Master IELTS General Training Volume 5

Published on: 05 Aug 2019
Tests taken: 255,809

Answer Keys:

Report Mistake

Part 1: Question 1 - 10

1 central
2 600
3 2 year(s)
4 garage
5 garden

6 study
7 noisy
8 595
9 10 B,E

Part 2: Question 11 - 20

11 classical music
12 bookshop/bookstore
13 planned
14 1983/(the) 1980s
15 City Council

16 363
17 (the) Garden Hall
18 Three Lives
19 4.50
20 Faces of China

Part 3: Question 21 - 30

21 C
22 C
23 A
24 B
25 C

26 A
27 C
28 A
29 B
30 C

Part 4: Question 31 - 40

31 B
32 B
33 B
34 A
35 combination/system

36 safety
37 attitude(s)
38 control(s)
39 factory/factories
40 skills

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IELTS Reading- Multiple Choice Questions

This article will help you answer multiple choice questions more effectively.

20,412

24 May 2018

Review & Explanations:

Part 1: Questions 1-10

Questions 1-3

Complete the form below.

Write ONE WORD AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.

Rented Properties
Customer’s Requirements
Name: Steven Godfrey
*Example Answer* *No. Of bedrooms: ......four..........*
Preferred location: in the 1 area of town Maximum monthly rent: £ 2 Length of let required: 3 Starting: September 1^st

1 Answer: central

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Q1: The key word is location. As we’re expecting, the word appears when estate agent said “What’s about the location?”. We heard that the customer said “It would be nice to be central”. From here we have the answer since Q1 is about preferred location (“it would be nice” can be understood as “preferred”) .

So the answer for Q1 is “central”.

2 Answer: 600

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Q2: We know that the answer have to be a number.

The sign that leads to the answer is when the estate agent asked “What's your upper limit for the rent?” (upper limit for the rent is equivalent to Maximum monthly rent)

When Customer said “We'd like something around 500 pounds a month but we could go up to 600 pounds if we have to”. The answer can’t be “500” because the question is about maximum, so “600” is what we’re looking for.

The answer for Q2 is “600”

3 Answer: 2 year(s)

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Q3 The sign of answer for Q3 appears when Estate agent asked “how long you want to rent the house for?”. After that she said “The minimum left is six months as you probably realize”, this may lead to confusion. However, obviously the answer can’t be “six month” because Q3 is about customer’s requirements.

The answer can be heard when customer said “two years” and didn’t want to move during that time which means “two years” is the length of let they required.

So the answer is “two years”

Questions 4-8

Complete the table below.

Write ONE WORD AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.

Address	Rooms	Monthly rent	Problem
Oakington Avenue	Living/dining room, separate kitchen	£550	no 4
Mead Street	Large living room and kitchen, bathroom and a cloakroom	£580	The 5 is too large
Hamilton Road	living room, kitchen-diner, and a 6	£ 550	too 7
Devon Close	Living room, dinning room, small kitchen	£ 8	none

4 Answer: garage

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Q4: The keywords are “Oakington Avenue”, “550” and “Living/dining room, separate kitchen”.

In the conversation, we hear all these keywords from Estate agent when she said “There's this one in Oakington Avenue at five hundred and fifty pounds a month, combined living room and dining room with a separate kitchen. It doesn't have a garage though you can park in the road”.

The problem here is “It doesn't have a garage”

So “garage” is answer for Q4

5 Answer: garden

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Q5: The keywords are “Meade Street”, “large living room and kitchen, bathroom, cloakroom” and “580”.

we hear all these keywords from Estate agent. The problem appears when customer said that he didn’t think they could cope with the big garden because of being too busy to look after it.

So the answer is garden

6 Answer: study

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Q6: The keywords are “Hamilton Road”, “Living room, kitchen diner” and “550”.

We hear all these keywords from Estate agent “Okay, then there's this older house in Hamilton Road. Living room, kitchen diner and it has a study of 550 a month”. Obviously, the answer can be found right here since we hear “it has a study”

So the answer is “study”

7 Answer: noisy

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Q7: Q7 is still about Hamilton Road.

As the conversation keeps going, when customer asked about “Hamilton Road”, the estate agent described Hamilton Road as “very noisy” and “pretty lively”. Since the Q7 is about problem, the best answer here is “noisy” (“lively” is a positive word)

So the answer is “noisy”

8 Answer: 595

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Q8: The keywords are “Devon Close” and “living room, dining room and small kitchen”

Estate agent mentioned Devon Close right after Hamilton Road. And we can easily hear the answer for Q8 when she said “And it's 595 a month”.

