IELTS Listening Practice Test 2

SECTION 1 Section 1. You will hear a man phoning to enquire about a job vacancy. First, you'll have some time to look at questions 1 to 5. You will see there is an example that has been done for you. On this occasion only, the conversation relating to this will be played first. Good afternoon, Palm Resort. Good afternoon. I am ringing about the job I understand you have vacant. Oh, yes. I'd like to find out some more information, if I may. Yes, of course. Can I take your name? It's Freddie Lee. OK. The man's name is Freddie Lee. So, Freddie Lee has been written in the space. Now we shall begin. You should answer the questions as you listen, because you will not hear the recording a second time. Listen carefully and answer questions 1 to 5. Good afternoon, Palm Resort. Good afternoon. I am ringing about the job I understand you have vacant. Oh, yes. I'd like to find out some more information, if I may. Yes, of course. Can I take your name? It's Freddie Lee. OK, Freddie. What would you like to know? First of all, I'd like to know where your resort is located. It's near the city centre on Jameson Island. That's J-A-M-I-E-S-O-N. Oh, brilliant. That's only five minutes from me. I finish at my college on the 12th of May, so I'll be available for work from that date. Will there be any vacancies at that time? Well, summer is our busiest season, beginning on the 11th of July, so that's when you would be starting. Sounds good. And are there any age limitations? That would depend on the place you're applying for. How old are you? I'm 17. Well, we require our bartenders to be 18 or older, which means you would be working as a waiter. There are four vacancies. There were originally six. However, we have since filled two of these. OK, great. Could I ask about the pay? We're offering £5.52 an hour. That's very good. My last job was £4.45 an hour. And can I also ask about what qualities you're looking for, like any particular skills or experience? We don't normally require applicants to have any past experience. However, during the summer season, we have weekly shows in which our waiters are asked to perform. The routines are very simple, so no dancing skills are needed. However, you will need to be able to sing. I have never sung professionally, but I'm keen on it and have been told that I'm talented, so I think this will be a good fit. Are there any other duties that I'd be responsible for? As a waiter, you'll have a few different duties. We offer table service, so you'll have to take food orders from customers and carry the food from the kitchen to their tables. We like to give our customers a relaxed experience, so we'll also need you to supervise and take care of their children. I have a babysitter, so I'm very comfortable doing that. Is there a play area for them in the resort? Unfortunately, there is no facility for children here at the resort, but there is a large playground just down the road. Before you hear the rest of the conversation, you have some time to look at questions 6 to 10. Now listen and answer questions 6 to 10. So, I would just walk the children down to the playground each day? No, the road is very busy and the pavements are so narrow that it's unsafe to take the children for walks there. It would be very advantageous if you could drive so that you can safely strap the children into the back seat and transport them back and forth. I'm currently taking driving lessons, so if all goes well, I should have my permit by the time I begin work. We feel it's pretty good and we also offer some good fringe benefits for our employees. Really? Well, because of the difficulties of getting public transport, if you're working after 10 o'clock, we drive you home. OK, that sounds fine. Do you have a staff room where I would be able to eat my packed lunches? All of our employees eat in the dining hall once our customers have finished eating their lunch. We like to make sure that our employees are well nourished, so we would provide you with a meal every lunchtime. There is no need to bring in a packed lunch. Wow, that's good to know. I think that's all of the information that I needed. I'll be sure to post my application to you later today. OK, sure. Once we have looked over your application, we may ask you to come for an interview. We normally hold our interviews on Fridays. However, the manager is taking a long weekend this week, so the interview would be on Thursday. Is that OK for you? That's good for me. Fine. 10.30am? Yes, fine. Would 10 o'clock be OK? Perfect. And could you bring along a reference letter from your employer? Yes, that's fine. No problem. Could you tell me what else I have to do? Well, you need to come in to the desk and fill out some forms. We need a document for ID, so a bank statement would be fine. I've got that. And what else? Well, you need to bring a photo with you. Having said that, it would be also a good idea for you to attach it to your application. This will help us to distinguish your application from the others. OK, no problem. I have a couple of spares from when I renewed my passport. Good. We look forward to seeing you. OK. Thank you so much. You've been very helpful. No problem. Goodbye.

