Enquiry about joining Youth Council

ANNOUNCER: Section 1. You will hear a young man phoning a town's Youth Council. First, you have some time to look at questions 1 to 5. You will see that there is an example that has been done for you.

CAROLINE: Good morning, Youth Council, Caroline speaking.

ROGER: Oh hello. I'm interested in standing for election to the Youth Council, and I was told to give you a call.

CAROLINE: That's good. Could I have your name please?

ROGER: Yes, it's Roger Brown.

CAROLINE: Thank you.

ANNOUNCER: The young man's name is Roger Brown. So Brow has been written in the space. Now we shall begin. You should answer the questions as you listen, because you will not hear the recording a second time.

CAROLINE: Good morning, Youth Council, Caroline speaking.

ROGER: Oh hello. I'm interested in standing for election to the Youth Council, and I was told to give you a call.

CAROLINE: That's good. Could I have your name please?

ROGER: Yes, it's Roger Brown.

CAROLINE: Thank you. I'm Caroline, the Youth Council administrator. Do you know much about what the Council does?

ROGER: I've talked to Stephanie. I think she's the chair of the Council.

CAROLINE: That's right.

ROGER: She told me it's a way for young people to discuss local issues and make suggestions to the town council.

CAROLINE: Fine. Let me take some details. First, how old are you? The council is for young people aged 13 to 18.

ROGER: I've just turned 18.

CAROLINE: And where do you live?

ROGER: At the moment I'm staying in a hostel during the week, but I go back to my parents' home at the weekend.

CAROLINE: Where should we send you information?

ROGER: Please send it to my parents' address: 17 Buckleigh Street, Stamford, Lincolnshire.

CAROLINE: And the postcode?

ROGER: PE97QT.

CAROLINE: Are you working or studying?

ROGER: I'm studying at university. I also have a part-time job.

CAROLINE: What kind of job?

ROGER: I recently worked as a courier, and now I'm working as a waiter in a hotel.

CAROLINE: What are you studying?

ROGER: My main subject is politics, because I want to work in Parliament one day.

CAROLINE: And your minor subject?

ROGER: I'm studying history, though I'm not enjoying it as much as I expected.

ANNOUNCER: Before you hear the rest of the phone call, you have some time to look at questions 6 to 10.

CAROLINE: Do you have any hobbies?

ROGER: I spend a lot of time cycling, both around town and long distances.

CAROLINE: Anything else?

ROGER: I also enjoy going to the cinema, though I don't go as often now.

CAROLINE: Is there any particular area of the Youth Council that interests you?

ROGER: Yes. My sister is blind, so I'm interested in helping disabled young people.

CAROLINE: The best way to get involved is to be nominated by people you know.

ROGER: How can I arrange that?

CAROLINE: You should meet Jeffrey, the Elections Officer.

ROGER: That would be great.

CAROLINE: He will be here next Monday.

ROGER: That's the 14th, right?

CAROLINE: Yes. What time suits you?

ROGER: Would 4:30 pm be OK?

CAROLINE: That's fine. Could I have your phone number?

ROGER: Yes, it's 07788136711.

ANNOUNCER: That is the end of Section 1. You now have half a minute to check your answers.

New Staff at Theatre

ANNOUNCER: Section 2. You will hear a woman who works in a theatre talking to two new staff members on their first day of work. First, you have some time to look at questions 11 to 16. Now listen carefully and answer questions 11 to 16.

JODY: Hi, great to see you. I'm Jody, and I'll be looking after both of you for the first month you're working here at the Amersham Theatre. I'll tell you something about the theatre now, then take you to meet two of the other staff.

JODY: It's an old building, and it has been modernized several times. In fact, as you can see, we're carrying out a major refurbishment at the moment.

JODY: The interior has just been repainted, and we're about to start work on the exterior of the building. That will be quite a large job.

JODY: Unfortunately, the work is running over budget, so we’ve had to postpone installing an elevator. I hope you don’t mind running up and down the stairs.

JODY: When the theatre was first built, people were generally smaller, so the seats were very close together. We've now replaced them with larger seats with more legroom.

JODY: This means we now have fewer seats overall, but they can easily be moved to create different acting spaces.

JODY: We’ve also converted some storerooms into other facilities, such as rooms for meetings.

