Transcript

PART 1
MAN Good morning
Exam preparation guides
WOMAN Hi, this is Michelin Meyer. I’m renting your house on Archwood Avenue. I’m due
to move in next week.
MAN Oh, yes. Hello, Ms. Meyer. What can I do for you?
WOMAN When I viewed the house, I told you I’ll most probably need to rent some furniture,
at least until I know whether my temporary work contract is going to be made permanent.
MAN Yes, of course. I remember. And I said I could give you some information about
furniture rental companies in the city.
WOMAN That’s right.
MAN Well, the biggest company is called Peak Rentals. I’ve recommended them to other
people and have always heard positive reports about them.
WOMAN Could you give me an idea of their costs?
MAN Sure. I actually have one of their brochures here. It says the monthly price per room
starts at $105 and goes up to $239. That depends on which rooms you need furniture for, of
course.
WOMAN Sure. It’s just to get a general idea of how much it’s going to cost. And you said
you had some positive feedback about this company?
MAN Yes. People have mentioned that the furniture from Peak Rentals is more modern than
any of the other companies. And also, once you place an order, the furniture will be delivered to
you in just one or two days.
WOMAN That would be really helpful.
MAN Oh, and the brochure says that there’s a special offer at the moment. If you rent living
room furniture, I believe that’s a set of chairs and a TV table, you’ll also get a lamp at no extra
cost.
WOMAN Okay, but you know, that price range you gave is more than I was hoping to pay.
MAN Then you could try Aaron and Oliver.
WOMAN Sorry, what and Oliver?
MAN Aaron, double A-R-O-N
WOMAN OK, are they cheaper
MAN I say they are a mid company But if you chose them you need to be aware that they
charge an extra 12 every month in case of damage
WOMAN Oh, I see. I’d have to do the math carefully then.
MAN Right. But one helpful thing is that they also do cleaning for customers.
WOMAN For the furniture?
MAN For the house.
WOMAN Oh, I see. I probably won’t need that.
Now listen and answer questions 6 to 10.
MAN There’s another company called Larch Furniture. It’s quite new, and it has the lowest
prices in town. That’s for both furniture and also electronic equipment.
WOMAN Well, that would be good. I’m not bringing much with me, and I won’t have much
time to go shopping after I start my job.
MAN There are two things you need to know about large furniture. First of all you have to
take out insurance on the furniture and you need to organize that yourself
WOMAN That wouldn’t be too hard.
MAN Also you can take out a contract for less than six months but I figure that might not be a
problem for you. You’re renting the house for 12 months after all, aren’t you?
WOMAN Yes, okay. Well, I…
MAN Sorry to interrupt. I just thought of another furniture rental company. It’s called Space
Rentals, and it’s located very near to the house.
WOMAN Okay.
MAN I don’t have any information about their charges, so it’s best to use their app to find out
what it would cost you to use them.
WOMAN Okay, thanks. I’ll do that.
MAN One good thing about that company is that if you don’t like the furniture once it’s
delivered, you can request exchanges, as long as you do that within a week of receiving it.
WOMAN That sounds really great. Okay, well, thanks very much. That’s so helpful

PART 2
Hello, I’m Hayden. I’m one of the archaeologists investigating the site here at Bidcuster. This is
the third summer for this community project, and most of the people digging here are
volunteers. I’m a full-time archaeologist for the town council, but I was asked to join the
project by NHA, a charity which sets up projects like this up and down the country. As you can
see, we’re next to Bidcaster Castle, which is great because the owners let us use their facilities.
So, how did we get to where we are today?
Many archaeology projects happen when an ancient object is found, and in our case that object
was a gold coin. Coins are often found by people using metal detectors to look for things buried
in the ground or coins are uncovered when wild animals like rabbits have been digging tunnels.
Here, a walker found it on the ground after a rainstorm washed away some of the earth and
sand. When the story of the gold coin hit the news, Peter Swift, an amateur historian, contacted
me to say he believed there had been a village on this site, centuries before the castle was built.
Just by chance, the team found some old maps and documents in our library, which showed
500-year-old drawings of ruined buildings on the grassy area between the outer stone walls of
the castle and the river. We knew then we were onto something. Over the three summers the
team has been here, we’ve found the remains of several buildings, and more broken pots than
you can count. Normally you’d expect to find brooches and other jewellery, but we’re still
waiting to uncover any such items. The people who once lived here were skilled at making
tools from animal bones, as you’ll see when you visit the exhibition. Besides the discovery of
the village, we’ve also found evidence of human activity on the other side of the river. No other
houses or huts so far, but we can see the borders of an ancient field system. At one point we
found a long wall and thought it was an ancient palace, but it turned out to be a modern wall.
