Welcome to this IELTS listening practice
test. Get a piece of paper and a pen and
you can write down your answers as you
do the test. At the end of the test we
will go through all of the answers. There
are 40 questions. So let's start the test.
First, listen to the instructions. You
will hear a number of different
recordings and you will have to answer
questions on what you hear there will be
time for you to read the instructions
and questions and you will have a chance
to check your work all the recordings
will be played once only the test is in
four sections now turn to section 1
section 1 you will hear a woman ordering
some goods from a mail-order company by
telephone first you have some time to
look at questions 1 to 8
you should answer the questions as you
listen because you will not hear the
recording a second time listen carefully
to the first part of the conversation
and answer questions 1 to 8
cosmic home delivery my name is Gary how
may I help you today hello I'd like to
place an order certainly madam I'm
afraid our computer system crashed
earlier today I'll have to take the
details down on paper and then enter
them later when it's been fixed is that
ok yes of course
so can I take your name please yes it's
Alexandra Hornby sorry could you spell
the surname for me H yes then O R N B
Y Oh fine and then your address that's
number 28 Wood Road which is in Ilford
I L F O R D and that's near Northchester
the postcodes
NC1 and 2FR thank you and do you
have an account with us I do I've got
the number here 9 double 4 5 6 7 8 1 is
that long enough 8 digits yes it is good
now what would you like to order today I
want a coffee table I think there's only
the one type I expect so perhaps you can
tell me the price I can use that to
check later just in case there's more
than one yes
it's 39 pounds 99p fine sorry about all
these extra questions it's no problem at
all now that size of order value does
mean you're entitled to a free gift did
you want to take up that option on this
occasion yes I do I've already got a
calculator like the one on offer but I
do like the look of the handbag so I'd
like one of those please certainly and
can I just check as an account holder
you may have been sent a voucher oh yes
for a discount let me see the reference
number we'll probably start with the
letter D huh it does and it continues B
R 29 great now how would you like your
order delivered there's a standard service
within a week and then Express which
comes within two days or special which
means it arrives the same day mmm
special would be ideal but I know it's a
bit expensive so I'll make do with
Express I think standard is very slow it
is to be honest before you hear the rest
of the conversation you will have some
time to look at questions 9 and 10
now listen and answer questions 9 and 10
well that's your order completed could I
just trouble you for another minute or
so to ask you a couple of questions to
help us improve our service as much as
possible yes
firstly we do like to try and keep a
record of how customers have heard of
Cosmic Mail Order how did you was it
from our advertising campaign oh I think
I would have remembered any
advertisements on TV for example I only
read newspapers occasionally so that
would have passed me by a friend of mine
had been using it for years and
encouraged me to give it a go so I
looked on the internet to find you to
see what was available on the site
that's great thank you
the second thing is we're thinking of
introducing a number of promotional
offers oh yes I got a little brochure
about them with my last order I've got
the list here so can I ask which ones
appeal to you well let's see there's
quite a few things here that don't
really apply to me actually for example
my mobile phone bills are so low that I
hardly notice them likewise they shut
down the local cinema I do enjoy a meal
out though so that discount could be of
interest and I like to get away at
weekends when I can and some of the
places you want to visit are expensive
so it would be lovely if they became
cheaper as for planes well I've been
abroad for a while now and in any case I
prefer the train where possible fine
well thank you very much for your time
not at all section 2
you will hear a trainer giving a talk to
a group of cyclists first you have some
time to look at questions 11 to 15
now listen carefully to the first part
of the talk and answer questions 11 to
15 hello everybody it's nice to see that
so many of you made it even on an
evening as rainy as tonight okay now
whether you're new to cycling as a sport
or are returning to it after some years
absence I'll just go over a few basic
points now race preparation is a complex
business and there are many factors to
consider the first area of concern is
mechanical now this involves the machine
itself that is your bike and also no
less importantly in fact clothing this
will protect your body and aid your
performance providing you wear the right
kit the next area to concern yourselves
