[0:08]Now look at part one. Part one. Listen to the news report about a robbery and then complete the notes from the detective's notebook. First, you have some time to look at questions one to six.
[0:54]Now we shall begin. You should answer the questions as you listen because you will not hear the recording a second time. Listen carefully and answer questions one to six. There has been an armed robbery this morning at the Halifax Building Society's branch in Edward Street. John Bring is at the scene with Detective Sergeant Henry Lawson. Detective Sergeant, can you tell us what you know about the robbery? Yes, the raid took place this morning, shortly after 11:30, when a man accompanied by a woman went into the offices of the building society and asked to see the manager. Uh there were no other customers in the building at the time. They were let into the manager's office, and the woman produced a gun from her handbag. Then they took the manager back out of his office and made him tell the cashiers to hand over all the money they had in the tills and in the safe. Uh it came to about $25,000. Presumably, you have a number of witnesses. Yes, we have a good description of both of them. Uh the man was about 1.80 m, around 35 years of age, with blue eyes and short curly red or ginger hair. He was wearing jeans, a green sweater, and a three-quarter-length blue coat. When he spoke to the cashier when he came in, he called himself Mr. Erikson, but we doubt whether that is his real name. But we do know that may be his real name, he also spoke with a strong Scottish accent, which may help us to trace him. Before you hear the rest of the conversation, you have some time to look at questions seven to 10.
[3:23]Now listen and answer questions 7 to 10. And what about the woman? Now, she is in her early twenties, slim and quite tall, about 1.70 m. She was wearing a long white rain coat, which was quite loose fitting, and which she didn't take off. She had a beige handbag, which they used to hide the gun in. She's got straight, shoulder length blonde hair, blue eyes, and like the man has a noticeable accent. Do you have any other information? Yes, the car they used was seen by two or three people. It's a blue or dark blue Ford Escort, and we have the registration number, and it's G595 ERI. I'll say that again, it's G595 ERI. Now, the car was stolen from Bishopstone just over a week ago, so if anyone has seen it in the last week, we would like to hear from them. We also know that the car's front left headlight was broken when it was stolen and is still broken, we think. So, you would like information from the public about the car? Yes, and the people. We're appealing to anyone who thinks they may recognize the two robbers or know anything about the car. We've set up an incident room in Swindon, and the telephone number is 774529. So, we would like people to ring us if they have any information. Uh and, of course, all calls will be dealt with in the strictest confidence. Thank you very much. Thank you. And the number again, if you have any information, is 774529. And now back to the studio. That is the end of part one. You now have half a minute to check your answers.
[5:55]Now turns to part two. Part two. You have just arrived at the student hostel where you will live during the term. The manager is explaining the rules and another student is asking questions. First, you have some time to look at questions 11 to 16.
[6:45]Now, listen carefully and answer questions 11 to 16. Excuse me, I want to ask you about the charges for meals. Are they the same as they were last year? No, I'm afraid they're not. We've managed to keep most of them the same, but we've had to increase the charge for breakfast. How much is it now? It's $2.50, it used to be $2. I see. What about lunch? It's unchanged, still $3. Does dinner still cost $3? Yes, it does. We've managed to keep the prices down this year, but the best deal is the three meal plan for $48 per week. We give you vouchers to present when you come into the cafeteria, and you get 21 meals for your $48. That works out to a little more than $2 a meal. The two meal plan is also at last year's rates of $36 per week. We give you vouchers for that too. My sister was in this hostel before me. I'm sure the hours for breakfast used to be longer. Yes, they were. They used to be 7:00 to 9:30, but to keep our expenses down, we made them 7:00 to 9:00. Lunch is the way it was though. Hold on. Dinner, 6:00 to 7:30, isn't that a change? Yes, it is, and in fact the form is wrong. It used to be 5:30 to 7:30, but now it's 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. That's good. So, which plan would you like? I'd like to think about it please. I need to check my lecture schedule. Before you hear the rest of the talk, you have some time to look at questions 17 to 20.
