IELTS General Training
Volume 1
Listening Practice Test 1
HOW TO USE
You have 2 ways to access the listening audio
1. Open this URL http://link.intergreat.com/dc1lV on your computer
2. Use your mobile device to scan the QR code attached
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Questions 1-5
Complete the form below.
Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS OR SOME NUMBERS for each answer.
BUS PASS APPLICATION FORM
Example: PASS APPLIED FOR Answer: 1 month
NAME Nathalie 1
ADDRESS 45 2 Newlands Adelaide
POSTCODE 8490
DATE OF BIRTH 3 , 1982
TEL NUMBER 4
UNIVERSITY CARD SHOWN Yes
ZONES REQUIRED 5
Questions 6-10
Complete the notes below.
Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR SOME NUMBERS from the audio
for each answer.
Adelaide Day Trips on the Bus
The MacDonald Nature
Park
Outward Journey Leaves 8.00am
Length of Journey 2 hours
Return Journey Leaves 6
Things to do/see Walk nature trails + MacDonald River
Bring A camera
Pearl Bay
Outward Journey Leaves 9.00am
Length of Journey 7
Return Journey Leaves 4.00pm
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Things to do/see Walk along 8 + see view Lie on the beach + swim
Bring Swimming gear + a towel
The Huron Gold Mine
Outward Journey Leaves 9.30am
Length of Journey Half an hour
Return Journey Arrival time 9
Things to do/see Go round the museum and tunnels, find some gold!!
Bring 10
Questions 11-16
Complete the sentences below.
Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS OR A NUMBER for each answer.
The highest point of the bridge is 134m above 11
The two pairs of pylons are made of 12
13 % of the steel for making the bridge came from the UK.
Approximately 14 families moved without compensation to accommodate
the construction of the approaches to the bridge.
People 15 was the main cause of death of workers while constructing the
bridge.
Three 16 were made to mark the opening of the bridge. One is worth
several hundred dollars today.
Questions 17-20
Which FOUR of the following facts are NOT true about the Sydney Harbour Bridge
today?
Choose FOUR letters (A – J) and write them in boxes 17–20 on your answer sheet.
A There are no more trams crossing the bridge.
B There are eight traffic lanes on the bridge.
C Trains still cross the bridge.
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D People are allowed to walk across the bridge.
E Buses are allowed to cross the bridge.
F The Harbour Tunnel has not helped traffic congestion on the bridge.
G More than 182 000 vehicles cross the bridge daily.
H Horses can no longer cross the bridge.
I Bicycles are not allowed to cross the bridge.
J To go back and forward across the bridge costs $6.
Questions 21-27
Complete the sentences below.
Write NO MORE THAN 3 WORDS for each answer.
While waiting for Phil, Mel and Laura were 21
A telephone survey was rejected because it would be 22
A mail survey was rejected because it would 23
The best number of people to survey would be 24
If their survey only included 100 people, it would not be 25
The number of people that Laura, Phil and Mel agree to survey was 26
The number of questions in the survey was agreed to be 27
Questions 28-30
Circle THREE letters A – G .
What are the three locations that Laura, Phil and Mel chose for their survey?
A The town square
B The train station
C The university cafeteria
D Dobbins department store
E The corner of the High Street and College Road
F The bus station
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G The corner of the High Street and Wilkins Road
Questions 31-34
Complete the table below by matching the individual with their role (Questions 31-
34) in the lecture on the coelacanth.
Write the approprate letters (A – F) on your answer sheet.
NB There are more roles than individuals so you will not need to use them all.
INDIVIDUAL ROLE
Dr. J.L.B. Smith 31
Marjorie Courtney-Latimer 32
Dr. Mark Erdmann 33
Captain Goosen 34
ROLES
A Paid fishermen for unidentified finds.
B Caught a strange looking fish.
C Contacted scientists in Indonesia.
D Photographed a coelacanth seen by accident.
E First recognised the coelacanth for what it was.
F Bought a specimen of a coelacanth in a market.
Questions 35-40
Choose the correct letters A – C.
35 The coelacanth was…
A well known to Indonesian fishermen.
B unknown to Indonesian fishermen.
C a first in the market.
