FCE Listening Practice Test 27

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

Question 1
Police Officer: So… what exactly did you see, sir?
Man: Well, I was waiting for the bus and I sort of half  noticed this man coming along the pavement. I kept looking at my watch – ’cause I was worried about the time, you know – so I didn’t pay much attention until I heard the glass breaking. Anyway, I turned round and saw this man grab a handful of gold chains. Well, I mean, it’s a jeweller’s shop, you know, but I suppose he only wanted things he could run off with, so he left the silver vases and stuff and just took the necklaces [1], you know…

Question 2
Doctor: If you’ll just have a seat, Mrs Thomas, so I can have a little look… Open wide. Mm, still a bit red and swollen. Have you been taking the tablets I prescribed? And cut down on the cigarettes? [2]
Patient: Yes, Doctor. It’s actually not half as sore as it was.
Doctor: Mm, yes. It’s not too bad. Your voice sounds better as well. Just take the tablets for a few more days, and we’ll have another look then…

Question 3
Man: Ms Stevens, can I speak to you for a moment?
Woman: Yes, Mr Davis.
Man: I know you’re extremely busy, but something’s come up and I – well, this fax came through a few minutes ago and they want me at head office immediately, and there’s this meeting at 2 o’clock that I’m supposed to be at, so I wondered if… uhr…
Woman: Oh, you want me to do the photocopies for the meeting?
Man: Er… actually, if you could just be there, take a few notes and – I mean, if it’s not too much trouble. [3]
Woman: It’s a bit difficult, actually – I’ve got hundreds of faxes to send – but I suppose I can manage…

Question 4
Man: I’m really looking forward to getting away. So we’re leaving on Wednesday the 18th, then?
Woman: Oh, no! I forgot to tell you – Sarah’s wedding is on that Saturday and we have to be here for it.
Man: Hmm. So we’ve got to wait until… what, the 20th?
Woman: What d’you mean? That’s Friday – the day before the wedding! No… she’s getting married in the morning, though, so if we’re packed and ready I suppose we can leave the same afternoon. [4]
Man: Right. That’s settled, then.

Question 5
Man: Honestly, if he’s always away on business I don’t see how we’ll ever manage it.
Woman: Well, I’ve checked his calendar, and it seems he’s back on the 15th, just for a couple of days…
Man: OK, we’ll try to arrange it for then – I mean, if he’s not in meetings the whole time…
Woman: Let’s do it at lunchtime, then. I’m sure he’ll find the time. After all, it’s his fortieth birthday.
Man: Yes – and he did say he’d like to do something special. Anyway, that sounds good. Can you get a cake? [5]
Woman: Yeah, sure, [buzzer] Oh, my meeting – I’ve got to go. We’ll talk later.

Question 6
I’d like to make an appointment to see Dr Forrester, please… Well, it’s not that urgent, I’m just not happy about my back. I’ve been in quite a lot of pain… Well, today’s Wednesday, isn’t it? And there’s no way the doctor can see me before next Wednesday?.. What? Only if it’s an emergency? Well, I really don’t think that’s very good… Oh, you’ve got a cancellation? Super!… Friday morning, half past ten? Yes, that’d be good. Right – I’ll see you then. [6]

Question 7
Well, when I left school yesterday I definitely had my books with me, I remember putting them in my bag. And then I went straight to the library. I like working there, ’cause it’s quiet and I can get all my work done before I go home. Well, I packed up my stuff after I finished my homework, and then I went home. And when I got home, I took out the books from my bag, but I couldn’t believe it – they weren’t mine! I’d picked up somebody else’s books by mistake… [7]

Question 8
Woman: Well, of course Stuart is my first choice. I don’t know why, but I always think of it as a hero’s name. [8]
Man: Yes, but my father was Gregory, and I know my mother would be so pleased if we named the baby after him. It would be… kind of respectful.
Woman: Oh, you know I’ve never liked that name. It’s so old-fashioned. But I wouldn’t mind calling him Steven. It’s your brother’s name, after all, and then he could be called Stevie for short.
Man: No, no, it’s too confusing when everybody has the same name. Er… let’s just stick with your first choice. [8]

