FCE Listening Practice Test 6 Printable

Answer Keys

Tapescript

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

1.
Interviewer: I hear that you missed a concert you were supposed to do in Germany recently. How did that happen?
Female singer: Well, I just lost my passport. I couldn’t find it anywhere in my house. Obviously, I would say that it wasn’t my fault, but, well, it wasn’t my fault! I just assumed that our tour manager had it. But he didn’t have it [1]. He normally keeps it for me when I’m travelling for concerts and I don’t know how it got lost. I’ve had to get a replacement one.

2.
Woman: We’ve got an email from Beth, who says, ‘My family hasn’t got a car, and we walk or cycle everywhere. My friends laugh at me because they all have cars. What should I do?’ Well, Beth, there is a lot to be said for not having a car unless you really need one. In fact it would be much better for the environment if fewer people had cars. Your so-called friends are unkind to judge you on what you have or don’t have. People like this are very materialistic and not worth bothering with. [2] And think how much fitter and healthier than them you’ll be because of all the exercise you get!

3.
Presenter: The country’s most talented young writers have seen their hard work come to fruition with the publication of the very first Young Writer’s Year Book. Thousands of children aged nine to seventeen submitted their stories and poems to win a chance to be published. The successful entries have now been published in this wonderful book [3]. Sad, surprising, witty, frightening, insightful, wise and full of potential, this is a deliciously fresh collection by the best-selling authors of the future.

4.
Man: Look, I don’t see why this has to become a big thing. The fact is that our ideas aren’t that far apart and I’m sure if we just have a reasonable chat about the situation, we can sort things out. What do you think? [4] I mean, it makes no sense to have a big row about it, and I know that neither of us wants to do that. I’m sure we can work something out that suits both of us, so let’s do it now. I’m willing to compromise if you are.

5.
Man: I know it’s very late but I really would appreciate it if you could help me out. You see, something’s come up at the last minute and we won’t be able to make it tonight. Of course, I’ve already paid for the tickets and I ordered the best seats. I was looking forward to it so I’m annoyed that I’m going to have to miss the show. I know you’ve got your rules about not giving refunds but couldn’t you make an exception for me? [5]

6.
Woman: I just don’t seem to have any patience. I know it’s not a great thing, and I really ought to be able to stay calm more instead of losing my temper, but I just can’t help myself. When someone gets on my nerves I just have to tell them, it just comes straight out of my mouth. There’s no excuse for it. I know I ought to have more self-control. And sometimes I do try, honestly, but it just never seems to work. [6]

7.
Man: I haven’t seen you for a while.
Woman: No, I’ve been really busy. I’ve had a couple of assignments I had to do for college and they’ve taken up all my time.
Man: Oh, we don’t have those.
Woman: Well, I’ve done them now, so I’ve got a bit more time. Do you fancy a game some time?
Man: Sure. I’ll book a court for us. How about tomorrow evening?
Woman: Sounds good. Actually, that reminds me that I have to renew my membership [7]. I’ll do It while I’m there tomorrow.
Man: Yes, I did it last month. Shall I pick you up at home?
Woman: That’d be great.
Man: OK, I’ll come round for you at about 7.
Woman: Excellent,

8.
Presenter: OK, here are the details of our competition to find the best amateur chef in the region. To enter, you have to send in a main course and dessert recipe with ingredients that cost less than £10 per person. [8] From the recipes sent in, well draw up a shortlist of ten finalists, and they’ll be asked to come along to Pandoras Restaurant and cook their recipes for the panel of judges and paying customers, with the assistance of the restaurant’s chef. The judges will then choose three people to go forward to the final. The final three will be asked to create a three-course recipe and cook it at the restaurant for the judges and paying customers. The judges will then choose the winner,