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36 The only difference between the Comoros coelacanth and the Sulawesi
coelacanth is…
A their intercranial joint.
B their paired fins.
C their colour.
37 Coelacanths seemed to have their greatest population…
A 360 million years ago.
B 240 million years ago.
C 80 million years ago.
38 Modem coelacanths probably left no fossilised remains over the past 80 million
years because…
A of too much clay sediment.
B conditions where they lived were not favourable for fossilisation.
C volcanoes are needed for fossilisation.
39 Scientists had a better understanding of the coelacanth after 1991 because…
A the French government had previously limited study on the Comoros
coelacanth.
B the Comoros were far away and difficult to reach.
C the Comoros opened an airport.
40 On the 1991 expedition, scientist studied the coelacanth…
A only from fishermen’s specimens.
B through the windows of their submarine.
C from diving down.
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Solution:
1 Janeson 2 Forest Avenue
3 13th of May 4 6249 7152
5 1 – 5/1 to 5 6 4:30pm
7 1 hour/one hour 8 the cliffs
9 2.00pm 10 (a) sweater
31 E 32 A
33 D 34 B
35 A 36 C
37 B 38 B
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39 A 40 B
11 mean sea level 12 concrete and granite
13 (about) 79 14 800/ eight hundred
15 falling off 16 (postage) stamps
17
20
D,F,G,J 21 chatting/ talking
22 too expensive 23 take too long
24 1000/thousand people 25 statistically significant
26 500/five hundred 27 5/five
28
30
A,D,E
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Audio Script:
Section 1
You will hear a conversation between two women as one of the women buys a bus pass.
Woman 1: Good morning. I’m here to get a student passport please.
Woman 2: Of course Madam. Do you want to buy a month passport , a six-month passport or a
year pass?
Woman 1: Oh, just Example a month passport please.
Woman 2: Right then. I’ll just have to take a few details .
Woman 1: Yes. Of course.
Woman 2: First of all, what’s your name?
Woman 1: Nathalie Janeson .
Woman 2: And how do you spell Janeson?
Woman 1: Q1 J-A-N-E-S-O-N.
Woman 2: Thank you. And what’s your address?
Woman 1: 45 Q2 Forest Avenue, Newlands, Adelaide.
Woman 2: Is that Forest with 1 R or 2 Rs?
Woman 1: Just 1.
Woman 2: And what’s the postcode please?
Woman 1: Oh yes… It’s eight four nine oh.
Woman 2: Thanks. Now what’s your date of birth … If you don’t mind me asking?
Woman 1: Not at all. It’s the Q3 13th of May, 1982.
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Woman 2: I also need to know your telephone number here in Adelaide.
Woman 1: OK. I just need to check that as I only moved here last week. Now, where is it. Here
we are. It’s Q4 six two four nine seven one five two Do you need a code or anything?
Woman 2: Oh no, that’s OK thank you. Can I see your university card please?
Woman 1: Yes, here it is.
Woman 2: Good. That’s fine. Now, for which zone do you need a pass?
Woman 1: Well, I’m not sure. I was hoping you’d be able to help me as I don’t really know my
way around here yet. As you know, I live in newlands and I have to get to the university campus
ir the centre of town every day.
Woman 2: Well, the university is in Zone 1 and Newlands has 2 zones. The side nearer to the
town centre is owned five but the far side is owned six . What road is it you live in again?
Woman 1: Forest Avenue.
Woman 2: Let’s see on this map. There it is. The nearest bus stop is in Zone 5. That’s lucky.
Zones 1 – 6 are six or fifteen dollars more expensive
Woman 1: Great! Make the pass out for Zones Q5 1 – 5 then please.
Woman 1: I’ve got some other questions too if you don’t mind.
Woman 2: Sure. Go ahead.
Woman 1: Well, this weekend my friend and I aren’t doing anything so we thought we’d take a
trip out of town and visit somewhere new. Does the bus service run any trips like that?
Woman 2: Yes, we’ve got a selection of trips. I’ll tell you about some of them.
Woman 1: Thanks.