This summer’s work will end soon, but we’ll be back next summer. In the meantime, we’re
putting on a series of guided tours for school groups this autumn. Oh, and maybe you saw the
TV documentary about our project. That suggests the objects we’ve found are going to the
town’s museum, but we don’t know that for sure yet.
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.
When you enter the site, please make sure you keep to the paths at all times. There are a few
other things, the highlights of the site if you like, that I want to mention. Take a look at the map.
Our present location is marked at the bottom. This year, we’ve identified the foundations of an
ancient bridge, and it’s really exciting today because a team of divers are in the river searching
for lost objects. To reach the bridge, take the main path ahead of you, go straight on, and keep
going till the path bends to the left. You’ll see a smaller track leading off to the right. Follow
that to take you to the river, where the divers are. You might be interested to see the rubbish pit.
This is very near the castle walls in the north-west corner of the site. It actually dates to the time
of the castle and not the ancient village. We found oyster shells and fish bones, and we assumed
they were thrown from the castle kitchen above. One area we excavated in the first summer
uncovered the site of a meeting hall. We knew it was an important building because it had two
rows of post holes, deep enough to support a large roof. It is the largest structure in the central
area of the site next to the current excavation area. Last year we discovered a fish pond in the
ancient village. Normally these were beside a river. The pond here is further away, but it’s
possible the river has moved slightly. Anyway, to get there from here, you turn right at the first
information board you come to and follow the path into the trees. Before you come out of the
trees, you’ll see it on your right. If you reach the river, you’ve gone too far. So, does anyone
have…

PART 3
MAYA So, Finn, I’ve done as much as I can for our project on theatre programmes. How’s
your research coming along?
FINN OK, Maya. I didn’t know theatre programmes are called playbills in the USA till I
started looking into the topic. Even though I struggled to find many useful websites, I’m glad
we picked this subject. No one else on the course is doing the same as us, although it is one of
the research areas of the module convener.
MAYA That might actually put some people off.
FINN I suppose so. Anyway I hadn’t realised there are actually companies specialising in
creating theatre programmes
MAYA Yes they are quite common nowadays. Contrary to what many people think, theatres
don’t hire people to do the programmes. In fact, companies buy the rights to publish
programmes on the theatre’s behalf and then make their money selling advertising space within
the programme booklet.
FINN It must be easier for theatres to do it that way.
MAYA Yes.
FINN I remember reading something about programmes in early British theatre. It said that
the cast was always very important.
Reading comprehension practice
MAYA Yeah, audiences were very familiar with leading actors and big names would draw
huge crowds.
FINN But I hadn’t realised that if the programme named a famous actor, that’s who the public
expected to perform. And if that didn’t happen, people accused the theatre of breaking their
agreement with the audience. They would demand refunds and if they didn’t get them, there
were riots.
MAYA Outrageous! That’d never happen now.
FINN No, people are too polite, even when they’re disappointed if the star of the show misses
a performance.
MAYA We should definitely include that information about early audiences in our project. I
also think it’s important to mention that lots of ordinary people at that time were illiterate, so
theatre programmes were of limited value in advertising plays. When a company of actors
arrived in a town, they’d parade around the streets in their costumes, beating drums and
announcing their upcoming performances.
FINN Interesting. I couldn’t imagine that happening now either.
MAYA There’s also an interesting comparison to make between 18th and 19th century
programmes.
FINN Wasn’t it in the 19th century that theatre programmes started to resemble programs
today
MAYA Yes and unlike programs from the 18th century they always used colour
FINN And there was a greater variety of designs. But personally I think 18th century
programmes were superior because they told the theatregoers so many things, including about
the actors.
MAYA And about the writer, the plot and sometimes the history of the play.
FINN That’s right. What should we say about theatre programmes in the 20th century?
MAYA I reckon the most important thing is the dramatic change they underwent during World
War II.
FINN When the government imposed restrictions on the use of paper.
MAYA Yeah, but that was only in the UK. In the USA, programmes, or rather playbills,
continued to be published in the same format.
FINN While here in the UK, programmes became merely a single sheet of paper folded to
create four pages for text.
