Ielts listening test 3 employment agency possible jobs

test

three this is the

ielts

listening

test

you will hear a number of different recordings and you will have to answer questions on what you hear there will be time for you to read the instructions and questions and you will have a chance to check your work all the recordings will be played once only the

test

is in four parts at the end of the

test

you will be given 10 minutes to transfer your answers to the answer sheet now turn to part one part one you will hear a woman who works at an

employment

agency

talking to a man about

jobs

he could apply for first you have some time to look at questions one to five now listen carefully and answer questions one to five good morning thanks for coming in to see us here at the

agency

joe i'm one of the

agency

representatives and my name's sally baker hi sally i think we spoke on the phone didn't we that's right we did so thank you for sending in your cv we've had quite a careful look at it and i think we have two

jobs

that might be suitable for you okay the first one is in a company based in north london they're looking for an administrative assistant okay what sort of company is it they're called home solutions and they design and make furniture oh i don't know much about that but it sounds interesting yes well as i said they want someone in their office and looking at your past experience it does look as if you fit quite a few of the requirements so on your cv it appears you've done some

data entry yes so that's one skill they want then they expect the person they appoint to attend meetings and take notes there okay i've done that before yes and you need to be able to cope

with

general admin filing and keeping records and so on but that should be okay and in my last job i also had to manage the diary excellent that's something they want here too i'd suggest you add it to your cv i don't think you mentioned that did you no so as far as the requirements go they

want good computer skills of course and they particularly mention spreadsheets that should be fine and interpersonal skills which would be something they'd check

with

your references i think that should be okay yes then they mentioned that they want someone who is careful and takes care

with

details just looking at your cv i'd say you're probably all right there i think so yes do they want any special experience i think they wanted some experience of teleconferencing oh i've got

three years experience of that uh-huh let's see yes good in fact they're only asking for at least one year so that's great so is that something that might interest you it is yes the only thing is you said they were in north london so it would be quite a long commute for me okay before you hear the rest of the conversation you have some time to look at questions 6 to 10. now listen and answer questions six to ten so the second position might suit you better as far as the location goes

that's for a warehouse assistant and that's in south london yes that would be a lot closer and you've worked in a warehouse before haven't you yes so as far as the responsibilities for this position go they want someone who could manage the stock obviously and also deliveries that should be okay you've got to keep track of stuff but i've always been quite good

with

numbers good that's their first requirement and they want someone who's computer literate which we

know you are sure then they mention organizational skills they want someone who's well organized yes i think i am and tidy yes they go together really don't they sure then the usual stuff they want someone who can communicate well both orally and in writing okay and for the last warehouse job i had one of the things i enjoyed most was being part of a team i found that was really essential for the job excellent yes they do mention that they want someone who's used to that yes now when

you were working in a warehouse last time what sorts of items were you dealing

with

it was mostly bathroom and kitchen equipment sinks and stoves and fridges so you're okay moving heavy things sure i'm quite strong and i've had the training good now as far as experience goes they mention they want someone

with

a license and that you have experience of driving in london so you can cope

with

the traffic and so on yes no problem and you've got experience of warehouse work and the

final thing they mention is customer service i think looking at your cv you're okay there right so what about pay can you tell me a bit more about that please that is the end of part one you now have one minute to check your answers to part one part two you will hear a woman called alice rich's talking on the radio about a scheme which involves closing streets to traffic to allow children to play first you have some time to look at questions 11 to 16. now listen carefully and answer

questions 11 to 16. my guest on the show today is alice riches who started the street play scheme where she lives in beechwood road for those of you that don't already know street play involves local residents closing off their street for a few hours so that children have a chance to play in the streets safely she started it in her own street beechwood road and the idea caught on and there are now street play schemes all over the city so when did you actually start the scheme alice well i

first had the idea when my oldest child was still a toddler so that's about six years ago now but it took at least two years of campaigning before we were actually able to make it happen so the scheme's been up and running for three years now we'd love to be able to close our road for longer for the whole weekend from saturday morning until sunday evening for example at the moment it's just once a week but when we started it was only once a month but we're working on it so

