Manager: Bramley Community Centre. How can I help?
Woman: Oh hi. I’m calling about the art classes that the centre off ers.
I had a quick look at your website. I think one of the classes is called
something like ‘Movement and Light’?
Manager: That’s right. The focus is on painting in the style of the French
Impressionists.
Woman: Yes, I saw that in the description. But I’ve got a few questions if
you don’t mind.
Manager: Sure, go ahead.
Woman: Well, do I need to bring anything to the class? Or is everything
supplied?
Manager: Not quite. What you’d need to do is get yourself some brushes (1)
– I’d suggest a range of them, you know, in different sizes.
Woman: All right. Yes, I guess it would make sense to bring your own. I’ll
make a note of that.
Manager: And you know what the fee for the class is?
Woman: For one term – it’s $170 isn’t it?
Manager: That’s right. But if you sign up for two terms, it actually works
out cheaper.
Woman: How much would that be?
Manager: $285 (2). And we do find that a lot of people sign up for a couple of
terms – it’s such a great class.
Woman: OK, I’ll give it some thought. And that’s on Monday evenings,
isn’t it?
Manager: Yes, from 6p.m. to 8p.m. In room 15.
Woman: And who’s the tutor?
Manager: The tutor? He’s a local artist. You might have heard of him.
Steve Ramdhanie.
Woman: Oh possibly. How do you spell that surname?
Manager: It’s R-A-M-D-H-A-N-I-E (3). Got that?
Woman: Yes, thanks. Now, you’ve also got a class called ‘Clay Basics’. It’s
a pottery class, right?
Manager: Yes, that’s right.
Woman: Do we get to use a pottery wheel?
Manager: Yes you do.
Woman: Oh great. But we’d be making something simple, I hope. I can’t
imagine producing a vase or anything with a handle.
Manager: No, in the first term, you’d just be producing two or three
bowls (4). That means learning how to shape and glaze them.
Woman: Sounds great. I guess it would be a bit of a messy activity. You
wouldn’t want to wear your smart clothes, would you?
Manager: Best not to. I’d recommend wearing something old – that you
didn’t mind getting dirty.
Woman: Well, I have a shirt (5) like that that I could use. I’d just roll up the
sleeves, I guess.
Manager: And the fee for that class is $180 per term.
Woman: All right.
Manager: And the class runs on Wednesdays, 6.30 to 8.30p.m. Oh hang
on, I’ve got that wrong.
Woman: It’s on a Thursday (6), isn’t it?
Manager: Yes, my mistake. What else can I tell you? Oh yes, the tutor’s
name is Theresa Clark. Her works on display in reception here.
Woman: Oh great. I’ll have a look.
Manager: Yeah, if you’ve got time.
Now listen and answer questions 7 to 10.
Woman: Um, now the other class I thought looked interesting was
‘Sketching Architecture’.
Manager: Oh, yes. For that one everyone goes down to the local park,
because it’s surrounded by so many beautiful old buildings.
Woman: Oh, right. Like the old post office.
Manager: Well, I think you begin by drawing the library (7). There’s a good
view of it from the park, I believe.
Woman: OK, nice. Actually, come to think of it, I think I’ve seen the
sketching class down in the park when I’ve driven past. Don’t they all
take a fold-up chair with them?
Manager: I believe so.
Woman: Is there anything else I ought to know?
Manager: Well, the people who do the class - they tend to make
a sandwich (8) for themselves, and bring that along. So, I’d recommend
you do that too.
Woman: Good idea. I get grumpy when I’m hungry.
Manager: All right, that’s $160 per term for that class, and it’s on Fridays,
from 11 a.m. till 1.
Woman: So, if the classes are in the park – that’s quite a big area. Where
do we actually meet?
Manager: Good point. Everyone usually heads along just before 11a.m.,
and they meet each other at the top of Victoria Street, at the Station
Road (9) end.
Woman: So, on the corner? Great. And the tutor is ...?
Manager: Annie Li.
Woman: You know what, I’ll have to think about the other two, but I’d
definitely like to enrol for Annie’s class. I’m happy to pay now.
Manager: In that case, you’re going to need Annie’s cell phone number in
case you’re running late or the class gets cancelled.
Woman: I see. OK, what’s the number, please?
Manager: It’s 021 785 6361 (10). Just text her if there’s a problem. Now, how
would you like to pay? We can…

