Listening Practice Through Dictation Level 1 – Topic: Art and Culture

M:   Gold has been a part of many cultures for hundreds of years. People made coins and jewelry with gold.
Gold is a soft metal. It is easy to shape into sheets, long wires, or rings. People sometimes mix gold with other metals. This makes the gold harder. Then it can be made into beautiful jewelry. Why do we value gold so much? It has a special color. No other metal is a bright yellow.
We also value gold because it is rare. A rare thing is hard to find. Even after hundreds of
years, gold is still a precious metal now. It is still valued for its beauty. It is still rare.
Today, banks store gold in the form of bars. Its value is more than $600 per ounce. Gold is more useful now than ever before.

W:   Have you heard about the music festival next summer? I read that it is going to have about 20 different bands playing in it.
M:   I think I did hear someone talking about it. Are you planning on going?
W:   I’ll go if I can get tickets. I heard that people are going to line up overnight to get tickets. I might line up overnight, too.
M:   I don’t think I want to line up all night long!
W:   Well, I’m going to do it. I think it is going to be a great music festival that I won’t want to miss.
M:   Maybe. Do you know how much the tickets are going to cost?
W:   I’m not sure, but I think each ticket will be about $75.
M:   That’s a lot of money! I don’t think I want to spend that much on a ticket. Good luck, anyway!

B :   Are you going to the school play on Saturday night?
G :   The school play? I didn’t know there was going to be a play on Saturday night.
B :   Yes, I heard about it in English class yesterday. I think it will be really good.
G :   Who told you about it?
B :   Ms. Martin, our English teacher, told us all about it. This is the drama club’s first play of the year.
G :   What is the play about? I hope it’s nothing boring.
B :   Can you guess what it is?
G :   Oh, come on, tell me please!
B :   It’s The Sound of Music.
G :   Really? I watched The Sound of Music on TV last month! It’s very good! Are you sure?
B :   Of course I’m sure, that’s what Ms. Martin said. Would you like to watch the play with me on Saturday night?
G :   That would be great! Let’s go early so we get good seats!

W:   Hi Cindy, where are you going?
G :   Good afternoon, Mrs. White, I’m going to ballet class.
W:   Ballet class? I didn’t know you were studying ballet. How long have you been studying ballet?
G :   Today is my first day, and I don’t want to go. My mom and dad want me to learn ballet. I’m not sure I want to learn how to dance.
W:   I used to learn ballet too, when I was your age. Now I teach ballet in a dance school.
G :   Oh, I didn’t know that! Where do you teach your classes?
W:   Down the street at Easy Steps Dance Academy. Ballet is fun to learn, and it’s a very graceful dance. You’ll need to learn the steps and practice a lot of course, but I think you’ll enjoy it.
G :   I hope so!
W:   Well, go and have some fun dancing!

W:   Claude Monet was a great artist. He was the first of a group of artists called the
Impressionists. This group of artists thought about how things in the world made them feel. They tried to show this in their work. This way of painting shows how light can change shapes and colors.
Monet did a lot of his work outdoors. He wanted to show how daylight made things look. Many of his paintings are of gardens. He liked to paint flowers and trees. He loved to paint in his own garden. His garden was in a village. He lived there for many years.
Today, many visitors come each year to this garden. They come from all over the world.
Most of them are art lovers or artists. They come to see the place that Monet loved so much.