what actually happens when beechwood road is closed we have volunteer wardens mostly parents but some elderly residents too who block off our road at either end the council have provided special signs but there's always a volunteer there to explain what's happening to any motorists generally they're fine about it we've only had to get the police involved once or twice now i should explain that the road isn't completely closed to cars but only residence cars are allowed if

people really need to get in or out of beechwood road it's not a problem as long as they drive at under 20 kilometers per hour but most people just decide not to use their cars during this time or they park in another street the wardens are only there to stop through traffic so can anyone apply to get involved in street play absolutely we want to include all kids in the city especially those who live on busy roads it's here that demand is grea

test

obviously there isn't such demand in

wealthier areas where the children have access to parks or large gardens or in the suburbs where there are usually more places for children to play outside i'd recommend that anyone

listening

who likes the idea should just give it a go we've been surprised by the positive reaction of residents all over the city and that's not just parents there are always a few who complain but they're a tiny minority on the whole everyone is very supportive and say they're very happy to see

children out on the street even if it does get quite noisy before you hear the rest of the conversation you have some time to look at questions 17 to 20. now listen and answer questions 17 to 20. there have been so many benefits of street play for the kids parents really like the fact that the kids are getting fresh air instead of sitting staring at a computer screen even if they're not doing anything particularly energetic and of course it's great that kids can play

with

their friends

outside

with

out being supervised by their parents but for me the biggest advantage is that kids develop confidence in themselves to be outside

with

out their parents the other really fantastic thing is that children get to know the adults in the street it's like having a big extended family it certainly does have a lot of benefits i want to move on now and ask you about a related project in king street right well this was an experiment i was involved in where local residents decided to try

and reduce the traffic along king street which is the busiest main road in our area by persuading people not to use their cars for one day we thought about making people pay more for parking but we decided that would be really unpopular so instead we just stopped people from parking on king street but left the other car parks open it was surprising how much of a difference all this made as we'd predicted air quality was significantly better but what i hadn't expected was how much quieter

it would be even

with

the buses still running of course everyone said they felt safer but we were actually amazed that sales in the shops went up considerably that day we thought there'd be fewer people out shopping not more that's really interesting so the fact that the street was that is the end of part two you now have 30 seconds to check your answers to part two part three you will hear two students called hazel and tom talking about hazel's media studies assignment first you

have some time to look at questions 21-26 now listen carefully and answer questions 21-26 tom could i ask you for some advice please yes of course if you think i can help what's it about it's my first media studies assignment and i'm not sure how to go about it you must have done it last year is that the one comparing the coverage of a particular story in a range of newspapers that's right oh yes i really enjoyed writing it so what sort of things do i need to compare well there

are several things for example there's the question of which page of the newspaper the item appears on you mean because there's a big difference between having it on the front page and the bottom of page 10 for instance exactly and that shows how important the editor thinks the story is then there's the size how many column inches the story is given how many columns it spreads over and i suppose that includes the headline it certainly does it's all part of attracting the

reader's attention what about graphics whether there's anything visual in addition to the text yes you need to consider those too because they can have a big effect on the reader's understanding of the story sometimes a bigger effect than the text itself then you'll need to look at how the item is put together what structure is it given bear in mind that not many people read beyond the first paragraph so what has the journalist put at the beginning and if say there are

conflicting opinions about something does one appear near the end where people probably won't read it and newspapers sometimes give wrong or misleading information don't they either deliberately or by accident should i be looking at that too yes if you can compare what's in different versions and as far as

possible

try and work out what's true and what isn't and that relates to a very important point what's the writer's purpose or at least the most important one if

they have several it may seem to be to inform the public but often it's that they want to create fear or controversy or to make somebody look ridiculous gosh i see what you mean and i suppose the writer may make assumptions about the reader that's right about their knowledge of the subject their attitudes and the level of education which means writing so that the readers understand

with

out feeling patronized all of that will make a difference to how the story is presented 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. does it matter what type of story i write about no national or international politics the arts anything as long as it's covered in two or three newspapers though of course it'll be easier and more fun if it's something you're interested in and know something about and on that basis a national news item would be worth analyzing i'm quite keen on politics so

