Practice Listening English Exercises for B1 – Changes

A

She moved because she felt her life was missing something, so she visited Scotland and fell in love with the country and the owner of a second-hand bookstore.

B

1   Yes, she had a dream job, a fantastic network of friends and loved the place where she was living.

2   She dreamed about working in a used bookstore by the ocean/in Scotland.

3   She typed “used bookstore, Scotland” into Google and discovered Wigtown, a town by the ocean with lots of used bookstores.

4   No, she sent one email to a bookstore she liked the look of.

5   She felt sad that she wasn’t in Scotland. She missed lots of things about Scotland, and she was in love with the bookstore owner.

6   She loves the town, the people, the bookstore and being with the love of her life.

Audioscript

H = Host     J = Jessica    

Part 1

H:   Now, have you ever daydreamed about changing your life forever, about giving up your job and setting off for a distant country where you could find love and happiness? Well, Jessica Fox did just that and she’s on the line now to tell us about her journey. Jessica, welcome to the program.

J:   Oh, thank you for having me. It’s a pleasure to be here.

H:   Now, you started your journey in Los Angeles. Tell me about your life there.  What was your job? What sort of lifestyle did you have?

J:   Ahh, I was consulting for Pixar. I was doing what I loved. I was living in a city that I adored, and I had a fantastic network of friends. There was, I can only describe it as like a … an abstract taste that I was missing. And so I really began … it was about a year … I began daydreaming about something quite different.

H:   Did you have an actual vision of what the change might be?

J:   I would often sit down in my studio and just dream of different things, and usually they turned into the screenplays I was writing, and this dream kept on coming back of working in a used bookstore by the ocean. And I …

H:   Working in a used bookstore by the ocean?

J:   In Scotland, yeah.

H:   In Scotland, right. Had you ever had any connection with used bookstores or Scotland before?

J:   None, absolutely none.

Part 2

H:   And so did you set about doing something to realize… or make your dream come true?

J:   Yeah, it happened quite quickly, actually. I typed in “used bookstore, Scotland,” into Google, and Wigtown came up, Scotland’s national book town of … I think it was about sixteen bookstores. And, I thought “Oh, my gosh, one of them, hopefully, will take me in for a kind of live/work exchange while I was on vacation, and I could realize this dream of …”

H:   So, did you just send an email to these bookstores and ask them to take you in?

J:   I sent one email to the first bookstore on the list, which was The Bookshop, and it was the largest used bookstore in Scotland. And, within a couple of emails, this sort of amazing, generous bookstore owner said, “Yes, I host a lot of other artists. Come on over for the festival.”

H:   And so you came over and you stayed at The Bookshop. What sort of a bookstore was it? What sort of impression did it make on you when you first arrived?

J:   I would describe it as, if Harry Potter had a bookstore, this would be it.

H:   And what about the bookstore owner? Did you get along with him?

J:   I did. You know I was … I was here for a specific reason. I really wanted to get away from things. I wanted to write. So, when I first met the bookstore owner I, it was just … It was a friendly, a kind of a friendly relationship I had with him. I didn’t get to know him very much until toward the end of my stay …

Part 3

H:   Your month ended and you went back to LA. Did you find yourself missing the bookstore and missing the owner?

J:   Yeah, I loved the store, I loved the town itself and the people there. And it took me a while to admit that it was actually most of all the bookstore owner I was missing.

H:   And how did you find out that he was missing you, too?

J:   We would correspond over email and Skype, and I’d get beautiful packages from him with things I missed about Wigtown.

H:   Such as?

J:   Such as, this is terrible, such as the cookies, digestives, the digestive cookies I absolutely adore, um, and a lot of the candy and movies. I fell in love with Scottish movies.

H:   So your relationship deepened? Did you think, “Well, maybe I’m falling in love with this man”?

J:   Yeah, and I think the reason it took so long for me to admit was that it meant a radical life shift. And, luckily, my job shifted at Pixar. So, suddenly I had this freedom of being able to be anywhere in the world that I wanted. And I just thought, “Well, why let all my characters in my movies have all the fun?” I really wanted to jump in and try this. This was a true challenge, an adventure.

H:   So, tell me about your life now, living above the bookstore in Scotland.

J:   Well, right now there’s a heater underneath my legs—it is absolutely freezing—there is ice crawling up the windows. But, it’s very cozy, and the snow has just hit here. It’s beautiful outside, and Wigtown remains, four years after, remains as charming as when I first came.

H:   … and how is it going with the bookstore owner?

J:   Wonderful! You couldn’t find a more beautiful place, and you couldn’t find more excellent people, and you know … the love of my life is here so …

H:   Jessica, it’s been wonderful to speak to you.

J:   Thank you so much for having me.

A

b)   Where’s the reading room?

c)   What time is/does the library open?

d)   Can you help me find my classroom?

e)   Where can I use the Internet?

f)   Where can I buy a notebook?

g)   Where can I get a new student card?

h)   Can you tell me where to go (for information about …)?

