IELTS Listening – A Complete Set Of Questions With Answers. This file contains 40 sample questions. Answering these questions allows you to practise for the IELTS Listening Test. A transcript is provided, so you can understand why the correct answer is correct and why the incorrect answers are incorrect. Practice makes you ready for the test. Questions to Practice based on the real test.
Multiple choice questions can be challenging because it is hard to make a choice while the recording is playing. Have a good read of the questions before you listen to the recording so that you know what information is being presented and what sort of choices you have in response to each question.
PART 1: Life in a Public School
MP3 CLICK HERE. Listen to a radio show and choose the correct answer A B or C
- Bill comes from the council in __. A. London
B. Witherspoon
C. Council - Mrs. Bell’s nephew is __ years old. A. 30
B. 13
C. 2 - Dr. Witherspoon’s favourite school is __. A. Eton
B. Windsor
C. Ofwich - King’s College was founded in the year __. A. 440
B. 1440
C. 1441 - Seventy scholars received __ education. A. three years of
B. French
C. free - Usually there are about __ students.
A. 13
B. 1300
C. 30 - Every boy has his own __.
A. study
B. bedroom
C. study-bedroom - The maid will __.
A. play cards
B. be friendly
C. tip you - All boys may go out with __.
A. their parents
B. their House Master
C. Michaelmas - It is now time for a __.
A. new show
B. rest
C. commercial
Answers
1. A 2. B 3. A 4. B 5. C 6.B 7. C 8. B 9. A 10. C
PART 2: TED’s Most Popular Talks
MP3 Click here: Listen and complete the notes for questions 1-6.
· TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, and (1) _____________________ .
· Talks became available online in 2006.
· The time limit for talks is (2) _____________________ minutes. Some talks are only four minutes long.
· Videos of the best talks are available for free on the website TED.com.
· All of the talks have English subtitles, and many are subtitled in
(3) _______________languages.
· TEDx events are similar but organized (4) _____________________ .
· Popularity due to public demand for (5) _____________________ content, and their optimistic nature.
· Many talks focus on new discoveries and (6) _____________________ that can help make the world a better place.
Complete the notes using NO MORE THAN ONE WORD/NUMBER.
TED’s Most Popular Talks
1st Ken Robinson: The most popular video has been viewed
(7) ……………million times. The need to encourage creativity in
schools and the need for educational (8) ……………
2nd Bolte Taylor: Insights the neuroscientist gained into the brain
after having a massive (9) …………………
3rd Pranav Mistry: New (10) …………. computer technologies
i in Britain
ii overcome
iii settling in
iv an outsider
Answers
1. Design “TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design”
2. 18 / eighteen “they are limited to 18 minutes in length”
3. various “many are subtitled in various languages.”
4. independently “TEDx events follow a similar format to TED talks but they are organized independently”
5. intelligent “the public was hungry for something intelligent”
6. technologies “The focus of many talks is on exciting new discoveries and technologies”
7. 9/nine “has been viewed nine million times.”
8. reform “and the need for educational reform”
9. stroke “experience of having a massive stroke”
10. interactive “new technologies making computers more interactive.”
PART 3: Habitat Interview
Using no more than one word /number complete the questions 1–10 below:
1. The two guest speakers’ names are John and ________ Lee.
2. The organisation they worked for is called ________.
3. The Dominican Republic has a population of about ________ million.
4. They actually build houses for________days.
5. Most of the work involved ________ concrete.
6. They got the water from a _________.
7. The work was hard but very_________.
8. Most of the Dominicans they worked with were _________.
9. The woman were assigned _________ duties.
10. Many Dominican men have mistresses as well as _________.
ANSWERS 1-10:
1. David 2. Habitat 3. 10/ten 4. 10/ten 5. mixing
6. creek 7. Rewarding 8. Men 9. Cooking 10. wives
PART 4: Culture Shock
Questions 1-6
Write the appropriate letters A–F at the end of sentences. Use each letter once only.
- Culture shock has been a field of _.
- Another expression for culture shock is _.
- In a new culture most travellers will go through _.
- To begin with people feel it is _ and new.
- Food from home could become _.
- Some people reject things and become _.
