Cambridge IELTS 7 Listening Test 2 Transcript

Cambridge IELTS 7 Listening Test 2 Audioscript/Tapescript with answer keys and explanation

Section 1

WOMAN	Hello…motor insurance department…
MAN	Oh hello… I’d like to ask about insurance for my car.
WOMAN	Yes, of course. I’ll just take a few details. What’s your name?
MAN	Patrick Jones.Example
WOMAN	And your address?
MAN	It’s 27 Bank Road.Q1
WOMAN	27 Bank Road. Is that in Greendale?
MAN	Yes.
WOMAN	And what’s your daytime phone number?
MAN	My work number is 730453.
WOMAN	And could I ask what your occupation is?
MAN	Dentist.Q2
WOMAN	OK… now a few details about your car… What size is the engine?
MAN	It’s 1200 ccs.
WOMAN	Thank you… and the make and model?
MAN	It’s a Hewton Sable.
WOMAN	Could you spell the model name please?
MAN	Yes… S-A-B-L-E.Q3
WOMAN	Ah yes…thanks. And when was it made?
MAN	1997.
WOMAN	Lovely… right… I presume you’ve had a previous insurer?
MAN	Yes.
WOMAN	Right… we need to know the name of the company.
MAN	Yes… it was Northern Star.Q4
WOMAN	Thank you, and have you made any insurance claims in the last five years?
MAN	Yes… one in 1999.
WOMAN	And what was the problem?
MAN	It was stolenQ5… but…
WOMAN	That’s fine, Mr Jones… that’s all we need to know at the moment… And will there be any other named drivers?
MAN	Just the one…
WOMAN	And his name?
MAN	Simon Paynter.
WOMAN	Could you spell the surname please?
MAN	P-A-Y-N-T-E-R.Q6
WOMAN	OK thank you… And what relationship is he to you?
MAN	He’s my brother-in-law.Q7
WOMAN	And what will you or Mr Paynter be using the car for?
MAN	Well… mainly for social use…
WOMAN	Social use (murmuring). Will you be using it to travel to work?Q8
MAN	Yes…sometimes.Q8
WOMAN	…Anything else?
MAN	No. That’s it…
WOMAN	And finally… when would you like to start the insurance?
MAN	I’ll need it from the 31st of January.
WOMAN	Right… Mr Jones… I’m getting a couple of quotes coming up on the computer now… and the best bet looks like being with a company called Red Flag.Q9
MAN	Yeah.
WOMAN	And that comes out at $450 per yearQ10…
MAN	Well…that seems OK… it’s quite a bit lower than I’ve been paying up to now…
WOMAN	Great…so would you like me to go ahead with that?
	Sure… why not?
WOMAN	How would you like to pay?

Section 2

Thank you for calling the Tourist Line. There are many different ways of getting round the city and we’d like to suggest some you may not have thought of.

How about a city trip by boat? There are four main stopping points – from west to east: stop A Green Banks, stop B City Bridge^Q11, stop C Roman Landing and stop D Newtown.^Q12

You can find the main booking office at stop A.
The first boat leaves at 8 a.m. and the last one at 6.30 p.m.^Q13 There are also many attractions you can visit along the river. At Stop A, if you have time, you can visit the fine 16th century palace here built for the king with its beautiful formal gardens.^Q14 It’s very near the booking office. Now you can enjoy every corner of this superb residence.

Stop B Why don’t you visit Tower Restaurant^Q15 with its wide range of refreshments? This is a place where you can sit and enjoy the wonderful views^Q16 over the old commercial and banking centre of the city.

Stop C is the area where, in the first century AD, invading soldiers crossed the river; this was much shallower than it is now. That’s why this area is called Roman Landing. There’s an interactive Museum to visit here with a large shop which has a good range of local history books.^Q17

At the furthest point of the trip, stop D, the most exciting place to visit is the new Entertainment Complex with seven-screen cinema,^Q18 bowling alley and video games arcade.

