Answer Keys
Part 1
1. A 2. C 3. C 4. B 5. A 6. B
Part 2
7. grandfather 8. rugby matches/games 9. Rainbow Tours 10. (clear) light
11. cheetahs 12. crocodile farm 13. April 14. exhausted
Part 3
15. B 16. A 17. D 18. C 19. D 20. C
Part 4
21. B 22. E 23. D 24. C 25. H
26. G 27. E 28. H 29. B 30. F
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
Woman: I’d like to do something different this weekend. I feel as if I’m stuck in a rut. I need a break, a bit of a challenge.
Man: Well, here’s a suggestion for you. I was planning to take my bike down to the south coast to see a veteran car race. Why don’t you come with me?
Woman: On your motorbike? I’ve never been a passenger on a motorbike in my life. And I haven’t got a helmet or anything. [1]
Man: That’s OK. I’ve got a spare one and some leathers you could borrow. It’d be fun!
Woman: Well, I did say I wanted something challenging, I suppose. Let’s go for it. Then when we get back, I’ll make something special for dinner. I’ve got a great new Thai recipe.
Man: Oh, I think you’ll be tired. Why don’t we just eat out?
Woman: No, it’ll be fine! The kids are going out to a gig – their friend’s band is playing at the College Club this weekend — so we can just flake out in front of the telly with a takeaway if we’re really that worn out. [2]
Man: Sounds good to me.
Extract Two
Woman: I got stopped in the street and asked some questions by some man doing an opinion poll today.
Man: Did you? Was it about what you watched on TV last night? I got asked about that by someone in the street a few days ago.
Woman: Actually he wanted to know what I felt about the new shopping centre they’re thinking about building near the railway station, whether I felt it would solve some of the town’s problems or actually just cause more. [3]
Man: Well, you’ve certainly got strong opinions about that! You’re always telling me what a rubbish idea you think it is.
Woman: True! And I told him what I thought. But I don’t think he really had any interest in what I had to say. I got the feeling the authorities just want to be able to tick a few boxes saying that consultation with residents has taken place. [4] I don’t think he wrote down my answers to any of his questions. But at least it served the useful purpose of firing me up about it again. I’m going to sit down and write a letter to the local paper now.
Extract Three
Man: Hi, Mel, I’m glad I bumped into you. I’ve been wanting to ask you a favour.
Woman: Right?
Man: As you know I’ve been working on this website idea of mine. It’s a portal for people interested in this part of the country with lots of pages relating to its history, landscape, wildlife, local businesses, er, study opportunities here, all that sort of thing. [5]
Woman: Sounds interesting but I’m not sure how I can help. I’m pretty new to the area and don’t know much about it!
Man: Well, you do know a lot about websites. I wondered if you could take a look at what’s online already and tell me how user-friendly it is, that sort of thing. My idea is that it should be totally straightforward to navigate.
Woman: Sounds interesting certainly, But when do you want it done for? I’m pretty busy at the moment.
Man: It’s not too urgent, in fact.
Woman: OK, then, Email me the url and I’ll do what I can. My laptop’s been playing up a bit recently but hopefully it won’t let me down. [6]
Man: Mm, thanks.
Part 2
Harriet: I was really lucky last year to have the opportunity to visit South Africa. It was absolutely the holiday of a lifetime. I went with my husband. He has some relatives who emigrated there recently who emigrated there recently – an uncle and some cousins – so we spent a bit of time with them, which was good. Oddly enough my grandfather was actually born in Johannesburg, but he’d left before he was ten years old. [7] Still, that’s always made me feel I have a connection with the country and I’ve always wanted to go there.
The main impetus for our visit, however, was that our son’s mad on sport and his school had organised a tour, so the boys in the first and second teams could play some rugby matches there. [8] Quite a few of us parents decided to go out there at the same time to watch them play – which was quite scary as the South African boys all seemed so much bigger than ours! But anyway they all survived with no broken bones and we managed to have a really exciting holiday too!
Although we were following the same route as the school tour, we travelled independently. The school used a travel agent called ‘Rainbow Tours’ and they were able to make arrangements for us too. [9] We considered organising our trip through another company called Safari Holidays but didn’t use them in the end, though they also had some very good deals.
It was an amazing country. As soon as I got off the plane after our overnight flight I was impressed by the light there. It was just so clear, quite different from what we have here. [10] It was beautifully warm too, of course, but we’d been expecting that. One of the best things we did was spend a weekend at a safari park. That was just brilliant – it was such a privilege to see so many beautiful animals in their natural habitat, black and white rhinos, giraffes, elephants, aardvark. I loved seeing lions sleeping in the bush. Best of all for me were the cheetahs, which we saw when we went on a night drive. [11] My husband’s favourites were the hippos.
We saw interesting animals elsewhere as well as at the safari park. We hired a car to get around and we caught sight of lots of zebras and ostriches as we were driving along the east coast. One day we broke our journey at a crocodile farm and learnt so much about them. [12]
We went in January and it was a little hot for comfort at times. I’m told the best time to go is April. It’s cooler then – at night particularly – and so you’ve got more energy for sightseeing. [13] It’s still plenty warm enough to lie on the beach in the daytime if that’s your thing.
We felt so relaxed during the trip I was taken aback when we got home to discover how exhausted I was [14] — I suppose we’d just done so much over a short time. Anyway we soon recovered and I hope we’ll visit again someday.