SECTION 2

You will hear a conversation about health centres.

Woman: Good morning.

Man: Good morning. Come in please. How can I help you?

Woman: I want to know some information about your health centre.

Man: Yes. Sit down please. There are two health centres. One is East Centre and the other is West Centre.

Woman: Where are they located?

Man: East Centre is about 10 minutes to City Hall very close, and West Centre is out of town.

Woman: How about the appointment system of the two health centres?

Man: We have proper appointment system. But because East Centre has many patients I have to say its appointment system 19 not bad.

Woman: How about the West Centre?

Man: It is more efficient than the East Centre. Just 48 hours’ drive in advance.

Woman: Fine. How about their facilities?

Man: What do you mean?

Woman: How about the difference of medical facilities between the two centres?

Man: The East Centre has modern facilities, especially for some patients who need an operation.

Woman: Yes. How about facilities at the West Centre?

Man: It also has standard facilities but it is not better than East Centre.

Woman: Yes. I’d like to know some information about doctors in both health centres.

Man: There are about twelve doctors at East Centre.

Woman: I heard somebody say that there is a really nice doctor who is good with children.

Man: Yes. He is Dr. Sam.

Woman: I’m worried about my son’s leg.

Man: How old is your son?

Woman: 7 years old.

Man: Oh, I think the West Centre is a good choice for you.

Woman: What do you mean?

Man: There are eight doctors at West Centre. Dr. Jerry is one of the most famous doctors in both health centres.

Woman: Yes. It is said that Dr. Jerry is very good with leg trouble.

Man: Yes. I will think about it. If you want a doctor to visit you at home, you can reserve a home visit.

Woman: Really?

Man: Yes. But we have a fixed home visit time.

Woman: Could you tell me the time arrangements?

Man: Consulting hour for doctors at East Centre is from 9 o’clock in t.hp morning to 5_o’clock in the afternoon.

Woman: And West Centre?

Man: The time is from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Woman: How about emergencies?

Man: If it’s an emergency, you can phone at any time, night or day. It might not be your doctor that comes through, though.

Woman: Yes. How about the charge?

Man: You mean emergency?

Woman: Yes.

Man: If you are a member we will charge you eight pounds at East Centre.

Woman: Is it the same fee with West Centre?

Man: No. Because of the distance the charge will be nine pounds and 50 pence.

Woman: Sure. How about medication?

Man: When the doctor sees you, you will get a prescription. You can take the medication you need at our health centre or go to a drugstore. Sure.

Woman: Sure

Man: If it’s for a child under the age of 10, you don’t have to pay for medication.

Woman: Really? That sounds good.

Man: The same thing applies if you are a patient who is retired or pregnant.

Woman: Right. May I apply for your health centre’s membership now?

Man: Of course. You should fill in the form first.

Woman: Fine.

SECTION 3

You will hear a lecture about student orientation.

Speaker:

Welcome to The University of Newcastle. I am Katelyn. Now let’s welcome Mr. Sutton to give us an introduction of orientation schedule.

Lecturer:

Thanks Katelyn. Well, welcome to our university. There are three parts of the orientation during the next week. The first part is the campus. We will organise an orientation tour around the campus. Now, please look at the schedule. On next Monday, we will begin our tom’ with an introduction to the Student Union. So please gather at the door of the Student Union at 9 clock. After visiting the building first we will help all students to apply for the Student Union Card. So please take one passport photo when you attend the orientation. Usually, there are some departments such as travel agency, insurance, and so on. You can enjoy your lunch in campus perhaps at the canteen. At 2 o’clock in the afternoon we will all visit the library. A lecturer at the library will give you an introduction. How to apply for library card, how to borrow reference books and how to use the facilities in the library. As you know you will spend lots of time in the library for your future studies so the introduction is very important for you. On Tuesday we will visit the Computer centre. All students can get a username and a password. You can also register your laptop in the centre if you have it. There are some rules of the computer centre especially regarding the use of printer and photocopier. After lunch the next station is the sports center. I am sure you will all be very excited about our facilities. There are also many different societies. You can join in any of them according to your interest and apply for a membership.

