Mock Test 21 | Listening Test

PART 1:

You will hear a conversation between a man and a receptionist about a London tour

First, you have some time to look at questions 1 to 5.

Now listen and answer questions 1 to 5.

Agent:         Hi, London Premier Tours. How can I help?     

Tourist:       Hi, I’m coming to London with my family and we’d like to see the city. We just wanted some information on the best way to do this.

Agent:         Ok, I’ll see if I can help. Firstly, when are you coming and for how long?

Tourist:       Let me see, we’re leaving the US at the end of June. We’re going to stay with friends in Oxford for a week, so (1)  we’ll arrive in London around 10th July.  It will just be for a few days as we fly to Paris on the l3th July.

Agent:         And how many people?

Tourist:       (2) I’m coming with my sister and our parents.

Agent:         And do you know what kind of things you want to see when you are here? Is there anything in particular?

Tourist:       Not really, we just want to see the main sites, you know, historical places I guess. The places that London is famous for.

Agent:         Well as you only have a short amount of time, the best way to do that is probably by a bus tour. (3) The tour costs 29 pounds for adults and (4) 14 pounds for children for the day.

Tourist:       What time does it start?

Agent:       Well, basically the ticket is valid for the whole day. The first bus is at 7am, but buses depart every 20 minutes throughout the day up until 4pm.

Tourist:       (5) Sorry, I mean 6 pm — it’s Summer now, so the buses run later. So you can start and finish whenever you want within those times.

Agent:         So do you have to stay on the same bus the whole time?

Tourist:       No, no. It is a hop-on, hop-off service. So you can get off at whichever stop you like. You can then stay there as long as you like, and then get back on another bus when it arrives.

          Oh, ok, I see what you mean.

          What sites do you see on the tour then?

Agent:       That depends on which route you choose. There are three routes and we call them the red, yellow and blue routes. There are many attractions, but the main attractions on the red route are St Paul’s Cathedral, the London Eye and Buckingham Palace.

Tourist:     I’m not too worried about the Cathedral, but (6) I know my parents would enjoy the London Eye, so we’d better see that. What about the other routes?

Agent:       The most famous places on the yellow route are (7) Big Ben and the Houses

of Parliament.

Tourist:     Ah, (8) both of those would be interesting to see. And the Blue route?

Agent:       Harrods and Hyde Park Comer are on that route.

Tourist:     I’d like to see Harrods, but I don’t think we’ll have time for shopping and I don’t know Hyde Park so we’ll not go on that route. So we’d probably choose the red or yellow. What do we have to do about booking?

Agent:       If you want to book you can do that with one of our customer service operators on the phone. Or otherwise you can go to our website and book. Some people just arrive on the day and buy a ticket on the bus, but if it’s full you may not be able to get a seat.

Tourist:    Probably best if we book in advance then, so (9)  I’ll do it on the internet in a few weeks when we know exactly what dates we’ll be there.

Agent:       Ok, well it can get very busy in the summer over the three months of

June to August, so (10)  it’s probably best to book at least a week before you come. But you still have about 6 weeks before you leave so you have plenty of time to think about it.

Tourist:    Ok, thanks, you’ve been a great help.

That is the end of Part 1.

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PART 2:

IELTS Listening – Pandas

Okay, I’m here today to talk to you all about the Panda. It is a species of bear that is under great from the damage that humans are doing to the places where they live.

The panda is a peaceful animal that has a black and white coat and is loved around the world. It is a distinctive symbol of China and The Panda has also been the logo of the WWF, that’s the World Wide Fund for Nature, since it was set up in 1961.

It is a member of the bear family. They live mainly in bamboo forest high in the mountains of western China. A Panda’s daily menu consists almost entirely of the leaves, stems, and shoots of various bamboo plants. Bamboo contains very little nutritional value, so (11) pandas must eat 12-38 kg every day to meet their energy needs. New born pandas are about the size of a stick of butter, so that is really small. But they can grow up to 330 pounds as adults.

They are dependent on their mothers for the first few months of their lives. Panda cubs start to climb trees when they are only 6 months old, and as adults the pandas make them excellent climbers, despite their big weight. A panda’s average life in the wild is 14-20 years, but (12) a panda can live up to 30 years when they are looked after in places such as zoos.

So why do we worry about Pandas so much? Why are they important? Well, Pandas play a very important part in the bamboo forests where they live by spreading seeds which help plants and trees to grow. In the Yangtze Basin where pandas live, the forests are full of a vast variety of amazing wildlife, such as dwarf blue sheep, multi-coloured pheasants and other species that are in danger of extinction, including the golden monkey. Also, Pandas bring huge economic benefits to local communities through ecotourism.