So the answer for Q8 is “595”

Questions 9-10

Choose TWO letters A-E.

Which TWO facilities in the district of Devon Close are open to the public at the moment?

A museum
B concert hall
C cinema
D sports centre
E swimming pool

9-10 Answer: B,E

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Q9,10: The keywords for Q9,10 are “facilities” and “at the moment”

Sport center is incorrect because it is under construction so it is not open at the moment.
Estate agent said that “the swimming pools already opened ahead of schedule” and it can also means it is now open to public. So swimming pools is correct.
Then the estate agent mentioned about “cinemas” and said that “The only one closed down last year and it's now in the process of being converted into a film museum.” So museum is eliminated from being an answer. This also lead us to the conclusion that “cinema” is not an answer too.
The “concert hall” is mentioned in the conversation when customer said “I heard something about a plan to replace the existing concert hall with a larger one”. "Existing" means it is still existing at the time of the conversation. This could be understood as it is open at the moment.

So the answers for Q9 and 10 are “B” and “E”

Part 1

Part 2: Questions 11-20

Questions 11-16

Complete the notes below.

Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.

THE NATIONAL ARTS CENTRE
Well known for: 11 Complex consists of: concert rooms theatres cinemas art galleries public library restaurants a 12 Historical background: 1940 – area destroyed by bombs 1960s-1970s- Centre was 13 and built in 14 - opened to public Managed by: the 15 Open: 16 days per year

11 Answer: classical music

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Q11: The keyword is “well known”

In the radio programm, we hear the host (Dave Green) said that “. It’s famous throughout the word as one of the major venues for classical music.” Here, the phrase “It’s famous throughout the word as” can be understood as “well known”.

Since the answer must be NO MORE THAN TWO WORD, then the best answer for Q11 is “classical music”.

12 Answer: bookshop/bookstore

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Q12: The keywords must be noticed are “consist of” and of course all facilities listed in the question.

The host mentioned all of the facilities in Q12 as when he said “Under a single roof it houses concert rooms, theatres, cinemas, art galleries and a wonderful public library, as well as service facilities including three restaurants and a bookshop”. And then he didn’t list any other facilities in the complex. So there’s only bookshop is suitable to fill in Q12.

Therefore, the answer for Q12 is “bookshop”

13 Answer: planned

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Q13: The keyword for Q13 is “1960s-1970s”

As the host keep saying, we hear the event of area destroyed by bombs during the war in 1940. After that, he mentioned about “1960s-1970s” as “but it was planned in the 60s, built in the 70s”. “the 60s” and “the 70s” are respectively the decades from 1960–1969 and 1970-1979. Therefore, the best answer to fill in Q13 is “planned”.

14 Answer: 1983/(the) 1980s

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Q14: The keyword for Q14 is “1960s-1970s”

In the same sentence, the host also said that “eventually opened to the public in 1983 ”. This is similar to the one stated in Q14. Therefore, the answer for Q14 must be “1983”

15 Answer: City Council

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Q15: The keyword for Q15 is “managed by”.

The host said that “It is not privately owned, like many arts centres, but is still in public hands – it’s run by the City Council”. The sign appears when we hear phrase “it’s run by”. Since “run by” is equal to “managed by”, the answer for Q15 must be “City Council”.

16 Answer: 363

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Q16: The keyword for Q16 must be “open”, “days per year”.

In the talk, the host stated that “the Centre is open 363 days of the year”. This is similar to the one stated in Q16. So the answer for Q16 must be “363”.

Questions 17-20

Complete the table below.

Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.

Day	Time	Event	Venue	Ticket price
Monday and Tuesday	7.30 p.m	‘ The Magic Flute’ (opera by Mozart)	17	From £8.00
Wednesday	8.00 p.m	18 (Canadian film)	Cinema 2	£ 19
Saturday and Sunday	11 a.m. to 10 p.m	20 (art exhibition)	Gallery 1	free

17 Answer: (the) Garden Hall

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Q17: The keywords for Q17 must be “Monday and Tuesday”; “7.30p.m”; “The Magic Flute” and “From £8.00”

The sign of keywords appears as the host stated “we recommend you go along to the National on either Monday or Tuesday evening at 7.30 for a spectacular production of ‘The Magic Flute’ - probably the most popular of all Mozart’s operas”.

After that, we can find the answer when he said “It’s in the Garden Hall and tickets start at only £8.00”.

