Practice English Listening B1 Exercises – Can You Understand These People?

1 b   2 a   3 c   4 b   5 a

1

A   Excuse me, is there a bookshop near here?

B   Er, sorry, I don’t think so. Er… what are you looking for?

A   I’m looking for a guidebook. Is there anywhere round here where I might be able to get one?

B   Actually, there aren’t very many bookshops in this town at all. I think there’s one in the centre but that’s all. But you might be able to get a guidebook at a newsagent’s. There’s one on the corner on the right, and another one a bit further on this way.

A   Oh right, thanks very much.

2

A   Where shall we have lunch?

B   What do you think, Albert? You know the restaurants here.

C   Well, you could go to Garibaldi’s. The food’s wonderful – home cooking. You need time though – they’re a bit slow.

B   We’re in a bit of a hurry cos we’re meeting Anna at 2.30.

C   Well, there’s Trattoria Marco – they do good pasta, and Roberto’s. Their fish is very good.

A   I had pasta last night.

B   Me too. Let’s go to the fish place then. Where exactly is it?

3

A   There’s nothing on TV tonight. Why don’t you go and rent a DVD?

B   Why don’t you go?

A   OK, but if I go, I choose the film.

B   No way. I don’t want to see another horror film in all my life.

A   Well, you go then.

B   We could both go and then get a takeaway for supper.

A   OK then.

4

A   Come in, sit down.

B   Thank you.

A   It’s James Baker, isn’t it?

B   That’s right.

A   Tell me a bit about the last hotel where you worked. You were head of reception, is that right?

B   Yes, I was a receptionist for two years and then I got promoted to head of reception.

A   But you do realize that this hotel’s much bigger than where you were before and the post vacant here is for a receptionist.

B   Yes, yes, I know.

A   Why did you decide to get a job straight after school? I mean, why did you decide not to carry on with your education?

B   To be honest, I wanted to earn some money. But I’d like to do a diploma in tourism next year, maybe studying part-time.

5

A   Have you applied for university next year?

B   Yes. I’ve got a place at Manchester to do medicine.

A   Medicine? You’ve always said you wanted to do biology.

B   Yes, but I’ve changed my mind. I don’t really want to work as a doctor, but I’d like to do medical research. And for that, the best thing is to study medicine.

1 T   2 F   3 F   4 F   5 T

A   So what do you think?

B   I think I like the Volve best. It’s so comfortable. And I love the colour. It’s a really nice shade of blue.

A   Don’t think about the colour. That’s a ridiculous reason for buying a car. The question is, is the Golf big enough?

B   There’s not much space for luggage – the boot’s much smaller than the Volvo’s.

A   Yes, but think about it – we only go on holiday once a year. The rest of the time we only use the boot for shopping. And the Golf would be much easier to park – that’s the advantage of a smaller car. You know parking’s not your strong point.

B   I can park perfectly, thank you very much.

A   Come on! What about last week when you scratched the mirror.

B   That wasn’t parking. It was when I was driving in the High Street. Anyway, Volvos are the safest cars on the road – everybody says so.

A   The Volvo’s quite a bit more expensive, you know. If we bought it, we’d have to get a bank loan.

B   How much more expensive is it?

A   About 20% more. We wouldn’t be able to go to France this summer.

B   What about the Peugeot? Over there. It’s cheaper than the Volvo and the Golf. And it’s a really sweet yellow.

A   Look, we’ve been here more than an hour and I thought we’d agreed we were going to buy either the Volvo or the Golf.

B   Yes, but now I’m not sure.