IELTS LISTENING – Short Story Competition S6T1

IELTS Listening Short Story Competition listening practice test has 10 questions belongs to the Leisure & Entertainment subject.

Dave: Good morning Dave speaking.

Candidate: Hi I’m phoning about this short story competition I saw an advert in a magazine and I was just calling to get some details.

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Dave: Yes certainly I’m the competition organizer so I should be able to help.

Dave: What kind of details are you looking for?

Candidate: Well doesn’t cost anything to enter.

Dave: Yes.

Dave: There is an entry fee of five pounds.

Candidate: Okay, that should be fine.

Candidate: It’s a short story competition so how many words is that?

Dave: Well we want to give people a reasonable amount of freedom but the guidelines are around _Q1 three thousand words.

Candidate: Oh that’s sounds quite a lot.

Dave: Well it’s not as much as it used to be we did have a limit of five thousand words but some people so that was too many so this year we’ve reduced it.

Candidate: Right, and because the story needs to be about anything in particular.

Dave: No you can write about any topic you like but the main point of the competition is that it has to have a _Q2 surprise ending.

Candidate: Oh, I see that sounds interesting I don’t think I’ve ever written a story like that before.

Dave: Yes it’s something we’ve introduced for this year’s competition.

Candidate: Alright, I’m eighteen is there any hmm it?

Dave: Yes you need to be _Q3 sixteen or over so if your eighteen that’s fine.

Candidate: Great.

Candidate: So you have the competition once a year is that right?

Dave: Yes we start advertising in January and the competition takes up a lot of the year.

Dave: We give people a few months to write that story and then it takes quite a long time to judge all the entries and to announce the winner is.

Candidate: I see so when is the closing date for the competition it’s already April I hope I’m not too late.

Dave: No you’ve still got plenty of time you need to submit your entry by the _Q4 first of august often then it will be too late although you can always ends in next year’s competition.

Candidate: Okay, Good.

Candidate : So how do I answer?

Dave: Well we have a website and the best way to answer is to complete the entry form online we also have more details of the competition on the site shall I give you the web address?

Candidate: Yes, please.

Dave: Okay it’s www._Q5 comp4ss .com

Dave: P. 4.

Dave: S. S. dot com and that’s the number four, not the word for.

Candidate: Ok thanks. I’ve got that.

Candidate : So I can complete the entry form online but how do I send this story do I printed out and send it to you?

Dave: Well you may want to print the story out so you can review it but don’t _Q6 post it to us when you finish your story you will need to email it to us.

Dave: The email address is on the website I gave you.

Candidate: Okay that’s fine. Can you tell me a bit about how the competition is judged and what the prices are?

Dave: Yes of course.

Dave: Well once we have all the entries I send them to all the judges.

Dave: Our competition is quite popular so we are lucky to be able to use _Q7 famous authors who are very interested in the competition.

Candidate: That’s fantastic. It’s great to know that someone famous will be reading my story.

Dave: Yes that’s right it takes them quite a while to read through the entries but eventually they decide on the top five stories.

Candidate: I see and what happens then?

Dave: Well they will be published _Q8 online so everyone can read them they will not be in any order at this point.

Dave: They will just be the five stories that the judges think of the best.

Candidate: and all the top five stories get prices.

Dave: No it’s just the top story and the runner-up.

Candidate: So how is the top story decided?

Dave: Well once the top five stories are available it will be the _Q9 public who will vote for their favorite story.

Candidate: Right, I see so I need to get all my friends to vote for me then.

Dave: Yes that’s a good idea.

Candidate: And what is the price?

Dave: Well the runner-up gets a prize of three hundred pounds.

Dave: but the winner gets a trip to _Q10 Spain to attend a workshop for writers.

Candidate: Wow that’s brilliant, I’d better get writing straight away.

Dave: Yes good luck.

Candidate: Thanks.

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IELTS LISTENING – CERAMICS S5T4

IELTS Listening: CERAMICS listening practice test has 10 questions belongs to the Arts / Education subject..

Lecturer: Hi everyone today I’m going to be talking about the origins of ceramics. So, first of all, let’s start off with what is ceramic well generally speaking ceramics or what you get when you apply heat to certain in organic non-metallic solids and then allow them to cool and examples of ceramics are everyday things like earthenware pots, crockery, glassware and even concrete so how did it all begin well it all started around _Q31 twenty-nine thousand years ago when humans discovered that if you dig up some soft clay from the ground mold it into a shape and then heat it up to a very high temperature when it cools the clay has been transformed into something hard and rigid and so what did those first humans do with their discovery.