i'll try and find a suitable topic what did you choose for your analysis tom i was interested in how newspapers expressed their opinions explicitly so i wanted to compare editorials in different papers but when i started looking i couldn't find two on the same topic that i felt like analyzing in that case i won't even bother to look so in the end i chose a human interest story a terribly emotional story about a young girl who was very ill and lots of other people mostly strangers

raised money so she could go abroad for treatment actually i was surprised some papers just wrote about how wonderful everyone was but others considered the broader picture like why treatment wasn't available here hmm i usually find stories like that raise quite strong feelings in me i'll avoid that perhaps i'll choose an arts topic like different reviews of a film or something about funding for the arts i'll think about that yes that might be interesting okay well thanks a lot

for your help tom it's been really useful you're welcome good luck

with

the assignment hazel that is the end of part three you now have 30 seconds to check your answers to part three part 4 you will hear part of a lecture on the early history of keeping clean first you have some time to look at questions 31 to 40. now listen carefully and answer questions 31 to 40. nowadays we use different products for personal cleanliness laundry dishwashing and household cleaning but this is very much

a 20th century development the origins of cleanliness date back to prehistoric times since water is essential for life the earliest people lived near water and knew something about its cleansing properties at least that it rinsed mud off their hands during the excavation of ancient babylon evidence was found that soap making was known as early as 2800 bc archaeologists discovered cylinders made of clay

with

inscriptions on them saying that fats were boiled

with

ashes this is a method of making

soap though there's no reference to the purpose of this material the early greeks bathed for aesthetic reasons and apparently didn't use soap instead they cleaned their bodies

with

blocks of sand pumice and ashes then anointed themselves

with

oil and scraped off the oil and dirt

with

a metal instrument known as a stridgel they also used oil mixed

with

ashes clothes were washed

with

out soap in streams the ancient germans and gauls are also credited

with

discovering how to make a substance

called soap made of melted animal fat and ashes they used this mixture to tint their hair red soap got its name according to an ancient roman legend from mount sapo where animals were sacrificed leaving deposits of animal fat rain washed these deposits along

with

wood ashes down into the clay soil along the river tiber women found that this mixture greatly reduced the effort required to wash their clothes as roman civilization advanced so did bathing the first of the famous roman baths supplied

with

water from their aqueducts was built around 312 bc the baths were luxurious and bathing became very popular and by the second century a.d the greek physician galen recommended soap for both medicinal and cleansing purposes after the fall of rome in 467 a.d and the resulting decline in bathing habits much of europe felt the impact of filth on public health this lack of personal cleanliness and related unsanitary living conditions were major factors in the outbreaks of disease in the middle

ages and especially the black death of the 14th century nevertheless soap making became an established craft in europe and associations of soap makers guarded their trade secrets closely vegetable and animal oils were used

with

ashes of plants along

with

perfume apparently for the first time gradually more varieties of soap became available for shaving and shampooing as well as bathing and laundering a major step toward large-scale commercial soap making occurred in 1791 when a french chemist

nicholas leblanc patented a process for turning salt into soda ash or sodium carbonate soda ash is the alkali obtained from ashes that combines

with

fat to form soap the leblanc process yielded quantities of good quality inexpensive soda ash modern soap making was born some 20 years later in the early 19th century

with

the discovery by michel eugene chevrolet another french chemist of the chemical nature and relationship of fats glycerine and fatty acids his studies established the basis for

both fat and soap chemistry and soap making became a science further developments during the 19th century made it easier and cheaper to manufacture soap until the 19th century soap was regarded as a luxury item and was heavily taxed in several countries as it became more readily available it became an everyday necessity a development that was reinforced when the high tax was removed soap was then something ordinary people could afford and cleanliness standards improved

with

this widespread use

came the development of milder soaps for bathing and soaps for use in the washing machines that were available to consumers by the turn of the 20th century that is the end of part four you now have one minute to check your answers to part four that is the end of the

listening

test

in the

ielts

test

you would now have 10 minutes to transfer your answers to the answer sheet you