B

2 b   3 e   4 c   5 g   6 d   6 f   8 h

C

1 T   2 T   3 T

4 F (The library is open from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m. every day.)

5 T   6 T

7 F (The stationery store is downstairs.)

8 F (The student service office is next to the bookstore.)

Audioscript

Conversation 1

A:   Excuse me, where do I register for my course?

B:   Do you know where the main office is?

A:   Sorry?

B:   The main office.

A:   Oh, yes. The registration desk is there.

B:   Thank you so much.

Conversation 2

A:   Excuse me, where’s the reading room?

C:   It’s next to the cafeteria.

A:   The cafeteria? Where’s that?

C:   Follow me. I’ll take you there.

A:   Thank you. That’s very kind.

Conversation 3

A:   Where can I use the Internet?

D:   You can use the computers in the library or in the study center.

A:   Do I have to pay?

D:   No.

A:   So it’s free for students.

D:   Yes, that’s right.

Conversation 4

A:   Excuse me, what time is the library open?

E:   It’s open every day, from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m.

A:   Did you say “every day”?

E:   Yes, that’s right. Every day, from nine in the morning until six in the evening.

A:   Thank you.

Conversation 5

A:   Could you help me? Where can I get a new student ID card? I’ve lost mine.

F:   OK. If you go to the main office, you can get a new one.

A:   Thank you.

Conversation 6

A:   Excuse me, can you help me find my classroom?

G:   Sure. What number is it?

A:   301.

G:   OK. You need to go up to the third floor. And it’s on the right.

Conversation 7

A:   Where can I buy a notebook?

H:   There’s a stationery store downstairs.

A:   Sorry?

H:   There’s a stationery store downstairs.

A:   Thank you so much.

Conversation 8

A:   Can you help me?

I:   Yes, maybe.

A:   I need to find out about my housing. Can you tell me where to go?

I:   Housing? I think you have to go to the student services office, over there, next to the bookstore.

A:   Thank you.

1   Agata moved to the U.S.A., but she didn’t speak very good English.

2   She felt nervous when she had to speak to people.

3   She met some American girls and went out with them. Now that her English is better, she feels more confident; she talks to people all the time.

Audioscript

Well, when I first arrived in the U.S., it was a very interesting time for me. The biggest problem was that I couldn’t really speak the language very well. I learned English at school and at college in Poland, but it’s very different when you are living in the country and you need to speak it all the time. I felt very nervous when I had to speak to American people, like in stores or when you meet friends. And I couldn’t understand what people were saying to me. It was terrible. I used to stay at home and watch lots of television to try and understand what people were saying. Luckily, I made friends very quickly with some American girls, so we used to go out together. That really helped me. After a few months, my English was much better. I felt more confident. And now I talk to people all the time, but it was hard at the beginning.

A

1 c   2 a   3 a   4 c   5 b   6 b

B

1 divorced   2 religion   3 remember

4 country   5 actor   6 mistake

Audioscript

I = Interviewer S = Susan

I:   So, Susan, why do people change their names?

S:   There are many reasons. Some of them are quite simple. For example, when a woman gets divorced, she might want to go back to her original name.

I:   Right.

S:   And, of course, other people just don’t like their names. But then there are more interesting reasons.

I:   Can you give us some examples?

S:   Well, the boxer Muhammad Ali was originally called Cassius Clay. When he changed his religion, he also changed his name to Muhammad Ali.

I:   So, religious reasons.

S:   Yes. And for famous people—especially actors and singers—they need a name that’s easy to say and easy to remember. So, for example, the singer Farookh Balsara …

I:   Who’s that?

S:   Farookh Balsara was the real name of Freddie Mercury.

I:   From Queen.

S:   That’s right. The lead singer of Queen. And, of course, Freddie Mercury is easier to remember than Farookh Balsara. Or Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou.

I:   Who?

S:   Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou is the real name of the singer George Michael.

I:   Ah.

S:   It’s the same with lots of singers, actually. Sting’s real name is Gordon Sumner. The singer from U2, Bono—his real name is Robert Hewson, and so on and so on. Now another reason people want to change their names, especially if they are immigrants from another country, is to identify with the new country. So maybe you’re from Germany and your real name is Wilhelm. When you go to the United States, you might change it to William. Or your name is Andreas and you change it to Andrew.

I:   This happens a lot in the United States and England.

S:   Exactly. People want to mix with others. And having a name that’s easy to recognize and to pronounce helps a lot. Another reason people change their names is to separate themselves from their family or from famous parents. Angelina Jolie’s father is the actor John Voight. She was originally called Angelina Jolie Voight.

I:   But she dropped the name Voight.

S:   That’s right. And another reason for people changing their names is that there was a mistake. Oprah Winfrey’s mother named her Orpah Winfrey. O-r-p-a-h. But there was a mistake on her birth certificate and everyone called her Oprah.