filled in for you. 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 1 to 4. Hello. Tom's computer maintenance. How may I help you? Hello. I seem to have a problem with my computer. It's really inconvenient too because I have a deadline tomorrow I'm rushing to meet and suddenly the screen went blank. Blue. A blank blue screen. I don't know if you can do something about it. Ah, the dreaded blue screen. I think I can do something about it. It's my job after all. There are a few different scenarios, though, that could be going on with your computer. You've tried restarting it, right? Oh, yes. Nothing. And it's plugged in, not running on battery? Yes. Are you sure? Can you check again? OK. Yes, it's plugged in. OK. Can you give me a bit more information about what happened? The screen went blank. No, I mean, what activity were you doing when the problem occurred? Your computer was on, I presume. You were working, right? What did you do immediately before the blank screen appeared? Were you using the internet? Yes, I was. Is it a virus? That seems likely. What antivirus software are you using? Er, I'm not sure. How embarrassing. Never mind. I'll have to come and have a look at your computer. OK, that's great. Before you hear the rest of the conversation, you have some time to look at questions 5 to 10. Thank you. All right, let's see. What about tomorrow morning about ten? Oh, no, that won't do, I'm afraid. I've got a very important project on the computer that absolutely must be finished and handed in by 9am tomorrow. By ten it's too late, I'm afraid. Can't you come now? Well, I'm at a job at the moment and my wife and kids are expecting me home by eight for dinner. Can you at least suggest someone else who can work? I know it's Sunday evening, but surely there's somebody. I mean, people have emergencies. I've been calling numbers in the phone book, and you're the only one out of about 12 that even answered. Just a moment. Don't panic. Where are you located? I'm in the Morningside area. Well, you're in luck. I have to pass your area on my way home anyway. Now, I should be finished here by half past seven, So what about around 7.45? Is that OK? Oh, that's great. Thank you. What's your address? 14 Branston Crescent, 2F3. That's B-R-A-N-I-S-T. Nope, sorry. B-R-A-N-S-T-O-N Crescent. Oh, all right. And your name? Sandra Saranson. That's S-A-R-R-E-N-C-E-N. And the name on the buzzer? The same. All right, I'll be there shortly. Thanks. Can I ask you how much it's going to cost? Certainly. My call-out fee is £60 and that covers the first hour's work. And after that, the fee is £40 an hour. Oh, gosh. That's rather expensive. How long do you think it will take? If we're lucky, it will be fairly quick. Honestly, though, if it takes much more than half an hour, I'll have to finish it tomorrow morning, but I doubt that will happen. I hope not. Will you take a cheque, or do you prefer cash? A cheque is fine. OK, so I'll be waiting. OK bye That is the end of Section 1 You now have half a minute to check your answers Ski and Snowboard Exhibition about some practical information for the whole event. First, you have some time to look at questions 11 to 15. Now, listen carefully and answer questions 11 to 15. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the annual Ski and Snowboard Exhibition, held from April 8th to 17th. I am Mary Granger, coordinator of the event this year. The 10-day event features many highlights. As a snow sports lover, I know you are looking forward to a great time here. Now, I'd like to offer you some practical information about the whole event and what to expect from it. This might be the first time coming here for some of you. So, for those who are still wondering about the right accommodation, I recommend Sky Hotel. It has its own health and sports clubs, just like most of the hotels here. but I love it because of its incredibly cosy beds, which guarantees good rest after an exhausting day of exploration. If you haven't brought your own equipment like poles, boots and skis, they are available for purchase or rent at Ski Set or Snow Rental. The exhibition this year provides a colourful look into the history of skiing and an inspiring peek into the future prospects of the sport. Apart from the fascinating photo exhibitions and the most up-to-date skiing gear like always, this year we have added four computers which can imitate the process of skiing, ensuring the same physical activity and sensations that appear during the skiing process on downhill slopes. But I have to warn you that it might be quite time-consuming to line up for the free trial experience. Many have posed the question as to how to enter the skiing and snowboarding competition. Well, rather than filling out the back of the entrance ticket or bombarding the committee with emails, the most effective method is by checking out the exhibition newsletter delivered every month for availability. At the most beloved local event, the exhibition has also drawn attention from the press. Last year, massive media coverage was on the worrisome amount of snowfalls. In order to avoid the same predicament, several artificial skiing slopes have been built. With more participants this year, we have lowered the entrance fee, which has been widely reported to local newspapers. A bonus for our participants is the Ski Programme. It offers a wide variety of lessons and sessions with qualified instructors, ensuring that all ages and abilities are catered to from the first-timers to seasoned amateurs. I strongly advise you to sign up for the programme as it is offering an unprecedented 30% discount. That's mainly because we are cooperating with the