MAYA What I don’t really get is that after the war they didn’t go back to being more than one
sheet or change in any way for over 25 years. I know there were paper shortages after the war,
but only for five or ten years.
FINN Strange.
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.
MAYA I got some pictures of programmes we could include on the slides for our presentation.
FINN I found a couple too Maya. Let go through and see what we think
MAYA Um oh this is an old one for a play called Ruey Blass
FINN Never heard of that. But the programme looks very decorative.
MAYA Good enough to put in a frame on the wall. The images are just beautiful. Finn, what
did you find?
FINN I’ve got some pages from a programme for Man of La Mancha. I thought this was a
good programme to show, not because of the pictures, but because it contains articles written by
members of the theatre company, so we can learn how the production was created and the
thoughts and feelings of the cast.
MAYA Good. I’ve got a copy of a programme that’s now in a museum. It’s for The Tragedy of
Jane Shore and it’s said to be the earliest surviving document to have been printed on
Australia’s first printing press
FINN Fantastic!
MAYA Another programme to talk about is for The Sailors Festival. It comes from the British
Library’s digitised collection of programmes that was started a few years ago. It already
comprises over 200,000 programmes which is amazing!
FINN Huh. Wish I’d known about it while I was doing my research.

PART 4
It’s only relatively recently that designers have become aware of the need to be inclusive when
designing products. But what does that mean exactly? Well, it simply means designing products
that span economic, social and cultural barriers. It means making sure products are accessible,
so that as many different types of people as possible can use them, without any type of
adaptation having to be made to the original design. Inclusive design is often linked with
universal design, although they are not quite the same thing. Universal design aims to make
products that work for everyone and that includes considering the needs of people who have
cognitive difficulties, which can present quite a challenge. Today examples of successful
inclusive design can be seen all around us. In workplaces it is common to see desks which can
be adjusted to suit people of different heights or for wheelchair users This still isn’t always the
case, however, and is one reason why office workers often suffer from back or neck problems.
You’ll find another example in the public toilets of countless hotels, airports and offices. Taps
that you activate by sensor require no pressing or twisting movements. These are not only more
hygienic, they’re also easier for people with dexterity or mobility issues. The tech industry has
been criticised in the past for focusing too much on young consumers, but this is changing.
Many products are now designed with the elderly in mind. For example, it’s well known that
vision declines with age and that we also become worse at distinguishing between similar
colours, in particular shades of blue, which is why software designers rarely create interfaces
with this colour. Motor skills also decline with age and some people have difficulty doing
everyday things like picking up a cup or opening a door. This can also affect their ability to use
a mouse or keyboard. So voice access is now a routine way of making commands. It’s worth
looking at the problems non-inclusive designs cause when not enough consideration is given to
a range of users, as it can have a serious impact on people’s lives. Access is one obvious
example because it has such a huge impact on disabled people’s independence. Not being able
to access public transport because buses or trains are not wheelchair means many disabled
people can go out unless someone goes with them. Safety is another issue. Inexplicably, most
cars are still crash-tested using a dummy based on an average-sized male. This has safety
implications for all women, particularly those who are pregnant, as the seatbelts worn by the
dummy are not adapted to accommodate them. Over the past 100 years, workplaces in the UK
have, on the whole, become considerably safer. Employers are legally required to provide well-
maintained personal protective equipment, or PPE, anything from goggles to full bodysuits, to
workers who need it, free of charge. But most PPE is designed to fit men. A recent report found
that employers often think that when it comes to female workers, all they need to do to comply
with this legal requirement is to buy jackets, for example, designed for a small man. The
problem with this is that women can be tall and still have much smaller shoulders than the
average man. Ill-fitting PPE such as high-vis jackets, vests and body armour can put women at
risk. The report found that 95% of women said that their PPE often hampered their work and
that this problem was worst in the emergency services. particularly the police. Another problem
is related to comfort at work. A very common scenario in offices in summertime is to see
women wrapped in blankets or wearing sweaters while the air conditioning is on high.
Meanwhile, the men are in shorts and T-shirts. This is due to differences in metabolic rates for
men and women. There is a standard setting for air conditioning to be at a temperature of 21
degrees designed to suit men and in most modern offices it is not possible to turn the air
conditioning up or down. This means that many offices which mainly employ women are
wasting energy by having the air conditioning set too high. As you can see from the examples
I’ve just mentioned, there are serious consequences for designs which don’t consider the needs
of all users.