Practice English Listening B2 Exercises – Can You Understand These People?

1 b   2 a   3 c   4 b   5 a

1

A   So how did you meet Tony?

B   Well, I’d tried lots of things, I mean I’d been on my own for two years – since the divorce – and I felt it was time to start dating again so I used an Internet site and I even tried speed dating, but the men I met weren’t really my type, though I quite liked one or two of them. Then I went to a dinner given by a friend of mine and she’d invited Tony as a ‘spare man’, you know, as a sort of blind date for me and we really hit it off right from the start.

2

A   So what was she like?

B   Well, she wasn’t at all what I’d expected from what she’d written on her web page – I mean, I’m not saying she was lying exactly, but she made out that she was really bubbly and lively – you know a real extrovert, but in fact I had to do all the talking and it was quite hard work. She hardly opened her mouth all evening.

3

A   So what time will you be coming?

B   Well, I think I’ll have finished work by around 6.00, so I should be able to get the 6.42 train, which gets me in at about 7.15. So if I take a taxi from the station, I should be there about 7.30.

A   Actually, there’s a good bus service now so you don’t need to get a taxi if you don’t want to. It goes every 15 minutes and it stops really near our house.

B   Oh right. Well, I’ll do that then. So expect me between half past and quarter to.

A   Perfect.

4

A   Right Mr Strong, I think you’ve probably got the flu virus that’s going around at the moment.

B   Flu? But I haven’t had a temperature. I’ve just had this awful headache.

A   Yes, but not everybody gets a temperature. In fact, a headache’s the most common symptom. So just carry on with the painkillers and you should feel better in a day or two.

B   So I don’t need any antibiotics?

A   No, this is a virus, so antibiotics wouldn’t do any good. Drink lots of fluids and take the painkillers up to three times a day. If you haven’t started feeling better by Monday, then come back and see me.

B   Well, I hope I won’t have to. Thank you very much doctor.

5

A   So it’s Gibson moving into space and it’s a superb pass to Lambert who’s on his own and he’s past the Chelsea defence and… oh no, he’s been brought down by Marsh, and that was a really hard tackle. In fact, it looks as if he’s badly hurt. Yes, they’re coming on with the stretcher. I think it’s his knee.

B   No, I don’t think it was his knee. If you look at the replay – there, look how he falls – it looks like the ankle to me, I think it’s a ligament that’s gone. If it’s an ankle ligament, he could be out for six months.

A   That’s a bit pessimistic, don’t you think? I’d say more like three, if it is his ankle that is.

B   They’re taking him off now, and I imagine we’ll hear something as soon as the doctor’s seen him. But he won’t be playing in the return match on Wednesday night that’s for sure.

A   Not unless we’ve both got it wrong and it’s not a serious injury. But that looks like really bad news for United not to have him for the return match.

1   Because she was having a lot of problems with her fiancé.

2   That the problems would be resolved.

3   No, it wasn’t.

4   That the psychic wasn’t very professional.

5   Because Alice believes that psychics can really see into the future.

6   She told Alice she would have a new job.

7   She didn’t get depressed when she lost her job.

8   Not to depend too much on psychics.

A   I went to see a psychic about ten years ago because I was having a lot of problems with my boyfriend, my fiancé in fact. I was supposed to be getting married the following year and I wanted to know what kind of future I was going to have with this man. I had serious doubts about him as a person and in fact I was thinking of leaving him. The psychic read my future in Tarot cards and she told me that the problems I was having with this man would be resolved.

She told me to stay with him and that we would be very happy together. So, I got married – and it was a disaster. My new husband ran off with my best friend after six months. I am divorced now. Of course, I wish that I hadn’t gone to see this woman who obviously had no special powers whatsoever. I should have trusted my own instincts, which were not to marry my fiancé. In my experience, clairvoyants just tell you what they think you want to hear. They aren’t seeing it at all. It’s just a way of getting your money.

B   Well, I don’t think the psychic you saw was very professional. A good psychic will never tell you what to do. A good psychic will identify what’s happening in your life and offer guidance, but it’s up to you to decide what to do.

C   I must say I don’t agree with Lorenna at all. I think clairvoyants can see into the future. Maybe not all of them, but a lot of them can. I went to a clairvoyant last year and she said several things about my future and they have come true and they weren’t all good things. For example, she told me that I would soon have a new job. In fact I was very happy in the job I had at that time, but two months later the company was taken over by another company and I lost my job.

But because the psychic had told me about the new job, I didn’t get depressed. I felt optimistic. And in fact I was only unemployed for a couple of months and then I did get another job. Now I go and see my psychic every time I have any kind of problem.

B   OK, but I think it’s important that people do not come to depend too much on a psychic. I know people who won’t do anything without consulting their psychic first and this isn’t very healthy. Psychic can help you understand your own thoughts and feelings better, but they can’t live your lives for you.