programme organiser who promises affordable prices only for the participants of the festival this year. Before you hear the rest of the talk, you have some time to look at questions 16 to 20. Now listen and answer questions 16 to 20. Now, I would like to introduce you to the list of presentations during the following week so that you can better plan your schedule. The first presenter, Simon, is one of our best ski instructors. As an experienced instructor, he will inform you about the dangers that face skiers and snowboarders. Accidents happen mostly to those who are careless or ignorant. Good risk management involves considering both the probability and consequences of an accident. The next speech, titled Solution, is given by Jamie Kurt. A list of problems may occur to novice skiers and snowboarders, so he is going to offer useful information for first-timers on choosing the appropriate gears, the right dress code and ways of protecting your skin. For instance, some of you may have rented the skiing equipment, but rental footwear is notoriously uncomfortable. Then Jamie will provide instructions to help make your footwear fit better. The third speech is about a documentary introducing skiing and snowboarding and the difference between the two sports. It also depicts a group of snow lovers exploring new slopes with breathtaking views. The director Andy Fisher will be there addressing the whole shooting experience. The fourth talk is about the tricks of skiing presented by Harry Tyson. It is most useful for those who have already tried skiing yet still need more practice to master the sport. Harry will teach you how to turn more skillfully. A lot of people can keep their skis roughly parallel but there's no point if you make it hard to work with and slide around out of control. Useful exercises will also be suggested to improve your parallel skiing technique so that you can tackle steeper slopes and enjoy yourself more. Jason Smith will be the last presenter mainly addressing towards advanced skiers He manages to apply snow climbing into skiing Climbing in soft snow you are floundering around Walking becomes harder so a good trick during climbing is to maintain a wider gait approximately shoulder width, so that you are more stable while walking. This works for skiing as well. That is the end of section 2. You now have half a minute to check your answers. Now turn to Section 3. Part 3. You will hear three linguistics students, Joe, Martin and Angela, discussing the presentation that Joe is giving soon as part of his course. First, you have some time to look at questions 21 to 26. Now listen to the first part of the conversation and answer questions 21 to 26. Hi, Martin. Hi, Angela. Hi, Joe. Yeah, hi, Joe. So you're really worried about your presentation, the one about names? I am. Well, you know your stuff on names pretty well, so it's just a question of selecting what you want to use. That's right. But there's so much. You don't have to include everything. Let's start somewhere. Well, for example, there's a lot to discuss about people's names in terms of culture. It would be a good way to start, bringing in issues of religion, society. I thought so. As long as you can keep it concise, since it's potentially a large area. I'll pick out some key points. Good. Now, that will tend to be about differences. What about something on ways in which naming practices are often similar across different languages? Hmm, that sounds good. I'm not sure how much I could say that's really about just names and not really general language. Maybe you need to give that some more thought. Yes, I'm not ruling it out. Well, what about what first names mean? That's got to be specific to languages or language groups. Yes, there are all sorts of different principles at work. It's a rich area for discussion. And you can present lots of examples. It would mean a good slide or two. I'll enjoy making those up. Don't forget to put our names in. No, OK. Right, where have we got up to? Yes, now, there's the question of place names. Ones where the name of the place is the word for the situation, like something to do with sea or mountain, etc.? Yes, people often don't realise the origin. It sounds like it's just a translation issue to me. Don't you think you might give that a miss? Given the time limit, perhaps you're right. You need something on place names. Could you get history in? Actually, the way migrants often used to name places after somewhere in their country of origin is interesting. Sounds a bit narrow to me. Well, I'd hope to build it up a bit. Perhaps you should make a final decision on that later. OK, I'll see how the rest of it goes first. Is that the lot? No, there's still country names, the origins of those. I think that's an interesting area. Yeah, because it's something we often don't think about. It'd be a way to bring in various aspects. History, certainly. I could project a map of the world and have people match the original meanings to the countries. Well, that seems to be a foregone conclusion. Fine. Yes, I'm feeling clearer already. Now you have some time to look at questions 27 to 30. Now listen to the rest of the conversation and answer questions 27 to 30. You know, there's another aspect that I think I'll cover. Yes? Brand names. Isn't that more to do with business studies? Well, international companies are finding it increasingly important to have brand names that can be used in many different countries. Oh, so they can advertise the same product everywhere? Yes, and it seems that brand names are very special in our brains. How so? Well, there was a research study recently, carried out on a group of about 50 