[8:56]Now listen and answer questions 17 to 20. Can you tell me how to get to my room, please? Of course, you're in the new wing, which is very freshly painted and pleasant. But I'm afraid you're going to have to go to a couple of other offices before you can have the key. You're in the admissions office now. Leave this office and turn right and go to the end of the hall. The last office is the fees office where you can pay the balance of your room deposit. They'll give you a receipt. Okay. After you've been to the fees office, come back past admissions. You'll see a very large room at the Northwestern corner of the building. You can't miss it. That's the student lounge, and if you go in there, you can meet some of the other students and see who'll have a room near you. That's good. Can I get a cup of coffee there? Yes, there's a vending machine in the corner. Then go to the key room, which is opposite the lift and next to the library. Show them your receipt, and you can pick up your key there. My luggage was sent on ahead. Do you know where I should collect it? The box room is next to the women's toilet. You'll have to get the key from the key room. Thank you. That is the end of part two. You now have half a minute to check your answers.
[10:46]Now turns to part three. Part three. You will hear a discussion between two students, Rosie and Mike, and a university tutor. In the first part of the discussion, they're talking about a survey they have conducted on local entertainment. First, look at questions 21 to 26.
[11:46]Good morning, everyone. Well, I think we can start straight away by getting Rosie and Mike to do their presentation. Would you like to start, Rosie? Yes. Well, um, we've done a survey on local entertainment. Basically, we tried to find out how students feel about the entertainment in the town and how much they use it. Yes, so we've called our project Out and About. Yes, that's a good title. Out and about. We wanted to find out how well students use the entertainment facilities in town, whether they get to see the latest plays, films, that kind of thing. Now, we have our own facilities on campus, of course. Oh, yes. We deliberately omitted those as we really wanted to examine outside entertainment in the town as opposed to on the university campus. Actually, there were a lot of areas to choose from, but in the end we limited ourselves to looking at three general categories. Cinema, theater and music. Right. Okay. Well, uh, first of all, cinema. In the town, there are three main places where you can see films. There's the new multi-screen cinema complex, the old Park Cinema and a late night Odeon. So, if you look at this chart, in terms of audience size, the multi-screen complex accounts for 75% of all cinema seats. The Park Cinema accounts for 20% of seats, and the late night Odeon has just 5% of seats. As you probably know, the complex and the park show all the latest films. While the late night cinema tends to show cult films. So, when we interviewed the students, we thought the complex would be the most popular choice of cinema, but surprisingly, it was the late night Odeon. Yeah, and most students said that if they wanted to see a new film, they waited for it to show at the park, because the complex is more expensive and further out of town, so you have to pay more to get there as well. Yes, and that adds to the cost, of course, and detracts from the popularity, evidently. Well, next, we looked at theaters. The results here were interesting because, as you know, there's a theater on campus, which is popular, but there's also the stage theater in town, which is very old and architecturally quite beautiful. And there's the large modern theater, the Ash top that has recently been built. So you just looked at the two theaters in town? Yes. But the thing about the theaters is that there's a whole variety of seat prices, also the types of performance vary. So students tend to buy seats at both and like using both for different reasons. And if they want cheap seats at the Ash top, they can just sit further from the front. What we did find that was very interesting is that there are periods during the year when students seem to go to the theater and periods when they go to the cinema. And we really think that's to do with budget. If you look at this graph, you can see that um there's a peak around November, December, when they go to the theater more, and then a period in April, May, when neither is particularly popular. And then theater viewing seems to trail off, virtually, while the cinema becomes quite popular in June, July. Hmm. I think you're probably right about your conclusions. In the second part of the discussion, Rosie and Mike talk about different music clubs. Look at questions 27 to 30 first.