A: highs and lows
B: culture fatigue
C: research
D: opinionated
E: an obsession
F: exciting
Write i– iv in the gaps in the sentences 7–10
7 Many people immediately feel at home in________.
8 Some do not have a problem ______.
9 If you are well travelled you are more likely to_____ culture shock.
10 A person in a new country may be treated as ______.
ANSWERS 1-10
C 2. B 3.A 4. F 5. E 6. D 7. i 8. iii 9. ii 10. iv
TRANSCRIPT 1
Host: Good evening and welcome to Tuesday’s Tea-Time Tittle Tattle. Here in the studio today we have Dr. Bill Witherspoon of the Outer London Education Council. Er, thanks for coming today Bill.
Bill: Oh, thank you for inviting me.
Host: A Mrs. Madge Bell has called in to ask which first type of school she should send her 13-year-old nephew to, and what information, if any, you can share with her. Actually, that call came all the way from Durban, South Africa about 5 minutes ago. Over to you Bill.
Bill: Well now, in Britain we have lots of very good schools, of which Eton near Windsor is my favourite.
Host: Now, Eton has a long history doesn’t it Bill?
Bill: Oh, yes. In 1440 Henry VI founded ‘The King’s College of Our Lady of Eton beside Windsor’ and, a year later, the college in Cambridge, which was to be supplied with scholars from Eton. The school was to be part of a large foundation which included a community of secular priests, 10 of whom were Fellows, a pilgrimage church, and an almshouse. Provision was made for 70 scholars to receive free education.
Host: So, how many boys are we talking about today?
Bill: At any one time there are almost 1300 boys in the School, almost all of whom joined the School at age 13.
Host: And do they live in dorms?
Bill: Every boy at Eton has his own study-bedroom. This is his own private zone that he can decorate as he pleases (within limits set by his House Master) and where he can entertain friends — or exclude them if he wants a bit of peace and quiet. But beware, the Boys’ Maid will be a great friend and ally if he plays his cards right, but will not take it kindly if his room is a perpetual tip.
Host: And holidays?
Bill: All boys have the normal school holidays but they can also go home or go out with their parents — with the House Master’s permission — whenever they are free from School or House commitments.
Host: I’ll stop you there Bill. It’s time for a commercial.
TRANSCRIPT 2
TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design. It started in 1984 as a conference bringing together people from these three areas, but since then its scope has broadened. Things really took off after 2006 when the talks were made freely available on the Internet. There are two main annual TED conferences, one in California and one in Britain. These conferences bring together some of the world’s most cutting-edge thinkers. One of the unique aspects of the talks is that they are limited to 18 minutes in length. Many speakers are used to speaking for about 50 minutes – the length of a lecture – but the 18-minute limit forces the speakers to be more creative and concise. Many of the TED talks are actually much shorter, some just four minutes or so. The best of the talks are available for free on the website TED.com. There are currently over a thousand videos of talks available. New talks are added each week. All of the talks are subtitled in English, and many are subtitled in various languages. This translation work is done by volunteers around the world. Viewers can click on the transcript button under the videos and follow the transcript while they watch or listen to the talk. Because of the phenomenal success of the TED talks, there have been many spin-off events such as TEDx. TEDx events follow a similar format to TED talks but they are organized independently.
Why are TED talks such a big Internet hit? There is so much poor quality content on the Internet. After years of watching YouTube videos of singing cats and assorted stupidity, the public was hungry for something intelligent. Another reason for the success of TED talks is that they are optimistic. This makes a nice change from the doom and gloom news we usually hear. The focus of many talks is on exciting new discoveries and technologies that promise to solve the world’s problems. The basic philosophy is to change the world for the better.
Currently, the most viewed talk on the TED website is by British creativity expert Ken Robinson. It has been viewed nine million times. Ken Robinson’s talk is about how the traditional school system kills creativity, and the need for educational reform. The second most popular talk is by neuroscientist Jill Bolte Taylor, who describes her experience of having a massive stroke and what that experience taught her about how the brain works. The third most viewed talk comes from a TEDIndia conference. The speaker, computer engineer and inventor Pranav Mistry looks at new technologies making computers more interactive.
