Practice Listening English Exercises for B1 – International food

1 a   2 b   3 b   4 a

Audioscripts in B below

1 main dish, side dish

2 side dish

3 appetizer, main dish, side dish

4 appetizer, main dish

Audioscripts

1

Server:   Are you ready to order?

Woman:   Yes, I think so. I’ll have the curry of the day.

Server:   OK, the curry for your main dish. And would you like a side dish with that?

Woman:   Hmm. What are the choices?

Server:   It comes with steamed white rice or vegetable fried rice.

Woman:   OK. I’ll have the steamed white rice on the side, please.

Server:   Very good. Would you like to start with an appetizer?

Woman:   No, thank you.

2

Server:   Hello, welcome to Tacos and More. Let me tell you about today’s special…

Man:   I’m on my lunch break, so I need something quick.

Server:   Yes, sir. We have excellent taco salad side dishes.

Man:   A side dish? Will that be enough?

Server:   Oh, yes. We have one with sliced, grilled chicken on top, and one with cheese. They’re pretty big.

Man:   OK, I’ll have one with the grilled, sliced chicken.

Server:   All right. Anything else?

Man:   No, thank you.

3   [phone rings]

Server:   Hello, Bob’s Barbecue. May I take your order?

Woman:   Yes, I’m having a party for ten people, so I have a pretty large order.

Server:   All right, what can we get for you today?

Woman:   OK, for an appetizer, I’ll take five orders of your fried cheese.

Server:   Got it. And how about for the main dish?

Woman:   Yeah, I’ll take the grilled beef plate – ten of those. And what kind of side dishes do you have?

Server:   Baked potato or potato salad.

Woman:   I’ll take potato salad with all of them.

Server:   Yes, ma’am. That should be ready in about thirty minutes.

Woman:   OK, thanks.

4

Server:   Good evening. May I take your order?

Man:   Hi. Yes, I’ll try the vegetable tempura for my main dish. That’s fried, right?

Server:   Yes, that’s right. Would you like to try some sushi or sashimi as an appetizer?

Man:   Um, could you tell me the difference between sushi and sashimi?

Server:   Sure. Sushi is pieces of fish on top of white rice. Sashimi has no rice; it’s just the sliced, raw fish.

Man:   All right. I’ll try the sushi appetizer, please.

Server:   OK, one sushi appetizer and the vegetable tempura. Would you like anything else?

Man:   No, thank you.

1 Brazil, Japan

2 India, Spain

3 China, Italy

4 France, Mexico

Audioscripts in B below

1 same   2 different

3 different   4 same

Audioscripts

1

TV host:   Good morning, and welcome to The Morning Show. Today we’re talking to Jackie Murphy. Her new book is Same Difference, and it’s about how different cultures have similar foods. It’s full of recipes, and I really learned a lot. So, could you give us some examples from the book today, Jackie?

Jackie:   Sure, well, for example, many cultures put meat on sticks and then grill the meat over a fire.

TV host:   Barbecued meat? Like I burn every summer?

Jackie:   Exactly! Now the stick’s the important thing. But it can be any kind of meat. In Brazil, people eat grilled beef very often. In Japan, chicken is cooked this way, too. The Japanese also cook small fish on sticks.

2

TV host:   How about another example? Rice is really popular around the world, isn’t it?

Jackie:   Yes. There are rice dishes all over the world that mix meat, vegetables, and rice together. Sometimes it’s just rice and vegetables. The difference is the spices, mostly. In India they mix vegetables and rice with typical Indian spices. In Spain, they make a famous seafood rice dish called paella.

TV host:   Stop! You’re making me hungry.

3

TV host:   This is so interesting. Tell us more.

Jackie:   All right. Let’s talk about pasta. Pasta is popular all over the world.

TV host:   Noodle dishes like spaghetti, right?

Jackie:   Yes, but spaghetti is only one kind of pasta, and the sauces are different from culture to culture, especially when the sauces are added to the pasta. For example, in China, you cook the pasta and the sauce together, all at the same time. In Italy, with spaghetti at least, you don’t do that. People put the sauce on at the table by themselves.

