Practice Listening English Exercises for B1 – Jobs

A

Speaker 1C   Speaker 2 B   Speaker 3 A

B

Speaker 1 (Luca)   The beach was very hot and the job was boring.

Speaker 2 (Nicola)   Some of the ice cream flavors were horrible, but you had to taste them anyway.

Speaker 3 (Amy)   The boss was difficult to please and got angry when she couldn’t find the right outfit.

C

1 A   2 N   3 L   4 N   5 L   6 L   7 A   8 L

Audioscript

L = Luca   Ni = Nicola   A = Amy

L:   Well, I’ve always loved sports and swimming. As a kid, I used to spend all my free time in the summer on the beach with my friends. We would swim or surf or just play around in the water. And there was always a lifeguard there on the beach, and I used to think, “What a great job!” So, when I left school, I trained to be a lifeguard. I really enjoyed the job for a few years. In the summer, I would work on the beach, and, then, in the winter, I would go skiing. It was my dream job. I loved it. But, after a while, I started to get bored. I was just on this boiling beach all day, watching all the beautiful people, but I couldn’t really enjoy myself, you know. I just had to stand there and watch. So, I knew it was time to find something else to do.

Ni:   I used to be an ice cream taster, and, for a while, it was definitely my dream job. I mean, can you imagine anything better than sitting at work eating delicious ice cream all day? I was in heaven. I was working for a big company, with a team of food scientists, and our job was to come up with new ideas for ice cream flavors. So, I suppose that was the problem because, a lot of the time, we had to try new flavors, like curry and lime ice cream or cheese and sausage, and we would have to taste it. Usually it was terrible, really disgusting. Now, most people would just say, “Yuck, I’m not eating that again.” But unfortunately, when it’s your job, you have to keep tasting it to see if they have made it any better. Sometimes we would taste thirty different ice cream flavors before lunch. So, it wasn’t all good.

A:   I was a professional shopper for a while. It was fun at first. The lady I worked for was a television host, and she needed outfits to wear on television. But, she didn’t have the time to go shopping. So, I would go out and buy clothes for her. Then, she would try them on at home, and I would take back anything that was no good. It gave me fascinating insight into how some people live. But, as time went on, I realized she was impossible to please. One time I had to buy her an outfit for a special event she was going to and I bought her a few different things to try on. But she didn’t like any of them and she was really angry that I hadn’t found out something different. It wasn’t really my fault, but I lost my job soon after that.

Type of food:   Portuguese café

Name:   Café Lisboa

Location:   near the station

Audioscript

W1 = Woman 1   W2 = Woman 2   M1 = Man 1   M2 = Man 2

W1:   OK, so we’re looking at plans for the new café. First of all, we need to decide on the location. Then we’ll look at what kind of food we’re going to offer and possible names for the café.

M1:   Yes, that sounds good.

W2:   OK.

W1:   Right. Let’s focus on the ideas we had for the location. We looked at some options last time, but we need to make a decision.

M1:   I liked the one near the station. It would be really busy during the week when everyone comes in for work. But what does everyone else think?

M2:   Yes, I think the station idea is good.

W2:   I think we need to decide on the kind of atmosphere we’re looking for. The location near the shopping center would be a really nice place to visit on the weekend.

W1:   Hmm.

M1:   I’m not sure that I agree, actually. The way I see things, we need to choose the location that will give us the most customers. And I think that will be the café near the station.

M2:   And it’s cheaper.

W2:   That’s a good point. I suppose so.

W1:   So, should we say we’ll look at the location near the station?

All:   Yes. Good idea. Yes, OK.

W1:   Good. So, moving on to the next point, what kind of food are we going to serve? What do you think?

M1:   Hmm … How about an Italian café?

W2:   Mmm … I’m not sure …We talked about Italian, but there are lots of other Italian cafés around. I really feel that it would be hard to make ours different.

W1:   OK—good point. I think we should think about something different then. Any ideas?

M2:   Well, I was thinking about a Portuguese café, you know, with delicious cake and pastries. There are quite a lot of Portuguese people in this area, and tourists, too. I think that style of café would be really popular.

W2:   Yeah, a Portuguese café. I think that’s a great idea. What do you think?