Lecturer:

The second part of orientation is course arrangements. You should gather in the auditorium in the west campus in the morning on Wednesday The course coordinator or office staff of your facility will introduce you to the course requirements. First you will get some information and requirements about compulsory courses and then optional courses. The faculty often gives students some handouts of course introduction and the different assessments of each subject. Students usually get one or two days to make a decision of optional courses. Of course I know nearly all students will focus on the assessment. As usual, we have four assessments. Attendance is still the first one. We expect at least 80% attendance and students cannot choose the time. And then all students have to write assignment such as an essay. Your personal tutor will give you a help for the topic choice,structure, data collecting and time arrangement, so don’t be worried. As a student of the business faculty all students have to do a presentation especially group presentations in which you can train and improve the team spirit. The last assessment is exam. I know you all hate it but… you have to attend some exams. Most exams are open-book. Isn’t it a busy day on Wednesday? You will have a free morning on Thursday. We hope all students can come to department office to get a curriculum and hand in your optional course form in the afternoon. The last part of orientation is a party for all new students. The party will be held at five o'clock in the afternoon on Friday. There is a common room on the third floor in the business faculty building. We will prepare for many delicious foods and drink in there and it will be a good chance to know about your advisers and classmates. OK. That s the main introduction of orientation. I am sure that you will enjoy it.

Speaker: Thanks Mr. Sutton.

SECTION 4

Host: How many fish in the sea?” is a hot topic for many scientists. Today we have invited a famous scientist who spent 10 years studying marine life to give us an introduction of the latest survey called “The Census of Marine Life”. Let’s welcome Alok Jha.

Alok: Thanks Ella. The Census of Marine Life has been the biggest and most comprehensive attempt ever to answer that question - how many fish are in the world’s oceans? The Census of Marine Life, which hopes to indicate a baseline of marine life, estimates that there are more than 230,000 species in the sea. The study covers from coast to the open ocean, from the shallows to the deeps, from little things like microbes to large things such as fish and whales. Our team of over 360 scientists from all over the world have spent the past ten years surveying 25 regions, from the Antarctic through the temperate and tropical seas to the Arctic to count the different types of plants and animals. The findings indicate that crustacean such as lobsters, crabs, krill and barnacles account for a fifth of the number of species in the world’s oceans and half of the world’s marine species is mollusk (squid and octopus) and fish (including sharks). The charismatic species usually used in propagating environmental protection for example whales, sea lions, turtles and sea birds account for less than 2% of the species in the world’s oceans. The study has also focused on major fields of concern for conservationists. In every region, they got the same experience of a major collapse of what we were usually very abundant fish stocks or crabs or crustaceans that are now only 5-10% of what they used to be. The main reasons include overfishing, degraded habitats and pollution. But more problems are presented: rising water temperatures and acidification brought by climate change and the growth in areas of the ocean that are low in oxygen and, therefore unable to support marine life. The Census of Marine Life shows that enclosed seas such as the Mediterranean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, China’s shells, Baltic, and the Caribbean have the most threatened biodiversity. The pollutions in enclosed seas are mainly from chemicals or garbage that people throw into it. Dense coastal populations of humans also tend to be packed along enclosed seas, meaning rising contaminations and extraction of more biodiversity from the water.

The Mediterranean Sea, which contains around 17,000 identified species, has been a region with high threat. Scientists in our team studying the Mediterranean identified problems related to increased litter from shipping and munitions across the sea as well as bombs discharged during the Kosovo war. The Mediterranean also has to face problems with invasive species displacing the creatures that already live there. The Census of Marine Life shows that the Mediterranean Sea has the most alien species — more than 600 among all the 25 regions that have been surveyed. It looks like that the region with coral reefs has always had a very high rate of speciation. It also has a very diverse range of habitats from the deepest regions of the oceans to large regions of shallow seas, which can afford coral reefs.

The most diverse regions I did find by The Census of Marine Life are around Australian and Japanese waters which contain more than 30,000 species each and are among the most biologically diverse in the world. Next in line are the oceans of China, the Mediterranean sea and the gulf of Mexico. Besides algae and the sea birds and mammals that travel around the sea viperfish has been regarded as the most “cosmopolitan” marine creature by The Census of Marine Life. Its presence was recorded in around a quarter of the world’s seas.

And for every marine species of all kinds known to science, scientists of The Census of Marine Life estimate that at least four have yet to be discovered. For example, about 70% of species of fish have been discovered but for most other groups likely less than one-third are known. Our research team has found the number of marine fish species was about 6,764, and was growing at around 100 a year. So scientists estimate that there are almost 22,000 fish species in the world’s oceans. The most fruitful potential areas for discovery include the tropics, deep seas and southern hemisphere. Although most ocean organisms still remain nameless and their numbers unknown at the end of The Census of Marine Life, we still gained an important and exciting start.

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Great thanks to volunteer Duong Cam Van has contributed these explanations and question markings.

If you want to make a better world like this, please contact ieltsonlinetests@gmail.com

Host: Definitely. That’s a great achievement.

Alok: Thank you very much.

Host: OK. Thanks to Alok for giving the amazing information about marine life. Next week we will …