Therefore, answer for Q17 is “the Garden Hall”

18 Answer: Three Lives
Listen from here Locate Explain Report
Q18: After that, we hear the host said “And that’s called ‘Three Lives’.” (here, “that” can be understood as “Canadian film”). So, the answer for Q18 is “Three Lives’”

19 Answer: 4.50

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Q19: The host also stated that “It’s had fantastic reviews and tickets cost just Q19 £4.50, which is a reduction on the usual price of £5.50”. This could lead us to wrong answer for Q19 as “£5.5”. However, “£5.5” is the usual price, not the price on “Wednesday”. So the answer for Q19 must be “£4.50”

20 Answer: Faces of China

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Q20: The keywords for Q20 must be “Saturday and Sunday”, “11 a.m. to 10 p.m”; “art exhibition”; “Gallery 1” and “free ticket”.

The host mentioned about “a wonderful new exhibition” on “Saturday and Sunday, 11 am to 10 pm”. After that, he said that “It’s a collection of Chinese Art called ‘Faces of China’”. So “a collection of Chinese Art ” in this sentence could be understood as “art exhibition”. Therefore the answer for Q20 must be “Faces of China”

Previous Next

Part 2

Part 3: Questions 21-30

Questions 21-26

Choose the correct letter, A, B or C.

Latin American studies

Paul decided to get work get work experience in South American because he wanted

A to teach English there
B to improve his Spanish
C to learn about Latin American life

Answer: C

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Q21: The keywords for Q21 are “work experience”; “South America”.

In the conversation, we hear the sign of these keywords when the woman asked Paul about his work experience in South America. Paul then, answered the woman that “as I’m combining Spanish with Latin American studies, my main idea was to find out more about the way people lived there.”. So the answer for Q21 is C
Option B is incorrect as Paul said that “My spoken Spanish was already pretty good in fact”
Option A may be the answer when Paul said that “I ended up teaching English there”. But he said that wasn’t his original choice of work.

So the answer for Q21 is C

What project work Paul originally intend to get involved in?

A construction
B agriculture
C tourism

Answer: C

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Q22: The keywords for Q22 are “project work”; “originally intend”.

The sign for Q22 appears when Paul mentioned about “voluntary projects”. From here, we must listen carefully to get the answer for Q22.

Paul stated that “getting involved in building projects was an option”, this may lead us to choose A for the answer. However, Q22 is about project work Paul originally intend to get involved in. So option A is incorrect.
Option B is incorrect. Although Paul mentioned about “work with local farmers”, this is his second project he get in.
Option C is correct as Paul stated that “tourists for walks around the volcanoes – which I actually chose to do”

Why did Paul change form one project to another?

A His first job was not well organized.
B He found doing the routine work very boring.
C The work was too physically demanding.

Answer: A

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Q23: The keywords for Q23 are “Why” “change”; “project”.

As we know that Paul actually chose tourism project at first and then changed to agriculture project, the woman continually asked Paul why he did that.

Paul answer the women as “Because I never really knew whether I’d be needed or not. I’d thought it might be difficult physically, but I was certainly fit enough…”. This may lead us to option C.

However, after that he said “no, I wanted to do something that had more of a proper structure to it”. This could be understood as his first job was not well organized. Therefore, the answer for Q23 is A

In the village community, he leant how important it was to

A respect family life.
B develop trust
C use money wisely.

Answer: B

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Q24: The keywords for Q23 are “village community” “he leant”; “how important”.

The sign of “village community” appears as “remote village”.

Paul stated that “What struck me was that when people became more comfortable with me and less suspicious”. Here, “what struck me” is equal to “he learnt something important”. And “more comfortable with me and less suspicious” means “develop trust”. Therefore, the answer for Q24 must be B

What does the Paul say about his project manager?

A He let Paul do most of the work
B His plans were too ambitious.
C He was very supportive of Paul.

Answer: C

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Q25: The keyword for Q25 must be “project manager”, “supportive”, “ ambitious”

To answer the women’s question, Paul said that “he gave me lots of advice and guidance”. This could be understood as “very supportive”. Therefore, the answer for Q25 must be C.

Note: Option A and B is incorrect as it is nowhere to be found in the conversation.

Paul was surprised to be given

A a computer to use
B so little money to live on
C an extension to his contract

Answer: A

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Q26: The keywords for Q26 must be “surprised to be given”, “Computer”, “little money”, “extension contract”

Although Paul did mention about his “extension contract”, his parents (not him) were surprised about this. Therefore, option C is incorrect.
As the women asked about administration side of things that surprised him, Paul expressed his surprised when he said “they gave me all the equipment I needed…even a laptop”. After that, the woman asked if he expected that, and he confirmed that he was not. Therefore, the answer must be A
Option B is incorrect since Q26 asked about something Paul was given.

