FCE Listening Practice Test 22 Printable

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The part of the text containing the answer is underlined with the question number given in square brackets []. If you still struggle with FCE Listening, please refer to Listening tips.

Part 1

Question 1
Ladies and gentlemen. If I could just have your attention, please. We have with us a small boy by the name of Roland. He has red hair and is wearing a green and purple shell-suit. He is carrying a blue fluffy rabbit and says that he is four. When he last saw his mummy, he says, she was choosing some pears. [1]If you are his mummy, please come to the customer service desk at the front of the store where he will be waiting for you.

Question 2
Woman: Er, is these curling tongs I bought here last Saturday?
Man: What’s the problem, madam? Is the item not functioning?
Woman: No, it works perfectly. That’s not the problem at all.
Man: Well, then let me guess. It’s damaged?
Woman: No, it’s your price-beater guarantee. You clearly said that if I found them at a cheaper price in any other shop, you would refund the difference and, well, imagine my surprise when I went into Lunthams and saw them there for only nine ninety-nine [2]. I mean I know they were on special offer but that’s not the point.

Question 3
… Yes, Paris… Yes, Paris, France… You still have some tickets?… Yes, next Thursday… ‘No-smoking’ please, and an aisle seat if possible. [3] Which terminal is that leaving from?… I see. And the flight number… BA 893. And take-off time?

Question 4
Policeman: Good morning, sir. Sorry to disturb you. This is just part of a routine inquiry. You are the owner of the house.
Man: Er, yes.
Policeman: Then I assume that you are familiar with a Mr Winston of number 43 just across the street there.
Man: Er, yes.
Policeman: Well, if you or any other member of your household happen to know of his whereabouts, we would like to speak to him on a rather urgent matter. [4]

Question 5
Well, the subject of our phone-in this morning is a rather thorny issue that has been in the news a lot recently. We have heard many opinions from government ministers, church leaders and social workers on this delicate matter but little has been said by the people themselves. So, today, we want to hear from any single parents out there who are listening and, in fact, we have one on the line right now. Hello, Mary … [5]

Question 6
[…] And now I want to move on to the subject of water. When you’re at sea, you’re surrounded by salt water and this, of course, you cannot drink. Nor can you wash with it. Tap water these days is also not suitable for drinking, but you can wash with it. So we recommend that you carry at least ten gallons of bottled water, which you can buy from any nautical supply station. [6] When you are buying it, however, you must check the label on the bottle to make sure you’re buying the right sort of water

Question 7
Woman 1: So, when you get to the top of the hill, the bus will stop at the lights and you get out there in front of the war memorial. You can’t miss it.
Woman 2: Oh, thank you so much. I don’t know what I’d have done without you.
Woman 1: Oh, look, here’s your bus coming now. Now, don’t forget what I said.
Woman 2: Thanks again. And I hope you don’t have to wait too long for yours. Bye. [7]

Question 8
[…] Yes, just like I said… They want to know everything about you. I mean it’s an intrusion upon your privacy. Still, they say that the information is treated as confidential. But why would they want to know mother’s maiden name? [8] And Sophie’s grown up now. She’s left home. It’s not really any of my business whether she has a boyfriend or whether she has any insurance of her own. Anyway, fortunately, they were both willing for me to include those details.

Part 2

Presenter: If I asked you what the difference is between animals and human beings, you might think for a bit and then suggest something about the fact that humans can speak to each other using a language – or in some cases more than one language – and in a way you would be right. But that is not the whole story by any means. Many animals can communicate in surprisingly complicated ways, but they never quite achieve the range and depth of human languages. At the simplest level, several kinds of insect, including bees, have been observed performing a special dance to tell each other where they can find nectar and pollen, which is their food. [9]

This, of course, does not mean that they are using a ‘language’ but they are, all the same, communicating something. Many people think that certain birds like parrots can speak, but this is in fact not true. Such animals are only capable of copying the sounds of human speech [10] but have no understanding of these sounds and generally use them at the wrong time. There is also no apparent logic in the way they select what to copy either. On the other hand, monkeys, apes and other primates are capable of communicating a small number of basic ideas using a range of simple sounds [11] that are recognised by other members of their social group. Unfortunately though, none of the groups of monkeys observed so far have developed any form of grammar and so we cannot call this a language. [12] However, some apes, chimpanzees in particular, can be trained to understand and respond to certain spoken commands by humans, but so far none have attempted to copy our speech. Now there is one kind of animal that does just this, although not many people can understand what they are saying. Dolphins have different shaped mouths to humans and as a result they are unable to make all the sounds that we can make. They can manage the vowel sounds ‘a’, ‘e’, ‘i’, ‘o’, ‘u’ and so on, but lack the necessary voice equipment to reproduce our consonants. [13] Thus, a simple phrase like ‘Hello, how are you?’ becomes ‘e – o – ah – u’. But what makes these noises more amazing is that dolphins do show awareness of when to use such phrases and in this sense, are actually trying to communicate with humans. [14]

But by far, the most remarkable form of animal communication are the ‘songs’ of whales. These are fast clicking and squeaking noises that whales make underwater and the sounds themselves actually contain more information than human speech. [15] Scientists have noticed that some whales repeat certain long phrases of sounds, and this is in fact why they are called songs. Of particular interest is a species called the ‘bottle-nosed’ whale whose songs have many of the characteristics of human speech [16]. But at the end of the day, we are the only species that have developed proper grammatical languages and most experts now agree that this is because of the large communities that we live in [17] – where a child growing up can hear hundreds of different examples of his or her language being spoken every day. If, for any reason, a young child does not get enough contact with other people between the ages of one and four, he or she may never fully develop the power of speech. [18] One can imagine that if whales or dolphins did start living in large communities then well…

