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.
All the recordings will be played once only.
The test is in four sections.
You will hear a conversation about a language course.
First, you have some time to look at questions 1 to 5.
You answer the questions as you listen, because you will not hear the recording a second time.
Listen carefully and answer questions one to five.
Could you spell that for me please Mr.
P-E-T-E-R double S That's a double T and a double S.
Now, could I ask you where the course takes place?
Well, we offer courses in Hamburg and Berlin.
For your level, there's never a problem.
There are always plenty of people for the intermediate classes.
Does that mean that there might be a of students in my class?
I wouldn't be very happy about that.
The maximum class size is 12, but I've never known there to be more than 9 or 10 in a class.
Actually, I'd prefer to study in Berlin, and how long is the course?
Three weeks, five hours a day.
Two hours only on Saturday.
And what about accommodation?
There you have a choice, Mr.
You can either stay with a German family,
who are used to having such guests,
or you can stay on the university campus, or we can book you into a nearby bed and breakfast.
Is a big difference in price?
Staying with the family works.
out the cheapest and the bed and breakfast is a bit more money.
Staying on the University campus comes somewhere between the two, price-wise, but Berlin is not too expensive anyway.
Well, if you wanted to practice your German and be...
part of a German family, I would recommend staying with the family.
Our families are all hand-picked and we've never had any sort of complaint.
Yes, I'll probably do that then.
What are the dates of the course?
The first summer course starts on the first of June.
June in Hamburg, and a week later in Berlin, which is what would concern you as you have chosen the Berlin course.
The next course would begin on the 2nd of July, and then the 2nd of July course would be perfect for me.
Can you put me down it now.
Can I have your address, please?
I'm afraid I can't remember the postal code.
Patterson, I'll check on it.
Before you hear the rest of the conversation, you have some time to look at questions six to ten.
You Now listen and answer questions 6 to 10.
There are a couple of other things I'd like to ask.
What do I need to bring on the course?
Well, apart from the obvious, you'll need our textbooks.
I'll email you the name and publisher.
You should be able to find it in your local bookstore.
If you do have problems, call me or email me and I'll see what I can do.
We provide the computers, computer discs, translation exercises and all that sort of thing, but you will need a gun.
We recommend Langenshite, which is more than adequate for your level.
You don't have to go and spend a lot of money on an expensive dictionary, not here.
Maybe you will when your German reaches a very high standard.
Now, finally, what about the cost of the course and how do I pay?
Would you like to pay that in pounds or in you?
In that case it's 550 euros.
You can pay by credit card if you like.
Oh dear I'm afraid I haven't got a credit card.
You can pay by bank transfer.
By the way I forgot to mention I am a full-time student.
Have you got a student card?
Then that does make a difference.
You'll be pleased to hear.
or to 35% of the full price.
And if you can persuade a few people to join you, it would work out even cheaper.
Well, for every five people you find, one goes free.
In other words, if there are six of you, you get one free course.
Of course, in reality, you would divide up the savings amongst you, presumably.
Well, I'll see what I can do.
And I'm sure you'll enjoy the course.
There are, of course, sightseeing possibilities.
Would you like me to send you our brochure describing them?
Anyway, thanks for your help.
If I want to call back, who do I ask for?
Susanna, I'm here most of the time.
That is the end of section 1.
You now have half a minute to check your answers.
You will now hear a radio talk on agricultural regulations.
First, you have some time to look at questions 11-15.
You Now listen carefully and answer questions 11 to 15.
Could there be clearer proof of the arrogance and indifference of those who are supposed to keep our food safe
than the muzzling of John Verrell?
Agriculture is a business.
And businesses But this shows how ministers and officials put the profits of the agriculture business before the well-being of the British people.
Veral, a pharmaceutical chemist, was appointed to represent consumers on one of the many committees that advised the government on food safety.
When he tried to do his job,
though, and wanted to warn ministers of a danger to children's health, he was refused permission to do so.
