Practice Test A - Listening Transcripts - Close

Practice Test A - Listening Transcripts
Voice1:

MAN: Next person. Oh, hello, ma’am. How may I help you?

WOMAN: Hello. I need some help please as I am lost. I didn’t realize that the complex is quite large.

MAN: Well, it’s a huge complex that covers Division 11 Of Manitoba. It’s a large area with a large population so, there are a lot of government services represented here including the courts. What is it that you are looking for?

WOMAN: Well, I’m here to take care of a traffic ticket. I was caught speeding the other day and received this citation. It says I am supposed to take care of it before the deadline date. I’m not sure which court I have to go to. Superior, small claims, or what?

MAN: You are looking for the traffic court.

WOMAN: Right. Yes. I want to take care of this as quickly as possible.

MAN: I see. You know, you can always mail the ticket along with the fine and you won’t need to appear in traffic court.

WOMAN: Really? I never knew that. But since I’m here, I might as well go to the court and learn the process.

MAN: Not a bad idea. Hopefully, you’ll be more careful driving. Anyway, you wanted to know where to go. Luckily, the traffic court is in this building on the Sixth Floor. The entire floor is devoted to it.

WOMAN: Alright. Thank you. Voice2:

MAN: Well, hello, ma’am. Were you able to get your ticket taken care of?

WOMAN: Hello again.

MAN: I’m sorry, but there is a booth there that you can go to. The clerk there will accept the fine. You have to pay and then cancel the ticket for you in most cases. If there is more to do, the clerk can advise you accordingly.

WOMAN: It seems the court is all booked. I wasn’t able to take care of it.

MAN: I really can’t say.

WOMAN: Really? That would be better than having to actually end up in a courtroom. Hopefully, there isn’t much of a queue there. Is there usually?

MAN: What time is it? It is now 12:43. I could be wrong, but I believe the court takes its lunch break from 12:30 to 01:30. I believe most of everything up there is closed.

WOMAN: Well, I guess I’ll go right now to the booth and get in line then.

MAN: I honestly don’t think so. If you want to wait, you could wait in the waiting room upstairs or there is a cafeteria in the Hudson Building next door. There is also a cafe restaurant just down the street that is very good. It’s called the Blue Heron. I go there for lunch once a week.

WOMAN: Well, I don’t want to wait. Maybe one booth might be open.

MAN: My pleasure, ma’am.

WOMAN: Okay. I suppose I can get some lunch. The cafe sounds good. Thanks.

Voice3:

MAN: Hello, ma’am. Are you still here? It’s time for closing.

WOMAN: Yes. I decided to go for lunch at the Blue Heron, which was very good. Thank you for the recommendation.

MAN: You’re welcome.

WOMAN: Anyway, my company called and requested that I come in and take care of a problem. It took some time, but I was able to return and take care of the ticket. I don’t have to worry about it ever again. I want to thank you for your help earlier.

MAN: I’m glad I was able to help. Did you get into the queue at the booth, or did you get into the courtroom itself?

WOMAN: Well, while I was at lunch, I thought I would mail in the fee and ticket, taking care of it that way. However, I thought about it some more and decided that I should go to the booth and take care of it there. I found out that the date is the date. I would have to appear in court if I did not take care of it.

MAN: Ah, I see. Well, it sounds like it worked after all.

WOMAN: Yes, indeed.

Voice4:

WOMAN: Hi. Welcome home, darling.

MAN: Thanks, honey. It’s good to be home. It’s been a rough week.

WOMAN: I know. I’m surprised you are home so early. What happened?

MAN: Well, as you know, I’ve been working on the Davidson project trying to get it done by the deadline.

WOMAN: Isn’t that the newly planned residential area?

MAN: Exactly. If you remember, we were getting delayed by the city planners. They were constantly changing their minds.

WOMAN: Right. And they finally agreed on something regarding the project?

MAN: They have indeed. And the good news is that we wrap the project up early well before the deadline in ten days.

WOMAN: Oh, that is wonderful news. Congratulations. So why are you home so early then?

MAN: When we got the news about the project, mister Simmons let us go home for the rest of the day with pay as

WOMAN: a reward. Oh, that’s wonderful. We should go out and celebrate. We haven’t been out since our anniversary.

