Practice Listening English Exercises for B1 – Incredible wildlife

1 A   2 A   3 B   4 A   5 B   6 A   7 C   8 C   9 C   10 D

Audioscript

1   Man:   Ants are very organised animals. They live in groups of many thousands and they’ve even got farms where they grow mushrooms to eat!

2   Man:   Sharks and wolves attack humans, but not very often. However, when mosquitoes bite humans, they can give us a disease called malaria. Malaria from mosquitoes kills more than one million people every year.

3   Man:   Bats have very poor eyes, so they use sound to find their food. They produce a high sound, which bounces off objects that are close to them. Bats use this sound to find where small insects are so they can catch them.

4   Man:   Brown bears love the sweet smell of toothpaste! Bears sometimes go into tents when people are camping in the mountains because they want to eat the toothpaste! It’s a good idea to leave your food and your toothpaste outside your tent if you’re camping in the mountains.

5   Man:   Frogs and butterflies move their feet a lot, but only the bee communicates by dancing. A bee’s dance can tell other bees where there is food.

6   Man:   Dolphins, elephants and monkeys have got big brains, like humans. They can recognise themselves in a mirror. Dogs have got smaller brains and they can’t recognise themselves.

7   Man:   People think that camels don’t drink much. But, in fact, when they do drink, they drink a lot. Giraffes drink very little because there’s already a lot of water in the leaves of the trees that they eat.

8   Man:   Whales live in family groups of up to 20. Bats and bees live together in very large groups, but flies don’t live with a group of other flies. They live on their own, wherever they find food.

9   Man:   Most animals are frightened of lions, but donkeys aren’t. Donkeys don’t run away when there’s a lion nearby. Nobody knows why!

10   Man:   Bats and parrots can fly. Some ants can fly as well. Penguins are birds and they’ve got wings, but they can’t fly.

1   They talk about dogs, rats and bees.

2   1 Rats   2 Dogs   3 Bees   4 Rats   5 Dogs   6 Bees

Audioscript

Animals at work.

Woman:   We’re always hearing stories in the news about how we need to save the planet’s wildlife. But sometimes humans need help too. In today’s show, we look at how clever creatures can help people to live normal lives – for example, people who are blind, or wheelchair users – as well as how animals help the emergency services and army to keep us safe.

Man:   We all know that dogs can make a big difference to blind people, but now they can help others as well. I spoke to a schoolgirl called Donna Hunt. She’s disabled and she’s been in a wheelchair for three years. How does your dog help you, Donna?

Donna Hunt:   My dog, Riley, is amazing. She can open and close doors. She can get things for me, like the remote control. She’s even learned to pick up my clothes from the floor!

Man:   Does Riley go to your school as well?

Donna Hunt:   Yes. Before I had Riley, I was ‘the girl in the wheelchair’. Now I’m ‘the girl with the amazing dog’! I can’t imagine living without her. She can give me my books at school, she can get money out of the bank for me, and she can even give shop assistants my money at the checkout.

Man:   That’s really clever! Thank you, Donna, for talking to us about Riley.

Donna Hunt:   That’s OK.

Woman:   What a wonderful story!

Man:   Yes. Dogs help us more than most other animals. They can smell really well, so the emergency services often use them to find people, for example, under badly damaged buildings. But they aren’t the only animals that help in dangerous situations. After a war, there are often bombs buried in the ground. Now the army is using specially trained rats to find these bombs. And the rats are light, so the bombs don’t explode.

Woman:   That’s interesting! I never knew that.

Man:   Well, did you know that bees also have a very good sense of smell? They can recognise different chemicals, and they even change their buzzing noise depending on which chemical they find. So now scientists are training them to recognise and find poisonous chemicals, so they can warn us if there are dangerous chemicals in the air. Bees are much cheaper to train than dogs and rats, so scientists hope that they’ll be used more in the future.

1 probably   2 left   3 Maybe / Perhaps   4 right

5 might   6 Perhaps / Maybe

Audioscript

Examiner:   Now I’d like you to talk on your own about something. I’m going to give you a photograph and I’d like you to talk about it. It shows two people and a dog on a mountain. Please tell us what you can see in the photograph.

Girl:   It looks very cold because they’re wearing warm clothes and thick gloves. There’s deep snow on the ground. I think the people are probably in the emergency services, and the dog is probably a rescue dog.

