Listening 2026-07 Test 11

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. You will hear two friends called John and Anna talking about a holiday Anna has just had on Jackson Island. First you have some time to look at questions one to seven 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. Hi Anna, how was your holiday to Jackson Island? It was good. It was quite a lot to see. It's quite a big island really. Yeah. I was thinking of going in the summer, so where would you recommend going on the island? Well, the capital of course, canford. I stayed there with my cousin. Anna stayed with her cousin, so cousin 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 in a second time. Listen carefully and answer questions one to seven. Hi Anna, how was your holiday to Jackson Island? It was good. There's quite a lot to see. It's quite a big island really. Yeah. I was thinking of going in the summer, so where would you recommend going on the island? Well, the capital of course, canford. I stayed there with my cousin. What did you do there? Well actually I spent most of my time there shopping. So has it got good shopping centres? Yes, but they're the same as at home really. So I did all my shopping in the market, which is great. What kinds of things are good to buy there? Everything, but bags and shoes especially. Just make sure you've got cash with you, as most of the stalls don't take credit cards. Okay, that's good to know. Where else did you go? Well my cousin and I went to Newtown, she said it was famous for its modern architecture. We only had half a day there so we took a bus tour around the town, but if I were you, I'd give the bus tour a miss. Unless you know a lot about architecture, the buildings all look the same. There's a museum though, that's supposed to be good. You might like that. Okay, I'll give it a go. Then after that we headed for Golden Beach because we were going to meet up with an old friend that I hadn't seen for years. But we had to stay in a caravan as the hotels were all booked up. Is it as pretty as it looks in the brochures? Yes, it's very picturesque. We did some sailing on the most beautiful blue sea. It was so clear that you could see the bottom, even quite far out to sea. That part of the trip was great and I'd have liked to have stayed even longer. I'd suggest staying there for a minimum of four days if I were you. We had two days there and it wasn't nearly enough. Sounds great. I'll put that on my must do list. Was that the end of your trip? No. After Golden Beach we drove into the centre of the island to White Mountain. White as in the colour? Yes. The island's great because you can go from the beaches up to the snowy mountain in a couple of hours. We took a tent because we were going to camp, but the weather was so cold. In fact it was snowing when I was there, that we stopped in a motel instead. Did you go skiing then? No. But we tried snowboarding and it was harder than it looked. It looked so easy when you see other people doing it, but it took me ages to get the hang of it. I wish I'd had some lessons, but you had to make your bookings in advance. Okay, I'll look into that, thanks. Before you hear the rest of the conversation, you have some time to look at questions 8-10 on page 2. Now listen and answer a questions 8-10. So are there any other tips or advice you could give me? I don't know. Oh, let me think. Oh, one place you should try to visit is this very quaint cafe, which is at the foot of the mountain. It has the best cakes ever, it's worth going there just for them. I'll have to try those. So what other advice would you give? Oh, let me think. We didn't really have any problems. Well, how did you get around when you were there? You wanted to get a motorbike at first, they're very cheap to hire and great fun to ride as the roads are very good, but it turned out not to be a good idea because the weather is so changeable, you'd be much better off in a car. There are plenty of places where you can hire them, and the roads are well-signed posted, so you won't get lost. And presumably I can get a map when I get there. Well, you can, but they are expensive, it'd be better to get one here before you go. Great. It's really useful. Thank you. [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] --- Now turn to section 2 on page 3. Section 2. You will hear an accommodation agent telling a student about different accommodation options. First, you have some time to look at questions 11 to 14 on page 3. Now listen carefully and answer questions 11 to 14. Hello, can I help? Yes, I'm looking for accommodation. I'm a student in my second year at the college and I wanted to rent something from September for myself and a friend. Well, we've got several choices at the moment. Near the college, we've got a flat, a house, or there's a student hostel. All at about the same rent. But of course, they all have different features and different things included in the rent. The properties don't all have gardens, I'm afraid. The house is quite small, not much space around it. It has got a bit of space at the back, but I wouldn't call it a garden. The hostel is part of a city development, so there's no space for a garden. But the flat has a communal garden that is shared by all the tenants. I would say that that's very good value for the price. Have you got a car? Yes. There are garages around the corner from the house, but you have to rent those separately and they might not be available. But each flat is allotted a garage in the grounds as part of the deal. The hostel doesn't have the space, I'm afraid. I guess you might also want to know about security as well. The house is the only one which is alarmed. The flats and the hostel are accessed through a main door, which has an intercom for visitors. So they're quite safe. Now, they are all furnished. The stuff in the flats quite modern looking, which most people like. And it's in quite good condition considering the use it's had. All the furniture and fittings in the house have just been replaced after the last tenants left. They'll be in excellent condition. And the furniture in the hostel is okay, but it's about what you'd expect really. Before you hear the rest of the conversation, you have some time to look at questions 15 to 20 on page 4. Now, listen and answer questions 15 to 20. Well, I think I'd better go and look at them all. Where are they? Here. Let me show you on the map. Right. We're here in the accommodation agency on the High Street facing North. Directly opposite us is the bank, okay? If you stay on this side of the road and walk towards West Street, the house is not that far. It's next but one to the swimming pool just before West Street. It's very convenient because it's near the shops. The hostel is on the corner of West Street and St. Anne's Road near the roundabout. It's not a very wonderful building but it's nice and close to the college. The flat is a bit of a walk but it's in very nice surroundings. To get to the flat, you go down West Street towards the centre of the city and the building is on the corner just before the first turning on the left. Although we're a bit outside the city centre, the facilities aren't bad. There's a post office just round the corner from here. You go down the High Street and turn right into West Street and it's on your right. Or if you want to go to the city centre, you could get the bus from here at just a few metres down the road from the agency going east, you