Cambridge 9 Listening Test 3 - Answers With Explanation

1. Of Blue Bay Apartments the man says: "it isn't far from the beach, either – only 300 metres."

2. The woman can't read her own writing, and the man corrects her: "I think you meant the Sunshade Apartments."

3. The Grand is "an older style house with Greek paintings in every room, and a balcony outside."

4. Asked about the view at the Grand, the man says: "there are forests all round and they hide a supermarket just down the road."

5. "£319 at that time, but if you leave it till November it goes down by 40%."

6. "For Greek Island holidays, our maximum is £10,000" for cancellation cover.

7. On top of the £600 hospital benefit, "we also allow a relative to travel to your holiday resort."

8. Checking her policy, the man asks: "Don't you have missed departure?" — a benefit her own policy lacks.

9. Personal belongings are covered "up to £3,000, but not more than £500 for a single item."

10. The man gives his name: "Ben – Ludlow. That's L-U-D-L-O-W. I'm the Assistant Manager here."

11. Simon says the idea came after "I went on a trip to a theme park near Birmingham and decided we could do a much better job" — a visit to another park (C).

12. They opened just for July, "our driest month," so visitors wouldn't have "a miserable, wet visit" — they only opened when good weather was expected (A).

13. "A million and a half people have been through our doors since we opened" — 1,500,000 visitors (C).

14. Simon says he "only concern[s] myself with looking after the mechanical side of things" — keeping the trains going, i.e. engine maintenance (E).

15. "Liz now devotes all her energies to recruiting and supporting the large squadron of workers" — staffing (H).

16. "Sarah has now returned to the park and makes sure the visitors are kept fed and watered" — food and drink (F).

17. "Duncan, has been a stalwart of the park for the last ten years, taking over from me in the area of construction" — building (C).

18. Judith "has also joined the team in charge of retail," with visitors keen "to buy souvenirs" — sales (G).

19. "We're also very pleased with a new installation of the Go-Kart arena which is 120 square metres in area."

20. "We wanted to enable 5–12 year olds to use the go-karts."

21. Caroline confirms her general topic area: "Yes, it's the fishing industry."

22. "I think I'm coping well with statistics, and I'm never bored by it."

23. "I'm very weak at note-taking. My teachers always used to say that."

24. Of peer-group discussions, the tutor says: "It really helps build confidence... having to present something to others."

25. "The drawback is that everyone in the group seems to share the same ideas... they keep being repeated in all the dissertations."

26. "You could also try a service called 'Student Support'. It's designed to give you a structured programme."

27. "Unfortunately there are only a few places" on the Student Support service.

28. Of study skills books, the tutor says: "the problem is they are sometimes too general."

29. "Read everything three times – that'll really fix them in your mind."

30. After checking dates, the tutor says: "Fine, we'll go for the 25th then."

31. "Their chief aim was to create somewhere that was as environmentally-friendly as possible" — the owners were interested in environmental issues (B).

32. Of the disused quarry site, the speaker says: "the price was relatively low" (A).

33. The sloping, south-facing side "was made of a double layer of very strong glass."

34. "The walls had a layer of foam around them too, to increase the insulation."

35. To spread the light, "there are lots of mirrors and windows inside the house."

36. "It's possible that in future the house may even generate an electricity surplus."

37. "The floors are made of reclaimed wood."

38. "The system for dealing with the waste produced in the house... is dealt with organically."

39. Construction was harmful to the environment "mainly because they had to use massive amounts of concrete."

40. "It's been calculated that this will only take fifteen years" to clear the house's environmental debt.