Questions 27-30

What does Paul decide about each of the following modules?

Write the correct letter, A, B or C, next to questions 27-30.

A	He will do this.
B	He might do this.
C	He won't do this.

Module

27 Gender Studies in Latin America

28 Second Languages Acquisition

29 Indigenous Women’s Lives

30 Portuguese Language Studies

27 Answer: C

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Q27: The keyword for Q27 must be “Gender Studies in Latin America”

After hearing the women said about “Gender Studies in Latin America” as “Women are increasingly occupying positions is government and in other elected leadership positions in Latin America”. Paul stated that “It is was to do with people in the villages rather than those in the public sphere, I would”. So this could be understood that Paul was not interested in women occupying positions in public sphere. Therefore, he won’t do this modules.

The answer must be option C

28 Answer: A

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Q28: The keyword for Q28 must be “Second Languages Acquisition”.

To answer the woman’s question about “Second Language Acquisition”, Paul explicitly stated that “I’ll put that down as a definite”.

Therefore, the answer for Q28 is A

29 Answer: B

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Q29: The keyword for Q29 must be “Indigenous Women’s Lives”.

When the woman asked about “Indigenous Women’s Lives”, Paul hesitated about it. But then, the woman advised that he could talk to some other student before deciding. Paul agreed with that idea.

Therefore, the answer for Q29 is B

30 Answer: C

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Q30: The keyword for Q30 must be “Portuguese Language Studies”.

To answer the woman’s question about “Portuguese lessons”, Paul first intended to sign up for it because his Spanish was good. However, after hearing the women said that Spanish and Portuguese were quite different. Paul explicitly stated that “Well, I’d much sooner do something else, then”. So it means that he won’t do it.

The answer for Q30 must be C

Previous Next

Part 3

Part 4: Questions 31-40

Questions 31-34

Choose the correct letter, A, B or C.

Trying to repeat success

Compared to introducing new business processes, attempts to copy existing processes are

A more attractive.
B more frequent
C more straight forward.

Answer: B

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Q31: The keywords for Q31 must be “introducing new business processes” and “copy existing processes”

The keywords appear when we hear the lecturer mentioned phrases in the listening test as “introduced a new process” (equivalent to “introducing new business processes”) and “to repeat that success, and capture it if possible on a bigger scale” (equivalent to “copy existing processes”).

After that she described this process as “not to generate new knowledge.” (equivalent to not straightforward) and “less glamorous activity than pure innovation” (equivalent to not attractive). So options A, C are incorrect.

She continually stated that “but it actually happens more often, as a matter of fact”. Therefore, Option B is the answer for Q31.

Most research into the repetition of success in business has

A been done outside the United States.
B produced consistent findings
C related to only a few contexts.

Answer: B

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Q32: The keyword for Q32 must be “ Most research into the repetition of success”

The keyword for Q32 appears in the lecture as “research into how companies can repeat their previous successes”.

Although the lecturer stated that “it certainly hasn’t been confined to the United States”, it doesn’t mean that most of it has been done outside the United States. Thus, Option A is not the answer we’re looking for.
The lecturer once again mentioned “Most research into the repetition of success” as “it has been shown that the overwhelming majority of attempts fail. A host of studies confirm this” Here, “A host of studies” means “Most research”. Besides, “that the overwhelming majority of attempts fail” and “a wide range of business settings” can be understood as “consistent findings” . In addition, “a wide range of business settings: .... to name but not a few ” also equals to “related to many contexts” (not “a few contexts”). Therefore, Option C is incorrect and the answer for Q32 must be B

What does the speaker say about consulting experts?

A Too few managers ever do it.
B It can be useful in certain circumstances.
C Experts are sometimes unwilling to give advice.

Answer: B

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Q33: The keyword for Q33 must be “consulting experts”

The keyword appears as “going to an expert”.

The lecturer stated that “Now, this approach can be used if you want to gain a rough understanding of a particular system, or understand smaller, isolated problems”. Here, “particular system” and “smaller, isolated problems” can be understood as “certain circumstances”. As continuing, she once again supported that idea with “even the expert doesn’t fully grasp the whole thing...”. Therefore, Option B is the answer for Q32
Options A and C are incorrect, as it is nowhere to be found in the test.

An expert’s knowledge about a business system may be incomplete because

A some details are difficult for workers to explain
B choose not to mention certain details.
C details are sometimes altered by workers.

