Practice Listening English Exercises for B1 – Housing

your own answers

1 a   2 b   3 a   4 a   5 a   6 b

Transcript

1

Well, I’m single and I spend a lot of time traveling, so I’m not home very much. So there’s really no point in my spending money on a large place with lots of rooms.

2

We’ve got three small children, and they like to play outside, so I don’t think it makes sense for us to live in a high-rise building.

3

I work right in the city and I don’t have a car. I’d like a place close to my work so that I don’t have to spend a lot of time commuting.

4

I run my own business and I work out of my home. I’m lucky because I don’t have to go into town very often, so I’d like a place that’s quiet and away from the city.

5

I need a new place. I need a good-sized apartment because I have two teenage sons, and they each need to have their own bedroom. We want to live downtown, too.

6

Both my wife and I work for an airline and we’d like something fairly close to work. We don’t mind if it’s small, because there’s only the two of us. We don’t even mind the noise of the planes. In fact, we kind of like it.

1 c   2 b   3 a   4 c   5 b   6 a

1 e   2 c   3 d   4 f   5 a   6 b

Transcript

1

My neighbors are fantastic. They’re really friendly, and some of them have great parties, too. I’d like more space, though. There’s hardly enough space for all my stuff. I guess I should throw some of it out, but I just can’t.

2

The apartment I rent is okay. It’s near a lot of stores, so it’s convenient for shopping. The problem, though, is that the owner hasn’t spent any money on the place in years. The furniture is falling apart, and the carpet in the living room is stained in places.

3

There are advantages and disadvantages to living out here in the suburbs. It’s not really the most convenient place to live. It takes forever to get into town, especially during rush hour. And there aren’t any good stores out here. On the other hand, it’s nice and quiet on the weekends.

4

I love my apartment. I wish I could afford to stay here. The location is perfect. It has huge windows with a beautiful view, and I love being able to step outside and walk to cafes and shops. The only problem is the rent. It’s just too high now, so I can’t stay.

5

My place is huge. It has room for all my stuff, and there’s a big kitchen, too. Of course, it’s really old, so it needs a coat of paint and some new appliances. The refrigerator and dishwasher are really ancient. And I think the stove is about a hundred years old!

6

I recently moved into an apartment building for the first time. I’ve always lived in houses. It takes a while to get used to having neighbors right next door. I feel like they’re always listening to me, like they want to know everything I do. It’s annoying. But the rent is much cheaper than my old place, and I like that.

1 Old, New   2 New, Old

3 Old, New   4 Old, New

5 New, Old   6 Old, New

1 b   2 b   3 b   4 a   5 c   6 a

Transcript

1

We used to have a nice apartment downtown. It had great views of the city! But then these new people moved in upstairs. They played loud music all the time, and the sound came straight through the ceiling and into our apartment. It was terrible, so we moved. Now we’re living in a nice small house in the suburbs. And our neighbors are very quiet.

2

My new apartment is on a high floor, and it’s great. There’s no noise at all. I only hear the birds in the park. Before that, I lived in a first-floor apartment. It had a little yard, which was nice, but I heard people coming and going all the time. And it was close to the street, so I heard all the traffic too.

3

We didn’t really want to move because we loved our apartment. We had a wonderful landlady, too. She didn’t raise the rent for years, and if anything was broken, she would get it fixed really fast. But with the children getting older, we needed to be closer to a good school. So that’s why we moved. Now we live in an apartment in the suburbs.

4

I used to live in a nice apartment downtown, in a pretty interesting neighborhood. But the thing was, they wouldn’t let you keep a pet. I really wanted to get a cat, so I moved to a place where you could keep pets. Now I live in a building near the park. And there’s two of us – me and my cat, Felix. We play all the time.

5

My new apartment has a huge kitchen and a great stove. I’m really happy about it. I love to cook and have parties, but the kitchen in my old place was so tiny. And the dining room was small, too. The location was good, but I could never have people over for dinner, so I needed to find something different.

6

I used to live in a house. I had a nice yard in the front, and another yard in the back. The trouble was the maintenance. It was really expensive to take care of. So I moved. Now I live in an apartment with no yard. Even though I have much less space now, it’s wonderful, because it’s a lot cheaper.

A:   How’s it going? Do you like your new apartment?

B:   Oh, I love it. My neighbors are really friendly, and the landlord is nice.

A:   That’s great! What’s the building like?

B:   The building is ten stories high, and there are ten apartments on each floor. So, I guess there are 100 apartments.

A:   Wow, it sounds huge. Have you seen some of the other apartments?

B:   Yeah, my next-door neighbor invited me over for coffee the other day. She and her husband are doctors. They’ve been in the building for five years.