with is the mental this is you as a
person you can have the best bike in the
world but you won't get the most out of
it if you don't have the right mindset
so tactics are important to consider
another factor which is essential to a
good performance is determination you
need to feel this so that you can really
push yourselves to your limits to
accompany this you also need knowledge
of your bike yourself physics other
riders the course and so on finally
strange though it may seem after all
I've said so far you need relaxation
if you can't switch off sometimes you
won't get to recharge your batteries
okay and that takes us on to the
physical side of race preparation the
first and perhaps most obvious aspect of
this is training and we'll come to some
of the details of that in a minute
another important aspect to pay
attention to is diet and you'll soon
find that if you don't eat
well you won't see yourselves performing
as well as you might then there's also
the question of style and you'll need to
learn to develop the most effective ways
for each of you to deliver your
performance and the details of this
depend on which kind of event you're
competing in and finally you need to
take body care into account you need to
stay healthy in order to be able to give
of your best right those are the basic
ingredients of race preparation before
you hear the rest of the talk you have
some time to look at questions 16 to 20
now listen to the rest of the talk and
answer questions 16 to 20 now I'd like
to turn your attention to some of the
details of a good training regime and
what you should and shouldn't do through
the year let's consider various
activities in turn the first thing to
think about is circuit training this is
an indoor series of gym exercises
designed to work on all parts of your
body
this starts as the racing season closes
with the end of summer and continues
right through the cold season and stops
you going off the boil when you aren't
competing it's extremely beneficial
although I would stress you do need a
qualified gym instructor to tell you how
to do it properly next weight training
this is also very good for cyclists and
it tops up the natural strength that
cycling produces exercises need to be
arranged as part of a carefully
calculated routine and this routine
needs to be sensibly followed it's a
good idea for continuity to carry on
using weights throughout the year as you
can lose strength just as quickly as you
can gain it something simpler and
requiring no equipment is mobility work
while cycling has a great many benefits
for the body it doesn't work every part
of it and indeed keep some parts locked
in pretty much the same position so
exercises that involve twisting and
turning and generally promoting
flexibility are advisable before the
start of each race throughout the summer
season another important activity is
pleasure riding perhaps this doesn't
sound so important to you but you don't
race all year and when you do race it's
pretty hard riding so you can sometimes
forget that cycling is actually
basically a fun thing to do so when you
hang up your racing bike at the end of
the summer
get out another bike and go for some
gentler enjoyable rides during the
winter weather permitting of course and
finally running this is of course
another sport in its own right and for
this reason some cyclists are rather
sniffy about it however it is good
exercise and maintains aerobic fitness
very effectively but it is rather hard
on the knees and in different ways from
cycling so you're best advised to keep
your running two out of the racing
season and wrap up well against the cold
when you do go so now section three you
will hear three students anna jane and
mark planning a project about cinema on
their media studies course first you
have time to look at questions 21 to 23
now listen to the first part of the
conversation and answer questions 21 to
23 so Jane mark we need to press on with
the assignment yes we do Anna and we
need to begin by going to the best
sources of information right no we're
looking into how films get altered
sometimes if they're not going to do
very well we need to know quite detailed
things so ordinary magazines you know
leisure interest ones may lack the
detail we're after specialist magazines
on the other hand will probably be
helpful I think that's true okay so
we'll route out some of those and what
else there ought to be stuff available
online but we'll have to be selective
sure not general cinema websites you
mean I think it would be useful to go
onto studio websites then we'd get
pretty specific information even if it
might be a bit biased yes okay anything
else I think we also need to think about
the point of consumption
so perhaps reviews would be good to look
through okay though we'll get most by
looking at local reviews I think I agree
good now you have time to look at
questions 24 and 25
now listen to the next part of the
conversation and answer questions 24 and
25 so far so good