Part 2

Interviewer: OK, now I understand that the Park is involved in one or two projects at the moment.
Wildlife park representative: That’s right. Since 1994, we’ve been working with various partners to raise money and help co-ordinate something called Project Life Lion. This project involves sending teams to villages which border the Serengeti National Park in East Africa to vaccinate domestic dogs against canine distemper virus (CDV) and rabies. In 1994 over one third of the Serengeti lions died as a result of CDV, which had passed from domestic dogs to the wild animal population [9]. In addition to that, we are currently taking part in the Atlantic Rainforest Project and supporting the Community Conservation Project.
Interviewer: So you’re obviously concerned about environmental issues.
Wildlife park representative: Yes, the Park continuously monitors its environmental impact. To do that, we have our own independently-written Environmental Management System, which is now being used as a model by other organisations across the UK so that they can establish their own [10].
Interviewer: Now, apart from the day-to-day business of visitors to the Park, you also put on events, don’t you?
Wildlife park representative: Yes, the Park is a venue for all manner of corporate events, such as product launches, team-building, special events, barbecues – the list is endless [11]. And we play host to many charity and fund-raising events each year. For them, we are happy to help with discounted tickets and competition prizes [12].
Interviewer: Now, tell me about the Centre for Television and Radio Training. I gather you’re connected with that.
Wildlife park representative: Yes, it’s our sister company. If you’ve always dreamed of being a radio presenter, we offer you the opportunity to take the first steps [13]. The Centre has a range of courses from a one-day experience to a five-day full-time course which leads to your own two hour show on our own station, Paradise FM. The courses take place at our studio complex.
Interviewer: Wow, that sounds great. Now, back to animals, which is after all what the Park is really all about. One thing that I see you run is something called Adopt an Animal. Tell me about that.
Wildlife park representative: Yes, adopting an animal is a great way to mark a special occasion, for yourself or for a friend or loved one. All our animals are available for adoption, and to ensure that they’re all affordable, whatever their size, adoptions are available in shared units of £50 and last for 12 months. If you adopt an animal, you receive a certificate, a photograph of and information about your chosen animal, and a complimentary ticket for two people to the Park [14].
Interviewer: Now, talking of tickets, people can get season tickets for the Park, can’t they?
Wildlife park representative: That’s right. Our season tickets are very popular and extremely good value for money. If you visit us more than five times during the year, you will be saving money [15]. Season tickets are valid for 12 months and allow unlimited access to the Park. And we can even take people’s passport-sized photographs for them for the season ticket – free of charge.
Interviewer: But are you open all year?
Wildlife park representative: Yes, we’re open 365 days a year. With our heated indoor play area, there is still lots of fun to be had even when the weather is a bit chilly [16].
Interviewer: Now people can also take part in what you call Experience Days, can’t they?
Wildlife park representative: Yes, the Experience Days are great to give someone who is 12 or over as a gift. One of them is called Feed the Big Cats, and gives people the opportunity to hand-feed the big cats for half an hour. Another is called Walk With Our Wolves, during which people take a walk in the woods with these impressive animals. And the other is called Shadow a Keeper, and gives people a chance to become an animal keeper for a full day [17].
Interviewer: Finally, if I wanted to work in the Park, what chance would I have?
Wildlife park representative: Pretty good, right now! We have a number of jobs available for enthusiastic people who are interested in customer-service work, and we employ people from the ages of 16 to 60. And we also welcome applications from adults seeking voluntary work [18].
Interviewer: I might apply. Thanks for talking to me today.
Wildlife park representative: You’re welcome.

Part 3

Speaker 1: For some people it’s a harmless enough activity. They can have the odd bet, buy the occasional lottery ticket and it doesn’t do them any harm. But for me it was like the money didn’t have any value; it was just about winning. As soon as I had cash I’d gamble it away [19]. Fortunately, I was one of the lucky ones; I got help and my family were very supportive. And I don’t have a problem with it any more… I don’t think it’s considered a problem by society in the same way that drug addiction is, for example, but I think it should be.

Speaker 2: Some people say that drugs are largely to blame for most criminal activity these days and that if they legalized hard drugs it would make a huge difference to the crime figures. But I hope they never do ‘cos then I’d be out of a job. I’m not an addict myself. I don’t do drugs. That’s for idiots and that’s not why I became a dealer. It was simply a case of making a living. OK, I know that in the eyes of the law I’m a criminal, but if I don’t do it, someone else will. That’s how I see it. It’s an easy way to make money, but unless I get caught, I’ve got no intention of doing an ordinary job. There’s just not enough money in it [20].

Speaker 3: When I was at university, I took out a loan to help me pay my way, and by the time I graduated I owed £4,000. To be honest, I wasn’t really bothered at first as I expected to get a good job straight away and be able to pay it back quite quickly. However, I still haven’t got a proper job and now I owe £3,000 on my credit cards on top of the bank loan, and I’ve got absolutely no idea what I’m going to do. I realize it ‘s entirely my own fault [21], but I think credit card companies and banks are also to blame. It’s just too easy to get credit nowadays.