Woman 2: Right the first one goes up to MacDonald Nature Park. The bus leaves at 8
o'clock and takes about 2 hours to get there and leaves for the return at Q6 4.30 in the
afternoon. Once there you can walk around the nature trails . It’s really nice and the Macdonald
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River runs through there and that’s really beautiful so take a camera with you. Then there’s the
Pearl Bay trip. The bus leaves at 9:00 a.m. and goes up the coast to Pearl Bay.
Woman 1: How far is that?
Woman 2: Q7 It’s an hour away. Once there you can walk along Q8 the cliffs up to Rocky
Point, which has a famous view up the coast, or you can just lie on the beach and swim. Don’t
forget to take your swimming gear and a towel! The water’s pretty safe there and there are
always lifeguards . The bus arrives back in Adelaide at 5:00 .
Woman 1: Mm. That sounds nice. What else?
Woman 2: Well there’s the Huron Gold Mine. It’s just a half-day trip leaving here at
9.30am Q9 and arriving back at 2.00pm. It only takes half an hour to get there which is good.
It’s an old worked out mine that has been changed into a sort of museum . They have all the
old equipment and a guide takes you round some of the tunnels and shows you some of the
techniques they used to use. You might even find some gold they missed .
Woman 1: Yeah. I could do with that.
Woman 2: It’s pretty interesting but the mines can be quite cold so take Q10 a sweater . So,
how do those three sound?
Woman 1: Quite interesting. I really like the idea of going up the coast and spending a day on
the beach but my friend Karen will like the idea of the nature park. I’d better wait and check
outwith her what she wants to do before booking.
Woman 2: No problem at all. You just need to pop in some time during the week and we’ll
make the booking.
Woman 1: Thanks very much. You’ve been very helpful .
Woman 2: No problem. See you later.
Section 2
You will hear a radio presenter interviewing a man about the Sydney Harbour Bridge
Anne: Well, good morning again everyone and welcome to “perspective ”, the weekly New
South Wales Radio programme on subjects of general interest from our local area. Today I have
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in the studio Mr. George Symonds. Good morning George.
George: Good morning Anne.
Anne: So, what are you going to talk to us about today George?
George: Well, for people from New South Wales and particularly Sydney, this will be of great
interest – I hope. I’m going to tell you a little about Sydney Harbour bridge .
Anne: Wow. That’ll be so interesting.
George: I think so. To start with I’d like to tell you a little about the size of the bridge. The arch
span is five hundred and three metres and the weight of the steel arch is thirty-nine thousand
tonnes . The summit is 134m above Q11 mean sea level, though it can actually increase by as
much as 18 centimeters on hot days as the result of steel expanding in heat. The two pairs of
pylons at each end are about 89 meters high and are made of Q12 concrete and granite . The
steel used for the bridge was largely imported. Q13 About 79percent came from the United
Kingdom but the rest was Australian-made. The granite was quarried in Moruya down the
coast, and the concrete is also Australian.
Anne: So, most of the steel used to make our great bridge actually came from England?
George: Yes, I’m afraid so. However the work force were all Aussie!
Anne: Thank God for that. When was the bridge actually built?
George: The bridge was opened in 1932 but work first began in 1924, with the construction of
the bridge approaches and spans, with two separate teams building the arch on each side
working towards each other. The arch was successfully joined on august the 19th 1930 . I’m
afraid that working practices weren’t very fair in those days and the local
government demolished 438 homes which were in the way of the approaches, and as many as
Q14 800 families living there were displaced without compensation. The standards of
industrial safety were inadequate too. 16 workers died during its construction, mainly from
Q15 falling off the bridge.
Anne: I didn’t realise that.
George: Yes. The bridge was formally opened on the 19th March 1932 by the Premier of New
South Wales, Mr Jack Lang. When it was opened, it was the longest single span
steel arch bridge in the world and it was one of the greatest engineering pieces of its time.
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Several songs were also composed in advance for the occasion but these have now been
largely lost or forgotten. However, three Q16 postage stamps were issued
to commemorate the opening of the bridge and these still exist. One of these stamps, with a
face value of five shillings , is now worth several hundred dollars today.
Anne: So, that’s the history of the bridge. Is the bridge still the same today as when it was built?
