IELTS Mock Test 2024 January

PART 2

You will hear a representative from EasyTravel Travel Agency explaining to some customers the benefits of her company.

Hello everyone. Now, you’re here because you’re interested in travel, right? And you’re in the right place, for at EasyTravel, we have the best deals for the best locations. We specialise in eco-travel, or holidays designed to get you amongst nature, ignoring the hustle and bustle of big cities. So, whether you want to hike in Nepal, as many people do, or follow some jungle paths in the rainforests of Queensland, we can give you the best deal.

If you look at our office here, you’ll see our overseas consultants. That’s for trips overseas, obviously, to Europe, to North America, but primarily for the Asian market, which is generally more popular in this part of the world. Most people like that touch of the orient, right? But they also like the domestic market, since this country offers its fair share of beautiful natural vistas. What about the deserts, anyone? What about some striking red-rock gorges? Then, talk to our domestic consultants, who can arrange anything you want. But they deal with the accounts in the morning, so you’ll need to talk to them in the afternoon. And remember, our office doesn’t open at night, sorry to say.

Now, around the outskirts and outer regions of this city, there are many beautiful places that you might not be aware of. And the advantages of these regional locations are many. Mostly, by being closer, some of them can be done in a day tour. Yes, it’s fast and convenient, with none of those long-haul bus trips which often leave you cramped and uncomfortable, and stuffing heavy suitcases into luggage racks.

But, I should tell you about our buses, those that are needed for the somewhat more distant holiday destinations. They definitely do not suffer from those problems I just mentioned. We use the services of the famous Sleek Line Company, whose buses are known as the very best. Yes, they are big, yes, they are comfortable, but what makes them especially different is the personal attendant, who accompanies the driver, ready and willing to serve you, and ensure that your trip is the very best. So, whether it’s overseas or local, we can certainly give you what you want. Now, do you have any questions?

Right, let me orient you to our main EasyTravel office here. On this table right beside us are travel magazines for you to browse through, and on the wall next to that are many more, for all parts of the world. Our four travel consultants sit over there, on the other side of that long counter. That’s right, four of them, side by side, all serving various regions.

Now, let me tell you their specific functions. Firstly, the consultant on the left, next to the plant, is the Q16 ‘Local Tours’ consultant, serving tours in the immediate vicinity of this city. Next to her is what we call ‘Regional Tours’, targeting the state-wide options. - Next- to her is the ‘Interstate- Tours’, and that can involve either buses or planes, in the former case, utilising the SleekLine Bus service, as you know. And finally, next to her, in the corner, is ‘General Enquiries’, which is self-explanatory. If you have questions of a general nature, rather than one relating to specific destinations, you can go there

Now, as I said, we can do international tours, and for that you need our big office, just through that door - the one between those two plants. However, if your international tour is in the Asian region, which is generally our most popular option, then we deal with that in a separate room the one opposite International Tours, but not; the corner one. Just go through that door on the left - the one next to that cupboard. The door next to that is, in fact, our General Office, so please don’t go through there. That’s reserved for staff members only.

PART 3

You will hear two students, Sam: and Liz, discussing their university orientation program.

Sam: Hi Liz. How do you feel about starting university here?

Liz: A little bit nervous, but I’m confident I can handle it. This orientation program seems like it will help us a lot.

Sam: Sure. I’m looking at the timetable here myself. It seems that there are choices available.

Liz: I can see. So, what are you going to do Monday afternoon? In the morning we all have the opening lecture, but it looks like we have a choice later that day, as you said.

Sam: Well, the ‘Careers Lecture’ might be helpful, but I am interested in the ‘Uni Tour’. It’s probably too early to be thinking of careers now, anyway, and I want to know what’s what at this new university, so. I’m doing the tour .

Liz: Alright. I’ll come along with you. Might learn something interesting. After all, we haven’t seen much of this place yet, and we will be spending four years here.

Sam: Tuesday is another full day, too. In the afternoon there’s a lecture about study skills, but that morning offers another choice.

Liz: ‘Library Tour’ or ‘Student Union Induction’. What do you think?

Sam: I think the student union is very important, but we can go there any time, right, so we should take advantage of the library tour while it’s being offered. Maybe the week after, you and I can go to the student union.

Liz: Library it is, then. Now, Wednesday has a free session in the morning, but after lunch there’s a choice between visiting the computer lab, or attending a lecture on our legal rights.

Sam: Well, law and rights are important, but computers are the basis of everything these days, so I’m going to the computer lab.

Liz: Don’t you think knowing our legal rights is equally, if not more, important? We live in a very litigious and complex society now.

Sam: Sure, but it’s something we can pick up later, so let’s leave that one out.

Liz: Okay.

Sam: Let me see the timetable. Thursday is a free day, and the week winds up with some celebrations on Friday afternoon. It looks like a fun choice, too. There’s either a BBQ on the main lawn, or the dance.

Liz: I never pass up the chance to eat something. What about you?