1 brushes
The question says ‘a set of’ and this is
paraphrased in the recording as ‘a range of...in
different sizes’.
2 285/ two hundred and eighty-five
Distraction The woman has seen on the website that
the cost for one term is $170, but the manager says
that the cost for two terms would be cheaper. The
question requires you to write the cost for two terms.
3 Ramdhanie (this can also be written in capitals)
4 bowls
The question says ‘several’ and this is
paraphrased in the recording as ‘two or three’.
Distraction The woman says she hopes she
wouldn’t have to produce a vase or anything with a
handle, and the manager confirms that this is true.
5 shirt
Distraction neither ‘clothes’ nor ‘sleeves’ will fit
grammatically into the gap
6 Thursday
Distraction the manager admits that he was wrong
when he said ‘Wednesday’
7 library
Distraction the woman mentions a post office, but this
isn’t the kind of building the class will start drawing
8 sandwich
The question requires you to identify
something that the woman should take to the class
and the manager recommends that she ‘make a
sandwich’ and ‘bring that along’.
9 Station
You should be familiar with this kind of
word, so it was not spelt out
10 021 785 6361

Manager: Good afternoon. First of all, I want to say thank you for your
patience for the last six months. As you know, all the office staff had
to move to temporary offices while the renovation work at the factory
complex was taking place. But finally that work is finished, and everyone
can return to the factory complex, and their new office space. We’re
hoping everything will go smoothly but – there’s a couple of things we’ll
need you to do during your first week back.

You’ll be pleased to know that your files and folders have been placed
at your desk, so there’s no need for you to go hunting around for any
records. Um, a couple of people have asked whether their old pass
will still work at the security gate – or will they need to get their photo
done and update their personal details. I can assure you that the old
pass will still get you through the gate. No problem. Once you’ve had
a chance to settle in to the new offices, please take the time to view a
training video for the operating system we’re now using (11). We think it’s
going to manage all our programmes far more efficiently. Obviously, the
sooner you can get this done, the better. Also for next week, because the
renovations have meant a complete redesign of some of the company’s
buildings, you’ll need to attend a session on things like – what to do if
you hear the fire alarm go off, and where to meet if you have to evacuate
the buildings (12). We’ll let you know as soon as we have a definite time for
that. It’s going to be a busy week for everyone, but hopefully the kind of
challenge that can help bring the team together. We’ll make a time for
you to report back to me on Friday.

All right, we’ve also taken some steps to improve the physical
environment in your offices. Bigger windows mean that the offices are
a lot brighter – and that’s better for your eyes. Inside we’ve replaced
some dividing walls with coloured glass panels. They look great. We’ve
also invested in some adjustable chairs.(13) You can lower or raise them
to whatever height feels right for you. (14) What else? We’ve now got some
quality insulation in the ceilings and walls that’ll make everything a lot
warmer. Also – another thing – we’ve set aside several rooms for project
work. That will allow a team to get together around the same table. We
feel that more opportunities for face-to-face discussion will benefit the
whole company. So, when you…


Manager: OK, so let’s look at a plan of the factory complex, and see how
it’s changed. You can see that the main entrance is at the top of the
map, Ellerslie Road is on the left-hand side, and the warehouse is at the
bottom. OK, let’s start with one of the new buildings – the conference
centre, perhaps. If you look at the lower half of your plan, on the
right, there are two long buildings that are parallel to each other. The
conference centre is the one with a view of the river. (15) Hopefully that’s
something visitors to the factory complex will appreciate – especially on
a sunny day when it’s clear outside.

Now, what about the new office space? As you know, the offices used to
be in that large building right alongside Ellerslie Road, and that could get
a bit noisy at times. So what we’ve done is move the office space further
away from the road – into the building that directly joins on to Reception. (16)
This should mean employees can benefit from a quieter working
environment, as well as the other improvements I mentioned earlier.
We also decided to move the Stores building, so it could be a lot closer to
the warehouse.

So now, if you were going to enter the factory complex from the Ellerslie
Road entrance, Stores would be the building immediately on your left. (17)
The warehouse staff have already commented that having the Stores here
is much more convenient. Yes, I’m sure it’s going to save a lot of time.

Finance was another building that had to be relocated. They just didn’t
have enough space before. So, you can see the main entrance on the
plan. right? And below that is the roundabout. Then there’s the road
that goes from the roundabout directly to reception. Well, the Finance
building is about halfway along that road. On the plan, the factory’s just
above it. (18)

The café, just so you know, is in the same place as before. It’s not ideally
located for the factory workers, that’s true, but it’s not too far if you’re
heading down from Reception, or up from the warehouse. But what
we’ve done is try to make the environment a bit more pleasant. So,
whereas before you looked straight from the café onto the large car park,
now there’s a line of trees separating them. (19) I think you’ll agree that this
was a good decision – putting in the trees, I mean.