Pandas have two main threats. (13) The first is hunting, which is a constant concern. Poaching or killing the animals for their fur has declined due to strict laws and greater public awareness of the panda’s protected status. But hunters seeking other animals in panda habitats continue to kill pandas accidentally.

They are also threatened by habitat loss. In other words, by the loss of the home where they live. China’s Yangtze Basin region is where the panda’s main home is. But this area is an important economic region for this booming country. So (14) roads and railroads are being built and these are increasingly destroying the forest. This means that panda populations get separated and so they can’t find a partner to mate with and have babies.

So, what is being done to protect the Panda? The Chinese government has established more than 50 panda reserves. Reserves are places in the wild where animals are protected. However, only (15) around 61% of the country’s panda population is protected by these reserves. The WWF is also playing a big part in protecting the Panda. The idea for the WWF logo came from Chi Chi: a giant panda that had arrived at London Zoo in 1961, the same year WWF was created. The people who set up up the WWF were aware of the need for a strong symbol that everybody around the world would recognize. (16) They agreed that the big, furry animal with her cuddly, black-patched eyes would make an excellent logo. This has helped to encourage many people to help support the panda.

Controversially, a well-known television presenter called Chris Packham, who has hosted programs about animals for many years on British TV, said pandas might not be worth saving. (17) He explained that pandas are extraordinarily expensive to keep going. We spend millions and millions of pounds on this one species, but much less on others. He argues that it would be better to take all this money we spend on pandas and look after other natural places such as rain forests around the world.

He says we have to accept that some animals are stronger than others. (18) The panda is a bear that eats a type of food that isn’t very nutritious, it gets diseases easily and it is very difficult to breed. He thinks that extinction is very much a part of life on earth, and we are going to have to get used to it in the next few years because climate change is going to result in all sorts of animals disappearing.

However, I don’t agree with him. The panda is quite a weak animal, but this is not why it is going to die, or become extinct. When he says that if you leave them be, they will die out, that’s simply not true. (19) The reason it is in danger is because of the damage that humans are doing to the forests that they live in. If we don’t destroy this, then they will survive in the same way that they have for thousands of years. And also, the places where the pandas live should be protected anyway. The panda shares its home with the red panda, golden monkeys, and various birds that are found nowhere else in the world. (20) The panda’s numbers are increasing in the wild, so I don’t see them dying out.

Ok, I hope you’ve enjoyed my short talk on pandas. Are there any questions?

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PART 3:

                   IELTS Listening – Business Project

Neil:            Hi, OK. So you are John and Sarah. I’m Neil. You are having some problems with a project you are doing on the marketing module of the business studies course. Is that right?

John:           Yes. It’s the one where we have to read the case studies of six businesses and assess their marketing, and identify the main problems each one had.

Neil:            So what exactly is the problem?

Sarah:         Well we’ve been doing a lot of reading for it. Some of the readings we’ve looked at are quite difficult but we still understand them and they are interesting, so that’s ok. (21) It’s taking a lot longer than we thought though so we are wondering if we can have an extension? We have a lot of other assignments too.

Neil:            Well, the extension can be granted. However, it sounds like you are having issues with the planning of your time. (22) Neither of you are sick or have had an accident, which are the only reasons that extensions are usually granted. The university’s scheduling of deadline dates is organised so you can complete things on time.

Sarah:         Ok, we understand. We thought that would probably be the case.

Neil:            Well let’s see how you are doing with it. So you were given readings on six different companies- you needed to examine the main weakness of each company with regards to their marketing strategy. What did you find out about each company?

John:           Let’s start with Stacks Stationary. They were very experienced in marketing as they have been in the stationary market for such a long time. Their profits have generally tended to increase continuously for many years. However, (Ex) they had issues with their staff because they felt that too much money was being spent on marketing but their wages did not increase for such a long time.

Sarah:         Princeton Windows were quite successful initially as their marketing led to an increase in sale of 50%. However, this decreased again after a few months so it just led to (23) profits for a long time. They need to think about how they can sustain any increase in profit for longer periods.

John:           MK Cars focused on the wrong thing because (24) they didn’t really understand who their target market was. Most of their buyers of cars are young people but they advertised in newspapers that older people usually read. It would have been better to go for magazines popular with the younger generation. You must learn everything you can about who you are selling to.

Sarah:         Lakeside Golf was probably the most successful of the six companies. They managed to generate a long-term increase in membership over a 3-year period. The only real issue they had was that (25) they weren’t ready for the increase in numbers of people coming to play golf so some people started to complain about the service there.

John:           Bryson’s Meats seemed to be a bit of a disaster really all around. They actually saw a drop in their number of buyers, though it seems fairly sure that (26) this was related to other problems outside of the company rather than their marketing. There was a scare about meat during the period we are studying, and that meant that people bought less. So it may not actually be the company’s fault.

