Practice Listening English Exercises for B2 – Sights and sounds

1 taste: food, sugar, salt

2 smell: perfume, cut grass

3 hearing: from a distance

4 sight: colors, shapes, art, movies, beautiful sunset, a friend’s smile

Audioscripts in B below

1 false (We often want to eat salty foods after we exercise. or We often want to eat sweet foods when we’re tired.)

2 true

3 false (This sense is stronger for dolphins than for humans. or This sense is weaker for humans than for dolphins.)

4 true

Audioscripts

1

Woman:   This sense can help keep our bodies in balance. Sometimes, we want to eat certain things because our bodies need certain vitamins or minerals in the food. For example, sugar can temporarily give our bodies extra energy, so when we’re tired, we often want to eat sweet foods that have sugar in them. And when we exercise and sweat, our bodies lose salt. This is why we often want to eat salty foods after doing sports or exercise. Our bodies use this sense to tell us what they need.

2

Man:   This sense can help us remember special experiences that happened in the past. For example, our grandmother’s perfume or freshly cut grass can remind us of our childhood. Of all the senses, this one has the strongest connection to humans’ past memories. This sense also helps newborn babies recognize people. When they are just a few days old, babies can recognize their mother using this sense.

3

Woman:   We can use this sense even from a great distance. With this sense, we can figure out what’s happening in the world around us, even if we can’t see it at all. It can help us sense danger – for example, a car coming behind us when we are walking or riding a bicycle down the street. Animals use this sense much better than we do. In fact, in dolphins, this sense is fourteen times stronger than in humans.

4

Man:   Humans use this sense more than any other sense. Babies can’t use it very well at first, and for some people this sense is not as strong as for others. We use this sense to identify light and dark colors, and shapes. It also helps us know if something is moving or standing still. With this sense we can enjoy art, movies, a beautiful sunset, or a friend’s smile.

1 beliefs about the value of a product

2 the decision-making process

3 emotions about a product

4 ideas about the quality of a product

Audioscripts in B below

1 higher   2 Loud   3 uniforms   4 door

Audioscripts

1

Man:   People may believe that a product is more expensive or less expensive, depending on what their senses tell them. For example, as a test, a shoe company put two pairs of running shoes – the same kind of shoes – in two different rooms. One room smelled like flowers. The other room didn’t have any special smell. People who went into the room with the flower smell thought those shoes were worth more money than the shoes in the room with no smell, even though the actual value of the shoes was exactly the same.

2

Woman:   Many stores play CDs or the radio while customers are shopping. But have you ever stopped to think about the reasons some shops play certain types of music, or how softly or loudly the music is played? Some scientists have found that loud music in a store can affect whether people decide to buy a product or not. If the music is loud, people may make decisions more quickly. Sometimes this means they buy something they didn’t plan to buy, and the store makes more money.

3

Man:   Scientists say that some colors can make people feel happy, positive, excited, or energetic. Some companies choose certain colors for their products because they want customers to associate their products with positive emotions. These companies may require employees to wear uniforms and accessories only in the company colors. Sometimes this even includes women’s accessories and makeup.

4

Woman:   A group of automobile companies did a study to find out what was important to new car buyers. They found that for a lot of people, the sound of a new car was more important than the design. For example, many people said that the sound of the car door opening and closing could affect their ideas about the quality of the car. A quiet car door made them think the car was well make and stylish, while a noisy one seemed less well made. In some expensive luxury cars, the sound of the car door opening and closing has been artificially created by a team of engineers.

Audioscripts

Woman:   You’ve probably seen Braille – the special writing system for blind people – in elevators or on public buildings. In some countries, such as Japan, there are Braille dots on the corners of paper money to help blind people know how much each bill is worth. The modern Braille system was invented by Frenchman Louis Braille in eighteen twenty-four, when he was only fifteen. This system uses different arrangements of six raised dots to form symbols. Blind people then touch the symbols to read them. Each Braille symbol uses one, two, three, four, five, or all six of the dots, so a Braille typewriter has just six keys, one for each dot! In its simplest form, one Braille symbol represents one letter. But there are also symbols for letter combinations and common words. Of course, different languages have different letter combinations and words, so the Braille alphabet is a little different in each language.

1 sight   2 hearing   3 smell

4 taste   5 touch

Audioscripts in B below

1 true   2 false   3 true   4 false   5 false

Audioscripts

1

Woman:   Think about fast-food restaurants. What do they look like inside? You probably think of the colors red, yellow, or orange. This is because many scientists believe that the color orange makes people feel hungry. So, restaurants often decorate with orange to make people eat more food and spend more money.

2

Man:   Loud music makes people feel excited and move more quickly. For that reason, some restaurants play loud music when they’re crowded, so people will eat faster and leave the restaurant sooner. If customers eat and leave quickly, more customers can come in, and the restaurant makes more money.

3

Woman:   Some restaurants have an open kitchen where the chef prepares the food right inside the dining room, and the scents of garlic, herbs, and spices fill the air. The aroma of the food cooking makes customers want to eat more, so they order more food and spend more money.

4

Man:   Many restaurants try to attract customers by creating original recipes that combine unique flavors. Chefs know that people usually choose to eat at a restaurant because of the food. Fresh, delicious ingredients and the right blends of herbs and spices will keep customers coming back.

5

Woman:   In an experiment, two groups of customers were served the same food. One group used paper napkins, and the other soft, cloth napkins. The group with the cloth napkins said the food was delicious. The group that used paper napkins said the food was OK. Studies have found that restaurants that use soft, cloth napkins are more successful than restaurants that use paper napkins. Customers say cloth napkins simply feel better.