Practice English Listening Tests for B1 – Listening Test 01

8 C   9 A   10 A   11 B   12 C   13 B

Audioscript

8

Girl:   That was a great film.

Boy:   If you’re into that kind of thing. I haven’t seen anything as bad as that for a long time.

Girl:   Oh, I didn’t know that you don’t like horror movies.

Boy:   I usually do, but I’m not sure that’s how I’d describe that film – there was only one bit I found at all scary. It’s strange because the main characters were played by two quite big stars, but I don’t know how they got to be so famous if that’s the best they can do. It was all very disappointing …

Girl:   Oh, dear!

9

Girl:   How’s your biology homework going?

Boy:   Not very well. I can’t work out what I have to do.

Girl:   In that case, it probably won’t be much use looking online. You can find all the information you need there, but if you don’t know what to do with it, it’s not really going to help you. Have you seen Mr Benson about it?

Boy:   No, not yet.

Girl:   It might be best, as he set the homework in the first place. Take your coursebook with you when you go so he can explain everything to you using that.

Boy:   Good idea!

10

Girl:   Did you see that interview with Denny Starr?

Boy:   I did. He seemed so nervous at the beginning. And it wasn’t that the guy asking the questions was especially rude or asked him anything difficult.

Girl:   I know. But once he relaxed a bit, he really spoke about lots of things I didn’t know anything about.

Boy:   I don’t think I’ve ever heard him talk in so much detail about his life before. In other interviews I’ve heard, he’s generally given answers that had very little to do with what he’s been asked.

Girl:   Yes, like he didn’t really understand the question.

Boy:   Exactly.

11

Boy:   How was the diving trip?

Girl:   It was great, but I learned to dive in a swimming pool where the water doesn’t move around much. Going underwater in the sea was a completely different experience. I seemed to become totally unable to do all those things that I got so good at in the pool.

Boy:   So is it something you’d like to have another go at?

Girl:   I’ll think about it, but if I do, I need to make sure I go with my cousin Martin again. It gave me a bit more confidence to be underwater with someone I knew.

12

Girl:   Hey, did you see the big basketball game last night?

Boy:   I did, yeah.

Girl:   That was awesome when their star player jumped so high he nearly landed on that cameraman! Wouldn’t you love to be able to do that? You’d be a great player – you’re real tall.

Boy:   I guess. I can’t say I understand much about the rules, though.

Girl:   Some of them are quite complicated, especially the ones about how long you can hold onto the ball for. But the best way to understand them is to play – that way you’d learn them as you were having fun.

Boy:   Maybe one day.

13

Girl:   How was London?

Boy:   Great, except we got lost.

Girl:   Oh no! How?

Boy:   My dad had this guide book which was at least 20 years old. We told him lots of things would be different now, so most of what was in it would be wrong. Even though it was old, it was probably more accurate than the information a guy on the street gave us for getting to Big Ben – we ended up somewhere completely different! We only used the book for getting around on the Underground in the end – the map’s almost the same as it was back then.

20 C (because his mum showed Callum how to create his own pages online)

21 B (Callum says that games sites encourage teenagers to play more games so a reading site should do the same – encourage teenagers to read more)

22 A (Callum says that his site worked really well and looked good)

23 A (Callum says that he doesn’t get bored, because everything he does throughout each day is so different)

24 C (because Callum says it’s better to play in games which are close he’d prefer to have his own web design company)

25 A (because Callum says his new music site supports people through difficult times and benefits others)

Audioscript

Woman:   Callum, you have a popular book review website. How did you learn about setting up a website?

Callum:   I first learned to write computer programs when I was eleven. We created instructions in class to control a little robot. My mum works in IT, though, and she showed me how to use similar skills to create my own pages online. There are hundreds of websites about this too, but I found them quite confusing.

Woman:   Why did you decide to set up a book review website?

Callum:   I’d seen an article about teenagers not reading enough and was wondering about possible solutions to this. My best friend’s into video games and writes reviews for various websites. These sites seem to encourage teenagers to play more games, so I thought it must be possible to do the same with reading. It’s nice to see teenagers exchanging opinions about literature, rather than video games!

Woman:   How did you feel when your site first went online?

Callum:   I was nervous, of course, but I couldn’t believe how well it worked. But even when a site looks as good as mine did, you can never be sure that people will like it. And if it ends up not being popular, there’s no way you’ll achieve what you’ve set out to do with the site.

Woman:   You have school, your website and a social life – what’s a typical day like?

Callum:   You’d think I’d never have a chance to relax, wouldn’t you, but it’s rarely that busy. I certainly don’t have many opportunities to get bored, as everything I do throughout each day is so different. I make a plan each evening for what I want to achieve the next day, which I usually stick to.

Woman:   What would you like to be doing when you’re 18?

Callum:   Many website designers have ambitions to join one of the huge technology businesses based in the USA. I want to stay close to my family in Canada, though. I’ve thought about studying computer science. However, I learn better by doing than by studying, so I’d prefer to have my own web design company than go to college.

Woman:   Tell us about your new website …

Callum:   I wanted to create something about music. When I looked online, I found very little on how music supports people through difficult times and how sharing stories about this benefits others, so that’s what I’ve done. There are so many sites for uploading your own songs, or for finding out how to play guitar, or whatever, but I wanted something different.

Woman:   Thank you, Callum!