students. They showed them 108 words, and the students had to say whether they recognised them as real words or not. The list included all mixed up, ordinary nouns, brand names and meaningless words, and they were shown all the words quickly. And the brand names seemed to be recognised strongly and in the emotional right-hand side of the brain. It was interesting that the brand names were recognised more readily if they were displayed in capital letters rather than lowercase, something which doesn't apply to normal words. How strange! What else did the researchers find out? Of course, it's a relatively small study, but they suspect that other visual features are at play. And so that, for example, colour has a major effect in helping us to store brand names in a special way in our brains. I suppose that's logical. But what do you, well, they mean by a special way? I'm not saying I understood everything about this study. Of course not. But they seem to be saying that the power of brand names is that they conjure up a range of associations inside our brains, more so than ordinary words or names do. I guess this is great news for international companies. potentially, certainly, though exactly what they do... That is the end of part three. You now have 30 seconds to check your answers to part 3 Now listen carefully and answer questions 31 to 40. Good morning, everyone. In today's lecture, we're going to explore the fascinating evolution of school building design. For a long time, the physical environment where children learned was largely ignored by educational theorists, but recently architects have started adopting entirely new philosophies. Let's begin by looking at a fascinating project in Asia, the Indian Mountain School. The architects here fundamentally challenged the 19th century industrial model of education. You see, historically, schools were designed to operate much like a factory where students were processed on an assembly line in uniform, identical boxes. However, the new approach here was to build the school as a true student-centred learning environment. When considering construction materials, the designers wanted to blend local heritage with contemporary needs. They could have easily used brick or concrete, which are standard worldwide, but instead the main structure is built from natural stone found in the nearby region. This gives the building a very traditional exterior appearance, while the interior layout remains entirely modern. Another priority for this school was integrating the building with its natural surroundings. We all know that students need adequate ventilation, but the architects went a step further. A special feature of this design is ensuring every classroom provides a clear view of the scenery outside. Research actually shows that being able to look out at nature can improve students' concentration levels significantly. Moving on, let's look at another innovative example, Northland School. Here, the educational philosophy recognises that teaching methods are constantly evolving, so the building itself must be able to adapt. Therefore, the core belief of the builders was that the environment needed to be extremely flexible. They achieved this by using movable partitions and modular furniture. The architects at Northland School also realised that education isn't exclusively about academic achievement. They spent months watching how children behave when they are not in class. As a result, the overall design places a huge priority on the social requirements of the students, creating comfortable breakout areas and collaborative spaces where informal interaction can take place. Now, let's travel to Europe and examine a school in Denmark, specifically in Hellerup. This school completely abandoned the traditional concept of long corridors with rows of closed classrooms. Instead, they organised the open plan space into smaller units called home bases. What's particularly interesting is that every one of these units is equipped with a small kitchen alongside dedicated places for studying. Because of this unique layout, the atmosphere of the Denmark school is quite different from what you might expect. In fact, rather than an institution, the feeling you get there is often likened to a small village. Students belong to their small home-based community, but they can also access shared central facilities, much like residents interacting in a small town square. Finally, I'd like to discuss a recently completed eco-school in England. This project had a strong focus on sustainability and utilising natural resources. In terms of the interior environment, the design aims to let in the greatest possible amount of light to the classrooms. They achieved this by carefully positioning the building and using reflective surfaces to bounce the sun's rays deep into the rooms. To further reduce the school's carbon footprint, the building generates its own power. You might expect to see traditional solar panels bolted onto the top of the building, but here the top structure actually features specialised glass to help collect solar energy more efficiently. This innovative material allows them to heat the building during the winter months. But energy isn't the only resource they are conserving. The designers also wanted to address water usage. So an integral part of the sustainable system is that the facility gathers water when it rains. This is then filtered and used for non-potable purposes, like flushing toilets and watering the school gardens. So as we can see from these diverse examples, modern school design is... That is the end of part four. You now have 30 seconds to check your answers to part four.