Listening Part 2 You will hear 5 conversations. Listen to the conversations and answer the questions. Choose the correct answer. You will hear each conversation twice. Conversation 1 You hear two students talking about their part-time jobs. Are you managing to combine work and study okay? Generally. It's quite boring wrapping food at the takeaway place, but the people I work with are nice enough. None of them are students, and I thought it'd be hard fitting in. It's been fine, though. I'm doing 4 shifts a week, and that's enough. Two are evenings, which is okay, because I just go home to sleep afterwards. The daytime ones are tougher because I often have to go back to the library afterwards, and it takes me a while to quit thinking about work and get into another headspace. Anyway, how's yours going? OK, I do evenings too, but I'd rather work during the day at the weekend because I've missed a few events, like a couple of concerts and someone's birthday party. I'm finding that as well. And sometimes I'm so tired when I'm finished that even if I'm invited to do something, all I want to do is chill and watch a movie. My mom keeps saying it'll be good to mention the experience in job interviews. I'm not sure checking tickets at a cinema is going to find me a job in finance. Well, there'll be some skills that will transfer between jobs, I guess. Conversation 1 Are you managing to combine work and study okay? Generally. It's quite boring wrapping food at the takeaway place, but the people I work with are nice enough. None of them are students, and I thought it'd be hard fitting in. It's been fine, though. I'm doing 4 shifts a week, and that's enough. Two are evenings, which is okay, because I just go home to sleep afterwards. The daytime ones are tougher, because I often have to go back to the library afterwards, and it takes me a while to quit thinking about work and get into another headspace. Anyway, how's yours going? Okay, I do evenings too, but I'd rather work during the day at the weekend, because I've missed a few events, like a couple of concerts and someone's birthday party. I'm finding that as well. And sometimes I'm so tired when I'm finished that even if I'm invited to do something, all I want to do is chill and watch a movie. My mom keeps saying it'll be good to mention the experience in job interviews. I'm not sure checking tickets at a cinema is going to find me a job in finance. Well, there'll be some skills that will transfer between jobs, I guess. Conversation 2 You hear a student talking to her course tutor about an assignment. Excuse me, can I ask you about study materials for the assignment you've just set us? Of course. I know you've uploaded some journal articles to the platform for us and that's really useful, but do we have to do additional reading? And if so, how will I know what I need? Also, everyone rushes to the library after lectures, and I can't get there as fast, so I'm almost always missing out. And some people hang on to books past the return date. Right. Don't forget the reading list you were sent early on. Would it help if I scanned the chapters you might need and uploaded those? Just send me a list of what you need, and I'll make sure that's sorted out. Thanks so much. Also, It sounds like a lot to write. I've never written 2,000 words. Maybe it won't be so bad, because I am interested in the topic. My advice is to start early. You've got a month to do it, so it's quite a generous time frame. It doesn't sound it, but I'll do my best. And can I check it's fine to include what I think myself, as long as I can back up my arguments? Absolutely. In fact, we encourage that. Excuse me, can I ask you about study materials for the assignment you've just set us? Of course. I know you've uploaded some journal articles to the platform for us, and that's really useful, but do we have to do additional reading? And if so, how will I know what I need? Also, everyone rushes to the library after lectures, and I can't get there as fast, so I'm almost always missing out. And some people hang on to books past the return date. Right. Don't forget the reading list you were sent early on. Would it help if I scanned the chapters you might need and uploaded those? Just send me a list of what you need and I'll make sure that's sorted out. Thanks so much. Also, it sounds like a lot to write. I've never written 2,000 words. Maybe... It won't be so bad because I am interested in the topic. My advice is to start early. You've got a month to do it, so it's quite a generous time frame. It doesn't sound it, but I'll do my best. And can I check it's fine to include what I think myself, as long as I can back up my arguments? Absolutely. In fact, we encourage that. Conversation 3 You hear two students talking about a lecture on potential solutions to climate change. Great lecture! It was fascinating to hear about the different solutions to climate change scientists have come up with in the last few years. I know. The thing that stood out for me was the plan to save Arctic sea ice with glass. I mean, that idea of scattering glass powder over the ice to reflect the sun. Very brave. No wonder it didn't go ahead. Right? I mean, messing with nature could create even more damage. It's a complete unknown. Like, what would the impact have been on wildlife? Yeah, it might have worked well, but so much of the stuff would have been needed. A total waste of money if it hadn't worked. But that's all hypothetical now. We've got to have these kinds of ideas and discussions though, because there's been so little progress on lessening the effects of climate change, and we really do need urgent action. The thing is, we talk and talk and nothing seems to really get done. The glass powder thing wasn't just a pie in the sky idea, it wasn't just something someone dreamt up. It had been scientifically tested on lakes and seemed to work. We just need to come up with the right idea. Easier said than done. Great lecture. It was fascinating to hear about the different solutions to climate change scientists have come