Part 3

Speaker 1
This is one of my favourite desserts and it isn’t too difficult if you’ve got a bit of time on your hands. The traditional recipe uses brown sugar but I have always preferred honey. You drip the honey over a thick layer of yoghurt to form a thin covering. This can be quite tricky and you need a steady hand. Then press the fruit into the honey and scatter chopped nuts over the top. Finally, to add that extra special something, put a few pinches of ground cinnamon over it shortly before serving. [19]

Speaker 2
Once you’ve assembled all your chopped fruit pieces in a bowl, you need to make the blancmange mixture to pour over them. This is made by beating together cream, apple juice, honey and two tablespoons of rum, and then heating the mixture before dissolving the gelatin. I must just mention that gelatin is made from the hooves of cows so, unfortunately, some people won’t be too keen on this. [20] Anyway, once the mixture has cooled sufficiently, it can be poured over the fruit and left to set in the refrigerator.

Speaker 3
Take the sponge cake base out of the oven and then turn it out to cool on a wire rack. Now, you can turn your attention to the topping. The strawberries need to be fresh so you will only really be able to make this recipe from May to early July; after that, raspberries can be used instead, up to late August. [21] The fruit should be halved and have the tough cores removed. You may need a good sharp knife for this. After that, arrange the halves in a symmetrical pattern around the top of the sponge and finally spread fresh yoghurt over this and garnish with grated chocolate.

Speaker 4
Now, this one is always popular with youngsters. There is really no point nowadays in making your own vanilla ice-cream since the quality in the shops is so good. But home-made chocolate sauce is another matter and quite inexpensive to make. You just heat some cooking chocolate in a pan with a little water and brown sugar and bring to the boil for a few minutes. When it has cooled, you’ll have a thick, dark, sticky sauce that the kids will love … and indeed it’s such a simple method that they could even make it themselves. [22]

Speaker 5
Once again you leave the sponge cake to cool after baking and turn your attention to the marzipan. You will need 250 grams of ground almonds. Now, these are about one pound fifty for a fifty gram packet, so you’ll not want to waste any. [23] Mix the ground almonds with 250 grams of castor sugar and, add a whole egg that’s been thoroughly beaten and laced with dark rum and almond flavouring, knead the mixture into a thick paste and then roll flat on a work-surface sprinkled with icing sugar. Brush the sponge cake with a mixture of rum and almond flavouring before placing the marzipan around it.

Part 4

Barry: Hey, Tina, what’s up with you? You look like you’ve been to a funeral.
Tina: Oh, nothing really. I guess I’ve just had a bad week and then only one of my numbers came up last night.
Barry: You still doing that stupid old lottery? It’s enough to make anyone depressed. I haven’t got a good word to say about it myself. [24] All the fuss they make on that silly programme on Saturday night.
Tina: But everyone’s doing it. The paper says it’s the biggest lottery in the world. Over twenty million people entered last week, which is a lot if you consider that it’s only open to people over eighteen. [25]
Barry: Well, that’s a good thing, otherwise all the kids would be spending all their pocket money on it. How much are you spending on it these days?
Tina: Well, this week, I spent ten pounds.
Barry: Ten pounds! No wonder you’re fed up, Tina.
Tina: I got five entries and the other five pounds went on scratch cards.
Barry: And you’ve been doing this every week since it started?
Tina: No, this week was special. I just thought I was going to be lucky but I’ve had at least 1 entry a week. It seems silly not to. [26]
Barry: But you’ve lost all that money. And it’s all gone to Camelot.
Tina: They don’t keep the money, they give it all to charity and the ‘arts’. [27]
Barry: They don’t give it all away. They keep a lot of the money and then they get rich while you get poor.
Tina: But I might win. Then we’d be millionaires.
Barry: When are you going to realise, you’re not going to win? Not with twenty million other people playing. Look, how many people do you know who have won anything?
Tina: Well, er… oh, yes. The man at the paper shop said that there’s another customer who has won a hundred pounds, and I believe him.
Barry: Well, that’s useless. You’ve probably spent more than a hundred pounds already.
Tina: I suppose you’ve never even played once.
Barry: No. Oh well, just the once. The lads and I at work did have a go when it started. [28]
Tina: You mean you were a syndicate.
Barry: Oh yes, that’s the new word for it now. Anyway, after that first week, I just decided I wasn’t going to waste any more of my precious money on it. Besides, I don’t think it’s right. Somebody getting all that money – twenty million or more – for doing nothing. My dad always says: ‘God help those who help themselves’. [29]
Tina: But that’s not going to help me win next week’s jackpot.
Barry: Don’t do it, Tina.
Tina: But I want the money.
Barry: And so do we all, but, if I needed extra cash, I’d go and do the overtime; earn the money in an honest way. You could get a better job instead of going down to the lottery shop.
Tina: Well, I was thinking of giving it a miss that week, anyway. Maybe that’s what I’ll do. An extra ten pounds would come in handy. [30]
Barry: Yeah. Er, treat yourself to something nice. You need a bit of cheering up.
Tina: I know, we could go on a day-trip to Boulogne, stock up on duty-frees on the way back. I fancy something a bit cultural, especially with Christmas just around the corner.
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