4

TV host:   OK. So far we’ve talked about meat, rice, and pasta. What about smaller things, like appetizers?

Jackie:   Good question. Of course snacks and appetizers are popular in all cultures. They are all made differently around the world, but everybody eats them at the same times: before a main dish, or when they just want a little something to eat. In Mexico, they’re fried with meat and cheese inside. In France, they may be baked and served with a sauce. Everywhere you go, you can find delicious appetizers.

TV host:   Great, I’ll never be hungry! All very interesting, Jackie Murphy. Thank you. Be sure to buy her new book, Same Difference. It’s terrific.

1 b   2 a   3 b   4 c   5 a

Audioscripts

Man:   You’re going to love this place. I often come here for lunch.

Woman:   It looks nice. What kind of food do they serve?

Man:   Mostly Asian food: Chinese, Japanese, Thai … They have great sushi and sashimi. Do you like raw fish?

Woman:   Yeah. I like everything!

Man:   Great! I recommend the sushi appetizer. It’s raw fish with steamed rice. And the shrimp tempura is excellent, too.

Woman:   Hmm. OK. I’ll try some sushi for my appetizer, and I think I’ll have a Thai beef salad for my main dish.

Man:   That sounds good. I’m going to have tempura. And no salad for me! I’m going to save room for dessert. They have the best ice cream here!

1 sandwich   2 pasta   3 fish

4 shumai   5 potatoes

Audioscripts

1

Server 1:   Hi! Have you had a chance to look at the menu? Great. Now… what kind of sandwich would you like? We have a sliced chicken sandwich, a fish sandwich, and a grilled steak sandwich – that one’s really good. What kind of sandwich would you like?

2

Server 2:   Welcome to Luigi’s. I recommend the pasta here. We have very good pasta, and it’s made fresh every day. We have a pasta appetizer – that’s mixed with vegetables. And we have pasta with meat sauce as a main dish. We also have a pasta side dish – that’s a pasta salad. What kind of pasta would you like?

3

Server 3:   Are you ready to order now? As the menu says, all of our fish is very fresh. Now, how would you like your fish prepared: baked, grilled, or fried? Fried fish is one of our specialties, but the others are nice, too.

4

Server 4:   OK. So, you’re going to start with an order of shumai. Good choice. What kind of shumai would you like? We have shrimp, beef, and vegetable. I recommend the vegetable shumai.

5

Server 5:   All right, then, and you get a side order of potatoes with that. How would you like your potatoes? You can have baked potato, fried – that’s french fries – or potato salad.

1 appetizer, side dish

2 main dish

3 main dish, side dish

4 main dish

5 appetizer, main dish

Audioscripts in B below

1 steamed   2 Turkey   3 baked

4 all kinds of seafood

5 beans and pasta

Audioscripts

1

Woman:   This is a spicy dish, like a lot of other dishes from Thailand. You use steamed vegetables … green beans, broccoli, and carrots … And you add garlic, lots of garlic. It’s a salad, so it can be served as an appetizer or as a side dish.

2

Man:   When I was in Istanbul, I ate shish kebab for lunch almost every day. A lot of Turkish restaurants serve it as a main dish. It’s made from meat that’s grilled with tomatoes and green peppers. It’s simple to make, and it’s really delicious.

3

Woman:   My favorite South American dish is stuffed potato. It’s usually served as a side dish, but some people eat it as a main dish, too. First, bake the potatoes, and take out the inside. Add cooked ground beef, an egg, and some cheese. Mix it together, put it back into the potato skin, and bake it for a few more minutes. Mmm.

4

Man:   I make really good paella. It’s made with rice and you can add any kind of seafood. I usually use fish and shrimp. You can put in vegetables, too. Add spices, and then cook it all together in a big pot. It’s a famous main dish in Spain.

5

Woman:   There are many different recipes for minestrone. This soup always has beans, pasta, and vegetables like tomatoes, carrots, and sometimes broccoli. If you travel to Italy, you should try minestrone as an appetizer or as a main dish.