Sam: If I can get a free meal, I’ll take it any day, and I’m not good at dancing anyway.

Liz: Well, that’s that decided. Right?

Sam: Right!

Sam: Guess what Liz? There’s another interesting thing in this orientation booklet, and it looks important -about a ‘style guide’.

Liz: What’s that?

Sam: Take a look yourself. It seems to be a set of rules regarding how to present written work - essays, and that sort of thing - to the lecturers. They want a uniform style of presentation.

Liz: I can see. So, everything we hand in must have a header and a footer.

Sam: A what?

Liz: A header and a footer. The footer is at the bottom of the page, and the header is at the very top. That’s why they call it a ‘header’, you know, that little bit of writing giving details about the work. And they also want the word count. Why do they need that?

Sam: I guess because the lecturers will specify the number of words they want for their assignment, and they want to be sure students follow this.

Liz: And even the heading on the page has to be a specific dimension. 16  points, and bold print, and underlined.

Sam: And subheadings are 14 points, and the font has to be Arial for everything.

Liz: Yes, the main text is Arial, too, as you said, and the size is 12 points, with the header and footer being slightly smaller, at 10 points each. Well, it seems logical. The size of everything is in proportion to its importance, but why do they need the spacing of the main text to be one and a half?The header and footer are different. They’re only single-spaced.

Sam: Probably to allow the teacher to insert comments, or corrections, or just to make it all more readable, I suppose.

Liz: And we need wide margins on the left, right, top, and bottom, probably for the same reason. Lots of space to allow the addition of comments. That’s a bit scary, actually. It seems to assume we will be making mistakes.

Sam: And look what they want in the header and footer. The header has the name of the work.

Liz: Not the name of the teacher?

Sam: No, the work, but surely the teacher’s name must go somewhere. Ah, here it is. It goes in the footer.

Liz: Okay, I’d say this is all logical. If a page is lost, say, falls to the floor, then with all this information, it can always be traced back to the teacher involved.

Sam: Right - as you say, all very logical.

PART 4

You will hear a lecturer discussing public parks.

Most of us are familiar with a local park. We spend time there, play there, and have some of our best memories in these places. But what is a park? Basically, it can be defined as a natural, or at least semi-natural, piece of land, planted with a variety of trees, bushes, and flowers, protected and reserved for the enjoyment of all citizens. There are usually regulations about the sorts of behaviour that can take place within. And sometimes there are facilities such as children’s playgrounds, or fields for ball games and other sorts of activities. For this reason, if there is grass, it is kept short, and this also discourages the breeding of insect pests. A well-maintained park actually needs a lot of people to look after it, and more so if the park showcases special plants, flowers, or trees, in which ease it is called a ‘botanic garden’. In complete contrast, if the park is big and remote enough, it is sometimes designated as a wilderness park, to be left completely alone and untouched, protected from all development in order to allow wild species, both plant and animal, to live undisturbed.

But it is the urban park - the sort of park that most people are familiar with, that I want to talk about now. These preserve natural landscapes for the pleasure of the urban population, most commonly just for passive recreation - in other words, allowing people just to observe the trees, and lie in the grass, and such passive recreation is certainly needed.

Continuing on the subject of parks, it might surprise you to know that once there were none. A thousand years ago, there was no need, since there were already extensive open spaces, forests, and wilderness surrounding most cities and towns - for example, in Europe. These dark dank forests were large and even dangerous, full of wild animals and with the potentially fatal result of getting lost. Hence, fairy tales evolved about witches living in these areas, and the wolves and bears, which could threaten young children.

However, with the rapidly increasing human population, the original wilderness and natural open spaces were intruded upon. Forests were cut down as populations spread, and with them, urban pollution and further deforestation. But it was only with the advent of the Industrial Revolution that people realised natural areas needed to be preserved, to give the populace access to the sort of nature that was fast disappearing due to the uncontrolled development and demand for resources.

The first park, expressly designed for that purpose, is usually considered to be Princes Park in Liverpool. This was in 1841, on land donated to the public by a rich iron merchant. With such a generous donation (worth about £50,000), the council decided to invest £5,000 of its own money in making it look good. Consequently, they hired a landscape designer, Joseph Paxton, who designed twisting turning pathways among shade-giving trees, all based around a central lake. In many ways, it became the prototype for all later large parks, including the famous Central Park in New York.

But, if we were to pick the park that most people are familiar with, it would be the much smaller neighbourhood park. These can be tiny, but, by being in the midst of extensive development and dense populations, they are increasingly seen as a refuge, where one can get a glimpse of true nature. Many psychologists now maintain that this glimpse is necessary, for ultimately, as a species, we have an innate affinity for nature, and the concrete urban zoo clashes with our inner being. This has seen the rejuvenation of many urban parks that were once left to decay, for example, in New York or London, and indeed, some cities, such as Melbourne, are known all over the world for their abundance of carefully maintained parks, including a world famous botanic garden.