George: No, it’s quite different. The basic structure is the same of course. Originally the bridge
was constructed to carry a road, two sets of tram lines and railways . In 1957, the two tram
lines were removed when Sydney abolished its trams, thus giving the bridge two more traffic
lanes.
Today it carries eight traffic lanes, two railroad lanes and a footpath along its eastern side. One
of the eastern traffic lanes is now a dedicated bus lane. The bridge is often crowded and
in 1992 the Harbour Tunnel was opened to help carry the traffic load. Q17 More than 160,000
vehicles cross the bridge each day. Before the Harbour Tunnel was opened, this figure was as
high as 182 thousand Q17 and would be much higher today if it were not for the
Tunnel.Pedestrians, horses and push bikes are not allowed on the bridge anymore .
Anne: Wow. The bridge actually carries that much?
George: Oh yes. Actually, before the Harbour Bridge opened, it was completely packed with
railway carriages , trams and buses to stress test its load bearing capacity. While it has had
many traffic jams since and half a million people walked across it on its 50th anniversary , it has
probably never been asked to carry that much of a load since.
Anne: Amazing. And I suppose the toll for crossing the bridge has changed a bit too?
George: I’m afraid so!! The initial toll charged for a car was 6 pence while a horse and rider was
charged 3 pence. Today the toll costs Q18 Q19 Q20 three dollars but is only charged when
travelling to the South as an efficiency measure to speed up traffic flow.
Section 3.
You will hear 3 students discussing a survey they are going to do
Phil: Hi Mel. Hi Laura. Sorry I’m a bit late. I got held up by the bus. It just didn’t come for ages.
Mel: Don’t worry. You’re only a couple of minutes behind and we’ve only just been
Q21 chatting.
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Laura: Right then. We’re here to organize the survey that we’re going to do. Mel, you said that
you’d discuss with Professor Donald Walker what type of survey we were going to do.
Mel: Yes. I spoke to Professor Walker two days ago and I told him that the surveys that we
were considering were a telephone survey, a street survey and a mail survey. He thought that
the phone one would be Q22 too expensive for us and the postal one would Q23 take too
long so we decided we should do the street one.
Phil: I think that’s right. If we do the street one then we can get the whole thing done in one day
and we can get on with analyzing the results.
Mel: Yes, that’s right. Now, there are some other things that Professor Walker wanted to know
about. How big should the survey be?
Laura: Well, the ideal figure for a survey such as this should be about Q24 a thousand
people but that will take us about a month to get that many people and we just don’t have that
much time. On the other hand, if we just choose 100 people, the survey won’t
be Q25 statistically significant.
Phil: So, what about something in the middle. What about 600 ?
Mel: Still too many. That’ll take us ages. 400?
Laura: Let’s split the difference and say Q26 500.
Mel/Phil: OK
Laura: And how many questions? If there are too many we’ll just have the same problem.
Mel: Professor Walker said we should have no more than 10 or people get bored ten . 10 then?
Phil: I think even fewer. 8.
Q27 Laura: I think 3 fewer again to make sure we can get the numbers done quickly okay .
Q27 Phil: OK, I agree with that.
Mel: I’m not sure but I suppose so.
Mel: Now, Professor Walker asked where we were going to do the survey.
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Laura: Does he want to avoid that area then?
Mel: Probably! Now we can either all stay together or split up and do different locations .
Laura: Well, if we split up then I think we’ve got a better chance of getting more
people surveyed .
Phil: Yes. I agree with Laura.
Mel: OK. Now, I made a list of the possible locations in Westley where we could
station ourselves Q28 Q29 . Q30 There’s the town square, at the entrance to the train
station, at the University cafeteria, outside Dobbins department store, on the corner of the High
Street and College road, the bus station and the corner of the High Street and Wilkins Road.
What do you think?
Phil: I think the square is great but the people at the train station will be traveling and often in a
hurry.
Laura: I agree with all that and I think the bus station will have the same problem as the train
station.
Mel: OK, that’s those two out then.
Laura: I think the other ones in town were good too. The cafeteria will have too many students
and that will create too great a bias to our survey . We need a good cross section of the
population and anywhere too close to the university won’t give us that.
