Practice English Listening Tests for B2 – Listening Test 22

1 A   2 C   3 C   4 B   5 A   6 B   7 B   8 A

Audioscripts

1   You hear a physiotherapist talking to a patient.

Well, Mr Saunders, we have to take this lower back pain of yours seriously. You’ll need to get an orthopaedic mattress, and a chair for your desk that supports your back – and I’ll be showing you how to stand properly. Now, for the first exercise, get down on the floor, look straight up at the ceiling, arms by your sides, and lift each foot as high as you can. That’s great, I’d like you to repeat that four times, three times a day. Now I’ll show you the second exercise.

2   You hear a woman phoning an Indian restaurant to order a takeaway meal.

A:   Hello?

B:   Good evening, Taj Mahal restaurant.

A:   Oh, good evening, I’d like to order a takeaway.

B:   Certainly. What would you like?

A:   I’d like a Madras curry with beef, a hot lamb curry and a mild chicken curry, your special Oh, and three portions of rice.

B:   Did you know the chicken curry is with rice?

A:   Oh, I see. Better make that just two portions of rice. Thanks.

B:   And would you like anything else with it?

A:   No. That’s all, thank you.

B:   And where would you like it delivered to?

A:   11 Grant Street, Hitchworth Common, Dryswold …

3   You hear a woman in an art gallery talking about a painting.

It’s incredible how he makes the whole scene come to life. I think this is a perfect example of Impressionism at its best. The colours are so lively, so exciting, and you really have the sense that you know how he felt when he painted it. This is one of his later works, right at the end of the real Impressionists. In fact, art historians generally say the end of the Impressionist movement was 1886, and this was actually painted two years later. But it clearly belongs with the Impressionists …

4   You hear a man giving directions to a football ground.

The football ground? Now let me see – probably the quickest way to get there is to go along this road until you come to a big supermarket on the left, and you turn right just opposite it. That brings you into Oldham Street, and you go straight on. You come to some traffic lights just after a park on the right – you keep on going, and then you take the third turning on your left – at a cinema called the Majestic, you can’t miss it – and the football ground’s on the right.

5   You hear two colleagues talking about a character one has invented.

A:   All right, Bill, so you’ve come up with a new cartoon character. What’s his name?

B:   Crazy Conrad. Do you think it sounds good?

A:   Well, not bad. And Conrad’s a horse, right?

B:   No, you’re holding it upside down. He’s a baby elephant.

A:   Oh, sorry. Yes, now that I look more closely I can see what you mean. It’s got bigger ears than a horse and it’s got a trunk. Yes, of course it’s not a horse.

B:   He was originally going to be a bear, but then I changed my mind.

A:   Why was that?

B:   I’m not sure, really, I just thought it wouldn’t be as funny, somehow.

6   You hear a woman talking to a policeman at a police station.

Oh officer, I do hope you can help me. I never thought this would happen to me! Well, I suppose you never do expect these things, do you? Anyway, I didn’t notice anything, though someone must have put their hand in my bag. They didn’t take the camera, just my purse. The camera’s quite expensive, in fact, so I suppose I’m lucky they ignored that! And I thought I was being so careful about the bag, you know, always keeping it closed and where I can see it. So it must have happened in a flash, maybe when I was getting off the bus.

7   You hear a radio announcement about traffic.

And now for our traffic bulletin. The police have issued a warning about long delays on the M63 heading south, between junctions 15 and 16, caused by an accident involving three cars on the A36, just before junction 15, where the A36 and the B636 intersect. The incident on the A36 has produced a long tailback. Delays are expected for the next three or four hours while rescue services clear the road, and police are advising motorists to avoid the area if at all possible. And on the railways …

8   You hear a woman talking about a slimming diet.

My mother’s been doing this fruit diet, you know where you’re supposed to eat only fruit for ten days as a way of losing weight. What she doesn’t seem to understand is that if she eventually manages to lose a few pounds, it’ll be because she’s eating less, rather than because of eating nothing but fruit. It won’t do her any harm, of course, but it’s quite funny, really. I mean there’s no scientific basis for it, in my opinion. At least it’s only for ten days, and then she’ll be back to her usual diet, which I think is quite healthy and varied.

24 A   25 C   26 C   27 B   28 B   29 A   30 C

Audioscripts

Interviewer:   This evening on Young and Gifted I am joined in the studio by Julia Emerson, the young Scottish writer who’s recently had a screenplay accepted by a major Hollywood studio. Julia, I’m glad you could be with us today. Could I start by asking you to explain exactly why what you’ve done is so unusual?

Julia Emerson:   Well, Hollywood films these days don’t start off with a screenplay. The screenplay only gets written after the producers have come up with an idea for a film. Then they contact agents to find at least one major star who will act in it. The next step is to get a team of anything up to 20 writers working on the screenplay. Now, I was inexperienced enough to think that I could simply write a screenplay and send it to a number of studios. Which is what I did. When I didn’t get an answer, I wrote another one. And this time, by some amazing chance, they accepted it!

Interviewer:   I think everyone has been stunned by the fact that you’ve been successful with a screenplay at such an early age. But in fact, this isn’t the first piece of writing you’ve had published, is it?

Julia Emerson:   No, it isn’t. I won a short-story competition in a magazine when I was 15, and ever since then I’ve been writing in my spare time. I’ve had a number of articles published in teen magazines. I’ve always been fascinated by television and the cinema, and I even tried to develop an idea for a TV series, but somehow it didn’t feel right. Then I tried putting down an idea for a film, and the writing just flowed.

Interviewer:   Do you think you’re influenced very strongly by films you’ve seen?

Julia Emerson:   Yes, but I have to watch out, or I might end up writing a slightly different version of a classic! I suppose everyone who does anything creative has to think about that, though.

Interviewer:   Can you tell us something about this screenplay that’s been bought by Planet Studios. What’s it about?

Julia Emerson:   It’s about two sisters, who are stranded in the jungles of South America after becoming separated from the rest of their tour group. They have all sorts of adventures as they try to get back to civilisation. It’s an adventure story, but it’s also about the relationship between the two girls. You see, they’ve never been very close – in fact, at the start of the story they really hate each other. Or at least, they think they do.

Interviewer:   How much of the story is based on your own experience?

Julia Emerson:   Since I don’t have any brothers or sisters, in one way it’s clearly not based on my experience! But on the other hand, I have experienced how the feelings we have for our family can go through different stages and transformations, which is the real theme of the story.

Interviewer:   And when am I going to be able to see this film in the local cinema?

Julia Emerson:   I’ve got no idea! The studio has paid for the right to use the screenplay, and they have that right – it’s called an option – for another six months. They might make the film in that time, or they might buy the option again for another couple of years. It’s all out of my hands, in fact. So I try not to get too excited about seeing the story on the big screen one day, because I have no way of knowing when that might be.

Interviewer:   I hope it’s soon, anyway. Julia Emerson, thanks for talking to us. It’s been a pleasure.

Julia Emerson:   Thank you.