Besides the boat tours, there are city buses. Two companies offer special services:
The Top Bus Company runs all its tours with a live commentary in English. Tours leave from 8.30 a.m. every 20 minutes.^Q19 There are departures from Central Station, Castle Hill and Long Walk. This is a hop-on hop-off service and tickets are valid for 24 hours. For further details call Top Bus on 0208 9447810.

The Number One Sightseeing Tour is available with a commentary in eight languages. Buses depart from Central Station^Q20 every five to six minutes from about 9 a.m. with the last bus at around 7 p.m. There are also Number One services with an English-speaking…

Section 3

INTERVIEWER	We’re pleased to welcome Dr Martin Merrywhether of the Antarctic Centre in Christchurch, New Zealand who has come along to talk to us today about the role of the Centre and the Antarctic Treaty.
INTERVIEWER	Now my first question is about the choice of location for the centre. Why Christchurch? Was it because of the climate?
DOCTOR	Well actually New Zealand is the second closest country to AntarcticaQ21 and Christchurch is often used on Antarctic expeditions.
INTERVIEWER	Right, so it’s because of where we are… coupled with our historical role. So tell us – what is the main purpose of the centre?
DOCTOR	Well…we have two complementary roles. One is as a scientific base for expeditions and research and the other is as an information centre.
INTERVIEWER	Tell us something about the role as a scientific base.
DOCTOR	We’re able to provide information about what scientists should takeQ22 with them to the South Pole – for example, the centre contains a clothing warehouse where expeditions are supplied with suitable clothing for the extreme conditions.
INTERVIEWER	I suppose you need a bit more than your normal winter coat!
DOCTOR	Yes, exactly and then there’s also the specialist library and mapping services.
INTERVIEWER	Right. And which countries are actually located at the centre?
DOCTOR	Well…the centre houses research programmes for New Zealand, for The United States as well as for Italy… there’s even a US post office at the American airforce base here.
INTERVIEWER	Really? And what does the visitor’s centre offer?
DOCTOR	Well, since very few people will ever experience the Antarctic first hand, the visitors’ centre aims to recreate the atmosphere of Antarctica.Q23 There’s a mock camp site where you can see inside an Antarctic tent and imagine yourself sleeping there. And the centre also acts as a showcase for the unique international co-operation which exists in Antarctica today.
INTERVIEWER	What is it actually like at the South Pole? I know you’ve been there on a number of occasions.
DOCTOR	Yes, I have and each time I’m struck by the awesome beautyQ24 of the place. It’s magnificent but you can really only visit it in the summer months.
INTERVIEWER	October to March.
DOCTOR	Yes, because it’s completely dark for four months of the year (pause) … and in addition it has to be the coldest place on earth.
INTERVIEWER	Colder than the North Pole? Why’s that?
DOCTOR	Well, unlike the North Pole, which is actually a frozen sea, Antarctica is a land mass shaped like a dome, with the result that the winds blow down the slopes at speeds of up to 150 km an hour and that’s what makes it so cold.Q25 And one other interesting thing is that Antarctica is the driest continent on earth, surprisingly, and so you have to drink large amounts of water when you’re there.
INTERVIEWER	How old is Antarctica?
DOCTOR	We’re pretty sure it was part of a larger land mass but it broke away from the rest of the continent 170 million years ago.
INTERVIEWER	How can you be certain of this?
DOCTOR	…because fossils and rocks have been discovered in Antarctica which are the same as those found in places such as Africa and Australia.Q26
INTERVIEWER	Amazing… To think that it was once attached to Africa…
INTERVIEWER	Now let’s just have a look at the Antarctic Treaty. How far back does the idea of an international treaty go?
DOCTOR	Well, as far back as the 19th century, when eleven nations organised an international event.
INTERVIEWER	When was that exactly?
DOCTOR	In 1870. And it was called the Polar Research Meeting. And then, not long after that, they organised something called the First International Polar Year.
INTERVIEWER	And that took place when exactly?
DOCTOR	Over two years from 1882 to 1883.Q27 But it wasn’t until the 1950s that the idea of an international treaty was proposed. And in 1959 the Treaty was actually signed.Q28
INTERVIEWER	What do you see as the main achievements of the treaty?
	Well, firstly it means that the continent is reserved for peaceful use.Q29&30
INTERVIEWER	That’s Article 1, isn’t it?
	Yes…
INTERVIEWER	That’s important since the territory belongs to everyone.
DOCTOR	Yes but not as important as Article 5, which prohibits any nuclear explosions or waste disposal.Q29&30
INTERVIEWER	Which is marvellous. Well, I’m afraid we’re going to have to stop there because I’m afraid we’ve run out of time. Thanks for coming along today and telling us all about the centre and its work.