JODY: We try very hard to involve the public in the theatre. One way we do this is by organizing backstage tours so visitors can learn how a theatre operates.

JODY: These tours have become very popular. Many visitors also want somewhere to have lunch or coffee, so we’re considering opening a café.

JODY: We already have a bookshop that sells books about drama, and it attracts a lot of customers.

JODY: Two large rooms will soon be decorated and available for hire for conferences and private events.

JODY: We’re also considering hiring out costumes to amateur drama groups.

JODY: Now I’d like to mention our workshops. These are open to anyone who wants to learn about theatre production.

JODY: Eventually we plan to offer workshops in acting, but we’re still trying to find the right trainers.

JODY: At the moment, our lighting workshop is already running successfully, and a workshop on sound will begin next month.

JODY: Some people have asked about make-up workshops, which we may offer in the future.

JODY: Surprisingly, our most popular workshop is the one on making puppets. One of our staff members runs it as a hobby, and it has become extremely successful.

ANNOUNCER: Before you hear the rest of the talk, you have some time to look at questions 17 to 20. Now listen and answer questions 17 to 20.

JODY: Now let me explain the layout of the building.

JODY: The auditorium, stage, and dressing rooms are all located below ground level.

JODY: On the ground floor, we have rooms mainly used by staff, many of which are internal rooms with light coming from roof windows.

JODY: The box office is not in the foyer as people might expect. Instead, it is located next door, with a separate entrance from the street.

JODY: The theatre manager’s office is through the double doors, turn right, and it is the room at the end of the corridor on the left.

JODY: The lighting box is located at the back of the building. After the double doors, turn left, then right at the water cooler, and right again at the end.

JODY: This room has a window that looks into the auditorium below.

JODY: The artistic director’s office is through the double doors, turn right, and it is the first room on the right.

JODY: Finally, I’ll take you to the relaxation room.

ANNOUNCER: That is the end of Section 2. You now have half a minute to check your answers.

ANNOUNCER: Section 3. You will hear two biology students called Helen and Colin talking about the report they're writing on their recent field trip to a seaside area called Rocky Bay. First, you have some time to look at questions 21 to 26. Now listen carefully and answer questions 21 to 26.

HELEN: I've brought my notes on our biology field trip to Rocky Bay, Colin. So we can work on our report on the research we did together.

COLIN: OK, I've got mine too. Let's look at the aims of the trip first.

HELEN: Right, what did you have?

COLIN: I just put something about getting experience of the different sorts of procedures used on a field trip, but we need something about what causes different organisms to choose particular habitats.

HELEN: I agree. And something about finding out how to protect organisms in danger of dying out?

COLIN: In our aims? But we weren't really looking at that.

HELEN: I suppose not. OK, now there's the list of equipment we all had to bring on the field trip. What did they tell us to bring a ruler for?

COLIN: It was something about measuring the slope of the shore. But of course we didn't need it, because we were measuring wind directio , and we'd brought the compass for that.

HELEN: But not the piece of string to hold up in the air. Didn't Mr Blake make a fuss about us leaving that behind?

COLIN: Yeah. He does go on. Anyway, it was easy to get one from another of the students.

HELEN: Now, the next section's the procedure. I sent you the draft of that.

COLIN: Yeah. It was clear, but I don't think we need all these details of what time we left and what time we got back, and how we divided up the different research tasks.

HELEN: OK. I'll look at that again.

COLIN: Then we have to describe our method of investigatio in detail. So let's begin with how we measured wave speed. I was surprised how straightforward that was.

HELEN: I'd expected us to have some sort of high-tech device, not just stand there and count the number of waves per minute. Not very precise, but I suppose it was good enough.

HELEN: But the way we measured the amount of salt was interesting, in the water from the rock pools.

HELEN: Oh, I wanted to check the chemicals we used in the lab when we analysed those samples. Was it potassium chromate and silver nitrate?

COLIN: That's right.

HELEN: OK, and we need the map of the seashore. You just left that to me. I had to do it while the tide was low.

COLIN: Yeah, it looks good.

ANNOUNCER: Before you hear the rest of the discussion, you have some time to look at questions 27 to 30. Now listen and answer questions 27 to 30.