Sarah:         Mojo’s Music Shop, which sells CDs and DVDs did pretty well. Their sales have been continuously increasing and this is very good as (27) they are in a very difficult market. A lot of people aren’t buying music from shops anymore as they download it instead, so to keep going in that situation shows that they had a very successful marketing campaign. They will have to work hard on this though due to the number of websites online providing the same service.

Neil:            Well, from listening to what you have told me it seems like you have a fairly good understanding. For the assignment you also have to say what you think will happen in the future. Let’s choose Mojo’s Music Shop. What about you Sarah?

Sarah:         The company was established many years ago and (28) I’m fairly confident that this company can continue to be successful. As I said, they have shown that they have survived in a very competitive market. They had a very strong advertising campaign and they seem very good at knowing where the market is going and how to change. What about you John?

John:           Well I’m not so sure actually. There are just so few music shops that manage to survive these days. I do agree that they have been very innovative but too many people want to buy things online as it is so much easier and usually cheaper. Most young people don’t even have DVD players these days and just listen to things on their phones. (29) So I think eventually they will cease operating like most others.

Neil:            That’s two very different opinions. It’s been said that they have a very good management team, but I’m not sure I agree with that as they are a bit inexperienced. I would disagree with you Sarah and say actually that (30) their advertising campaign, although good, needs to be improved and more original in order to keep sales high. As John says, it’s such a competitive market they need to do everything they can.

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PART 4:

                             IELTS Listening – Dolphin Lecture

Ok, today’s lecture is about the behaviour of dolphins. Dolphins are mammals closely related to whales and porpoises. There are almost forty species of dolphin, and they vary in size from 1.2 meters and 90lb up to 9.5 meters and 10 tonnes. They are found (31) worldwide, mostly in the shallower seas of the continental shelves and they are carnivores, eating fish and squid.

Dolphins are highly social animals, often living in pods of up to a dozen individuals, though pod sizes and structures vary greatly between species and locations. In places with a high abundance of food, pods can merge temporarily, forming a super-pod; such groupings may exceed (32) 1,000 dolphins. Membership in pods is not rigid, with interchange being common. Dolphins can, however, establish strong social bonds; they will stay with injured or ill individuals, even helping them to breathe by bringing them to the surface if needed. This altruism does not appear to be limited to their own species. A male dolphin called Moko in New Zealand was observed guiding a female Pygmy Sperm Whale together with her calf out of shallow water where they had been stranded several times. Dolphins have also been seen protecting swimmers from sharks by swimming circles (33) around the swimmers or charging the sharks to make them leave.

Dolphins also display culture, something long believed to be unique to humans and possibly other primate species. In May 2005, a discovery in Australia found Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins teaching their young to (34) use tools. They cover their snouts with sponges to protect them while foraging for food. This knowledge is mostly transferred by mothers to daughters, unlike primates, where knowledge is generally passed on to (35) both sexes. Using sponges as mouth protection is a learned behaviour. Another learned behaviour was discovered among river dolphins in Brazil, where some male dolphins use weeds and sticks as part of a sexual display.

Dolphins may also engage in acts of aggression towards each other. The older a male dolphin is, the more likely his body is to be covered with bite scars. Male dolphins engage in acts of aggression apparently for the same reasons as humans: that is disputes between (36) companions and competition for females. Acts of aggression can become so intense that targeted dolphins sometimes go into exile after losing a fight. Male bottlenose dolphins have also been known to engage in infanticide, which is the killing of their young. Dolphins have also been known to kill porpoises for reasons which are not fully understood, as porpoises generally do not share the same diet as dolphins and are therefore not competitors for food supplies.

The main food of dolphins is fish and squid, and various methods of feeding exist among and within species, some apparently (37) exclusive to a single population. One common feeding method is herding, where a pod squeezes a school of fish into a small volume, known as a bait ball. Individual members then take turns plowing through the ball, feeding on the stunned fish. Coralling is a method where dolphins chase fish into shallow-water to catch them more easily. Orcas and bottlenose dolphins have also been known to drive their prey onto a beach to feed on it, a behaviour known as (38) beach or strand feeding. Some species also whack fish with their flukes, stunning them and sometimes knocking them out of the water.

When it comes to playful behaviour, dolphins show various types, often including objects, self-made bubble rings, other dolphins or other animals. When playing with objects or small animals, common behaviour includes carrying the object or animal along using various parts of the body, passing it along to other members of the group, or (39) taking it from another member, or throwing it out of the water. Dolphins have also been observed harassing animals in other ways, for example by dragging birds underwater without showing any intent to eat them. Playful behaviour that involves another (40) animal species with active participation of the other animal can also be observed, playful human interaction with dolphins being the most obvious example. However playful interactions have been observed in the wild with a number of other species as well, such as Humpback Whales and dogs.