Practice Listening English Exercises for B1 – Vacations

1 (top row) W, J

   (bottom row) J, W, X (snorkel)

2 (top row) K, R

   (bottom row) X (the beach), R, K

Audioscripts in B below

1 Wei   wonderful, terrific

2 Julia   relaxing, interesting

3 Katie   exciting, fantastic

4 Ryan   boring, relaxing

Audioscripts

1   Wei and Julia

Julia:   Wei! Good to see you. So, how was your vacation?

Wei:   Oh, it was wonderful.

Julia:   What did you do?

Wei:   Well, let’s see. I walked around this beautiful garden.

Julia:   Really? I didn’t know you liked gardening.

Wei:   Oh, I don’t like doing gardening. It’s too much work. But I love to look at beautiful flowers.

Julia:   Mmm-hmm. So what else did you do, Wei?

Wei:   Well, I went to some great restaurants. I ate seafood every night.

Julia:   Really?

Wei:   Yeah. Crab, lobster. Great food. Not too expensive either. It was just a terrific trip. So, how was your vacation, Julia?

Julia:   Well, I didn’t go anywhere special.

Wei:   You just rested?

Julia:   Yeah. It was nice to be home and have a lot of time for things like reading. I did a lot of that. I probably read, I don’t know, four or five books. And I visited a couple of museums. So it was relaxing, but also very interesting.

Wei:   Sounds nice.

2   Katie and Ryan.

Ryan:   Did you have a good vacation, Katie?

Katie:   Yeah! It was exciting – probably my most exciting vacation ever!

Ryan:   Wow! What did you do?

Katie:   I took a nature adventure tour. For the first part, we went hiking. It was so much fun! We hike all the way up to these beautiful waterfalls. I took lots of pictures.

Ryan:   Sounds great. So, what else did you do on the tour?

Katie:   Well, the best part was at the end of the trip. We went skydiving! Can you believe it? I jumped out of an airplane.

Ryan:   Wow!

Katie:   Yeah, it was just a fantastic vacation. But anyway, that’s enough about my vacation. How did you spend your break, Ryan?

Ryan:   Oh, I drove to visit my relatives.

Katie:   Uh-huh. Did you have good time?

Ryan:   Well, it was pretty boring, actually. It rained every day so we had to stay inside. We just stayed home and watched TV a lot.

Katie:   Oh, that’s too bad.

Ryan:   No, that’s OK. It really was very relaxing, even though it was a little boring.

(top row) 4, 5

(middle row) X, 1

(bottom row) 3, 2

Audioscripts in B below

1 one day   2 sleep

3 Trafalgar Square

4 bus   5 sixteen

Audioscripts

1

Man:   Hey, how was your trip to England?

Sara:   Well, it was certainly a trip I’ll remember, unfortunately.

Man:   Unfortunately? Why unfortunately?

Sara:   Well, if something could go wrong, it did.

Man:   Like what?

Sara:   Oh, it was awful. It started in New York. First, our plane arrived late coming into New York, so we missed the plane – our connecting flight to London! We had to stay at a hotel and catch the plane the next day.

Man:   Boy, bad start.

2

Sara:   We finally got on the plane the next day and made it to England. We were planning to stay at a youth hostel in London, but when we arrived, the youth hostel was full. There were no more beds. We had to take a bus to another one on the other side of London.

Man:   Oh no, that must have been horrible.

Sara:   It was.

3

Man:   So, what else happened?

Sara:   Well, the next morning, we got up early and walked to Buckingham Palace. Then we went to see Trafalgar Square.

Man:   Yeah. I hear that’s terrific.

Sara:   I wouldn’t know. It was completely closed! They were filming a movie, and you couldn’t get anywhere near the square.

Man:   That’s too bad.

4

Man:   Well, what next?

Sara:   Since I was a little kid, I’ve always wanted to see Stonehenge, the very large stones set in a circle. They had special meaning for people thousands of years ago.

Man:   Hmm. Interesting.

Sara:   We took a bus tour to get there. We left really early in the morning and guess what!

Man:   What!

Sara:   It rained all day. It was terrible. We couldn’t take any pictures at all.

Man:   Stop! I can’t hear any more! You poor thing!

5

Sara:   Oh, that’s not all. After the trip to Stonehenge, we were feeling pretty down, so we decided to go shopping at Harrod’s, the famous department store. I found these beautiful sweaters, but there were no price tags, so I asked the price. I thought the clerk said sixteen pounds each, so I decided to buy three. But when she gave me the total, I saw that they were sixty pounds each, not sixteen!

