Answer Keys
Part 1
1. C 2. B 3. C 4. A 5. C 6. A
Part 2
7. mouse 8. patience 9. hammer 10. pumpkin
11. marble 12. scope 13. jacket 14. incredible
Part 3
15. D 16. A 17. C 18. B 19. D 20. D
Part 4
21. D 22. H 23. E 24. B 25. F
26. H 27. B 28. A 29. G 30. C
Tapescript
The part of the text containing the answer is underlined with the question number given in square brackets []. Points that are crucial to understand are written in italics. If you still struggle with CAE Listening, please refer to Listening tips.
Part 1
Extract One
Man: There’s more in the papers about next year’s international athletics competition. It seems they’re running into more problems. I’m beginning to wish they hadn’t decided to hold it in our area. It seems to be causing endless problems.
Woman: I know. Not that it bothers me personally that much. I’ve certainly no intention of going along to anything. I realised at once that I’d be away while it was on and I feel quite relieved about that now. The town will probably be horribly crowded. But I don’t feel sorry it’s coming here though. Right from the start I thought it would be really positive for the local economy and you can already see that happening. [1]
Man: I guess so but I wish I could feel more confident it’d all be worth it in the end. It’s just one thing after another. Now they’ve run into other problems with the foundations for the new stadium. They’re still adamant it’ll be ready well before due date, but I’ll believe it when I see it. It’s beginning to feel like a real possibility that it won’t be and how awful would that be. [2] You’d think that with all that experience on the planning committee and the huge budget they’ve been given, they’d be able to do things properly.
Woman: I know what you mean, but there’s no point in getting too worked up about it. There’s nothing we can do to help, is there?
Extract Two
Woman: How’s your coursework coming along, Rick? My group’s meeting to finish ours off this afternoon. We’ve been finding it really hard but I think I’ve probably learnt a lot from the experience of doing it.
Man: We’ve still got masses to do on ours. Mark said it’d be easy and there was no need to start it till Saturday even though we thought it was due in first thing on Monday morning. Then he decided to go away for the weekend leaving it all to Amy and me. [3]
Woman: Sounds like it’s a good job the tutor extended the deadline till five o’clock tomorrow afternoon then.
Man: I suppose so — though I’d rather have had it done by now. I’ve got another piece of work due in later this week. Anyway, I’m afraid it’s going to be an all-nighter for me. Amy’s not much help. She said she’d do one part of it, but she misunderstood the tutor’s instructions and has done the wrong thing. [3] I must admit he didn’t explain things ail that clearly, but even so ..
Woman: You poor thing. I always thought people were exaggerating when they complained about this course, but now I’m beginning to feel they had a point. [4]
Man: Absolutely!
Extract Three
Woman: So what did you think of Silent Laughter?
Man: I was a bit disappointed. I didn’t think it was as good as it’s been hyped up to be.
Woman: Yeah, I thought it was weird. Bordering on the pretentious. But I suppose that might be how things really are in the world of fashion.
Man: Mm, I’m not so sure. My cousin knows someone who’s a model and she says the storyline was totally inauthentic. And my cousin and I both thought that absolutely the wrong people were cast in the main roles.
Woman: Yeah, though some of the supporting actors were OK, I suppose.
Man: Maybe. Mind you, even though I wasn’t too impressed when I saw it, it has kept coming into my mind since then. I start wondering just how much was the model’s dread and how much was reality. Or about the relationship between the supermodel and the designer. [5]
Woman: I know what you mean. It’s certainly It’s not not the kind of film you see and then instantly forget. [5] I think the one thing that made it a bit special for me was the way it was very visually interesting— plenty of unusual and beautiful shots, particularly of the main characters [6]. I quite enjoyed the music too.
Man: Absolutely.
Part 2
Woman: So today I want to tell you about my favourite artist. He’s an absolutely amazing wood carver called Livio di Marchi, I’ve always loved wood carving ever since I was a small child. One of my favourite toys was a lovely carved wooden bear. Also an uncle had a table made by someone who’d carved a mouse at the top of one of the legs. You couldn’t see it without crawling under the table but it seemed such a personal and fun thing to do. [7]
Wood carving is a wonderful kind of art, I think. You just have to marvel at the patience of the people who’ve spend endless hours creating their works for our pleasure. I’d never be able to do it, I know. [8]
Anyway, Livio Di Marchi is a wood carver from Venice in Italy. He prefers to use simple but familiar tools, including 100 different kinds of chisel and an ancient hammer made of wood. [9] He is truly a master craftsman, and some of his work is absolutely awesome.
Many of his pieces are very famous. For example, he did one called A Dream in Venice that made an appearance in 1994. This extraordinary creation is a huge pumpkin drawn by four horses, which rear up when the driver pulls the reins. [10] It can accommodate four people as it glides across the waters of the Venetian canals and was one of the jewels of the Carnival that took place in the city that year.
As a child, di Marchi’s interest in ornamental carving led him to work and practise in a craftsman’s workshop while studying art and drawing at a famous Venetian art academy. From an early age he was demonstrating that he had enormous artistic talent for moulding materials, creating wonderfully detailed sculptures. He started off working in marble, later moving to bronze. [11]
However, it was not long before he gravitated towards wood. He said he did so because wood offered greater scope. [12] He felt he would be able to put it to a very wide range of uses. And indeed he has done so.
He has created a wonderful variety of pieces — a basket full of teddy bears, items of clothing, all sorts of things. The one I like best is a jacket. [13] It just looks so realistic – you want to touch it because you’re sure it must actually be made of leather — but it isn’t! But many other people would say their favourite piece is a car. He’s done several of those and they’re also amazingly realistic.
We often use the word wooden to describe something stiff, but di Marchi’s works are very far from stiff in this sense. In fact the most appropriate adjective to describe his work is simply ‘incredible’. [14] You just cannot believe that his objects are all made of wood.