It was also necessary to relocate the IT department. Of course, for
some of their work, they can do it remotely, but from time to time, the
IT people do need to visit the different buildings around the factory
complex. For that reason, we’ve given the IT department a more central
location. It’s that square building you see right in the centre of the plan –
one of the closest buildings to the larger car park. (20) Something I’d like to
say about …

Questions 11–14
11/12 A/E (in any order)
Distraction B: The question concerns what employees
need to do when they return to their new office space,
but the manager explains that there is no need for
employees to ‘get their photo done and update their
personal details’. He goes on to say that their current pass
(=form of ID) will work; C: again, the manager explains
that all the files and folders (=boxes of documents) have
already been put on employees’ desks, so they won’t
have to move them; D: the manager says he expects
that next week might be ‘a challenge’, but he refers to
this in a positive way and does not suggest it will be a
problem. The phrase ‘to report back’ usually means to tell
someone, in person, how well or badly an activity went.
13/14 A/C (in any order)
Distraction B: The manager says that insulation will make
the office warmer, but this is not the same as a ‘heating
system’; D: some rooms will be used by teams to work on
projects together, but the manager does not say that any
rooms or working spaces have been made larger; E: the
windows in the office space have increased in size – so
there is more light coming into the area. But ‘the old type
of lights’ would be electrical, and there is no mention of
whether these have been changed or replaced.
Questions 15–20
15 I
16 B
17 F
18 C
19 E
20 D

Lecturer: OK, we’ve looked at the history of vitamin supplements and
thought about why people take them. We’ve also considered the reasons
why some health professionals are critical of the vitamin supplement
industry. Now work with a partner and discuss the key issues.
Lucy: Sam, shall we work together?
Sam: Sure. Let’s go over the history.
Lucy: Well, before the 1900s, when someone became weak and tired,
and it wasn’t clear why, doctors assumed they were suffering from an
infection – like a virus.
Sam: Or they’d been in contact with something poisonous or harmful. (21)
Something they’d handled or eaten. Doctors had no other explanation
for it.
Lucy: But in the early 1900s, that changed. That researcher in the
US -Joseph Goldberger, – he realised people who basically lived off
corn – they were getting ill because they weren’t eating anything else. (22)
Sam: Exactly. And other researchers were realising the same thing. Like,
in places where people only ate white rice – they were suffering from a
disease called beriberi.
Lucy: So the researchers concluded that there must be something
missing – that the stuff some people were eating had no nutritional
value. And from there, researchers began to identify vitamins – like A and
B – for the first time.
Sam: A huge scientific breakthrough.
Lucy: So doctors, the public, ...everyone got to hear about vitamins – first
that they existed, and second, you needed them to be healthy.
Sam: But it was governments that were really worried about vitamin
deficiency. Certainly in the US and in the UK, at least.
Lucy: What do you mean?
Sam: Well, in the 1930s those governments were worried about people’s
general health, because everyone was suddenly buying canned fruit,
artificial butter, meat in tins...that kind of thing. (23) It became very common.
And so newspapers were featuring lots of government reports about how
serious this was.
Lucy: I see.
Sam: And then, some people saw a business opportunity.
Lucy: Naturally.
Sam: In the 1940s, companies started making and selling vitamin
supplements in bottles. And they decided the easiest way to market
them was to target housewives.
Lucy: Why was that? Because housewives were responsible for keeping
families healthy?
Sam: I’d say so. In the weekly magazines housewives read, the companies
made exaggerated claims about what the supplements could do, and
they showed pictures of rats in a laboratory before and after they were
given vitamins. The ‘before’ pictures showed the rats looking very sick. (24)
Lucy: So they scared the housewives into buying their product.
Sam: Apparently.
Lucy: But vitamins were still expensive, weren’t they? It wasn’t until the
1950s that more people could afford to buy them.
Sam: Why was that?
Lucy: Well manufacturers had discovered how to produce vitamins
artificially and in enormous quantities in their factories. (25)
Sam: I suppose that’s what goes on with any product. It starts
expensive until manufacturers adapt their technology. Were there any
developments in the 1960s?
Lucy: Companies changed their promotional strategy to increase their
sales. They used movie stars to say how effective the supplements were. (26)
Sam: That’s still true today. Celebrity endorsement really seems to
work. Someone on the TV says vitamins have made them healthier and
immediately more consumers go out and buy them.