Man:   Well, I guess that’s the last trip you’ll take to England.

1 b   2 c   3 a   4 c   5 b

Audioscripts

Man:   So, how was your vacation? You went to Paris, didn’t you?

Woman:   Yeah, with my parents. We just got back on Saturday. It was wonderful!

Man:   What sights did you visit?

Woman:   Well, we saw all the most famous places, the Eiffel Tower, … Notre Dame Cathedral… They were so interesting.

Man:   Did you take any tours?

Woman:   Just one – a boat tour on the Seine River.

Man:   Wow! That sounds fantastic.

Woman:   Yeah. It was a great way to see the city.

Man:   Did you go to any of the famous art museum?

Woman:   Yeah. My parents love art, so they spent hours in the museums. But for me, it was pretty boring. I’m just not very interested in paintings.

Man:   So, what else did you do?

Woman:   Well, I guess my favorite thing to do was just to sit in cafés and watch the people. It was really relaxing, and French coffee is terrific.

Man:   It sounds like a great vacation to me.

Woman:   Oh, it was. But it’s good to be home.

Audioscripts

1

Think of a good vacation you had or a good trip you took. Remember a vacation or a trip that you enjoyed. Where did you go? Write the name of the place.

2

What did you do on that vacation? Write the name of one activity that you enjoyed.

3

What was that vacation like? Was it relaxing? Was it exciting? Write one or two words to describe your good vacation.

4

Now think of a bad vacation you had or a bad trip you took. Remember a vacation or a trip you didn’t enjoy. Where did you go? Write the name of the place.

5

What was the bad vacation like? Was the vacation boring? Was it awful? Write one or two words to describe your bad vacation.

1 went to the beach, watched TV

2 ate at restaurants, listened to music

3 visited a famous place, went hiking

4 went to museums, took a tour, went shopping

5 went skiing, just rested, read

Audioscripts in B below

1 b   2 c   3 a   4 c   5 b

Audioscripts

1

Man:   How was your vacation, Natalie?

Natalie:   Oh, it was terrible!

Man:   What happened?

Natalie:   I got a really bad sunburn at the beach.

Man:   Oh, no! That’s awful.

Natalie:   Then it rained for the rest of the time, so we just watched TV all week.

Man:   You didn’t do any sightseeing?

Natalie:   No. There was really nothing to see there – except the beach!

2

Woman:   So, you’re back from Paris! What did you think of the Louvre museum?

Man:   Actually, I didn’t go to the Louvre.

Woman:   Oh. Well, how about the other famous places? The Eiffel Tower … Notre Dame …

Man:   Those kinds of places don’t interest me.

Woman:   You must have thought Paris was pretty boring, then!

Man:   Boring? No way! I went to a different restaurant and a different club every night. The food was wonderful. And I heard some terrific music – jazz, hip-hop …. I went out every night and got back to the hotel when the sun was coming up. It was the best vacation I’ve ever had!

3

Man:   Hi, Pam. How was your vacation?

Pam:   It was terrific.

Man:   Where did you go? Anyplace famous?

Pam:   Yes, we went to the Grand Canyon!

Man:   Oh, did you go with a tour group?

Pam:   No, we just explored on our own. We went hiking every day. It was great to spend time with my mom and dad.

4

Matt:   I just got back from vacation. I’m exhausted!

Woman:   Why? What did you do?

Matt:   My friend and I went to Vancouver. We visited some wonderful museums and took a sightseeing tour around the city.

Woman:   So, you’re tired from visiting all those places?

Matt:   No, I’m tired because I hardly slept at all. Our hotel room was on the first floor, so it was really noisy. But I’m still glad I went. There were some fantastic shops. Here. This is for you.

5   [phone rings]

Julie:   Hello?

Tim:   Hi, Julie. It’s Tim. I heard you got back yesterday. Did you have a good vacation?

Julie:   Well, yes and no.

Tim:   You went hiking, right?

Julie:   No, actually, we went skiing.

Tim:   That sounds like fun!

Julie:   It was. But on the second day, I fell and hurt my leg.

Tim:   Oh, no!

Julie:   Oh, it wasn’t too bad. I just rested at the hotel. I read a few books, listened to music – that kind of thing. At least it was relaxing.