up with in the last few years. I know. The thing that stood out for me was the plan to save Arctic sea ice with glass. I mean, that idea of scattering glass powder over the ice to reflect the sun. Very brave. No wonder it didn't go ahead. Right? I mean, messing with nature could create even more damage. It's a complete unknown. Like, what would the impact have been on wildlife? Yeah, it might have worked well, but so much of the stuff would have been needed. A total waste of money if it hadn't worked. But that's all hypothetical now. We've got to have these kinds of ideas and discussions though, because there's been so little progress on lessening the effects of climate change. And we really do need urgent action. The thing is, we talk and talk and nothing seems to really get done. The glass powder thing wasn't just a pie in the sky idea. It wasn't just something someone dreamt up. It had been scientifically tested on lakes and seemed to work. We just need to come up with the right idea. Easier said than done. Conversation 4 You hear two students talking about a musical theatre group. Didn't you join the musical theatre group? Yeah, why? Fancy coming along? No way am I prancing about on stage. I just wanted to ask how it's going. It's fun. We're in rehearsals at the moment for a new show. But seriously, you're doing an engineering degree, so you must be well up on technical stuff. We're always on the lookout for people like you to lend a hand with set design and props. The drama students help, but there's always a demand for more technicians. It's not really my area of expertise. It could be. It'd add another string to your bow, wouldn't it? Something else to write about in job applications. I'll think about it. Anyway, how are the rehearsals going? What's the show? A musical called X that some students have written. I think it'll be a success. It's not been plain sailing, though. The writers seem intent on tweaking lines and jumping in while we're delivering them, so what we've learned goes out the window. It's not holding us up too much, but it does mean our scripts are always being scribbled on, things crossed out. And they're becoming tricky to read. We'll get there. We'll have to. The show opens in three weeks. Conversation 4. Didn't you join the musical theatre group? Yeah. Why? Fancy coming along? No way am I prancing about on stage. I just wanted to ask how it's going. It's fun. We're in rehearsals at the moment for a new show. But seriously, you're doing an engineering degree, so you must be well up on technical stuff. We're always on the lookout for people like you to lend a hand with set design and props. The drama students help, but there's always a demand for more technicians. It's not really my area of expertise. It could be. It'd add another string to your bow, wouldn't it? Something else to write about in job applications. I'll think about it. Anyway, how are the rehearsals going? What's the show? A musical called X that some students have written. I think it'll be a success. It's not been plain sailing, though. The writers seem intent on tweaking lines and jumping in while we're delivering them, so what we've learned goes out the window. It's not holding us up too much, but it does mean our scripts are always being scribbled on, things crossed out. And they're becoming tricky to read. We'll get there. We'll have to. The show opens in three weeks. Conversation 5 You hear two students talking about the degree course the woman is doing. So what's your degree really about? Language, culture and communication. I know it's a bit of a mouthful, but it's basically about how communication works in different contexts, everyday, professional and intercultural ones. We look at communication issues that people face, things like stereotyping, prejudices, discrimination. Is it heavy going? Not really. It's about how to build better ways of communicating with people who live very different experiences from yourself. We analyze barriers to effective intercultural communication and consider what can be done to smooth communication. These issues have never been more pertinent because we talk to people all over the world these days. I had high hopes for the course and I haven't been disappointed. That's good. You must have interesting discussions. You can say that again. We have to challenge our own prejudices, and that's totally worth doing, but it can be a bit embarrassing, looking at yourself and realising how you act and react to different groups of people. You've got to dig into your belief system and figure out where those feelings came from and what you can do to rid yourself of beliefs there are no grounds for. I'm definitely up for that. We all are. You get fascinating insights from other students too. Conversation 5 So what's your degree really about? Language, culture and communication. I know it's a bit of a mouthful, but it's basically about how communication works in different contexts, everyday, professional and intercultural ones. We look at communication issues that people face. Things like stereotyping, prejudices, discrimination... Is it heavy going? Not really. It's about how to build better ways of communicating with people who live very different experiences from yourself. We analyze barriers to effective intercultural communication and consider what can be done to smooth communication. These issues have never been more pertinent because we talk to people all over the world these days. I had high hopes for the course, and I haven't been disappointed. That's good. You must have interesting discussions. You can say that again. We have to challenge our own prejudices, and that's totally worth doing, but it can be a bit embarrassing. Looking at yourself and realizing how you act and react to different groups of people. You've got to dig into your belief system, and figure out where those feelings came from and what you can do to rid yourself of beliefs there are no grounds for. I'm definitely up for that. We all are. You get fascinating insights from other students too.