TRANSCRIPT 3
Dr. Moss: It’s my great pleasure to introduce you all to our distinguished guests for the afternoon, John and David Lee. They have been working for two weeks with an organisation I’m sure you all know – Habitat. No, they weren’t selling chairs and tables for two weeks; they were involved in charity work in the Dominican Republic organized by Habitat.
John: Thank you. Yes, we went to the Dominican Republic to do some work with Habitat. The Dominican Republic is a country of about ten million inhabitants in the Caribbean. It’s on the island of Hispaniola – the nation of Haiti is in the western third of the island, and the Dominican Republic takes up the other two-thirds of the island.
We spent about 10 of the 14 days of the project actually building houses. This meant constructing concrete block homes about 8 by 6 metres with concrete roofs. Most of the homes we worked on already had walls and the majority of the work involved mixing concrete and pouring the roofs.
Dr. Moss: Did you have any problems when you were building the homes?
David: Well, water was a big problem but we obtained it for the concrete from a creek near the town. Every morning we headed down there in an old pick-up truck and scooped water into oil drums, which we covered with reeds to minimize splashing. Then we headed up the hill to the housing project where we siphoned the water out of the drums to mix with our concrete. It was hot, hard work, but very rewarding.
Dr. Moss: I’m sure it was. Did you get much help from the locals?
David: Habitat’s policy is that the recipient family has to work on their own house, plus those of others. This meant that we were working alongside the Dominicans – mainly men – during most of our day.
Dr. Moss: You say, ‘Mainly men’?
David: The women were assigned cooking duties – women’s lib has not arrived there yet. It was interesting to see the attitudes change towards the women in our group as the weeks wore on. Dominican men, like many Latin Americans, tend to be naturally chauvinistic and were quite surprised at the stamina of the women in our group. Many Dominican males seem to have mistresses as well as wives; very strange considering it’s such a strong Catholic country.
TRANSCRIPT 4
The Dean: Thank you, thank you and now for a gentleman who needs no introduction. Please welcome our guest this afternoon – Dr. Gerd Von Conrad. Over to you Doctor.
GCV: Thank you. It’s always a pleasure to be here. So let’s think about culture shock. For over thirty years, culture shock has been a bona fide field of research for European and American anthropologists and psychologists. They have studied the reactions and experiences during the first few months in a new country of travellers and diplomats, business people and international students.
The anthropologist Dr. Kalvero Oberg was the first to use the term. Others have since experimented with ‘culture fatigue’ and ‘role shock’ but these have not made it into everyday usage. Culture shock is snappy and somehow we all know what it means to us, although if asked, we may find it as difficult to define as ‘jet lag’ or ‘homesickness’.
Some researchers describe five stages; others believe it is a six or even seven stage process. Not everyone experiences the same exact stages but most travellers will go through the highs and lows, the positive as well as the negative aspects of living in a new culture. The different stages roughly are as follows:
At first, you are excited by the new environment and a few frustrations do not spoil your enthusiasm. When experiencing some difficulties with simple things like, for instance, making telephone calls, or using public transport, you tend to down-play negative emotions.
Then follows a period in which cultural differences in behaviour and values become more obvious. What previously seemed exciting, new and challenging is now merely frustrating. You may feel isolated and become withdrawn from life around you. You seek security in the familiar. Food from home, possibly even what you never particularly enjoyed, becomes a focus, maybe an obsession.
In the next stage, you may reject what is around you, perhaps becoming opinionated and negative. You may feel that everyone is against you and that nobody understands you.
Part Two
GCV: But what about all those many people who immediately feel at home in Britain? What kind of person embraces everything wholeheartedly and enthusiastically? Who experiences no problems in settling in?
Research has shown that the more well travelled and practised at absorbing, accepting and adapting you are, the more easily you overcome culture shock. If you are confident from speaking the language and possess a thorough knowledge of your new home, you can feel settled after a relatively short period.
If you have adjusted well to your new environment, you perform competently the roles that each social context requires and thus avoid the frustrations resulting from inappropriate behaviour.
Some individuals do not seek cultural adjustment, either because they do not agree with the values and behaviour prevalent in the new country, or because they are afraid of losing too much of their own cultural identity. Living in a cultural vacuum may not be easy and can lead to feeling, and being treated, like an outsider.
Do a reading test: https://www.ieltsanswers.com/ielts-reading-test-with-answers-2021.html