Speaker 4: Money was always a problem. When I met John, he had a good job, but he lost it shortly after we got married. However, I had a job and I thought we could make ends meet. Then I got pregnant and had to give up work to look after the baby. John still couldn’t find a job and by this time there was another one on the way. We couldn’t afford to buy nice things for the kids or go out or do anything. That’s when we started arguing, and from then on things just got worse. In the end, we split up. I think if we hadn’t had money problems, we might still be together [22].

Speaker 5: If you owe money, you worry about how on earth you are going to pay it back. If you can’t afford to buy your kids presents for Christmas you get stressed and upset. Even when you’ve got enough money, you think you need more. I got caught up in the rat race, just trying to earn more and more. I was working too hard, and if I hadn’t done something about it, I’d have found myself having a heart attack when I was still in my forties. [23] Now, I realize there are far more important things in life than money.

Part 4

Interviewer: I’m talking to Jackie Gould, who’s a very proud mother. Both of her daughters – Olivia, aged 12, and Alicia, seven – are currently appearing on the stage of the world-famous London Palladium theatre, in the musical The Sound of Music. Olivia and Alicia survived six auditions to be picked from 1,000 hopefuls for the group of seven children playing the Von Trapp family in the show. So how did it all come about?
Jackie: Well, until last year, the idea of them appearing at the London Palladium would have been unthinkable for our family. Things started to happen when Olivia auditioned for a production of the show Annie at the local theatre. She auditioned for the chorus and, by chance, got the leading role instead. [24]
Interviewer: That’s a very big role, the leading one in Annie, isn’t it?
Jackie: Yes, for Annie, Olivia had to learn more than 200 lines. She was on stage for most of the two-hour show. It was a big script, and I decided that we’d do ten pages a night. After memorising it, I gave her a random line. She would have to tell me what the next line was. She picked it all up even better than her homework.
Interviewer: And she did well in the part, presumably?
Jackie: She was great in the part. Everyone was astonished by her performance, including us. She had always been very shy, and she suddenly came out of her shell. We found that she could really sing. [25] A member of the stage management team for the show was taking over a local agency and asked her to sign up. So then she had an agent to represent her and try to get roles for her.
Interviewer: OK. so what happened next?
Jackie: Well, Olivia was turned down for a part in the musical Mary Poppins. She reached the last ten for the role of Jane Banks. She didn’t get the part and was distraught [26]. But she quickly picked herself up and then we took both children to the Palladium auditions for The Sound o f Music.
Interviewer: What was that like?
Jackie: Well, we arrived for the auditions at 8.30 a.m., as instructed, only to find a huge crowd ahead of us. Eventually, more than 1,000 children turned up. They said at first that they could only see 230 kids. We were at about number 250 and, with a visit to our local festival planned for the next day, we couldn’t come back. [27] We begged them to see our daughters and eventually they agreed.
Interviewer: And it went well?
Jackie: Both girls sang ‘Over The Rainbow’ for the producers and a week later they were told they had passed the initial hurdle. Their first call-back involved singing the harmonies for the title theme, as well as the song The Lonely Goatherd’ from the show [28]. I helped them rehearse by playing the tunes on our old upright piano in our dining room. They really worked hard and decided that for all auditions they would wear what they felt were their lucky clothes. Alicia had on a skirt and top and some dolly shoes. Olivia wore three-quarter length trousers, a stripy T-shirt and dolly shoes.
Interviewer: So they got through that audition?
Jackie: Yes, and for the next one they had to read some poetry, and eventually they got to the sixth and final one. It was all quite tense at the last audition. Alicia was already set to appear in a local show, so she was not openly worried, and Olivia joked that if she was rejected she could still sell programmes at the show [29]. I impressed upon them that they need not worry if they were rejected, as much depended on whether their faces fitted, or they were the right height. I told them it was all down to luck.
Interviewer: But they passed, and now they’re in the show. They must be thrilled.
Jackie: Yes. But it hasn’t gone to their heads. I’ve told them both they’re very lucky, and if all fails, life will go on as usual. They’re both quite quiet, not show-offs, and they’ve got their feet firmly on the ground [30].
Interviewer: Well, wish them good luck from me.
Jackie: I will. Thanks.
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