Practice English Listening Tests for B1 – Listening Test 02

8 A   9 C   10 C   11 B   12 A   13 C

Audioscript

8

Girl:   I enjoyed that.

Boy:   Me, too. I don’t think either of them played a wrong note in the whole performance.

Girl:   I think I heard a few – perhaps they hadn’t had enough time to play together before the concert.

Boy:   Maybe. I still wish they’d played a little longer, though – maybe a few more songs.

Girl:   I thought it was about right as it was. That kind of music sounds so much better in a smaller place – I don’t know why they chose to have it there.

Boy:   The two guitars are too quiet for somewhere that size.

9

Girl:   That was an amazing play.

Boy:   It was. Over half the people watching were school students like us.

Girl:   I guess that’s not so unusual for an afternoon performance. Most adults are working then.

Boy:   I wonder what it’s like being an actor. They must have to practise so hard.

Girl:   The ones in this play certainly had. I found it difficult to believe how realistic they managed to make all of the characters.

Boy:   Yes, and I couldn’t predict what would happen at the end.

Girl:   I studied this play in literature classes last year, so I already knew what was going to happen.

10

Girl:   How was the art course?

Boy:   Fantastic – I learned so much.

Girl:   So what was the best bit?

Boy:   There were so many, but if I could only choose one, I think it’d be how the teacher got us to practise techniques in a number of different ways. I thought I’d spend most of the time drawing or painting, but we did so many other activities, all of which were quite useful for developing our skills.

Girl:   Sounds good.

Boy:   And I never knew there were so many jokes about artists! Our teacher seemed to know them all, which was great fun.

11

Boy:   Are you walking to school with us tomorrow?

Girl:   I might go on my own, actually. I don’t want to be late.

Boy:   But you’ll enjoy it more if you come with us.

Girl:   It’s often no different to walking by myself because you all walk slowly along with your headphones on.

Boy:   We show each other things on our phones, too.

Girl:   That’s true, which is great in our free time, but not when it means arriving half an hour later than I would if I was by myself. At least you’re polite enough to move out of the way for other people on the pavement, though.

12

Girl:   How’s your new house?

Boy:   I like it. The colours aren’t what I’d ever choose, but my mom says we can easily fix that. My bedroom’s much bigger than the one at the old house, which annoyed my brother as his is quite small – like the rest of the house.

Girl:   I thought people usually moved to be somewhere bigger …

Boy:   Sure, but where it is is important, too, and the new one’s much closer to my parents’ work and to school, too. I can walk there in five minutes, which means I get to stay longer in bed in the morning.

13

Boy:   How was your weekend?

Girl:   Good, thanks. We went for a day out by the river.

Boy:   The river near here? It’s easy to walk to, but it’s not like there’s lots to do there.

Girl:   I know. That’s why we went somewhere else, about an hour away in the car. It’s dangerous for swimming because the river’s really deep and wide there, but we’ve never found a better place to sit and eat. I know you’d probably prefer somewhere which has lots of activities, but it’s really peaceful, so we just sit on the grass, enjoy our food and relax.

Boy:   Sounds nice.

20 C (because Ellie says she has played basketball since she was five or six)

21 B (because she knew she wanted to try it when there was a professional match on a sports programme she was watching)

22 A (because she say it really helps to develop her talents)

23 C (Ellie is confident because she says she’d been playing well for her club, and felt she could do just as well at a higher level)

24 C (because Ellie says it’s better to play in games which are close)

25 A (because Ellie suggests you should join a team so you can start playing straight away)

Audioscript

Man:   Welcome, Andrea. You’re an expert ice hockey player now, but when did you start playing?

Andrea:   Not until about three years ago actually, so quite recently. I’ve come a long way quite quickly. I’ve always loved sport, though, and have played basketball since I was five or six. I gave that up for a while when I got into football about five years ago, but started playing again once I’d lost interest in football.

Man:   How did you first become interested in playing ice hockey?

Andrea:   My brother’s into it, and I used to go to his games. His team wasn’t very good, though, so I didn’t think of it as something I actually wanted to do. That moment came when there was a professional match on a sports programme I was watching. I knew then I wanted to try it, and fortunately a couple of friends did too so we all started playing together.

Man:   You sometimes play against boys’ teams. How important is that?

Andrea:   Very. There are as many girls playing ice hockey now as there are boys, which is great. Attitudes towards us have always been positive, in my experience. I want to do better against boys somehow – I’m not sure why – which really helps to develop my talents.

Man:   How did you feel when you were chosen for the national under-16s team?

Andrea:   I’d been really happy with how I’d been playing for my club, and felt I could do just as well at a higher level. There’d been a lot of talk about me being picked, so I kind of knew it was coming. It was great for my parents too – they felt great having a daughter in the national team!

Man:   Are the national team matches your favourite games?

Andrea:   Not always, even though some of them are big games and appear on national television. If a game’s close because both teams are good, then it’s fantastic for the crowd to see, and better to play in because of that. It’s far more interesting than scoring loads of goals because we’re so much better than the other team.

Man:   Any advice for people wanting to start playing ice hockey?

Andrea:   You can spend hours reading books about what you can and can’t do, but there’s no better way of becoming good than playing. So borrow some skates and a stick if you need to – you can buy your own later – and join a team so you can start playing straightaway.

Man:   Thank you, Andrea!