All:   That’s OK. Yeah. Nice.

M1:   That’s a nice idea. We could do Portuguese-style lunches, too, for office workers.

W1:   Yes, maybe. So, do we all agree? A Portuguese café?

All:   Yes. That’s fine by me.

W1:   OK. Let’s recap. A Portuguese café selling cakes and lunches, located near the station. Right. So, what would we call it? Café Express?

M1:   I’m not sure about that. I think we need to come back to the type of café we’re establishing. So, Café Portugal or something like that …

W2:   Why don’t we call it Café do Sol? Or Café Lisboa? Café … umm … Café Fado …

W1:   I like it Café Lisboa. I think it sounds really good, and Lisbon’s a beautiful city.

M1:   Café Lisboa. I like it.

M2:   Yes, that sounds good.

W1:   OK, we’re running out of time. Let’s sum up what we decided. It’s going to be a Portuguese café. We think the station location might be good. And we like the name Café Lisboa. Is that right?

All:   Yes, I think so. That’s right.

W1:   OK, so we’ll need to decide on …

A

She’s a pharmacist, and she loves her job.

B

I usually wake up at (about) 6:30.

I have to leave home by 8:30 at the latest.

The first thing I do when I get to work/school is …

In the afternoon, I try to catch up on …

I usually [make some deliveries/do some shopping/…] on my way home.

I try to be home by (about) 7 o’clock.

I usually just cook dinner and watch some television.

Audioscript

I’m a pharmacist, so I work six days a week. The pharmacy opens at 9 a.m., but I need to be at work before then so I can get everything ready. I usually wake up at about 6:30 so I can get the kids up and ready for school and then go for a run before work. I have to leave home by 8:30 at the latest. The morning is the busiest time in the pharmacy. So, the first thing I do when I get to work is start preparing prescriptions so they’re ready for customers to collect. It’s a community pharmacy, so I know a lot of the patients quite well. Besides giving out medicine, we try to give advice on healthy living. I think people really appreciate being able to talk to someone in the pharmacy and get advice or treatments without having to see a doctor. I usually have lunch at about 1 p.m. Sometimes I bring my own lunch, and, on other days, I like to leave the store and wander around. I might buy something to eat or even try out a new café.

The area near where I work is really nice, and I often bump into people I know. In the afternoon, I try to catch up on all the administrative tasks that need to be done. I check my emails and upload information to our website. I often take phone calls from receptionists, nurses and even doctors from the local clinic, checking information about medication. I leave the store at about 5:30 p.m., but I usually make some deliveries on my way home. Some of our older patients can’t travel to the pharmacy themselves, so they rely on this service.

I try to get home by about 7 o’clock so that I have time to read to the children and put them to bed. I’m usually too exhausted to do very much in the evening, so I usually just cook dinner and watch some television. And then I like to plan my next day in my head before going to bed. It’s a long day, but I love my job.

A

A 3   B 1   C 6   D 5   E 4   F 2

B

1 2   2 4   3 4   4 5   5 6   6 1   7 1   8 3

Audioscript

1   I work in a busy airport in France. I am responsible for a small group of people. In my job, you need to know what you are doing. You must be very accurate and observant. And you have to be able to work well under pressure and be a good decision maker.

2   I work in a pizza restaurant. In my job, you need to have a friendly, relaxed manner. It’s important to be friendly to customers, and patient. You have to be organized and have a good memory, too.

3   In my job, you have to be a really good communicator. You need to be able to listen carefully to customers and find out what the problem is. And then you have to be able to think outside the box sometimes to see if you can find a solution to the problem that will keep everybody happy. You have to be able to stay calm, even if the customer starts getting angry.

4   I work in a lawyer’s office. You have to have good organizational skills, I think, and you shouldn’t get stressed too easily. You have to be quite hard-working as well. And you need to pay attention to detail.

5   I work in a children’s hospital. I think the most important quality for my job is that you must be a caring person. You have to care about the people you’re looking after. And you have to get along with children. That’s very important.

6   You need to be very patient in my job, especially when there’s a lot of traffic. And you have to be a good timekeeper as well. You always have to be on time.