[16:08]Listen carefully and answer questions 27 to 30. Well, lastly, we looked at music, and this time, we were really investigating the sort of small music clubs that offer things like folk or specialized local bands. So not musicals as such. That's right. We looked at three small music venues, and we examined the quality of the entertainment and the venue and gave a ranking for these. Across, meaning that the quality was poor, a tick, meaning it was okay, and two ticks for excellent. First of all, the Blues Club, which obviously specializes in blues music. This was a pretty small place and the seating was minimal, so we didn't give that a very good rating. No, we don't recommend that one really. Then, the Sansue, which plays a lot of South American music, was a big place, very lively, good performers, so two ticks for that one. The Pier Hotel is a folk venue. A good place for local and up and coming folk artists to play. Not the best of venues, as it's in a basement and a bit dark, but the quality of the entertainment was reasonable, and the lighting was very warm. So, we felt it deserved an average rating. Now, finally, there's the Balldrock Cafe, which features big rock bands and is pretty popular with students, and we enjoyed ourselves there as well. So, top marks for that one. And then, did you get any information from the students as to which of the clubs they preferred? That is the end of part three. You now have half a minute to check your answers.
[18:27]Now turns to part four. Part four. You will hear part of a lecture on wildlife. First, you have some time to look at questions 31 to 40.
[19:10]Listen carefully and answer questions 31 to 40. Thousands of exotic plants and animals have been introduced into the British Isles over thousands of years. These newcomers compete with native species for resources and can also cause major changes in the wildlife and in the habitats of our countryside. The problem is not just British, of course, but global, and it has been going on for centuries. One good example of this, I'd like to mention today, is the European Starling. The starling to us in the UK is a fairly ordinary little bird about 12 inches long. In flight, it appears to be black or gray with tiny white spots. So, it's a very ordinary-looking, almost dirty-looking bird. It nests in trees and buildings and can be found in the country and in towns. It travels in large flocks, leaving the nests in the morning and returning in the early evening. It feeds on insects and fruit. Its native range includes the British Isles and Finland, but it is also found in most of Europe and parts of Asia and Africa. In the British Isles and Finland, however, it has suffered a huge decline, and in these countries, there is an effort to conserve the species. It is a different story in some of the places where it has been introduced. For example, the population in the USA is estimated at 170 million birds. Also, they are becoming a big problem in Australia and New Zealand. Starlings, as I have said, nest in trees, and it has been found that they are more aggressive than native species. Native, that is to Australia and New Zealand, when they are looking for nesting places. They therefore compete with native species for nests, and also they drive those species away from nests. So, this nest building activity causes harm to native species, but also they are a nuisance to humans. They gather in large flocks of thousands of birds and feed together on commercial crops. This causes great financial damage to farmers. And they also make a mess both in the town and the countryside. There is also the problem that Starlings may carry diseases which affect both humans and other animals, although this has not been really confirmed, and we are waiting for more work to be done on this. The question arises, what are we to do about foreign species, which not only do damage to native species but interfere with human activity? We have three approaches in theory, but usually, it is not a free choice between them. Usually, we have to do the best we can and that money will allow. The best approach, of course, is prevention, and many countries have passed legislation which attempts to limit or prevent the arrival of non-native species in their countries. In particular, there are many international regulations on how and where ships may pick up and deposit water. And this is a major contribution to preventing the accidental transport of fish and organisms by ship, since accidental transport by ship is a frequent cause of fish and other creatures going from place to place. Ports also have special areas where water can be deposited, and many of them have treatment facilities to kill any foreign species that may establish themselves in their waters. For fish and organisms that live in water, these international regulations are useful, but obviously, not all species can be dealt with in this way. Sometimes it is simply too late for prevention. Then we have to consider eradication or management. By management, I mean that we have to decide how best to live with the new creatures and how to keep their numbers down. However, this becomes not only a scientific question. It can be a matter of choice what population level of an invasive species we want to maintain. This choice involves costs. There is the cost of living with the species, and there is the cost of managing the species over time, and species management is usually a long-term business without any foreseeable end. However, there is not just the economic aspect to this question. We can also consider the ethical point. How should we treat animals which we have, sometimes deliberately introduced into the environment? Is it permissible just to exterminate a number of them convenient to ourselves? The most important decision has to be made in the political forum, whatever considerations go into the making of that decision. These questions are relevant also to the approach of eradication, which is another option, but which does not have an encouraging history. Many attempts have been made to eradicate introduced species. That is the end of part four. You now have half a minute to check your answers.