SECTION 2 Hi everyone and welcome to Sydney Airport. Today I'll be giving you the inside information on the day-to-day operations of the Australian Quarantine Service here. We hope to provide you with a better understanding of why such heavy security regulations are necessary by educating you on how we operate and why we do the things we do. We're not here to try to persuade you to fly through Sydney Airport, though we hope you'll find your experience relatively stress-free and comfortable. First things first, our personnel. Can anyone guess how many people work at Sydney Airport? We have 200 alone working in Terminal 2, so can you guess how many in the whole airport? I heard someone say 360. That's getting closer. What? Did someone say 2,000? That's way too high. Sydney Airport actually employs 440 people. A lot, right? And about half of those employees work in security-related matters. Moving on to our not-so-human employees, let's come and see our favourite pooch, Milton. Milton is our best drug-sniffing dog on the force. He's friendly to most people. You can even come pet him at the end of our tour. Burnouts beware, though. He'll find everything. Notice that even though there are so many of us around him, Milton stays quite calm. This is the precise reason he was chosen for the job. Dogs that are chosen are not predisposed to sniff out different narcotics. That's something we teach them already. So here's a part of the airport most people never notice, the cargo transport terminal. This is where packages are shipped to and from. Normally we ship around 4,400 packages per month. In this airport alone, over 52,000 packages were shipped in and out over the past year. We ship to and from 170 different countries. Not bad, eh? Probably it will go up to over 72,000 packages this year. Despite over 100 flights in and out of here daily, the number of lost or delayed packages is impressively low. If you send your package through here, rest assured we'll get it where it's going. Let's move on to the area most of us are familiar with, the passenger terminals. In order to be allowed into this area, you must pass through security with your ticket and, if you're travelling internationally, your passport. If you're travelling domestically, you just need a legal form of ID. If you don't have those, you will not be allowed to pass through security and board your flight. During the security scan, your carry-on items will be checked for dangerous items such as weapons, sharp objects and liquids that exceed our specified limit. If you attempt to pass any of the prohibited items on this list posted at the entrance, you are still allowed to board the plane, but you'll be given a warning and your item will be confiscated. Don't worry, we will not arrest you for having too much shampoo in your bag or anything like that. We also search your carry-ons and parcels for any perishable items. We prohibit the transportation of local vegetation and prohibit parcels containing any insects in them. You may or may not have learned about this in biology class, but when some plants are introduced to a new environment, they spread wildly and wipe out the current species around it. It is important to control the introduction of new plants into an ecosystem, so we must prohibit the transport of any fertile seeds. So what happens to parcels containing possibly suspicious items? It's of course something we do not take lightly here. If an object passes through the scanner that appears suspicious in any way, it is separated out for manual search by a member of our trained security personnel. If an illegal plant or simple sharp object like a pocket knife is found, it is simply disposed of in our biohazard waste containers and the package itself is returned to the sender, or passenger if it is for a passenger flight. More serious weapons are reported to higher authorities for investigation. Before you hear the rest of the talk, you have some time to look at questions 18 to 20. Now listen and answer questions 18 to 20. As far as parcel security, the material of the parcel is important. For shipped goods, the most common material used and the most widely accepted is paper. Make sure it is packed sturdy enough with no rips or tears. We've definitely had packages rip open before due to haphazard packing. A more common problem though is the package labels. When an item does not make it to the right place, this is the most common reason. The label may not be in the right place or marked clearly enough. If you're receiving any items from abroad that must be declared, please remember our guidelines in order to ensure the timely delivery of your item. Make sure it is packed correctly and we ask that you notify customs between 2 and 10 days within the item's scheduled arrival date. OK, before we move on, are there any questions? That is the end of section 2. You now have half a minute to check your answers.