HELEN: Now, when we get to our findings, I thought we could divide them up into the different zones we identified on the shore.

COLIN: The splash zone.

HELEN: Yeah, we found mostly those tiny shellfish that have strong hard shells that act as protection.

COLIN: But not from other organisms that might eat them — predators.

HELEN: No, that's not the main danger for them, but the shells prevent them from drying out, because they're in the open air for most of the time.

COLIN: Then in the middle and lower zones nearer the sea, we need to discuss the effects of wave actio .

HELEN: Yes, and how organisms develop structures to prevent themselves from being swept away.

COLIN: Maybe we need to find some websites.

HELEN: Good idea.

ANNOUNCER: That is the end of section 3. You now have half a minute to check your answers.

ANNOUNCER: Section 4. You will hear part of a lecture to students of architecture about the design of a public building. First, you have some time to look at questions 31 to 40. Now listen carefully and answer questions 31 to 40.

SPEAKER: We've been discussing the factors the architect has to consider when designing domestic buildings. I'm going to move on now to consider the design of public buildings. And I'll illustrate this by referring to the new Taylor Concert Hall that's recently been completed here in the city.

SPEAKER: So, as with a domestic building, when designing a public building, an architect needs to consider the functio of the building. For example, is it to be used primarily for entertainment, or for educatio , or for administratio ?

SPEAKER: The second thing the architect needs to think about is the context of the building. This includes its physical locatio , obviously, but it also includes the social meaning of the building, how it relates to the people it's built for.

SPEAKER: And finally, for important public buildings, the architect may also be looking for a central symbolic idea on which to base the design, a sort of metaphor for the building and the way in which it is used.

SPEAKER: Let's look at the new Taylor Concert Hall in relation to these ideas. The location chosen was a site in a run-down district that had been ignored in previous redevelopment plans. It was occupied by a factory that had been empty for some years.

SPEAKER: The whole area was some distance from the high-rise office blocks of the central business district and shopping center, but it was only 1 km from the ring road.

SPEAKER: The site itself was bordered to the north by a canal, which had once been used by boats bringing in raw materials when the area was used for manufacturing.

SPEAKER: The architect chosen for the project was Tom Harriso . He found the main design challenge was the location of the site, in an area that had no neighboring buildings of any importance.

SPEAKER: To reflect the fact that the significance of the building in this run-down location was as yet unknown, he decided to create a building centered around the idea of a mystery, something whose meaning still has to be discovered.

SPEAKER: So, how was this reflected in the design of the building? Well, Harrison decided to create pedestrian access to the building and to make use of the presence of water on the site.

SPEAKER: As people approach the entrance, they therefore have to cross over a bridge. He wanted to give people a feeling of suspense as they see the building first from a distance and then close up.

SPEAKER: And the initial impression he wanted to create from the shape of the building as a whole was that of a box.

SPEAKER: The first side that people see, the southern wall, is just a high flat wall, uninterrupted by any windows.

SPEAKER: This might sound off-putting, but it supports Harrison's concept of the building: that the person approaching is intrigued and wonders what will be inside.

SPEAKER: And this flat wall also has another purpose. At night time, projectors are switched on, and it functions as a huge scree onto which images are projected.

SPEAKER: The auditorium itself seats 1,500 people. The floor's supported by 10 massive pads.

SPEAKER: These are constructed from rubber, and so are able to absorb any vibrations from outside and prevent them from affecting the auditorium.

SPEAKER: The walls are made of several layers of honey-colored wood, all sourced from local beech trees.

SPEAKER: In order to improve the acoustic properties of the auditorium and to amplify the sound, they are not straight, they are curved.

SPEAKER: The acoustics are also adjustable according to the size of orchestra and the type of music being played.

SPEAKER: In order to achieve this, there are nine movable panels in the ceiling above the orchestra, which are all individually motorized, and the walls also have curtains, which can be opened or closed to change the acoustics.

SPEAKER: The reaction of the public to the new building has generally been positive.

SPEAKER: However, the evaluation of some critics has been less enthusiastic. In spite of Harrison's efforts to use local materials, they criticize the style of the design as being international rather than local, and say it doesn't reflect features of the landscape or society for which it is built.

ANNOUNCER: That is the end of Section 4. You now have half a minute to check your answers.