now we'll gather all that together we
can take one source each and then I
don't know about what Jane I mean okay
so we get all this stuff probably loads
of it but do we know how to assess the
usefulness of it I know it'll all be
factual and so true in that sense but we
need to know what it can really tell us
perhaps we should cross that bridge when
we come to it
mark yes though I think Jane's got a
point but the problem for me is the
context we're working in we've got the
assignment instructions and in a sense
it's all very straightforward we know
which parts are worth how many marks and
so forth but the focus seems to be
heavily on the objective and
quantitative side of things whereas I
would be hoping to be asked for more
interpretive work and there would have
to be time to do that within the
framework we've been given well again I
think we should just see how we go with
it
now you have time to look at questions
26 to 30
now listen to the final part of the
conversation and answer questions 26 to
30 should we take that we're clear on
just how films are altered good idea
we'll list the various cures that
filmmakers use when a film looks like it
might be going to fail the first one is
called tweak every joke sometimes they
change lots of the jokes after showing
the first version to a test audience
comedy is the only film genre with a
reliable formula the more of the
audience laugh the more income the film
gets and it's not very funny if your
film makes a loss and the next one they
call change the ending occasionally they
completely change the way of film ends
it seems a bit strange maybe but the
problem is it's far from easy to know in
advance what reaction you'll get from an
audience so if it turns out after all
that the test audience doesn't like your
ending you've no choice but to do
another one what's the third one
that'd be fixed the tone if for example
your film begins as a kind of gentle
comedy but then gets too serious or
horror like audiences get confused so
one thing that really matters is being
consistent you mean yes or that's the
logic I think audiences don't want to
have to switch track it's more
complicated than people imagine isn't it
now the next cure is a big one
reshoot this may seem drastic but in
some cases it's the only option
available it's very expensive of course
but the film's backers will see this as
protecting their investment are there
any others one more and it's another big
one or at least has the potential to be
a big one it's shift the genre and this
is done when the test audience seemed to
only like one half of the equation as it
were maybe you made a musical but they
only like your comedy storyline not the
songs so you do it all again without the
songs it could broaden the film's
he'll get a wider audience it's weird to
think how much extra work has gone into
some films isn't it section four you
will hear a talk about the history of
the Mediterranean Sea first you have
time to look at questions 31 to 40
now listen to the first part of the talk
and answer questions 31 to 37 now in
looking at the history of anywhere we
need to accompany our discussion of the
facts with some consideration of what
facts mean or which facts have meaning
but more of that later let's start with
looking at one very important period of
the history of the Mediterranean the
period of Roman influence this was born
out of the death of Alexander the Great
his grip on the area went and what
directly ensued was a period of intense
conflict which focused on the eastern
Mediterranean as opponents sought to
gain control of that area Rome began to
emerge from this as a potential dominant
force but obstacles such as a lack of
overall planning and in particular the
ever-present menace of piracy lay in the
way of success gradually the Romans
improved the power of their ships and
fighting equipment they also formed a
series of alliances which effectively
reduced the size and number of enemies
and a key measure they took was creating
an office of government specifically
charged with repairing their fleets
however many ships they and their
enemies had Rome from now on would have
the highest proportion out patrolling
and fighting there were of course no
engines in ships in those days and
another aspect in the battle for
supremacy was speed through human effort
rivals built ships with ever-increasing
numbers of oars
but what really mattered was the amount
of human pulling strength attached to
each one and the Romans benefiting from
their great population of slaves was
able to have every or pulling faster and
harder than anyone elses eventually
Rome's dominance was more or less
complete there
ashin of the sea became their enjoyment
of the sea their name for the
Mediterranean translates as our sea and
that's how they saw it the shores were
of course by now very well fortified but
now the Romans began also to demonstrate
their comfort in power and put up a
great many large houses visible far out
to sea wealthy merchants and retired