don't even need to cross the road. That is the end of section 2. You now have half a minute to check your answers. [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] --- First, you have some time to look at questions 21 to 26. So, Daniel, should we compare a few ideas for our assignment on how babies and children learn? Good idea. I've started the reading. One thing I read about was these learning videos. Oh, yeah. I read about learning videos. The baby watches a short film with some basic vocabulary, maths and science, and they learn as they watch. That's the idea. Certainly babies will pay attention to videos for long periods of time. Yeah, but there's been research to show that babies don't learn effectively from screens. Actually, they learn by interacting with their parents and other caregivers. That's the best approach. Hmm, it's interesting. Another issue with learning videos is that babies ought to have playtime. You mean in a group? Not necessarily. It can be alone, actually, but what's important is that they investigate their own environment. They should examine the objects around them and experiment so they discover information for themselves, and they don't get that sitting in front of a film. That's a good point. Then I also thought I'd write about the present research in my assignment. Oh, yeah. I read a bit about the present research, and it's true, isn't it? When you give a baby a present or gift, some of them are more interested in the wrapping paper than the present itself. But it's not some of them. The research shows that pretty much every baby prefers the paper to the present. Whether male or female, it's just a human characteristic. Really, I thought there'd be more exceptions of apparently not. It seems that playing with the paper or ribbons or box stimulates the baby senses. They touch everything, climb into the box, put the ribbon into their mouths, and brain scans have shown that sight, sound, touch, smell and taste are all simulated in this way. It's amazing the research has produced so much specific information, just from studying presents. I hadn't expected that. The results cover so many different aspects of baby behavior. Yeah, exactly. But it shows us that babies learn by playing. So we shouldn't stop wrapping up baby's presents? No, definitely not. Then I also read about babies and second languages. There was a really interesting bilingual experiment in Spain. They tried teaching English to a group of 280 Spanish children in different preschools. So the research subjects were in different schools? Yes, but the researchers deliberately selected teachers who all had the same education. They'd been trained to use a style that focused on play and social interaction. So because of that, the experiment was standardised across all the schools. That's really important. Yeah, I agree. That was a great idea. The subjects were aged between seven months and three years old, and the children were given a one hour English lesson for 18 weeks. Did they seem to enjoy the lessons? I don't have any information on that. But at the end of the experiment, each child could produce an average of 74 English words or phrases. But did they remember them? Wow, follow up testing showed that the classes had a long-term benefit. Yes. Wow, that's remarkable, especially considering some of the children were so young. I think so too. It really shows how babies and small children can learn through playing. Yeah, I wonder if other schools will try the same thing in future. It'll be interesting to see what happens. Before you hear the rest of the talk, you have some time to look at questions 27 to 30. [BLANK_AUDIO] --- Now listen carefully and answer questions 31 to 40. There is growing interest in building structures using natural materials these days. I'll begin this lecture by looking at how some of these materials work, some advantages and problems associated with each. However, I must start by saying that all these materials and construction techniques require first and foremost a solid foundation, which will most often need to be made of concrete. Thus the goal of using 100% natural materials may have to be slightly compromised. One type of natural building material is what is known as rammed earth. Rammed earth is a construction method whereby a framework constructed of wood is set in place to act as temporary walls, and then damp earth or soil is placed within this framework. As it is added, the earth is packed down and subjected to intense compression, either by hand or by using specialized machinery. Across parts of Africa today, you can see military fortifications built in this way over 1,000 years ago, still standing in remarkably good condition. The most appropriate type of soil for this construction method is one with a high concentration of sand in it, though other kinds of soil are sometimes successfully used. Rammed earth buildings are well suited to dry arid climates. Another form of natural construction is called the adobe method, or sometimes the mud brick method. This utilizes bricks which can be made from a variety of soils, but are most suitable when made from a soil rich in clay. The bricks have got to be carefully made to prevent them from cracking. The main advantage of this adobe brick method is that the materials are cheap and also that it's convenient for people in many geographical areas. Thus adobe buildings have been traditional forms of construction in many societies, and today can be found all over the world. The construction method is also popular because making the bricks requires minimal training. However, the adobe method does have its drawbacks, for proper preparation of the bricks large quantities of water are required, and because these bricks are manufactured by hand, the process demands significant investment of time, as well as labor, which can be backbreaking and exhausting. A natural building material, which has been popularized in the US, is the use of straw bales to create walls. Straw is, of course, dried stalks of plants, especially tall grasses. The straw is shaped into large rectangular blocks called bales, tightly bound together, and these are excellent for use in the building of walls. When building with straw bales, the first thing that needs to be done is to construct a roof supported by poles so that work can continue even if it rains. Then the straw bales are stacked up to form walls. The bales are then coated with a layer of plaster, which seals and protects them and keeps the insects out of them. The most common reason for their use in building today is the fact that they provide a very effective means of insulation for the building. Another great building material is bamboo. This highly versatile plant is one of the fastest growing plants in the world. One of its primary advantages is due to the hollow, round, and segmented shape of its individual stalks, which give it its strength. And because of its lightweight, it is easy to handle. A significant drawback, however, is that the large varieties of bamboo which are best suited for construction, grow only in tropical and subtropical regions of the world. And also because it catches fire easily, bamboo can be problematic and potentially dangerous. Now let's take a look at possible sources of... That is the end of section 4. You now have half a minute to check your answers. That is the end of the listening test. Now have 10 minutes to transfer your answers to the listening answer sheet.