Practice English Listening B2 Exercises – Act your age

A

A 3   B 5   C 2   D 4   F 1

B

1 T

2 F (They sometimes dress older to get into clubs.)

3 T

4 T

5 F (He looks great.)

6 F (Most men don’t dress like that these days.)

H = host, L = Liza, A = Adrian

H   Welcome to today’s programme. The topic is age and fashion, and the question is: Do people these days dress their age, and should they? Our guests are both fashion journalists with well-known magazines. Hello, Liza and Adrian.

L & A   Hello. Hi!

H   Hi. Let’s start with you, Liza.

L   Well, the first thing I’d like to say to all the young people out there is next time you give your grandma a warm cardigan and some fur slippers for her birthday, don’t be surprised if she asks for the receipt because she’ll probably want to go out and change them for something more exciting.

H   So you think these days older women dress much younger than they used to?

L   Oh, absolutely. Think of women like Meryl Streep, Catherine Deneuve, Helen Mirren, Jane Fonda… When Jane Fonda was in her 70s, she appeared on a talk show wearing a leather miniskirt – she looked fabulous! But, of course…

A   I have to say, I saw that show and I thought Jane Fonda looked awful…

H   Adrian, can you let Liza finish?

A   Sorry. Sorry, go ahead.

L   Well, what I was going to say was that it isn’t just famous women who are dressing younger; some recent research says that nine out of ten women say that they try to dress younger than their years.

H   What about younger women?

L   Well, yes, of course it depends on your age. A lot of teenage girls try to dress older than they are, maybe to get into clubs. But I would still say that from 30 onwards, most women try to dress younger than they are.

H   And do you think there’s anything wrong with that?

L   Nothing at all; it’s a question of wearing what suits you. And that could be anything, from current trends to classics. I mean, OK, there are a very few things that can look a bit ridiculous on an older woman, like, let’s see, very short shorts…but not many.

A   I think very short shorts look ridiculous at any age – well, on anyone over 15 or so.

H   Adrian, what about men? Do you think they also try to look younger than their age?

A   Well, interestingly, in the research Liza mentioned, only 12% of the men who were questioned said that they had ever thought about dressing to look younger. But actually, I think a lot of them weren’t telling the truth. Look at all those middle-aged men you see wearing jeans that are too tight, and T-shirts with slogans. I think they look terrible, as if they’re trying to pretend they’re still in their 20s.

L   Sorry, but I don’t agree. I think Mick Jagger looks great in tight jeans and T-shirts. They suit him!

A   True, but Mick Jagger is one in a million. Most men of his age can’t carry it off. Personally, I do think that men should take their age into account when they’re buying clothes.

H   Let’s go back to the idea of dressing older than your age. Do you think that men do that, too?

A   Yes, definitely, some do. Some men in their 20s look as if they were 20 years older by wearing blazers and chinos, or wearing a suit and a tie to work when these days most men don’t dress like that.

L   Maybe they’ve just started work and they want their bosses to take them more seriously?

A   Well, maybe.

H   I think we’re running out of time. So, to sum up, Liza, Adrian, what would your fashion rules be? …

1 c   2 b   3 a   4 c

1

I = interviewer, S = Sean

I    Have you ever had an interview for a job or a place on a course?

S   Uh, yeah, I actually have been in several interviews for jobs only.

I    haven’t had one for school yet.

I    What kind of questions did they ask you?

S   Um, my last job interview, uh, they asked me questions like what it’s like to, what is it like to be a part of a team, um, to me. Um, they asked me what my favorite superhero was, uh, which was interesting. Um, they asked me… ’cause right now I’m a server at a restaurant, so they were asking me like, oh, what’s, how’s customer service and how important, uh, is it to you and stuff like that.

I    Did you get the job or place?

S   Yes.

2

I = interviewer, H = Harry

I    Do you believe in ghosts or UFOs?

H   I do believe in ghosts. I believe in ghosts because I grew up in a house where there is a ghost. My mum has heard it, my dad has heard it, my brothers have heard it. And I heard it one night when I was at home on my own, with the dogs. I was sitting downstairs watching TV, in the house, on my own, with the dogs, and I heard footsteps go from one end of the house to the other, along the corridor above. But, no one’s scared of the ghost, we just know there’s a ghost in the house.

3

I = interviewer, M = Maria

I      Have you ever given anyone first aid?

M   Uh, yes, when I was sixteen, I was at home with my two younger brothers, um, and they were playing upstairs. I heard a loud bang, and, um, my little brother came downstairs crying and he’d hit his head on the door handle. Um, and there was quite a lot of blood, so I sat him on the sofa and got a wet cold flannel and put it on his head. Um, and, uh, told him to sit, sit still for a few minutes while I rang my mum who was working, um, a night shift, um, at the time. Um, and then while I was waiting for her to come home, I just checked his head, made sure that it wasn’t bleeding too much. Um, and yeah, it was fine. Um, my mum came home, took him to the hospital, so, it was fine.

4

I = interviewer, M = Mark

I      Are you good friends with anyone who is a lot older or younger than you?

M   Um, I’m very good friends with someone much older than me in his eighties and he was ah a director of a play I’d been in and we had the same um point of view on a lot of things in life, so I speak to him a couple of times a week. He’s more elderly now and uh I think I’m good friends with a number of people in their twenties who ah I’ve met either at the gym or through classes that I take.