Answer: A

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Q34: The keywords for Q34 must be “An expert’s knowledge” and “may be incomplete ”.

The lecturer said about “being incomplete of An expert’s knowledge” as from “even the expert doesn’t fully grasp the whole thing”.
After that she gave an example of it by describing “a lot of details of the system that invisible to manag
ers” as “Some may be difficult to describe”; “impossible to describe” and “but impossible to describe in a way that’s helpful”. These can be understood as “some details are difficult for workers to explain”. So, A is the answer for Q34.
Options A and C are incorrect, as it is nowhere to be found in the test.

Questions 35-40

Complete the notes below.

Write ONE WORD ONLY for each answer.

Setting up systems based on an existing process
Two mistakes Manager tries to: - improve on the original process - create an ideal 35 from the best parts of several processes. Cause of problems - information was inaccurate - comparison between the business settings was invalid - disadvantages were overlooked, e.g. effect of changes on 36 Solution - change 37 - impose rigorous 38 - copy original very closely - physical features of the 39 - the 40 of original employee

35 Answer: combination/system

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Q35: The keywords for Q35 must be “two mistakes”; “ the best parts of several processes”

The keyword “two mistakes” appears in the listening test as “two types of mistake” and the first mistake was mentioned right after that.
As continuing, the lecturer stated that “Another mistake is trying to use the best parts of various different systems , in the hope of creating the perfect combination.” Therefore, the answer for Q35 must be “combination”

36 Answer: safety

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Q36: The keywords are “Cause of problems”, “disadvantages were overlooked,”, “effect of changes ”

The keyword “Cause of problems” appears in the listening test as “various reasons”.
The lecturer said that “there are also disadvantages that have been overlooked. For example, the modifications might compromise safety in some way”. Here, “the modifications might compromise” can be understood as “ effect of changes ”. So the answer for Q36 must be “safety”

37 Answer: attitude(s)

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Q37: The keywords must be “Solution”, “change”

The lecturer said that the solutions was about the ways of getting the right attitudes. She then listed the first way as “adjusting attitudes”. In this context, “adjusting” similars to “change”. So “attitudes” is the best answer for Q37.

38 Answer: control(s)

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Q38: The keywords must be “impose rigorous”.

The second ways of getting the right attitudes was said in the test as “exerting strict Q38 controls on the organizational and operational systems”. In this context, “exerting strict” equals to “impose rigorous” So “controls” is the best answer for Q38.

39 Answer: factory/factories

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Q39: The keywords must be “copy original very closely”, “physical features ” and “original employee”

After mentioning “copy original very closely”, the lecturer said “Not merely duplicating the physical characteristics of the factory, but also duplicating the skills that the original employees had.”

So obviously, the answer for Q39 is “factory”

40 Answer: skills

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Q40: The keywords must be “copy original very closely”, “physical features ” and “original employee”

So obviously, the answer for Q40 has to be “skills”

Part 4

Change Audio Sources

Section 1

You will hear an estate agent talking to a customer who wants to rent a house.

First you have some time to look at questions 1 to 8. You will see that there is an example that has been done for you. On this occasion only, the conversation relating to this will be played first.

Estate agent: Good morning. How can I help you?

Customer: Hello, I'm interested in renting a house somewhere in the town.

Estate agent: Right. Could I have your name please?

Customer: Yes, it's Stephen Godfrey.

Estate agent: And tell me how many bedrooms you're looking for?

Customer: Well we'd need four because I'm going to share the house with three friends.

Estate agent: Okay, there are several of that size on our books. They mostly belong to families who are working abroad at the moment. What about the location?

Customer: It would be nice to be central.

Estate agent: That might be difficult as most houses of that size are in the suburbs. Still, there are a few. What's your upper limit for the rent?

Customer: We'd like something around 500 pounds a month but we could go up to 600 pounds if we have to. But we can't go beyond that.

Estate agent: Do you know how long you want to rent the house for? The minimum left is six months as you probably realize.

Customer: We're at college here for two years and we don't want to have to move during that time if we can avoid it.

Estate agent: All right and how soon do you want to move in? All our let start on the first of the month.

Customer: Well as soon as possible really so that means September 1st.

Estate agent: Okay, let me have a look at what we've got. We have photographs of all the houses on our book so you can get an idea of what they're like. There's this one in Oakington Avenue at five hundred and fifty pounds a month, combined living room and dining room with a separate kitchen. It doesn't have a garage though you can park in the road.

Customer: We prefer to have one if possible.