On the left, one person is digging down into the snow. Maybe they’re looking for someone; they must think someone is under the snow.

The other person’s on the right. He’s kneeling next to the dog. He might be the dog’s trainer. Perhaps the dog has found the person, and now these men are going to dig them out.

I think dogs are amazing animals, and we’re very lucky that they can rescue people like this.

1   1 ✗   2 ✓   3 ✓   4 ✗   5 ✓

2   1 b   2 a   3 b   4 a   5 b

Audioscript

Interviewer:   Kate, you’ve written about a boy and his pet fish. Can you tell us something about your story?

Kate:   Well, it’s about a boy in London who has nothing but his fish. You know, he thinks that his parents don’t understand him but his fish do. And then in the end, his parents … well, I can’t say the end or no one will buy my book!

Interviewer:   Sure. But why did you write about fish? I mean, we don’t exactly think of them as good pets, do we?

Kate:   Well, I think that was it – people don’t really think of them as pets because they don’t show their feelings. But I got interested in fish when my mum gave me some for my birthday three years ago. Now I love them more than anything else – and they’re different from other animals because they don’t need a lot of looking after!

Interviewer:   Right, so coming back to your story, you entered a competition and won! Why did you enter the competition?

Kate:   I wrote the story and my teacher really liked it. I love writing stories. And then I saw the competition and I thought ‘why not?’ – just to try something completely different.

Interviewer:   The boy in the story, Marco, really needs an animal to understand him. Do you think that’s true for all teens?

Kate:   No, of course not! But, you know, sometimes people, not just teens, might feel that no-one understands them. They say things but people don’t really understand what they’re trying to say. With animals, you don’t need to talk. In the story, Marco usually feels sad, but when he goes into his room and he’s alone with his fish, he’s much happier and more relaxed.

Interviewer:   And what do you do to feel calm?

Kate:   Well, writing stories doesn’t usually work! I often get upset and angry if I can’t think of a good ending! What I really like doing is going for long walks with my best friend in the countryside. The sounds of nature make me feel very calm. It’s great.

Interviewer:   Interesting! Well, thanks, Kate …

1   The main problems are people leaving litter and people breaking trees.

2   1   false (She’s a teacher.)

      2   false (They haven’t finished it yet.)

      3   true

      4   false (People are breaking the trees.)

      5   true

      6   false (They want to put it on the internet.)

Audioscript

Marcus:   Good afternoon everyone, and welcome to Green Teens. Our podcast today is about environmental campaigns that people can do at school. We’ve invited Hannah Carson to talk with us today. Hello Hannah, and thanks for coming.

Hannah:   Hi Marcus. It’s nice to be here.

Marcus:   Now, Hannah, you’ve organised lots of campaigns at school, haven’t you? I mean, you’ve helped organise them, because you’re a teacher, correct?

Hannah:   Yes, I’m a science teacher and I help my students do campaigns every year. It’s always something different.

Marcus:   Sounds interesting! What have your students done this year?

Hannah:   Well, we haven’t finished yet, but they’re making a video about a nature park near the school. It’s very popular with young people, especially for hiking and camping, but there have been some problems recently.

Marcus:   Problem? Such as …

Hannah:   Well, people are leaving a lot of litter, so the park doesn’t look very nice. And some people are also breaking the smaller trees, if you can believe that. It’s terrible, really.

Marcus:   Breaking the trees? Why in the world are they doing that?

Hannah:   Oh, I don’t know. For fun, maybe? But we’re trying to inform people and improve the situation.

Marcus:   With a video?

Hannah:   Yes! My students have written a film script. It’s a comedy about superhero teenagers who want to save a nature park. There are two main characters called Treeboy and Greengirl. It’s quite funny!

Marcus:   And they want to show the video at school?

Hannah:   At school, and they want to upload it to the internet too. Who knows? The video might go viral!

Marcus:   Well, that would get lots of attention. And what else are your students doing?

Hannah:   Well, they’re collecting donations for the park, to plant some new trees and put up signs saying “Don’t drop litter” and “Please use the bins”.

Marcus:   That’s a great idea! Good luck to your students!

Hannah:   Thanks! They’re probably listening to this podcast right now!

Marcus:   Let’s hope so!