IELTS Listening full test 1

Agent: Good morning, Harbourside Holiday Rentals, Megan speaking.

Caller: Hi, I'd like to book a holiday house for the school holidays, please.

Agent: Of course. Can I have your surname first?

Caller: Yes, it's Okafor. O-K-A-F-O-R.

Agent: Thank you. And how many people will be staying?

Caller: Two adults and three children, so five altogether.

Agent: And when would you like to arrive?

Caller: On the fourteenth of January, for one week.

Agent: Let me check. Yes, we have a three-bedroom house on Beach Road available for those dates. It's two hundred metres from the water.

Caller: That sounds great. How much is it?

Agent: It's one hundred and ninety dollars a night, so the total for seven nights is one thousand three hundred and thirty dollars. We also ask for a cleaning fee of eighty dollars.

Caller: OK. Is there parking?

Agent: Yes, there's space for one car in the garage. Pets aren't allowed, I'm afraid.

Caller: That's fine, we don't have any. Is there anything the house doesn't have?

Agent: It has everything you'd expect, but there's no dishwasher, and you'll need to bring your own beach towels. Bed linen is provided.

Caller: Good to know. How do I pay?

Agent: We take a deposit of twenty per cent today by card, and the rest is due two weeks before you arrive. I'll email you the confirmation. What's the best email address?

Caller: It's j dot okafor at mailbox dot com.

Agent: Lovely. And you'll collect the keys from our office on Marine Parade, any time after two pm on the day you arrive.

Speaker: Good evening, and welcome to this information session about the new Riverside Sports Centre, which opens to the public next month.

Speaker: The centre has been built on the site of the old tennis courts, and it's taken just under two years to complete. The total cost was eighteen million dollars, most of which came from the state government, with the rest from the local council.

Speaker: Let me tell you about the facilities. On the ground floor there's a twenty-five metre indoor pool, which will be heated all year round, and a smaller learn-to-swim pool for young children. Upstairs, you'll find a gym and two studios for classes such as yoga and dance. The two outdoor courts can be used for basketball or netball.

Speaker: Opening hours are six am to nine pm on weekdays, and seven am to six pm at weekends. The centre will be closed on Christmas Day only.

Speaker: Now, membership. A standard adult membership costs twenty-two dollars a week. Students and seniors pay fifteen dollars, and children under five can use the pools free of charge when they come with an adult. If you join before the opening day, you'll get your first month free.

Speaker: A few things to note. Parking is limited, so we encourage people to walk, cycle or catch the bus. There are bicycle racks at the main entrance. The café on the ground floor will open a few weeks after the rest of the centre, as the kitchen is still being fitted out.

Speaker: Finally, we're looking for volunteers to help on the open day, which will be on the third of March. If you're interested, please leave your name with the staff at the front desk tonight.

Tutor: So, Leo and Priya, how is your presentation on food waste coming along?

Leo: Pretty well, I think. We've decided to focus on waste in households rather than in supermarkets or restaurants.

Priya: Yes, at first we wanted to cover supermarkets, but we found that most of the data was owned by the companies and we couldn't get access to it.

Tutor: That's sensible. What sources are you using?

Leo: Mainly a government report from last year, which has very detailed figures. We also did a small survey of other students.

Tutor: How many people responded?

Priya: Sixty-two. It's not a big sample, but the results were interesting. The most commonly wasted food was bread, followed by fresh vegetables.

Tutor: And did you ask why people waste food?

Leo: We did. The main reason people gave was that they buy too much. Not checking use-by dates came second.

Tutor: Good. Now, how are you going to divide the presentation?

Priya: I'll do the introduction and present the survey results. Leo will cover the government report and the solutions.

Tutor: And what solutions are you going to suggest?

Leo: We want to focus on simple things like planning meals and using a shopping list. Priya also found some apps that let neighbours share food they won't use.

Tutor: That's a nice practical angle. My only concern is the length. You've got fifteen minutes, and I think you'll need to cut some of the statistics. Too many numbers on the slides can be hard to follow.

Priya: That's fair. We could put the detailed figures in a handout instead.

Tutor: Excellent idea. And make sure you practise together at least once. Timing is where most groups lose marks.

Lecturer: Today I'm going to talk about the history and science of the humble pencil.

Lecturer: The story begins in the sixteenth century in Borrowdale, in the north of England, where a large deposit of very pure graphite was discovered. At first, local shepherds used it to mark their sheep. Because graphite is soft and brittle, people soon began wrapping it in string or sheepskin to hold it.

Lecturer: For many years, England had a near monopoly on high-quality graphite, and the mine was so valuable that it was guarded. Other countries had to find alternatives. In seventeen ninety-five, a French scientist, Nicolas-Jacques Conté, developed a method of mixing powdered graphite with clay and then baking the mixture in a kiln. This was a crucial breakthrough, because changing the amount of clay allowed manufacturers to control how hard or soft the pencil was. More clay produces a harder pencil and a lighter line.

Lecturer: This is the origin of the grading systems we still use. In many countries, H stands for hard and B stands for black, so a 6B pencil is very soft and dark, while a 4H is hard and pale.

Lecturer: The wooden case also developed over time. Early pencils used various kinds of wood, but in the nineteenth century manufacturers began using cedar, which is soft enough to sharpen easily and does not split.

Lecturer: Most pencils today are painted yellow. This tradition started in the eighteen-nineties, when the best graphite came from China, and yellow was associated with Chinese royalty, so the colour suggested quality.

Lecturer: Finally, a word about the rubber, or eraser, on the end. It wasn't added until eighteen fifty-eight, when an American inventor received a patent for attaching one. Interestingly, many European pencils are still sold without one, because some teachers believe it encourages students to make mistakes carelessly.