The danger comes from hormones given to cattle in the USA and some other countries, to make them grow faster.
They speed up the animal's development to maturity, thus making meat- profitable.
There have, however, long-been fears that the hormones have horrendous effects on the people who eat them, causing diseases as serious as cancer.
Once these hormones were used on British cattle too, but over twenty years ago they were banned in Europe for being too dangerous.
Indeed, so concerned is the European Union that it banned imports of hormone-fed beef
years ago, much to the fury of the US government, which wants to sell it all over the world.
the USA and Canada asked the World Trade Organization to declare the ban illegal and to punish Europe for failing to lift it.
with its long record of refusing to let environmental or safety concerns interfere with trade,
agreed, imposing fines of more than $120 million a year on the EU for its refusal to back down.
The British government now backs the Americans, claiming that there is no proof that hormone-fed beef does any harm.
This is where Mr Veral comes in.
He is very angry with the government,
especially as their claim comes out just after a Danish study shows that growth hormones are 200 times more dangerous thought.
Worried by these findings, Mr Veril spoke to government representatives, who did nothing.
Before you hear the rest of the talk, you have some time to look at questions 16 to 20.
Now, listen and answer questions 16 to 20.
Not only that, but they have not been testing beef which is imported, which, by law, they are required to do.
This directly affects the British public, as about 40% of the beef British people eat comes from abroad.
Supposedly from countries like Brazil, which does not allow the use of growth hormones.
Brazilian beef is stocked by some British supermarkets and widely used in catering.
Yet, when a Brazilian farm was recently visited by EU inspectors, a large stockpile of this ban substance was found.
This is not the first food scandal we have had in our country.
Take the present concern over a well-known chocolate chip.
the company found out that its sweets were contaminated with a rare form of salmonella,
but they did nothing about it, leaving their sweets in the shops to be bought by the unsuspecting public.
It was not until five months later when several children had suffered food poisoning, that the chocolate bars were removed from the shelves.
It makes you wonder how many other dangerous foods have been allowed onto our plates.
That is the end of section 2.
You now have half a minute to check your answers.
You are going to listen to a conversation between two students and a tutor.
They are talking about essays.
First, look at questions 21 to 25.
As you listen, answer the questions 21 to 25.
So, Pamela, here's your essay, and Karl, you've already got yours back.
Anything you want to ask or any comments?
Can you just go over again for us how the marks for our essays go towards our final grade?
Well, um, over the year, you're meant to write five main essays for this course.
And each essay's marked This coursework makes up 50%
of your marks for the year, with the other 50% coming from the written exam.
So the five essays contribute to 50% of our final grade for the year?
You gave me 18 out of 20 for this essay, which gives me a total of 9% towards my final grade for the year.
And 14 for this one, I've got 7%.
Yes, Pamela, does that clarify it?
We did have explained to us at the beginning of the course...
OK, I think we'd better move on now.
About last essay, have either of you any questions or comments?
Before the conversation continues, look at questions 26 to 30.
As you listen to the next part of the talk, listen carefully and answer questions 26-30.
You gave me 18 for this paper.
What was the big difference between this piece and the previous one?
I actually thought the first one was best.
Well, there was quite a marked difference.
Yes, it looked as if you had actually done quite a bit of research.
You had quite a lot of relevant examples, especially on the historical side.
You even found some information that I was not even aware of.
Your sources were also very sound.
And on top of that, your answer was very well organised indeed, and the writing style was very elegant.
of writing for a paper that we've seen for quite some time.
I have to say, though, it took me a very long time to put it together.
At least two weeks, but it was well worth it.
Can I just ask you if it's possible to rewrite the first essay of the term?
It's really brought my average down.
I'm sorry, but it's impossible.
Is there no way to do it?
I'll just have to try to do better than average on the others.
Well, to be honest, on the whole I'm happy with my marks.
Again, your research was very good.