MAN: Indeed. We have more to celebrate as well because we finished early. Mister Simmons announced that everyone is getting a bonus.

WOMAN: Great. Why don’t we go out for dinner? Where would you like to go?

MAN: Why not that Cambodian restaurant that just opened up?

WOMAN: That was actually closed down by the health department.

MAN: Oh, that’s a shame. I was looking forward to trying it. Well, we haven’t had Mexican food in a long time. We could go to a Cantina restaurant.

WOMAN: I suppose. We could go there if nothing else works out.

MAN: You know, since we are celebrating, why don’t we go somewhere a bit fancy? We could go to Le Bistro, the French restaurant. It’s pretty swanky there, and we could also go dancing there in their ballroom.

WOMAN: That sounds like a good idea, but we’ll need a reservation. I heard that they are booked through November.

MAN: Well, I can try to get a table there. And if not, we’ll go for Mexican food.

WOMAN: Okay. That sounds fine.

MAN: Great. I’ll give Labistro a call.

Voice5:

MAN: Hello. I’m wondering if you could help me, please.

WOMAN: Certainly. What is it that you require?

MAN: Well, I’m new to the city and I want to make use of the library. How may I go about it?

WOMAN: Well, actually, you may use any of the materials that are held here. Now, there may be some limitations on their use.

MAN: How do you mean?

WOMAN: Well, first, I take it that you do not have a library card?

MAN: Yes. That is correct and I want to get one so I can start borrowing materials.

WOMAN: Right. Well, first you need to fill out the application.

MAN: Is that it? I’ll take the application right now and fill it out.

WOMAN: I’ll give that to you shortly, but we also need your current ID, such as passport or driver’s license. Something official. Finally, we also need some proof of address, such as a utility bill.

MAN: You mean like an electricity bill.

WOMAN:Right.

MAN: I don’t pay for electricity. My landlord does. But would a phone bill work?

WOMAN: Yes, it would. You need to turn those in with the application and you’ll receive an interim library card.

MAN: Interim library card? What do you mean?

WOMAN: What I mean to say is that you will receive a short term card at the time you turn in the application. The actual card will come in the mail within two weeks of your application.

MAN: Are there any restrictions with the interim card?

WOMAN: Yes, there are. You see, with an interim card, a person may only borrow up to three books at a time and one audio visual material as well.

MAN: Audio visual material?

WOMAN: Yes. We have cassette tapes, music CDs, videotapes, and DVD movies available for people to borrow. Just so you know, audio visual materials have a one week borrowing period only.

MAN: What’s the normal borrowing period?

WOMAN: That would be two weeks for books.

MAN: Okay then. I’ll take the application form and then return later today with all the credentials.

WOMAN: Very well. Here it is. Enjoy the library.

MAN: Thank you very much.

Voice6:

WOMAN: This just in. It seems corruption continues to plague Montreal. Michael Applebaum, the current interim mayor of Montreal, Quebec was arrested yesterday morning on 14 charges including corruption, fraud, breach of trust, and conspiracy, including reportedly a $50,000 bribe.

Commissioner Robert Lafreniere said the alleged illegal acts occurred between 02/2011 and relate to two real estate projects in the city of Montreal. The CBC indicated one of these projects was for a new $15,000,000 sports complex.

Applebaum is now one of several Quebec mayors who have been accused of corruption in the past few years, including the previous Montreal Mayor Gerald Tremblay.

Several politicians are calling on Applebaum to resign, including Quebec premier Pauline Marois, to let the city continue on with its affairs. A few others, such as Coalition Avenir Quebec leader Francois Legault, are suggesting putting the city on a trusteeship similar to the response to the previous mayor’s scandal a few weeks ago.

However, municipal affairs minister Sylvain Godreault says this will not happen, as only a few people are implicated, unlike the previous incident, where nearly the entire city council was implicated.

A second interim minister is to be nominated for the rest of the mayor’s term, until the next municipal election is held in November.

Voice7:

MAN: Hi, guys. How are you both? Mind if I join you?

WOMAN 1: Certainly. Take a seat. Have you heard the news?

WOMAN 2: What news? I haven’t heard anything.

MAN: I have and I’m worried. I’m not sure what I or anyone else is going to do.

WOMAN 2: What are you both talking about? Laura, Tim.

