IELTS Listening full test 2

Assistant: Hello, Northgate Library, Sam speaking.

Caller: Oh hi. I've just moved to the area and I'd like to join the library.

Assistant: Great. I can start the form over the phone and you can finish it when you come in. What's your full name?

Caller: Daniel Kowalski. That's K-O-W-A-L-S-K-I.

Assistant: Thanks, Daniel. And your address?

Caller: Flat 3, 27 Hill Street, Northgate.

Assistant: And a phone number?

Caller: Zero four one two, five five eight, three nine zero.

Assistant: Thank you. Now, membership is free for local residents. You'll just need to bring some proof of address, like a utility bill or a bank statement.

Caller: No problem. How many books can I borrow?

Assistant: Up to fifteen items at a time, for three weeks. You can renew them twice online, unless someone else has reserved them.

Caller: And are there fines for late returns?

Assistant: Not anymore. We stopped charging fines last year. But if an item is lost, you pay the replacement cost.

Caller: Good to know. Do you have computers I can use?

Assistant: Yes, there are twelve public computers on the first floor. You can book one for up to two hours a day. Printing costs twenty cents a page.

Caller: And I've heard you run some events.

Assistant: That's right. There's a conversation club for people learning English on Thursday afternoons, and a book club on the last Monday of every month. Both are free.

Caller: Perfect. What are your opening hours on Saturday?

Assistant: Nine till one. We're closed on Sundays.

Guide: Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Greenhill Farm. Before we start the tour, let me give you some information about the farm and today's activities.

Guide: The farm has been run by the same family since nineteen twenty-two, and today it covers around four hundred hectares. We used to grow mainly wheat, but about fifteen years ago we switched to organic vegetables and free-range eggs, which are now our main products.

Guide: The tour will last about ninety minutes. We'll start at the farmhouse, then walk to the vegetable gardens. After that we'll visit the chicken sheds, and we'll finish at the farm shop, where you can taste some of our produce.

Guide: For safety reasons, please stay on the paths, and don't feed any of the animals, even if they come up to the fence. Children must be supervised by an adult at all times.

Guide: In the afternoon, there are a few optional activities. Fruit picking is available from two until four, and it costs five dollars per basket. There's also a cheese-making demonstration at three o'clock in the barn. That one is free, but numbers are limited to twenty, so please put your name on the list at the shop.

Guide: The tractor rides, which many of you asked about, are not running today because the tractor is being repaired. Sorry about that.

Guide: Toilets are next to the car park and behind the farm shop. And if anyone needs first aid, please speak to any member of staff wearing a green shirt.

Lecturer: Hi Maya, hi Tom. You wanted to talk about your research project on working from home?

Maya: Yes. We've finished collecting the data, but we're not sure how to organise our report.

Lecturer: Remind me what you did.

Tom: We interviewed twenty employees from three different companies about how working from home had affected them.

Lecturer: And what were the main findings?

Maya: Most people said they were more productive at home, mainly because there were fewer interruptions. But a lot of them also said they felt isolated.

Tom: The other big issue was the boundary between work and home. Several people said they found it hard to switch off in the evening.

Lecturer: Interesting. Did you notice any differences between the companies?

Maya: Yes, actually. At the tech company, almost everyone wanted to keep working from home. At the bank, people preferred a mix of home and office. The engineering firm was the most negative, partly because some of their work needs special equipment.

Lecturer: That's a useful comparison. I'd suggest organising your findings by theme rather than by company, and then having a separate section comparing the three companies.

Tom: That makes sense. What about the literature review? It's quite long at the moment.

Lecturer: Keep it to about a quarter of the report. And remember to discuss the limitations of your study. Twenty people is a small number, and they all volunteered to take part, so they may not be typical.

Maya: Good point. When should we submit a draft?

Lecturer: Send me something by the end of next week and I'll give you feedback within five days.

Lecturer: In today's lecture, we're looking at urban wildlife, and in particular at one species that has adapted remarkably well to city life: the red fox.

Lecturer: Foxes began appearing in large numbers in British cities in the nineteen thirties, when new suburbs with large gardens were built. These gardens provided shelter and plenty of food, and today it's estimated that around one in seven foxes in Britain lives in an urban area.

Lecturer: Urban foxes differ from rural foxes in several ways. Their diet is much more varied. While rural foxes mainly eat rabbits and small rodents, city foxes eat a lot of food left out by people, including scraps from bins. However, studies of their stomach contents show that they still catch a surprising number of birds and insects.

Lecturer: Researchers have also found that urban foxes have smaller territories than rural foxes, because food is easier to find. In some city areas, a family group may occupy an area of only twenty hectares.

Lecturer: Another interesting finding concerns behaviour. City foxes are generally bolder and less afraid of people. One study placed new objects near feeding sites and found that urban foxes approached them more quickly than rural foxes. Some scientists believe this boldness is learned, while others think it may be partly genetic.

Lecturer: There are, of course, conflicts with humans. The most common complaints are about noise, especially during the breeding season in winter, and about foxes digging in gardens. Some councils used to trap and remove foxes, but this proved ineffective, because new foxes simply moved into the empty territories.

Lecturer: Current advice focuses on prevention: securing bins, blocking gaps under sheds, and not leaving pet food outside. In the next lecture, we'll compare the fox with another successful urban animal, the possum.