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Well, they created figurines which was small statues and which depicted animals or gods or any shape that the clay could be molded into and all this activity was centered around _Q32 southern Europe where there is also evidence of ceramics that were created much later. The early humans also found a practical use for their discovery such as storing things like grain although there were drawbacks the pots were porous so that although they could carry _Q33 water in them it wasn’t possible to store it over a long period and also they were quite brittle and shattered very easily if they were dropped but despite these problems, it was many thousands of years before there were any improvements in China at around 200 BC they discovered that by adding _Q34 minerals to the clay they could improve both the appearance and the strength of the ceramics.

But, it took nearly a thousand years before they perfected the process to produce high-quality ceramics known as porcelain and once they had perfected the process they kept it a secret for another thousand years compared to the first ceramics porcelain was lighter, finer, harder, and whiter and became an important commodity in China’s trading with the rest of the world for hundreds of years. In fact, it became so valuable that it was known as _Q35 white gold, and spies were sent to China to discover what they did to the clay to produce such high-quality merchandise. It wasn’t until the 18th century that the secret began to unravel a German alchemist called yo hand free drink vodka was asked by the King to make gold out of lead unfortunately but gear failed to achieve this and soon gave up but in order to please the king he attempted to make high-quality porcelain and after many years of experimentation he discovered that by adding coal and a material called _Q36 China stone to very high-quality clay he managed to get the same results that the Chinese have been achieving for the last 1,000 years will now look at another ceramic which is made from mixing sand with minerals and heating to over 600 degrees Celsius when this mixture cools the result is of course glass. The main difference between ceramics made from clay and glass is that clay is made up of crystalline plates which become locked together in the

_Q37 cooling process whereas glass cools too quickly the crystals to form.Apart from that the process of heating up naturally occurring materials to transform them is the same. The origins of glass date back to 3500 BC but it wasn’t until the Roman Empire 2,000 years ago that the art of glass blowing and the practical uses of glass became more widespread one of the more innovative uses was to use it in _Q38 windows as up until then they had just been holes in walls it must have been very drafty in those days. The Romans were also responsible for inventing concrete and although the origins are uncertain experts think that this is largely due to the high level of volcanic activity in the area the Romans observe that when _Q39 volcanic ash mixes with water and then cools it gets extremely hard and almost impossible to break up.

The chemical reaction that follows is very complex and continues for many years and the concrete just keeps getting harder evidence of this of the numerous Roman remains that are still standing many of which are almost completely intact one of the most important facts about concrete for the Romans was that it can be created underwater as the Roman Empire grew the Romans needed to take control of the Seas and for this, they needed to build _Q40 harbours capable of holding a fleet of ships pouring concrete mixture into the sea immediately started the hardening process and rather than just dissolving in the mass of water the substance was tough and long-lasting this strange characteristic of concrete made a significant contribution to the success of the Roman Empire.

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IELTS LISTENING – Changes in Barford over the last 50 years S3T2

IELTS Listening Changes in Barford over the last 50 years  listening practice test has 10 questions belongs to the Local Development / Environment subject.

MAN: First of all, let me thank you all for coming to this public meeting, to discuss the future of our town. Our first speaker is Shona Ferguson, from Barford town council. Shona.

SHONA: Thank you. First I’ll briefly give you some background information, then I’ll be asking you for your comments on developments in the town.

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Well, as you don’t need me to tell you, Barford has changed a great deal in the last 50 years. These are some of the main changes.

Fifty years ago, buses linked virtually every part of the town and the neighbouring towns and villages. Most people used them frequently, but not now, because the bus companies concentrate on just the routes that attract most passengers. _Q11 So parts of the town are no longer served by buses. Even replacing old uncomfortable buses with smart new ones has had little impact on passenger numbers. It’s sometimes said that bus fares are too high, but in relation to average incomes, fares are not much higher than they were 50 years ago.

Changes in the road network are affecting the town. The center was recently closed to traffic on a trial basis, making it much safer for pedestrians. The impact of this is being measured. _Q12 The new cycle paths separating bikes from cars in most main roads are being used far more than was expected, reducing traffic and improving air quality. And although the council’s attempts to have a bypass constructed have failed, we haven’t given up hope of persuading the government to change its mind.

Shopping in the town center has changed over the years. Many of us can remember when the town was crowded with people going shopping. Numbers have been falling for several years, despite efforts to attract shoppers, for instance by opening new car parks. Some people combine shopping with visits to the town’s restaurants and cafes. Most shops are small independent stores, which is good, but many people prefer to use supermarkets and department stores in nearby large towns, as there are so _Q13 few well-known chain stores here.

Turning now to medical facilities, the town is served by family doctors in several medical practices -fewer than 50 years ago, but each catering for far more patients. _Q14 Our hospital closed 15 years ago. which means journeys to other towns are unavoidable. On the other hand, there are more dentists than there used to be. Employment patterns have changed, along with almost everything else. The number of _Q15 schools and colleges has increased, making that the main employment sector. Services, such as website design and accountancy, have grown in importance, and surprisingly, perhaps, manufacturing hasn’t seen the decline that has affected it in other parts of the country.