Section 4

My topic is handedness – whether in different sports it is better to be left- or right-sided or whether a more balanced approach is more successful. I’m left-handed myself and I actually didn’t see any relevance to my own life when I happened to start reading an article by a sports psychologist called Peter Matthews. He spent the first part of the article talking about handedness in music instead of sport, which I have to say almost put me off from reading further. But what I soon became struck by was the sheer volume^Q31 of both observation and investigation he had done in many different sports and I felt persuaded that what he had to say would be of real interest. I think Matthews’ findings will be beneficial, not so much in helping sportspeople to work on their weaker side, but more that they can help them identify the most suitable strategies to use in a given game. ^Q32 Although most trainers know how important handedness is, at present they are rather reluctant to make use of the insights^Q33 scientists like Matthews can give, which I think is rather short-sighted because focusing on individual flexibility is only part of the story.

Anyway, back to the article.

Matthews found a German study which looked at what he called ‘mixed-handedness’, that is, the capacity to use both left and right hands equally. It looked at mixed-handedness in 40 musicians on a variety of instruments. Researchers examined a number of variables, e.g. type of instrument played, regularity of practice undertaken and length of time playing instrument…and found the following: keyboard players had high levels of mixed- handedness, whereas string players like cellists and violinists strongly favoured one hand. Also those who started younger were more mixed-handed.^Q34

Matthews also reports studies of handedness in apes. Apes get a large proportion of their food by ‘fishing’ ants from ant hills. The studies show that apes, like humans, show handedness – though for them right- and left-handedness is about equal, whereas about 85% of humans are right-handed. Studies showed that apes consistently using the same hand fished out 30% more ants^Q35 than those varying between the two.

Matthews started researching several different sports and found different types of handedness in each. By the way, he uses ‘handedness’ to refer to the dominant side for feet and eyes as well as hands. Anyway, his team measured the hand, feet and eyes of 2,611 players and found that there were really three main types of laterality: mixed – you work equally well on both sides – both hand and eye; single- you tend to favour one side but both hand and eye favour the same side; and cross-laterality – a player’s hands and eyes favour only one side but they are opposite sides. Let’s start with hockey. Matthews found that it was best to be mixed- handed – this is because a hockey stick must be deployed in two directions^Q36 – it would be a drawback to have hand or eye favouring one side. An interesting finding is that mixed-handed hockey players were significantly more confident^Q37 than their single-handed counterparts. Things are slightly different in racket sports like tennis. Here the important thing is to have the dominant hand and eye on the one side. This means that there is a bigger area of vision^Q38 on the side where most of the action occurs. If a player is cross lateral the racket is invisible from the dominant eye for much of the swing. It means that they can only make corrections much later…^Q39 and often the damage has been done by then.

And moving to a rather different type of sport which involves large but precise movements – gymnastics. It’s been found that cross hand-eye favouring is best. The predominant reason for this is because it aids^Q40 balance – which is of course absolutely central to performance in this sport.