SECTION 3 Now turn to section 3. You will hear two students called Tom and Bella attending the third meeting of the after-school club. They are talking with their professor about the furniture company. First, you have some time to look at questions 21 to 26. Now listen carefully and answer questions 21 to 26. Before we start, Tom and Bella, thanks for coming in today to talk about the key case studies that will help you to understand your classwork better. Now I hope you've read the notes I gave you last week on the furniture company Willows, as this will be the focus of our discussion today. Let's begin. Who can tell me what the current focus of the company's business is? The company used to be very large, with many retail outlets across the country. However, since the recession, there have been fewer people spending money on furniture, and so the company was forced to close all of its outlets, and now only operates online. Well done, Tom. Bella, can you add anything? Willows used to produce a very large number of products, such as tables, chairs and light fittings. However, through market research, they realised that most of their profit was made from the sale of bookcases, so they now specialise in this one product. Very good. Does anyone know how our department began its contact with Willows? Did you contact the company, Professor? No, Tom, it wasn't through me. Our headmaster saw an article that the manager had written in the newspaper and became very interested in the company. He contacted Willows and arranged for a student to work there full-time during the summer. Yes, exactly. Does anyone know what the student thought of their time working at Willows? Yes, he is a friend of ours. He worked as a member of the design team, creating technical drawings of the furniture using a computer. There was a special software that he used, which he said had a bad interface and was very difficult to predict. However, it was very efficient and helpful for quickly drawing up furniture designs. How interesting. Yes, it was. We both visited him whilst he was working there and he showed us around. Unfortunately, visitors were not allowed to access the IT department, but it was great to chat with his colleagues. Did you meet his manager? His manager is a very busy man, so he didn't have time to meet with us. However, we were allowed to inspect the accounts, which really helped us to understand the effects of the software on the company. Well, what an exciting experience. Now, before I forget, next week I'll be conducting face-to-face interviews with each of you to prepare for job interviews. Can we do it as a group? I'm afraid not, Bella. I want to give each of you my undivided attention, and there will be too much disturbance if I interview you all together. Plus, it will be more realistic if I interview you alone. Have you finished writing the feedback on our exam results, Professor? Yes, I have, Tom. And I must say that I was not disappointed. I am glad to say that your performance has dramatically increased since you began attending this after-school club, and you have both scored above the average. If you continue to work hard, your results should soon improve significantly. Before you hear the rest of the conversation, you have some time to look at questions 27 to 30. Now, listen and answer questions 27 to 30. Now, back to our discussion about willows. Can anyone tell me what business decisions might benefit the company? A new system would definitely benefit willows. Their system is very outdated. I don't think it would help them to gain more profit. However, the system is capable of doing the work of hundreds of people. This would, therefore, significantly lower labour costs. I agree. Unfortunately, unless they also replace the machinery in their workshop, the new system won't reduce the production time. That is a shame. If they can't reduce their production time, they won't be able to increase sales. The answer is to hire more staff in order to increase the efficiency of the production line. Yes, you have both made interesting points. Now for one final question before we finish this week's session. How will new clients be affected by the new system? Unfortunately, the new system does not allow clients to connect to the willow system from home, so they are unable to access their work online. This also means that the system presents no opportunity to attract more contacts, since clients are unable to view it from their homes. Yes, that's true. However, it could definitely benefit clients who visit the showroom. The system is very interactive and allows clients to easily browse the furniture catalogue, which will save them a lot of time. It's a shame that staff are still needed to guide clients through the online system, as it means that no savings can be made in labour costs. I think the major benefit of the new system is that it enables staff to design the furniture in front of the client, which allows them to get a lot more involved in the design. Bravo! You've both contributed fantastic points to our conversation. That concludes our session for today. I'll see you next week.

SECTION 4 Have some time to look at questions 31 to 40. Now, listen carefully and answer questions 31 to 40. Good day, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the second lecture in our series on animal senses. Today, I'll be comparing the sensory systems of different species and discussing how these senses enable them to explore their environment. When it comes to the sense of smell, you may think that human beings have powerful and well-evolved sensory systems. However, some animals have a sense of smell that is far more powerful than ours. Dogs, for example, have a sense of smell that is 40 times greater than a human's and can distinguish 220 kinds of smell. Some animals can even smell odours that are undetectable by the human nose, such as carbon dioxide. There are also animals that have a relatively weak sense of smell. For example, there are species of beetles that can recognise the odours of certain plants but not others. The bee is an interesting example to examine in reference to smell because they experience this sense via their antennae. Bumblebees have stings, but it's rare that they actually use this weapon. When a bee feels threatened, it will use its legs to signal and warn others about the threat before it stings. This is called a signalling posture and involves the bee lifting its two back legs into the air. Within any hive, there is a hierarchy with the queen bee at the top. The queen bee is able to control the colony by monitoring its movement through her feet. The queen bee is the only reproductive female in the entire colony and she is also able to sting multiple times. Unlike the worker bees that will die if they sting. In the insect world, scent can also be used to facilitate mating, as females decide whether or not to mate with a male depending on the quality of his scent. One such example of this is the female butterfly, who will only mate with the male butterfly that produces the strongest pheromones. This is how the species ensures that only the best genes are perpetuated in order to create the strongest offspring. Next we move on to the hearing sense of beetles. Interestingly, beetles do not have ears, but instead use their feet to detect vibrations caused by sound. This is particularly useful when searching for food among the trees in which they live, as they are able to detect the location and movement of their prey by monitoring vibrations in the woodlands. The final sense that we will be looking at today is sight. Snakes are a particularly interesting case study, as they do not see shapes and colours as humans do, but instead hunt their prey by detecting the heat radiating from their mouths. This makes them incredibly effective predators, as they are able to zero in on their prey very quickly and efficiently. From a distance, a snake is able to locate the heat radiating from a mouse, for example, and upon moving closer will be able to determine its body shape. This can help prevent the snake from attempting to attack prey that is too large for it. Once a snake has killed and eaten its prey, it goes into a state of hibernation, whereby all of its energy is directed towards digesting the food stored in its stomach. Depending on the size of the snake and its prey, this hibernation can last from hours to days. Once fully fed, a large snake will not need to eat again for the next couple of weeks. During the breeding season, however, female snakes will feed more frequently. The heat detection of a snake is very complex, and can be even more effective than the vision of a human. It not only uses heat to determine the location of its prey, but before it commits to hunt, it will also use the heat to calculate how much distance it has to travel in order to reach it. This prevents the snake from wasting energy hunting prey that is too far away to catch. That is the end of section 4. You now have half a minute to check your answers. That is the end of the listening test. In the IELTS test, you will now have 10 minutes to transfer your answers to the answer sheet.

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