And you gave quite a long list of source material which was very good.
I spent quite a lot of time on this essay, more than the others.
What about the organisation?
I was a bit worried about that.
Your organisation, I have to say, was excellent.
But as regards your style.
It is slightly too informal here and there.
I think you need to tighten this up a little.
Okay, I only wish I'd put a bit more effort into the first one as well now.
But I would like to know how I can get my marks up even higher.
What do I have to do specifically?
work could do with being more thoroughly checked.
You have quite a few spelling mistakes.
If it's anything, I think it's the computer.
Well, I'm not very good at typing.
And when I finish something like this, I find it difficult, even depressing, to go over it carefully again.
But it's affecting your marks.
Your previous essay was much better than this one.
Sometimes it's difficult to follow what's being said because of the frequency of mistakes.
A couple presentation and have been coming down heavily on things like grammar and spelling.
In fact, I am obliged to deduct marks from every piece of work which is not handed in fairly free of mistakes.
That's the end of section three.
You now have half a minute to check your answers.
You will hear a talk about the cantish pipe, a 17th century musical instrument.
First, you have some time to look at questions 31 to 40.
answer questions 31 to 40.
I'd like to introduce Jeffrey Roark of the Early Music Foundation.
Jeffrey has recently restored a genuine 17th century Kentish pipe and as you all know we'll be giving us a recital on it later this
But first he's kindly agreed to talk to us about this exciting and little-known instrument.
I'd like to begin, if I may, by talking to you about the rather unusual construction of the Kentish pipe.
The main part of the instrument, as you can see, is a long straight wooden tube which we call the chanter.
This one is in beachwood but other woods were used.
At one end, there is the airbag.
This rests under the arm of the player, like this.
The blowpipe that inflates the airbag is quite long and bends around the front of the body
to be inserted in the mouth of the player, like this.
You see, the flexible nature of this tube is a unique feature of the Kentish pipe.
In my restored version here, the blowpipe is, I'm sorry to confess, made out of plastic.
In the original version, it would have been made out of leather using an elaborate stitching and waxing technique.
However, the skills required to do this have now been lost.
Good old plastic was the only alternative we could The airbag is obviously a modern replacement too.
This time it is made out of leather and as far as we can be certain is likely to be pretty
much identical to the original.
A particularly soft and supple yet strong leather is Ordinary shoe leather would start to crack in no time.
The pipe or chamter is original of course, as its rather battered appearance makes obvious, I would imagine.
But it still sounds pretty good after nearly 400 years.
We can actually put a precise date on it, because the maker kindly inscribed it for us.
Just here, you probably can't see it.
JD, the maker's initials, and the date 1634.
The most recent feature is the reed, the part that actually makes the noise.
Although probably identical in every way to the original,
it is in fact a piece from a plant picked yesterday morning by my son by the river near our house.
So that's the construction.
But why bother with the bag?
Why not just blow directly into the pipe?
Well, you can play the instrument that way.
You can just detach the bag like this and blow into this hole here.
But you need a lot of breath to do it, much more than say a flute or clarinet.
After a few notes you have to stop to take a breath.
The bag allows the player to breathe while continuing to play.
This meant that music for the Kentish pipe could be loud and fast.
The way they liked it in Kent in the 17th century, no doubt.
So But, unfortunately, we don't have the music.
Not a single piece of music written specifically for the Kentish pipe has been found.
Luckily, some of my colleagues from the Early Music Foundation have adapted some traditional music from the period for the Kentish pipe,
and we hope this will closely reflect the impression performances on the original instrument would During the recital,
I'm also going to play some modern pieces, ranging from rock to classical.
And I hope you'll agree with me that the instrument can bring its own special character to familiar tunes.
Well, thank you very much for that, and I'm sure we're looking forward very much to hearing you play it after the break.
That is the end of section four.
You now have half a minute to check your answer.
You Music Thanks for watching!