Lucy: So apparently the number of Australians taking vitamin
supplements has doubled in the last decade.
Sam: Incredible. I suppose so many fitness-related articles recommend
them.
Lucy: I wouldn’t say that that’s the reason. According to the research I
read, many Australians are just taking a more active approach to staying
well. They don’t want to rely on their doctor for everything, so they’re
turning to vitamins. (27) They can take those themselves and feel they’re
doing something positive.
So it doesn’t have anything to do with the fact the price has dropped
because so many companies are making supplements.
Sam: I doubt it. Even people in lower socio-economic groups are buying
them, apparently.
Lucy: Most of my own research has been about the US vitamin
supplement industry. Did you know the industry is under no obligation
to prove that their supplements actually work. I don’t think that’s right. (28)
Sam: How do you mean?
Lucy: Well, in the US, the Food and Drug Administration department
regards vitamin supplements as a food. With medicine – manufacturers
have to demonstrate that their products really can improve people’s
health, before they go on sale.
Sam: But you said vitamins are classed as a food.
Lucy: Yes, so the industry can sell whatever vitamin supplements they
like, you know: ‘This one will improve your brain function’ - even if
there’s nothing to support their claims.
Sam: That Danish experiment – thousands of people took part in that.
Lucy: Yes, the scientists wanted to see if high doses of vitamins really
could prevent medical problems like heart disease. Or just reduce the
chances of people getting a simple cold.
Sam: But the ‘high dose’ people were just as likely to get sick as the
people not taking any vitamins. That’s not to say that scientists now
know everything about vitamins. (29)
Lucy: No. Like you say, investigations and long-term trials need
to continue before they can be certain about what taking vitamin
supplements can actually achieve.
Sam: But in the meantime, do we need stricter regulation of the
supplement industry? Do you think people would stop buying and taking
vitamins if they were told it’s a waste of time?
Lucy: Hardly. No one likes being told what they can or can’t buy…
especially where health is concerned. (30)
Sam: Fair enough. I guess if the government made it harder to get certain
products, like say, fish oil with vitamin D, people would protest.
Lucy: They certainly would. What I think is that...

Questions 21–26
21 G
22 E
23 H
24 I
25 D
26 B
Questions 27–30
27 A
Distraction B: Lucy mentions that fitness-related articles
recommend (similar to ‘advise’) vitamins – but a health
authority is a government organisation. We are not told
who the authors of the articles may be. C: Lucy certainly
expresses the idea in C (the price has dropped…so many
manufacturers are making supplements) but Sam rejects
this as the reason for the increase in Australian sales.
28 C
Distraction A: Lucy refers to the Food and Drug
Administration agency, but she explains that they do
not require proof that vitamins work. Therefore, the
supplement industry has no guidelines to follow in this
case. B: Lucy mentions that some vitamins are said to
improve brain function, but this is the intended purpose
of the vitamin, not a possible harmful side effect.
29 B
Distraction A: Lucy refers to ‘a simple cold’ but she says
the Danish researchers found no evidence that vitamins
could prevent or treat this. C: Sam mentions ‘high doses’
(large amounts) but neither he or Lucy suggest that high
doses are harmful.
30 C
Distraction A: Sam puts forward the suggestion that people
would stop buying vitamin supplements but Lucy rejects
this idea (Hardly!) She goes on to explain why stricter
regulations wouldn’t make a difference to consumer’s
beliefs that vitamin supplements are worth taking. B: Lucy
mentions ‘fish oil with vitamin D’ – but does not say that
this product in particular should be regulated.

Student: So today I’m going to be talking about the way that different
insect species are being threatened. In other words, the reasons why
some insect populations are declining – and might even become extinct
in the 21st century. I’ll also talk about the consequences – if extinction
occurs – and some possible ways to prevent that.

