Practice English Listening A2 Exercises – Spaces

A

Donna likes the idea of moving. José doesn’t like the idea.

B

1   Possible answers: They don’t have enough money. / It’s too expensive. / It’s too far from Sydney. / He doesn’t want to change jobs. / He loves the city.

2   They move and José changes his job.

DONNA   José, come over here. Let’s have a look at these homes.

JOSÉ   Why? We can’t move. We don’t have enough money.

D   Can we just have a look in the window? We can look, can’t we?

J   I suppose so.

D   It’d be really nice to get out of the city.

J   Hmmm, would it?

D   Look at this one … a house with two bedrooms, a large kitchen, a swimming pool! Imagine it, we’d come home from work, go for a swim to cool off, have a barbecue …

J   That would be nice, yeah.

D   Sure it would!

J   But it’s three hundred and eighty dollars a week. We’d never be able to afford it.

D   You never know. Maybe one day. What about this one near the beach? You could go surfing after work.

J   It’s three and a half hours from Sydney! I’d be too tired to go surfing after commuting for three and a half hours.

D   You’d move schools, I guess. I bet you’d find a nice little school nearby.

J   Yeah, but I love my job, the kids, all my friends at work. I wouldn’t want to move schools.

D   Well, you might change your mind. Can you imagine? Working in a small friendly school, rather than one with thousands of kids, cycling to work. Life would be so much easier.

J   Well, sorry, but it sounds boring to me! You know I love the city. What would I do in the middle of nowhere?

D   OK, OK. But one day, you know, if we have kids, maybe we’d want to get out of Sydney.

J   Hmmm. Would you change your job? Would you leave IT?

D   Yes, I think I would, actually.

J   Oh, yeah? And what would you do? It’s not easy to change jobs like that.

A

Eva (Marisa’s daughter) doesn’t get on with the family’s daughter. She’s always complaining about Eva. She says she doesn’t clean enough and her music’s too loud.

B

Possible answers:

1   ✗ (The daughter is there all the time.)

2   ✓ (But Eva did talk to her, and she wasn’t interested.)

3   ✓ (But Eva would find it difficult. They’re really nice.)

4   ✗ (Eva wouldn’t want to do that.)

5   ✗ (It’s not easy for her to move – she lives close to her college.)

DONNA   How’s your daughter getting on? She’s moved to Canberra, hasn’t she?

MARISA   Yeah, that’s right. She’s very happy, she loves it there and loves her job, but there are some problems with her flat.

D   Oh, no. What sort of problems?

M   Well, she lives with a family, Mr and Mrs Pierce, and they’re really nice, but Eva doesn’t get on well with their daughter!

D   Ah, that sounds really awkward. Why don’t they get along?

M   Well, I think she’s always complaining about Eva, saying she doesn’t clean enough, her music’s too loud, things like that. Eva doesn’t really know what to do.

D   Could she organise her day so she doesn’t see the daughter?

M   Eva says she’s there all the time! Apparently, she even goes in her room. Sounds really annoying!

D   Wow. Well, maybe she should talk to her, tell her how she feels.

M   Yeah, she did that, but Eva says she’s not interested. Maybe she should try again.

D   I think so, yeah.

M   I’ve never really been in that situation, so I don’t know what to suggest. What would you do?

D   What, if I was Eva? I’d probably talk to the parents, actually.

M   Hm, I think she’d find that difficult. The problem is, they’re really nice.

D   Well yeah, so they’ll probably listen.

M   Yes, I think you’re right. She’ll have to think carefully about what to say.

D   Would it be possible to write to them?

M   A letter? No … I don’t think she’d want to do that. I’ll tell her to talk to the parents.

D   Yes, and I’d tell her to move if that doesn’t work!

M   Well, you know, it’s not so easy. At least she’s close to her college.

D   I bet you miss her.

M   Yes, it’s hard, but she’s fine really. She’s enjoying her independence!

Paula: her housemate cooks a lot, but never does the washing up.

Leonardo: his neighbour sings in the morning (like an opera singer).

PAULA   I have a big problem with my housemate. He loves cooking. He cooks almost every day, he uses every pan in the kitchen, every pot, every fork and knife, and he never, ever does the dishes.

LEONARDO   Really? Have you tried leaving a note in the kitchen saying. Please wash all the pots and …?

P   I’ve left notes. I’ve sent text messages, emails, everything. And he always says, ‘Oh, sorry, I promise to do it next time, I forgot, I’m really busy,’ and then, every time I wake up because he leaves most of the time earlier than me, like, the kitchen is a mess. It’s really, really bad.

L   Well, I also have problems with my neighbour. He sings very loudly in the morning and it’s not that bad but he tries to imitate an opera singer.

P   That’s really bad.

L   It is really bad but there’s nothing I can do about it, like leaving a note or sending text messages or emails because I don’t even know him.

A

1   in the UK; in an apartment block

2   in Costa Rica; in a house

B

In the UK: she doesn’t know her neighbours.

In Costa Rica: she got to know the neighbours; they all introduced themselves.

NATALIE   So, Megan, I know you’ve lived in a few different countries. I was just wondering how you felt when you moved into a new place. How did you get on with your neighbours?

MEGAN   Ern, now that I live in the UK, I don’t know any of my neighbours at all. I think that might be also because I live in an apartment block and you just never have any contact with anybody. When I was living in Costa Rica we lived in a house, erm, but also, it was much more common to talk to your neighbours. Very quickly, as soon as we moved in, all the ladies on the street came by, knocked on the door, introduced themselves.

N   That’s really nice.

M   It was really nice. It was much easier to get to know people in the community.

N   Uh huh.