Culture, Heritage & Museums – B2 English Listening Exercise

9 corn mill 10 local school 11 bronze 12 heavy coat

13 religious symbol 14 wooden cart 15 connection

16 X-ray imaging 17 ancient diets 18 family workshop

Oliver: Hello everyone. My name is Oliver, and I’m an assistant curator here at the County Heritage Museum. I’m delighted to talk to you today about a very special artifact we have on display—an ancient agricultural model depicting a farmer and two oxen.

Before we get into the model itself, let me just mention a bit about our museum. The building we are in has a fascinating history. A lot of visitors guess that it used to be a large barn or perhaps a wealthy merchant’s house. In reality, though, this structure was originally built as a corn mill back in the late eighteenth century, before being converted into the museum you see today.

We have a massive collection of rural artifacts. You might assume that a valuable piece like the ancient farming model was uncovered by professional archaeologists, or perhaps donated by a wealthy private collector. Surprisingly, it was actually found in a playground and given to us by a local school several decades ago. We are incredibly grateful they realised its historical importance.

The model itself is quite small, but beautifully detailed. When you look at ancient agricultural models, you’ll find that the vast majority of them are carved from wood, or sometimes shaped out of clay. This particular model stands out, however, because it is made almost entirely of bronze, which indicates it belonged to someone of significant wealth and status.

If you examine the figure of the farmer standing behind the animals, there’s something quite unexpected. You would naturally assume an ancient farmer working in the fields under the hot sun would be dressed in light clothing or perhaps a simple tunic. Yet, rather uniquely, this figure is wrapped in a heavy coat. We believe this suggests the model might represent a specific winter ritual rather than everyday summer farming.

But the most intriguing feature of all is the two oxen. They are attached to the farmer’s equipment, yet they are curiously facing in opposite directions. At first glance, some art historians thought this was simply a mistake by the creator, or perhaps an attempt to show the animals turning around at the end of a field. However, most experts now agree that it actually serves as a religious symbol, representing the opposing forces of nature, like day and night, or life and death.

The model is nearly complete, but there is a noticeable rectangular slot just behind the animals. For a long time, we assumed that a small metal plough was meant to fit in there. But after comparing it with similar finds from the same era, we are now certain that a wooden cart was originally attached there, which unfortunately hasn’t survived the passing of time.

It is wonderful to watch people interact with this display. Some folks just look puzzled when they see the backwards-facing oxen. But after reading the information panels, many visitors tell us they feel a profound connection to the people of the past, rather than just viewing it as a piece of dead history.

To uncover the model’s secrets, we’ve brought in modern science. We deliberately avoided chemical testing, as that could potentially damage the artifact’s delicate surface. Instead, our conservation team decided that X-ray imaging was the safest and most effective method. This allowed us to see exactly how the metal was poured and cast without leaving a single scratch.

If you want to see the model for yourself, you’ll need to be quick. It won’t be staying in this gallery. We originally planned to move it to the exhibition on early farming tools. Instead, we’ve decided it will form the centrepiece of an upcoming exhibition dedicated to ancient diets, which opens to the public next spring.

As for my own role, I’ve spent the last few weeks writing descriptions for our new audio guides. But I’m really looking forward to next month, when I’ll be in charge of a family workshop where people can try their hand at making their own clay models. Now, if anyone has any questions…

9 history students 10 basement 11 tomb 12 glass

13 shadows 14 ghost 15 shivering

16 diagram 17 respect 18 postcards

Leo: Hi everyone. My name is Leo, and I work as a guide at our city’s Museum of Ancient Culture. It’s a brilliant job. While our weekend exhibitions attract plenty of casual art lovers, during the week, the people I usually show around are history students from local secondary schools.

Today I want to tell you about the most talked-about object in our collection. You’d expect our most famous piece to be right by the entrance on the ground floor, or perhaps in the grand hall. Instead, you have to go down a narrow staircase to find it, because it’s displayed in the basement, where the lighting is kept deliberately low to preserve the artifacts.

The object is a life-sized ancient statue of a nobleman. Because of its excellent condition, visitors often guess it was recovered from the ruins of a royal palace. However, it was actually unearthed in a tomb during an expedition in the 1920s. What makes this statue so special, and quite honestly, a bit creepy, is its eyes. They are incredibly realistic. The artists used standard limestone for the body of the figure, but for the eyes, they utilized perfectly curved pieces of glass, rather than the polished stones or painted clay you see in other works from that era.

Because of how these eyes are constructed, they appear to follow you as you walk across the room. People ask if it’s a modern trick using lasers or special lighting. Not at all. It’s entirely down to the genius of the ancient carving and the shadows that fall across the face as your own viewing angle changes.

The reaction of the young visitors is fascinating. When I lead a group of teenagers into the room, there’s always a moment of silence. Then, rather than calling it a monster or an alien, which you might expect, at least one kid will inevitably mutter that it has to be a ghost possessing the stone! It really messes with their heads.

In fact, I’ve had groups who were extremely noisy just moments before, suddenly become entirely silent. I’ve even noticed a few kids physically shivering under the statue’s gaze, rather than screaming or running away as they do in the movies. They just freeze up.

To help them relax, I have a specific technique. I tried showing them a short video on my tablet explaining the optical illusion, but that didn’t help much. So instead, I pass around a diagram which clearly illustrates the geometry of the eye sockets. Once they see the cross-section on paper, the magic is broken, and they start breathing normally again.

I always ask them why an ancient sculptor would design such an unsettling feature. The kids usually guess it was to scare away grave robbers. While that makes sense, historians believe the actual intention was to command respect from visitors and descendants, ensuring the nobleman was taken seriously in the afterlife.

By the end of the tour, the kids absolutely love it. When we finally reach the gift shop, you’d think they’d want to buy those plastic replica key rings or giant posters. But actually, it’s the postcards of the statue’s face that completely sell out. They all want to take those home to creep out their friends and parents!