WOMAN 1: I’m sorry, Emily, but you haven’t heard? The company is going to be laying off people. This has me worried about my situation.

MAN: Right. So do they know who or what department is going to be affected by this?

WOMAN 2: Oh my goodness. I’m now worried because I don’t have seniority and I’m likely to be one of the first to go. I suppose I should redo my resume.

WOMAN1: That can’t hurt, Emily. But it’s likely they may let go of an entire department. For instance, the electrodynamics department, I think, is likely to be laid off because they don’t have any projects going on.

MAN: Good thing. I transferred out of there when I did. That was their last project. I wouldn’t doubt that the company would part with that department. I’m now in research and development. There are projects going on there all the time.

WOMAN 2: What about you, Laura? Do you think you would be affected?

WOMAN 1: I don’t know. I work in finances as an auditor. It’s possible that I may be let go. There are a lot of auditors already.

WOMAN 2: Do any of you know why they are laying people off?

MAN: I don’t, but it seems that they are looking to cut back and save money.

WOMAN 1: Right. And employees are always expendable. So the question is, what do we do? I guess there isn’t much we can do except to wait and see.

WOMAN 2: Right. We won’t know either way until we are told by the company. In the meantime, I guess we can rework our resumes and start networking.

MAN: I agree. We could start preparing for the worst. Who knows? Maybe a better opportunity might await us.

WOMAN 1: I have five more years until I can officially retire. I looked into it yesterday, and I could retire early, but I would not get full benefits. I can’t afford to restart my career nor can I retire early?

MAN: That doesn’t sound like a good idea. You are a senior auditor. Perhaps they will keep you until you retire.

WOMAN 1: Maybe. But at this stage in my life, I don’t want to have to go looking for another job. In five years, I want to settle down, relax, and start pursuing some of my interests.

WOMAN 2: I hope that works out for you, Laura. But still, we need to consider the possibility.

MAN: Right. Why don’t we go ahead and update our resume just in case? And if we have any leads on jobs for either of us, we’ll share the information.

WOMAN 1: That sounds like a good idea. I’m in. Emily?

WOMAN 2: Yeah. That sounds great.

Voice8:

WOMAN: The Saskatchewan provincial government alongside the University of Saskatchewan have come together to establish 500,000,000 Australian dollars 10 megawatts research nuclear reactor to produce medical isotopes.

Medical isotopes are used in diagnostic procedures for cancer, heart disease, and other medical conditions. When radioactive isotopes are injected into the body, radiologists can view higher radiation via medical imaging, enabling them to make a more accurate diagnosis.

According to Brad Wall, the premier of Saskatchewan, back in 1949, cobalt ’60 treatment for cancer was tried for the first time here in the province where it was used to save a woman who was battling cervical cancer.

Wall suggests that Saskatchewan can again take the lead in terms of nuclear medicine. He asserts that governments should be involved in pure research to deal with certain circumstances as they present themselves.

According to Richard resource at the University of Saskatchewan, the university has faculty who are interested in this resource and that cancer research represents an issue of national importance.

Such research could help the country and this project could be built on the university’s research strength. The proposed research will be conducted at the Canadian light source synchrotron on campus using a research reactor which is intended to enhance the research.

While there has been some criticism, Peter Prebble, director of energy and water policy for the environmental society weighs in. He states that in the case of a power reactor, there are much better alternatives.

However, he states that since this is a medical isotopes research reactor, this is a case where the benefits outweigh the risks. Environmentalist Pauline Collins takes a different view.

She cites that there are several research reactors throughout the world. The reactor at the university, while it might be helpful, could pose more harm than good. According to her the reactor is already 30 years old and is nearing the end of its life where it can operate safely.

She further states that while cancer research is highly important, the immediate safety of residents near the facility is most precedent. The reason for the use of the research reactor at the university is the shutdown of the reactor at Chalk River, Ontario, which occurred last week.

The shutdown was ordered by the Atomic Energy of Canada Limited due to a leak of heavy water and will not reopen for another five years. If the research reactor at University of Saskatchewan is not utilized then Canadian cancer research will be set back for half a decade or more, doctor Thomas Prescott, senior oncologist at Saskatoon General Hospital, notes.

He asserts that this would be a devastating blow to the thousands of Canadians suffering from a multitude of cancers.