Cambridge 8 Listening Test 2 - Answers With Explanation

1. Asked to repeat the suburb, Michael spells it clearly: "Milperra. M-I-L-P-E-R-R-A."

2. Asked who packed his goods at their point of origin, he answers: "Oh, it was... First Class Movers."

3. The ship left on 11 October and, he says, "got to Sydney on the 28th of November."

4. The TV is unusable because "the screen has a huge crack in it," and Michael doesn't think it can be repaired.

5. The second damaged item is "the cabinet from the bathroom," which the family uses to store towels.

6. On that cabinet, the back and sides are fine but "the door has a huge hole in it."

7. He paid $125 for the cabinet last year, but the Sydney replacement, he says, "is a bit more expensive, it's $140."

8. His dining table was damaged when "one leg has completely split down the middle" in the heat of the shipping container.

9. From his set of china, "some plates were broken — six actually," while the cups and saucers came through fine.

10. Judy works out the plates' value: "so that would be around $60 altogether?" and Michael confirms it.

11. The guide explains the park's remit is "to give educational opportunities to the wider public as well as to offer research sites" — research and education combined (B).

12. Moving further east on the wall plan, "in the largest section of our Park is the Forest Area."

13. The two small rectangular shapes by the lake are "the Fish Farms where we rear fish for sale."

14. Beyond the marsh, in the south-eastern corner, is "our Market Garden area, growing vegetables and flowers."

15. Signs mark areas used for experiments as "temporarily out of bounds to the public" — closed for only a short time each year (C).

16. With cars banned, visitors get around "by tram, walking or bicycle" — hiring bikes, going on foot, or riding the solar-powered electric tram (A).

17. The Rare Breeds section currently keeps "goats, sheep and hens" — matching goats and hens (C), since cows and horses aren't housed there yet.

18. The section's real purpose is "to maintain the diversity of breeds," not simply to preserve rare animals — keeping a variety of breeds (B).

19. Right now visitors can watch John Havers, "our expert fly fisherman," who "is currently giving displays on the lake" — a demonstration of fishing (C).

20. The shop stocks "a wide selection of books on wildlife" — books about animals (A).

21. Grant says Asian Honey Bees were previously found "in Queensland," where they were eradicated (A).

22. The bees threaten native bees because "they are infested with mites," tiny parasites that can damage or wipe them out — they carry parasites (B).

23. Because Australian honey is superior, "Australia exports native Queen bees to a large number of countries" — they are sold abroad (C).

24. Losing native bees would hurt the economy, since their pollination work is "worth 1.2 billion dollars a year" (A).

25. The Rainbow Bee Eater "doesn't care what it eats, as long as they're insects."

26. Researchers track the birds to their favourite "feeding spots," where the birds cough up pellets.

27. Collected pellets are taken back "to the laboratory to examine the contents."

28. To soften the hardened pellets, researchers treat them "by adding water to moisten them."

29. Under the microscope, they pull the pellets apart looking for "any Asian bee wings."

30. This pellet method is "much more reliable than trying to find live ones" as evidence of introduced bees.

31. To set up her research abroad, she "approached postgraduates in my field in overseas departments" — help from students in other countries (B).

32. She decided "just to focus on men who were in employment," leaving other groups for a later study (B).

33. With her questionnaire, rather than one narrow focus, "I wanted to include as much variety as possible" — a wide range of data (A).

34. Despite media reports, she found "it is mainly the third level of care" that worries people, not general practice — the press misrepresent people's real concerns (A).

35. Further research is needed to "establish if people want extra medical staff invested in the community, or... fewer, but larger, key medical units" — identifying public preferences (C).

36. She was unsettled to learn her project "didn't necessarily seem that way to everyone in my own department" — colleagues didn't always agree (C).

37. The person she'd approached in the street "decided to pull out when it came to the second round" — stopped participating (B).

38. A first-year student "wanted reassurance that no names would be traceable from the answers" — worried about confidentiality (F).

39. Her colleague kept wavering: "one minute he said he'd do it, then the next day he wouldn't, and in the end he did do it" — changing his mind (D).

40. The French university tutor "wouldn't tell me exactly what his work involved" — refusing to say what his job entailed (C).