Phil: Laura’s right. So, out of the other town ones, I think that the two on the High Street
corners are good.
Mel: I don’t agree. The High Street corner with College Road will be good but the corner with
Wilkins Road is too far out. Not enough people will come by there.
Laura: Yes, Mel’s right there. We should use Dobbins department store instead.
Phil: I can see your point. OK, that’s settled then. All three of us will be stationed in town then
but not the Wilkins Road position.
Section 4.
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You will hear part of a further education marine biology lecture.
Good morning everyone and welcome to this further education lecture on marine biology.
Today we are going to look at the coelacanth . Q31 The discovery of the coelacanth has been
compared to finding a dinosaur walking around today over 85 million years after it went extinct.
The story began a few days before Christmas in 1938 when the rst living coelacanth was
discovered off the east coast of South Africa, at the mouth of the Chalumna River. Q34 The
sh was caught in a shark gill net by captain Goosen and his crew who, recognising
the bizarrenature of their catch, alerted the local museum in the small South African town of
East London.
Q32 The Director of the East London Museum at the time was Miss Marjorie Courtney-Latimer
after whom the Coelacanth was eventually named. Miss Courtney-Latimer offered bounties
to shermen for unfamiliar sh. It was Miss Courtney-Latimer who alerted the prominentSouth
African exci Q31 Dr J.L.B. Smith, who initially identi ed the sh, and subsequentlyinformed the
world about this amazing discovery. This rst coelacanth led to the discovery of the rst
documented population, off the remote Comoros Islands, between the mainland of Africa
and madagascar . For 60 years this was presumed to be the only coelacanth population
in existence .
Originally it was a concern that the Coelacanth might have a very limited range and that over
shing along the Comoros Islands might wipe it out. However, scientists were amazed when,
on july the 30th 1998 , Q35 an American scientist discovered a Coelacanth population in
Indonesia. Dr. Mark Erdmann was on a honeymoon trip to the area investigating a coral reef
research site when he spotted a strange sh being wheeled into the sh market. Q33 He
recognized the fish as a coelacanth and snapped a picture before it was sold.
Dr. Erdmann’s subsequent research revealed that the people from Sulawesi had a name for it,
raja, ‘king of the sea’. The Sulawesi coelacanth colony is about 10,000 kilometers east of where
the Coelacanths were previously known to occur in the Western Indian Ocean.
Both Sulawesi and Comoros coelacanths are quite different from all other living sh. But
perhaps the most interesting feature of the Coelacanth is that it has paired, lobed ns, which
move in a similar fashion to our arms and legs. Coelacanths also have an extra lobe on their tail
and a vertebral column that is not fully developed. They are the only living animal to have a fully
functional inter-cranial joint, a division that separates the ear and brain from the nasal organs
and eye, and allows the front part of the head to be lifted when the sh is feeding. Q36 The
brown Sulawesi coelacanth and the steel blue Comoros shared share these unusual
characteristics.
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The discovery of the Coelacanth in 1938 is still considered to be the zoological nd of the
century. This living fossil comes from a lineage of sh that was thought to have been extinct
since the time of the dinosaurs. Coelacanths are known from the fossil record dating back
over 360 million years, and peaked in Q37 abundance about 240 million years ago. Before
1938 they were believed to have become extinct approximately 80 million years ago,
after mysteriously disappearing from the fossil record.
How could the Coelacanth disappear for over 80 million years and then turn up alive and well in
the 20th century? The answer seems to be that fossil Coelacanths appeared to live in
environments with clay sedimentation with plenty of volcanic activity. Q38 Modern
coelacanths, both in the Comoros and Sulawesi inhabit caves and overhangs in vertical marine
reefs, at about 200 metres , environments not conducive to fossil creation.
In 1991 scientists got a better understanding of the sh when Q39 the Comoros got their
independence from France and French restrictions on research were lifted. This allowed
scientists to study the sh off the Comoros Islands. As the animal hides in underwater caves
some 300 to 700 feet down during the day and Q40 comes out at night to feed, diving is not
an option and previously only sherman specimens had been available for study. But this time
the scientists had their own submarine so they could study the coelacanth in its natural habitat
through portholes .
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