Estate agent: Right. Then, have a look at this house in Meade Street. It's got a very large living room and kitchen, bathroom, cloakroom.

Customer: How much is it?

Estate agent: That one's 580. It's very well furnished and equipped. It also has plenty of space for parking and it's available for a minimum of a year. Oh and there's a big garden.

Customer: I don't think we could cope with that, to be honest. We'll be too busy to look after it.

Estate agent: Okay, then there's this older house in Hamilton Road. Living room, kitchen diner and it has a study of 550 a month.

Customer: That looks rather nice but where about in Hamilton Road?

Estate agent: Towards the western end. Oh, that'll be very noisy. I know the area.

Estate agent: Yes it's pretty lively, but some people like it though. Well, what about this house in Devon Close?

Customer: That looks lovely.

Estate agent: There's a big demand for houses in that area so prices tend to be quite high but this one hasn't been decorated for a few years which has kept the rent down a bit. It's got a living room, dining room and small kitchen. And it's 595 a month. I think it would suit you from what you've said.

Customer: It sounds fine.

Before you hear the rest of the conversation, you have some time to look at questions 9 and 10. Now listen and answer questions 9 and 10.

Customer: Why is that part of town so popular?

Estate agent: Well, there's a big scheme to improve the district and it'll soon have the best facilities for miles around.

Customer: What sort of thing?

Estate agent: There's a big Sports Center under construction which will be very impressive when it's finished. In fact, the swimming pools already opened ahead of schedule and it's attracting a lot of people. What’s about cinemas? Are there any in the area?

Estate agent: The only one closed down last year and it's now in the process of being converted into a film museum. The local people are trying to get a new cinema added to the scheme.

Customer: I think I heard something about a plan to replace the existing concert hall with a larger one.

Estate agent: Ah, that's due to start next year. Well, it sounds an interesting area to live in. Could I go and see the house please?

Estate agent: Yes, of course.

SECTION 2

Hello, and welcome to Focus on the Arts. I’m your host – Dave Green- and this is your very own local radio programme. Every Friday evening we put the spotlight on different arts and culture facilities, and look at the shows and events that are on offer in the coming weeks.

And today the focus is on The National Arts Centre. Now, if you don’t already know it yourself , I’m sure you’re all heard of it. It’s famous throughout the word as one of the major venues for classical music.

But did you know that it is actually much more than just a place to hear concerts? The Centre itself is a huge complex that caters for great range of arts. Under a single roof it houses concert rooms, theatres, cinemas, art galleries and a wonderful public library, as well as service facilities including three restaurants and a bookshop. So at any one time, the choice of entertainment there is simply enormous.

So, how did they manager to build such a big arts complex right in the heart of the city? Well, the area was completely destroyed by bombs during the war in 1940. So the opportunity was taken to create a cultural centre that would be, what they called: ‘THE City’s gift to the Nation’. Of course it took a while for such a big project to get started, but it was planned in the 60s, built in the 70s and eventually opened to the public in 1983 . Ever since then it has proved to be a great to be a great success. It is not privately owned, like many arts centres, but is still in public hands – it’s run by the City Council. Both our National Symphony Orchestra and National Theater Company were involved in the planning of the project, and they are now based there – giving regular performances every week - and as the Centre is open 363 days of the year, there are plenty of performances to choose from.

So, to give you some idea of what’s on, and to help you choose from the many possibilities, we’ve made a selection of the star attractions.

If you’re interested in classical music, then we recommend you go along to the National on either Monday or Tuesday evening at 7.30 for a spectacular production of ‘The Magic Flute’ - probably the most popular of all Mozart’s operas. It’s in the Garden Hall and tickets start at only £8.00, but you’ll have to be early if you want to get them that cheap! And remember, it’s only on for those two evenings.

For those more interested in the cinema, you might like to see the new Canadian film which is showing on Wednesday evening at 8pm in Cinema 2. And that’s called ‘Three Lives’. It’s had fantastic reviews and tickets cost just £4.50, which is a reduction on the usual price of £5.50 . So, it’s really good value, especially for such a great movie.

But you can see the centre’s main attraction at the weekend, because on Saturday and Sunday, 11 am to 10 pm, they’re showing a wonderful new exhibition that hasn’t been seen anywhere else in Europe yet. It’s a collection of Chinese Art called ‘Faces of China’ - that’s in Gallery 1 – and it has some really fascinating paintings and sculptures by leading artists from all over China – and the good news is that it is completely free, so don’t miss it!