generals lived in leisure in these
temples to their own prosperity the
maritime security of the Mediterranean
and the immense availability of trading
destinations meant that all sorts of
suppliers and craft producers clustered
round any reachable section of the Seas
edge some of these settlements were
small while others were large producing
salt fish in Italy for example or the
fish sauce that was sent to every corner
of the empire from Spain with dominance
of the sea ways established the primary
purpose of ships evolved from fighting
other ships to transporting goods
economics generated a drive to carry as
much as possible on each trip and as
ships were built for carrying loads such
as wine or stone exclusively these types
of specialized vessels led to greater
cost-effectiveness and so things
continued for many years
now listen to the rest of the talk and
answer questions 38 to 40 however I
referred before to the question of
needing to consider how to approach
history assumptions about what history
is are as varied as the historians who
have made the Mediterranean the subject
of their studies three key historians
have molded in different ways our
approaches to understanding the
Mediterraneans past michelle bala Phenom
broad L and Nicholas Halden the first of
these Bala
felt strongly that an approach based on
examining countries around the
Mediterranean as if they shaped its
history was inadequate more was to be
learned he argued by treating the
Mediterranean as one of a number of seas
such as the Black Sea and the Atlantic
Ocean and thus integrated into trading
routes that stretched from Madeira to
crack off our second historian Fenn on
broad L took a rather different though
related tack he argued that the ways
societies operate right down to their
individual members actions is subject to
permanent conditions such as whether
they inhabit mountain plane or sea
features of the coastline and adjacency
to the waters of the Mediterranean are
thus the focus of his approach and then
we can add a third way of looking at
history or at least the history of the
Mediterranean and that's the one
propounded by Nicholas Halden his
arguments are asserted quite strongly
not least because he sees a greater
consistency across time than many other
historians have allowed for there are
those who take ecological events
particularly catastrophes such as the
volcanic destruction of Pompeii to be
the shapers of different sections of the
Mediterraneans history hoardin says
these are simply incidents and that the
major
ride on through them for him while there
may be cultural mutations and fashions
in types of consumer goods what matters
is the system of trading goods that
satisfy primary needs such as grain oil
metals and timber so for us out of this
complex of views our job is to seek a
synthesis and form a sophisticated
approach not just to the Mediterranean
but to any time or region in history
okay how did you do? let's look at the
answers to all of the questions starting
with section one and number one is
Hornby remember with the IELTS listening
test your spelling must be correct
number two it's ilford number three nine
four four five six seven eight one in
the recording it was nine double four
five six seven eight one number 4
coffee table number 5 thirty nine
pounds and ninety nine so you can write
it down as 39.99 number 6 handbag
remember the spelling is like this h a
n D b a g even though she said handbag
there is a d there number 7 the
voucher code was DBR29 you may have
written BR29 because the man said
the D and the woman finished the voucher
code herself
number 8 is Express number 9 A and D
number 10 D and E and Section two number
11 is clothing 12 determination 13
relaxation 14 diet 15 body care 16 was
B 17 C throughout the year so it's
all year round 18 was A 19 B and 20 was
B as well this was a tricky one
in the talk the man said out of the
racing season and he told his students
to wrap up to protect themselves from
the cold so it was winter B section 3 21
is a specialist magazine 22 Studio
websites 23 is reviews or local reviews
you can say as well 24 A 25 B 26 was
income 27 reactions 28 consistent 29
reshoot you can spell it with or without
the hyphen you do not need the hyphen there 30
very difficult spelling genre and
section 4 31 is eastern 32 piracy number
33 repairing number 34 slaves a great
population of slaves number 35
large houses or you can simply write
houses fish sauce is number 36
specialized is 37 you can also spell
specialized Z E D on the end that's the
American English spelling 38 is B 39
C and 40 F so how does your score
compare to the band score so well if
you count up your score if you got
between nine and fifteen marks that's a
band 4 for a band 5 you need between
16 and 22 band 6 between 23 and 29 bands
7 30 to 34 band 8 35 to 38 and if you
got 39 or 40 you will get a band 9 so
thanks for doing the tests I hope you
did well and please don't forget to
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