Part 2

Lecturer: This week, the temperature across the country will be hitting 30 degrees and above. So jumping in the pool sounds like a pretty good idea, right? But if you have little kids, you need to know that a swimming pool can be an extremely risky place for them. [9] So I’m really glad to be invited here today to talk to you about keeping your children safe in the water. Oh – and if you want more information afterwards, I have copies of a fact sheet from the Royal Lifesaving Society here, and you can also visit our website… uh, the address is printed on the back. [10]

To most parents, teaching very small kids to swim isn’t a high priority. So I’d like to start by quoting the old saying, “prevention is better than cure”. In other words, teach your child to swim as soon as possible. You can take your baby to the pool when it’s as young as 3 months. By the age of 6 months, the child should be able to begin having lessons. [11]

After that, you should take your child to the swimming pool as often as possible. What’s important is to get them used to the water. After a few lessons, even very young children can be taught to just roll over and float on their backs, blow bubbles and generally enjoy life. [12] That means that if they do fall in a pool accidentally, they’re not afraid and they have a good chance of staying alive until an adult finds them. Of course, as parents, you can do much more. Make sure someone is always supervising children around the pool. Take your children to public pools which have trained lifeguards. And if your child goes to a friend’s pool, always check to see that there are enough supervisors. As a rule, there should be one supervising adult for every four kids under eight. [13] And there’s a simple message to tell your kids: “if there’s no adult around, you can’t go near the water.” [14]

Talking of private pools – swimming pools in people’s homes, I mean – these should be your biggest worry in the summer months. More than ten times as many water-related accidents happen at home than at public pools. [15] By law, you must have a securely fastened fence around the pool. It’s also a good idea to have a back door alarm that makes a loud sound if your child ever decides to explore outside by him or herself. [16]

When you go to the beach you have to be extra careful. [17] Always, and I really do mean always, keep an eye on your child. A small child can get into trouble even in small waves. Also, avoid all those kind of blowup toys that kids love. They may be fun, but they can easily be blown out to sea. And – this may seem an obvious thing to say, but you’d be amazed how many people ignore it – never, I repeat never, swim when the red flag is flying. [18] Apart from that, have a great time at the beach!

Part 3

Speaker 1
Although at my age some people might expect me to be sitting in a comfortable chair knitting socks, I like more than anything to get out and train. I’m in the middle of quite a vigorous training schedule, and I would love to compete for Britain, maybe in the triathlon or something with a bit of variety. It seems a bit crazy having all these ambitions at 70 [19], but I’ve never really been your typical “stay-at-home” grandmother. I’d rather go for a jog round the village than stay in the kitchen baking cakes. Maybe I’m mad. What I’d love to do is get a group of all us old age pensioners together and start training them – a sort of “keep fit for the aged”.

Speaker 2
I firmly believe that the body is a temple, so I actually regulate very carefully what goes into mine, and what I do with it. Well, I swim two miles a day before work, and after I get home from the office, I work out in the gym for about 2 or 3 hours. At weekends, when I have more time, I like nothing more than to go for a long run [20]; it really helps me to think and get all the week’s events and problems into perspective. I guess exercise can be a bit like a drug – it does give me a high. My friends sometimes complain that I don’t have enough time for them because I’d rather be down at the gym… but if I want to stay looking this good I think it’s a small price to pay.

Speaker 3
I’m out every weekend with the boys. We kick a ball round and we also organise games with some of the other local clubs – I suppose we’ve got a mini-league going, really. It’s fun, ’cause we’re all mates; we’ve known each other for years and so it means we get to see each other regularly. If we’re playing a match, then all the wives and kids come along and cheer us on. [21] None of us are really fit… I mean, look at me – I’m hardly what you’d call in great shape. We just do it for a bit of a laugh. I don’t think we’d enjoy it so much if it got serious and competitive; it’s just fun getting out and running round a pitch. It keeps us feeling young, I suppose.