So why not go along to the National Art Centre next week for one – or all - of these great events – and you can always pick up a programme and check out all the other performances and exhibitions on offer, or coming soon, on almost every day of the year.

Next week we’ll be looking at the Museum of Science…

SECTION 3

WOMAN: I’ve been reading your personal statement, Paul. First, let’s talk about your work experience in South America. What took you there? Was it to gain more fluency in Spanish?

PAUL: Well, as I’m combining Spanish with Latin American studies, my main idea was to find out more about the way people lived there. My spoken Spanish was already pretty good in fact.

WOMAN: So you weren’t too worried about language barriers?

PAUL: No. In fact, I ended up teaching English there, although that wasn’t my original choice of work.

WOMAN: I see. How did you find out about all this?

PAUL: I found an agency that runs all kinds of voluntary projects in South America.

WOMAN: What kind of work?

PAUL: Well, there were several possibilities.

WOMAN: You mean construction? Engineering work?

PAUL: Yes, getting involved in building projects was an option. Then there was tourism –taking tourists for walks around the volcanoes – which I actually chose to do, and then there was work with local farmers.

WOMAN:But you didn’t continue with that project. Why not?

PAUL: Because I never really knew whether I’d be needed or not. I’d thought it might be difficult physically, but I was certainly fit enough…no, I wanted to do something that had more of a proper structure to it, I suppose, I get de-motivated otherwise.

WOMAN: What do you think you learned from your experience? It must have been a great opportunity to examine community life.

PAUL: Yes, but it was difficult at first to be accepted by the locals. It was a very remote village and some of them were reluctant to speak to me – although they were always interested in my clothes and how much I’d had to pay for them.

WOMAN: Well, that’s understandable.

PAUL: Yes, but things soon improved. What struck me was that when people became more comfortable with me and less suspicious, we really connected with each other in a meaningful way.

WOMAN: You made good friends?

PAUL: Yes, with two of the families in particular.

WOMAN: Good. What about management. Did you have a project manager?

PAUL: Yes and he gave me lots of advice and guidance.

WOMAN: And was he good at managing too?

PAUL: That’s wasn’t his strong point! I think he was often more interested in the academic side of things than filling reports. He was a bit of a dreamer.

WOMAN: And did you have a contract?

PAUL: I had to say for a minimum of three months. My parents were surprised when I asked to stay longer – six months in the end. I was so happy there.

WOMAN: And did anything on the administration side of things surprise you? What was the food and lodging like?

PAUL: Simple…but there was plenty to eat and I only paid seven dollars a day for that which was amazing really. And they gave me all the equipment I needed…even a laptop.

WOMAN : You didn’t expect that then?

PAUL: No.

WOMAN : Well, I’ll look forward to hearing more.

WOMAN : But now let’s look at these modules. You’ll need to start thinking about which ones you’ll definitely want to study. The first one here is Gender Studies in Latin America.

PAUL: Mmm…

WOMAN : It looks at how gender analysis is reconfiguring civil society in Latin America. Women are increasingly occupying positions is government and in other elected leadership positions in Latin America. I think you’d find it interesting.

PAUL: If is was to do with people in the villages rather than those in the public sphere, I would.

WOMAN : Okay. What about Second Language Acquisition?

PAUL: Do you think I’d find that useful?

WOMAN : Well, you’ve had b some practical experience in the field, I think it would be.PAUL: I hadn’t thought about that. I’ll put that down as a definite, then.

WOMAN : Okay. What about indigenous Women’s Lives. That sounds appropriate.

PAUL: I thought so too, but I looked at last year’s exam questions and that changed my mind,WOMAN : Don’t judge the value of the course on that. May be, talk to some other student first and we can talk about it again later.

PAUL: Okay.

WOMAN : Yes, And lastly, will you sign up for Portuguese lessons?

PAUL: My Spanish is good, so would I find that module easy?

WOMAN : Not necessary. Some people find that Spanish interferes with learning Portuguese…getting the accent right too.It’s quite different in a lot of ways.

PAUL: Well, I’d much sooner do something else, then.

WOMAN : Alright. Now, what we need to do is…

SECTION 4

Good morning, everyone. In the last few lectures I’ve been dealing c with business finance, but now I’m going to move on to business systems. And in today’s c lecture I’m going to talk about what can go wrong when businesses to try to copy their own best practices.

Once a business has successfully introduced a new process, managing a branch banks say or selling a new product – The parent organisation naturally wants to repeat that success, and capture it if possible on a bigger scale. The goal, then, is to utilize existing knowledge and not to generate new knowledge. It’s a less glamorous activity than pure innovation, but it actually happens more often, as a matter of fact. However, surprisingly, getting things right the second d time is not necessarily and simpler than it was the first time.

