English Listening Exercises for B2 – Trip of a lifetime

1 e   2 b    3 a    4 c    5 d    6 h    7 g    8 f    9 j    10 i

1 go off the beaten track   2 get away from it all

3 have a lovely view   4 light a campfire   5 taste a local dish

a   1 cafe, office   2 shop   3 at home   4 hotel / holiday apartment

b   1 boyfriend – girlfriend / wife – husband,   2 friends / sisters   3 mother and son   4 brothers

c   1 evening   2 lunch time / late morning,   3 early evening / dinner time   4 early afternoon

d   They are going to eat before going to the cinema.   2 They are going for an early lunch.   3 The rucksack is in the attic / the boy can go camping.   4 The boys will have another ice cream before leaving for the airport.

Transcript

1

Woman   John, where are you? I’ve been waiting here at Dino’s for half an hour. I’ve already had two coffees!

Man   Darling, did you not get my text message earlier? I’m so sorry. I’m just out of the meeting – it went on and on – and then I was asked to write up the meeting notes! I’m just finishing up now.

W   Well, we’ve missed the 6.30 film. The next showing is two hours after that, I think. Can you get here soon so that we can get a bite to eat first?

M   Of course. I’m on my way now.

2

A   Oh, that’s lovely. Turn around? … Oh, yes. You should definitely get that for your holiday.

B   You think so? OK, but I’ve got to stop buying stuff now. I’m supposed to be travelling light for this trip!

A   That will be the first time, then! Anyway, I’ve had enough now too. Fancy a coffee, or a bit of lunch, even? It’s a bit early, I know, but I’m really hungry.

Girl 2   Me too. Why not? Come on.

3

Boy   Mum, have you seen my rucksack?

Mum   I think it’s in the attic. What do you want it for?

B   Well, Andy and his family have invited me to go camping next weekend. It’s OK if I go, isn’t it?

M   Of course, but please get all your homework done during the week!

B   Will do, Mum! Hey, what’s for dinner? I’m starving.

M   Chicken. But have a snack now if you want. It won’t be ready for another hour at least.

4

A   I wish we could stay another week.

B   I know. It’s brilliant here, isn’t it? I love the pool, and the beach, and the food.

A   And the ice cream is fantastic!

B   Yeah, I wish we could have one more before we go.

A   Dad says we’ve got to pack our suitcases. Maybe if we hurry up, we can get one before the bus arrives.

B   When’s that, then?

A   I don’t know. 4.00? The flight’s at 7.30, I think. Come on. Let’s pack.

1 I just have a short time.   2 Could you just close the door?

3 I got to the train just in time.   4 It’s just amazing!

5 He has just left.   6 We just have to buy milk now.

7 This film’s just so funny!   8 Could you just repeat your name?

a 4, 7   b 1, 6   c 2, 8   d 3, 5

1 F   2 F   3 T   4 T   5 T

Transcript

Ella   John? Are you ready? Come on, let’s get down early for breakfast for once or all the best food will be gone. What do you feel like doing today? I’m not sure I want to spend another day lying around.

John   You don’t? Well, I don’t really know, in that case. Any ideas? I really don’t mind, Ella, to be honest.

Ella   OK. Well, do you fancy going on a tour?

John   What kind of tour?

Ella   There are a couple on offer today. There’s a tour of the island, but it’s a water tour! You go on a small boat to different beaches on the island and you can picnic, swim and go snorkelling.

John   Sounds great. What’s the other one?

Ella   We could visit an ancient historical site on the coast. It’s called the Knossus. It’s really well preserved and it’s important in the island’s history and the country’s history as a whole.

John   Sounds interesting! Well, as I say, I don’t mind. Which would you rather do?

Ella   To be honest, we’ve been doing a lot of swimming and that sort of thing since we got here, which is wonderful, I agree. But I fancy learning about some of the island’s history. Let’s face it, Greece has a lot of it!

John   It also has a lot of sea! But why not? It’ll make a nice change. Too much relaxing is a bad thing!

Ella   The site is overlooking the sea. It’ll still be relaxing – just in a different way.

John   Sure, bus journeys are always relaxing! How long is the trip?

Ella   It takes all day.

John   Really? I thought you were going to say a couple of hours. Are you sure? How far away is this place?

Ella   It’s on the other side of the island. Don’t tell me you’re changing your mind now!

John   Let’s hope the bus is air-conditioned, that’s all I’m saying.

Ella   Of course it will be. Anyway, we’ll ask when we book it. There are still places. I’ve checked. And we’ll have to hurry up with breakfast. The coach leaves from the car park in an hour.

John   OK. If you’re really sure you want to go.

Ella   Oh, come on. We’ve done nothing all week!

John   I thought that was the whole point of holidays – doing nothing. Relaxing.

Ella   I think the point of them is to go somewhere different and to see lots of different things! Oh, go on, please come. There’s no point in going alone.

John   I didn’t say I wasn’t coming! You go and book the tickets and I’ll have an ice cream to fortify myself for the long journey ahead!

Ella   Great.

1 call for assistance   2 didn’t feel comfortable with

3 cut their holiday short   4 omitted to pack

5 wasn’t able to use

1 B   2 A   3 E   4 C

Transcript

1

I’m not that fond of camping, to be honest, so when my parents told me we were going on a camping holiday with my aunt and uncle and my cousins, I wasn’t very pleased. I felt better when I was told that they’d booked cabins instead of tents and I actually quite enjoyed the first day. That is, until I was washing the dishes after dinner. As I bent over the sink, I suddenly realised there were hundreds of ants marching along the bottom of the cupboard where my head was – yuck! After that, we gave up using the kitchen and resorted to eating in the café on the campsite instead.

2

I used to do a lot of camping with the youth group I belonged to, and I remember one particular holiday when, for some reason or other, I wasn’t getting on with the girls in my tent. Anyway, one night we’d all gone to bed and suddenly I felt something moving in my sleeping bag. I put my hand down inside and pulled out this enormous frog. Fortunately, that kind of thing doesn’t scare me, so I just got up and put it outside of the tent. I thought that one of the girls had probably put it there, but when I asked them in the morning, they denied it.

3

I always go camping with my family to the Gower Peninsula in Wales in the summer – it’s a beautiful area, but the campsite we stay at is basic, to say the least. We take our own food and do all our own cooking, and at night we usually play cards together – it’s all pretty chilled. The only problem is that you can’t rely on the weather in Wales, and it often rains. In fact, one year, it was so windy that our tent blew away while we were inside it trying to sleep. So that was the end of that. All we could do was throw everything into the car and drive home.

4

I’ve only been camping once, and I’m not planning on doing it again. We were in Madrid at the time, and it was so hot that we needed to get away. So we got hold of a tent and drove to a campsite in the mountains that a friend had recommended. We didn’t bother taking sleeping bags, because we didn’t think we would need them. How wrong we were! That night we froze! While the temperature during the day was around 30°, it went below 10° at night and we ended up sleeping in the car with the heating on. The next day, we booked ourselves into the nearest hotel for a few days.