Speaker 4
Every day we’re sent outside – even when it’s freezing cold – to play hockey or football or whatever. For two hours we’re made to stand there in our shorts or run up and down. I hate it. [22] I’ve tried getting doctors’ notes to say I can’t play, but it makes no difference. The teachers say that doing sport is character-building, but I say it’s character-destroying. I’d so much rather be sitting somewhere warm, reading or watching TV or, you know, exercising the mind. When I get into the sixth form, sports won’t be compulsory any more, and on that day I’m going to celebrate. Yeah, okay, so some people actually enjoy sport – but surely if you don’t like it, you shouldn’t have to do it.

Speaker 5
The doctor says I should try to get regular exercise – y’know, a bit every day. That’s why I got the dog – so I could take it for long walks. It gets me out of the house, really. My condition’s not serious – the specialists say I could live for another 50 years. [23] I didn’t really have an active life before the attack, but it really scared me. And now I’m out and about walking, and sometimes I even do a bit of swimming. I don’t watch TV so much any more. I suppose I’m worried I’ll slip back into bad habits.

Part 4

Presenter: Hello, and welcome to “Something You Should Know”. Did you know that getting your dog to behave may be easier than you think? I’m with dog trainer Jane Fennet, author of the book Hear Your Dog. Jane, what’s the best way to deal with a disagreeable dog?
Jane: If you want a quiet and happy life with your dog, it’s not good enough to just give it biscuits. You have to make sure that the dog knows that you are its leader. Then and only then will it obey you. [24]
Presenter: You say in your book that a common problem is when you come home and your dog jumps all over you because he’s so glad you’re home.
Jane: I ask people to just walk in and ignore that jumping dog, wait for that dog to calm right down, give it an extra five minutes and then call the dog to you. But a lot of people say, “but I like my dog greeting me at the door this way”. You may like it, but it’s actually very bad.
Presenter: Because you’re letting your dog take the lead?
Jane: Right. If you let your dog think it’s the boss, then it becomes responsible for you, and then it thinks it has to look after you. [25]
Presenter: What about dogs giving this kind of ‘friendly’ welcome to visitors?
Jane: If the dog thinks it’s the one in charge, when somebody comes to your door, it’ll think its duty is to defend you. That means it’ll bark and jump up at visitors. It’ll also pull on its leash when you take it for walks because, hey, where should the boss be but up front? [26]
Presenter: And will dogs sometimes test your leadership?
Jane: One of my dogs, when I throw the ball for him, he’ll pick it up the first time and drop it about ten feet from me. That’s a test. He’s asking, will I go and pick that ball up today? And my answer is, no, my furry friend, you come to me. That’s his test, that’s fine. I just meet that test with my leadership qualities. I’m making him come to me. I’m showing him who’s in charge. [27]
Presenter: So you should never need to shout at a dog, just lead it?
Jane: Say I’m working with a dog and I ask it to come to me and it ignores me. I will ignore that dog for a few days, until that dog sees, oh no, I’m in trouble here. And then when I ask it to come, it will come. [28]
Presenter: And you think that intelligent dogs can have more behaviour problems?
Jane: Well, we all love intelligent, active dogs. You can do more with them. But look, we’re out at work all the time, there are fewer people staying at home during the day and there’s less exercise given to the dogs and less mental stimulation offered to dogs during the day. Intelligent dogs behave badly when they’re bored. So do lonely ones. They bark, destroy things, bite themselves…. Really, smart dogs just get angry because they can’t get outside and run about. And that can make their owners angry. [29]
Presenter: So it’s our modern-day lifestyle which is a problem for these dogs. What’s the solution?
Jane: To be honest, if we won’t change our lives, maybe the time has come to dumb down the dog. You really need a dog that fits your lifestyle. Suppose that you have a lifestyle where you’re out of the house, er, at work, say 8 to 10 hours a day, well, I mean, you don’t want a really smart dog like a Doberman Pinscher, because he’s going to get bored. If you had a bulldog, they’re the third slowest thinking dogs, and it’s going to take him 6 to 8 hours to realise you’re gone. [30]
Presenter: So if you don’t want your furniture eaten while you’re out at work, get a dumb dog! Jane Fennet, thank you for talking to us today…