Tapescripts
The part of the text containing the answer is underlined with the question number given in square brackets []. If you still struggle with CAE Listening, please refer to Listening tips.
Part 1
Extract One
Man: Good flight?
Woman: Hardly. Air travel just goes from bad to worse. It wasn’t even a particularly cheap flight, but there was precious little leg room, it left half-an-hour late [1] and I wasn’t offered as much as a glass of water.
Man: Well it was the national airline, so you always pay a bit over the odds, but there are actually fewer seats, so it shouldn’t be cramped. But since the budget airlines started competing, nobody’s offering free refreshments on these short routes anymore. Anyway, the pilot obviously made up time. I’d only just turned up and there you were! [1]
Woman: I expect you were late too! But there’s an inordinate amount of queuing up and hanging about involved in air travel. I know you’re going to say that’s because of security and so it’s not the airline’s fault.
Man: I wasn’t actually. The thing to do next time is steer clear of the big hubs. You could have flown into the little airport down the coast even with this airline; lots less hanging about there. [2] There’s not the volume of passengers and despite the drive, it’d still be quicker than the train.
Woman: It’s not this airport I’m complaining about. It’s the one I’ve just come from!
Extract Two
Man: From what I remember of science at school, it was mostly a case of ‘listen and make notes’ with the odd set-piece experiment.
Woman: That’s not science. I mean, all subjects are knowledge-based to a certain extent, but with the internet, kids can access information directly without the mediation of the teacher. What they can’t manage to do on their own is question it – have a critical view of its accuracy and usefulness. That’s where the teacher comes in. [3]
Man: Right.
Woman: And kids need to know how to use science in real life. So these days, it’s all about putting information in context. Like, I did a lesson last week where they worked out how much energy is expended to make, buy and watch a television. I mean, there’s an immediate relevance there.
Man: So do kids everywhere do that now?
Woman: Well it’ll be good if they could. I worked out this scheme of work with some colleagues from other local schools. It had official backing, but only time will tell if it gets adopted on a wider scale. But we had a meeting last week to see how it was going and nobody wanted to change anything! [4]
Extract Three
Man: And Fiona, you’ve been listening to the first album from a new band, new to me at least, called The Forerunners. Where did they come from?
Woman: Well, basically Tom, what you’ve got here is four young guys from rural England who debut with a record that’s effectively home made – not a studio recording. That’s incredible in itself. But what really blew me away was the fact that it’s unaffected in a way you’d scarcely think possible. They make a gentle sound, and even when doing crescendos they never get harsh – never seem to fall in love with their own vibe. Added to that, they seem to use a whole range of instruments without ever drawing your attention to the fact. [5]
Man: Yes I agree, and they keep the interest going from one little jewel to the next, there are almost no duds here. And, although there are echoes of all sorts of people, it wouldn’t be fair to make comparisons. I mean, what makes them kind of unique is that they don’t seem to be trying to sound like anyone but themselves. [6]
Woman: Quite. Highly recommended!
Part 2
Jon: Hi there. My name’s Jon and the topic of my presentation is an animal which originally comes from South America. It’s called the llama, and it’s becoming an increasingly common sight in North America and Europe, where it’s used as a guard animal to protect flocks of domestic sheep and goats from predators. Just the presence of a llama is apparently enough to keep foxes and other predators away – and they are quite large animals. Standing as tall as me, but weighing a lot more! But llamas themselves are domesticated animals, closely related to another smaller animal called the alpaca. People sometimes confuse the two. Alpacas have the same long and slightly curved ears, narrow feet and thick coat, but have a different face, which is shorter [7].
Both animals are related to wild animals which are still found in the Andes mountains. But, whereas llamas come in a range of colours including dark brown, black and white, and often a mixture of the three, the animal from which it is descended tends only to be light brown [8]. This wild animal still lives high up in the mountains – near the snow line – but there aren’t that many of them left.
Llamas were domesticated long before European settlers arrived in the Americas. Although their meat was eaten, the largest numbers worked as beasts of burden in mining districts [9] rather than being associated with farming. Ancient pictures do show llamas pulling a plough, but they were soon replaced by the horses and mules introduced from Europe.
Llamas are one of those animals that people seem to like. You hear words like docile and friendly used to describe their character, although the one that comes up most often when people talk about their character is curious [10]. I guess that’s why they have been domesticated for so long. They approached humans, and seemed more useful than dangerous.
Some people think that llamas, like the camels to which they are related, sometimes kick people or even spit at them. But, I read that this is a sign of poor training by the humans concerned; that in a well brought up llama, such behaviour would be a sign that they’re feeling threatened [11], and not a sign that they feel bored or bad tempered.
Llamas are naturally very sociable animals which like to live in groups. They communicate using various noises. A gentle hum keeps them in touch with their friends and family [12], whereas a bray like a donkey would be a warning to others in the group of impending danger.
These days, llama hair is still used in the spinning and weaving industries, where it is particularly valued because it’s grease free [13], as well as being lightweight, warm and rather luxurious when knitted into garments. Alpaca hair tends to make the best pullovers, however, with llama being used for other things, especially rugs [14], but also wall hangings. And llama is quite often used to make useful things like ropes too.
So, those are the basic facts about the llama. I’d now like to show you some video footage of the animal. But before I do that, does anyone have any questions?
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