Now I’ll very quickly outline current plans for some of the town’s facilities, before asking for your comments. As you’ll know if you regularly use the car park at the railway station, it’s usually full. The railway company applied for permission to replace it with a multi-story car park, but that was refused. Instead, the company has bought some adjoining land, and this will be used to _Q16 increase the number of parking spaces.

_Q17 The Grand, the old cinema in the high street, will close at the end of the year and reopen on a different site. You’ve probably seen the building under construction. The plan is to have three screens with fewer seats, rather than just the one large auditorium in the old cinema.

I expect many of you shop in the indoor market. It’s become more and more shabby• looking, and because of fears about safety, it was threatened with demolition. The good news is that it will _Q18 close for six weeks to be made safe and redecorated, and the improved building will open in July.

Lots of people use the library, including school and college students who go there to study. The council has managed to secure funding to keep _Q19 the library open later into the evening, twice a week We would like to enlarge the building in the not-too-distant future, but this is by no means definite.

There’s no limit on access to the nature reserve on the edge of town, and this will continue to be the case. What will change, though, is that the council will no longer be in charge of the area. Instead, it will become the responsibility of a national body that _Q20 administers most nature reserves in the country.

OK, now let me ask you …

 

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IELTS LISTENING – Anglia Sculpture Park S11T2

IELTS LISTENING Anglia Sculpture Park listening practice test has 10 questions belongs to the Leisure & Arts / Tourism  subject.

Guide: Hello, everyone and Welcome to the Anglia sculpture park, right? Well, the idea behind the sculpture park is that it’s a place where works of art such as large sculptures and carvings can be displayed out of doors in a natural setting. As you’ll have noticed when you drove here, most of the land around the park is farmland. The park itself belonged to a family called the De Quincies, who had made a lot of money from manufacturing farm machinery and who also owned substantial stretches of forest land to the north of the park.

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_Q11 They built a house in the center of the park, not far from where we’re standing now, but this burnt down in 1980 the De Quincies then sold the land. The Anglia sculpture park isn’t the only one in the country. Several of the London parks sometimes display contemporary sculptures, and there are a couple of other permanent sculpture parks in England. But we’re unique in that some of our sculptures were actually created for the sites they occupy here and, we also _Q12 shows sculptures by a wider range of artists than anywhere else in the country. For example, at present, we have an exhibition by Joe Tremaine of what he calls burnt sculptures. These are wood and stone sculptures that he’s carved and marked with fire to _Q13 illustrate the ferocity and intensity of the forces that have shaped our planet over millions of years. They look really dramatic in this rural setting to see some of the sculptures you’ll need to follow the path alongside the lower lake. _Q14 We had to renovate this after the lake overflowed its banks a couple of months ago and flooded the area. The water levels back to normal now, and you shouldn’t have any trouble. The paths very level underfoot. You should be back at the visitor center at about four o’clock. If you have time, it’s worth taking a look at the center itself. It’s not possible to go upstairs at present.

_Q15 As builders are working, they’re adding another floor, but the rest well worth seeing. The architect was Guy King. He was actually born in this part of England, but he recently designed the museum in Canada that won a prize for innovation in public buildings. If you want to get something to eat when you get back, like _Q16 a snack or a sandwich, the terrace room is currently closed, but you can go to the kiosk and buy something, then sit on one of the chairs overlooking the lower lake on. Enjoy the view as you’re eating.

Now let me just tell you a bit about what you can see in the sculpture park. If you look at your map, you’ll see the visitor center where we are now at the bottom, just by the entrance. Since we only have an hour, you might not be able to get right around the park. But you can choose to visit some of the highlights. You might like to take a look at the _Q17 Joe Tremaine sculptures, which are displayed on this side of the upper lake just behind the Education center on near the bridge. They’re really impressive, but please remember not to let your Children climb on them. One of our most popular exhibitions is the _Q18 Giorgio catalucci bird sculptures. They’re just across the bridge on the north side of the lower lake. I love the way they’re scattered around in the long grass beside the lake, looking as if they’re just about to take to their wings. You could also go to the _Q19 Garden gallery. It’s on this side of the upper lake from the visitor center. You go to the education center, then keep on along the path and you’ll see it on your right. There’s an exhibition of animal carvings there, which is well worth a look. We also have the _Q20 Long house that’s quite a walk. From here. You go to the bridge and then turn left on the other side. Soon you’ll see a winding pathway going up toward the northern boundary of the park. Go up there and you’ll find it at the top. They have some abstract metal sculptures that are well worth seeing if you have time. Okay, well, now, if you’re …

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