Now, there’s been a lot of research into how companies can repeat their previous successes, and it certainly hasn’t been confined to the United States. It seems that most large industries are trying to repeat their own successes, and manage the knowledge they’ve acquired – but even so it has been shown that the overwhelming majority of attempts fail. A host of studies confirm this, covering a wide range of business settings: branch banks, retail stores, real estate agencies, factories, call centres…to name but a few.

So why do so few managers get things right the second or third time? Let’s consider one reason for failure – placing too much trust in the people who are running the successful operation, the ‘experts’ shall we say. Managers who want to apply existing knowledge typically start off by going to an expert – such as the person who designed and is running a successful department store – and picking their brains. Now, this approach can be used if you want to gain a rough understanding of a particular system, or understand smaller, isolated problems. The trouble is, even the expert doesn’t fully grasp the whole thing because when it comes to complex systems, the individual components of the process are interwoven with one another. The expert never has complete access to the necessary information and the situation's complicated even further by the fact that experts are usually not aware of their own ignorance. Their ignorance can take various forms. For instance, a lot of details of the system are invisible to managers. Some may be difficult to describe– learned on the job and well known by workers perhaps, but impossible to describe in a way that’s helpful. And there are some things that people know or do that they’re not even aware of.

Now, let’s consider two types of mistake that can occur when a manager actually starts to set up a duplicate system to replicate a successful process. Firstly, perhaps he forgets that he was just trying to copy another process and starts trying to improve on it. Another mistake is trying to use the best parts of various different systems , in the hope of creating the perfect combination.

Unfortunately, attempts like these usually turn out to be misguided and lead to problems. Why? Well, for various reasons. Perhaps there weren’t really any advantages after all, because the information wasn’t accurate. Or perhaps the business settings weren’t really comparable. More typically, the advantages are real enough, but there are also disadvantages that have been overlooked. For example, the modifications might compromise safety in some way.

So, what’s the solution? Well, I don’t intend to suggest that it’s easy to get things right the second time … it’s not. But the underlying problem has more to do with attitudes than the actual difficulty of the task, and there are ways of getting it right. These involve adjusting attitudes, first of all…being more realistic and cautious really. Secondly, they involve exerting strict controls on the organizational and operational systems. And this in turn means copying the original as closely as possible. Not merely duplicating the physical characteristics of the factory, but also duplicating the skills that the original employees had. Reliance on a template like this offers the huge advantage of built-in consistency.

NEW

NEW

Master IELTS General Training Volume 5

Part 1: Question 1 - 10

Part 2: Question 11 - 20

Part 3: Question 21 - 30

Part 4: Question 31 - 40

Tips for improving your ielts score

IELTS Reading- Multiple Choice Questions

Questions 1-3

Rented Properties

Customer’s Requirements

Q2: We know that the answer have to be a number.

When Customer said “We'd like something around 500 pounds a month but we could go up to 600 pounds if we have to”. The answer can’t be “500” because the question is about maximum, so “600” is what we’re looking for.

Questions 4-8

Questions 9-10

Questions 11-16

THE NATIONAL ARTS CENTRE

Questions 17-20

Questions 21-26

Latin American studies

Questions 27-30

Questions 31-34

Trying to repeat success

Questions 35-40

Setting up systems based on an existing process

Cause of problems

Solution

Section 1

SECTION 2

SECTION 3

SECTION 4

Comments:

About us

Our mission

NEW

Master IELTS General Training Volume 5

Part 1: Question 1 - 10

Part 2: Question 11 - 20

Part 3: Question 21 - 30

Part 4: Question 31 - 40

Share your score

Tips for improving your ielts score

IELTS Reading- Multiple Choice Questions

Questions 1-3

Rented Properties

Customer’s Requirements

Q2: We know that the answer have to be a number.

When Customer said “We'd like something around 500 pounds a month but we could go up to 600 pounds if we have to”. The answer can’t be “500” because the question is about maximum, so “600” is what we’re looking for.

Questions 4-8

Questions 9-10

Questions 11-16

THE NATIONAL ARTS CENTRE

Questions 17-20

Questions 21-26

Latin American studies

Questions 27-30

Questions 31-34

Trying to repeat success

Questions 35-40

Setting up systems based on an existing process

Cause of problems

Solution

Section 1

SECTION 2

SECTION 3

SECTION 4

Comments:

About us

Our mission