Let’s start with the reasons. First of all, when we look at what’s going on
in Europe, we can see a huge decline in certain species of insect. This is
partly because farmers no longer allow certain plants to grow in their
fields. But farmers are not entirely to blame. The gardens that people
have nowadays don’t always contain the kind of plant that insects need. (31)
So perhaps we need to rethink what we’re putting there. In more tropical
regions of the world, for example, the Amazon rainforest, scientists have
noticed that the number of beetle and butterfly species also appears
to be diminishing. They put this down to climate change, rather than
say, the fragmentation of habitat (32) – but more research has to be done.
And then, there’s the use of pesticide, and of course, this happens
everywhere in the world. Pesticide is designed to kill a range of insects
that farmers don’t like, but it also kills bees, which they need. Pesticide
might not kill bees directly, but we know that it impacts on their spatial
skills – meaning they cannot make sense of what they see around them –
and also their memory. (33) This means that they cannot remember how to
get back to their hive.

So why worry about whether insects become extinct? Well, the
consequences would obviously be terrible not just for them, but for us.
Pretty much everywhere on the planet, with the exception of Antarctica,
insects are at the bottom of the food chain. They’re absolutely vital (34),
because if there were no insects, there would also be no birds or lizards
or mammals. Then there’s the role that insects play in crop production.
We use them to pollinate our fruit and vegetables, and it would be
impossible to manage without them. It’s also worth remembering that
scientists are now studying plants to find out whether they might be a
source of medicine in the future. (35) If these plants disappear because of
insect extinction, that would be another lost opportunity.

So, there’s some possible ways we could prevent insect extinction, some
more controversial than others. I think it’s a given that governments have
to do something about the sale of pesticides; in fact, some countries
have already passed laws to ban certain products. That’s a good move
forward. But ordinary people can also make a difference. If we cut down
on how much meat we ate, some of the land now used for grazing could
be turned back into insect-friendly environments. (36)

I’d like to finish with a positive story. There’s a place in California called
the Antioch Dunes. In the 1900s, people looked at the dunes and the
sand that formed them and thought ‘that sand is a great raw material’.
And because they needed to build houses, they removed tons and tons
of the sand and turned it into bricks. (37) It wasn’t really until the 1960s that
biologists suddenly realised that the Antioch Dunes had actually been
home to some unique species of plant and insect. But by this time, there
was only one species of butterfly left. The metalmark butterfly. And a
major problem for the metalmark was that it required a certain plant
to survive –something called the naked-stem buckwheat. It was on this
plant that it laid its eggs (38), so yes, you can see why the buckwheat was
important. Well, in the end, the only way that the biologists could get the
buckwheat to start growing properly was to replace the sand. That was a
great first step, but the metalmark butterfly is still endangered.

In the last decade, a significant number of butterflies and plants have
been destroyed in the Antioch Dunes by fire. (39) So now, the biologists are
limiting the number of visitors who can wander around the dunes. That’s
fair enough, I think. All right, the final point I want to make about the
project to restore the Antioch Dunes area is to do with how much land
is required: when we think about the concept of conservation we often
assume we need to set aside a large amount of it. And that might be true
for some large species. But in this case, relatively little land was required.
But the important thing is to leave it undisturbed. (40) OK...

31 gardens
The idea of ‘important plants are no longer
found in’ is paraphrased in ‘...gardens …don’t
always contain the kind of plant that insects need.’
32 climate change
In the recording, the ‘cause of’
butterfly and beetle loss is changed to ‘They
[=scientists] put this down to climate change’. [Both
words are necessary]
Distraction ‘fragmentation of habitat’ is also
mentioned, but scientists do not believe this is a
cause. The phrase is also 3 words, and only two
words can be written in each gap.
33 memory
We are told that pesticide impacts on
[=affects] a bee’s memory. This is further explained
as ‘This means that they cannot remember how to
get back to their hive.’
34 food chain
‘An essential part of’ becomes ‘at the
bottom of the food chain… They’re [=insects are]
absolutely vital’ [Both words are necessary]
35 medicine
In the recording, the idea of research
based on plants is expressed as ‘scientists are now
studying plants to find out whether they might be a
source of medicine’.
36 meat
The answer can be found in ‘If we cut down on
[=reduced] how much meat we ate [=consumed]…’
37 bricks
We are told that ‘they [=builders/housing
developers] removed tons and tons of the sand and
turned it [=the sand] into bricks’.
38 eggs
The speaker explains that that the metalmark
butterfly lays its eggs on the buckwheat plant, and
on no other.
39 fire
In the recording ‘wildlife’ is explained as
‘butterflies and plants’ and we are told that fire has
destroyed a significant number of them [= it has led
to their loss].
40 conservation
The speaker explains that while
some projects involving conservation need a lot of
land, others do not. In the case of the metalmark
butterfly, it only needed the area of the dunes to
survive.